Alesis S4 Plus - Comparing Edited and Stored Versions; Preset Memory and User Memory

Overview: Chapter 4
S4 Plus Reference Manual 31
Comparing Edited and Stored Versions
When you edit a Program or Mix, you are actually editing a copy which is in a
temporary edit buffer. Therefore, to retain the results of your edit, you must save it to
a particular memory location (see the next section on Storing). If you change memory
locations before saving, the buffer will be replaced and your edits lost.
Because the original Program/Mix remains undisturbed, you can compare the edited
version to the original by using the Compare function. You can only select Compare
mode when either Mix Edit, Program Edit or Effects Edit is selected, and the word
“EDITED” appears in the display below either “MIX,” “PROG” or “EFFECT.”
¿ Press [COMPARE].
The word “COMPARE” will appear in the display, while the word “EDITED” will
disappear.
¡ Press [COMPARE] again to exit Compare mode and return to the edited version.
The word “COMPARE” will disappear from the display, and the word “EDITED”
will reappear. Pressing [MIX] , [PROGRAM] , [GLOBAL] , [STORE] or the
MIX/PROGRAM SELECT [1]—[0] buttons will also exit Compare mode.
J
While Compare mode is selected, you can move around to view the various
parameters, but you will not be able to edit anything. This is because you are seeing
what is in memory, not what is in the edit buffer.
Preset Memory and User Memory
The S4 Plus has two types of memory banks for Mixes and Programs: Preset and
User. The Preset banks, of which there are four, are stored in ROM (Read Only
Memory), and therefore cannot be altered. However, the User bank, of which there is
1, is stored in RAM (Random Access Memory). Anytime you want to keep an edited
version of a Mix or Program, you will store it into the User bank or onto a RAM Card.
If you want to permanently change a Mix or Program that is in the Preset bank, you
can store the edited version into the User bank (in either the same number location or
a different number location). However, this requires that you “store over,” losing
whatever was previously in that location. If you don’t want to lose any of the sounds
in the User bank, you should back-up the entire bank to either an external SRAM or
FlashRAM PCMCIA card, or (via MIDI System Exclusive) into a data storage device
like the Alesis DataDisk or a MIDI sequencer. See Chapter 9 for more information on
external storage operations.