Alesis Official Manual for the QuadraSynth Plus Piano

Editing Programs: Chapter 6

Tracking Generator

The Tracking Generator is used to scale a modulation source. For example, normally you could modulate the Amp (volume) of a sound using velocity; the harder you play, the louder the sound gets. The amount of change in volume is equal to the change in velocity; this is called linear control. If instead, however, you set the Tracking Generator’s input to “velocity”, and then routed the Tracking Generator to the Amp (using the Mod function), you can make your own customized "map" of the control velocity has over the sound’s level.

The Tracking Generator divides the range of the input into 11 points (0— 10), each of which can be set between 0 and 100. If you boost the value of one of the lower points, you make the input more sensitive in its lower register. By creating a non-linear curve using the velocity example above, you can scale the velocity’s control over the sound’s volume just the way you want.

When selecting the Tracking Generator as a modulation source in the Mod Function, these two choices will be available. When “TRACKGEN” is selected as the modulation source, the Tracking Generator functions normally, scaling its input as determined by its parameter settings.

When “STEPTRACK” is selected as a modulation source, the Tracking Generator’s output will be stepped, or interpolated. This means that instead of scaling the input linearly from point to point, the input is kept at each point’s value setting until it goes beyond the following point’s value setting, at which point it jumps to that setting. This feature is very useful in creating “mini-sequences” if the modulation destination is set to “Pitch” and the Tracking Generator’s input is an LFO using an “Up Sawtooth” as its waveform.

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