Analogue-sequencer

> It is just that when, in order to master the device for performance,
> the majority of "chops" necessary are navigational skills -
> remembering where you are, knowing how to exit to the main page and
> access the next mode to get to the next needed page.  The structure is
> a tree architecture, where pages are sequentially selected from a
> common access point. 

This is one aspect of P3 that I agree is less than ideal.
I tried to keep the menu depth as low as possible - under the top levels of
play mode, pattern edit and playlist edit, there is only really one level of
menu for most other options. But there a lot of pages.
It's a bi-product of the way P3 was designed - I simply didn't know where it
would end up when I first laid out the front panel.
It was just supposed to be a simple analogue-style pattern sequencer.
Now that I know what it does, I could build a much larger interface, with
dedicated sections for pattern edit, play mode, and playlist edit, each with
dedicated keys for the softkey functions in these modes.
But it would be huge and expensive, and not everyone would want it.
 
Something I thought of a while back but only just got round to implementing
is to provide quicker menu access using PAGE in combination with the step
keys. At the moment this just applies to pattern edit, but I can extend it
to play mode if it proves popular.
v3.1.006b40 is in Yahoo files now.

In pattern edit there are 8 softkey pages. PAGE cycles through 4 of these,
and FUNC+PAGE toggles this selection to the other 4.
For direct access, if you press a step key from 1 to 8 while *holding* the
PAGE key, it will jump immediately to that page.

So if you want to access 'Acc Conf' from the tbase page, rather than
pressing FUNC+PAGE, PAGE, PAGE, PAGE, you would press PAGE+8.
I've been playing this for a while, and I'm tempted to lose the old method
altogether.
To select a new page in the old method, you have to know both where you are,
and where you are going.
The number of key presses required varies depending on these two factors.
With the direct access, you are always right there with a two-key press.
A label along the front of the step keys, with
"EDIT PAGE: tbase / direction / cut&paste / shift / rnd note / rnd upper /
sculpt / config"
would probably help the unfamiliar find their way around too.
Let me know what you think...

Best regards,
Colin Fraser
Sequentix Music Systems Ltd
http://www.sequentix.com