Confused about trigless locks on a track with midi input

Elektron Gear Model:Cycles
#1

I have my M:C with track 1 sending midi to tracks 2 and 3. Tracks 2 and 3 have audio out off with 2 sending only to delay and 3 sending only to reverb. This is fun, as I can have a different sound for the echo repeats or reverb. Neat.

Earlier, I swear I had trigless locks working with this. Basically, I was able to change parameters with track 2’s sequencer (even running at a different rate!) compared to track 1. But now I can’t replicate that. Is there something obvious that I’m forgetting to do? Thanks!

#2

I’m pretty sure I’m getting intermittent behavior with this. I had it working again this morning, only to have the Track 2 sequence ignored. Could be user error, but I’m not sure what I would have done.

I thought I’d sorted out one quirk:

“Let’s say track 1 is sending MIDI to track 2. Track 2’s sequencer is ignored if track 1’s gate is open. It took me a bit to understand that behavior.”

But a little while later:

“the behavior doesn’t seem stable. I’ve had a sequence on track 2 go from amazing to being ignored.”

I’m at the point now where track 2’s sequence is always completely ignored when controlled by midi from track 1. Bizarre.

Does anyone want to try to help me debug this?

#3

Gah … started from scratch and got it working again. This was probably the fifth restart, so there’s some subtlety that I’m missing.

Here’s the basic idea in action:

Boring track 1 on left, which triggers track 2. Track 2 with trigless locks, changing cycle length, etc., on right.

2 Likes
#4

I used the trick on a few more patterns. Had dinner and tried to do it on another pattern and couldn’t get it to work. I’m still not sure if I’m forgetting a step or if it is intermittent. Bizarre.

#5

Your experience sounds like mine when trying to do this with the A4. Maybe we should log this as a bug and see if they respond with some info. I can’t imagine they deliberately hindered this but maybe it’s a side effect of the design.

My plan is to use the OXI One to drive the tracks, since it has far superior melodic sequencing and options for improv. But I want to use the onboard sequencers for p-locks like you’re attempting to do.

#6

I’m coming around to thinking it was user error. I’m just struggling to figure out what error I kept making. :slight_smile:

#7

It was definitely user error, as I haven’t had any further issues.

Here’s a quick guide if you want to do this. I’m assuming you want to use Track 1 to control Track 2. Track 2 will take MIDI notes from Track 1, plus have trigless locks. Track 2 output would only be through the delay or reverb.

  1. Plug MIDI out into MIDI in.
  2. In the MIDI setup menu:
    a. set Track 1 MIDI output to channel 1.
    b. set Track 2 MIDI input to channel 1.
    c. make sure MIDI is set to send on the standard MIDI cable, not just USB.
  3. In the Audio setup menu:
    a. Set audio out for Track 2 to “Off.” (This is a choice since I only wanted track 2 to be wet)
  4. On the track 1 Track Setup menu:
    a. set MOut to “On”
  5. Get your sounds for tracks 1 and 2. Note that track 2 has to have the delay or reverb sends up to hear anything.
  6. Sequence track 1. Keeping an eye on note length is critical here. As my default, I set the length to just under 1 (0.92 or whatever) - this keeps it from masking the trigless locks on track 2.
  7. Sequence your trigless locks on track 2. Considerations: these cannot be on the same step as the sequence in step 1, as they would be ignored.

I think that’s it. It took me a bit of time to sort out and understand the limitations involved. However, the end results can be spectacular.

2 Likes
#8

I just had another pattern stop recognizing the trigless locks. What a drag.

I think it all falls apart when I use the TRACK CHANCE on my midi-controlled track.

#9

The result is interesting :wink:

#10

I have no idea you can do this. Amazing.