so yes, my intended use is performance - but I also want some simple on-the-fly arranging capabilities. I currently have a 3x8 plot of button-real-estate top-right earmarked for sequential ‘section sequencing’. There are 3 sections each of which can be any length (depending on the length of the active ‘sequences’ in that ‘section’), so you can non-destructively input a looping ‘song structure’ made up of some sequential grid of those three arrangements.
I’m also planning to add operations to layer sequences or append N sequences into a new sequence. So that would provide the ability to splice & dice together existing sequences or sections much in the same way that you do destructive bounces with a four-track recorder to build up longer/more complex sequences that way. My aim is to force final creative decisions to be made as you go along and reward accuracy.
For finer-grained compositional control & unlimited non-destructive editing I hope this software can also play well with a midi-enabled free-software DAW (for example ardour). Seems to me that a ‘real’ computer, (along with mouse and screen) is the best tool for that…
Quick feature update from the remainder of yesterday’s hack session - now there are monome gestures to set loop length, loop beat-divisor (quavers, triplets, semiquavers etc) & swing quantity. And the UI now hints integer beats to the user, both when setting beat-divisor & loop length. E.g if you’re entering quintuplet step sequence (beat-divisor=5), the grid will hint loop lengths of 5, 10 or 15. Similarly if you’re working on a loop of length 12 the grid ‘hints’ beat-divisors of 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6 - that way it’s easier to make the current sequence add up to a whole bar (a sensible default). Vari-bright is essential for this!
Also turns out my boomerang sync code was way more finished than I thought, so now sync-ing to boomerang, with a tap-tempo hinting to sguenz the beat-pulse of your boomerang master loop. When boomerang stops, sguenz stops…
In other words, now I can start jamming on the boomerang with any instrument, layer some parts, then a halfway through a performance, bring in electronic drums in time with what’s already playing. no click track required and stays in time with the 'rang for minutes if not hours! Obviously this all implies a bias towards music being beat-synched and yes, my software pushes you in this direction, but shouldn’t prevent the musician from breaking any easily breakable rules.
TODO:
- figure out the gestures (and write the logic) for sequence layering/appending
- add the section sequencer (and a song-mode/section-mode toggle button)
- merge clock-management & boomerang sync code into an all-powerful ‘timelord’ process, deftly avoiding any ‘clock-source’ UI
- figure out how to schedule triggering of non-grid sequences (global beat-sync button?)
- don’t drop midi events that occurred fractionally before hitting record on new sequence. Those events are better shovelled into the one, even if they occured 1/16 of a beat before the one…
