Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product DM5 Alesis
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A L ES I S DM5 Reference M a nu a l.
DM5 Reference Manual 1 I NTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing the Alesis DM5 18 Bit Drum Module. To take full advantage of the DM5’s functions, and to enjoy long and trouble-free use, please read this user’s manual carefully. H OW T O U SE T HIS M ANUAL This manual is divided into the following sections describing the various modes of the DM5.
2 DM5 Reference Manual.
Index DM5 Reference Manual 3 C ONTENTS 1: S ETTING U P ................................................................................. 5 Unpacking and Inspection .......................................................................................
Index 4 DM5 Reference Manual Ext Trig ...................................................................................................... 31 Group .....................................................................................................
Setting Up: Chapter 1 DM5 Reference Manual 5 C HAPTER 1 S ETTING U P U NPACKING AND I NSPECTION Your DM5 was packed carefully at the factory. The shipping carton was designed to protect the unit during shipping. Please retain this container in the highly unlikely event that you need to return the DM5 for servicing.
Chapter 1: Setting Up 6 DM5 Reference Manual A BOUT A UDIO C ABLES The connections between the DM5 and your studio are your music’s lifeline, so use only high quality cables. These should be low-capacitance shielded cables with a stranded (not solid) internal conductor and a low-resistance shield.
Setting Up: Chapter 1 DM5 Reference Manual 7 MIDI H OOKUP If you are using a MIDI keyboard or sequencer, connect its [MIDI OUT] to the DM5’s [ MIDI IN ]. If you have another MIDI device you wish to control from the same keyboard or sequencer, connect the DM5’s [ MIDI OUT/THRU ] to the other device’s [MIDI IN].
Chapter 1: Setting Up 8 DM5 Reference Manual E XTERNAL T RIGGERS H OOKUP Plug all of the triggers you will be using into the rear panel jacks. Since the triggers are interactive, the DM5 needs to “see” all of the signals simultaneously.
Your First Session With The DM5: Chapter 2 DM5 Reference Manual 9 C HAPTER 2 Y OUR F IRST S ESSION W ITH T HE DM5 P OWERING U P After making your connections, turn on the system’s power using this p.
Chapter 2: Your First Session With The DM5 10 DM5 Reference Manual W HAT ’ S A D RUM S ET ? A Drum Set is a stored configuration of drum sounds and their parameters. This setup of drum sounds and parameters can be stored so that you can get back to it instantly.
Your First Session With The DM5: Chapter 2 DM5 Reference Manual 11 C HOOSING V OICES IN A D RUM S ET In this section, we will choose Voices for a Drum Set. There are many other parameters of a Drum Set we may wish to edit, however. Refer to Chapter 4 for more information about editing.
Chapter 2: Your First Session With The DM5 12 DM5 Reference Manual S TORING AN E DITED D RUM S ET Once you have made changes to a Drum Set, you will need to store it; that is, if you want to keep the changes you have made. The internal memory is designed to hold up to 21 ( 00 – 20 ) Drum Sets.
Connections: Chapter 3 DM5 Reference Manual 13 C HAPTER 3 C ONNECTIONS MIDI MIDI is an internationally-accepted protocol that allows musical-related data to be conveyed from one device to another. See the MIDI Supplement in Appendix B if you are not familiar with how MIDI works.
Chapter 3: Connections 14 DM5 Reference Manual E XAMPLE 1: U SING A MIDI K EYBOARD The DM5 may be “played” from a MIDI keyboard (or some other type of MIDI controller) by connecting the keyboard’s [MIDI OUT] to the DM5’s [ MIDI IN ]. This is illustrated in the diagram on page 17.
Connections: Chapter 3 DM5 Reference Manual 15 E XAMPLE 2: U SING A MIDI S EQUENCER The DM5 can be used with a MIDI sequencer in one of three ways: • As a sound module which is “played” by the s.
Chapter 3: Connections 16 DM5 Reference Manual Local Mode The Local parameter determines whether or not the external triggers will “play” the internal voices of the DM5 or not.
Connections: Chapter 3 DM5 Reference Manual 17 E XAMPLE 3: U SING T WO OR M ORE DM5 M ODULES The DM5 provides 16-note polyphony, which means at any single moment, up to 16 different Drum Voices can be triggered at once. This polyphony is “shared” by all 61 notes in a Drum Set.
Chapter 3: Connections 18 DM5 Reference Manual E XTERNAL T RIGGERS The DM5 has twelve trigger inputs designed to accommodate the most widely used drum pads and other triggering sources. It’s triggering mechanism is an advanced Signal-to-MIDI converter which incorporates five user controllable parameters.
Connections: Chapter 3 DM5 Reference Manual 19 To setup the external triggers: ➀ Plug in all of the triggers you will be using. Refer to the chart on page 8 as a guide for connecting your triggers. ➁ Press the [ NOTE CHASE ] button to turn the Note Chase feature off.
Chapter 3: Connections 20 DM5 Reference Manual Repeat steps ➃ through ➆ for the remaining triggers you will be using. After completing these steps, you should be able to play on all of the pads plugged in to the DM5 and hear the sounds being triggered.
Connections: Chapter 3 DM5 Reference Manual 21 Decay Note : In this scenario we will use only the snare pad. Depending on the type of pads being used and your mounting configuration, you may be experiencing some “double triggering”.
Chapter 3: Connections 22 DM5 Reference Manual ➄ Repeat steps ➀ through ➃ to correct the problem with the tom 2 pad. ➅ Finally, return to the Drum Set mode by pressing the [ DRUM SET ] button. This will protect from the possibility of accidentally editing your settings.
Overview: Chapter 4 DM5 Reference Manual 23 C HAPTER 4 O VERVIEW B ASIC AND D EFINITIONS T HE V OICE Each time the DM5 receives a MIDI or acoustic trigger, it plays a voice .
Chapter 4: Overview 24 DM5 Reference Manual Often the default is “whatever was selected last.” Example: If the DM5 was set to Drum Set 14 just before you shut off power, upon power-up the DM5 will return to Drum Set 14. MIDI N OTE R ANGE The DM5’s sounds can be assigned to any note within a 5-octave (61 note) range, from MIDI note 36 to 96.
Overview: Chapter 4 DM5 Reference Manual 25 A BOUT THE U SER I NTERFACE R EADING T HE D ISPLAY The display is made up of 6 sections. 1) Drum Set Number. This consists of two large digits which indicate the currently selected Drum Set (from 00 to 20 ).
Chapter 4: Overview 26 DM5 Reference Manual F UNCTION B UTTONS The eight Function buttons select eight different groups of parameters, as shown in the display. Upon pushing a Function button, it will illuminate and deselect any previously-selected Function button (its button’s light goes out).
Overview: Chapter 4 DM5 Reference Manual 27 E DITING P ARAMETER V ALUES After selecting the parameter to be edited, use the [ VALUE ] knob to vary its value. Once a Drum Set has been edited, a period appears in the display after the Drum Set number. Example: This Drum Set has been edited.
Chapter 4: Overview 28 DM5 Reference Manual F UNCTION B UTTONS V OICE Press [ VOICE ], and the display shows the selected MIDI note number in the middle of the display and two parameters, Voice Family and Voice Number, on the top line (see display example above).
Overview: Chapter 4 DM5 Reference Manual 29 M IX Press [ MIX ], and the display shows the selected MIDI note number in the middle and two parameters, Volume and Pan, on the top line. To change the Volume, use the [ ] and [ ] buttons to place the cursor under the Vol value and turn the [ VALUE ] knob.
Chapter 4: Overview 30 DM5 Reference Manual Output Options Having two stereo output pairs allows for several options. Stereo with Fixed Placement: Plug the left Main output into the left channel of your amp (or mixer), and the right Main output into the right channel.
Overview: Chapter 4 DM5 Reference Manual 31 D RUM S ET Press [ DRUM SET ], and the display shows the selected Drum Set number on the left side and the Drum Set’s name on the top line. To select a particular Drum Set, turn the [ VALUE ] knob. The range is from 00 to 20 .
Chapter 4: Overview 32 DM5 Reference Manual The DM5 can play up to 16 voices at a time, so it’s possible to run out of voices if you play a flurry of notes and have lots of drum sounds assigned to Multi mode.
MIDI Functions: Chapter 5 DM5 Reference Manual 33 C HAPTER 5 MIDI F UNCTIONS The MIDI Function contains five pages of parameters. When you first press the [ MIDI ] button, it selects page 1. Pressing the [ MIDI ] button again selects page 2, pressing it again selects page 3, and so on.
Chapter 5: MIDI Functions 34 DM5 Reference Manual MIDI C HANNEL The DM5 can receive and transmit MIDI data in Omni mode (receives data appearing on any of the 16 MIDI channels, transmits data over channel 1) or Poly mode (transmits and receives over any single one of the 16 MIDI channels).
MIDI Functions: Chapter 5 DM5 Reference Manual 35 L OCAL C ONTROL MIDI page 2 has only one parameter: Local Control. The Local parameter determines whether or not the external triggers will “play” the internal voices of the DM5.
Chapter 5: MIDI Functions 36 DM5 Reference Manual C ONTROLLERS E NABLE The DM5 can respond to several standardized MIDI controllers appearing at the DM5’s [ MIDI IN ] jack: 6 Data Slider (0-127) This allows an external data slider assigned to Controller 6 to vary values, just as if you were using the Data wheel.
MIDI Functions: Chapter 5 DM5 Reference Manual 37 P ROGRAM C HANGE T ABLE MIDI page 4 lets you view and edit the Program Change Table. The Program Change Table determines which Drum Set will be called up in response to a particular Program Change number.
Chapter 5: MIDI Functions 38 DM5 Reference Manual To allow for running several DM5s in the same MIDI setup, System Exclusive data is channelized. In other words, if you save the data while set to channel 1, the DM5 must be set to channel 1 (or Omni, which receives all channels) when you send it back to retrieve this data.
External Triggering: Chapter 6 DM5 Reference Manual 39 C HAPTER 6 E XTERNAL T RIGGERING O VERVIEW External triggering has three main uses: • Driving DM5 sounds from electronic drum pads. Some electronic drum pads provide MIDI triggers when hit; these can feed directly into the DM5’s MIDI input.
Chapter 6: External Triggering 40 DM5 Reference Manual A BOUT T RIGGER P ARAMETERS The DM5 now offers five user controllable trigger parameters. These are: • VCrv. (Velocity Curve). This represents the velocity curve, or the sensitivity of the trigger input.
External Triggering: Chapter 6 DM5 Reference Manual 41 This chart represents three signals which are “seen” by the DM5. Signal 1 is a legitimate hit from the snare pad. Signal 2 is the Tom 1 pad, but it is not a hit. It is the pad being triggered by stand vibrations from the first snare hit.
Chapter 6: External Triggering 42 DM5 Reference Manual Example: This chart simulates the waveform of a snare drum hit. The first big point in the signal is the actual hit, the rest of the waveform is all decay.
External Triggering: Chapter 6 DM5 Reference Manual 43 Higher settings are useful when trying to extract drum sounds from tape where other sounds are present; often the snare or kick drum will be louder than other sounds, so setting the threshold above the other sounds will allow the snare or kick to trigger the DM5.
Chapter 6: External Triggering 44 DM5 Reference Manual T RIGGER N OTE A SSIGNMENT Each trigger can be assigned to any MIDI note number, which is associated with a corresponding drum sound (programmed according to the instructions on page 27).
External Triggering: Chapter 6 DM5 Reference Manual 45 interaction between the pads, and a high Noise floor setting would be selected to reject the high level of ambient Noise and vibration. In certain cases with crosstalk and Noise floor settings too high, softer hits might become rejected because the DM5 assumes that they are Noise.
Chapter 6: External Triggering 46 DM5 Reference Manual Note : Note Chase will not follow any trigger that has been set to Unassigned. To view an Unassigned trigger’s VU-style bar graph meter in order to adjust gain (page 44), use the [ VALUE ] knob to select the corresponding trigger input (page 43).
External Triggering: Chapter 6 DM5 Reference Manual 47 D ECAY If a pad or drum “double triggers” when it is struck, it may be necessary to adjust the Decay level. This is evident when shortly after the initial strike to a pad, a second trigger from the same pad is generated, or it “double triggers”.
Chapter 6: External Triggering 48 DM5 Reference Manual U NDERSTANDING H I H AT P EDAL M ODE This is a feature for hardcore drummers. It’s a little complicated, but hang in there— the DM5 finally gives you a way to get truly realistic hi hat effects with electronic drums.
External Triggering: Chapter 6 DM5 Reference Manual 49 T IPS O N T RIGGERING F ROM A COUSTIC D RUMS When triggering from an acoustic drum, that is using a contact pick up (transducer) mounted to the head or shell, the same general set-up procedures and parameter principles of triggering from pads apply.
Chapter 6: External Triggering 50 DM5 Reference Manual BASS DRUM ➀ Mount the trigger directly on the impact head. ➁ Place the trigger approximately 2-4 inches in from the rim, and level with the beater. ➂ Slightly reduce the sensitivity of the trigger if it has an adjustment.
External Triggering: Chapter 6 DM5 Reference Manual 51 LARGE TOMS 14"-18" In most cases shell mounting will work the best. However, you might experiment with head mounting and find great results. ➀ Firmly mount the trigger to the shell so that it is approximately one inch from the batter rim.
Chapter 6: External Triggering 52 DM5 Reference Manual.
Troubleshooting: Appendix A DM5 Reference Manual 53 A PPENDIX A T ROUBLE -S HOOTING T ROUBLE -S HOOTING I NDEX If you are experience problems while operating the DM5, please use the following table to locate possible causes and solutions before contacting Alesis customer service for assistance.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting 54 DM5 Reference Manual M AINTENANCE Here are some tips for preventive maintenance. • Periodically check the AC cord for signs of fraying or damage. • Make sure the entire bottom part of the keyboard is supported so that the case is not subjected to unnecessary bending.
An important point after buying a device Alesis DM5 (or even before the purchase) is to read its user manual. We should do this for several simple reasons:
If you have not bought Alesis DM5 yet, this is a good time to familiarize yourself with the basic data on the product. First of all view first pages of the manual, you can find above. You should find there the most important technical data Alesis DM5 - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, Alesis DM5 you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get Alesis DM5 will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of Alesis DM5, but have not read the manual yet, you should do it for the reasons described above. You will learn then if you properly used the available features, and whether you have not made any mistakes, which can shorten the lifetime Alesis DM5.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with Alesis DM5. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device Alesis DM5 along with tips on how to solve them. Even if you fail to solve the problem, the manual will show you a further procedure – contact to the customer service center or the nearest service center
