Alesis Performance Pad Reference Manual page 24

played (i.e., past the downbeat of the next Pattern), the Performance Pad will return to
the original Main Pattern. Example: Suppose an 8-beat A Main Pattern is playing and
you press the FILL button on beat 4 but hold it down past beat 8. The A Fill Pattern will
play the last 4 beats, then the Performance Pad will return to the A Main Pattern.
Fills cannot start on the downbeat since a Fill, by definition, starts at some point into
the Main Pattern. However, anything you record on the Fill downbeat will play on the
first downbeat following the Fill (i.e., the downbeat of the next Pattern). To show why
this is a useful feature, consider that when coming out of a fill, you'll often want to hit
something like a cymbal crash on the downbeat of the next Pattern yet not have that
crash repeat every time the Pattern plays. This way of handling Fills lets the downbeat
cymbal crash be part of the Fill instead of the Pattern.
A footswitch plugged into the Count/A/B/Fill jack duplicates the FILL button function
when playing Patterns in Perform mode.
Background This way of handling Patterns explains the logic behind having A, B, and
Fill Patterns. In typical pop tunes, A would be the verse and B the chorus. A Fill
provides the Fill that transitions from verse to chorus, and B Fill provides the Fill that
transitions from chorus to verse. Thus, one of the numbered Patterns may be all you
need to put together a tune.
This structure makes it possible to put together songs in minutes using the Preset
Patterns. It also makes it easy to play drum parts live. For example, if there's a solo
happening over the A Main Pattern, you can keep the Pattern repeating until the solo
is about to end, at which point you select the Fill that leads out of the A Main Pattern.
3.1 Record a Pattern
An empty Pattern defaults to an 8 beat length, with 16th note quantization and swing
off (50%). If you need to change the length, it's best (though not essential) to do so
before recording. Other parameters can be changed while you're recording.
To record, select the desired User Pattern. Select Compose mode and press PLAY.
Remember that you can switch between Compose and Perform while recording.
As you record, the display will show the current beat number and the tempo indicator
will flash at the current tempo. You will hear any drum sounds already recorded in the
currently selected Pattern.
To record drum parts into the Pattern, strike the drum pads, or send MIDI data to the
Performance Pad (sections 6.1 and 6.2) that triggers corresponding drum notes. The
Pattern will "loop" during the record process so that you can overdub different drums
on different passes.
To exit Record mode, press STOP. Pressing PLAY while in Compose mode will re-
start the Pattern from the beginning; the Performance Pad remains in record mode.
Note: When sending MIDI data into the drums when the Performance Pad is not
recording (i.e., the Performance Pad serves as a drum sound expander module), the
drum sounds respond to 127 different levels of dynamics. However, if MIDI is used as
a trigger during the recording process, the Pattern will "quantize" the incoming level to
the nearest of eight levels—the same eight levels produced by striking the pads at
various levels.
20