To reproduce this behavior:
- Lay down a note trig on a MIDI track (e.g., note F3 with a velocity of 127, on step 2 of MIDI track 1)
- Parameter-lock a CC message (e.g., CC#1 / modwheel to value 70) on that same step (step 2 of MIDI track 1)
- Observe the output on a MIDI monitoring tool (hereās a free one for OSX)
The log of sequential MIDI data will look like:
Note On 1 F3 127
Controller 1 Modulation Wheel 70
Note Off 1 F3 0
Say youāre sequencing a synth whose filter and amp envelopes have a really quick attack, and say CC#1 controls the FM index of that synth. When step 2 triggers, youāll hear the filter and amp open up, and then youāll very quickly but often perceptibly hear the FM index jump to the value you p-locked it to. The amount of delay between Note On and the CC message, and so the perceptibility of this, will depend on how much MIDI data youāre chugging out and where the receiving synth is in your MIDI chain. It sounds glitchy and itās not controllable.
If you were to do this on the or , youād see:
Controller 1 Modulation Wheel 70
Note On 1 F3 127
Note Off 1 F3 0
And so right before the envelope even opens, the FM index is locked to the level you want it, and you donāt hear it step to that value mid-note. This is also how it works when you p-lock timbral parameters on the OTās audio tracks or any of the other Elektron machinesā internal sequencers.
Iāve seen this happen for entirely new project as well as for projects Iāve worked on for months, and several owners have written about this, here and on Muffwiggler. Some examples:
Aside: Itās unclear whether this MIDI behavior was intentionally designed (maybe to address some tradeoff) and thereās just an apparent consensus that this is not how CC and Note On data should be sequentially ordered, or whether this is classically a bug in the sense of unintended behavior. Either way, I see this as something more than an idiosyncratic feature request.