N-Step Period parameter

[huggermugger]

Is the Period limited to a 16-step maximum? I tried connecting three Aux modules to see if N-Step would sense more, but the maximum Period didn't change.

[ColinP]

Is the Period limited to a 16-step maximum?

Yes the maximum period for the RAMP and TRIANGLE operations is 16 steps. Likewise for the period parameters of the EUCLIDEAN, BINARY and AB PATTERN gate operations.

There are various limitations to the operations. This particular design choice was based on thinking that a uniform arpeggio of more than 16 notes would not be particularly interesting musically and there being altenative approaches for generating something simple like a long run.

When designing stuff I try to arrive at sensible trade-offs but I could take another look at this if you really want to do such things routinely. What upper limit do you have in mind?

To do this kind of thing with the existing software there are workarounds (apart from of course doing things manually). The N-Step Aux SOLO and LOCK buttons enable you to limit which Aux modules respond to an operation so you can break things down into stages. For instance in a 32 step sequence if you wanted a 32 note rising arpeggio on one channel you could first create a repeating 16 note run with a RAMP operation then lock the first and second Aux modules and adjust the LIMIT 1 and LIMIT 2 values to generate the second 16 note run as shown on the red channel below...

32-note-run.png (532.63 KiB) Viewed 8588 times

[huggermugger]

I can't say I would need a longer Period often enough to justify mucking with the code. The workarounds would in themselves provide plenty of fiddly fun. But I will say that N-Step is one very interesting, very flexible sequencer. The added benefit of your Chord modules and the Quantize input is brilliant. Sold!

[ColinP]

I can't say I would need a longer Period often enough to justify mucking with the code.

That's good to hear as I really do need to concentrate on my current project rather than going back to mod previous work.

One tip for when you use SOLO or LOCK to mask parts of a sequence for operations is to disengage the channel's AUTO button when you are finished with a particular edit. Then when you unlock or unsolo the Aux modules to work on other channels an accidental adjustment of one of the old channel's parameter knobs won't wipe out your carefully constructed work (undo in N-Step works on most things but is not fully comprehensive).

Another tip is to have one or two DISCONNECTED Aux modules laying around just to use as clipboards. Because they aren't connected they aren't affected by operation execution but their COPY and PASTE functions still work. So you can make "safe" copies of things and then resuse them later.

[huggermugger]

[
Another tip is to have one or two DISCONNECTED Aux modules laying around just to use as clipboards. Because they aren't connected they aren't affected by operation execution but their COPY and PASTE functions still work. So you can make "safe" copies of things and then resuse them later.

Clever. I could store a few variants (e.g. a 32-step Triangle) in a Cabinet for future use.