Thanks for your work! I didn’t read anything, yet. But what i read is really well writen and explained. Tommorow i want to “test” the chapter 4… 
I decided to make a few more entries in section 4, on Live Patterns and Misc. settings on the Jam page, so that the whole Jam affair is complete. After these sections there’s section 6 (‘Some advanced features’), and the table of contents for it is:
- Some advanced features
6.1. Using a bus to control a track
6.1.1. The MODE page
6.1.2. Setting up sending and receiving tracks
6.1.3. Receiving track mode: Transposer
6.1.4. Receiving track mode: Arpeggiator
6.1.5. Using a MIDI controller to control track transpose or arpeggio
6.1.6. Sending CCs over a bus to control track settings
6.2. Force to Scale
6.3. Random generator
6.4. Euclidean rhythm generator
6.4.1. Euclidean rhythm generator for Drum type tracks
6.4.2. Euclidean rhythm generator for Note type tracks
6.5. Mixer maps
Questions/issues:
- Possible bug on Live Patterns subpage on the Jam page: if the Ptn. page is selected on the left LCD, but you change certain settings on the two LCDs and then press SELECT again to edit live patterns (Ptn. is still selected), the edit mode won’t go on, but instead the page selection will change away from Ptn. to another page (on the left LCD). This happens if you have Ptn. page selected, change one the following settings, and then press SELECT to edit: If you pressed Length (GPK14), changes to MIDI page, if you pressed Fwd, changes to Step page, if you pressed Rec, changes to Step page. I think as long as Ptn. is selected, pressing & holding SELECT should always go to edit live patterns mode. Also, as a separate(?) phenomenon, if you press & release the SELECT button four times in a row, the fourth press changes away from the Ptn. page and to the MIDI page.
- Possible bug on Misc. settings subpage on the Jam page: misc page octave transpose, FX and FTS on/off states have no effect
- In section 6.1. on arpeggiator tracks: Up to four-note chords are supported, but what about the new chord parameter layer chords (the firmware is not ready yet) that have more than four notes in them?
- MODE page ‘Restart’ option: there seems to be some false triggering going on with restart (one key press results in one or more triggerings), as well as short delays in re-starting the track sometimes
- I don’t really understand how the FX -> Scale page settings ‘Control’. On the one hand, the official manual says of Control: “the scale and root note can either be controlled globally or pattern based”, but on the other hand it says “Only one group can control the scale and root note”. The first would seem to say that either you have one scale to rule them all (‘Global’), or alternatively each group can have its own scale. But the second seems to say that only one group can determine the scale.
- I’m not quite sure how ‘Root’ works either. Is it so, that if I set ‘Root’ to ‘E’, and scale is ‘Natural minor’, all notes will be forced into the E natural minor scale? If ‘Root’ is set to ‘Keyb’ and scale is ‘Natural minor’, and I press C# on the keyboard, all force-to-scale tracks are forced to C# natural minor scale?
- Mixer maps: are the freely assignable CCs the standard MIDI CCs?
------------------------------8<-------------------------
4.1.5. Live Patterns
The Live Patterns function allows you to effect rhythm patterns that have either been prepared earlier, or ones that are created or edited live. Live patterns play “on top of” the track, without overwriting anything, but the patterns can also be recorded on the track if needed. Each session has its own set of live patters, and they cannot be imported to other sessions.
Live patterns are useful especially for spicing up Drum type tracks, though they can be used for other track types as well. The patterns can be activated with MIDI controller keys, and their playback velocity can be controlled with aftertouch (note that many MIDI controllers don’t support aftertouch). The Live Patterns page ‘Ptn.’ can be found on the Jam page (GPB6), and the Live Patterns menu is available on the right LCD.
The sequencer has to be running and the Jam page function Fwd has to be set to ‘on’ for Live Patterns to work. Note that having Fwd ‘on’ might conflict with your MIDI Router settings. (For details, see Appendix 3.)
4.1.5.1. Live Patterns for Drum type tracks
As a Drum type track is probably the most likely candidate for Live Patterns use, the functions will be covered in detail with drum tracks, and only the few differences explained in the next section with regard to other track types.
For a Drum type track, the Live Patterns page allows you to effect one of 16 different live patterns for any of the available drum instruments. Select the drum instrument that you want with GPK9. ‘Ptn.’ setting turns the live patterns function ‘on’ and ‘off’ for the selected drum instrument.
If ‘Ptn.’ is ‘off’ for a drum instrument, pressing the appropriate key on your MIDI controller for e.g. a bass drum sound (the key which each drum sound is associated with is set on the drum track’s EVENT page) will both play the drum instrument in question as well as select it for pattern assigning. If ‘Ptn.’ is ‘on’, pressing & holding the appropriate key for e.g. a bass drum sound will not play a bass drum sound, but instead will keep effecting the chosen live pattern as long as the key is held.
The live pattern will be played with the velocity with which you hit the key on your MIDI controller. If your MIDI controller sends aftertouch messages, the velocity of the pattern can be controlled with aftertouch. If you want maximum control over the velocity of the live pattern, press the controller key very softly, and then use only aftertouch to control the playback velocity. If you hit the key hard, that will determine the initial velocity of the pattern, but after applying aftertouch, it is the aftertouch amount that will keep determining the playback velocity of the live pattern.
Note that if Rec on the Jam page is ‘on’, your key presses will be recorded on the track. If Rec is ‘on’ while also Ptn. is ‘on’ (GPB10), recording on the track will take place only for those steps where the current live pattern is triggered.
If you just want to effect the live patterns when you press a key, but don’t want to record anything on the track, make sure Rec is ‘off’.
Live patterns will be played “on top of” the “normal” track. For example, if you have a bass drum playing quarter notes on the track and you effect a live pattern on any drum instrument, the “normal” track will keep playing in the backgroud normally (it won’t get muted, overwritten etc.), and the live pattern is played in addition to it, fill-style.
There are 16 live patterns per session, and each pattern is always 16 steps long.
Example: You could select one live pattern for each drum instrument, set ‘Ptn.’ to ‘on’ for each drum instrument, and then use the MIDI controller keys to effect the selected patterns for each individual drum instrument.
The live patterns can be edited live while you’re on the Live Patterns page. Press & hold SELECT to enter the edit mode (“EDIT” will appear in the right upper corner of the right LCD). While SELECT is pressed & held, you can use the GP buttons to turn each of the 16 steps of the current live pattern ‘on’ and ‘off’. Accent can be effected for each step by pressing a GP button for turned-on step another time, in which case that live pattern step will be played at maximum velocity, regardless of aftertouch value. A diamond-shaped symbol denotes normal velocity (controlled by aftertouch), and a “?” denotes accent velocity (no aftertouch sensitivity).
While on the Live Patterns page, you can copy the current live pattern either with GPB15 (‘Cpy’) or with the dedicated COPY button on the frontpanel. Likewise, while on the Live Patterns page, you can paste the copied live pattern with GPB16 (‘Paste’) or with the dedicated PASTE button on the frontpanel. This means that the COPY and PASTE buttons won’t copy or paste the *track contents* as they normally do. Also the CLEAR button on the frontpanel has a specialised function while you’re on the Live Patterns page: it clears the current live pattern instead of the track.
The Length setting (for note length) has no effect on a Drum type track.
4.1.5.2. Live Patterns for other tracks types
If the track is a Note, Chord or CC type track, the basic operation principles are the same as on a Drum type track. Compared among themselves, Note, Chord and CC type tracks work almost identically, though Note tracks are probably the most useful of the three. Only Note tracks will be dealt with here.
Compared to Drum type tracks, there are two differences. First, Length (GPK14) adjusts the note length of each step (up to 98%).
Second, the Mode option (GPK9) changes from drum instrument selection to Mono/Poly selection. This is a recording setting, the same as on the Jam page’s Step and Live recording pages. Mono allows you to record single notes, and Poly allows you to record multiple notes. Like normally with recording, you cannot record multiple notes unless you have enough note layers.
If Rec is ‘on’ while the Ptn. is ‘on’ (GPB10), recording on the track will take place only for those steps where the current live pattern is triggered. If you just want to use the live patterns when you press a key, but don’t want to record anything on the track, make sure Rec is ‘off’.
***if the Ptn. page is selected on the left LCD, but you change certain settings on the two LCDs and then press SELECT again to edit live patterns (Ptn. is still selected), the edit mode won’t go on, but instead the page selection will change away from Ptn. to another page (on the left LCD). This happens if you have Ptn. page selected, change the following settings, and then press SELECT to edit: Length (GPK14, changes to MIDI page), Fwd (changes to Step page), Rec (changes to Step page). I think as long as Ptn. is selected, pressing & holding SELECT should always go to edit live patterns mode. Also, as a separate(?) phenomenon, if you press & release the SELECT button four times in a row, the fourth press changes away from the Ptn. page and to the MIDI page.
4.1.6. Miscellaneous settings
The Misc. page has only a few pertinent settings to spare you the trouble of running around in other menus. Oct. effects an octave transpose (normally done on the TRANSPOSE page); FX enables/disables Humanizer, LFO, Limiter and Echo effects (normally done on the FX page); and FTS enables/disables Force To Scale for the active track (normally done on the MODE page).
***misc page octave transpose, FX and FTS on/off states have no effect!
------------------8<-------------------------
- Some advanced features
6.1. Using a bus to control a track
The MBSEQv4 has four buses that can be used to send MIDI data to other tracks. A track sending on a bus can be used to control the behaviour of another track over the bus for effecting arpeggios and transposing notes. The controlling track is called *the sending track* (because it sends data on a bus), and the controlled track the *receiving track* (because it listens to a bus for data).
First, it is possible to use the sending track’s *note data* to transpose the notes of the receiving track. A receiving track in Transposer mode accepts only one note as input. You can send chord data as well – either as multiple notes or as chord parameter layer entry – but only the last note layer or chord note will be accepted.
***there’s a wishlist item to make this the first note layer.
Transpose is relative. This means that if the sending track is controlling two tracks over the same bus, and the first receiving track has one note in it, C-3, and the second receiving track has one note in it, E-3, changing the sending track’s note from C-2 to C#2 will transpose the receiving tracks’ notes half a step upwards – from C-# to C#3 on the first track, and from E-3 to D-3 on the second track.
Second, it is possible to use the *chord data* of the sending track to control the arpeggios on a receiving track. The chord data can be either chord parameter layer data, or it can be data from multiple simultaneous note layers. In either case, chords of up to four notes are supported. For example, if the sending track’s chord sequence is C-Am-F-G, played each quarter note (either as chord track or note track data), the arpeggio pattern on the receiving track’s arpeggio patterns will always include only the notes that the current chord on the sending track contains. In other words, the arpeggio patterns are determined by the receiving track (the arpeggiator track), but the notes in the patterns are determined by the chords the sending track plays.
***what about the new chord parameter layer chords that have more than four notes in them?
In all cases (transpose notes, transpose CCs***, or control arpeggios), instead of sending *track data* over a bus to control another track, you can use your *MIDI controller* over a bus to control a track in a similar manner, so that e.g. the chord you play on the keyboard will determine what the receiving track or tracks play. For this, see section 6.1.5. for details.
6.1.1. The MODE page
The central settings on the MODE page of each track pertain to tracks that are to be controlled by another track (or a MIDI controller) over a bus. These are: Mode (off, Normal, Transpose, Arpeggiator), Bus (1–4), Hold, and Sort.
If the track mode is Transpose or Arpeggiator, and Hold is set to ‘on’, the sequencer will hold the last note(s) received on a ‘T&A’ bus *from a MIDI controller* (see section 4.1.1. for details). In other words, Hold will have no effect if the controlling data is coming in from a track. If Hold is set to ‘off’ and no keys are held on the MIDI controller, the track will play nothing. (However, if the Sustain setting is ‘on’, it *will* hold the previously played note(s) until something else is played.) Hold works in Transpose and Arpeggiator modes, but has no effect if track mode is ‘Normal’.
If the track mode is Arpeggiator, and Sort is set to ‘on’, it will sort the played notes into ***what? ascending, descending?. The setting works only in Arpeggiator mode. If Sort is set to ‘off’ in Arpeggiator mode, the Arpeggiator will use the notes in the order they were played, without sorting them.***
If Sustain is set ‘on’, it will sustain the latest note or a chord played on the track until another one is played or the sequencer is stopped. This is useful for tracks that play long notes or chords, so that you don’t have to set each note’s length individually. Sustain will have effect only on tracks that are sending to a physical output port (set on the EVENT page). In other words, it will have no effect on tracks sending on a bus.
If Restart is ‘on’, it will restart the track every time something new is played on it. This is mostly useful for tracks controlled with a MIDI controller over a T&A bus (see section 4.1.1.). In principle it works for normal tracks too, but the effect gained is better implemented with adjusting track LENGTH.
***there seems to be some false triggering going on with restart (one key press results in one or more triggerings), as well as short delays in re-starting the track
On Force To Scale, see section 6.2. for details.
6.1.2. Setting up sending and receiving tracks
In order to enable one track’s control over another track via a bus, both the sending (controlling) track and the receiving (controlled) track need to be set up.
The sending track is set up in the same way, whether it’s controlling the transpose or arpeggiator pattern of another track. To set up the sending track, press MENU + EVENT. On the EVENT page, the Port option (BPK6) controls which port the track is sending its data out on. Bus1–4 are among the selectable ports. The function of each of the four buses is set on the Jam page’s MIDI settings. There are two options: ‘Jam’ and ‘T&A’ (Transpose & Arpeggiator). (For details, see section 4.1.1.)
If, on the controlling track’s EVENT page, you choose one of the buses as the port, the track will now be sending its data to that bus instead of a physical port (such as OUT1).
Note that the moment you switch the port setting to a bus on a track’s EVENT page, the track will stop playing any synths directly, and can now do so only indirectly by controlling other tracks that have *their* port setting pointing to a physical port. If you want to audition what you’ve entered into the sending track before you have set up a receiving track, you have to adjust Port (and perhaps Chn.) settings accordingly.
The receiving track has to be set to listen to a bus. This is done on the MODE page (MENU + MODE). By default each track is listening to Bus1. A track can have three modes: Normal (default), Transpose, and Arpeggiator (also, it can be set to ‘off’). The mode is selected with GP buttons 2–5, and the selected mode is surrounded with >angle brackets<. The bus which this track is listening to is set with GPK8. The bus setting has no effect in Normal mode.
Transpose and Arpeggiator modes work differently, so each of them will have to be dealt with in turn.
6.1.3. Receiving track mode: Transposer
The sending track should send only a single note via a bus to the receiving track in Transpose mode. The receiving track’s notes will gets transposed relative to the received note. This means that if the sending track is controlling two tracks over the same bus, and the first receiving track has one note in it, C-3, and the second receiving track has one note in it, E-3, changing the sending track’s note from C-2 to C#2 will transpose the receiving tracks’ notes half a step upwards, from C-# to C#3 on the first track, and from E-3 to D-3 on the second track.
The receiving transpose track must be set to listen to the sending track’s bus, and it has to have its mode changed to ‘Transpose’. The track’s mode is changed on the MODE page (MENU + MODE). In addition, the MIDI configuration page (available e.g. on the Jam page, GPB7) must have the bus in question set to the mode ‘T&A’; naturally the other settings on the MIDI configuration page must allow the incoming messages through (for details see section 4.1.1.).
If there’s no data on the sending track, the receiving Transpose track will simply play its contents as they are. If there are (subsequent, not simultaneous) notes on the sending track, they will control the receiving track’s transpose. If the sending track’s notes are erased after some playback, the receiving track will remember the note it received last, and will be controlled by the last played note until a new note is played. In a case like this you can revert back to the receiving track’s own data on the Jam page’s MIDI configuration settings: press ‘Reset Stacks’ to reset all note stacks.
See also the MODE page option Hold in section 6.1.1.
6.1.4. Receiving track mode: Arpeggiator
Unlike transposer tracks, an arpeggiator track accepts chord data, though also single notes will work in principle. Chords of up to four notes can be sent, either as chord parameter layer data or as simulatenous note layer data.
***what about the new 4+ chord parameter layer entries?
The receiving arpeggiator track must be set to listen to the sending track’s bus, and it has to have its mode changed to ‘Arpeggiator’. The track’s mode is changed on the MODE page (MENU + MODE). In addition, the MIDI configuration page (available e.g. on the Jam page, GPB7) must have the bus in question set to the mode ‘T&A’; naturally the other settings on the MIDI configuration page must allow the incoming messages through (for details see section 4.1.1.).
Selecting the Arpeggiator mode changes the EDIT page layout. Each note layer now follows a notation of two numbers with a minus or plus between them. The first number refers to the ordinal*** number of the notes of the sending track’s chords, and the second number refers to the octave the note is to be played in. The minus or plus in between denotes whether the given number of octaves that much is up or down. For example, if the controlling track is currently playing the chord Am with the notes A-2, C-3 and E-3 in it, occupying first, second and third note layers, and if the note entry for a step in the (receiving) Arpeggiator track is “2+1”, it means this step will play the note in the *second* note layer of the sending track’s currently playing chord – C-3 – transposed up by one octave, so the final note played by the Arpeggiator track for this step is C-4.
You can have as many simultaneous notes (chords) on the controlling track, but in practice only four simultaneous notes is useful, because the arpeggiator track will allow you to refer to only the first four note layers. In addition to multiple simultaneous note layers to play chords on the sending track, you can also use a chord parameter layer to send note data to the receiving track.
See also the options Hold and Sort in section 6.1.1.
6.1.5. Using a MIDI controller to control track transpose or arpeggio
In addition to controlling a track’s transpose or arpeggio over a bus with another track, you can control a track’s transpose or arpeggio with a MIDI controller over a bus.
On the MIDI configuration page (see section 4.1.1.), you need to set up a T&A bus to let through the messages you send on your MIDI controller, and then set the receiving track to listen to the bus your MIDI controller is sending data on. Make sure that no track is sending data on the same bus (check the port setting on each track’s EVENT page). It will work in principle, but will likely lead to confusion.
For a transpose or arpeggiator track, you can use the Hold option on the MODE page to control whether the track will remember the last note you played on the MIDI controller (set Hold ‘on’), or whether the track will only play something when you press a key (set Hold to ‘off’). The Hold setting has no effect except in Transpose and Arpeggiator modes.
For an arpeggiator track, you can use the Sort option on the MODE page to sort the notes you play into ***what. The Sort option has no effect except in Arpeggiator mode.
6.1.6. Sending CCs over a bus to control track settings
It is possible to send CC data over a bus to change a track’s settings. There’s three settings you need to make on the sending track. First, on the sending track’s EVENT page, select a CC parameter layer. Second, set the track’s Port to send over a bus. You can select any bus, Jam or T&A, it makes no difference. Once the Port setting is set to a bus, the CC layer options on the right LCD change to loopback CC control options. For example, CC049 now allows you to control another track’s octave transpose.
The final setting you need to make is use the *sending track’s* Chn. setting (on the EVENT page) to determine which track you want to control with the CCs. (Normally the Chn. setting has no effect if Port is set to a bus.) However, in this case the Chn. setting doesn’t denote MIDI channel, but *track number*. For example, if you want to control track G1T1, which is playing a synthesizer on MIDI channel 5, you set Chn. to ‘1’ (not ‘5’) on the sending track’s EVENT page.
It is important to note that sending CCs over a bus to control another track *doesn’t require any setup on the receiving track*. All the settings are done on the sending track’s EVENT page.
The full list of MBSEQv4 CC implementation is available in Appendix 4.
6.2. Force To Scale
By default the sequencer plays a 12-notes-per-octave chromatic scale. If you want that all the notes in a track are in a certain key, you can force them to a chosen scale. This is useful e.g. in combination with randomly generated notes (see section 6.3.), which would be all over the place without Force To Scale. Force To Scale has relevant settings on two pages: FX (MENU + FX) and Mode (MENU + MODE).
Each individual track has the option of being Forced To Scale. The setting for this is on each track’s MODE page. Force to Scale can be either ‘off’ (default) or ‘on’. Force To Scale can be turned ‘on’ and ‘off’ also on the Jam page’s ‘Misc’ settings section, where it’s abbreviated as FTS. ***the misc page setting has no effect!
The scale that each track can individually be forced to is set on the FX page (MENU + FX -> GPB10 for ‘Scale’). On the Scale page GPK4–8 can be used to choose one of the 166 predefined scales; the notes in the scale are displayed in the right LCD.
***i dont’ really understand the ‘Control’ and ‘Root’ settings!
6.3. Random generator
Random generator allows you to randomise the data of parameter or trigger layers (and for drum tracks, drum instrument layers). The randomiser menu is found in the main menu, with UTILITY + GPB7 (Rand), or with EDIT + GP13–14.
On the randomiser page you can use GPK9 to scroll through the available layers in the active track. LayA, LayB etc. denote parameter layers, and TrgA, Trg B etc. denote trigger layers. If the active track is a Drum type track, drum instrument names are available instead.
Because the layers are called just LayA, TrgB etc., you have to remember yourself which functions you have assigned for each layer. If you have more than four parameter layers available (depends on track initialisation), you can check the layer assignments quickly by pressing parameter layer selection button C. Likewise, trigger layer assignments can be checked by pressing trigger layer selection button C.
Parameter layers are randomised by setting the intensity of the randomisation. Randomisation starts from value 64, and the randomisation setting allows you to determine how much the random values will deviate from 64. For example, if you enter an intensity value of 5, the randomised value will be 64 +/- 5, in other words, a randomly picked value between 59 and 69. A value of “–” will mean the randomiser will not change the values in that parameter layer.
For trigger layers, the randomiser value denotes the likelihood of the trigger getting turned ‘on’; the higher the number, the more likely it is that the trigger in each step will be ‘on’. For example, if you choose TrgA (Gate by default) for randomisation, a value of 1 will result in only a few steps having their gates turned ‘on’, while a value of 14 will result in almost all steps having their gates switched ‘on’. By selecting ‘All’ you can have the randomisation occur for all steps. A value of “—” means randomiser will not change the values in that trigger layer.
Randomising drum instrument layers works the same way as randomising trigger layers.
You can randomise any number of a track’s parameter and trigger layers simultaneously by assigning values to all the layers you want to randomise. When you have selected the ones you want to randomise, press GP2–3 to effect the randomisation. If you are unhappy with the result, you can undo it with GPB8 (‘Undo’). GPB7 (‘Util’) takes you back to the UTILITY page, and GPB6 (‘Clr.’) will clear the whole track (which can be undone as well with ‘Undo’).
Note, Velocity and CC parameter layers, and Gate, Accent and Roll trigger layers are obvious targets for randomisation, but in principle randomiser will work with any type of layer that’s available.
The Force To Scale option on the MODE page is particularly useful for randomised note layers. For details on Force To Scale, see section 6.2.
***request: is it possible to have Step Selection settings affect the randomiser, so that the randomiser will change only those layers that have been selected with the Step Selection function? This way you could set e.g. TrgA (Gate) randomisation to ‘All’, and still have only e.g. each quarter note randomised.
6.4. Euclidean rhythm generator
The Euclidean rhythm generator (ERG) allows you to create rhythms very easily, and change them afterwards with normal track editing. Changing the settings on the ERG page changes the contents of the track immediately, so be careful not to lose anything you want to keep.
The ERG works best for Drum type tracks, but in principle it can be used for Note type tracks as well. It can be found in the main menu, or with EDIT + GPB13–14.
6.4.1. Euclidean rhythm generator for Drum type tracks
On the ERG page, track length can be changed within the maximum length (this is the same setting as on the LENGTH page, and the value will be copied between pages). On the right LCD, there’s another length setting, which sets the length of the *loop* (GPK9).
Along with the loop length setting, there’s ‘Pulses’, which will place the set number of pulses (or gates) over the length of the loop (repeating the pattern over the whole track). For example, if the loop length is 16 steps and the number of pulses is 4, a pulse will be placed each four steps. In principle, any number of pulses will be divided over the given loop length, though in practice a large number of pulses will quickly become impossible to place, if the loop is too short.
Normally each series of pulses starts in the first step of the track, but this can be changed with ‘Offset’ (GPK11). ‘Offset’ setting simply inserts that many empty steps in the beginning of the track before the first pulse.
If the loop is shorter than the set track length, the loop will be written onto the track as many times the track length allows. For example, if track length is 16 steps and loop length 13 steps, the loop’s 13 steps fit once into the 16 steps of the track; then 3 more steps fit, but then the track length runs out. The resulting pattern of 16 steps will be written on the track *over it’s whole lenght*, not just the set length. Thus, a track of 16/64 will be written four times with the same 13+3 pattern.
If the loop is longer than the set track length, only what fits into the track length will get repeated. For example if track length is 16 steps and loop length is 20 steps, only the first 16 steps of the loop will be repeated. If the track is 16/64, this truncated 16-step pattern will be written on the track four times.
Offhand it might not make sense to use loops longer than the set track length. However, because the pulses are divided as evenly as possible over the loop length, whether it’s longer or shorter than the set track length, you can effect rhythm patterns with loops longer than the track that are not possible is the loop is shorter than, or equally long as, the track.
Note that when you change ‘Len’, ‘Pulses’ or ‘Offset’ settings, the ERG will immediately write the loop repeatedly *over the whole track*, not just over the set length of it, overwriting anything that was there previously.
On the left LCD, you can change the drum instrument layer to be edited by ERG with GPK4. Also the note that the instrument layer is playing can be changed. With GPK6–7 you can change the Normal (VelN) and Accent (VelA) velocities. (The mentioned settings are the same as on the EVENT page, and the values will be copied between pages.) The velocity values for each pulse can be randomised with GPK8. Turning GPK8 will simultaneously set the likelihood of a pulse getting an accent, as well as effect the randomisation.
6.4.2. Euclidean rhythm generator for Note type tracks
It is possible to use the ERG with a Note type track as well. However, even with the Note type tracks, the ERG is still essentially a rhythm creating aid. The ERG will leave the Note layer values untouched, but will switch the gates ‘on’ and ‘off’ based on the loop length, pulse and offset settings you make. For track length, normal/accent velocity settings and their randomisation (VelN, VelA and RndA), loop length, pulses and offset settings, see section 6.4.1. for the details.
The main difference to Drum type tracks is that you can change the Note type track’s parameter layer values. The exception is that the the first parameter layer contents cannot be edited (the entry says ‘Orig’), whether it is a note layer or something else. Also it is important to note that changing the content of a parameter layer on the ERG page *affects all the pulsed steps*. Thus, changing the velocity value will change the velocity values of all those steps which are “pulsed”, i.e. where the ERG has set the gate ‘on’.
One useful way to use the ERG with Note type tracks is creating a rhythmic pattern on the ERG, then leaving the page and changing the notes to something more tonal than what the ERG is capable of.
6.5. Mixer maps
The mixer maps on the MIXER page (MENU + MIXER) allow you to send Program Change and Control Change messages to your MIDI equipment. Each session has a maximum of 127 mixer maps, which can be named and customised, and each mixer map has 12 pages, one page for each kind of setting. The pages can be changed with the datawheel, or the up and down buttons on the frontpanel.
The ALL and FAST buttons work on the MIXER page. (For details, see section 4.2.3.)
Each mixer map page has 16 different slots for customised commands that can be sent simultaneously. The first two pages of a mixer map define, first, the *output port* on which the message for each of the 16 slots is sent, and second, the *MIDI channel* on which the message for each slot is sent. The default value for Port is ‘Def.’, i.e. the setting is taken from the MIDI Router page (see section 2.1.2. or Appendix 3). The default MIDI channel is ‘# 1’ for the first slot, ‘# 2’ for the second, and so on.
The Port and MIDI channel are the foundational settings for each mixer map slot, without which the messages won’t be sent to the right place; the don’t send any command by themselves, they just set the conduit for the commands from the other pages. For example, if you’ve set track G1T1 to play a synthesizer connected to OUTPUT1 on MIDI channel 5 (settings made on the track’s EVENT page), you should set one of the slots on the mixer map page to that port and that MIDI channel to send a message from the mixer map to that synthesizer. While you’re on the MIXER page, the port and channel for the slot in the current cursor position will always be visible in the upper right corner of the right LCD.
Port and MIDI channel are the foundational settings of a mixer map, without which none of the actual messages will get delivered to the right address. Port is set on mixer page 1, and MIDI channel on mixer page 2. Once Port and MIDI channel are in order, the actual messages that you can send are:
Page 3: Program Change
Page 4: Volume
Page 5: Panorama (“Pan”)
Page 6: Reverb
Page 7: Chorus
Page 8: Modulation wheel
Page 9: Freely assignable CC (CC1)
Page 10: Freely assignable CC (CC2)
Page 11: Freely assignable CC (CC3)
Page 12: Freely assignable CC (CC4)
***image here
***are the freely assignable CCs the standard MIDI CCs?
While on the MIXER place, pressing & holding SELECT brings up a utility menu. GPB2 and GPB4 (‘Copy’, ‘Clr’) copy and clear the current mixer map, and GPB3 (‘Paste’) pastes a previously copied mixer map into the current one. GPB7 saves the current mixer map, and and GPB6 allows you to load a previously saved map. GPK1 switches between the 127 possible mixer maps in the session. Switching away from the current map will erase any unsaved changes. GPB16 allows you to name the current mixer map.
There are four ways to send mixer map commands to their destinations.
The easiest way is to press a GPB button under an entry that has some value other than ‘—’ in it. Pressing the GP button will simply send the command in the slot once. This is useful e.g. for sending one-off commands like Program Change. The second option is available in the utility menu: ‘Dump’ (GPB8) will send all the commands in the 16 slots of all 10 command pages to the ports and MIDI channels set for each slot. The third option can be enabled in the mixer utility menu (press & hold SELECT): LiveSend can be set ‘on’ or ‘off’. If LiveSend is ‘on’, the values in the slots of all pages in the current mixer map will be active all the time, and all changes will be updated immediately. For example, mixer page 4 (Volume) could be used as a centralised volume control for all your MIDI equipment.
The fourth way to send mixer map values is on the SONG page, as a song position action (‘Mixer -> Map #’).
1 Like
Quote
Length, Divider, FX etc. setting are reset to default values, but ‘Complete Track’ doesn’t clear anything on the Track Event and Track Instrument pages (Program/Bank change commands, Track name etc.).
You are right. Track name isn’t cleared as well, and the Program/Bank change commands are a new feature which (for me) belong to the general track configuration such as MIDI channel and port.
Are you asking because you would like to improve the documentation, or because you request a change?
Quote
I’m not holding any inquisition here, I’m just trying to understand the logic <:-)
The intention is to keep the basic track configuration, especially MIDI port, channel, event config, instrument selection (bank/program change), and everything else that I forgot.
Yes, this part isn’t documented well, but it’s implemented to satisfy my personal use case.
Hope that your manual will make it clear enough!
Quote
- There’s a song position command from the official manual: “Stop. Stops the sequencer”. However, there is no such option in the sequencer. In it’s place there is “End”, which loops the previous song position that played patterns, until the sequencer is stopped manually. A ‘stop’ comman that would stop the sequencer would be handy as well.
I did this change ca. 4 years ago (renamed Stop to End, sequencer loops instead of stopping). Unfortunately changes where not properly tracked at this time, therefore I don’t remember who requested this, and for what reason.
I fixed the documentation. If there is a good reason for the “Stop”, I could add this function, but apparently nobody missed it in the past.
Quote
- Sync’ing mutes/unmutes to measure (in the options menu): In song mode with Guide Track active, the measure countdown on the mute page for sync’d mutes/unmutes doesn’t show the “right” numbers: if the guiding track is 16 steps long, and measure is set to e.g. 6 steps, the measure countdown will keep counting multiples of 6 until the guide track ends. This is not useful information, but probably in song mode it doesn’t matter, because the idea of the song mode is to program most things predictably anyway, so it doesn’t matter what the coundown shows. Just thought I’ll mention this, I’m not suggesting anything should be done about it. (I’ve documented it as it is now.)
Added to the wishlist to improve the countdown, it shouldn’t be so difficult and leads to more consistency
Quote
- On the MUTE page and the special function of the ALL button: is there a difference between “muting a track” and “muting a track’s layers”? There is an option “mute all tracks and all layers”, is it different from just “muting all tracks”?
The difference is, that you could unmute a track, and then the layers individually.
This especially makes sense on drum tracks, but also for CC tracks
Quote
- An idea for the metronome: now the metronome sounds only when the sequencer is running. However, it would be handy if the metronome could be used for recording count-in, to prepare for the tempo of the recorded track. At the moment the metronome is bound to measure, I don’t know but from a humble Arduino-programmer Froschperspektive
an easy way to implement the count-in could be to have a fixed count-in of one measure (or perhaps a multiple of the set measure) if certain conditions are met; e.g. if (metronome == on) && (count-in == on) -> pressing PLAY (or the 5th tap tempo press) will start one measure (or user-set multiple of measure) count-in, and the seq proper starts only after that. Count-in on/off option could perhaps go on the Jam page Live recording settings, after Quantize, and any possible multiple-measure-count-in setting on metronome page (it probably doesn’t need changing that often). Setting the count-in ‘on’ could also just automatically set the metronome ‘on’ as well. Any thoughts..?
Make sense, added to wishlist
Quote
- is there a button & LED for the Jam page Rec on/off? If not, could there be?
There is currently an open request for providing a dedicated Rec button for Step and Live recording mode.
A possible enhancement of this button function would be, that the first push just changes to the Jam page, and an additional push (resp. whenever we are already in the Jam page) will enable/disable the recording function.
Does this make sense?
Quote
- The PrgCh layer is not listed/documented in the official manual’s parameter layer list (Track Event Configuration)
added it
Quote
- Does it send a PC message in every step?
it should only be sent if the value has changed (similar to CCs)
Quote
- Is there a risk of conflict if Track Instrument page sends a PC command at the start of the track, and the PrgCh layer sends another PC command at the first step? Should this be documented, “don’t use them simultaneously”, or is there a programmed hierarchy, “if A is set, B has no effect” or something like that?
yes, we have this risk.
In addition it make sense to highlight, that most synths can’t process a program change immediately, resp. there could be an audible delay of following note events.
This feature will only work properly with synths which can change the patch in “zero-time”
Quote
- Possible bug on Live Patterns subpage on the Jam page: if the Ptn. page is selected on the left LCD, but you change certain settings on the two LCDs and then press SELECT again to edit live patterns (Ptn. is still selected), the edit mode won’t go on, but instead the page selection will change away from Ptn. to another page (on the left LCD). This happens if you have Ptn. page selected, change one the following settings, and then press SELECT to edit: If you pressed Length (GPK14), changes to MIDI page, if you pressed Fwd, changes to Step page, if you pressed Rec, changes to Step page. I think as long as Ptn. is selected, pressing & holding SELECT should always go to edit live patterns mode. Also, as a separate(?) phenomenon, if you press & release the SELECT button four times in a row, the fourth press changes away from the Ptn. page and to the MIDI page.
added to the wishlist to clarify this issue (I remember that the implementation of this EDIT capability wasn’t straightforward, will need some work to improve it)
Quote
- In section 6.1. on arpeggiator tracks: Up to four-note chords are supported, but what about the new chord parameter layer chords (the firmware is not ready yet) that have more than four notes in them?
This is no bug, but a conceptional limitation.
The arpeggiator had always only 4 key slots (already in MBSEQ V2), this can’t be changed anymore.
And the arpeggiator isn’t directly related to the chord function.
The support for chords with more than 4 notes is pretty new, but it’s impossible to enhance the arpeggiator as well, especially since this would change the arp step configuration (-> incompatible legacy patterns)
Quote
- Possible bug on Misc. settings subpage on the Jam page: misc page octave transpose, FX and FTS on/off states have no effect
They should have an effect in live mode
Quote
- MODE page ‘Restart’ option: there seems to be some false triggering going on with restart (one key press results in one or more triggerings), as well as short delays in re-starting the track sometimes
I’ve to check under which conditions the track will be retriggered
Short delays don’t surprise me, because the change is synchronized to the next step
Quote
- I don’t really understand how the FX -> Scale page settings ‘Control’. On the one hand, the official manual says of Control: “the scale and root note can either be controlled globally or pattern based”, but on the other hand it says “Only one group can control the scale and root note”. The first would seem to say that either you have one scale to rule them all (‘Global’), or alternatively each group can have its own scale. But the second seems to say that only one group can determine the scale.
No, the assumption is wrong.
Use case behind the pattern based control: somebody wants to switch the root and scale with a pattern. The pattern could also contain the loopback track(s) for Bus1..4, so that it’s possible to switch the transpose/arpeggiator lines + root note + scale with a single pattern change in the PATTERN page.
Quote
- I’m not quite sure how ‘Root’ works either. Is it so, that if I set ‘Root’ to ‘E’, and scale is ‘Natural minor’, all notes will be forced into the E natural minor scale? If ‘Root’ is set to ‘Keyb’ and scale is ‘Natural minor’, and I press C# on the keyboard, all force-to-scale tracks are forced to C# natural minor scale?
Yes, this is how the root note is working
Note that “Keyb” could also be the loopback track which sends to Bus1
Quote
- Mixer maps: are the freely assignable CCs the standard MIDI CCs?
CC#0..CC#127
So, all possible “standard” CCs
Best Regards, Thorsten.
Interesting discussion, and I agree with most of the points. But in regards to this:
11 hours ago, TK. said:
Quote
- is there a button & LED for the Jam page Rec on/off? If not, could there be?
There is currently an open request for providing a dedicated Rec button for Step and Live recording mode.
A possible enhancement of this button function would be, that the first push just changes to the Jam page, and an additional push (resp. whenever we are already in the Jam page) will enable/disable the recording function.
Does this make sense?
Personally I think the advantage of a dedicated record button is to be able to quickly toggle between recording state and playing state. So you could hit record to quickly drop into record mode for the last 16 steps of a 64 step pattern and add some notes, then hit record again to avoid recording over existing notes as the pattern loops. Instead of your suggestion, I’d make the shortcut to the Jam page a key-combo with the Record button and another button, for example press Menu and Record or something similar to quickly jump to the Jam page. Otherwise it is still minimum 2 key presses to get to into recording (currently 3) which I find slows down my workflow.
Just a suggestion!
17 hours ago, TK. said:
You are right. Track name isn’t cleared as well, and the Program/Bank change commands are a new feature which (for me) belong to the general track configuration such as MIDI channel and port.
Are you asking because you would like to improve the documentation, or because you request a change?
I was asking it for the documentation.
Quote
The intention is to keep the basic track configuration, especially MIDI port, channel, event config, instrument selection (bank/program change), and everything else that I forgot.
Yes, this part isn’t documented well, but it’s implemented to satisfy my personal use case.
Hope that your manual will make it clear enough!
Trying my best
Quote
I did this change ca. 4 years ago (renamed Stop to End, sequencer loops instead of stopping). Unfortunately changes where not properly tracked at this time, therefore I don’t remember who requested this, and for what reason.
I fixed the documentation. If there is a good reason for the “Stop”, I could add this function, but apparently nobody missed it in the past.
Fair enough, it’s not necessary.
Quote
yes, we have this risk.
In addition it make sense to highlight, that most synths can’t process a program change immediately, resp. there could be an audible delay of following note events.
This feature will only work properly with synths which can change the patch in “zero-time”
I’ll document it “don’t use them simultaneously”, and make sure the patch change time-lag note get into the text.
Quote
The arpeggiator had always only 4 key slots (already in MBSEQ V2), this can’t be changed anymore.
And the arpeggiator isn’t directly related to the chord function.The support for chords with more than 4 notes is pretty new, but it’s impossible to enhance the arpeggiator as well, especially since this would change the arp step configuration (-> incompatible legacy patterns)
Ok. I just wanted to know whether I should make a note to that place in the manual to remember to change it when the 4+ chords in parameter layer come out, but now that’s not necessary.
EDIT: To confirm: Does this mean that if you use a 4+ chord from a chord parameter layer as an arpeggiator source, only the first four notes will be used? If yes, I’ll document it provisionally like this (and finally when the 4+ chord firmware comes out).
Quote
They should have an effect in live mode
If live mode means that the sequencer is running, I haven’t managed to get them working. The FTS on the Misc. page can be ‘on’ while ForceScale on the MODE page is ‘off’ and vice versa, and Oct. on the ‘Misc.’ page can be +3 while octave transpose on the TRANSPOSE page is +0. In both cases it seems the MODE and TRANSPOSE page values are the ones that determine the actual value.
Quote
I’ve to check under which conditions the track will be retriggered
Short delays don’t surprise me, because the change is synchronized to the next step
I checked the restart with a ‘New’ session, it worked ok, perhaps it was my test session settings or something. Anyway it seems now there is no issue with restart after all.
Quote
Use case behind the pattern based control: somebody wants to switch the root and scale with a pattern. The pattern could also contain the loopback track(s) for Bus1..4, so that it’s possible to switch the transpose/arpeggiator lines + root note + scale with a single pattern change in the PATTERN page.
I haven’t been able to change root and scale with a pattern. Here’s what I’ve tried to do:
I start a new session, where I’m using two patterns, 1:A1 and 1:A2. Both of them are 16 steps long, forced to scale, and have the same quarter notes: C – D – E – F. I select 1:A1, go on the scale page, set Control to ‘Group 1’, select 0:Major and save. Then I select 1:A2, go to the scale page, change scale to 1:Harmonic Minor, and save.
If I now change the patterns on the scale page, the scale won’t change. Instead the scale is always whatever I chose last on the scale page. It doesn’t help if I save the patterns individually (instead of saving the whole session). What am I missing?
4 hours ago, monokinetic said:
Interesting discussion, and I agree with most of the points. But in regards to this:
Personally I think the advantage of a dedicated record button is to be able to quickly toggle between recording state and playing state. So you could hit record to quickly drop into record mode for the last 16 steps of a 64 step pattern and add some notes, then hit record again to avoid recording over existing notes as the pattern loops. Instead of your suggestion, I’d make the shortcut to the Jam page a key-combo with the Record button and another button, for example press Menu and Record or something similar to quickly jump to the Jam page. Otherwise it is still minimum 2 key presses to get to into recording (currently 3) which I find slows down my workflow.
This is in response to TK’s suggestion as well.
My idea was a button with which to switch the Jam page Rec setting on/off, with an LED to indicate the status. This would be to spare me from having to go back and forth between the Jam and the EDIT page just to change the Rec setting. In that sense my idea is simpler than monokinetic and TK’s ideas I think.
As to getting quickly to the Jam page, I have assigned one of the F1–F4 buttons to that function (the assignment in the HW setup file for quick-access to the Jam page button is BUTTON_RECORD, not obvious anymore because Jam page has replaced the Record page). If the first press of a Record button takes me to the Jam page and the second press switches the Rec mode on/off, I don’t mind such a function, but it’s not an improvement from my point of view as I already have a dedicated “go to Jam page from anywhere” button.
A connected and perhaps crucial issue is that at least with latest official firmware (4.090), the EDIT RECORDING mode (toggled on/off on the EDIT page with the SELECT button) doesn’t work correctly in polyphonic mode (only a single note gets recorded), whereas Live recording with Rec ‘on’, but sequencer stopped and AStart ‘off’ does work. If that is fixed, I can well live without a dedicated Record button. My primary intention was to ask whether it is possible to assign a Rec on/off function to a button already now.
Quote
EDIT: To confirm: Does this mean that if you use a 4+ chord from a chord parameter layer as an arpeggiator source, only the first four notes will be used? If yes, I’ll document it provisionally like this (and finally when the 4+ chord firmware comes out).
If its helpful to redefine the extended chord table to a four note per chord maximum, please say so, that is not too hard. Many chords can do without a fifth, if that helps to preserve the arpeggiator function (i’d want to add the minor 6 after all..)
Quote
EDIT: To confirm: Does this mean that if you use a 4+ chord from a chord parameter layer as an arpeggiator source, only the first four notes will be used? If yes, I’ll document it provisionally like this (and finally when the 4+ chord firmware comes out).
The arpeggiator will take the last 4 played notes, which unfortunately means that on a 5-note chord, the first key of the chord won’t be taken.
Quote
If live mode means that the sequencer is running, I haven’t managed to get them working. The FTS on the Misc. page can be ‘on’ while ForceScale on the MODE page is ‘off’ and vice versa, and Oct. on the ‘Misc.’ page can be +3 while octave transpose on the TRANSPOSE page is +0. In both cases it seems the MODE and TRANSPOSE page values are the ones that determine the actual value.
It works at my side:
Fwd on (which I somtimes call “live mode” because this was the original term)
Play some notes on the keyboard, the should be forwarded.
Now increase/decrease the Octave - the incoming notes should be transposed.
Enable FTS: the incoming notes should be forced to scale.
Enable Fx, enable (for example) the Echo effect, ensure that the sequencer is running: an echo should be played.
Quote
I start a new session, where I’m using two patterns, 1:A1 and 1:A2. Both of them are 16 steps long, forced to scale, and have the same quarter notes: C – D – E – F. I select 1:A1, go on the scale page, set Control to ‘Group 1’, select 0:Major and save. Then I select 1:A2, go to the scale page, change scale to 1:Harmonic Minor, and save.
If I now change the patterns on the scale page, the scale won’t change. Instead the scale is always whatever I chose last on the scale page. It doesn’t help if I save the patterns individually (instead of saving the whole session). What am I missing?
Hm, I just looked into the code - actually an important piece is missing: the SCALE information won’t be stored in the pattern, because it isn’t available as a NRPN parameter.
I think it would be better if I would just remove this feature.
It’s inherited from MBSEQ V3 (where I implemented it as an own idea) - but apparently nobody (including me) used it for MBSEQ V4 so far.
Any objections?
Best Regards, Thorsten.
Quote
My idea was a button with which to switch the Jam page Rec setting on/off, with an LED to indicate the status. This would be to spare me from having to go back and forth between the Jam and the EDIT page just to change the Rec setting. In that sense my idea is simpler than monokinetic and TK’s ideas I think.
No, this idea isn’t easier, because the UI handler was originally implemented in a way that recording can only be done in the JAM page.
It’s available in the EDIT page due to some dirty tricks - actually it started as a try if this handling makes sense, and it seems that it was highly appreciated by the community (and I used it by myself as well
As you report later, it’s not working perfectly (poly mode not handled correctly anymore)
Actually I would have to overwork the internal recording handling, the way how it’s activated and routes incoming MIDI events.
I’ve to check what this really means, currently I can only assume that I need the help from some beta testers to ensure that I haven’t forgotten an important mechanism during the changes.
Now where this fundamental change got a higher attention: who would like to attend the beta testing? (maybe I’ve some time for the change next week)
Quote
If its helpful to redefine the extended chord table to a four note per chord maximum, please say so, that is not too hard. Many chords can do without a fifth, if that helps to preserve the arpeggiator function (i’d want to add the minor 6 after all..)
The arpeggiator function isn’t in danger, it’s only a minor detail which doesn’t work as expected by Jjonas while he intensively reviewed the MBSEQ functions, but there is no need to downstrip the chords for that reason.
Best Regards, Thorsten.
Quote
The arpeggiator will take the last 4 played notes, which unfortunately means that on a 5-note chord, the first key of the chord won’t be taken.
| |
Ok here are four note versions, approved of by the jazz police.
{{0,7,-1,-1}, 'Pwr5'}, {{0,7,12,-1}, 'Pwr8'}, {{0,4,-1,-1}, 'R+mj3'}, {{0,3,-1,-1}, 'R+min3'}, {{0,4,7,-1}, 'Maj '}, {{0,5,7,-1}, 'Sus4'}, {{0,4,8,-1}, 'Maj+'}, {{0,4,7,9}, 'Maj6'}, {{0,4,7,11}, 'Maj7'}, {{0,4,7,14}, 'add9'}, {{0,4,11,14}, 'Maj9'}, {{0,4,11,17}, 'Maj11'}, {{0,4,14,20}, 'Maj13'}, {{0,3,7,-1}, 'Min'}, {{0,3,7,9}, 'Min6'}, {{0,3,7,10}, 'Min7'}, {{0,3,7,14}, 'Minad9'}, {{0,3,10,14}, 'Min9'}, {{0,3,10,14}, 'Min11'}, {{0,3,14,20}, 'Min13'}, {{0,4,7,10}, 'Dom7'}, {{0,5,7,10}, '7Sus4'}, {{0,4,10,14}, 'Dom9'}, {{0,4,10,17}, 'Dom11'}, {{0,4,10,20}, 'Dom13'}, {{0,4,6,10}, '7b5'}, {{0,4,8,10}, '7#5'}, {{0,4,10,13}, '7b9'}, {{0,4,10,15}, '7#9'}, {{0,3,6,-1}, 'DimTri'}, {{0,3,6,9}, 'Dim'}, {{0,3,6,10}, 'm7b5'},
But if the arpeggiator is not at risk, here are max 6 note versions with minor 6th added. I forgot that one.
| |
{{0,7,-1,-1,-1,-1}, 'Pwr5'}, {{0,7,12,-1,-1,-1}, 'Pwr8'}, {{0,4,-1,-1,-1,-1}, 'R+mj3'}, {{0,3,-1,-1,-1,-1}, 'R+min3'}, {{0,4,7,-1,-1,-1}, 'Maj '}, {{0,5,7,-1,-1,-1}, 'Sus4'}, {{0,4,8,-1,-1,-1}, 'Maj+'}, {{0,4,7,9,-1,-1}, 'Maj6'}, {{0,4,7,11,-1,-1}, 'Maj7'}, {{0,4,7,14,-1,-1}, 'add9'}, {{0,4,7,11,14,-1}, 'Maj9'}, {{0,4,7,11,14,17}, 'Maj11'}, {{0,4,7,11,14,20}, 'Maj13'}, {{0,3,7,-1,-1,-1}, 'Min'}, {{0,3,7,9,-1,-1}, 'Min6'}, {{0,3,7,10,-1,-1}, 'Min7'}, {{0,3,7,14,-1,-1}, 'Minad9'}, {{0,3,7,10,14,-1}, 'Min9'}, {{0,3,7,10,14,17}, 'Min11'}, {{0,3,7,10,14,20}, 'Min13'}, {{0,4,7,10,-1,-1}, 'Dom7'}, {{0,5,7,10,-1,-1}, '7Sus4'}, {{0,4,7,10,14,-1}, 'Dom9'}, {{0,4,7,10,14,17}, 'Dom11'}, {{0,4,7,10,14,20}, 'Dom13'}, {{0,4,6,10,-1,-1}, '7b5'}, {{0,4,8,10,-1,-1}, '7#5'}, {{0,4,7,10,13,-1}, '7b9'}, {{0,4,7,10,15,-1}, '7#9'}, {{0,3,6,-1,-1,-1}, 'DimTri'}, {{0,3,6,9,-1,-1}, 'Dim'}, {{0,3,6,10,-1,-1}, 'm7b5'},
And if i may digress a bit, I’d suggest a chord track with one parameter layer holding the root note and another holding the chord type, if that is technically possible. This might be easier to set up than through the loopback function.
2 hours ago, EsotericLabs said:
And if i may digress a bit, I’d suggest a chord track with one parameter layer holding the root note and another holding the chord type, if that is technically possible. This might be easier to set up than through the loopback function.
I did that in my program: I have the “normal” note layer. And besides that 2 extra layers. In one layer is the information “chord active for this step” and the other layer refers to the index of the used chord. Then i also added another layer with the information in which key the step is in. That gave me all neccessary information to musically transpose every step in realtime from one given key into another key. Can be a usefull feature if you want to try around which key sounds best for your song or when importing tracks from other songs that are in a different key…
But tbh i still didn’t had the time to fully understand how the chord track in the seq works… so i only can say, i know what EsotericLabs mean and it seems more intuitive then the actual solution to me…since i didn’t understood the chord track within a few mins. xD
To not further derail this precious thread: I plan to make a short vid how i did use chords in my prog, to discuss with this community how usefull that is and furthermore, if it is possible with the seq in general. I’ll hope to see you in that upcomming thread.
About patterns. From your manual i understood that a pattern is equal to the data of one group. But in terms of saving it is that a pattern contains four groups. Or am i wrong?
7 hours ago, derkollo said:
About patterns. From your manual i understood that a pattern is equal to the data of one group. But in terms of saving it is that a pattern contains four groups. Or am i wrong?
A pattern contains four tracks. Tracks are the “real” data entity, you set the settings for each track separately, and then the sequencer handles them in bundles of four (and calls these bundles “patterns”). You can have up to 256 patterns per session. A group, however, is only a container that can be filled with track/pattern data, but it doesn’t have data of its own. The sequencer always has four “drawers” like this, never more and never less, and each “drawer” holds one pattern at a time. (IIRC, the manual doesn’t mention this yet, but patterns are saved into four banks, 64 in each bank, and by default, group 1 plays patterns from bank 1, though patterns from any bank can be played in any group. In the pattern’s numerical name, e.g. 2:A6, the first number denotes the bank where the pattern is saved into, and the latter is the pattern save slot within that bank).
Patterns can be saved in two ways: individually, or along with the whole session. Saving the whole session saves all the four active patterns (one in each group). Session save is in the main menu, along with Open, New, and Save As. Individual pattern save is available with MENU + SAVE. This allows you to save one of the active patterns and give it a descriptive name.
I hope this clarified the issue somewhat.
Quote
I hope this clarified the issue somewhat.
Yes it does. It takes some experimenting, but once you get it, it is really powerful. In a personal use case, I have bass, pads and arps in group 1., drums in group 4. Three patterns for group1 (1:A1; 1:A2; 1:A3) hold chord changes for verse, chorus and bridge of my song (all three instruments follow the chords) The drum group has a normal time ) and half time drum patterns in 4:A1 and 4:A2. Just switching patterns gives a lot of flexibility. I can imagine some lead and melody lines in group 2, with an empty pattern to start with.
2 hours ago, jjonas said:
I hope this clarified the issue somewhat.
Oh yes, definitly! I see i got confused between group and track… You sir, are a walking manual! Not because of your knowledge but because you do explain things very well! Thx and keep on going!
16 hours ago, TK. said:
Fwd on (which I somtimes call “live mode” because this was the original term)
Play some notes on the keyboard, the should be forwarded.
Now increase/decrease the Octave - the incoming notes should be transposed.
Enable FTS: the incoming notes should be forced to scale.
Enable Fx, enable (for example) the Echo effect, ensure that the sequencer is running: an echo should be played.
Ok, now I got them working. I didn’t realise before that the Misc. page settings only apply to the live play notes that are forwarded through the track, not the ones that are playing from the track.
16 hours ago, TK. said:
Hm, I just looked into the code - actually an important piece is missing: the SCALE information won’t be stored in the pattern, because it isn’t available as a NRPN parameter.
I think it would be better if I would just remove this feature.
It’s inherited from MBSEQ V3 (where I implemented it as an own idea) - but apparently nobody (including me) used it for MBSEQ V4 so far.Any objections?
No objections from me, I haven’t needed it. And anyway if pattern-wise scale change was sorely needed at some point, one track could be spared and made into a CC track that’s sending CC#3 on a bus to change the scale setting on the FX/Scale page, right..?
I tried to do that just now, with the previously mentioned two patterns, both of them now have a CC track that’s sending on Bus1 (the only bus that allows you to send internal CCs) on channel 1 (I guess the channel doesn’t matter because no single track is being controlled here)..? Control on the scale page is ‘Global’. However, I’m only able to change the scale when I change the CC track value on the track (and the seq is playing), but not when the seq is playing and I change between patterns (but don’t change the CC values manually). The first pattern sends CC#03 value 0 and the other sends value 2, or whatever two different values, but no matter what the values are, after pattern change the scale will always return to 0:Major.
17 hours ago, TK. said:
Actually I would have to overwork the internal recording handling, the way how it’s activated and routes incoming MIDI events.
I’ve to check what this really means, currently I can only assume that I need the help from some beta testers to ensure that I haven’t forgotten an important mechanism during the changes.
Now where this fundamental change got a higher attention: who would like to attend the beta testing? (maybe I’ve some time for the change next week)
I volunteer for beta testing.
Quote
I volunteer for beta testing.
Me too, once i properly get what we’re after.
Alright, so could you please try following pre-release at your side?
-> http://www.ucapps.de/mios32/midibox_seq_v4_091_pre5.zip
Changes:
o Jam page: AStart now starts to record into first step in
live recording mode (as intended), it starts on the selected step
in step recording mode
o Purpose of Record and Live Button & LED change:
they switch between record (and live) mode w/o changing to the Jam page
o new button/LED combo: JAM_LIVE and JAM_STEP: they switch to the JAM
page and select Live resp. Step recording mode
o removed obsolete (non-working) pattern based scale control
as you can see, the Auto-start doesn’t change the selected step in step recording mode anymore, because this causes more issues than it’s worth to add workarounds into the code.
Quote
I tried to do that just now, with the previously mentioned two patterns, both of them now have a CC track that’s sending on Bus1 (the only bus that allows you to send internal CCs) on channel 1 (I guess the channel doesn’t matter because no single track is being controlled here)..? Control on the scale page is ‘Global’. However, I’m only able to change the scale when I change the CC track value on the track (and the seq is playing), but not when the seq is playing and I change between patterns (but don’t change the CC values manually). The first pattern sends CC#03 value 0 and the other sends value 2, or whatever two different values, but no matter what the values are, after pattern change the scale will always return to 0:Major.
I guess that you are sending CC#03 from a CC layer of a Note track. In this case, each step will send a CC independent from the gate, which means that you’ve to configure the correct scale value for each step of the CC layer, otherwise steps with value 0 will change back to 0:Major.
If you are using a CC track instead, the value will only be sent if the gate is enabled.
Best Regards, Thorsten.
I moved the 4.091 firmware beta testing feedback to the .
This is the final section of the draft beginner’s user manual: the appendices 1–4 on various topics. No issues came up, so I have no questions. Easy last lesson :-) However, with 4.091 coming out sometime soon, there’s already a few details in the appendices that are not up to date for 4.091. I’ll publish the text as it is, nevertheless, and update it later for the so-called “final” version.
Looking back at the whole manual draft, there was nothing or very little on a number of functions. They can be divided into two groups:
- Ones I could possibly write about at some point, and add it to the manual later.
- FX page (only scale mentioned this far)
- options (only partially covered)
- TRANSPOSE page (would be easy)
- MIDI section control
- metronome
- BPM (very little mentioned)
- GROOVE
- DIRECTION
- MANUAL
- MORPH
- Ones that I’m unlikely to write anything about, now or later, because I don’t have the hardware, or otherwise never use USB, DAW, etc.
- MIDI Ext. ctrl
- CV configuration
- ethernet (osc)
- USB and IIC ports
---------------------------8<--------------------------------------------------
Appendix 1. Customising some button functions
Function buttons F1–F4
In the root of the SD card there is a file named MBSEQ_HW.V4. This is the hardware setup file. Most of the settings there don’t need changing, and are anyway beyond the scope of this manual. However, on the Wilba frontpanel there are four buttons labelled F1, F2, F3 and F4, which can be customised relatively easily (and are meant to be so). The default functions for the buttons are:
F1: Quick access to the Bookmark page
F2: Quick access to the Jam page
F3: Quick access to Tap tempo
F4: Save the complete session
In the HW setup file they appear like this:
F1 is located at SR M3 Pin 3
F2 is located at SR M2 Pin 2
F3 is located at SR M2 Pin 3
F4 is located at SR M1 Pin 2
# SR Pin <– this line begins with a #, so it’s “commented out” (not part of the settings)
BUTTON_BOOKMARK M3 3 <– this line defines button F1 as the bookmark page button
BUTTON_RECORD M2 2 <– this line defines button F2 as the Jam page button
BUTTON_TAP_TEMPO M2 3 <– etc.
BUTTON_SAVE_ALL M1 2
If you want to change the default functions, all you need to do is keep the “BUTTON_” in the start of the line, add your preferred function after it, and leave the SR and Pin columns unchanged. The possible button functions are listed in HW setup file, and are of the form:
# SR Pin
BUTTON_STOP M3 5
BUTTON_PAUSE M2 4
BUTTON_PLAY M2 5
BUTTON_MUTE_ALL_TRACKS 0 0
BUTTON_MUTE_TRACK_LAYERS 0 0
BUTTON_MUTE_ALL_TRACKS_AND_LAYERS 0 0
BUTTON_UNMUTE_ALL_TRACKS 0 0
BUTTON_UNMUTE_TRACK_LAYERS 0 0
BUTTON_UNMUTE_ALL_TRACKS_AND_LAYERS 0 0
Lines that have a non-zero entry for the SR and Pin columns are already assigned somewhere (like stop, pause and play above), so there is no need to assign them to another button. However, entries with zeros in the SR and Pin columns (like “mute all tracks” and “unmute all tracks” above) are potential candidates for F1–F4 button functions. For example, if you want to to have a dedicated button for “mute all tracks”, you should change one of the F1–F4 button entries to contain “BUTTON_MUTE_ALL_TRACKS”. You could replace “BUTTON_BOOKMARK”, for example, as bookmarks are easily available with MENU + SELECT as well.
It is important to note that if you enable e.g. “mute all tracks” for one of the F1–F4 buttons, *you must “comment out”* the line where “mute all tracks” is set to SR 0 Pin 0. If the “zero address” setting is not “commented out” in the file, it will have the effect of disabling the setting. “Commenting out” is done by placing a # in front of the line, so that
BUTTON_MUTE_ALL_TRACKS 0 0
becomes
#BUTTON_MUTE_ALL_TRACKS 0 0
Button behaviour (momentary/toggle)
In the HW setup file it is possible to change the behaviour of a number of buttons, so that they do their function while the button is pressed & held, or the button function is toggled ‘on’ and ‘off’ with a single press. For example, momentary pressing & holding the MENU button shows the MENU page only as long as the button is pressed & held, and you have to press another button while pressing & holding the MENU button in order to choose a menu page. If you’ve set the MENU button to toggle, you can just press MENU once and then press another button to choose a menu (or press MENU again to return to the current page). This allows you to make menu page selections with one hand.
This is the relevant section of the HW setup file for configuring button behaviour:
##################################################
Button behaviour
0: active mode as long as button pressed
1: pressing button toggles the mode
##################################################
BUTTON_BEH_FAST 1
BUTTON_BEH_FAST2 0
BUTTON_BEH_ALL 1
BUTTON_BEH_SOLO 1
BUTTON_BEH_METRONOME 1
BUTTON_BEH_LOOP 1
BUTTON_BEH_FOLLOW 1
BUTTON_BEH_SCRUB 0
BUTTON_BEH_MENU 1
BUTTON_BEH_BOOKMARK 1
BUTTON_BEH_STEP_VIEW 0
BUTTON_BEH_TRG_LAYER 1
BUTTON_BEH_PAR_LAYER 1
BUTTON_BEH_TRACK_SEL 0
BUTTON_BEH_TEMPO_PRESET 0
Appendix 2. Bookmarks
The Bookmarks menu is available in the main menu (press EXIT once or a few times, depending on where you are), or by pressing MENU + SELECT.
Bookmarks allow you to store frequently used pages and settings to be recalled at the push of a button. There are two kinds of bookmarks: global and local (session dependent) bookmarks, eight each. In the Bookmarks menu the global bookmarks are available in the left LCD, and the local ones in the right LCD. Global bookmarks are available in all sessions, while local bookmarks are particular to each session.
However, it is possible to copy local bookmarks across sessions in the Sessions Import/Export menu (UTILITY -> Disk -> Sessions Import). Choose the source session in the right LCD and turn GPK9 to select ‘Bookmarks’ as the imported type. Pressing ‘IMPORT’ will replace the current session’s local bookmarks with the imported ones.
A bookmark can be recalled by going to the Bookmark page and pressing a button to select the bookmark you want.
A bookmark can be stored by going to the Bookmarks page and pressing & holding a GP button for 3 seconds. The page that was selected before entering the Bookmarks page is stored, along with a number of settings. (See the example below.)
Bookmark names can be changed only by editing the global or local bookmark files, both called MBSEQ_BM.V4. The maximum length for a name is five characters. If you absolutely must have more than five characters for the name, you could save the same bookmark on two adjacent slots and edit their names in the bookmark file so that the one on the left in the pair has five characters and the one the the right has up to four characters.
The global bookmarks file is at the root of the SD card, and the local ones are in the same folder as the session which the bookmarks belong to.
Besides the bookmark name, it is possible to edit also the other bookmark parameters by hand in the bookmark files. The example below also lists the settings which are stored in a bookmark.
####################
Slot 1 <- slot name, do not edit! Slots 1-8 = global bookmarks, 9-16 local bookmarks
Name Def. <- replace “Def.” for custom bookmark name (max. five characters)
####################
+Page EDIT <- name of selected page
+Group 1 <- selected group number, 1–4
+Tracks 1000000000000000 <- selected tracks, 1 = track selected, 0 = track not selected
+Mutes 0000000000000000 <- selected mutes, 1 = track muted, 0 = track not muted
+ParLayer A <- selected parameter layer, A-P
+TrgLayer A <- selected trigger layer, A-G
+Instrument 1 <- selected instrument (useful only for drum tracks)***
+StepView 1 <- Step View mode on or off
+Step 1 <- selected step (cursor position)
+EditView 0 <- Edit view mode, 0 = step view, 1 = layer view, 2 = trigger view, 3 = 303 view
+Solo 0 <- solo button mode on or off
+All 0 <- ALL button mode on or off
+Fast 0 <- FAST button mode on or off
+Metronome 0 <- metronome on or off
+LoopMode 0 <- loop mode on of off
+FollowMode 0 <- follow mode on or off
The plus or minus sign in the beginning of each line can be used to prevent the setting from being overwritten by a bookmark, when you store it on the bookmark page. Plus allows overwriting, minus prevents it. For example, the line
-Tracks 1111000000000000
would mean that if you save a bookmark in the same location, the track selection won’t be stored, but it will always be what’s written in the bookmark file – in this case, this bookmark will always select tracks 1–4, no matter what the track selection status happens to be at the moment you save the bookmark in this slot.
Appendix 3. The MIDI Router
You can access the MIDI Router page from the main menu, or with MENU + MIDI -> MIDI Router (GPB5–6). The MIDI Router allows you to route incoming MIDI messages from any of the input ports to any of the output ports. *It is independent from the other MIDI settings of the sequencer*, and in some instances you have to pay attention so as not to have parallel in/out settings – this can lead to e.g. notes getting forwarded twice.
The router has a maximum 16 nodes, each of which governs the routing from *one input port to one output port*, with further optional channel limitations. All the nodes are in effect simultaneously. On the input side, GPK9 selects the node to be edited, GPK10 selects the physical input port on which the messages are coming in, and GPK11 selects the MIDI channel that is allowed through. The channel setting (GPK11) can be:
a) 1 to 16, for allowing messages on single MIDI channel;
b) ‘All’ for allowing messages on all channels; or
c) ‘—’, which effectively disables the node, as no MIDI channel is allowed through.
On the output side, GPK12 selects the output port where the node’s input port’s MIDI messages are routed to. GPK13 selects the MIDI channel which the outgoing message is sent on. The outgoing channel doesn’t have to be the same as the original incoming channel, so you can e.g. transform incoming channel 1 to outgoing channel 13. Channel options are:
a) 1 to 16 for a single MIDI channel. All incoming MIDI messages, regardless of their original channel, are sent out on this channel;
b) ‘All’ for sending the message on its original channel; or
c) two special options: Track and Selected Track (Sel.Trk).
If the output port/channel option is ‘Track’, the router will direct the incoming messages to the track whose *ordinal number* matches the incoming MIDI channel (provided that the input port/channel options allow the message through). For example, if you have a MIDI controller that’s sending MIDI data on channel 7, ‘Track’ option will send the message out on the port and MIDI channel set on track 7’s (G2T3) EVENT page. MIDI channel 10 will get sent out on track 10 (G3T2), etc.
If the output channel option is ‘Sel.Trk’ (Selected Track), the router will direct the incoming messages to the sequencer track that is *currently active* (provided that the input port/channel options allow the message through). If you have several tracks selected, the MIDI message will go out on the channel with the lowest ordinal number (track 1 before track 2, track 5 before track 6 etc.)
The final option on the MIDI Router page is DefaultPort. The tracks’ EVENT page and a few other pages allow you to select ‘Def.’ as one of the Port options. If you select ‘Def.’ as the Port, it will refer to the Default Port setting on the MIDI Router page.
Note that the router settings might overlap with the Jam page note live forwarding option (‘Fwd’). If you have Fwd ‘on’, it will forward incoming MIDI messages on the ‘Jam’ bus (see section 4.1.1.) to the active track’s output port, set on the track’s EVENT page. This is done regardless of any MIDI Router settings. However, if Fwd is ‘on’, and at the same time you have a MIDI Router node routing MIDI messages to the same port and channel as Fwd is forwarding them, MIDI messages like notes will get triggered twice, almost simultaneously. This most likely alters how the note will sound, and perhaps causes hanging notes. If you are using the MIDI Router to forward MIDI messages from one or several MIDI controllers to output ports, you might want to make sure that Fwd on the Jam page is ‘off’. On the other hand, note that the Live Patterns function depends on Fwd being on. (See section 4.1.5.)
Example: If you have two MIDI keyboards, one in IN1 (a plain MIDI controller) and the other in IN2 (a keyboard synthesizer that’s sending on, and listening to, channel 1), you could set them up so that one of them always plays the channel it is set to send on, and the other always plays the currently selected (active) sequencer track. Let’s say you want to set your keyboard synth to play the active track (selectable on the group and track selection buttons on the sequencer), and the plain MIDI controller to play the channel you’ve selected on the controller. For this to work optimally, you need to turn the Jam page Fwd option ‘off’ to avoid forwarding messages twice. Also, you want to set your keyboard synthesizer’s ‘local’ function off, so that the synth is triggered only via MIDI.
On the MIDI Router page, set Node 1 like this for the plain MIDI controller:
IN Chn./P OUT Chn./P
Node 1 IN1 All OUT1 All
This lets through all messages coming in at IN1 on all channels, and directs them to OUT1 on the same channel it came in on. In other words, if the incoming message at IN1 is on channel 11, it is forwarded to OUT1 on channel 11. This setup is very useful if you have a multitimbral synthesizer that can be played on several MIDI channels, or you have several synths connected to OUT1, either with MIDI Thru boxes or by daisy-chaining equipment with their MIDI Thru (soft or hard) ports. However, if you’re using only one synth in each output port, you can make a dedicated node for each output port:
IN Chn./P OUT Chn./P
Node 2 IN1 All OUT1 All
Node 3 IN1 All OUT2 All
Node 4 IN1 All OUT3 All
Node 5 IN1 All OUT4 All
With these settings, everything coming in on IN1 will be routed simultaneously to output ports OUT1–4. This way you can control the synths at each output port with a single MIDI controller at IN1, just by changing the sending channel on the MIDI controller.
Node 2, for the keyboard synthesizer, is set up like this:
IN Chn./P OUT Chn./P
Node 2 IN2 #1 Sel.Trk
Node 2 contains the settings for the keyboard synthesizer, which is connected to IN1, and set to send on, and listen to, exclusively channel 1. This way you can use the keyboard synth to play itself via the sequencer (remember to turn the synth’s ‘local’ setting ‘off’), but also any other synth that you have connected to the sequencer, just by using the group and track selection buttons to select the right track on the sequencer.
Appendix 4. MBSEQv4 CC implementation
The following is a simplified list of what a track’s configuration consists of. The full information can be found below.
– FX settings
– MODE settings
– TRANSPOSE settings
– DIRECTION settings
– DIVIDER settings
– Loop points
– LENGTH
– GROOVE styles
– MORPH settings
[list of MBSEQv4 CC implementation follows]
1 Like