Sequencer Basics; Tracks - Social Entropy Engine User Manual

BASICS

SEQUENCER BASICS

This section covers the basic features and building blocks of Engine.
The Engine sequencer works with five main components; TRACKS, PATTERNS, STEPS,
SNAPSHOTS and SONGS.

TRACKS

A good place to start is the TRACK. Engine has eight tracks which play simultaneously.
A track shouldn't be confused with a song, on some synthesizers/sequencers the term
"track" is used to describe a song structure.
A track contains settings for a selected pattern or pattern chain, MIDI channel, drum note
mappings, accent velocity, MIDI effects and track mute status.
Each track has four dedicated banks of sixteen patterns (64 patterns per track). A track
can play a single pattern or a chain of patterns can be selected to play back in sequence.
PATTERNS
Within each track is a selected pattern (or chain of patterns). A pattern contains all of
the steps that make up a musical passage up to 64 steps.
There are three distinct pattern types, DRUM type patterns, SYNTH type patterns and
CONTROL type patterns. Each pattern type has different capabilities specifically designed
for programming different types of sequences, we will cover these differences in more
detail later in the manual.
Each pattern contains settings for type, timing scale, shuffle and last step (length) in
addition to programmed steps. Synth type patterns also include settings for pattern
transpose and chord memory. Drum type patterns store the individual drum instrument
mute status. Control type patterns store the mute status for individual controllers.
There are 512 total patterns spread across the 8 tracks
STEPS
Steps are the lowest level component that make up a pattern. A STEP typically represents
one musically significant event, such as a 16 th note, although this can change depending
on the timing scale.
A step has different STEP ATTRIBUTES depending on the pattern type it belongs to.
9 USER GUIDE