Is there a way to combine patterns and parts of patterns together?
TIA
You can chain patterns, or you could use song mode to arrange various parts of patterns.
Hi science. The easiest way to do what I think you are asking is copy page.
Another way is to hold multiple steps and copy but this never seems to work well for me.
Only way I can think to do this would be to bring over an arp from a previous pattern to the current one. If there is another way that would be useful.
That’s a good idea ihatederek. Labour intensive but once many duplicates of the master pattern have been shifted and chopped you can really go to work on rearranging.
Song mode on the Elektrons really brings out new things in your patterns. Duplicate a pattern and use the tempo multipliers to create fills at twice the speed, splice patterns together to create new ones, etc.
Song mode for elektrons is like the dark side of the moon. You know that you will likely find all sorts of amazing things there, but the voyage will likely be long and tedious.
Song mode has always seemed a bit beyond my needs as I work in an almost entirely improvisation setting, but if you really want to get crazy with these things, it’s a valuable tool to learn.
It’s a real shame that a4 doesn’t have song mode offsets like the md. I’m not sure I like the whole chain thing at all. Good for jamming but limited editing.
The chains are more for arranging a song it seems. i am building patterns and have a pattern that does not need to be in two pieces. then i will add that to a chain. but this pattern will never be ‘half used’ for lack of a better term.
it would be nice if you could join patterns/split patterns at any point etc.
This exist in a few different workarounds. I had typed out a quite lengthy detailed reply, but accidentally closed the window before i finished. I will try to capture the same info, but forgive me if this seems shorted.
Say you have Pattern 1 (P1) and Pattern 2 (P2) as 4 page patterns. You decide you want Page 3-4 of P1 and Page 1-2 of P2 to be together. Make Pattern 3 (P3) and then copy 3-4 of P1 and 1-2 of P2 to their desired locations.
Say you have P1 as 4 bars but decide you only want Page 2-3 of P1. Hit [Function+Left] 16 times and now Page 2 is Page 1 and Page 3 is Page 2. Then just cut the trigs in half via [Function+Page]
Obviously these are examples but there are plenty of workarounds i think to accomplish what you want to do. It may seem like a bit of work, but if you think about the buttons you would likely have to hit in order to do it in a new way in a future OS… its probably not much different. Youd still have to determine what happens and where through a series of button pushes and menu navigation.
Really? I’ve got no experience with the A4, but assumed that you could offset it like you can on their other machines. That’s one of the biggest advantages of song mode for creating new parts out of patterns. Seems like a curious omission.
Press FUNCTION and BANK GROUP, keep FUNCTION held and press BANK GROUP again either once or twice for the two different modes of pattern select/playback behaviour, which are indicated by red or green LED, no LED is normal mode.
One of these options will allow you to jump to the next page of a newly selected pattern (if you select a new pattern at any point during page 2 it will jump in at page 3 of the next selected pattern, for example) and the other option will go to the start of the next selected pattern wherever you are in the currently playing pattern.
thanks ihated! this is exactly what i needed. i just got the A4 yesterday and even though i have have been reading the manual constantly i somehow did not see that you could copy pages!
This is a great way to do this in a performance setting.
" page 31
"PATTERN MODES
When changing patterns, different modes affecting the way the active pattern will be changed exist. Toggle between the PATTERN modes by pressing [FUNCTION] + [BANK GROUP]. The LED indi- cates which mode is selected. Three PATTERN modes exist.
DIRECT START will immediately change patterns. The new pattern will start playing from the beginning. This mode is indicated by a red LED.
DIRECT JUMP will immediately change patterns. The new pattern will start playing from the position where the previous pattern left off. This mode is indicated by a green LED.
SEQUENTIAL will change patterns after the currently playing pattern reaches its end. This mode is the default mode. It indicated by an unlit LED."
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Yeah, it’s also good for working out which pattern sections work best with others, before you start splicing via copy and paste or in song mode.