Amount of Steps in a sequence

Aremenda · 2015-02-01T01:47:16.000Z

Hey I am close to purchasing I just want to know if I can set the sequencer to uneven loops. We drop beats and add beats all over the place, so is it possible to have 7 steps or 13 or 15? And then have it loop? Or are all the patterns based on 4/8/12/16?

djadonis206 · 2015-02-01T03:22:55.000Z

http://www.elektron.se/support-and-downloads

Aremenda · 2015-02-01T04:35:22.000Z

I guess so. Says you can set any time signature ending in 16/32/48/64. So 1/16-16/16, 1/32-32/32, 1/48-48/48 and finally 1/64-64/64 correct? That is amazing if true.

avantronica · 2015-02-01T08:18:32.000Z

""Aremenda"":

I guess so. Says you can set any time signature ending in 16/32/48/64. So 1/16-16/16, 1/32-32/32, 1/48-48/48 and finally 1/64-64/64 correct? That is amazing if true.

Each of the 12 tracks can be anything between 2 and64 steps long, that summary isn’t accurate, the only significant aspect of 16,32,48,64 is that it denotes how many pages of sequencer trigs will be scrolled through
Also keep in mind that there is a separate global loop length that will repeat the start of the whole pattern, this can be set very short or up to 1024 long or infinite(in which case each track will loop itself and ignore global looping
Eg
If you program a 14 step loop, you’ll see 14 steps scrolled on one page of 16
If you double the length, you don’t get two pages of 14
You get 1 page of 16 and 12 on the second (ie 28of 32)
So you can’t dial in 14/32 as your point implied
Don’t forget the fx track can be a different length too to gert very polyrhythmic patterns going !

Techno_Mystic · 2015-02-01T10:02:57.000Z

""Aremenda"":

That is amazing if true.

Yes, you can and, yes it is amazing. It is one of the great features.

For example, a standard bar is 16/16, but for example you can set it to 18/32 which adds two steps to the bar. I have had to do this to extend a pattern to the length of a sample to stop it cutting the sample off.

Another great feature is the quantize. It can be set from 0 to 127, and it can be global, but can also be set for each track on an individual basis. Great if you like a slightly irregular feel but still want a bit of correction.

Aremenda · 2015-02-02T00:40:47.000Z

WHOA! I was hoping control like this was possible with this one, and it is. Thank you for the replies.

Side note: I would love to run the 3 keyboards through a mixer and have one line running out to the AR for live sampling, possible? The mixer will get me the choice of keyboard, with a line out for live sampling. 1/4 inch? Recording live samples on the fly turns this into a looper as well.

Madchiller · 2015-02-02T01:05:23.000Z

The AR does not sample live. You would need an octatrack for this. I guess overbridge could provide some posibilties but then You would need your computer.

dcsux · 2015-02-02T08:14:24.000Z

""Madchiller"":

I guess overbridge could provide some posibilties

Do you reckon?
I suppose technically it should be possible. That would be rad.

snowcrash · 2015-02-02T10:45:41.000Z

I really think, Elektron should make this more clear, as the description of steps/bars like 18/32 is highly confusing for people that have at least some musical background.

Aremenda · 2015-02-03T01:39:53.000Z

If you double the amount of steps you double the rhythm to work with. So if you use 16 steps and your groove has 4 beats, you get to use 4 rhythms per down beat. If you want to have more options use 32 steps, and have 8 steps per down beat. Of course you would have to keep doubling the tempo, to keep the groove the same speed. But you could make the same groove with 16/32/48 and up to 64 steps just placing the strong beats in larger intervals. Pretty cool. These guys are saying that you can have individual lengths as well for some cool poly rhythmic stuff.
For example have a rooted groove let’s say in 5/4… so in 5/4 you have 5 beats to step. The more control the better so let’s say you want 16th notes (4 steps) per beat that is 20. 20 is above 16 so you would use 20/32. If you wanted less let’s say only 8th note control (2 steps) use 10/16 etc… Then you can layer it with other tracks maybe something with 3 beats or 7, amazing! Can you adjust each tracks swing % individually?

Okay wait a second! Is all this possible with the Octatrack as well? What are the major differences? The sampler is streaming only? And no pads? With the octatrack how long can your samples be?

AND can I run the metronome somehow separate from the main mix?

Techno_Mystic · 2015-02-03T07:21:27.000Z

""Aremenda"":

Then you can layer it with other tracks maybe something with 3 beats or 7, amazing!

I’m not sure that is possible. All tracks in a pattern will be on the same signature as far as I know. But you can vary the signature from pattern to pattern.

Swing is applied to a whole pattern. EDIT: just read in the manual that you can then alter it for individual trigs (page 42).

One of its limitations is that tempo is global to a project. You can change it by altering the time signature in a pattern (page 39 in the manual), but you can’t change it gradually programmatically as far as I know. You would have to do that live when it is playing.