Chaining patterns is apparently to complicated for people who wanna make more complicated music 
5 Likes
Trig conditions help a bit, song mode can help, and you can easily chain patterns together, but I agree with the OP, unlimited bar lengths in groove boxes shouldn’t be an almost relic of the past, and would definitely be a selling point for me in upgrading sequencers.
So besides Deluge (& Octatrack), what else thats current release can do 8+ bars in one simple pattern?
Composing/Editing and live improv where you’re switching between ‘sets’ of chained patterns is a PITA… Especially if using multiple boxes/instruments…
traditional composition
Yes that’s why workstation keyboards or MPC are better suited for the JOB… (or a DAW) But as people try to use a drum machine as a groove box, to me that’s where the big deal on pattern length resides 
1 Like
I think for the most part 4 bars plus conditional trigs is plenty but having 1 or 2 tracks that could be whatever length(with intact resolution) would be amazing, all those rediculous workarounds you end up making trying to shoehorn in a longer melody would be gone. I know there has to be limits but it would make a huge difference to the useability and value of these kind of devices if you didnt have to use another machine or conform your ideas to deal with the more melodic side of things.
1 Like
I think deluge pretty much nails it, but elektron sequncers feel very much built around the creation of short sequences with variation instead coming from p-locks and trig conditions etc. Nothing wrong with that, but would love to see them offer Deluge style functionality too. I don’t think desiring to be able to swiftly input a long chord sequence or melody should = go use a mpc/daw. It’s a shame…
3 Likes
Just adding my voice to the general request.
Pretty comfortable using daw for longer sequencing so it’s not urgent for me or I’d have grabbed a deluge
1 Like
And that’s why a forum is made 
1 Like
This. Actually if also shift the microtiming on the step before you can get effectively 3 trigs on one step, so then using 1:3, 2:3 and 3:3 conditions you get 12 bar progressions, which to me are actually more interesting than 16 bar.
2 Likes
An Elektron seqencer with all its tricks is a wonderfull thing just not as wonderfull as if another one of its tricks was allowing you to step outside the normal rules, there is allways the option to use a daw or similar but then you are back to the multiple devices issue that many would love to avoid.
1 Like
Yeah that’s great when it achieves easily what you’re looking for, I think it’s not a very solid solution for some cases though
1 Like
MPC live is great for long progressions. A shame their piano roll grid edit is still a PIA to fiddle with. I find the touch screen not great, but hopefully improvements are coming!
Definitely would like 8 or even 16 bar options. 4 bar loops often feel rushed, especially for subtle parameter modulations.
Ideally an update to the analog fpur series to have independent track length multipliers would be very helpful a lot. My analog keys is feeling kind of dated in that regard.
edit
Opz is an amazing sequencer that shows how much can be done with one measure and different track lengths. However because it has no individual outs, means the mix has to be settled internally which is not always ideal. However once it’s midi is opened up properly I am hoping that will be my go-to sequencer for long atmosphere progressions etc.
Of course you can just end this madness and use Ableton, but where’s the fun in that?
…u can go way beyond 8 bars…not only by chaining or with a songmode…
ask urself what different rhytmical metric multipliers in both lenght and speed directions AND different scale per track within the same pattern PLUS all the conditional trig and nudge options really means in daily use and what not all this can do for u in studio AND stage workflow…
for example…120 bpm is also 240bpm or 60bpm or 30bpm if u like, and any inbetween that will do the sonic math, while the overall tempo of that one and same pattern still reads 120bpm…fool around with that for real and stop complaining…or use a different sequencer concept than step grids…
If you wanna add something longer mid project you can’t just suddenly divide/multiply global tempo. That’s fine if you’re starting off with a chord sequence. But if you wanna add it later that solution busts everything else… if you start out with a beat even the tempo scale on OT isn’t gonna solve all scenarios, you lose step resolution.
No one is saying things suck as they are. Just that some people find some stuff way harder than it needs to be or not possible at all. Stop complaining
2 Likes
How do you access the different bars on the OP-Z?
For me it’s not really about if you can or can’t make it work within 4 bars with trig-conditions or work arounds. It’s about the options just being removed all together. How come I can create a 99 bar pattern on my 10 year old MPC but are stuck with 4 bars on a 2019 groove box?
Most of the limitations are there because of design choices, not because of hardware limitations. It wouldn’t be too difficult for manufacturers to give us some control. That way the 4 bars is enough for me crowd can leave their configuration alone while the rest of us can set it to 8 bars or 16 or however many we think we need.
1 Like
4 bars doesn’t bother me near as much as not easily being able to switch to different time signatures like 3, 6, 5, 7, 12…Yeah I know you can fake it but then it gets really difficult to visualize.
2 Likes
With trig conditions, Elektron sequencers are essentially 32 bars.
1 Like
How? Let’s say you want to play a different note on the first step of each of those 32 bars. How would you program that? Even with microtiming it doesn’t seem feasible.
In beat terms yes, there is no issue if thats the way you work but try adding a 32 bar melody on top without ending up doing something entirely different or compromising with note placement. Many an hour has been wasted trying to work out how to record something that is easy to play but impossible to place due to lack of space, now and then that works in your favour but not often enough to ignore the thought that if the tracks were longer you could live record melodies quickly and while they are still in your head, rather than spending time and inspiration trying to squeeze them in next to each other one by one.
1 Like