RB Sequences Player RE - quick tip for long chord progressions

Have an urge to learn, or a calling to teach? Want to share some useful Youtube videos? Do it here!
Post Reply
User avatar
artotaku
Posts: 652
Joined: 09 May 2015
Location: Munich, Germany
Contact:

23 May 2021

Nice little tip if you want to cram a long chord progression (e. g. 16 bars) into one single Sequences pattern by using trigger conditions and octave tranpositions to avoid layering notes so you can see them all at once (much less confusing).

Let´s say we have a chord progression spanning 16 bars in 3/4 time signature and one chord should be one bar long.
Even when setting the Sequences´ rate to 1/4 it won´t fit, there are just not enough steps to have them in one sequence.
So let´s split it up into two 8 bar sequences.
  1. Add the chord notes of the first 8 bars
  2. Add the chord notes of the second 8 bars but two octaves higher
  3. Select all notes and set the trigger condition of all chord notes to "Play every A:B" where the first 8 bar chord notes are set to 1:2 while the the chords two octaves higher are set to 2:1 so they are played mutually exclusive.
  4. Now comes the trick: Select tab "Octave" and transpose all the notes from the second 8 bars down by two octaves so they are in the same octave as the first 8 bar chord notes when played.

Example:

electricthing
Posts: 68
Joined: 08 May 2018

23 May 2021

Nice, will give it a try. Thanks.
Recently bought it but I feel I hardly found all that it can do.

User avatar
mjxl
Posts: 600
Joined: 23 Nov 2018

24 May 2021

Very cool , thanks!

User avatar
deeplink
Competition Winner
Posts: 1073
Joined: 08 Jul 2020
Location: Dubai / Cape Town
Contact:

24 May 2021

Interesting way to get both bars on one screen. Awesome
Get more Combinators at the deeplink website

olive6741
Posts: 294
Joined: 11 May 2016

26 May 2021

Nice tip! Will try it. Thanks!

User avatar
Carly(Poohbear)
Competition Winner
Posts: 2871
Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: UK

26 May 2021

FYI: You can get 256 steps per pattern, using all patterns that is 2048 steps....

User avatar
artotaku
Posts: 652
Joined: 09 May 2015
Location: Munich, Germany
Contact:

26 May 2021

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
26 May 2021
FYI: You can get 256 steps per pattern, using all patterns that is 2048 steps....
Do you mean by using ratchet repeats and pitch? True, this gives you 256 steps per pattern. That might be another interesting way of doing it but I think it might be bit too cumbersome to edit for a chord progression where each chord is different. But on more repetitive notes or chords ratchet is the way to go though.

User avatar
challism
Moderator
Posts: 4642
Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: Fanboy Shill, Boomertown

26 May 2021

artotaku wrote:
23 May 2021
Nice little tip if you want to cram a long chord progression (e. g. 16 bars) into one single Sequences pattern by using trigger conditions and octave tranpositions to avoid layering notes so you can see them all at once (much less confusing).

Let´s say we have a chord progression spanning 16 bars in 3/4 time signature and one chord should be one bar long.
Even when setting the Sequences´ rate to 1/4 it won´t fit, there are just not enough steps to have them in one sequence.
So let´s split it up into two 8 bar sequences.
  1. Add the chord notes of the first 8 bars
  2. Add the chord notes of the second 8 bars but two octaves higher
  3. Select all notes and set the trigger condition of all chord notes to "Play every A:B" where the first 8 bar chord notes are set to 1:2 while the the chords two octaves higher are set to 2:1 so they are played mutually exclusive.
  4. Now comes the trick: Select tab "Octave" and transpose all the notes from the second 8 bars down by two octaves so they are in the same octave as the first 8 bar chord notes when played.

Example:
This is a good trick.

I do something similar to get two (or more) patterns out of one pattern page. Before the conditions were added, you had to switch to another pattern page to get any kind of variation. Now you can just put conditions on the notes and it can be like playing a entirely new pattern. You can also stack notes on top of each other (or use the octave transpose), with different conditions on each note. You can use the A:B to either skip or play on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th loop. There so many possibilities to be had from just one pattern page now. That's where Carly was getting the 2048 number from. 256 x 8. But I think the number of possible variations goes much higher than that number, since you can stack notes, transpose octaves, use other conditions, ratchets, velocities, etc. SO many possible variations. I'm not a math genius, but Robotic Bean probably are.

Conditions catapulted Sequences into the stratosphere.
Players are to MIDI what synthesizers are to waveforms.

ReasonTalk Rules and Guidelines

User avatar
Carly(Poohbear)
Competition Winner
Posts: 2871
Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: UK

26 May 2021

challism wrote:
26 May 2021
artotaku wrote:
23 May 2021
Nice little tip if you want to cram a long chord progression (e. g. 16 bars) into one single Sequences pattern by using trigger conditions and octave tranpositions to avoid layering notes so you can see them all at once (much less confusing).

Let´s say we have a chord progression spanning 16 bars in 3/4 time signature and one chord should be one bar long.
Even when setting the Sequences´ rate to 1/4 it won´t fit, there are just not enough steps to have them in one sequence.
So let´s split it up into two 8 bar sequences.
  1. Add the chord notes of the first 8 bars
  2. Add the chord notes of the second 8 bars but two octaves higher
  3. Select all notes and set the trigger condition of all chord notes to "Play every A:B" where the first 8 bar chord notes are set to 1:2 while the the chords two octaves higher are set to 2:1 so they are played mutually exclusive.
  4. Now comes the trick: Select tab "Octave" and transpose all the notes from the second 8 bars down by two octaves so they are in the same octave as the first 8 bar chord notes when played.

Example:
This is a good trick.

I do something similar to get two (or more) patterns out of one pattern page. Before the conditions were added, you had to switch to another pattern page to get any kind of variation. Now you can just put conditions on the notes and it can be like playing a entirely new pattern. You can also stack notes on top of each other (or use the octave transpose), with different conditions on each note. You can use the A:B to either skip or play on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th loop. There so many possibilities to be had from just one pattern page now. That's where Carly was getting the 2048 number from. 256 x 8. But I think the number of possible variations goes much higher than that number, since you can stack notes, transpose octaves, use other conditions, ratchets, velocities, etc. SO many possible variations. I'm not a math genius, but Robotic Bean probably are.

Conditions catapulted Sequences into the stratosphere.
This ^^^ by using the conditions, remember you can't stack conditions per note, yes you can stack notes with conditions which is a work around..
It would be nice to have an A:B where you could select what was the A:B e.g. A plays on 1,2,5 B(off) 3,4,6 < again you can do that with stacking notes with conditions but it's a pain..

FYI add a note and your conditions, hold ALT and click the note (it adds a new note on top) and change the condition, hold ALT and repeat, you now don't have to move any notes as they are in the right place with the right condition :)

User avatar
artotaku
Posts: 652
Joined: 09 May 2015
Location: Munich, Germany
Contact:

27 May 2021

challism wrote:
26 May 2021
artotaku wrote:
23 May 2021
Nice little tip if you want to cram a long chord progression (e. g. 16 bars) into one single Sequences pattern by using trigger conditions and octave tranpositions to avoid layering notes so you can see them all at once (much less confusing).

Let´s say we have a chord progression spanning 16 bars in 3/4 time signature and one chord should be one bar long.
Even when setting the Sequences´ rate to 1/4 it won´t fit, there are just not enough steps to have them in one sequence.
So let´s split it up into two 8 bar sequences.
  1. Add the chord notes of the first 8 bars
  2. Add the chord notes of the second 8 bars but two octaves higher
  3. Select all notes and set the trigger condition of all chord notes to "Play every A:B" where the first 8 bar chord notes are set to 1:2 while the the chords two octaves higher are set to 2:1 so they are played mutually exclusive.
  4. Now comes the trick: Select tab "Octave" and transpose all the notes from the second 8 bars down by two octaves so they are in the same octave as the first 8 bar chord notes when played.

Example:
This is a good trick.

I do something similar to get two (or more) patterns out of one pattern page. Before the conditions were added, you had to switch to another pattern page to get any kind of variation. Now you can just put conditions on the notes and it can be like playing a entirely new pattern. You can also stack notes on top of each other (or use the octave transpose), with different conditions on each note. You can use the A:B to either skip or play on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th loop. There so many possibilities to be had from just one pattern page now. That's where Carly was getting the 2048 number from. 256 x 8. But I think the number of possible variations goes much higher than that number, since you can stack notes, transpose octaves, use other conditions, ratchets, velocities, etc. SO many possible variations. I'm not a math genius, but Robotic Bean probably are.

Conditions catapulted Sequences into the stratosphere.
Yes, trigger conditions opened up a whole world of possibilities within one pattern. It was a really great additon to the player. The only downside with e. g. stacked notes with different trigger conditions is that you don´t immediately see what note has what and makes it a bit cumbersome to edit. Or even if the notes are not stacked but are just nearby in the same octave it is confusing and error prone if you want to multi-select and edit just the second 8 bars. The octave trick seperates them visually while still making use of the A:B trigger condition.

User avatar
challism
Moderator
Posts: 4642
Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: Fanboy Shill, Boomertown

27 May 2021

My biggest (an pretty much only) complaint is I wish the clickable targets were bigger on Sequences. Anybody else feel this way? I'm always missing the targets when I click; it's so aggravating.

I also hope they add some different step options in a future update (reverse, pendulum, etc).
Players are to MIDI what synthesizers are to waveforms.

ReasonTalk Rules and Guidelines

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests