Alesis DM Pro Kit Operating and maintenance manual

DM PRO

BASIC USER GUIDE

Here is a quick reference guide to some of the most commonly used

functions of the DM Pro. Refer to the DM Pro Reference Manual for

complete descriptions of the following procedures.

CONNECTIONS DIAGRAM

MIDI CONNECTIONS

If you are using a MIDI keyboard or sequencer, connect its [MIDI OUT] to

the [MIDI IN] of the DM Pro. If you have another device that you wish to

control from the same keyboard or sequencer, connect the [MIDI THRU] of

the DM Pro to the [MIDI IN] of the other device.

If you wish to store your edited Drums and Drumkits to a computer or

other data storage device or use an external editor, connect the [MIDI

OUT] of the DM Pro to the [MIDI IN] of the computer or other data

storage device. If you’re using Emagic’s SoundDiver, it requires a

handshake from the DM Pro, so you must also connect the [MIDI OUT] of

the computer to the [MIDI IN] of the DMPro.

EXTERNAL TRIGGER CONNECTIONS

•The DM Pro’s Drums can be triggered (played) from two sources:

analog triggers and MIDI triggers.

•Typical analog triggers are drum pads available from numerous

manufacturers that connect to the 1/4” jacks on the DM Pro’s rear

panel.

•Because of the wide variety of pads available, setting up external

triggers takes a little time and experimentation. The procedures,

therefore, are not really appropriate here and we recommend that you

go straight to “Chapter 7: Triggers” and “Appendix B: Advanced

Trigger Information” in the DM Pro Reference Manual to get set up

right away.

MIDI TRIGGER SETUPS

MIDI triggers, on the other hand, are a little more straightforward to set

up. Whether you are using a multi-pad device with a MIDI jack built in

or some other type of MIDI device, simply plug a cable from the MIDI

Output jack of that device to the MIDI Input jack of the DM Pro.

Each Drumkit in the DM Pro has 64 consecutive MIDI Note Numbers

available, which can be thought of as locations or slots where Drums

reside. To assign the Drums you want to the MIDI Note numbers you’re

sending from your controller, first call up a Drumkit to edit by following

the procedure described on the next page in the topic “How to Select a

Drumkit.” Then follow the steps on page 4 in the topic “How to Change a

Drum Within a Drumkit.”

PLAYING THE AUTO DEMOS

To give you an idea of the kind of musical power the DM Pro contains, we

have included four “Auto Demos”. These compositions cover a variety of

musical styles, and illustrate how the DM Pro lends itself to many

different environments.

Here’s how to select and play one of the Auto demos:

1. Press and hold the [KIT] button.

2. While still holding the [KIT] button, press the [< CURSOR]

button. You will see a screen that looks like this:

Play Auto demo 1

<STORE>

3. Using the VALUE wheel, select a number between 1 and 4.

4. Press [STORE]. The screen will indicate that the DM Pro is

playing the Auto demo you selected. You can stop the Auto demo

at any time by pressing the [KIT] button.

HOW TO SELECT A DRUMKIT

•To select a Drumkit, press the [KIT] button to jump to the top level of

Drumkit Mode.

•The top level of Drumkit Mode displays the name of the Drumkit in

quotation marks on the top line of the display and nothing on the

bottom line:

“RealProKit”

•Play notes between A0 (MIDI Note # 33) and C6 (MIDI Note # 96) from

your controller to hear the current Drumkit.

• Turn the VALUE encoder to select any of the 64 different Drumkits,

and then press the [KIT] button again to “Load” the Drumkit of your

choice into the “Play Memory” of the DM Pro. Because Drumkits

contain so much information, they must be individually loaded into

the Play Memory after selecting them rather than simply just

selected.

•If the Drumkit number and the [KIT] button are flashing, the Drumkit

currently shown on the display has not yet been loaded – the

previously loaded Drumkit still resides in the Play Memory and will

sound until you press [KIT] to load the new Drumkit.

HOW TO CHANGE A DRUM WITHIN A DRUMKIT

Background Info

• Individual drum and percussion sounds are all called “Drums” in the

DM Pro.

•Each of the 64 Drumkits in turn contain 64 Drums.

•A Drum is assigned to each of the 64 MIDI Notes across the most

commonly used controller range: A0 (MIDI Note # 33) through C6

(MIDI Note # 96), which just slightly exceeds the range of a 5 octave

keyboard.

Procedure #1 - Using the CHASE Function

1. To change Drums, press the DRUM button.

2. Now press the CHASE button so that it lights, and then play a note

from your controller. The display will show the MIDI Note Number of

the note you just played along with the Drum that is currently

assigned to that MIDI Note.

Procedure #2 - Using the Cursor and Value Encoder

1. Alternatively, if you do not wish to use the CHASE Function, press

DRUM, and then move the CURSOR beneath the MIDI Note Number.

Now you can select the MIDI Note with the VALUE encoder:

AKk:005 PwrShoes

Note:36 C1

Drums are displayed with their three character “Drum Group”

followed by the “Drum Number” followed by the “Drum Name”:

•There are 13 Internal Drum Groups from which to choose. Some

abbreviations are obvious and others are less obvious. Here is a listing

of the 13 Internal Drum Groups:

AKk Acoustic Kicks

EKk Electronic Kicks

ASn Acoustic Snares

ESn Electronic Snares

Tom Toms

Hat Hi-hats

Cym Cymbals

AP1 Acoustic Percussion 1

AP2 Acoustic Percussion 2

EPc Electronic Percussion

SFx Sound Effects

Chr Chromatic (pitched percussion)

USR User Bank

•The final “User” Drum Group contains 128 Drums of varying types that

may be overwritten in order to store your own original or edited Drums.

•Once you have selected your desired Drum Group, move the cursor

beneath the Drum Number.

•Using the Value encoder, scroll through the contents of the Drum

Group to find the Drum of your choice.

•To select the Drum for another MIDI Note Number, move the cursor to

the bottom line of the display and turn the Value encoder to select the

desired MIDI Note Number.

•Repeat the process of selecting the Drum Group and Drum Number.

MIDI FUNCTIONS

How to Select MIDI Channels

MIDI Channels are set in the DM Pro for both individual Drums and for

the DM Pro globally (settings that affect the DM Pro regardless of the

mode it’s in).

Primarily, when you set the DM Pro’s Global MIDI settings, you are

making MIDI settings for the unit upon which the other MIDI settings are

based.

P1 The BASIC MIDI CHANNEL Parameter

•This Parameter sets the Basic Channel to which Drums and Drumkits

will respond and on which Triggers will transmit. (Note that the DM

Pro cannot be set to MIDI Omni Mode On as this would create a

confusing situation with the DM Pro’s multichannel, multitimbral

capabilities.)

•Individual DM Pro Drums will respond to the Basic MIDI Channel

unless their MIDI Channel assignments are overridden with the Drum

Channel Override Parameter within the Drumkit MIDI Function. See

the next topic for this procedure.

•To set the Basic MIDI Channel, press the [MIDI] button. The DM Pro

can be in any mode when you do this.

•If the words Basic Channel don’t appear on the top line of the display,

move the cursor to that area of the screen and turn the VALUE encoder

counter-clockwise until the proper page has been selected.

•Move the cursor beneath the Parameter Value.

•Turn the Value encoder to make your selection:

Basic Channel:01

Global Edit P1

•Remember that this is a Global setting. It affects all Drumkits within

the DM Pro so that all Drums which have their Drum Channel

Override parameter set to BASIC will respond on this

MIDI Channel.

P2 The DRUM CHANNEL OVERRIDE Parameter

• This Parameter allows the DM Pro to respond to or transmit on up to

sixteen MIDI Channels simultaneously. The Parameter is called

“Drum Channel Override” because it has the ability to override the

Basic MIDI Channel setting (described in the previous topic) for each

Drum within the Drumkit. This is the parameter to use if you want

independent control of Volume, Panning, Pitch Bend, and Program

Changes for up to sixteen Drums or sets of Drums via MIDI.

•Be sure that the Drumkit on which you want to do your MIDI edits is

the currently selected Drumkit. To do this, follow the procedure on

page 2 of the Basic User Guide for calling up Drumkits.

•Once you have selected the proper Drumkit, press the [MIDI] button.

•To set a Drum to respond to a Channel other than the Basic MIDI

Channel, first select the desired Drum by using one of the two

procedures described in the section called “How to Change a Drum

Within a Drumkit.” Then move the cursor beneath the word BASIC and

turn the Value encoder to select the desired MIDI Channel for that

Drum:

Drum Chan: 01

Note:72 C4 P14

MIDI Program Change Commands

Drumkits

Each of the 64 Drumkits in the DM Pro is considered a “Program” in MIDI.

To change from one Drumkit to another via MIDI, send a Program Change

command on the DM Pro’s Basic Channel (see “P1 The Basic MIDI

Channel Parameter” on the previous page).

Since there are 64 “Programs” (Drumkits) in the DM Pro (00 through 63)

and MIDI allows for 128 Program numbers (00 through 127), the DM Pro

will ignore Program Change commands 64 through 127 on the Basic

Channel.

Drums

Any Drum within a Drumkit which has its Drum Channel Override

parameter set to something other than BASIC can respond to both MIDI

Bank Select and Program Change messages. Each Drum Group has 128

Drums, so the Program Change response range is 0-127. Bank Select

messages of 0 will call up the Acoustic Kicks Drum Group, followed by a

Bank Select message of 1 calling up the Electronic Kicks Drum Group and

so on. A Bank Select message of 13 will call up the User Drum Group.

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