We’ve been reading some of the posts here about the sequencer in many C&G patches lacking the ability to sync to an incoming MIDI clock. This sequencer is in patches like: Analog Style, CZZ-Multi, Loop Jam Rec, etc. (For those who have ever looked at the guts of these patches, this sequencer is called ‘Sequencer 2.’)
So we started working on an update to this sequencer which would sync to MIDI clock/Link. We made a beta version of ‘Sequencer 3’ with the following capabilities:
Sequence lengths will be quantized to the nearest 16th note
Incoming tempo is displayed on the OLED (the last line of text). If there is no incoming tempo, it defaults to an internal clock set to 120BPM and the OLED will display: Int 120.
The LED will flash white on the quarter note of incoming MIDI clock/Link.
Record knob adjustments. After record enabled, just turn a knob and it will start recording.
MIDI Transport control: Start Message: Will Start the sequence from the beginning (even if you have already started it (kind of a rewind)) Stop Message. Stops sequence wherever it is in time. Continue Message: Right now this message acts like a Start message.
Seq3 has been loaded into five patches (Additive Synth, Analog Style, Arpeggio Synth, Basic Poly, and Sampler Style).
Updated Sequencer 3’s beat clock and sequence record function. Also updated the ‘master metronome.’ These changes should allow better playback sync, especially for the Arpeggio Synth patch.
Changed the function of the Aux button. When pressed, a list of functions appears on the screen. In some patches, there will be three functions (Seq: Play/Stop; Rec: Enable/Off; Latch: On/Off) but in other patches, there may be as many as 10. In this photo there are seven:
These shortcuts correspond to the ‘black’ keys on the Organelle. So if you press and hold Aux, you can then press one of the black keys to choose that function. The C# key selects the top left function (Seq: Play/Stop in the above photo). The order moves from top left to bottom left; then top right to bottom right. This is a departure from how we (C&G) implemented the Aux button previously but those who have tried @thetechnobear’s Orac will find it familiar.
To use:
Download the patches and get them on your Organelle. Make sure you’re running OS 3.1.
Optional: Connect tempo-sending external devices to Organelle via USB-MIDI or Link (requires WiFi adapter. More on this here)
Press and hold Aux button then choose the corresponding ‘black’ key (see note about key order above) to select the available function. For example:
• Select ‘Rec’ with the D# key. It will now display ‘Arm’d’ and the LED will turn pink.
• Recording starts as soon as one of the following occurs: note press on the Organelle’s keyboard / Receipt of MIDI note from external device / Moving one of the Organelle’s four knobs. The LED will turn red.
• Recording stops when you press the Aux button. Playback begins immediately. The LED will be green. Remember: your sequence length will be adjusted to the tempo’s nearest 16th note. (Depending on your accuracy, the sequence might be shorter or longer than you expected.)
To stop playback, press Aux and the C# key. To record a new sequence, complete step 3 again.
To save a sequence, navigate to the Organelle’s Storage menu and select Save. (It will also save all the knob states). When you launch the patch again, this saved state will be loaded.
We’d love to hear about your experiences with the new sequencer. What’s cool, what’s not, etc. Please keep in mind this is a beta release and there will likely be some issues. Please tell us about them if you find them. Please be specific about the gear you were using and how they were connected, what you were trying to do, and what the issue was. The more information the better. Pictures help.
Love the knob recording and this in general. Awesome.
I tested by playing a simple boom bap looped drum beat on my ipad (link syncd) in the poly app, and trying to replicate the loop in seq3 samplerstyle.
The aux LED was flashing in time to the ipad’s beat, so sync seems tight.
At first i thought that the sequence seemed to add some silence to the start of the sequence if i hit aux right on the beat, but it seemed to correct itself after the first round of playback. Might just be my imagination.
Anywho seems to work! Very cool.
There was sometimes an issue of the default ‘demo’ sequence playing when the sequencer was in pink led ‘arm’ mode, which i imagine is not supposed to happen.
Is there any way the sequencer could allow for midi overdubbing?
I’ve tested seq3 additive synth using beatstep pro via the midi out and it works great.
The only thing I noticed is that sometimes a click is heard at the end of the sequence.
When you press down to arm the recorder, the playback starts before it figures out its a long press, which can sound a bit jarring. Starting playback when the button is lifted would fix that, could be less intuitive I guess.
Also it would be nice to have control over the internal tempo for all these patches, as I usually use the organelle to send the midi clock to other things.
Just an idea: if there’s no knob available to set the tempo, you could maybe do a ‘tap tempo’ function that is activated by an extra long press, or maybe if you hold down aux. You could time presses on the notes buttons to determine the tempo.
Damn, thank you CG crew, i feel listened!
Ill try this once i get home and look for bugs but rn it sound surprisingly extensive (which i appreciate) and it sounds exactly like what was missed to fully integrate the organelle into a live rig .
You da best!
i have noticed a strange behavior in the arpeggio patch when synced to link the first note is shifted one sixteenth note to the right on playback (also seems like the entire sequence is shifted a 16th to the right, during recording all good, I hear the notes playing exactly where they should be)… the arpeggio patch is (would be) great for quickly punching in cool basslines in a 16th-grid maybe this could be fixed easily? but anyways this is a great improvement, thank you!!
The first note is consistently shifted, some notes of the remaining sequence are playing where i heard them during recording, some shifted… depending on timing i think, but kind of strange because i hear them ok while recording, so the timing was ok. Otherwise the notes would be shifted to the next 16th when i dont press a key during the next step has started. I think the first note is always shifted because of that as well, it’s exactly on the one and not punched while the first step has started so the arpeggio shifts it to the next 16th.
noticed the step shift as well. otherwise all good so far.
I would be down for extra page / menu to tweak tempo.
maybe if the tempo setting happened on a different menu the aux button could work as a tap?
Thank you for the new updates, so cool!!.. for some reason there is no noteout at playback of the sequence of the non-arpeggio patches (the arpsynth does well on ch2). is that shifting (and missing first note) problem with the arp patch hard to fix? would be SO cool if the playback is exactly like it’s heard while recording…
Thanks for trying out the patches and for the feedback - It is very helpful!
We’ll fix this!
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Can you explain this idea more?
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. @Wannop & @jani Regarding the ‘missing’ first note as described here:
If you record for ‘too long’ the first note(s) of the first play of the sequence will not be played.
Example: you recorded for 16.4 sixteenth notes. The sequencer will correct this to 16 sixteenth notes but the extra .4 of 16th note ‘covered’ up the first 16th note on the first playback. We don’t correct this because if we did, the other notes in sequence will be off. During the second and subsequent plays, the extra .4 16th note of length is omitted from the end of the sequence so the first note is never ‘covered’ up.
@chrisk Is every note in a sequence fixed to the 32 note grid, or is it just the overall sequence length?
Re: Midi overdub, this would require another function from the aux button. Currently if a sequence is not playing and the user long-presses aux, it arms seq3. Perhaps if the sequence is already playing then a long press could enable overdub mode, with one short press and release returning seq3 to ‘play’ mode. The overdub would use the recording time of the first sequence as a basis and not change that at all, but would add new notes to the score as they are input.
That is, if the method used to store the midi data recorded in each sequence allows any opportunity for information from two recordings to be collated.
I still really like using seqsync that wyrdal put together for orac, it’s very simple and you know before even starting to record that you will definitely be in time. The only problem is it uses a knob to adjust recording length which aren’t available in these stock patches (and once a recording is done, changing the bpm will throw it out of sync).
I don’t really know what I’m talking about, but I hope that helped clarify what I’m dreamin of - even if not clarify how it could be done!
do you think that’s fixable without headache? it would be so more useful if the playback of the sequence in the arpeggio patch is the same as like during recording. now it’s always shifted.
Only the length is quantized. Notes can be placed wherever you want them!
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. @Wannop RE: Overdub: Thanks for the clarification. It could be cool to add that feature, but we would have to look into things like playing a note on top of the same note that is already playing, or adjusting a knob that is already sequenced. Things could get confusing/broken pretty quickly. I think for sequencers simplest is best.
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Sorry about that! We uploaded a revision. I updated my original link (thank you @jani)
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. @jani We’re looking into the arpeggiator.
is non destructive quantization for playback possible in pd? overdubbing and changing channels for recording/looping like this midi looper box does would be heaven…
So happy about these! They sync up perfectly with my Analog 4. Nice to finally be able to integrate sequences with other gear. Also, to be able to play the arpeggio synth in real time and have it lock in is a dream come true.
One thing I noticed is that after recording a sequence (in sampler style anyway) it doesn’t play when the sequencer is started via transport from Analog 4, even though the light turns green and the patch “looks” like it’s playing. If I stop and start (only the organelle’s) sequencer again (assuming my timing is right) it locks right in.
I’m late to the game on this so I think others have reported on most other potential improvements, so I’ll just say thanks again. These are really, really great
Love the knob recording and this in general. Awesome.
maybe this could be fixed easily? but anyways this is a great improvement, thank you!!