Alesis QS8, QS7 manual Portamento Exponential, Linear, 1 Speed, Portamento Rate 0 to

Editing Programs: Chapter 6

Portamento (Exponential, Linear, 1 Speed) Page 8

This provides the sweep’s “curve.”

•With an exponential curve, the pitch change seems to happen more rapidly at first, then slows down as it approaches the ending pitch.

•A linear curve produces a constant pitch change throughout the glide.

•Normally, the greater the interval (the pitch difference between the two notes), the longer the glide. For example, a glide between two notes a whole step apart would take much less time than a glide between two notes an octave apart. The 1 Speed curve maintains a constant glide rate regardless of the pitch difference between notes.

About portamento: When you play a key and then a second key, normally the sound jumps instantly from one pitch to another. Portamento provides a sweeping glide from one note to another over a variable amount of time. A good example of this type of sound is a steel guitar, where a note slides from one pitch to another.

Portamento Rate (0 to 99) Page 9

Sets the glide duration. Higher numbers give longer glide times. The Rate value is affected by the Portamento value (see above).

Keyboard Mode (Mono, Poly, 1-Pitch or 1-PMono) Page 10

In Mono mode, you can play only one note at a time—just like vintage monophonic synthesizers or wind instruments. Poly mode allows you to play polyphonically. Note that portamento behavior is more predictable in mono mode.

TIP: With a feedback guitar patch that uses one sound for the guitar and one sound for the feedback, setting the feedback sound to Mono Keyboard Mode insures that your feedback “whistle” will be monophonic, which more accurately mimics what happens when you play lead guitar.

Use 1-PITCH mode when you want a program sound layer to play a single pitch polyphonically throughout the entire keyboard range. In 1-PITCH mode, the QS will play the sample used for note C3 for all notes in the range. 1-PITCH mode is often used for layering a noise or drum sound behind another sound that is pitched, for example, to fatten up a bass guitar sound with a hint of kick drum, or to have the same cymbal hit every time any note is played. Alternatively, 1-PMONO mode is a monophonic version of 1-PITCH.

Sometimes when playing a monophonic instrument, you will not want the envelopes to retrigger when playing legato, as this would sound realistic. Imagine a flute-player beginning each note in a phrase with a sharp, breathy attack. In reality, the player would only attack the first note in the phrase this way. Therefore, if the Keyboard Mode is set to “Mono”, the three envelopes (Pitch Envelope, Filter Envelope and Amp Envelope) will only retrigger when playing legato if the envelope’s Trigger Mode is set to either “Reset” or “Reset-Freerun”.

QS7/QS8 Reference Manual 59