Step sequencer

• MIDI
• Since 0.2.0
• sequencer
• steps
• pattern
• transport
• midi
• rhythm

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Step sequencer plays a pattern of up to 64 steps as MIDI notes, in time with the transport. Each step is a note, a rest or a tie, with its own pitch, velocity and chance of playing. Draw the pattern on the step grid and cable the output into any instrument.

What it does#

The pattern lives in the node's steps data: four numbers per step, up to 64 steps. Offset is the number of notes above Root (−48 to 48), Gate is 0 rest, 1 note or 2 tie, Velocity is 0 to 1, and Probability is the chance, 0 to 1, that a note step plays. A tie holds the note before it through that step instead of starting a new one. A node without steps plays sixteen steps with a note on every fourth. Steps past the drawn ones, up to Length, rest.

Steps are locked to the transport's beat: each one starts on the first sample at or after its position, wherever an audio block happens to begin, so playing live, replaying a take and rendering offline give the same notes on the same samples. Steps sound only while the transport rolls. Stopping the transport, jumping it to another position, or a reset releases the sounding note at once, so nothing is left hanging. Probability and the Random direction draw from a seed made from the node's path, so the same pattern plays the same way on every replay and host.

Notes are MIDI note numbers. The instrument you cable into plays each as a degree of the Toy's tuning, so a pattern follows non-12-TET tunings without a separate quantizer.

The step grid#

The face on the node card, in the inspector and in a Frame face widget shows one column per step. The top row holds gates: click to add or remove a note, Shift-click for a tie, and drag across steps to paint. The middle row holds each step's pitch: drag up or down (Shift is finer). The bottom row holds velocity: draw it with the pointer. A chance note fills its gate cell to its probability.

The grid is one keyboard control with a single Tab stop. Arrow keys move between cells, Home and End jump to the first and last step, Space or Enter toggles a note, T toggles a tie, Delete rests a step, + and − change a pitch by a note or a velocity by 5%, and Page Up and Page Down by an octave or a quarter. Escape during a drag restores the pattern. The change plays while you edit, and each click, drag or held key is one edit, so one Undo reverts it. While the engine runs, a marker above the grid shows the step that is playing.

Clock, reset and outlets#

With the clock input cabled, each rising edge plays the next step at the start of that block instead of following the transport; a note lasts Gate length of the time between the last two edges. A rising edge on reset releases what sounds and makes the next step the first. The step outlet is 1 for one block whenever a step starts, and position reports the step playing as its index divided by Length.

When to use it#

Use it for basslines, melodies and drum patterns that repeat with the transport. For an evenly spread rhythm on one note, Euclidean rhythm is quicker; to play held notes in turn, use Arpeggiator.

Ports#

Parameters#

• steps: floats.

Length (length)#

How many steps the pattern has, 1 to 64. Steps past the drawn ones rest, and the grid shows exactly this many columns.

Division (division)#

The length of one step, from 1/32 to a whole note, with triplet and dotted choices. 1/16 plays four steps per beat.

Swing (swing)#

Delays every second step by a fraction of a step, 0 to 0.75. About 0.33 gives a triplet feel and 0.5 a dotted one. The swung step is shorter and the one before it longer.

Gate length (gate_length)#

How much of its step a note holds, 0.05 to 1. At 1 a note lasts until the next step starts; ties extend it through their steps.

Direction (direction)#

Forward, Backward, Ping-pong (forward then back without repeating the ends) or Random (a seeded random step each time).

Root (root)#

The MIDI note a step with offset 0 plays, 0 to 127. 60 is middle C in 12-TET.

Transpose (transpose)#

Notes added to every step, −48 to 48. Turn it to move the whole pattern.

Channel (channel)#

The MIDI channel the notes are sent on, 1 to 16.

Velocity scale (velocity_scale)#

Multiplies every step's velocity, 0 to 2. Velocities are kept between 1 and 127.

Tips#

• Draw a few notes with ties for a legato bassline; ties sound as one long note on any instrument.
• A probability below 1 on a few steps keeps a pattern moving without changing it on every replay.
• Cable Clock's bar lane (through Select lanes) into reset to restart a 12-step pattern every bar.

See also#

Euclidean rhythm, Arpeggiator, Clock, Polyphonic instrument, MIDI.

Help patches

Each help patch is an ordinary Toy that teaches one idea. The diagram shows the Patch; the preview shows its Frame. Open it in TuneToys to play and edit it.

1. Your first step pattern

beginner Teaches: length, root, transpose

A sixteen-step melody locked to the transport plays a voice; draw notes, ties and pitches on the step grid.

Connections as text

• Step sequencer midi output connected to Polyphonic instrument midi input
• Polyphonic instrument audio output connected to Patch outputs audio input

• Press play: steps follow the transport's beat, so every replay and every render plays the same notes.
• Top row: click a gate to add or remove a note, Shift-click for a tie. Middle row: drag a pitch. Bottom row: draw velocity.
• Pitch is notes above Root; the voice plays each as a degree of the Toy's tuning.

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2. Swing, gate and direction

intermediate Teaches: division, swing, gate_length, direction, velocity_scale

The same pattern with its feel opened up: step length, swing, how long each note holds, the playing order and overall velocity.

Connections as text

• Step sequencer midi output connected to Polyphonic instrument midi input
• Polyphonic instrument audio output connected to Patch outputs audio input

• Swing delays every second step; Gate is how much of its step a note holds.
• Random picks steps from a seed of the node's path: the same "random" order on every replay.
• A tie in the top row holds the note before it through that step.

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Related nodes

• Euclidean rhythm Spread pulses as evenly as possible over a cycle of steps, locked to the transport, and play each as a note, with rotation, swing and accent.
• Arpeggiator Play held notes one at a time, locked to the transport: up, down, up-down, down-up, random, as played or as chords, over 1–4 octaves, with latch.
• Clock Bar, beat, eighth, sixteenth and triplet pulses plus the phase within the beat on six lanes, locked to the transport or at its own tempo.
• Polyphonic instrument Eight owned, velocity-sensitive oscillator voices with ADSR, sustain and MPE, played from a MIDI cable in the Toy's tuning.