Fishman manual Setting Up for Performance, Understanding Aura Navigation

Acoustic Imaging Blender Aura™

Setting Up for Performance

With 11 adjustable parameters, 12 factory Sound Images (and more to download from the Fishman Aura website), plus 50 program locations to hold your mixes, the Aura gives you an incredible amount of power and flexibility. You have the power to create an almost infinite number of Sound Image/pickup mixes to suit your taste. The 50 program locations in Play mode let you group your mixes into any order you prefer for quick recall during a performance. All these possibilities may seem a little daunting at first, but once you get familiar with the control layout and navigation you’ll find that building your mixes becomes second nature.

If you plan to use the Aura on a gig, we strongly suggest that you first spend some time getting comfortable with it at home. Use this time to find the Sound Images that you’d like to use on the gig and to create the mixes you will use onstage. Once you set up your mixes, document their program locations on the blank Programs page provided in the back of this manual. We suggest you photocopy this page and keep it with your Aura for reference. When you get to the gig, you’ll have all your basic settings down, so you can focus your attention on the music and not on your gear.

Understanding Aura Navigation

To get the most out of your Aura experience, you will need to understand the the navigation terminology for this device. If not, here is a brief summary:

Play Mode

Move the Play/Edit switch to Play to make the Aura’s fifty program locations (and their related mixes) are accessible.

Edit Mode

Move the Play/Edit switch to Edit to make the Aura’s eleven adjustable parameters accessible for building Sound Image/pickup mixes.

Sound Image

The Aura’s 16 instrument-specific acoustic guitar templates (driven by your pickup) take the place of a microphone signal in this blender- style device. Instrument-specific means you’ll usually get the best results when you choose a Sound Image that matches the style of guitar you play (dreadnought, grand auditorium, classical, etc). Sound Images reside in Edit mode in the Select parameter. Sound Images cannot accidentally be “erased”, so don’t worry about losing them. Note that any or all Sound Images 01-12 can be replaced with new ones, downloaded from our website and transferred to your Aura via MIDI access. Any Sound Image you replace can easily be retrieved through the same process.

Mix (or Sound Image/Pickup Mix)

We call the blended combination of a Sound Image and a pickup signal a mix. You create a mix by choosing a Sound Image, blending it with the pickup and seasoning to taste with the various parameters in Edit Mode.

Program Locations

The 50 slots in Play mode in which you place your mixes are called program locations. You select a program location with either the Up/Down footswitches or the Data Knob.

Tip: Think of the program locations in Play as your canvasses and the parameters in Edit as paints. You choose a canvas (a program number in Play), move the switch to Edit, then choose from your palette of paints around the Parameter knob. Color and shade the subject by modifying the eleven parameters with the Data knob. Once you switch back to Play, you've put the paint to canvas.

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