Analogue-sequencer

Hi All, 
I've been watching the list for a while and a half now + ordered 
my "ready built" P3. I was wondering if anyone out there had some 
sort of beginners guide or tips for getting started with the P3 ? 

I've worked with analogue sequencers and MIDI, but the functionality 
of the P3 is just amazing ! I've downloaded the manual, but until 
the "beast" arrives I'm flying blind and would love some "starters" 
tips of at all possible.

Colin told me that he was planning a guide, but finding time is 
obviously difficult. If we could all help I'd be prepared to help 
too.

Paul

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 13:57:29 -0000, "nachtsmeer" <Paul.Kuchar@bss.org>
wrote:

>I've worked with analogue sequencers and MIDI, but the functionality 
>of the P3 is just amazing ! I've downloaded the manual, but until 
>the "beast" arrives I'm flying blind and would love some "starters" 
>tips of at all possible.

Well, I'd advise that you start simply. Preferably learn what you can
do with a single track. Ignore Force To Scale, Global Bar, Playlists -
a simple 16 step pattern on track one is a good place to start your
explorations. 
Get used to the various menus - I admit when I was first shown the P3
I thought it was intimidating. I looked for sequence direction, I
looked for dedicated controls, I thought the existing buttons seemed
strangely labelled. Remembering all the key combinations is hard - but
after a few days you pass a "threshold" and suddenly you seem to fly
around it faster even than some machines covered in controls. 

Set a pattern running and enable some notes. Tweak their values using
the bottom row of knobs. Try pushing the top button and messing with
velocity, length, delay - leave the controllers alone for now. Use the
menus to get used to altering direction, try copy and paste and
changing sequence length as it plays. Use the bottom button and try
out Skip, Tie - leave X alone for now too. You should start to get a
feel for the simple options.

Then connect a MIDI keyboard, hit record and enter some notes that
way. Try out the various record options from both within Pattern Edit
and directly at track level. When you're happy with this, do some
equally simple stuff on another track and mess with two tracks
running, perhaps tracks of different lengths. 

Only when you are confident with this stuff would I recommend looking
deeper. I'm sure others here can offer suggestions on what to try
next. About time I borrowed a digital video camera and created some
kind of online guide. Mind you, it's Friday and the buds are smelling
fresh...

Paul

---
Paul Nagle / Soft Room Music
Email: paul@softroom.co.uk www.softroom.co.uk
                           www.BogusFocus.com