I Need a Clock

[jonheal]

I’m not sure I can even word this in an understandable way, but I need an external clock to fire step sequencers.

As I have written before, I am attempting to use Reason as if it were a modular set up. I am not using Reason’s Sequencer. I am simply twiddling knobs in a “live” sort of way, and occasionally recording the results as they happen.

Up to now, I have been settling for drones and other semi-constant noise generating. But I thought I should also try some sequencing.
As I also wrote previously, I continue to try to wrap my small mind around the PSQ-1684, so I have been experimenting with the Step Note Recorder, which I also have. The Step under normal operation, works when Reason is playing. I do not wish to use it like this. Many of you will probably consider me silly, but I don’t want to press Reason’s Play button just to get a clock. I just don’t.

Step has a jack for an external clock, but everything I have plugged into it so far results in a degraded experience compared to having it run on Reason’s internal clock.

I “think” there is nothing more to a clock than a square wave. Is that correct? And yet, when I pass a square wave from an LFO into the Clock jack on the back of the Step Note Recorder, it does not sound quite like it does with Reason’s clock. Maybe the Square wave needs to be 100% DC offset …?

[Ahornberg]

You need a DC-coupled audio interface.
Here's a list of interfaces and some additional information: http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/siwacompatibility.html

[jonheal]

By "external" clock, I meant something other than Reason's own internal clock. Another RE, for instance, that outputs a clock-like signal with which I can drive the Step Note Recorder. Does that make sense?

[madmacman]

The reply from Ahornberg leaves me puzzled:

Do you try to

a) create a clock *inside* Reason (e.g. using Pulsar as clock source)

b) create a clock signal by an external square wave fed into your audio interface and passed to the device?

If the answer is b), then Ahornberg is correct - and it requires some additional hardware efforts

Technically spoken: yes, a clock is simply a pulse wave, but ideally unipolar. Unlike Pulsar, the (free) Little LFO offers both, uni- and bipolar output. You can give it a try

EDIT: Ok, now that you clarified it to "a)" - Little LFO seems to be what you are looking for

EDIT2: I tried it with Pulsar & Thor Step Sequencer - it even works with bipolar output

[jonheal]

I tried Pulsar. It "sort of" works, but it sounds off. Plus, you can't vary the pulse width with Pulsar, so the "width" of the notes is not immediately changeable in Step. There is a Width input in Step, and I tried connecting a variable CV source to it while driving the clock with Pulsar, but it still sounded wanky.

I tried the Ammo-100 as a pulse source, too, but its pulse width knob seemed to have no effect.

Ironically, the best results cane from passing a PSQ-1684 gate output to the Step. Varying the width knob on the PSQ-1684 did pretty much duplicate the sound of Step running from Reason's clock. But I still haven't figured out how to do some simple things with the PSQ-1684 by itself, like rests, which are easy in the Step. I don't even know if rests are possible with the 1684. Or ratchets.

EDIT: I will try Little LFO.

[madmacman]

You could turn Thor's oscillators into LFO cv (biploar) by some tricky cabling. Plus: the oscillator allows for pulse width. But I cannot tell if the result provides a more "reliable" clock than Pulsar or whatever you tried so far.

[jonheal]

Plus it feels ridiculous loading up a giant device just to get a little tick-tock.

[madmacman]

Naaah

Thor is the Swiss Army Knife for *any* purposes!

[jonheal]

I will play around some more when I get home form work. Thanks for your help.

[Ahornberg]

I assumed you want to sync to an extern hardware device.
But if you stay completely inside Reason why not use the built in tempo?
All REs should automatically run in sync with the tempo, even if the sequencer is not running.

[jonheal]

I assumed you want to sync to an extern hardware device.
But if you stay completely inside Reason why not use the built in tempo?
All REs should automatically run in sync with the tempo, even if the sequencer is not running.

Step Note Recorder will not run without the Reason Sequencer running or another clock plugged into it. It has no "Run" button. Neither does Euclid or Korde.

[Ahornberg]

I assumed you want to sync to an extern hardware device.
But if you stay completely inside Reason why not use the built in tempo?
All REs should automatically run in sync with the tempo, even if the sequencer is not running.

Step Note Recorder will not run without the Reason Sequencer running or another clock plugged into it. It has no "Run" button. Neither does Euclid or Korde.

Just grab a Matrix and connect the Gate CV out to the Clock In on the Step Note Recorder.
Then hit play on the Matrix. Now the Step Note Recoder runs in sync to the tempo without having the sequencer running.

[jonheal]

I tried the Matrix, too, but something about it wasn't helping what I was trying to do. I can't remember the issues, exactly. I'll give it another whirl when I get home. Thanks.

[Ahornberg]

Here's a combinator containing Matrix and Step Note Recorder:

matrix tempo to stepnoterecorder.zip

(2.31 KiB) Downloaded 67 times

[jonheal]

OK, thanks. I will check this out when I get home.

[jonheal]

Yes, you had the Matrix hooked up to the Step the same way I did, and for the most part, this is fine. Step's velocity, repeat, mode, rest and tie settings are still adjustable. You do lose three things using the Matrix vs. the PSQ-1684 as a clock for the Step :

1. Gate width
2. The ability to run in "free" sequencer mode
3. The options to vary the rhythms (euclidean, etc.), although these settings are quite obtuse in the PSQ-1684

If I could find a way to vary the pulse width coming out of the Matrix, that would make it an even more flexible "clock." It sounds like it is set at 50%, as it is.

Of course, the PSQ-1684 is a complete sequencer unto itself, but setting rests, ties and ratcheting is certainly more straightforward with the Step (and perhaps not possible with the 1684). I am going to experiment with putting the Euclid back in the mix to see if I can get back some of the rhythmic variance I lose by not employing the 1684.

I learned the process that the FM-4 ignores gate velocity, dadgummit!

EDIT: The FM-4 honors gate velocity after all, but Shape does not convey it as such in this instance. Little LFO does.

[jonheal]

New discovery!

I downloaded the trial of Shape, Rob Buse's LFO thingy and I am using it as a pulse generator. One of the most, maybe THE most basic setting, is SQ1, a simple square wave.Shape also has a "self-run" mode like the Matrix. By positioning the Start and End markers at different points relative to the the center of the square wave, you effectively vary the pulse width. So in self-run mode loaded with the SQ1 patch, it effectively behaves like Matrix with variable pulse width!

I plugged the output of the Shape into the clock input of the Euclid, and then I plugged the output of the Euclid into the Clock input of the Step Note Recorder. This configuration makes for quite a wide variety of rhythmic possibilities. For additional variation, I can pass a range of random CV values to the Euclid to vary the density and/or number of steps.

Granted, I think all I have done here is kluge together a sort of jury-rigged, junior PSQ-1684, but it's a jury-rigged, junior PSQ-1684 I can halfway understand!

[jonheal]

For what it's worth, I've determined that Little LFO provides a more reliable clock pulse at narrow pulse widths than Shape.

[AttenuationHz]

For what it's worth, I've determined that Little LFO provides a more reliable clock pulse at narrow pulse widths than Shape.

Little LFO is pretty awesome I've started using it instead Pulsar.