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Multiple patterns Atom Piano Roll2, Fugue Machine…?
In Atom Piano Roll2 I can make several patterns but can I then set them to play sequentally? I.e. is there a "song mode"? What are "clips" and "layers" and how do they relate to patterns? (Or is there a manual so I can just read up on all of this stuff myself?)
And in Fugue Machine, same question, can I have separate parts to the fugue? What is the strip along the right edge and the shelf-like button in the upper left corner? (And is there a light mode?)
Worst case I can just record the midi from FM into APR2 and then from there export them as SMF which my hw sequencer can read. 🤷🏻♀️
And same thing with recording Rozeta Cells into APR2 since I couldn't figure out how to step in chords, just single notes.
Comments
To my knowledge, Atom 2 is designed for clip launching. People would make 4 clips for example, then trigger them at different times in a jam, usually reusing the clips at different points. If you wanted to play them sequentially, I think you would need to trigger one after another by midi (so if you had 4 8 bar clips you wanted to play sequentially, you'd program another sequencer that triggers the appropriate midi message for each clip at the top of the 1st, 9th, 17th, and 25th, measure.
Atom was built for clip launching, and I don't think has any way to have clips just play in a particular order. If you prefer composing through clips (small patterns) then LK allows you to make clips, and have them play in whatever order you want. Otherwise we're talking about just putting it all into a long piano roll sequence and not using small "clips" at all (which you can do with Atom 2, Helium, LK).
Fugue Machine does not have a light mode and is kind of hard to see... It also does not have any patterns, so what you see on one screen is what you get. Conceivably, you could save different presets in AUM of the patterns you want to chain, then trigger those preset changes by midi (basically using a sequencer to trigger preset changes instead of clip changes as mentioned above with Atom 2). I don't know if there is enough lag on the preset change in AUM to affect things though... I'm sure someone else can speak to it. Other than that, you're basically stuck recording the midi of your different "fugues" into another app, either something linear like Helium or something that allows you to use a clip launching workflow (Drambo, LK, Atom).
As for Rozeta Cells, how are you recording? When you are in record mode, the cell will record either a note or chord, whatever you play into the app. In AUM, if the keyboard is routed to Cells you can just play a chord in record mode and things should work.
As mentioned, Atom 2 doesn't have a song mode. However, you can use another instance of Atom to sequence notes to trigger those patterns. Any other app that can sequence midi messages can be used as well.
Thanks for all your wonderful help guys!♥︎
What a fun idea! (And like @wim says, another instance of Atom 2 is sometimes a good candidate for being that "meta sequencer"). I'll try to figure out how to do that (i.e. finding out what the CC val is exactly).
Still not sure what "clips" are on the left edge of Atom 2 and what "layers" are. I have made a couple of "patterns" already.
One of the best things I already can do with Atom 2 is to record MIDI (by listening to other sequencers like Cells) and then export as SMF files and transfer those SMF files to my hw arranger.
Before getting stuck on iPad only, I was using seq24 (a.k.a. sequencer64) on Linux, I guess I was a li'l spoiled by learning sequencing on that gem since everything else is more limited. 😅
But those limits might lead to creative fun. I have lots of ideas already!
Right! iPad has an "invert colors mode" to get fake light mode but it becomes messy when some apps are light mode and some aren't.
That's actually kinda freeing to know. It's just this self-contained creative toy. Fun. And if I wanna get more fancy, I can record MIDI from it into Atom 2 or other MIDI recorders.
Does anyone know what the widget along the right hand side of Fugue Machine is for?
Right!
I apologize for beng unclear. I meant that I can use Cells (which works great👍🏻👍🏻 but it doesn't export SMF) to get around how Atom's "Step in" mode can't handle chords.
On seq24, one thing I did all the time was have "overlapping" chords, i.e. one note from the previous chord was held and became part of theA next chord and so on. Cells can't do that normally. And having different note lenghts is perfectly possible in Cells but requires changing patterns to do so. So there's value in (sometimes) piping my Cells recordings into Atom 2 for more tweaking in addition to the totally awesome SMF export Atom 2 has.
sounds like you’re going deep…definitely haven’t talked to many people who use Linux for sequencing!
Atom Clips and Triggering Them
So, Atom clips are basically different loops or one-shots that you’ve recorded. They by default can be changed by sending a program change message to Atom. You can change this to note, CC, velocity, etc.. If you have 4 different clips in one instance of Atom, you can set each of those patterns to trigger on a note value (C1 for clip 1, D1 for clip 2, etc.), then use ANOTHER instance of Atom to send those note changes when you want to trigger the changes. Or, you could actually trigger these different patterns live with the AUM keyboard (routed to Atom).
Atom Layers
These allow you to see what is in another instance of Atom (a “clip”) so you can see ghost notes of the other clip in your current piano roll to help you compose new clips that compliment what you’ve already written. This way you can determine what timing or harmony you want. This is great for helping you avoid doubling upon the same notes, or in contrast, doubling up lol.
Fugue Machine
Yes, the short form can be very freeing for jamming, but bad news. I just tested changing presets of different fugues in AUM…after about 5 minutes of testing it seems to work flawlessly for changing from one fugue to the next. What you would do is save each fugue as a preset (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4). Open the Fugue Machine AUv3 window, then press the midi control icon in the top left of the window (3rd from left icon, looks like a mixer). Then open “preset load”…from here you can add the four presets you made, and set whether you want the preset to load by program change or note.
If you use Atom, you can set each preset to load on an input midi note (e.g., C1 for preset 1, D1 for preset 2, etc.). You would need to make sure that each preset was saved with the play heads you wanted playing enabled in each fugue preset (there are four…if you don’t press play on each and save the preeet, you’ll just get silence when the preset loads).
As for the “widget,” the slider transposes the sequence up or down an interval but is locked to scale so you can jam without having the app play wrong notes.
Cells
When you say overlapping notes, are we talking the kind of complexity that would look like a note held for a bar while an arpeggio is playing in a piano roll? You could have two Cells instances playing, one set to 8ths and another set to whole notes to get at some of that, but if you want something like what is possible in fugue machine (basically a piano roll) with step input, options are pretty limited. I think that if you are wedded to step input, the best way to do this is to use Atom step input. You can choose a 16th note grid, make your 16th note sequence, then open another instance of Atom, use the layers view to see what notes you have in your 16th note clip, then enable a half note grid and enter notes that connect/work with your original clip. This enables you to visualize all the notes that are being played. It just means using multiple instances…bummer is that afaik there isn’t a way to enter rests via step, but I could be wrong since I usually don’t use Atom this way.
I think that if you want overlapping notes using step input, you’re basically stuck using multiple instances of a step sequencer like Cells or Atom in step mode to get overlap. Otherwise, we’re in piano roll territory, or using Steppolyarp, which lets you create sequenced patterns that arpeggiate within a key/scale.
What sequencers do you have?
If you display the patterns, you'll see the midi settings at the bottom of the list of patterns. This is where you can set the midi messages. Easiest is to pick NOTE by pressing the left or right arrows for Switch Source. (by default it's on Program Change (PC) and you need to press the left arrow twice to get to NOTE). Next set the Root Offset if you like. By default it's 0 which means triggering patterns would start from note 0 (c-1 in Atom's piano roll). You could set this to something like 48 or 60 to move the starting note higher in the piano roll, but I like it at 0. I leave the Note Spread at 1 so that the notes to trigger patterns are chromatic. You can see the exact note to trigger each pattern next to the pattern name.
To make shorter patterns in the controlling Atom, I like to set the tempo to .25X. That way each measure only takes up a quarter note. Saves some scrolling.
That has to do with how Atom instances can coordinate with one another. The manual under Clip Launcher describes it much better than I can.
Damn! That's a great find. I never knew about Sequencer64. That's great fun. Everyone should check that out. 😎
That transposes the sequence up or down. It's hard to see the lines cells, but each one transposes the sequence up or down a scale degree. I love that feature.
You might enjoy checking out midiSTEPS. It can't overlap chords, but you can put ties between steps and have lengths for individual steps. It's like Rozeta Cells in some ways but easier to edit and see what's going on. It's a fun sequencer once you get the hang of it.
Ha! mega cross-post @NoncompliantBryant - you're a little quicker on the draw than me. 😎
Wait until the coffee kicks in though. 😛
Haha, well, awe> @wim said:
Hah, well awesome to know I'm in good company. Love seeing people getting more into ios as a platform!
Wow! Now I think I'm all up to speed. Great help!♥︎♥︎
I saw a feature in an app (something something "kraken") that had an arp that let you set the tones off the root note, that sounds like a great match for Cells. I've been using Rozeta's own arp but it's a li'l limited (and the arp in Drambo even more so). I didn't wanna get all of the big kraken arp just for the arp, at least not yet. (I need to make some more songs before I buy new digital gear (by that I mean apps). I think I have all that I need to start working on the album, and shopping more is procrastination at this point.)
On the iPad I have Atom 2, Fugue Machine and the Rozeta package, and GarageBand (which sucks because it only sends omni MIDI but maybe I can set up AUM as a gobetween to filter out channels. GarageBand only receiving omni MIDI [instead of just select channels] is a bigger problem).
Off the iPad, I also have a SmplTrek which I mostly use as an audio interface (to get my guitar and mic into the iPad) but it can also sequence! Although with SmplTrek I can not set gate length (which makes it not ideal for running arps) and there's a limited pattern length per "scene". A "scene" is a dumb thing the SmplTrek has that are like... Imagine you have your song mode a la Seq24 but then there are fifteen annoying Berlin Walls running vertically through the song chopping it up into "scenes" and clips can't cross "scenes", and each track can only have one clip per "scene" (possibly repeated).
All four of these sequencers have their limitations compared to the awesomeness of seq24, but putting them together I think I can do whatever I want.
The SmplTrek can import patterns via SMF from Atom 2! (And as discussed uphtread, "recording into" Atom 2 from Cells or Arp or Fugue Machine or just playing live is certainly possible.) So for short or repetitive "scenes" I can just do that! (And sequencing directly on the SmplTrek is also fun; it can't export SMF, only import, but Atom 2 can record the patterns over MIDI.)
For longer more varied "scenes", the SmplTrek is a good "meta sequencer" for triggering Atom 2 patterns.
Cells can run the arps or cells can also trigger Atom 2 patterns. One Cells instance can also trigger another. Lots of fun ideas!
It's actually pretty great!
Overlapping chords is the main limitation of Cells.
Y'all have heard the expression "make common things simple and make unusual things possible"? I feel like Cells "makes things that were already simple even simpler, at the expense of making difficult things super difficult" (without regard to common/unusual; it just "amplifies" the existing simplicity/difficulty of common sequencing tasks.
But that's not just a weakness, having a sequencer that makes simple things SUPER simple has been really great! When I first got Rozeta over a year ago, I was super disappointed and was like "uh, none of these are very useful", and I felt sad as I kept buying more apps and then them not solving my problems and feeling like I was 💸 without getting any closer to making music but as I've been diving back into this stuff I've been taking my time and reading manuals and Cells which was originally one of the "uh what kind of bubbles is this?! Next!" least useful ones have now become a super rock solid workhorse for quickly getting stuff done in a way that I can understand!
I'm getting back into all of this (over a year later) because of the SmplTrek which has plenty of annoying limitations of its own but fixes a lot of the limitations that the iPad had (five pin, guitar preamp etc etc), and vice versa because iPad can cover up for SmplTrek's limitations.
Do I wish I was back on Linux w/ sequencer64? Sure, all the time! But I'm gonna make the most of what I've got now here on iPad. And the community seems awesome♥︎
I knew @j_liljedahl before iOS was released and learned a lot from him. When he got into iOS dev we kind of drifted apart because of that. That's not on him! Great guy!
I fell out of making music entirely after moving in 2009 and haven't made any real good songs since. Just scrap tests that won't make the record! Here's one from the other day that uses SmplTrek for bass and drums and to drive Rozeta Arp and kinda suffers from how SmplTrek's limited gate length makes it not the best sequencer for running arps! I mean, "suffers" and "suffers", it's maybe not all bad that it sounds like that. But now that I've learned Cells I can try out other sounds too!
(The drums are on SmplTrek but are sampled from one of GarageBand's kits🤦🏻♀️, the bass is also on SmplTrek, it's sampled from a guitar (a strat clone my friend found in the trash that I've fixed up and love and use all the time). The piano in the middle is a loop sample that I created in GarageBand using its "auto play" feature 🤦🏻♀️
Using loops is another way to get around some of the limitations of the SmplTrek! I can transfer the WAVs over USB.
The synth that the arp is driving is KQ Dixie♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎
I don't mean to come across as shilling for this device because it definitively has some problems. I'm having fun though!)
I can on a note-by-note basis by going to the "off timing" automatization screen and turning the knob 49 ticks counter clockwise. Not fun for dozens of notes.
But I just now discovered that notes imported via SMF do respect their "off timing"/gate length!
So I can drive arps directly from the SmplTrek by way of SMF files! Not always the most necessary or practical thing to do but hey it works 💁🏻♀️
🤦🏻♀️
Ah! SmplTrek has step-in-recording also but I didn't know about it because it came in a firmware update that I do have installed but that's newer than the PDF I've been working from. It can step-in chords too, like Cells and unlike Atom 2. And the occasional longer note or overlapped chord is easy. That would make it my best sequencer if only I could change the default gate length (which is 50%) or edit gate lengths en masse. Or note off timing, is the SmplTrek's word for it. (But until I can do that, the sequencer is not very useful.) Sorry, this is getting into "iPad accessory" territory rather than "iPad app" territory. 🙅🏻♀️
We do accessories too, lol
How are you using the Smpltrek with the iPad sequencers? Thinking of getting a Launchpad Pro Mk3 and using that as my brain for other sequencers while launching clips and am always curious how people use hardware along the software.
iPad sequencers can run the SmplTrek and vice versa. And SmplTrek's rubbery li'l keys can play iPad instruments.
So I've been running Rozeta Arp from the SmplTrek but I can also run Cells or Atom along side the SmplTrek, I'm realizing. Or for shorter patterns I can import the patterns via SMF.
When I need them to run synced (for example when I want the arp to be clock synced) I use AUM's clock to drive the SmplTrek.
One cable between 'em can send audio back and forth and also MIDI and also send over wav files and SMF midi patterns. SMF is one-direction–only, the SmplTrek can't export (unfortunately; that might otherwise be a good way to clean up the gate length issue).
The SmplTrek has a dumb limitation when using it with GarageBand: you can't set a track to not send MIDI. Like, even if I'm playing a drum track or the internal sequencer, it also sends the same notes over MIDI for some reason. (I can only select which channel, not "no channel".) And GarageBand listens to MIDI in omni mode and I haven't figured out a way to filter out MIDI notes so they don't sent to GarageBand. So if I wanna sequence GarageBand from SmplTrek, I need to do that before I add in any other tracks on the SmplTrek. But with AUM there's no such issues. ♥︎
I've also enjoyed Rozeta XY to control the SmplTrek's amp sim settings over MIDI. Not that the amp sim is great. It's enough for scratch playing; there's a setting whether to record wet or dry. The amp sim that makes the guitar sound like a bass, I like that one a lot so I've been recording that wet. The amp sim that makes it sound more metal or overdriven, that's something I only listen to while playing but then I record dry and add on a better amp sim stack like Stark through AUM instead, once the song is done.
@wim
One advantage with setting the root offset is that then I can have Cells patterns and Atom 2 patterns on the same midi channel. 🤔 Haven't tried that out in practice yet but seems like a viable way to "meta sequence".
Wait, do these apps have manuals? I wanna read 'em 💁🏻♀️ I have the manual for Zeeon already and that's been great but I couldn't find one for Rozeta, Atom 2 or Fugue Machine.
Dixie I could figure out on my own, it's similar to Hexter which I have on Linux.
Atom 2:
I don't think there's a manual for Fugue Machine, only the quick start guide in the app.
Thank you 🙏🏻
https://ellen.idiomdrottning.org/03-idiomdrottning-circus_lights.m4a
Sometimes making songs with overly powerful sequencers feel more like finding ready-mades than composing 💁🏻♀️
I didn't use the SmplTtrek for this one. It's a single Fugue Machine pattern, the bright bell like plonks (Dixie) is that pattern 1:1 and forwards. The bass (Zeeon) is that pattern backwards and half speed and two octaves lower. The main voice is the pattern inverted at sixteen times slower but ran through Drambo's strum generator with zero delay and only three voices set to make a chord, pushed through Rozeta's scaler and arp into another Dixie instance.
Then in GarageBand using an autodrummer (🤦🏻♀️). Logan set to follow the AUM track with only kick and snare on and those drums are then bitcrushed to heck.
The KQ Dixie manual is at https://www.kiraqtech.jp/blog/kq-dixie-en/kq-dixie-manual-en/.
For Rozeta, that was a setup guide but I'm already set up 💁🏻♀️ I'm struggling with understanding some of the sequencers 🤷🏻♀️
Which ones and what are you trying to figure out?
Bassline I don't understand anything. (I never used a 303.) [Edit: Specifically how to make accents and ties.)
Cells, I'm not sure the specifics of how the transpose mode works. But I'm looking at it in Drambo's mini monitor now. Seems like I can only transpose ± 12 semis. I guess that's OK.
Particles, the "spread" doesn't seem to do much. It still sticks in a pretty tight clump. And for both particles & cells, if it's possible to save/restore seeds so I can get the same performance again.
Other than that, I'm using all of them 👍🏻
Bassline: tap between notes to get ties. One tap on a note dot gives you a faint blue circle for a note, another tap gives you white circle for an accent.
Cells: yeah, it will transpose up or down 12 semis based on the note coming in. Route another sequencer into Cells, then cells through Scaler to lock it to scale and key so your notes are kosher.
Particles: no spread has the particles going on basically two closely adjacent rows... Highest spread covers about a quarter of the screen. Tip: map the suite's LFOs through AUM'S midi control to the pitch, speed, density, to get more variability. You can adjust the min and max CC value in LFOs to taste and/or use AUM'S midi control curve (0 to 100% by default) to get the range you want.
Have you played with Drambo's sequencer? It works as a step sequencer (can do chords) or as a piano roll. Super powerful... Load it as a midifx in AUM and then just connect it to whatever you want. Press a key then the step to choose the note for the step. You can adjust the number of bars and the speed of each track to taste. FYI, if you are recording another sequencer into Drambo midi fx, the first note will either not record or do something wild like give you the wrong note.
Hope this helps!
The whole first note thing in midi is tricky in general, it seems.
I stepped in an Atom 2 pattern (and can see the first note right there, it's there in Atom 2) but then exporting the midi file into SmplTrek, that first note is gone.
Ew. That sounds like a bug. Especially if you're stepping in the midi. I haven't had a problem stepping with Atom 2 when sticking in AUM but there may be something about the export that is going on for you.
For that recording you used with GB, how are you routing everything to get that drum track? I haven't played with GB... the drummers are definitely high quality.
Yeah, I'll look at the midi file in hexl-mode when I get the opportunity, to see if it's import or export.
GB can host AUM. So I had two tracks: one for everything-from-AUM, and one for the GB drummer track. That worked fine. It breaks down when I have external midi since GB listens to omni MIDI 🤦🏻♀️
In those situations, one of two options: make an audio recording in GB first and then shut down GB, only using the audio from it. Or make an audio recording of everything else (separate tracks is OK) and then shut everything else down and use the audio in GB. But in this case since all sequencing was internal to AUM (with Fugue Machine, Drambo and Arp), I didn't need to do that.
Lol GB has so much but can be so dumb.