Holy SH*T, matt your last sentence got me. You should get another OT mate - the treats on me
i placed a trig for the plays free tracks on the sequencer and BOOM it acts like it should, quantised start and stop , TRIGS 1-8 do their job.
For anybody that comes across this issue in future, you HAVE to place a trig on the sequencer even though the tracks are disconnected - why this isn’t mentioned in the manual i don’t know (unless i missed it but unlikely although i was reading with a certain vigour time and again lol) - i find it VERY odd as they are disconnected from the sequencer but hey that’s how it is. OH and loop also has to be set to off in the playback menu - i expected auto to work in conjunction but it doesn’t.
thanks all involved and especially Matt