Chord sequencer feedback

[kastenbalg]

My concern is that if the issue is that the CC arrives after the note info in the data stream, as seems to be the case, won't there be a new problem (albeit less disruptive), namely that the note stream will now start 1 bar after the Master, leaving things out of phase without being off beat? If you play an 8 bar pattern on the octatrack and note 1 has a CC90 p lock, then if the NDLR gets that after the start message by any amount, then the NDLR (in the above solution) would then wait until bar 1 finished to begin playing, and it's 8th bar would be finishing up with the 9th bar of the octatrack.

Yes, this is correct, I think. I envisioned it happening this way and being something I could work around. You are right that this would not loop well. If I am also sequencing the NDLR from this track, there is an extra 'blank' bar. This would work for starting a chord sequencer sequence on the NDLR itself, but the track could only do that or the sequence would be ruined on the first loop.

I still like the idea of a way to start the NDLR on the next downbeat, but doing it that way is not a great fix for my situation.

Thinking about how to send the CC start in advance... only thing I can come up with offhand is using two octatrack tracks both on the control channel, one to start the NDLR with that first p-lock CC trig microtimed early (so really at the end of the track), and another to sequence the NDLR once it started. The first track could be shorter than the second, and the second could have a longer delay to start in the octatrack itself. Lined up so the first track reaches its loop and sends the CC start just before the second begins the sequence. Simultaneously start both tracks and in theory that would work. This uses two midi tracks but I potentially get four parts back. Reasonable trade off.

I am going to give this a try. If it works I have a fix.

I am quite impressed by your idea of changing the behavior of the start button when synced to external clock. If the button started on next downbeat when synced to external clock, that would accomplish the same thing as two octatrack tracks, but I think it is even better. It saves me a track, but also I could see this working well when slaved to other sequencers. You would cue the NDLR much like an octatrack midi track, on it's own panel, right before you were about to play it.

Starting all on the NDLR before the octatrack is a lot less flexible than I would like. The main problem is that once the octa is going, I am only synced to do one thing with the NDLR. If I ever stop it (say to reconfigure it) while the octa is still playing, I have the same risk of offbeat sync if I ever restart it. Hope that one thing the NDLR did was important, because it is too risky to use it again without a complete restart of both.

This is where the 'start on next downbeat if slaved' behavior for the button would be useful. I could bring the NDLR back in at a predictable time with the button on its interface. Exactly like the special start midi track on the octa would do, but without using any track. No need to bother with CC's at all, either, though there would be no harm in a CC available to do the same thing. If the button itself had the changed behavior, maybe just use the same CC, I don't know.

If the front panel button started on the next downbeat when synced to external clock, it would also be reliable to first cue a track I wanted to sequence the NDLR from, and then bring in the NDLR from it's own interface when I was ready for it to send notes. No extra blank bar needed, although I might have to cue both using two hands if I did not want to wait for my track to loop.

Starting the NDLR with its own button is also potentially a good transition to its interface, as that would be a natural time to start using its other knobs. 

The ultimate version of this delayed start button feature would be to be able to tell it how long to wait to start after a press. Like the elektron plays free tracks can be set up. More fancy than I want, but I could see people asking for this if they had the feature in the first place. I really want it to always start on a downbeat to start the drone and pad in the right place, so maybe just specifying number of bars would be best. If it could only do next downbeat I would still use it. People might want more time for whatever reason.

I only see upsides to this, have to hand it to you. Great idea!