Pattern Primer
by Ken Westover
rev: 98Dec30
What's a Pattern?
A pattern is a musical phrase of one or more measures that you can store
off to one side. You can then insert this phrase in any measure(s) in any
song. It saves you from having to enter the same phrase over and over.
If you know how to read music, you've probably learned about the "repeat"
sign, a forward slash with a dot on each side. Using a repeat sign saves
ink, paper, and is easier to understand than seeing the same combination
of notes over and over. An added benefit is if you change the original
measure(s), the ones that are repeated, you don't have to make that same
change in all the repeated measures - the repeat sign sends you back to
the altered original.
Patterns are the sequencer equivalent of a repeat sign. You start with
one or more blank measures, fill them with notes, then assign the group
a unique Pattern number from 0 to 99. Then whenever you want to use that
Pattern, you plug it into your song by referring to its pattern number.
Perhaps the most common use of Patterns is for drum sequences. You would
spend a bit of time layering a snare, kick drum, hi-hat, ride cymbal, and
whatever else tends to repeat for several bars. Then you would insert this
Pattern into your drum track as needed.
Patterns are also useful for repeating bass lines (guitar and/or piano).
You Get 100 Patterns per Synth
You can have at most 100 Patterns in the 01 at any time. Any of these Patterns
can be placed in any track of any song. That is, you don't get a new set
of patterns for each song - only one set to a synth.
If you plan to work with Patterns, it's a good idea to get pencil and
paper ready. Because you can only identify Patterns with a 2-digit number,
and you will soon lose track of what you've got. You will want to document
what each Pattern contains (drums, bass line), what it's for (chorus, verse,
fade-out), and where it's used (which songs, which tracks). If you have
the Percussion Manual, photocopy pages 149
and 150. Otherwise, make yourself a table with column with these headings:
| Pattern# |
Song# |
Track# |
Length |
Prog/Combi# & Name |
Description (song name, etc.) |
Further, you only get one Pattern per measure. You can't somehow get two
or more Patterns to overlap in a single measure (and still be separate
Patterns, anyway). In fact, a Pattern takes up the whole measure - you
can't have any other musical data in the same measure as the Pattern.
How Patterns are Stored and Accessed
Here's the concept: Patterns are stored in a 100 boxes, one box for each
Pattern, and each box is identified by the Pattern Number. Just like post
office boxes. Now you want the contents of a particular box to be played
during one or more measures of a song. Can you imagine two different ways
to do this?
Copy
The obvious way is to copy the contents of the Pattern Number box into
the measure where you want the Pattern played. If you've got 10 notes in
your Pattern, 10 notes get copied into each measure that uses that Pattern
Number. If you've got an 8-bar verse using the same Pattern, 80 notes get
copied in. This is the COPY command.
Put
The clever way is to put just the Pattern Number in the measure (not the
contents of the Pattern, just its "PO Box" number"). When the sequencer
gets to this measure, it jumps over to the (post office) box with that
Pattern Number, plays the contents, then jumps back to play the next measure.
Two great advantages to this system. First, it saves memory. Second,
if you decide to change the Pattern, you only have to change the one in
the box, not every measure where the Pattern is used.
Opening a Pattern
If you "Put" a Pattern into a measure, you can change the measure contents
from a Pattern Number to Music Data (like a Copy Pattern command would
have done). This process is called "opening the Pattern".
Saving Patterns
Patterns are saved at the same time you save your sequences, using Disk
Mode Page 2, "Save All Sequence". You can also use "Save All Data" if you
also want to save Combis and Progs.
Loading Patterns
Patterns are retrieved in either of two ways. You can load all Patterns
using Disk Mode Page 0, "Load All Sequence". You can load any one Pattern
off your disk and store in any Pattern number using Disk Mode Page 1, "Load
1 Pattern".
How To Create A Pattern
First, prepare to work on a pattern by selecting a Program:
1. Power up 01.
2. Press SEQ to enter Sequencer Mode
3. Press CURSOR UP 4 times (or CURSOR DOWN twice) to highlight the
Prog setting for Track 1.
4. Press VALUE UP 9 times to select Program A09: Total Kit.
5. When you go to work on a Pattern (Sequencer Mode, Page 7), you will
hear whatever Track number is displayed on Page 0, line 5, column B. Because
we just powered up, Track 01 is showing in the Track # field. If you were
creating a Pattern for another Track, you would now change Track # to match
the Track whose Program you just set.
6. Press "7" to go to the "Pattern" page.
Next, work on the actual Pattern:
1. Define a Pattern with Pattern
Parameter
Before you can start recording into a Pattern, you must define how
big it is (how many measures), assign it a time signature, and assign it
a unique Pattern Number. This is all done on Page 7, line 4, column A-D.
2. Record the Pattern
There are three ways to get data into a Pattern. Choose one:
Real-time recording (you play
the parts on the keyboard live)
Step Recording (you enter every
note, one-by-one, just like writing music by hand)
Copy from a Track (steal measures from an existing song)
3. Edit the Pattern
If you need to make changes, you can Edit the
Pattern one event at a time.
4. Use the Pattern in a Song.
Use PUT or COPY to insert the Pattern
in measures of your Song.
5. Save the Pattern by saving the sequence (Disk Mode Page 2, Save All
Sequence or Save All Data).
Copyright ©1998 by Ken Westover at Cliff Canyon
Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
This material may not be distributed without the
written permission of the author.
E-mail questions or comments to cliffcan@indra.com.
9812301058