Chains And Songs; Chains; Songs - Elektron Analog Four Full Reference Manual

CHAINS AND SONGS

CHAINS AND SONGS
Chains are sequences consisting of several patterns. Chains and patterns can be used to form songs.
256 pattern entries are available to the 64 chains, meaning for example one chain can consist of 256 patterns or
two chains can consist of 128 patterns each. In most scenarios however, using 2-8 patterns in a chain should be
enough.
In essence, one song is always active and being worked on. Songs contain two main forms of entries, song
rows and one scratch pad row. The active song row is visible on the graphics located in the lower left part of the
LCD. If a scratch pad row is active, the graphics will show "_ _:". The scratch pad row is by default placed in the
beginning of the song, before any actual song rows.
Each song row can contain a chain or a pattern. These entries are saved together with the song. The scratch
pad row can also contain a chain or a pattern, but is not saved as a part of the song. Its intended use is for
quickly experimenting with chains and patterns without affecting already programmed song rows.

CHAINS

If the active song row or scratch pad row contains a chain, all patterns in the chain will be played when activating
the CHAIN mode by pressing [CHAIN]. When deactivating the mode, and SONG mode is not active, the cur-
rently active pattern will be played over and over. The currently active pattern, and any other patterns in the
chain, are visible in the lower left corner of the LCD screen.
Chains can be created even if CHAIN mode is deactivated. Press [CHAIN] + [LEFT]/[RIGHT] to move the chain
cursor. It can either be placed before a pattern, on a pattern, or after a pattern. If the cursor is placed before a
pattern and a new pattern is selected by pressing [BANK X/X] + [TRIG], the selected pattern will be inserted
before the pattern located after the cursor. If the cursor is highlighting a pattern and a new pattern is selected,
the highlighted pattern will be replaced. When activating CHAIN mode, the patterns in the chain will be played in
sequence. The chain will be looped once the final pattern of the chain has played.
Pressing [CHAIN] + [NO/RELOAD] will, depending on the location of the chain cursor, either erase the pattern
located before the cursor or the one highlighted by it.
Pressing [FUNCTION] + [CHAIN] will create a new, blank, scratch pad row. The scratch pad row will at the
same time be moved down one step in the song row list, which can be seen when opening the SONG EDIT
menu. The content of the previous scratch pad row will be added as song row 00.
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CHAIN mode is ideal when improvising live. When CHAIN mode is deactivated and only the cur-
rently active pattern is looping, create a chain and then activate CHAIN mode. At any time, exit
CHAIN mode to loop one pattern only. Add and remove patterns to create a completely new chain
and activate CHAIN mode again. By creating new chains through pressing [FUNCTION] + [CHAIN],
improvised songs can quickly be created.

SONGS

Songs are essentially patterns and chains structured to form a long sequence. To enter SONG mode, press the
[SONG] key. The <SONG> LED will light up, indicating SONG mode is active. The active song will start to play,
row by row. If the active song row is the scratch pad row, song row 00 will be played afterwards, given the
scratch pad row has not been moved within the song. The currently playing song row is indicated in the lower
left corner of the LCD screen.
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