Creating (DeepChord style) Evolving Chords / Pads on A4?

I have asked this question on this forum before, but I didn’t really get that good of an explanation as to how to create evolving pads / chords on the A4?

The A4 is limited to 4 bars… How could one easily create ever-evolving pads on the A4? How do I get past the limitation of 4 bars? Is there any way to modulate sequence data? I don’t want the same chord repeating every 4 bars… The sequencer seems like it may demand a lot of thinking in order to get this desired result? Any shortcuts?

Well one quick was is the change the tempo speed of a track. You still only having a max of 64 steps but that can be a much longer progression with a lower resolution.

Chains? Then you can leave the tempo/resolution alone…

You’re better off working in song mode for this, then you can choose which section (pattern) of your chord progression you start from, chain doesn’t allow you to do this so you always have to start at the point of the chain where you last stopped the sequencer and cycle through the entire chain just to get to, for instance, the single bar you want to add a note to.

First decide how long a section you need to work with and set that many blank patterns to four scale pages (unless you’re not dealing with fours) then place those patterns, in order, into a blank song then you can real-time record patterns of whatever length you choose and start from any point of that super-pattern when overdubbing and such.

Interesting, i’m in the same trouble as the OP, and i’m not confortable at all with the chain mode, and 64 steps it’s just not enought for the kind of music i make. I don’t know well how it works, but if i can’t save chains to recall them later on stage then it’s of no use for me. Can those chains be stored for live recall
Also that song mode is only a solution with a very lmited set of patterns right?
could one arrange a whole gig (1-2hours) with song mode but at the same time be able to extend some parts of the composition or shorten them?

What about the pattern division settings? You can get up to 1/8 of the pattern resolution while maintaining BPM tempo settings.

have you tried using free lfos at all?

would that in practice allow us to record slow chord progressions live? how much long in patterns? I’m a bit confused with this

If you want ‘ever evolving’ pads then set a trig on 1 with infinite note length and remove/mute the trig as soon as it’s triggered and then create your soundscape with LFOs etc I’ve only tried multiple drones, but guess a chord will be no bother, you can change the pitch as you go along without retriggering the chord. Retrigger a shorter chord or stop-stop to kill it

I’m not too sure about chains, I only ever use them when I’m building a 128 step pattern.

Working in song mode you could extend a composition by switching out to pattern mode and that particular pattern would continue to loop until you switch back to song mode where it would pick up where you left off, to shorten a composition you’d be best just chaining patterns in real time.

If you’re like me and use lots of patterns in a composition then you’d have to switch projects during a set and would need some way of filling a short silence. I can easily use up half or all (for 32nd notes) the pattern memory on a single piece so the plus drive facility couldn’t come too soon.
I could never understand it when people were saying the Mono didn’t need a plus drive unless you wanted access to lots of user waves, I guess the majority of Elektron users don’t see 128 64 step patterns as limiting.

my recommendation for “ever evolving” patches

-as mentioned: Free (random) LFO modulation + Lfo2 modulating lfo1 speed
-chaining
-use more voices/paterns and set different pattern lenghts in “advanced mode” (finc+scale) - for example 64 steps firs pattern 1, and 63 steps in pattern 2 - so you get changing rhythms alla Stive Reich
-all of the above together :slight_smile:
best
niko

What’s wrong with manually turning knobs during the performance insted of relying on really long, pre-saved soundscapes? I’m pretty sure that most Deepchord-like chords can be made rather easily on the A4, especially considering you have 4 LFO’s for the sound, and even LFO’s to modulate delay and reverb parameters, but they will require some knob turning.

+1 to TrondC. It’s all about moving those knobs. The resolution of the A4 knobs in particular lends itself to long evolving transitions.

Also, I just bought a Strymon Timeline, and I’m looking into getting the Big Sky and possibly other pedals. This style of music is all about the effects chain. You can do it with the internal effects, but I’m having enormous fun sending chords into an external delay with lots of parameters to tweak.

I’m also interested in this process. Could someone post some audio/video examples?

I’m sorry if this is slightly off topic but it’s in a similar vein. Can anyone shed some light on what parameters are likely being tweaked to modulate the sound of the chords at the beginning of this Monochord performance?

Edit:Actually, Emtex, if you read this, how did you do it?