Alesis AirFX Hand Controlled Digital Effects Unit

airFX is the first product from Alesis to incorporate patent-pending Axyz (pronounced ax-is) technology. Developed by co-founder and CEO of Alesis, Keith Barr, Axyz technology consists of an infrared beam that can be manipulated in three dimensions, along the X, Y, and Z axis. Using triangulation, up to 5 different parameters can be controlled in each preset program.

Designed to draw more people into the world of making music, airFX is easy to operate because 'playing' it is largely based on human intuition. According to Barr, "The exciting thing about airFX is that anyone can play it - from the avid music buff who has never touched or played an instrument to the club DJ who's looking for a new sound to set him apart.

Virtually anyone who wants to be part of the musical process now has the power to make music themselves and they'll find out how truly fun it is. Kids can simply hook it up to a stereo in their bedrooms, wave their hands and they've made new music. airFX makes the process seem almost magical."

airFX eliminates the learning curve associated with playing a traditional instrument or learning a piece of audio gear and provides immediate gratification. The simple interface consists of a single knob, which is used to select, engage, by-pass, freeze, and release a given effect, and an LCD that indicates the current program. 'Playing' airFX involves pressing the knob to engage the effect and then moving a hand through the invisible infrared sphere to create sounds or to alter the incoming audio signal.

The 50 preset programs include effects like panning, flanging, pitch shifting, and resonance filtering. airFX offers a host of other esoteric digital signal processing effects that include programs like Vinylizer(tm) a scratchy vinyl simulator, and a scratching effect that emulates the sound of 'rocking' a vinyl record as it plays on a turn-table. airFX also features real Sub-harmonic synthesis (which creates low frequency harmonics for very low bass sounds), vocoding, synthesizer, and percussion/effect sounds. airFX program names include: Haunted Landscape, Gender Bender, Decimator, SunSpot, Tokyo Phase, Percolator, Overdrive, Psychofase, Ghost Flange, Phasors on Stun, Pitch Transporter, Snake Bite, and Bow Wow.

One of the first Alesis products to feature the company's new industrial design, the unit also features stereo RCA inputs and outputs, a frequency range of 20Hz-20kHz, 24-bit converters, and ships with a 9-volt DC external power supply. Alesis Corporation manufactures a full line of professional audio and musical instrument products capitalizing on its strengths in digital, analog, vacuum tube, and transducer technologies.

Fifty programs designed to modify any audio signal - from CDs and vinyl to real-time live performances and studio tracks:

0 Pitch Out
1 Lord of the Flies
2 Vinylizer
3 Percolator
4 Frankenstein's Lab
5 Overdrive
6 Kenneth's Frequency
7 Horror Show
8 Decimator
9 SunSpot
10 Telephone
11 Big Bottom
12 Snake Bite
13 Bow Wow
14 Smoke
15 AutoWah
16 Formented
17 Orlyfilter
18 Streetsweeper
19 Killswitch
20 Tokyo Phase
21 Phasors on Stun
22 Liquid Metal
23 Spin Cycle
24 Psychofaze
25 AutoFaze
26 Ghost Flange
27 Satellite
28 Fazed Out
29 Forever Flange
30 Strobe Gate
31 Nervous
32 Psychic Pan
33 Kung-Fu Panner
34 Stop it!
35 Freq It!
36 Pitch Transporter
37 Gender Bender
38 Waterbed
39 Spin the Bottle
40 Centrifuge
41 Bottom Feeder
42 Skratch!
43 Haunted Landscape
44 Headhunter
45 Beatbox
46 Slap Synth
47 Jungle Rip
48 War!
49 Sci-Fi Theatre

Technical Info

I/O: Stereo RCA in and out

Nominal Input Voltage: -10dBu

Max Input Voltage: 11.96dBu (4.34Vpp)

Dynamic Range: 102.8 dB (A-weighted)

Signal to Noise Ratio: -102.4dB (A-weighted)

THD+N: 0.0065%

Frequency Response: 20-20000Hz +0/-2.0 dB

Sampling Frequency: 44.1KHz

Converter Resolution: 24-bit (ADC and DAC)

Processor Resolution: 28-bit

All measurements done over a 20Hz-22,000Hz range with 1KHz sine wave at Full Scale, except for the dynamic range, which was done with a -60dBFS 1KHz sine wave.