Phrase editor clari...
 
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Phrase editor clarification


stratblue
(@stratblue)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 84
Topic starter  

Hi All.

 

I've been spending the lockdown devoting myself to the Octopus and have come up against a bit of a problem, I don't get this phrase (pun intended) from page 106 of the manual for OS 1.62:

 

'The 7 green note LEDs are mostly there to tell you that they may be
pressed: to set the optional phrase polyphony, press one of the note
buttons to make it blink orange. To restore the phrase to normal, full
polyphony, press the blinking note button again, and the blink will
disappear.'

 

I have had just a single note in the phrase and tried pressing these buttons, it just seemed to space out the repetitions of the single note in an uneven and unpredictable way, although still in time. I assumed I could input chords but there is nothing in the display to allow me to do anything. Can anyone sort me out on this? What does this do?

 

Thanks.


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Jean Blanc
(@jean)
Member Admin
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 32
 

Hi Nick,

The polyphony will set the max number of notes in the phrase that will be played

If you input a chord (3 notes with the same STA value) & set the poly to 1 then each time the phrase is triggered it will play just 1 note - a phrase type 3 or 4 will randomly play one of the chord notes.

There were quite a few timing bugs involving phrases that were resolved in v5.00.

The following info may help (copied from the v5 manual):-

Step phrase note variations
Setting the Step phrase to type 4 will randomize all programmed note
attributes so we can have a random note selection.
Here's how:- Zoom in to phrase edit and chose a phrase you want to edit, set the type to 4, then set note 2 to PIT +7 and set the polyphony to 1.
With a track set up as in example 1 above zoom into step 5 and set the step to the phrase number you have just created.
You will hear that step 5 will sometimes play the step note and sometimes the step note +7 semitones.
More variation can be added by increasing the number of PIT offsets in the phrase.

Step phrase timing variations
Again by setting the Step phrase to type 4, we can introduce a timing variation.
Here's how:- Zoom in to phrase edit and chose a phrase you want to edit, set the type to 4, then set note 2 to STA +12 and set the polyphony to 1.
With a track set up as in example 1 above zoom into step 1 and set the step to the phrase number you have just created.
You will notice that sometimes the step 1 note plays on step 1 and sometimes it plays on step 2.
Taking this a little further, set up a phrase as follows:
set the type to 4,
set note 2 to STA +12 and PIT +7
set note 3 to STA +24 and set the polyphony to 2.
Now, we change step 1 in example 1 to this new phrase and the following
variations can occur:- Step 1 & step 2 play, or step 1 & step 3 play, or step 2 & step 3 play, AND one of the steps may, or may not, be offset by +7 semitones.

 

 


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stratblue
(@stratblue)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 84
Topic starter  

Thanks, I'll dig into this tomorrow.


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stratblue
(@stratblue)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 84
Topic starter  

Hey Jean.

 

I tried this and, assuming I understood you, I had a 5 note Cm9 chord on a single step with all notes the same length, volume and STA value, I clicked into the step then into the phrase editor and the 7 polyphony lights around the right are illuminated. By choosing which one of the 4 phrase types I want in the VEL line I do indeed get a difference in the  phrase but the 'polyphony arc' of buttons does nothing to affect the 5 note phrase that I'm hearing. The phrase rhythm just goes 1+2+3 really simply through the phrase tones. The notes in the Cm9 will be C D Eb G Bb but I hear C G Bb G+1 octave F. I expected to dial in a polyphony value of 2 and just get 2 notes scooped out of the chord and then add in a random element with phrase types 3 and 4. I was messing about on phrase 'red 2' if that makes sense...Have I totally missed it?


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stratblue
(@stratblue)
Member
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 84
Topic starter  

Jean! Ignore this. I now realise that the chord need to be entered INSIDE the phrase editor, not in the step. Doh.. 😳 


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