New Environment Parameter Sequencer

Naw, not at all --- Did you turn off "protect positions and hide cables" and see? There's plenty of bloat in handling the LED's. Originally it was just two transformers (as previously advertised) but then I got picky about what happened when the # of steps was changed to a number lower than 8: i.e., if you happened to lower the # of steps when the 8th LED was on, it stayed on. Can't have that, can we? Noooooooo, not in Mr. Nitpicky's Environment Workshop we can't!

 

I'm on Fla. for a little while longer, so please send my best regards to NYC.

 

I didn't open up your masterpiece yet... I'm working on the same problem with the changing row sizes and I want to see if I can figure out an LED solution on my own.

 

Your right, my original LED concept only works for a none changing row length. So, me believes that I need to create two incrementing switches one step outta phase with each other. If II can get it to work then I'm still left with the problem of what to do with the random step mode I have in my latest build. It works great except, of course, the LED logic completely breaks down.

 

In some ways it's very similar to the note off issues when you want to randomize pitch... how do you get the note off to follow along, mirror and meet back up with their note on counterparts? I've solved this before for channel switching by generating 16 channels of note offs for each pitch.

 

So before I tackle the random thing, I'm going to concentrate on the "easier" issues first!

 

More later.... Oh by the way, here's the latest build (as of 2/25 with some added features:

ParaQuencer 16 Stage V2.logic.zip

That's in a different layer.

 

You should see the layer that has the bean grinder. It's amazing because it uses the arpeggiator to regulate the different speeds. It doubles as a juicer too.

 

ROFLMAO!!!

Steve,

 

How'd the meeting go?

 

I noticed that your LED's exhibit a lot of jitter. Do you see that in yours? FWIW, I applied a version of the LED driver from my sequencer (only 2 transformers) and it eliminates the jitter. I also have a scheme for driving the LED's in random mode.

 

Lemme know if you're interested in seeing these.

Hey Ski,

 

The meeting was great! Showed a lot of cool environment stuff including my Ambient Music Machine.

 

I bet you're placing the transformers before the the cable switchers, right? I had to take a break from the Seq project for a while... but I'll get back to it soon.

 

Anytime you'd like to do a course or address the NYLUG... just lemme know!

 

Steve

Thank so much Steve! I'll give you a buzz (I know I've been threatening to do that for a while, but this week I might be able to make good on the threat!)

 

Nope, my transformers are connected to your "counter fader", and they drive the LED's directly. I'll post something for you to look at soon, but in short, my LED's are each set to a different MIDI channel (all CC#7 though) and using some transformer trickery I get them to sequentially light and turn off. You'll see.

 

I'm still working on consolidating the programming of the LED driver that makes the random LED display work.

 

I'll post back relatively soon with some stuff for ya.

 

Best,

 

Ski

[EDIT: See below for most recent version]

 

Hey Steve,

 

Attached is a file that contains an LED driver scheme that works for both serial and random events. It could probably be a wee bit simpler in design, but I chose to leave it as is to make it a bit more comprehensible.

 

At the bottom of the screenshot you'll see that I copied a few elements from your sequencer programming, adding only the meta-event filter and renaming the cable switcher to "serial/random".

 

Hit the test button and change the settings of the serial/random and you'll see it in action. To incorporate this into your sequencer (should you so desire) I suggest deleting your LED's, as mine are programmed to respond to on/off messages on different MIDI channels.

 

Enjoy!

serial+random LED driver.logic.zip

Edited March 3, 2009 by ski

Thanks Ski,

 

I look forward to digesting it!

 

Steve

Kewl!

 

BTW, I totally revised my scheme for doing this after about 10,000 failed attempts, so what I wrote a few posts up no longer applies exactly. OK, maybe not 10,000 attempts but it felt like that many LOL! Lemme know if you have any questions about how it woiks.

Can't leave well-enough alone, can I? Here's a revised version, just a bit more simplified in operation than the previous version.

serial+random LED driver V1.1.logic.zip

Ski,

 

You are the king of all transformations!

 

Nice refinement by using a transformer to add the second note! And I was wondering about the usefulness of that double fader gizmo setting the channel... cool that it's gone!

 

 

Kudos on using the chord memorizer to produce all those simultaneous note offs. That, my dear Ski, is pure inspiration! Great work and a real eye opener and mind expander for me.

 

However, I'm confused about timing.

 

Question: How did you figure out the timing of the note ons/offs arriving at the last transformer. Seems like they all could go to 0 if the on gets there before the off... right? Or, perhaps, I'm missing something.

 

You rock!

 

Steve H

I couldn't help myself... I added a variable stage selector that works for both serial and random. I also changed the circuit to accept a note as a trigger so I could use the caps lock kbd.

 

 

This will be the template for creating a version of the sequencer with independent phasing or random stages...awesome!

 

I still can't get over your amazing use of the chord memorizer...wow!

 

Here's a revision:

serial+random LED driver V1-1.2.logic.zip

Steve,

 

Thanks for all the kind words!

 

Glad you like the chord memorizer approach. It's the most compact method I've found for getting Logic to generate multiple simultaneous events within the environment.

 

SHowever, I'm confused about timing.

 

Question: How did you figure out the timing of the note ons/offs arriving at the last transformer. Seems like they all could go to 0 if the on gets there before the off... right? Or, perhaps, I'm missing something.

 

Timing is always a concern in these kinds of things, but I got around it by taking a different approach than I originally thought of for making this work (hence the 10,000 failed attempts I mentioned above LOL). Basically it works like this:

 

Each time the counter increases, I'm turning off all of the LED's simultaneously except for the one displaying the currently chosen step. The transformer called "figurer-outer" is where the exclusion takes place. To backtrack for a second...

 

Since we have 16 LED's, I chose to control each one on a separate MIDI channel. Very convenient for working with the premise that sequence step# = MIDI channel. Each LED responds to CC#7 on its respective MIDI channel. For each LED, a value of 0 turns it off, a value of 1 turns it on. Next... using the chord memorizer, I'm generating 16 notes simultaneously -- a big chromatic cluster from note#0 through note#15. The transformer called "Note #-->Ch" takes care of changing the MIDI channel of each note from the bottom up: note#0 = ch1, note#2 =ch2, etc., and, converts them to CC#7 messages with a value of 0 on successive MIDI channels. So the output of that transformer is CC#7 ch1, zero. CC#7 ch2, zero. CC#7 ch3, zero, and so on. In other words, the output is a block of CC#7 messages which are intended to turn off all of the LED's simultaneously, clearing whichever one was previously turned on.

 

 

Those feed into the "figurer-outer" transformer. Within it, the conditions for detecting a particular step in the sequence are varied in real time by the meta event generated by the "set channel" fader. As you can see, it outputs a value which matches the current step. So the CC#7 message corresponding to that channel number is detected and then forced to have a value of 1 which turns on the LED for that step. Any previously lit LED's are cleared as a result of the remaining CC#7=0 messages.

 

You can see this in action by opening the "figurer-outer" transformer window and watching the channel conditions change in real time with each step.

 

So the resulting output of "figurer-outer" is a string of CC#7 messages on consecutive MIDI channels which all have a value of zero except for the channel corresponding to the current step, which has a value of 1.

 

Regarding timing, I believe this ends up working because Logic is aware of when meta events are in use and ensures that the conditions being changed within transformers takes place before MIDI is passed through them.

 

Whew!

Edited March 4, 2009 by ski

.... Oh by the way, here's the latest build (as of 2/25 with some added features:

Steve, this is an awesome gadget!

.... Oh by the way, here's the latest build (as of 2/25 with some added features:

Steve, this is an awesome gadget!

 

Thanks Fader8! I'm going to incorporate Ski's wonderful LED technology... create independent stages for the three rows and a few other goodies so stay tuned!

OK...a new release of my ParaSequencer with a big thanks to Ski for his LED technology which completely solved the LED on/off problem in random mode.

 

 

This version has a cool new goodie that allows to to set the number of stages in real time! Check it out.

 

Next I'm going to incorporate a one click row randomizer!

 

There seems to be a bit of a problem with some data overflow even after a key is released... working on that too! Lemme know what you think and if there are some other functions you'd like to see!

 

Here are the instructions:

 

Simply patch the output of the SI channel into it and then patch it back into the same channel creating a loop back. If you want to record automation, patch in a transformer set to "automation split" before the loop back.

 

It has some controls:

 

To assign the rows to a parameter click the capture button for that row and then click the parameter on your SI.

 

Set the faders in each row to create the pattern you desire.

 

You can turn the clock ON/OFF. It also allows you to set the clock's resolution with a fader while giving a readout of the resolution above it.

 

You set the amount of steps.

 

You can randomize how it addresses the steps.

 

 

Steve

ParaQuencer 16 Stage V5.logic.zip

Edited March 5, 2009 by steveH

My pleasure Steve!

 

This is sooooo cooooooool! I'm loving having 3 banks of control. Fantastic!

 

Hey, would you like another new toy to play with...? I just banged this out -- it'll randomize the fader values. See pic below.

 

Oh, how ridiculous is this... I didn't even READ that you were going to make a one-row randomizer -- I just downloaded the file. Duh!!!! Well, it's all done on this end, so if you'd like it, it's yours. Just say the word!

Hi !

 

I am quite interested in this environment to try it out.

 

But is there any manual for it provided ?

 

Thx in advance !

 

Rob

Hi !

 

I am quite interested in this environment to try it out.

 

But is there any manual for it provided ?

 

Thx in advance !

 

Rob

 

 

Simply patch the output of the SI channel into it and then patch it back into the same channel creating a loop back. If you want to record automation, patch in a transformer set to "automation split" before the loop back.

 

It has some controls:

 

To assign the rows to a parameter click the capture button for that row and then click the parameter on your SI.

 

Set the faders in each row to create the pattern you desire.

 

You can turn the clock ON/OFF. It also allows you to set the clock's resolution with a fader while giving a readout of the resolution above it.

 

You set the amount of steps.

 

You can randomize how it addresses the steps.

 

Have fun!

 

 

 

NOTE: Logic's transport must be running whether you're using the clock or not.

Oh, how ridiculous is this... I didn't even READ that you were going to make a one-row randomizer -- I just downloaded the file. Duh!!!! Well, it's all done on this end, so if you'd like it, it's yours. Just say the word!

 

I'll probably reinvent the wheel on this on... it's good practice for me ...been thinking of some ways using the chord memorizer cluster idea... thanks to you!

You're welcome Steve! I'll look forward to comparing notes with you on the randomizer. 8) 8) 8)

From this thread, Fred B wrote:

 

...when messing around with a vintage car I wouldn't be surprised to get some backfiring.

 

Duuuuuude, this ain't antique car repair -- it's archaeology!

 

Ski: Have you gutted it yet with any results... or should I go ahead and give it a try and post my results?

 

I have a version that I was working on last night which fixes the clocking problem. I'd like to try and address a few more things as well as clean things up before posting it. It might take me a minute, but stay tuned!

Still working on it... haven't forgotten. 8) Fine-tuning it while working on a remix for David Morales. So far so good. This one has two rows (I'd add a third but it's getting awfully complicated), separate memories for each row, scalable output, etc.

3 stooges on cocaine . Jesus what a awesome work you've done. I can't even try to figure out what the heck is going on under the hood!. You're my heros!.

My brain just exploded! Steve, I have a bunch of your tutorials, but this thing just makes me want to, oh, I dunno, have a virtual man to man chat with Igor! If you have the time, and, or, inclination, could you please summarize wtf this thing is supposed to do?

 

Cheers!

 

Glenn

Hi all, I'd been thinking about a Matrix styled Step-Sequencer for Logic for some time and wondered why they hadn't bundled one, but after some net-trawling and reading your fantastic thread, plus looking at your own environments posted here (much thanx btw)... I dived into the Environment and created this '16-Step Matrix Sequencer'.

 

I created it in Logic 9 and I'm sure there may be many ways to do this and improve it also, but as your thread and posts have helped me so much I thought I would register and try to repay your efforts with some effort of my own.

 

If you have any questions or issues with it please don't hesitate to contact me.

 

Thanx all.

 

Beast-vs-Viper

 

PS: Load it up and use the screensets 1-5 on the numeric keypad to see various views of what it controls and how it's created.

 

It is fully Modal so you can punch in a sequence and check it out in various modes and scales (there's a drop down menu to do this). It defauts to the key of C but can be assigned to any key via the transpose function.

 

I've assigned a delay object that creates a rhythmic repeat ('Note-Rept Mode') and also a really fine repeat that creates a rapid repeat effect ('Note-Stick Mode').

 

There's an EQ inserted on the channel that is used as a filter with assignable hi-pass, lo-pass, dB slope select functions, I've also created a filter type with tracking and non-tracking of several Q (resonance) settings when the filter fader is used in 'Morph Filt' mode.

 

There are various randomize note and mute functions when crafting a sequence.

 

To assign the Matrix Sequencer to a different instrument the easiest way is to insert a different instrument on the channel that the Matrix Sequencer is assigned to.

16-STEP MATRIX V3.zip