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Using Sound Bridge™ to Create Your Own

Sound Cards

The Alesis website (www.alesis.com) contains a free program called
Sound Bridge™ for the Mac and PC. Sound Bridge allows you to
download your own sequences, Program Banks, and samples into a Flash
card plugged into the QS. All you need is a Flash card and a computer
with a MIDI interface.
Sound Bridge will also work with SRAM cards, but Flash cards are
cheaper for storing large amounts of sample data.
Sound Bridge accepts sound files in .AIF, .AIFF, .SD, and .WAV formats.
Many commercially available samples are available in these formats. Or,
you can use your computer to create your own samples!
You can also use Sound Bridge to download sequences into your Flash
card. Sound Bridge accepts standard MIDI file sequences in .MID,
.MIDI, and .SMF formats. You can use your own sequences, or use
commercially available General MIDI files from the internet and other
sources.
The Alesis website contains the Sound Bridge application, and an
electronic manual which will give you all the information you need to
know to run Sound Bridge.

Sending Sequence Data to External Devices

There is an option box in Sound Bridge which allows you to set up the
sequences on a given card so they will be transmitted from the QS’s
MIDI Output jack.
A setting of OUT causes Card sequence data to play QS Programs only,
while allowing the MIDI Out jack to function relatively normally (so you
can play your MIDI gear from the keyboard while the sequence is
playing).
A setting of THRU passes sequence data on to external MIDI devices
from the MIDI Output jack of your QS, allowing both QS Programs and
sounds from other MIDI devices to be played from a Card sequence.
You will be able to play QS Programs from its keyboard, but you will not
be able to play external MIDI devices while the sequence is running.

Sound Bridge Instrument Format

Sound Bridge creates a QS Voice (multi-sample) by loading Digidesign
Sample Cell I or Sample Cell™ II format Instrument files. Using this
format, Sound Bridge is able to determine key group and velocity group
split points, root notes, sample playback rates, tunings, start points, loop
points, and loop tunings. Sound Bridge can also create QS Voices
without Sample Cell Instruments by loading single sound files in a variety
of formats.
If you are interested in creating and/or editing your own custom Sample
Cell Instruments, you will need Digidesign's Sample Cell™ hardware and
software. This is for advanced users who want to create their own multi-
sampled instruments.
NOTE: It is highly inadvisable to enter
Global Mode and toggle between these two
settings while a sequence is running. If this
happens, the QS could inadvertently send
large bursts of data to your external MIDI
devices.
NOTE: On some computers, Sound Bridge
may appear to “max out” your CPU meter.
Don’t worry
– it will give up CPU
bandwidth for other programs. In reality,
Sound Bridge only uses a small percentage
of your CPU bandwidth.