Alesis Melody 54 User Manual page 8

To insert a drum fill into the accompaniment rhythm, press the Fill In button while the
accompaniment rhythm is playing. The accompaniment rhythm will automatically return to its regular
pattern after the fill. The drum fill will vary depending on when you press the Fill In button.
To play an introductory drumbeat for the selected accompaniment rhythm, press the
Intro/Ending button while the accompaniment rhythm is not playing. The introductory drum beat
will be two bars long, and then the accompaniment rhythm will automatically begin playing.
To play an ending drumbeat for the selected accompaniment rhythm, press the Intro/Ending
button while the accompaniment rhythm is playing. After you press the button, the ending drumbeat
will play for two bars, after which the accompaniment rhythm will automatically stop.
To make the accompaniment rhythm automatically start when you play the keys:
1. Select the desired accompaniment rhythm (as described earlier in this section of the manual).
2. Press the Sync button. To indicate that Sync is activated, a dot on the Display will pulse in time
with the currently selected tempo.
3. Play any of the keys below G2. As soon as you play the key(s), the currently selected
accompaniment rhythm will automatically start (without you having to press the Start/Stop
button).
4. When you are finished with the accompaniment rhythm, press the Start/Stop button to stop it. If
you want to use the Sync feature again, repeat Steps 1–2.
Accompaniment Chords
If you would like to have both a drumbeat and chordal harmonies accompany you while you're
playing the keyboard, you can use the accompaniment chord feature.
With this feature activated, the keyboard will automatically play music centered on a specific piano
chord, which may be arpeggiated and/or joined by other instruments (such as a bass guitar). The
music played will match the style of the currently selected accompaniment rhythm. The music will
also adjust when a drum fill or introductory/ending drumbeat is selected.
You need to use the keys below G2 to produce the accompaniment chord. There are four options: a
major, minor, dominant seventh, or minor seventh chord.
To use the accompaniment chord feature:
1. Select the desired accompaniment rhythm (as described in the previous section of this manual).
2. Press the Single Chord button or the Fingered Chord button. The Display will temporarily
update to show which option was selected. Read further for more information on these two
options.
3. Press the Start/Stop button to begin playing the accompaniment rhythm.
Note: It does not matter in which order you perform Steps 2 and 3.
4. Play the keys required to produce the desired accompaniment chord. What keys you need to
play depend on whether you used the Single Chord or Fingered Chord button. Read further for
more details.
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