bassline sequencer

Figure 3 summary

• sequencer using select
• note value in message boxes
• notes outlet

Sequencing the synthesiser

The output of the counter in the timebase abstraction will advance forever. It is received in this patch via [inlet time], which wil be connected to the timebase in the outer patch. Let's divide time into bars and measures and beats using a modulo operator. The output of [mod n] is bounded within 0 to n-1, n modulo n is zero, so we can get a bar counter by pushing the output from our counter through [mod 16]. This message stream will now count ${0, 1, 2 ... 15}$ in total sixteen steps.

Picking specific notes

[select a b c] will output a bang on one of three outputs corresponding to a, b and c if that value that matches the input message. Any ordering of values is allowed, but you will have to remember more carefully if you make a non-obvious sequence of values to match. Because the counter is cycling up over 16 steps we can use something like [select 4 12] to place a couple of beats in the 4 and 12 positions of a 16 beat bar. If we say [select 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14] we will get eight beats on the offbeat, each activating a different bang output. That's pretty useful, so all we have to do to create a short melody is combine select with some messages. The value in the select box represents the timing pattern, the message boxes contain notes. The notes get out of the patch through [outlet notes] from where they will be connected to the synth.

Figure 3: bassline-seq

C-bassline-seq.pd