I dont know if this will help so feel free to ignore. It's just
intended to illustrate some of the uses of the Global bar, Consecutive
Part play etc.
Everything can be done as it plays, of course.
1) Start with a new bank. Select part 1 (key 9) and track 1 (key 1).
Make sure MIDI channels and connectivity are OK and hit Play/Edit
combined with the track key to activate some steps. Well keep it
simple and use a single track for now. Ensure pattern length is 16 by
hitting Page then F3 (Last) along with the last step key. Play/Edit
again to save. Loopy pattern thing should be happening. If not, jump
out of the window, burn a witch, invade another country - whatever
takes your fancy.
2) From the main screen select a scale and base key to choice. Mine
happen to be C and scale U01 (which consists of root, +5, +7 and +10
semitones - for very simple sequences). Hit the Page key until you
reach the GBar, PCRep and PXPos screen. Each softkey plus the data
entry key allows you to adjust each parm - make sure GBar is 16, PCRep
is 1, PXPos is 0. So far, nothing unusual - your 16 step pattern loops
happily.
3) Hit the Page key until you see part copy - hold its soft key (F1)
and then a destination Part location - so Part 2 in this case. The P3
copies the Gbar and PXPos as well as the other data (should copy the
PCRep too Colin?) so Part 2 loops around as before. Hit F3 softkey and
set PXPos to 5, hit enter (future version will allow negative
transpose here too). Tracks now play transposed up 5 semitones but
after the FTS has been performed - which is nice.
4) Whilst in this menu, hit F1 and change the GBar to 8. Nows the
time to consider Playlist and GBar interaction. Hit Func key and your
track to open the Playlist menu. Repeats should be 1, Length should be
1, Transpose 0, and experiment with chg: of B or P. With our GBar
setting of 8, if we choose our pattern playback type to be B, it only
plays the first 8 steps, regardless of its stored last step. Leave it
at B for now and save by hitting the Func key a second time.
5) Now the clever bit. ensuring Part 2 has GBar of 8, PXPos of 5 and
PCRep of 1, hit the key for Part1 - before you release this key, hit
Part 2's key also. Do this carefully as the P3 needs to know you want
to activate 'consecutive part play' (or whatever Colin will call it).
The two parts loop around now, Part1 playing 16 steps, Part2, 8. Alter
the PCRep of Part2 as it plays, setting it to 2 - the transposed Part
now lasts as long as the original even though it is chopped in half.
Good really.
Note that when making adjustments, it continues to loop within that
Part until you confirm by hitting enter (useful). Returning to the
main screen you could set a new scale and root now if you like. You
can see how much fun this can be if you select more and more Parts to
play in sequence, doing complex transposes interactively to build a
song. Although you could also do this with Playlists, it gets very
complicated to synchronise all the transposes (sometimes this is good
though with FTS employed!). Experiment with Playlists to see the
effect of different lengths of playlists, different playback types and
the relationship to the Global Bar. Setting GBar to 32 means that
phrases set to listen to the GBar loop twice as long as when GBar is
16. For some fun variations, try weirder bar lengths such as 34. Then
activate more tracks and mix and match the playlist playback, pattern
lengths etc. Because all this can be done during playback you can
evolve a piece really easily from basics into a highly complex
monster.....
6) Note that Playlist transpose still conforms to FTS but *everything*
(unless transpose defeat is on for some steps, perhaps drum tracks) is
transposed in Part transpose. Oh, and notes that are tied do unusual
things depending on FTS settings - try this out with alternating Parts
using different FTS and see what I mean!
Next time well look at recreating the Polymorph effect - namely
having note and controller tracks of uneven lengths looping - then
again, you can probably work that out for yourself. Another good one
is setting tracks to the same channel and looping patterns of uneven
lengths playing a polyphonic instrument - especially when you
introduce a Playlist with gaps or patterns that run at different clock
divisions. OK, that's pretty obvious so maybe next time well look at
Note Scultpting, controller entry, note tap entry.... 8-) and whatever
goodies Colin has added in the meantime.
I think experimentation with concurrent part play and the GBar would
keep most people occupied for some time! Party on guys!!!
Paul
---
Paul Nagle / Soft Room Music
Email: paul@softroom.co.uk www.softroom.co.uk
www.BogusFocus.com
www.SpankTheDarkMonkey.co.uk
(visit the above site for info about next live Gig at National Space Centre, Sept 27th!)