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Chapter 2: Playing the DG8
DG8 REFERENCE MANUAL 35
SELECTING INTERNAL SOUNDS
The DG8’s internal sounds can be selected and arranged in any of four Play Modes or
keyboard setups: Single, Layer, Split and Split-with-Layer.
To make things a little more interesting – and flexible – these modes can also be used
with an external set of sounds provided on an optional PCMCIA Type I-compatible
ROM card such as an Alesis QCard. This Card Bank contains additional sounds that
can be played as Primary sounds but can also be played in a Layer, Split or Split-
with-Layer. Things really get interesting when you combine internal programs with
the external sounds on the QCard.
But for now, we will limit our discussion of selecting sounds and creating Layers
and Splits to the DG8’s
internal Programs, for simplicity. A section dealing with
incorporating external Card Programs will be provided starting on page 40.
Tip: Before proceeding with auditioning sounds in the DG8, raise
the REVERB slider to its middle position. Each internal Sound
Program contains an appropriate reverb setting and using the
mid-point for the slider is a good place to start. You can
always raise or lower a slider at any time to get the reverb
level you like, or pull the slider all the way down to turn it
completely off.
Also, we’d like to suggest that you keep the CHORUS slider at
its off position – all the way down – for now. Most of the
internal Sound Programs also contain an amount of chorus,
but when listening to the DG8’s sounds for the first time,
Chorus should be off. This will give you the most practical
demo of the DG8’s sounds. You can always raise the slider at
any time to get the chorus level you like.
Single Mode
The DG8 is in Single mode when a Keyboard or Card Program is played alone – the
DG8 is not in a Layer or Split. The Program’s name and label appear in the top line of
the display under the
PRIMARY SOUND heading. The Keyboard or Card Program that
is displayed here will be appropriately called the Primary Sound or simply “the
Primary” throughout the manual.
The important concept to understand here is that a Primary Sound is
always active, even when the DG8 is playing a Layer or a Split.
In addition, the Primary Sound is always a Keyboard or a Card
Program, and internal Keyboard Programs can never be the Split
sound.