Analogue-sequencer

> after a round trip to Scotland the mainboard is up & running, and my 
> first impression of the p3, after playing with it for an afternoon, 
> is that this thing basicallly kicks the crap out of my other 
> sequencers, and then does a happy little dance on their faces whilst 
> waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Glad to hear you like it :-)

> hardly using the pots 
> at all; the randomizer is fabulous! especially when combined with the 
> FTS function. 

You just need to watch the randomizer doesn't make you lazy. I've all
but given up coming up with sequences of my own...
I set up an FTS scale, tap in a few steps for a nice rhythm, then hit
the randomize note button like the 'channel up' button on my TV remote -
flicking through random patterns until I find one that sounds cool.
P3 isn't optimised for percussion patterns, but I've been using a few
tracks for drums just until I get my 'proper' percussion sequencer
firmware done (R3). For easy hi-hat patterns (assuming you have your
hats next to each other midi-note wise) set the base note of the
randomizer to the lower note of the two hats and set the range to 2. Hit
the note randomize button for a while, and there you go - random
open/closed patterns that certainly seem to be more inventive than I
ever come up with. Any bits of the pattern you don't like - just overdub
some alternate randomness. 

Cheers,
Colin f