Alesis Fusion Tutorial

ALESIS FUSION ANALOG SYNTHESIS TUTORIAL
Attack Decay Release Sustain
TIME
Note-On
L
E
V
E
L
Note-Off
The Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release phases are often abbreviated to ADSR.
When applied to an amplifier, we can see how it works:
The constant level output from the oscillators/filter is fed to the final amplifier, the output of
which is controlled exclusively by its envelope generator. When the envelope is triggered, it
opens allowing sound to pass through and the ‘shape’ of the sound at the output of the
amplifier is determined by the control shape of the envelope as set by the ADSR controls.
These four controls allow an astonishing number of permutations of envelope shapes to be
created and it is surprising how a sound can be transformed simply by trying different envelope
shapes - an aggressive bass can become a slow pad whilst a slow pad can be transformed into
a spiky arpeggiator sound. In fact, when wanting to make quick, radical changes to a sound,
the amplifier’s envelope is always a good first port of call.... it is surprising how much this can
transform a sound.
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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