From: mrk@gvgspd.GVG.TEK.COM (Michael R. Kesti) Subject: Alesis D4 Date: 2 Oct 91 05:42:04 GMT My local Alesis dealer (Music Depor in Grass Valley, CA.) called me at work today to tell me that he had received his first D4, and ask if I'd like to come by and see/hear it. I wound up buying it! I paid $350. He claimed the list is $399, but I seem to recall seeing $359 somewhere. Oh, well. My initial impressions are very good, and I'll post a full review in the near future. In the meantime, if you have specific questions, send me mail and I'll see if I can answer them for you. I was unable to fully incorporate it into my rig tonight, as I am playing at an open mic tommorow and there's no way I can have it in the rack, setup, and adjust my sequences in time, so I'll be using the HR-16 one more night. As I couldn't play with it much, I took the time to enter its MIDI implemen- tation chart for you. Note that pith bend and controller 7 are supported! Reprinted from the D4 manual, without permission: Date: 5/30/91 MODEL D4 MIDI Implementation Chart Version 1.00 _______________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | Function | Transmitted | Recognized | Remarks | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | Default Channel | 1-16 | 1-16 | Memorized | | Basic Channel | 1-16 | 1-16 | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | Default | Mode 1 | Mode 1 | Memorized | | Mode Messages | X | OMNI ON/OFF | | | Altered | ****** | X | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | Programmable window| | Note | 0-127 | 0-127 | of 61 consecutive | | Number True Voice | | | notes | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | Velocity Note ON | O | O V=0 ignored | 7 bit resolution | | Note OFF | X | X | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | After Key's | X | X | | | Touch Ch's | X | X | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | Pitch Bender | X | * | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | 6 | X | * | Data entry MSB | | 7 | X | * | Volume | | Control | X | * | | | | | | | | Change 96 | X | * | Data Increment | | 97 | X | * | Data Decrement | | 98 | X | * | non-reg parm LSB | | 99 | X | * | non-reg parm MSB | | 121 | X | * | Reset all controls | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | Prog | X | ** | Re-mappable using | | Change True # | ****** | |Program Change Table| |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | System Exclusive | O | O | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | System :Song Pos | X | X | | | :Song Sel | X | X | | | Common :Tune | X | X | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | System :Clock | X | X | | | Real Time:Commands | X | X | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | Aux :Local ON/OFF | X | O |Power-up default=ON | | Mes- :All Notes Off | X | X | | | sages :Active Sense | X | X | | | :Reset | X | X | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| | | | | | | Notes | | * Received if | ** Received if | | | | CONTROLLERS is | PROG CHANGE is set | | | | set to ON in | to ON in MIDI page | | | | MIDI page | | |_________________________|_____________|________________|____________________| Mode 1: OMNI ON, POLY Mode 2: OMNI ON, MONO O: Yes Mode 3: OMNI OFF, POLY Mode 4: OMNI OFF, MONO X: No From: cwilson@void.ncsa.uiuc.edu (Chris Wilson) Date: 16 Apr 92 01:33:39 GMT Okay, I've been thinking about getting a D4, so I have tons of literature from Alesis lying around, and have played with one. Too many people have been giving incorrect or partly correct info, so here's the structure of the D4 playback system: (Note: this is done with a flyer from Alesis sitting in front of me.) There are 500 drum sounds. You can store up to 21 kits on the D4, and use program change messages (or the footswitch or front panel controls) to change between them. Each kit consists of up to 61 sounds selected from the 500 available. You can set the panning, volume, and output pair (main or aux) for each sound individually. This 61-note "window" (as Alesis calls it) can be moved across the entire range of MIDI- i.e., you can use MIDI note #s 0-60, 36-96, 67-127, or whatever. -Chris Wilson cwilson@uiuc.edu