Alesis QS7.1 Pedal and Footswitch Hookup, Digital a UDIO/OPTICAL Hookup, Ecording Digital Audio

Setup & Connections: Part 1

PEDAL AND FOOTSWITCH HOOKUP

The QS keyboard has three back-panel pedal jacks, marked [SUS PEDAL], [PEDAL 1] and [PEDAL 2].

[SUS PEDAL] is designed to work with any standard momentary footswitch. It doesn’t matter whether the footswitch is normally open or closed, so long as you plug it into the jack before powering up your QS; the instrument will automatically sense the footswitch’s polarity and calibrate itself accordingly.

[PEDAL 1] and [PEDAL 2]. are designed to work with a Roland EV-5 volume pedal (or its equivalent).

The QS’s factory defaults assign sustain to the [SUS PEDAL] jack and overall instrument volume to the [PEDAL 1] jack, but you can change these settings at any time if you want to. There are lots of interesting possibilities to explore. A starter example: using a footswitch to turn vibrato on in a program, and using a volume-type pedal to control vibrato speed.

If your sustain footswitch responds backwards (i.e., notes sustain unless the footswitch is pressed), then turn off your QS and make sure the footswitch plug is fully inserted into the [SUS PEDAL] jack. When it is, turn the instrument’s power back on while keeping your foot off the footswitch.

DIGITAL A UDIO/OPTICAL HOOKUP

The QS can output digital audio directly into an Alesis ADAT, ADAT-XT, or ADAT-compatible multitrack digital recorder via fiber optic cable.

The QS’s [DIGITAL OUT] carries all four audio outputs of the QS (Main and Aux, Left and Right) on a single fiber optic cable. Fiber optic cables of various lengths are available from your Alesis dealer. The model OC cable is 5 meters long and is the maximum length recommended.

Note: This will not plug directly into a tape deck which uses S/PDIF or AES/EBU for its digital input! A digital audio format converter of some sort must be used.

To hook up the optical cable between the QS and an ADAT-XT:

❿Remove the two pieces of clear plastic, tubular sleeving (if present) that protect the tips of the optical cable plug.

❡Insert one cable end into the QS [DIGITAL OUT] and the other end into the ADAT-XT’s DIGITAL IN.

To test the cable and QS digital output, plug one cable end into the QS. The other end should emit a soft red light (it is not dangerous to look directly at this light).

RECORDING DIGITAL AUDIO

Once the fiber optic connection is made between the QS and ADAT-XT, the QS will output audio on the first four channels of the digital bus (the bus is capable of handling eight channels of digital audio). The MAIN [LEFT] and [RIGHT] outputs

QS7.1/QS8.1 Reference Manual 17