Hi everyone!
I currently have quite a bunch of synths: prophet 6, novation peak, moog matriarch, vermona perfourmer, analog rytm, nord drum 2. I have the octatrack as sequencer and a NDLR.
I have an arturia keystep in the octatrack, and use the octatrack as clock/brain. I’ve set it up in a way that I can control all synths with the keystep via the octatrack. the octatrack also sends clock to the NDLR, and i use the NDLR for my polyphonic synths.
All great. But:
- The 8 midi tracks of the octa are quickly full/used, especially if I use it to sequence all 4 tracks of the perfourmer and the nord drum tracks individually.
- The octatrack handles chords pretty bad. and max 4 note polyphony. no ‘strumming’ of chords possible (no note overlap), and oly 64 steps per pattern.
- the NDLR doesnt really have a sequencer option. its mostly ‘manual/live’ pressing of the buttons.
So i can get a second hand squarp pyramid for 450 euros (MK1)
Would this solve the limitations listed above?
And, what would your recommendation be on how to set it up, to still be able to use the arpeggiator/lfo’s of the octatrack. what would be the best master clock?
Thank you!
Both the OT and Pyramid have very good midi clock, the OT would probably be slightly better as master though. The Pyramid can do midi LFO’s very nicely as well as P-lock CC’s on a per step basis, you can also have dedicated automation tracks, it is a very good sequencer IMHO.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but is pretty elegant and efficient to use once mastered. You can probably download definition files for your gear from the Squarp forum, but they are easy enough to make if not.
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sorry noob question; what is a definition file?
other than that your advice sounds good. Currently, when I hit ‘play’ on the octa, it sends start/stop to the rytm, and sends the clock to all my other gear.
Could I easily make the squarp receive a start/stop message from the OT and start running too when I hit play? and have the squarp sequence all my polyphonic gear?
A def file is a list of midi data CC’s and notes for a particular synth/drum machine etc. Basically it means instead of having to have a list of cc you can just select say “ATTACK”.
You can have up to 16 definition files on a SD card.
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cool… is 450 a good price for a MK1? any reason to prefer a Mk2 or Mk3 over it?
They are only different cosmetically AFAIK, I had a MK1 but sold it, then eventually got a MK2, no real difference other than look.
€450 seems fair, assuming in good condition and working 100%.
if they are the same, why did you get an MK2 ;)?
I sold the first one because I was not using it much, then a few months later a major OS update came so I bought one again, MK2 was the current model was the only reason.
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I use the pyramid as the core of my studio with the Octatrack slaved to it. Works very well.
the Pyramid is the best MIDI sequencer I’ve used.
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Why do you have the octa slaved to the pyramid and not the way around as suggested above?
Oh just the way my head works… I don’t use the Octatrack as much to be honest… i use it for live stuff more… it’s just an lot easier to have many synths all controlled (permenantly) by the pyramid with the definition files loaded and setup “saved”. I can just turn it all on and start writing without having to connect anything.
You could easily have the Octatrack as the master. Would work well I imagine.
Hi there, I have a Pyramid too (and od course a OT). It’s slaved to the Digitone which has the stablest clock of all my devices, and can be slaved to the super accurate Overbridge clock from a DAW. The best clocking schema I haver found so far. The Pyamid is a great sequencer, as @darenager said it takes a while to wrap your head around it, especially to remember the key combinations. It takes practice to master these boxes: they’re packed with functionalities. I still have the manual within reach because if I don’t use it intensively for a while I easily forget some of the commands. The screen is on the smallish side, small, but you get used to it. With 64 tracks, and the pattern mode on top of that, you have plenty of headroom. The main reason I bought it for (I believe I paid 500€ for a second-hand MkI) was the fact that it’s a pattern based linear sequencer with no polyphonic limits, so I can live record CC sweeps in high resolution (as opposed to step sequencers). When I got it, the limit of the number of events you can recoord was on the low side, but Squarp almost doubled it though consecutive FW updates. If you use it to record dense CC automation (like what is generated if you use a joystick on a synth continiously, you might reach the limit of events eventually, but that didn’t happen to me yet. If you don’t need the hi-resolution of the Pyramid, you can also look at the Toraiz Squid, which is more straightforward but nevertheless quite feature rich with some cool tricks for live improvisations. Note: I have many sequencers running in sync to the OB’d Digitone. Nice touch is that they all can run standalone, but as soon as I hit start on DAW, OB takes over as the master clock. I spend countless hours to figure out my clock infrastructure (I shared some of the story here, IIRC) and this is the best option short of a ERM multiclock. But I’m digressing…
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Yes, but Pyramid “steps” are not like stepsequencer (like Elektron) steps (==beats) , on the Pyramid you can P-lock up to 64 CC’s per CC per beat, or record them live so you get the full 96ppqn resolution. Or go wild:
Microstep track
To create a Microstep track, set the track length on 0+1/4 bar, the zoom on 1600% and increase the time signature lower number up to 4/16. The step-by-step player will run at high speed, which is very useful to create drones, black midi and glitch sounds, and to expand the boundaries of your instruments.
so seems like a pyramid is a good idea! pour wallet of mine.
I can then try different clock setups (octatrack as master, or pyramid, or even my mac, but i prefer dawless).
I currently use an arturia keystep to the midi in of the octa and with this I can control every synth in my setup. Is this also possible if I have the octa slaved to the pyramid? as all my midi outs will then probably be routed from my pyramid to the synths… or perhaps better to put the keystep in the pyramid midi in then (via a merger, becuase the other synths midi out also have to go in the midi in of the pyramid then)
Wow. The squarp pyramid looks pretty amazing as a central sequencer. I’d not paid it much attention before now.
I’m going through the videos now and not found this yet, but I’m assuming it deals with non 4/4 time signature? Got to be better than trying on a Elektron I’m hoping?
Did not know the pyramid did this. Thanks !
Yes there’s two midi outs so this will work easily… I mean you don’t actually need two MIDI outs to do this but it does make it very straightforward
Yes, it does polymeters, polyrythms, euclidian patterns … As usual, I recommend Loopop’s walkthrough to start with. He covers the biggest part of the functionalities in his now legendary clear way.
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