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Rabid Elephant NEXUS SEQ User Manual

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v1.0.0
NEXUS SEQ USER'S MANUAL

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Summary of Contents for Rabid Elephant NEXUS SEQ

  • Page 1 NEXUS SEQ USER’S MANUAL...
  • Page 2 SEQ lends itself to many happy accidents and recording these discoveries is easy. NEXUS SEQ has two independent sequencers, ‘MN’ and ‘PQ’, each with 2 CV lanes for a total of 4 CV outputs. One sequencer can also be set to sequence the other making it easy to transpose song sections, add variations, or to create complex polyrhythmic patterns without the need for tedious editing.
  • Page 3 ● Overkill ARM7 CPU capable of 600MHz, USB, SD card, I2C, etc. for future-proof software expansion All Rabid Elephant instruments are professionally hand-crafted products built and designed to exceptionally high standards of performance, quality, and most importantly: musical sound. Click here for more details about this commitment.

  • Page 4: Installation

    This is extremely important - please do not skip this step. You’ll find other ways to have NEXUS SEQ do rhythms but just start with a sync’d metronome or drum beat first. The next thing is storing the pattern of buttons/knob sets you’ve been playing into a sequence. Right now, you have just been jamming buttons and nothing is stored.
  • Page 5 (and still not technically stop the music). You’ll also get better and better playing the buttons with practise which makes live recording easier. This covers the most basic use of NEXUS SEQ, but there’s quite a bit more we can do!
  • Page 6 With NEXUS SEQ, knob sets are free to be used at any step in a sequence… they are just a pool of ‘floating’ voltage setting pairs. So just because there are 5 knob sets for PQ, doesn’t mean you can only make 5 step long sequences.
  • Page 7 NEXUS SEQ is built specifically around this workflow. By focusing in and not compromising on this mentality, you will soon see we can completely avoid entering the non-musical tedium of programming.
  • Page 8 Speaking of the expansion process - here’s how NEXUS SEQ handles going from short to long ideas: Repeat and Double Sequence Functions In the short to long ideas concept, we expand and lengthen shorter loops into longer ones so that we can add variations or changes over longer periods of time.
  • Page 9 Repeat Double Sequence ALT Functions. These were just discussed in-context above. Remember that NEXUS SEQ is based around the Short-Medium-Long ideas workflow and so these functions are added specifically to work hand-in-hand. Step-by-Step Record Mode - here we can set length to any value - each new button press increases sequence length by one.
  • Page 10 - a very helpful tip since NEXUS SEQ is a live record type of machine and sometimes we make a mistake (although lots of times a mistake is welcome!)
  • Page 11 Interfacing with NEXUS SEQ This is NEXUS SEQ: 1. Reset Input Jack When high and a clock edge received, the corresponding sequencer resets to step 1. 2. Clock Input Jack With every rising edge, the corresponding sequencer is advanced to the next step.
  • Page 12 v1.0.0 4. P Sum Switch Our earliest sequencer development relied heavily on a method where we’d sequence one sequencer by another. This switch allows you to add the M or N sequencer voltages to the P sequencer lane. Lots of use cases; by shifting the P sequencer by voltages playing in the M or N lane you get things like transposition, individual note shifts, polyrhythms, etc .
  • Page 13 v1.0.0 enabled. There is always one knob set active at any one time and only one knob set per sequencer may be active at any one time. These buttons override any underlying sequence when pressed. 12. SEQ SEL Mode Button While active, you can load different sequence slots with the MN 1-4 and PQ 1-5 buttons.
  • Page 14 v1.0.0 When you first enter Step-by-Step Record mode and press a MN or PQ button, length is reset back to 1. This mode is really meant for entering in shorter ‘riff’ or initial sequences but sequences of any length can be entered if you have something specific you want to create. Again, for long stuff, really try to get good with live record and you’ll likely end up using this mode less often.
  • Page 15 v1.0.0 ALT + MN 3, (ALT + PQ 3): Directly Set Length of MN (or PQ) Sequencer to 2, 4, 8, 16 Steps Sets MN sequence length to 2, 4, 8, or 16 steps. Each press cycles thru these lengths in order. Eg. pressing ALT + MN 3 three times, length will be 8 steps.
  • Page 16 - to the point where you get so good at playing NEXUS SEQ, you can do it real-time and hopefully at a show! So even without our companion clock module, hook up a clocking setup where you can quickly slow down or divide down tempo temporarily as you enter in your sequence ‘live.’...
  • Page 17 SEQ, you can jam in different note lengths and rests just the same as jamming in notes or CVs. You can even jam them in at the same time. We like having two NEXUS SEQ - one for notes on the right and the other for gate play on the left.
  • Page 18 James Brown Says: “Know Your One” Because NEXUS SEQ is biased towards recording things in live, it’s very important to know where your musical ‘one’ is. We cannot stress this enough as most folks are used to programming in sequences using off-line sequencers where ‘step 1’...
  • Page 19 Keys Remember The keys on NEXUS SEQ are programmed in such a way that multiple held keys are remembered in order so you are able to hold one (or more) down and toggle another key on/off and it will shift back and forth to the most recently held key.
  • Page 20 Knobs or Buttons First? Since knob sets on NEXUS SEQ can be on any step in a sequence and both the position and knob value set what comes out, there are two sorts of ways to approach recording things in… one is to set knobs to values you like first, disregarding the order they’re in, then jam the buttons to pick the order they...
  • Page 21 2) If using the NSX gate expander, setting a knob to zero will send out no gate. The gate expander works ace with NEXUS SEQ. Probably to the point you’ll want 2 NEXUS SEQS - one for the left hand to do modulation or pitch and the right hand unit for note length and rhythm.
  • Page 22 Because we tap off of knob voltages for the CV to gate conversion before the polarity and range switches, NEXUS SEQ’s N and Q CV outputs can still be used to send to other destinations and their polarity and range switches do not affect what the NSX expander reads...

  • Page 23: Specifications

    If the module calibration is upset we can recalibrate any Rabid Elephant instrument at no cost for the duration of the warranty period (user covers shipping & handling costs). If you feel the instrument needs calibration, email us at: support@rabidelephant.com...
  • Page 24 Our instruments, we hope, will never end up in a landfill and we design in such a fashion to maximise life. However, we realise everything has a finite lifetime so we would prefer any Rabid Elephant item that would otherwise be disposed be sent back to us. Do NOT dispose of any of our products in the trash! Send it back to us and rest assured it will be disposed of in a safe manner.
  • Page 25 v1.0.0 Appendix Quick Terminology Attenuverter: A control that adjusts how much (the gain) of the incoming signal is applied to the target circuit. Depending on the settings of the attenuverter range switches located above each attenuverter knob, gain may be in the range of -1 to +1, 0 to +1, or 0 to -1. CW: Clockwise.
  • Page 26 Spread your creativity, kindness, and positive energy with the world... ~ With love, Rabid Elephant...