Yeah this is going to take a couple of sessions. I think I will have to break down the aspects that will be difficult on their own and then try and integrate them into a final product. For example, how do I design a sequencer that repeats steps?
That is an interesting idea. I think the way it is set up needs a little tweaking to so that overlapping gate signals don't just keep the gate high. In the posted patch, the ratchets have all been set to 1 and it makes every step repeat 9 times.
So I made a sequence of sequencers. The first step of each sequencer is silent and serves as a end of cycle signal for the main count. I think this will work for the basic 8-step. Now I need to figure out how to skip a step and create brownian mode, where there is a 50% chance that the sequence will move forwards or backwards.
Ok, sorry if I am updating this too often. I will probably update this one last time when I have added (or rather figure out how to add) slide per step and step skip. I just got a head of steam rolling when I came back from a concert and did a bunch more work on the sequencer.
Thanks Mark for your post, the 0 step unlocked how the sequencer should work in my mind.
Well I'm kind of hitting a wall with slide and skip. With slide, how do I get the slew limiter to be active just in-between the steps? With the skip feature, how do I modify the count modules so that it increments twice? Any brainstorming about how that might be achieved would be greatly appreciated.
On the skip value, you can just do a slight modification on the counter node, see the attached patch where you can hit a toggle to start counting in two's, this could be momentarily activated for steps that need to be skipped. This approach will only work on sequencers based on mux nodes though.
So the slew solution worked like a charm! The skip selection worked if there was only one step being skipped, but if many or all the steps were skipped it would still play every other step as it was incrementing by two. Still it was an interesting idea.
@RobertSyrett, just watched the video and realised that the sequencer I posted is only good for sequences going forward. The patch will need adapting for sequences going backward.. If random steps are to be in there as well then I think I need to go back to the drawing board!
My two cents: If you check out the ES-8 Sequencer video, you can see some techniques that might be useful for this - basically using sequencers to sequence other sequencers. If you use a sequencer with a multiply node to change the gate height as the gate goes through the sequencer and onto the synth, you can easily make a step skip by just turning the volume all the way down (i.e., the gate height = 0).
@biminiroad, would that be skipping or muting the step? @afta8 I don't think I will be incorporating random step. Brownian mode is already very random feeling and I don't feel the need to pack every feature that metropolis has into one module. That might be a fun exercise, but the module is already starting to get bloated and drain cpu. The only other function I'd like to add after skip is swing, because I like it funky sometimes.
So I spent about an hour and a half trying to solve this and basically finally understanding the way @afta8's skipping mechanism works. Really clever! I see there being two problems when adapting it to a bidirectional count.
First is that the secondary mux used to calculate the number of steps skipped needs to be adapted to the direction of the count. I added a direction out to the ^v count so that it outputs 1 or -1. I am not sure how to address this. maybe another mux with inverse wiring?
The other and more difficult problem is how to get a counting mechanism based on modulo to work when counting backwards. I'm a little sleep deprived at the moment and I could feel like there is a simple solution but it eluded me.
I am leaving things for a couple of days while I go on a business trip. I may work a little here and there but I think I will need a cup of coffee AND a good night sleep before I can get this sorted out in my head.
@robertsyrett - to me a "step skip" is a "step mute" in that there's a pause for the length of time that that step takes up (instead of having an unbroken stream of notes). Is that not what y'all were talking about? I guess I don't know what the point would be of a step skip that would just immediately go to the next step without pausing, but maybe I'm trippin'!
Also, brownian - is that just another word for random, or is it a specific kind of randomness? It seems to act differently than my random "fight" sequencer.
Also, I'm convinced there's got to be a better way to do sequencing than with counters. I did it with an LFO, and that has some really great results, but with a clock input, there's gotta be some way to do it without just count up/down modules. That's a Manhattan Project for people here... :)
I think the terms are a little bit in the context of the Metropolis. The pulse count for each step has 4 modes (one long pulse, one pulse for each clock trigger, just one short pulse on the first clock trigger, and mute). The skip feature is there to enhance the performance aspect of the sequencer which is tied to creating melodic passages rather than fitting into a fixed number of beats like 8 or 16 step sequencers.
Brownian in the context of the Metropolis is 50% probability to step forward or backwards, again to be more of a permutation of an intentional sequence than a purely random mode. But of course I am randomizing all the parameters anyways :P
Thanks for the feedback though, when I get this thing working, refining and clarifying will definitely be the next task.
@RobertSyrett - I thought i show you the sequencer i m working on :)
Its not comparable with your monster project but still a nice little tool. I still try to figure out how i could include slide and the gate length for every step. i tried alot but nothing worked so far..
@RobertSyrett, I think I cracked it, see attached patch.. I made a mini sequencer to demo and jam with.
Forward/Reverse both work with skip step buttons, there is a dial that sets the direction. There is also a switch for the brownian motion and another switch to reset the sequence. Sequencer doesn't use a counter either :)
This is a lot of fun to jam with, can totally see why you are GAS-ing over the intellijel hardware :)
One thing to add is that the final patch is a bit of tangle of wires and difficult to deconstruct. Therefore so this development patch may help understand what is going on. You can see there are two sets of wiring for forward sequencer and reverse sequencer. This final patch merges these two hence why it looks like a tangle but this dev patch makes it easier to see the method used.
Seriously, @afta8 you have blown my mind again. I can't wait to get back home tomorrow and integrate this into the bloated patch! Even the 8MSQ all on its own is a super handy sequencer. Your patches are always so crispy on the inside, even if they are obscure, the proportions and flow is pretty logical. Thank you so much.
So I modified the 8msq into a counter for the Molecule Seq and it works beautifully! I eliminated the max step function since there is nothing the max step can do that you can't do with skipping steps. Pretty much all the per step parameters are knobs right now so that you can just plop an external input on it for diagnostic purposes. Now I will make the patch look nice to my tastes on the inside and front panel. Probably upload one last time and call it a day. Thanks again, afta8!
Here is the wrap up on this sequencer for now. I did some cosmetic adjustments to the sequencer and incorporated the quantizer since I pretty much always want to use it when I use this sequencer. Please enjoy and make your own hacked versions of this!