Alesis Fusion Reference Manual

Chapter 3: Fusion Modes
3
89
Envelopes
If you play a note on a piano (or most other acoustic instruments), you’ll
hear a burst of sound energy as the hammer strikes the string, followed
by lower level of loudness as you hold down the note and let the string
ring out, which fades quickly as soon as you release the note and the
damper is applied. Synthesizer designers model this behavior using
ADSR envelopes. ADSR stands for “attack, decay, sustain, release”, and
represents the different stages that the sound goes through over the life
of the note.
ADSR envelopes are commonly used to control amplitude, but can also
be used to control countless other parameters (i.e., pitch, filter frequency,
etc.) The Fusion allows you to hook up an envelope to any modulatable
parameter using the modulation matrix (see page 236).
Menu: Program/Synth/Envelope
Parameter: Add Env
Value Range: You can create up to 8 envelopes
If the Envelope page appears blank (like the picture above), it means no
envelopes have been created for this program. Go ahead and press the
Add Env. button and this will create an envelope for you. Your screen
will then look like the one below.

Alesis Fusion Specifications

General

Type	Workstation
Polyphony	64 voices
Synthesis Types	Sample Playback, Virtual Analog, FM, Physical Modeling
Display	240 x 128 pixel LCD
MIDI	In, Out, Thru
RAM	64MB (expandable to 192MB)
Weight (61-key)	28 lbs
Keyboard	61 or 88 keys
Keyboard Type	Semi-weighted (61-key), Hammer action (88-key)
Effects	Reverb, Chorus, Delay, Flanger, Phaser, Distortion, EQ
Storage	40GB internal hard drive
Sampling	Yes
Inputs	2 x 1/4" inputs, 1 x XLR
Outputs	4 x 1/4" outputs, 1 x Headphone