Alesis Fusion User manual

Fusion
Reference Manual

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Table Of Contents
1
Introduction ........................................................5
Welcome! .......................................................................... 5
Unpacking and Inspection .......................................... 6
How to Use This Manual .............................................. 6
Main Features................................................................. 7
The Fusion’s Synthesis Engine.............................................................8
Eight Channel Hard Disk Recorder ....................................................10
Sampling Capability................................................................................10
Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware ...........................11
Center Section.........................................................................................11
Performance Panel Description ...........................................................12
Audio Hookup Diagram: ......................................................................14
MIDI Hookup: .......................................................................................17
Computer/USB Hookup: .....................................................................18
Powering the Fusion ..............................................................................19
Factory Reset...........................................................................................20
Chapter 2: Fusion Basics ..................................21
Fusion 101: The Basics.................................................. 21
What is a Program? ................................................................................21
What is a Mix?.........................................................................................21
What is a Song?.......................................................................................21
What is a Sampler? .................................................................................21
Fusion Architecture................................................................................22
Getting Around on the Fusion .................................... 23
The Mode Buttons .................................................................................23
Navigating The Fusion’s Menus...........................................................25
Useful Navigation Shortcuts.................................................................28
Storing Your Work ......................................................... 31
Storing Programs, Mixes, Songs, and Multisamples..........................31
The Clipboard .........................................................................................34
Connecting to a Computer via USB....................................................36
Chapter 3: Fusion Modes ..................................37
Program Mode ................................................................ 37
Setting Overall Program Parameters ...................................................37
Synthesis Type: Sample Playback .........................................................45
Synthesis Type: Drum............................................................................52
Synthesis Type: Analog..........................................................................63
Synthesis Type: FM ................................................................................70
Synthesis Type: Reed Model .................................................................77
Synthesis Type: Wind Model ................................................................81
Program Utility Page..............................................................................85
Filters........................................................................................................87
Envelopes ................................................................................................89
Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs).....................................................95
Mix Mode.......................................................................... 99
Setting Overall Mix Parameters............................................................100
Setting Individual Part Parameters.......................................................103
Mix Utility Page ......................................................................................113

Table Of Contents
2
Song Mode ....................................................................... 115
Setting Overall Song Parameters..........................................................116
Setting Track Parameters.......................................................................123
Editing Song Tracks ...............................................................................135
Track Editing Filters ..............................................................................145
Processing Synth and Audio Tracks ....................................................147
Song Utility Page ....................................................................................167
Sampler Mode ................................................................. 171
Setting Overall Sample Settings............................................................172
Setting Individual Zone Settings..........................................................173
Capturing Samples..................................................................................179
Editing and Processing Samples ..........................................................186
Sampler Utility Page...............................................................................189
Mixer Mode...................................................................... 190
Mixer Mode .............................................................................................190
Using the Mixer ......................................................................................190
Global Mode .................................................................... 193
Global Workstation Settings .................................................................193
Global MIDI Settings ............................................................................196
Global Controller Settings: ...................................................................198
Metronome Settings...............................................................................200
Multitrack Audio Input Settings...........................................................202
Other Global Settings (USB & User Interface).................................203
The Item Explorer .................................................................................204
The Media Explorer:..............................................................................208
Operating System Information ............................................................209
Upgrading your Operating System ......................................................210
System CPU Usage.................................................................................211
Setting the Date and Time ....................................................................212
Chapter 4: Common Features..........................213
The Arpeggiator ............................................................. 213
Configuring Your Arpeggiation Patterns............................................215
Recording Arpeggiation Patterns.........................................................227
Processing Your Recorded Arpeggiations..........................................230
Editing your Arpeggiation Patterns.....................................................232
The Modulation Matrix ................................................ 236
Creating and Deleting Modulation Routes.........................................237
Editing Your Modulation Routes.........................................................239
Effects............................................................................... 249
Master EQ ...............................................................................................249
Insert Effects...........................................................................................252
Bus Effects ..............................................................................................255
Creating and Deleting Effects Modulation Routes...........................259
Editing Your Effects Modulation Routes...........................................260
Output Block Diagram..........................................................................262

Table Of Contents
3
Appendix A: Effects and Implementation ....263
Master EQ Effects Parameters.............................................................263
Insert Effects Parameters......................................................................264
Bus Effects Parameters..........................................................................273
MIDI Implementation Chart (Synthesizer)........................................283
MIDI Implementation Chart (Sequencer)..........................................284
Appendix B: Frequently Asked Questions....285
Appendix C: Troubleshooting..........................287
Index......................................................................289
Specifications ......................................................291
Sound Engine..........................................................................................291
Sampling Inputs......................................................................................291
Multitrack Inputs ....................................................................................291
Audio Output..........................................................................................292
Physical.....................................................................................................292
Legal Information: .................................................................................293

Table Of Contents
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Introduction
5
Welcome!
Thanks for purchasing the Fusion digital audio workstation! The Fusion
one of the most powerful and full-featured products we’ve ever built,
and we’re sure you’ll love using it!
You could say Alesis knows a few things about synthesis. We have a 15-
year long track record of creating some of the most powerful and well-
regarded keyboards in the world. We’ve used everything we learned in
the past while keeping our eyes open to future possibilities in order to
make the Fusion the best workstation you’ve ever used. We hope the
Fusion will be remembered as the next great Alesis keyboard.
Be sure to register your Fusion at our website (www.alesis.com) so we can
give you the best possible service. And since the Fusion’s operating
system is upgradeable, check the site once in a while for late breaking
news. Future versions of the operating system will include things like
new features requested by our users as well as improvements to existing
features. Also, you might want to check for new program banks and
sounds every once in a while.
We hope your investment will bring you many years of creative
enjoyment and help you achieve your musical goals.
Sincerely,
The People of Alesis

Introduction
6
Unpacking and Inspection
The shipping carton for your Fusion should contain the following items:
• A Fusion 6HD or 8HD workstation
• AC power cable
• This Reference manual
• A Quickstart guide
• Important Safety and Warranty Information
• A registration reminder card
Please log on to the Alesis website at www.alesis.com to register your new
Fusion synthesizer. This will help us give you the best support we
possibly can.
How to Use This Manual
We’re sure you’d like to jump in and start using your Fusion quickly. To
help you do this, check out the Fusion’s Quickstart guide. The
Quickstart guide is a separate manual that should have everything you
need to start playing quickly.
Once you’re ready for more in-depth information, this reference manual
is for you. This manual will describe the workings of every single feature
and parameter on the Fusion and you should be able to find answers to
all of your Fusion questions here.
We’ve also compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions at the end of
this manual that should address many of your troubleshooting questions.
Please check the FAQ before contacting our technical support staff as
that will save time and energy for both you and our friendly support staff.
Helpful tips and advice are highlighted in a
s
haded box like this.
When something important appears in the
manual, an exclamation mark (like the one
shown at left) will appear with some
explanatory text.

Introduction
7
Main Features
Your Fusion workstation is packed with features to help you make better
music. Let’s take a quick look at these features and get a sense of why
each feature is important.
Total Integration
The Fusion has one of the biggest feature lists of any
workstation on the market today. That said, the beautiful thing
about this workstation is not its sheer number of features, but
rather the perfect integration of these features with each other.
All the different parts (synthesizers, hard disk recorder, sampler,
arranger, mixer, etc.) talk to each other intelligently so that you
can focus on writing songs rather than troubleshooting why one
part won’t work well with another.
For example, you can use Song mode to arrange and record
digital audio and MIDI seamlessly on the same screen. You
don’t need to worry about getting a separate MIDI arranger and
hard disk recorder to work together since we’ve taken care of
that for you. Once you’re done arranging, each of your synth
and audio tracks automatically appear on your mixer for quick
and intuitive mixing just like on a hardware mixer. Again,
everything is automatically and intuitively laid out in a way that
makes sense to musicians. Even loading, saving, and organizing
your songs and programs (which can often turn into a
troubleshooting headache) has been made completely
seamless—you can load programs from either the hard disk or
compact flash memory without ever having to worry about
what’s going on “under the hood” of the workstation (if you
don’t want to, that is).
Intuitive Interface
We’ve analyzed how musicians commonly work and figured out
ways of streamlining the songwriting process. For example,
we’ve minimized keypresses and placed shortcuts and quick
access buttons right where most musicians will want them.
The user interface was carefully designed for both novice
keyboard players and hardcore synth enthusiasts alike. We did
this through a two level interface design: On the top level,
novice users can find what they need quickly without ever
having to see (or deal with) the more complex inner workings
of the keyboard. On the other hand, knob twiddlers can go
digging inside the Fusion’s deeper menus and program to their
hearts’ content. Regardless of the type of user you are, you’ll
find the interface to be clean and intuitive.

Introduction
8
The Fusion’s Synthesis Engine
Your Fusion is capable of four completely different types of synthesis:
Sample Playback, Virtual Analog, FM, and Physical Modeling. Our brand
new “Dynamic DSP Synthesis” engine lets you load up any combination
of synthesis types you’d like to use. There are no artificial limits placed
on synthesis or polyphony—you’re free to configure and push your
Fusion as far as the synth engine can handle (which is pretty far
considering there are eight processors inside).
Sample Playback
Sample playback synthesis lets you use recorded sounds of
actual instruments (or any recorded sound, for that matter) to
create a program. For example, the Fusion’s “Grand Piano”
program is actually a carefully recorded concert grand. In
general, sample playback synthesis is a great way of reproducing
lifelike versions of real, acoustic instruments.
Virtual Analog (VA) Synthesis
Analog synthesis lets you create wonderfully complex sounds
using a small number of simple waveforms, envelopes, and low
frequency oscillators.
What does all this mean in musical terms? It means you can
create the deep basses, lush pads, and many other sounds analog
synthesizers are known for without the difficulty and expense
of real-analog synthesis.
FM Synthesis
FM synthesis was created in the 1970s and became an overnight
sensation because of its ability to produce electronic piano, bell,
and melodic percussion sounds such as vibes and marimba.
These sounds are created by taking sound sources and
modulating their frequencies.
Programming FM synthesizers used to be a challenge because it
can be hard to conceptualize and visualize how your waveforms
are interacting with each other. We carefully designed the
Fusion’s graphical FM signal router to let you know what’s
going on without overwhelming you with too much
information, making it easy to sculpt the perfect sound you
want. All of the detailed information can be found on separate
sub-pages within the FM Synthesis section.

Introduction
9
Physical Modeling
Physical modeling is a state-of-the-art process that
mathematically describes how a sound wave would behave if it
were Inside a real instrument. This results in incredibly lifelike
virtual instruments that you can play on the Fusion. The cool
thing is that you can actually create virtual instruments that do
not (or cannot) exist in real life by simply setting your
parameters accordingly. For example, you can create a 30-foot
long flute played with a hurricane-strength breath if you’d
like—the sky is the limit!
Physical models involve a lot of math and model parameters are
often very complex and difficult to understand. We took a
great deal of care in designing an interface that musicians can
relate to—enabling you to tweak your sounds in real-time
without complex math or confusing parameters. Currently, the
Fusion has two physical models letting you create the most
realistic (or unreal, if that’s what you’re into) wind and reed
instruments ever to come out of a synthesizer.

Introduction
10
Eight Channel Hard Disk Recorder
Most keyboard players that record songs end up taking their synthesizer
parts and recording them on to a separate multitrack recorder along with
other live instruments (drums, guitar, etc.) Having built some legendary
multitrack recorders in the past including the ADAT and the HD24, we
integrated an 8-channel, 24-bit hard disk recorder in the Fusion.
There are several advantages to having an integrated multitrack recorder
over a separate keyboard and multitrack. First, you have much less gear
to buy, carry around, and maintain—with the Fusion, you can do all your
recording and mixing in one box making it much easier to record on the
road. Second, since the synthesizers, sequencer, and multitrack recorder
are built to work together from the ground up, you won’t spend any time
troubleshooting why things aren’t working correctly. Finally, since you’re
arranging and editing all of your MIDI and audio on one screen, you’ll
find it much easier and faster to compose and record songs.
The inputs record at 24 bit, 44.1 kHz and can be active at the same time,
letting you record up to eight channels simultaneously. All inputs are
balanced and the recorder has standard transport controls with locate
points.
Sampling Capability
If you want to create a custom program using your own sounds, you can
do it with the Fusion’s sampler. The sampler has stereo inputs with a
Trim knob for adjusting levels. Your recorded samples can be either
mono or stereo, and are recorded and stored files on either the Fusion’s
internal hard disk or Compact Flash cards.

Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware
11
Center Section
1. Mode Selection Buttons (Mix, Program, Song, Sampler, Mixer and
Global): These buttons select the main modes of the Fusion.
2. Soft Buttons (No Labels on the front panel): These buttons match up
with the LCD screen labels and let you navigate the user interface.
3. Contrast Control: This knob adjusts the contrast of the LCD screen.
4. Category and Bank Buttons (Category, Bank forward and reverse):
The category button brings up the category function on the LCD screen.
The Bank forward and reverse buttons allow you to quickly move
through sound banks.
5. Quick Access Buttons (A-P , 1-8): These buttons allow you to
directly select a Bank and a specific Program in a Bank.
6. Transport Controls (Locate, Set Locate, Rewind, Fast Forward, Stop,
Play and Record): These buttons are used to play songs, set and select
Locate points in a song, as well as other control functions in other
Modes.
7. Control Wheel and Edit Buttons (Edit, Prev, Next, Inc, Dec, Store
and Undo): The Control Wheel is used for quickly moving through
values on the screen when the cursor is highlighting a parameter. The
Edit button allows you to look “under the hood” of the mode that is
currently selected. The undo button allows you to revert to previous
settings of parameters in case you change your mind about an edit you’ve
made. The Store button allows you to name and save your work. The
Prev and Next buttons let you to navigate the parameters on the pages.
Finally, the Inc and Dec buttons let you step through the values of a
highlighted parameter.
8. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display): This screen is used to view
parameters and information in relationship to the mode you have
selected.

1 Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware
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Performance Panel Description
The Fusion’s Performance Panel has several real-time controllers (wheels,
knobs, buttons, and switches) that you can assign to perform a variety of
tasks. These controllers let you tweak sounds in real-time as you play for
maximum expression and sonic control.
The Performance Panel’s components consist of the following:
1. PITCH BEND WHEEL: This wheel lets you raise or lower the
pitch of your program during a performance. Push this wheel forward
to raise the pitch and pull it back toward you to lower the pitch. The
wheel is spring loaded and will snap back to normal once you let go.
You can change the pitch bend range on a per-program basis in the
Program/Pitch page under the Program menu. See “Pitch Bend Range”
parameter on page 41 for more about this.
2. MODULATION WHEEL: The mod wheel can be assigned to
control a variety of parameters including vibrato, tremolo, FM amount,
etc. This wheel is usually mapped to vibrato as a default, but it is
possible to map it to almost anything on the Fusion.
Use the modulation matrix to map the mod wheel. See page 236 for
more about the modulation matrix.
3. PERFORMANCE GRID: The Performance Grid lets you assign
what your four Control Knobs do (see section 6 for more on the Control
Knobs). By having four “rows,” of functions, the knobs can actually
control up to 16 different parameters. You can easily tell what row is
selected because the active row is brightly lit whereas the other rows
remain dimmed. The ARP, FILTER, EQ, and ASSIGN buttons (see
below) are used to select your active row.
12
34
6
5
7
8

Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware 1
13
4. ARP, FILTER, EQ, ASSIGN: These buttons select the active row
on the performance panel. ARP, FILTER, and EQ are hard-wired to
arpeggiator, filter, and EQ functions whereas the assign row lets you map
the Control Knobs to any parameters of your choosing. You’ll notice
the names of the knobs on the bottom of the LCD screen change to
reflect what row you’ve selected. For example, if you select “EQ,” the
bottom of the screen will change to Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid, and High.
The Assign row knobs can be assigned through the Modulation Matrix.
See page 236 for more about the modulation matrix.
5. CONTROL KNOBS: These knobs can be used to manipulate all
kinds of parameters within the Fusion like filter frequencies, resonance,
modulation, or even tempo. The Performance Grid (see section #3
above) tells you what your knobs are currently assigned to control.
When you then turn a knob, you’ll notice the on-screen knob (at the top
level of Program, Mix, and Song Modes) will change accordingly.
These knobs work in real-time so you can hear the effects of your knob
twiddling as you play.
6. ARP On/Off, S1, S2: The ARP On/Off (Arpeggiator) button
engages and disengages the Fusion’s arpeggiator. The S1 and S2 buttons
are assignable ON/OFF switches that can be set to affect all kinds of
functions within the Fusion such as filters or effects sends. Switch
assignments can be made through the modulation matrix. See page 236
for more about the matrix. See page 213 for more about the
Arpeggiator.
7. TRIGGER 1 – 4: These four assignable buttons can trigger envelopes,
LFOs, and many other functions. Unlike the S1 and S2 switches
described above, these trigger buttons are only active when you are
holding them down—once you release the triggers they become inactive.
Use the Modulation Matrix to assign these buttons (see page 236 for
more).
8. MASTER VOLUME: This is the Fusion’s master volume control.

1 Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware
14
Audio Hookup Diagram:
This diagram will show you how you can hook up your Fusion to the rest
of your studio. Let’s go through and discuss the inputs and outputs.
We’ll start from the left side of the diagram above and work our way to
the right:
Sampling inputs: These inputs—labeled “Left/Mono” and “Right”—
feed the Fusion’s internal sampler. You can use these inputs to capture
sounds to convert into a custom program. The workstation lets you
sample in stereo or mono, and the Gain trim knob lets you to set input
level.
Note that you can use these inputs to route a microphone (or other
external device) through the Fusion’s synthesis or effects engines. This
effectively turns the Fusion into an extremely powerful effects processor.
Headphone outputs: Connect your headphones to this output. This
output mirrors whatever is coming out of the Main Outputs of the
Fusion. In other words, if you’ve routed any sounds out of the Aux
Outputs, you will not hear them in the headphones.
About the Inputs and Outputs:
All audio inputs and outputs use balanced
¼” TRS connectors. You can use
unbalanced ¼” TS cables for these
connections, but you should consider using
balanced cabling for maximum clarity and
lowest noise. This is especially important if
you have long cables in your studio since
audio quality quickly degrades as
unbalanced cabling increases in length.

Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware 1
15
Main Outputs: These are the Fusion’s primary outputs. By default, all
multitrack and synthesizer audio is routed to these outputs and you’ll
generally connect these outputs to your amplifier (or mixer).
Aux Outputs: These are a second pair of outputs to which you can
route multitrack and synthesizer audio if you’d like to process these
tracks differently.
S/PDIF Output: This output is designed to transfer sounds digitally to
other gear in your studio that supports S/PDIF. This output mirrors
whatever is being sent out of the main outs on the synth.
Optical Output: This optical digital output is supports 8-channel
ADAT format. The output will be as follows:
Foot Pedals: These three inputs allow you to control a variety of
functions. EXPRESSION is the Fusion’s continuous controller
expression pedal input and can be assigned to control things like volume.
The FOOTSWITCH input is configurable and lets you trigger envelopes,
LFOs, and other events with your foot. It is similar to the trigger
buttons found on the Performance Panel. Unlike the EXPRESSION
input, the FOOTSWITCH is binary and is either “on” or “off ” with no
range of control in between.
The SUSTAIN input is for a sustain pedal and is commonly used by
keyboard instruments to hold notes. Like the FOOTSWITCH, the
SUSTAIN pedal input is either “on” or “off ” and there is no middle
ground.
ADAT
Channel
Output
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Main Out Left
Main Out Right
Aux Out Left
Aux Out Right
Insert 1 Send Left
Insert 2 Send Left
Insert 3 Send Left
Insert 4 Send Left
A note on S/PDIF cabling
The S/PDIF jack on the back of the Fusion
looks like a standard RCA connector, but
you cannot use ordinary audio cables for
this connection. S/PDIF requires special
75-ohm “digital audio” cables to work
properly and will most likely result in very
loud white noise if you use the wrong type of
cables. If you’re hearing clicks, pops, or
white noise when using S/PDIF, your cable
is the likely culprit.
Why have two sets of outputs?
Let’s say you’ve set up a bass/lead split but
you want to EQ and process each part
differently using outboard gear. No
problem—just route the bass to one output
(either Main or Aux Out) and the lead to the
other. Now you have two totally separate
instruments coming out of each output.
If your programs are mono, you actually
have four discrete channels to work with
(Main Left, Main Right, Aux Left, and Aux
Right), giving you even more flexibility for
outboard processing/mixing.

1 Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware
16
Multitrack Inputs: These eight inputs link directly to the Fusion’s hard
disk recorder. You can use these inputs to record things like live
instruments (guitars, bass, drums, etc.) as well as mixers, CD players,
turntables, and more. Note that you need to plug in a line level signal
into these inputs and many instruments (condenser microphones, guitars,
turntables, etc.) will require a preamplifier to bring the signal up to line
level before you can record into the Fusion.
The inputs can be switched between -10 and +4 dB to accommodate all
kinds of gear ranging from “consumer” to “professional” grade (see
page 202 for more on this). The internal recorder captures audio at a
sampling rate of 44.1k with 24-bit audio fidelity letting you make
extremely high quality recordings without any additional gear.

Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware 1
17
MIDI Hookup:
This diagram shows common ways of hooking up your Fusion to other
gear in your studio through MIDI.
MIDI IN: Hook up the MIDI output of your external gear to the
“MIDI In” of the Fusion when you want the Fusion to receive MIDI
data from the outside world. There are two common scenarios in which
you’ll want this:
1. You may want to use another keyboard to control the Fusion. This is
commonly done by synth players on stage if they want to use one
“master” keyboard to control all other keyboards.
2. You may want to arrange a song on a computer MIDI sequencer, and
then use the sequencer to play back sounds from the Fusion.
MIDI OUT: If you want to use your Fusion to control other
synthesizers or to send MIDI data to a MIDI sequencing program on a
computer, you should connect this output to the input of your MIDI
destination device (sound modules, other keyboards, external sequencer,
etc).
MIDI THRU: All MIDI data that comes in on the “MIDI IN”
connection is passed through the Fusion and sent out of the “MIDI
THRU” jack completely unaffected. This is a useful feature for people
using multiple keyboards (or MIDI modules) along with a “Master”
MIDI controller because it lets you pass MIDI data to all of your synths.

1 Chapter 1: Fusion Hardware
18
Computer/USB Hookup:
USB: Connect your Fusion to a Mac or PC for easy file transfers. The
Fusion supports USB 2.0 and is fully backwards-compatible with USB
1.1/1.0, but we highly recommend using 2.0 since audio files tend to be
quite large and transfers will be slower on USB 1.1/1.0 connections.
The Fusion is designed to work with any computer that supports “USB
Mass Storage” devices using the FAT32 formatting standard. Current
versions of virtually all common operating systems support these
features.
For more about memory, storage, and file
management, see the section titled “Storing
Your Work” starting on page 37.