Song mode or chaining patterns together

idfalk · 2014-09-07T09:10:28.000Z

Hello good people,

I bought the AR about a week ago, and it is my first Elektron unit so far (however I am getting a used MD today). It is absolutely incredible, beyond what I expected. However, there is, as many have said, a bit of a learning curve, even though it is not a steep as I had feared.

One question that Im coming back to and I am not sure where to find in the (excellent) manual is if there is any way to link patterns together without making a song arrangement. What I mean is that I for example want A1 and A2 to play in sequence then be able to jump to, for instance, A3 which plays by itself - or any combination like that. Basically I want to make the grid longer, if you get me.

Anyways, I am sure this is a very obvious and easy thing to do, but I havent really understood the song mode yet, so I thought I would just ask instead.

Any help is dearly appreciated.

/

Alexander

xidnpnlss · 2014-09-07T10:27:50.000Z

AFAIK - im a bit of a noob myself: a chain is a sequence of patterns whereas songs are pre-saved chains. Chains are much easier to improvise with. If you want a pattern to repeat within a chain or song, turn off both modes. Chain and song mode will both repeat the sequence.

t · 2014-09-07T10:30:56.000Z

You want to use Chain mode for this. Try to figure out how it works; it’s not the most well-written part of the manual.

A few tips:

You don’t have to be in song edit mode to edit chains.
Chains are displayed in the bottom left part of the display.
Hold the Chain button to move the cursor around. You’re either on a pattern (cursor looks like […]), or in between (cursor looks like |). When you’re on a pattern, you can replace, when you’re in between you can insert.
While holding the chain button you can set per-entry mutes (yellow pads).
Chains loop. You can drop out of Chain mode to keep looking the current pattern and then go back in to continue.
Use function + yes to jump to the entry the cursor is on.

rupertpfaff · 2014-11-10T17:46:30.000Z

I pretty much get this, but where are chains actually stored - can you store one with each pattern, and then either the chain or just the pattern itself plays depending on whether you have chain mode activated?

t · 2014-11-10T17:49:45.000Z

You store chains in a song. You can store multiple songs inside a project. You can switch between chains in “song edit mode” which you can access by pressing [PROJECT] + [SONG].

zfigz · 2015-05-01T16:05:08.000Z

""t"":

You want to use Chain mode for this. Try to figure out how it works; it’s not the most well-written part of the manual.

A few tips:

You don’t have to be in song edit mode to edit chains.

Chains are displayed in the bottom left part of the display.

Hold the Chain button to move the cursor around. You’re either on a pattern (cursor looks like […]), or in between (cursor looks like |). When you’re on a pattern, you can replace, when you’re in between you can insert.

While holding the chain button you can set per-entry mutes (yellow pads).

Chains loop. You can drop out of Chain mode to keep looking the current pattern and then go back in to continue.

Use function + yes to jump to the entry the cursor is on.

Awesome tips…chain/song mode has been a bit of a paradigm shift from the way the MnM deals with chains/songs. I was curious why you couldn’t save a song while in edit mode, but it makes since that you can do a lot of the chain edits while not in song mode. Thanks again.

MX · 2016-04-26T17:15:11.000Z

Why the transition between patterns in chain mode is under both commands of MASTER len and chng? I mean if I set len (INF) and chng (whatever value) I’ll have no chain at all. In this case would make sense to have the chain under the command of chng parameter since I can switch patterns in normal mode.