Alesis A6 User Manual

While many of the A6’s pages make use of all eight knobs and buttons, many do not.
You may notice that sometimes knobs and buttons will become inactive because the
display doesn’t need them. But there are two soft buttons – 

 and 

 – that are always

active. They are used to lock the display.

As mentioned at the beginning of this topic, the display will react to virtually any
change you make to any of the front panel controls. This causes a lot of display
switching and can be distracting. If you want to prevent the display from switching
screens when performing numerous edits, press soft buttons 

 and 

 together. This

will lock the display in its current screen, and 

DISPLAY LOCKED

 will flash over soft

knobs 4 and 5. You can continue to make adjustments to any parameter, but the
display stays put. Press 

 and 

 again (or any 

button) to turn this function off.

▲ and ▼ Arrows

For the majority of parameters in the A6, numeric values are displayed with
fractional amounts, represented by the digits to the right of the decimal point. This
allows for very precise adjustments to be made to parameters that support fractional
values. The 

▲

 (increment) and 

▼ 

(decrement) arrows are used to make fine

adjustments to any parameter that is displayed with a fractional value.

Holding an arrow down scrolls the values. You’ll notice that the changing values will
accelerate the longer you hold the arrow button down.

 will either set the selected parameter to zero

or to a useful default or neutral value. For example, if the 

 wave’s 

WIDTH

parameter is selected, pressing both arrows together sets its value to 50%. If 

 is selected, pressing both arrows together sets its value to 50. Generally,

most parameters with a 0 to 100 or a -100 to +100range will reset to 0.

The 

 knob above the 

▼

 and 

▲ 

arrows is used to adjust the contrast of the

display.

The row of rectangular buttons just below the display area are used to select the
Programs within a Mix. When a Mix Channel is ON, its associated LED will light.
When a Mix Channel is currently selected for editing in the display, its LED will
blink.

When the A6 is in Mix mode, pressing one the 

 through 

 buttons selects

a specific Mix Channel – the group of settings that affect each Program in a Mix (the
Program number, its transpose value, its individual MIDI Channel, etc.). Pressing a
numbered button alone selects Mix Channels 

 through 

. Pressing and holding 

while pressing a numbered button selects Mix Channels 

 through 

.