Page 1
Catalyst Sequencer 4ms Company Clock In Phase CV Reset Dir. Phase Range Transpose Start Length BPM/Clock Div Random Phase Scrub Fine Copy Shift Tempo Reset Glide Chan. (Ratchet) Quantize Pages (Gate) Catalyst Sequencer User Manual 0.10 — February 14, 2024...
Table of Contents Overview ....................4 Quick Explanation ................5 Channels Knobs Crossfader Changing Channels Pages and Steps Viewing/Editing a Page Playing Page Jump Tempo Phase-based and Clock-driven Sequencing .........8 Phase CV Crossfader Clock In Phase and Clock at the Same Time Channel Modes: CV or Gate ............11 CV Mode Gate Mode...
Page 3
Length Start Phase Phase vs. Start Direction Transpose Tempo: BPM/ClockDiv Random Channel Parameters / Overrides ...........20 Channel Overrides Range Page Features .................22 Randomize Transpose Phase Direction Navigating Pages and Songs ............24 Page Jump (Start at page) Page List (Song Mode) Other Features ................26 Copy/Paste Clearing a Channel and Factory Reset...
Overview The Catalyst Sequencer is simultaneously a traditional clocked step-sequencer and an advanced phase-based sequencer. Eight precision CV/gate channels can be driven by a clock, the crossfader or Phase CV. • Sequences range from 1 to 64 steps, grouped into eight pages of eight steps each •...
Glide Chan. Green=Gates (Ratchet) Quantize Pages (Gate) The crossfader lets you “scrub” or Start Length BPM/Clock Div Random Catalyst Sequencer Copy Shift Dir. Phase Range Transpose move through the sequence, even Tempo Reset Glide Chan. when playing via tap tempo or...
Chan. (Ratchet) Quantize will flash rapidly, and you can use Pages (Gate) Catalyst Sequencer the knobs to view and edit that Page select: solid = playing page’s steps. flashing = viewing/editing If you press the flashing Page button again, it will stop flashing and the page that’s currently playing will turn solid.
change every time the sequence moves eight steps, so pressing a Page button to “lock” to that page is a good idea before turning knobs. Playing Pressing Play starts/pauses the clock-based sequencer. Shift + Play resets the clock: if the slider is all the way left and you are not applying Phase CV or adjusting the Phase parameter, then the sequence will reset to step 1.
Phase-based and Clock-driven Sequencing Phase CV The Catalyst Sequencer is a phase-based sequencer, meaning that the flow of the sequence can be controlled by CV. The voltage on the Phase CV jack selects which step of the sequence is active. A CV value of 0V corresponds to the first step, and 5V corresponds to the last step.
The slope of the CV controls the tempo at each moment. Varying the slope, by using a sine wave instead of a ramp- 1 2 3 412341234 up for instance, will vary the amount of time spent on each step. Adding a little bit of low-frequency noise to a ramp-up will introduce “jitter”...
additionally resets the sequence to the “first step”. The “first step” is typically the step selected by the slider, but if there is a signal on the Phase CV jack, or the channel has a Phase parameter set (see page 17), then the “first step” could be something else. Phase and Clock at the Same Time The crossfader’s position, the Phase CV, the channel’s Phase parameter, and the number of clocks received in play mode as of the...
Channel Modes: CV or Gate Each of the eight channels can be set to output CV or gates. CV Mode By default, each channel will output CV from -5V to +10V, with an option to quantize the outputs to a scale. Hold down Chan/Quantize and notice that all the knob lights change to dim grey (by default).
Step Parameters CV Mode: Voltage level When a channel is in CV mode, adjusting the knob for a step changes the voltage for that step. Each click of the knob changes it by 1/12th of a volt (a semitone). If you hold down Fine while turning the knob, it will change the value by 4 cents (about 3mV).
Gate Mode: Swing Holding down Fine and adjusting a step will change the swing for that step. Turning the knob clockwise will cause the gate to fire late (after other channels have already changed their value). Turning the knob counter- clockwise will cause the gate to fire early (before other steps).
Gate Mode: Ratchet Changing Glide(Ratchet) for a channel in Gate mode will add multiple gates for that step. While holding down the Glide(Ratchet) button, the step lights will turn red to indicate no ratcheting (one gate output only), dark pink to indicate two pulses, light pink to indicate three pulses, and white to indicate four pulses.
you set a step’s value to D2 and probability to 25%, and the Random amount is set to +/-2 semitones, then each time that step is played there is a 1 in 4 chance that a note between C2 and E2 (+/-2 semitones) will be played.
value without making changes. The Page buttons lights show how many pages the sequence spans, and the knob lights show how many steps are in the last page. Each page (except the last) represents 8 steps and each knob represents one step. So when adjusting Length, if three Page buttons are lit and three knobs are lit, then the length of the sequence is 19 steps.
Phase Phase Shift + Phase shifts the sequence forward or backwards by a number of steps. This feature also sets the step that the sequence resets to when you fire a pulse into the Reset jack or press Shift + Reset. By default, this is step 1 (or the lowest numbered step;...
By changing Start, you can play different “windows” of the larger 64- step sequence. By changing Phase, you can change the position of a sequence relative to other channels, and change where the sequence starts after you fire a reset. Direction The direction of the sequence can be set to forward, backward, ping- pong, or random steps.
On the other hand, if you have clock patched into the Clock In jack, then holding Shift while turning BPM/ClockDiv will set a clock divider amount. The first click of the BPM/ClockDiv knob will display the current value without making changes. The clock division amount is displayed in a manner similar to displaying Length and Start, with the Page buttons and knob lights indicating a value between 1 and 64.
Channel Parameters / Overrides Channel Overrides If you hold down the Chan/Quantize button at the same time as Shift while turning a knob, you can override the global value for the active channel only. Channel values that have an override will not change when the global value changes.
Range Adjusting Range changes the allowed voltage range of a channel. Unlike the other parameters, Range can only be set per channel, not globally. To do this, first select the channel you want to adjust (as described in the Changing Channels Section on page 5), and then hold the Shift + Chan/Quantize buttons while turning the Range knob.
Page Features Page features are similar to Global and Channel parameters except they only affect one page (eight steps) on the current channel. Unlike Channel parameters, there is no notion of override when using Page features: they directly change the step values of the page. To use a Page feature, hold down Shift and tap a Page button.
Transpose Shift + Page button + Transpose will shift all values of the current page up or down. For CV channels, each click of the knob moves the values by a semitone, or by about 4mV if you hold down Fine. For gate channels, this feature will adjust the pulse width, or if you hold down Fine it will adjust swing.
Navigating Pages and Songs Page Jump (Start at page) To do a Page Jump, first press and hold down the Page button you want to jump to, and then tap the Play button. If the sequence is not playing, then it will immediately start playing from the first step of the page you selected.
If you just want to make one channel jump pages, then hold down a Page button and the Chan. button while tapping Play. This will change the active channel’s Start parameter, altering a pre-existing channel override, or creating an override if one doesn’t exist already. Page List (Song Mode) You can create a list of multiple pages to play in order.
Other Features Copy/Paste You can copy and paste a page (which includes the eight step values and parameters), or an entire sequencer channel (which includes all 64 steps and parameters and all global and channel parameters). Copying and pasting a page is done by pressing the Copy button and a Page button in a particular order.
Clearing a Channel and Factory Reset To clear all steps and settings of a channel, hold Shift and Play/ Reset for five seconds, once the Play and Page lights begin to flash, release the buttons. Tap a Page button to clear the respective channel’s sequence and settings.
The faceplate itself is double-sided, with the sequencer artwork on one side and the controller artwork on the other. You can change your Catalyst Sequencer into a Catalyst Controller by holding down Shift + Tap Tempo + Chan (three buttons on the right side).
connections and volume, and press the Play button to reset. Play the audio file to try again. When it’s done, there will be a chase-animation (each button light turns on, in order, one at a time). If you don’t see this animation then the update failed.
Page 30
Play/ Play a page Play page (one chan.) Reset Clock Pause Shift Chan. Pages Pages Reset Reset Reset Quantize Reset (Gate) Load/Save Seq. Add Page to Song Glide Chan. Quantize (Ratchet) Shift Load: Tap a Page but. Pages (Gate) Reset Save: Long-hold a Page button.
Page 31
Step Parameters Probability of change CV: Volts CV: Fine Tune CV: Glide Gate: PW Gate: Swing Gate: Ratchet Fine Glide Shift Glide (Ratchet) Copy (Ratchet) Page Parameters Page Parameter Page Params: Transpose Random Phase (Parameter) Shift Pages Channel Parameters Mode: Scale/Gate Global Param.
Technical Specifications Outputs • Range: < -4.950V to > +9.950V • Accuracy: • Post-calibration: +/-0.5mV over entire range • Uncalibrated: +/-12mV over 0-5V range • Precision: • Using knobs without Fine: 83.3mV per knob click • Using knobs and Fine button: 3.3mV per knob click •...