Analogue-sequencer

>   Put simply, playlists are history (sob) but in their place 
> are multi-bar patterns that have most of the functionality of 
> playlists plus some new functionality that goes beyond what 
> playlists could do (e.g. pattern ghosting, ). 
> Each part can now have its own set of unique patterns if you 
> like or can draft in ghosts of patterns from other parts. 
> Each bank has its own set of 8 user scales too that are saved 
> with the bank.

Note that bar loop regions are in a newer build, which isn't up yet...
They allow you to set a loop start and end point in a pattern, so that bars
up to the loop start will play through once when the pattern is first
selected or P3 started, but then the pattern loops round the bars between
the loop start and end.
    
> The playlist-free mode is 
> conceptually easier. It should suit those P3 owners who 
> believe replacing their shoelaces with velcro is a better 
> option than learning to tie a knot. What, did I hear someone 
> grrrr? :)  

Well that has to include me - 99% of the time, I only used playlists to
string a few patterns together for a 2, 4 or 8 bar pattern.
The main advantage in v4 is that you have multi-bar patterns, and the
pattern is unique to the part & track it is on.
Unlike v3, there is no common set of single-bar patterns that must be shared
between all parts, so you don't have to worry about some bars of your
pattern being used in another part, which you might go and edit...

The other unexpected advantage of v4 is that you can very easily save a
pattern (as a new pattern or a ghost) to another *track*, which makes
building up composite sounds very simple.
And since you can save a pattern as a new pattern to another part, you can
very easily keep a safe copy of a pattern you intend to mess about with
heavily.

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