Analogue-sequencer

Hi,

I'm new to the group, just want to say I'm totally
blown away by the new Sequentix P3 Sequencer  :-)

It's one of the best improvisational analog-type 
sequencers I've used so far, lots of lovely functions
to play with - I did consider a Schrittmacher or that
overblown 'Polymorph' now called the 'Spectralis', but
these two are far too expensive to buy!!

To the point now....

I wish the <TEMPO> was in increments of "1" instead
of "2".  Could this be fine tuned if possible in an
software update ?

I've also noticed when assigning notes to each of the
16-knobs they are notated with #, ie: D# - G# - A#
instead of 'b' (flats), ie: Eb - Ab - Bb

I don't get confused by this, I'm quite literate in music,
but having a scale of: C,C#,D,Eb,E,F,F#,G,Ab,A,Bb,B,C would
be nice instead.

All in all a damn fine sequencer   :-)

NB:
I have my sequentix mounted in a rack unit, can I leave
the power switch on permanently and just switch it on
and off from the wall-wart PSU, or will powering up the 
P3 this way damage it ?

> I wish the <TEMPO> was in increments of "1" instead
> of "2".  Could this be fine tuned if possible in an
> software update ?

Internally, P3 stores tempo with an accuracy of 0.1 bpm.
Since there are 128 steps in the rotation of the P3 knobs, to cover a range
of over 200 bpm directly the tempo knob has to skip a couple of values most
across of the range.
You can fine tune the tempo by holding FUNC and then adjusting the DATA
knob.
That gives a fine adjust range of 6.3, which is enough to cover the gaps,
but that's maybe not as direct as you would like.
There's an array of values that converts the position of the tempo knob from
0 to 127 into the whole numbered range you can select.
With a bit if jiggery pokery, that table could potentially be made user
editable via sysex.
 
> I've also noticed when assigning notes to each of the
> 16-knobs they are notated with #, ie: D# - G# - A#
> instead of 'b' (flats), ie: Eb - Ab - Bb
> 
> I don't get confused by this, I'm quite literate in music,
> but having a scale of: C,C#,D,Eb,E,F,F#,G,Ab,A,Bb,B,C would
> be nice instead.

That's something I haven't thought much about.
Maybe it would make more sense to change some of the note names for their
more commonly used enharmonic pals ?
I take it D# is never referred to by proper musicians ? Is the key always E
flat ?

The note names are another lookup table, so again could potentially be user
customisable.
If you wanted to subvert convention, and call the notes Bob, Joe, Sam, etc.
that would be do-able.
But your bandmates might look at you funny if you tell them the next number
is a twelve bar blues in Tom flat.

> All in all a damn fine sequencer   :-)

Thanks ;-)
 
> NB:
> I have my sequentix mounted in a rack unit, can I leave
> the power switch on permanently and just switch it on
> and off from the wall-wart PSU, or will powering up the 
> P3 this way damage it ?

It should be fine.
I keep most of my studio gear switched on at all times, and power up from
the multi-block.
But I leave my P3 to be manually powered-on, so I don't miss the lights ;-)

Cheers,
Colin f

Colin wrote...

 > Internally, P3 stores tempo with an accuracy of 0.1 bpm.
 > Since there are 128 steps in the rotation of the P3 knobs, to cover a
range
 > of over 200 bpm directly the tempo knob has to skip a couple of values
most
 > across of the range.
 > You can fine tune the tempo by holding FUNC and then adjusting the DATA
 > knob.
 > That gives a fine adjust range of 6.3, which is enough to cover the gaps,
 > but that's maybe not as direct as you would like.

Colin, this reminds me, this doesn't actually seem to work on my P3, holding
the FUNC key in whilst adjusting the tempo acts in exactly the same way as
when not holding it in.

Another strange glitch I've noticed is that the Midi Sync output on my P3
seems to send some kind of start or continue messages when the P3 is not
running, which keep re-starting my MAQ even when it wasn't set to respond to
external midi clocks. I swapped the MAQ to another midi out and it is now
fine.

Also I really would like some way to select a track to edit (or set to
record) that only requires one hand. Whilst improvising, the current method
stops me playing anything else whenever I want to perform any kind of track
based editing, which can be quite annoying. It would be great if something
like FUNC + Play/Edit could be used to set the P3 to await track selection.

Another thing that would be useful if you have it would be some idea how the
FTS quantises notes to the selected scale i.e. whether notes not in the
scale go up or down or whatever.

Cheers
Jez Creek
http://www.modulator-esp.co.uk/





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Hi Jez, 

>  > You can fine tune the tempo by holding FUNC and then 
> adjusting the DATA
>  > knob.

> Colin, this reminds me, this doesn't actually seem to work on 
> my P3, holding
> the FUNC key in whilst adjusting the tempo acts in exactly 
> the same way as
> when not holding it in.

The fine tempo tune is on the DATA knob, rather than the TEMPO knob.
If it was on the TEMPO knob, then once you had fine-tuned the tempo, the
TEMPO knob would be in the wrong position realtive to the current coarse
tempo, so you'd get an unpleasant jump if you then tried a small adjustment.

> Another strange glitch I've noticed is that the Midi Sync 
> output on my P3
> seems to send some kind of start or continue messages when 
> the P3 is not
> running, which keep re-starting my MAQ even when it wasn't 
> set to respond to
> external midi clocks. I swapped the MAQ to another midi out 
> and it is now
> fine.

That's a problem I identified a couple of days ago with the PIC used for the
DIN sync to midi sync conversion.
The clock-only midi out is generated from the standard P3 DIN sync out by a
PIC 12C508 running my midi to din/din to midi sync code.
This has always worked perfectly when connected externally to the sync
output of a P3, so I was scratching my head a bit when I found it was giving
odd behaviour just by being moved onto the mainboard. What is stranger is
that the PIC sends spurious START bytes, without sending a STOP byte, but
the code shouldn't allow this - the state must change from running to
stopped, back to running, so a START should always be followed by a STOP. It
seems this is some sort of instability in the PIC itself. The fix is to add
100n capacitors to the clock and run input pins on the PIC. You can do this
yourself, or you could ship it back to me and I'll fix it.
I'll document this in the construction notes when I update them.
 
> Also I really would like some way to select a track to edit (or set to
> record) that only requires one hand. Whilst improvising, the 
> current method
> stops me playing anything else whenever I want to perform any 
> kind of track
> based editing, which can be quite annoying. It would be great 
> if something
> like FUNC + Play/Edit could be used to set the P3 to await 
> track selection.

I'll have a think about sticky keys...
Alternatively, I could retrofit a footswitch socket, for PLAY/EDIT and FUNC
pedals.
 
> Another thing that would be useful if you have it would be 
> some idea how the
> FTS quantises notes to the selected scale i.e. whether notes 
> not in the
> scale go up or down or whatever.

If the current note is not in the forced scale, the routine looks at the
note one above to see if it is.
If it is, it sets the current note to that note.
If it isn't it looks at the note one below the current note, to see if it's
in the scale.
If it is, it sets the current note to that note.
If not, it will check 2 above, then 2 below, 3 above, then 3 below, and so
on, until it must eventually hit the root note.
Does that help ?

Cheers,
Colin f

Colin,

 > The fine tempo tune is on the DATA knob, rather than the TEMPO knob.
 > If it was on the TEMPO knob, then once you had fine-tuned the tempo, the
 > TEMPO knob would be in the wrong position realtive to the current coarse
 > tempo, so you'd get an unpleasant jump if you then tried a small
adjustment.

Thanks for the Tempo fine tune explanation, makes perfect sense, just me
being dim again

 > That's a problem I identified a couple of days ago with the PIC used for
the
 > DIN sync to midi sync conversion.
 > The clock-only midi out is generated from the standard P3 DIN sync out by
a
 > PIC 12C508 running my midi to din/din to midi sync code.
 > This has always worked perfectly when connected externally to the sync
 > output of a P3, so I was scratching my head a bit when I found it was
giving
 > odd behaviour just by being moved onto the mainboard. What is stranger is
 > that the PIC sends spurious START bytes, without sending a STOP byte, but
 > the code shouldn't allow this - the state must change from running to
 > stopped, back to running, so a START should always be followed by a STOP.
It
 > seems this is some sort of instability in the PIC itself. The fix is to
add
 > 100n capacitors to the clock and run input pins on the PIC. You can do
this
 > yourself, or you could ship it back to me and I'll fix it.
 > I'll document this in the construction notes when I update them.

It's not a problem at the moment

 > I'll have a think about sticky keys...
 > Alternatively, I could retrofit a footswitch socket, for PLAY/EDIT and
FUNC
 > pedals.

 Sticky keys would be good as would the footswitch, though I'd probably go
for PLAY/EDIT and RECORD, along with a RUN/ STOP footswitch

 > If the current note is not in the forced scale, the routine looks at the
 > note one above to see if it is.
 > If it is, it sets the current note to that note.
 > If it isn't it looks at the note one below the current note, to see if
it's
 > in the scale.
 > If it is, it sets the current note to that note.
 > If not, it will check 2 above, then 2 below, 3 above, then 3 below, and
so
 > on, until it must eventually hit the root note.
 > Does that help ?

Very helpful, it will come in handy when working out if chords will
transpose properly with FTS on

Thanks
Jez




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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> Very helpful, it will come in handy when working out if chords will
> transpose properly with FTS on

I haven't looked at that too closely, but if it turns out the logic would be
more sensible reversed (i.e. try note below first, then above) let me know.

Cheers,
Colin f

On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 12:55:11 +0100, "Colin f" <colin@colinfraser.com>
wrote:

>I haven't looked at that too closely, but if it turns out the logic would be
>more sensible reversed (i.e. try note below first, then above) let me know.

Or alternating on each pass.

Sorry. You knew I'd say that.

Paul
---
Paul Nagle / Soft Room Music
 www.softroom.co.uk
 www.BogusFocus.com

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