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iPad Analog Midi Sequencer v1.11

AMS Software is proud to present its first iPad app: midiSequencer. A Midi Step

Sequencer for your Apple iPad with analog style slider controls and special features

aimed at interaction, performance and special effects.

Note : This manual describes the full version of midiSequencer – the lite version is

limited in many of the functions you have from the full version.

Note :Midi FX, Chord & Added notes are available only as IAPs in the full version,

and Audiobus is not available in the Lite version.

The Midi FX manual can be found here

http:\\amssoftware.org\manuals\midiFx_manual.pdf

Tony Saunders

AMS Software © 2014.

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Fig 1. If midiSequencer was hardware!

Contents

iPad Analog Midi Sequencer v1.11 ............................................................................... 1

Contents ................................................................................................................... 2

Terminology ............................................................................................................. 4

What’s new in v1.11 .................................................................................................. 7

Here is what was new in v1.10 .................................................................................. 8

Overview .................................................................................................................. 9

MidiSequencer Schematic ....................................................................................... 11

Quick Start ............................................................................................................. 14

Example setups ....................................................................................................... 15

How to play an iPad Synth: ................................................................................. 15

How to play an external hardware synth or DAW: ............................................ 16

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The Cycle Reset ....................................................................................................... 17

The Sequencer Steps ............................................................................................... 17

What is Time? ........................................................................................................ 18

Fader Section ......................................................................................................... 21

Show Buttons ......................................................................................................... 25

Controls Section – Limit/Link/Draw/Random ..................................................... 25

Tempo Section ....................................................................................................... 29

Transpose Section .................................................................................................. 32

The Transport Controls .......................................................................................... 33

The Logic Controls ................................................................................................. 34

Show Buttons ......................................................................................................... 35

Invert Key ............................................................................................................... 35

Record button ....................................................................................................... 37

Reset button ........................................................................................................... 37

Midi section ............................................................................................................ 38

Skip (or Step Option) Button ................................................................................. 40

Previous/Next step: ............................................................................................ 41

Use these buttons to cycle through the 16 steps whilst keeping the panel open. 41

Muting: ............................................................................................................... 41

Play Logic: .......................................................................................................... 41

Cycle Resets: ....................................................................................................... 42

Ornamentation ....................................................................................................... 43

Options Panel ......................................................................................................... 46

WIST ................................................................................................................... 47

Tempo Master/Slave .......................................................................................... 47

Midi Clock .......................................................................................................... 47

Midi Clock Rotary ............................................................................................... 48

You would want to send midi clock messages to Output Latency ...................... 48

Record Options Note/Vel/Gate/Ch/CC/CC32 ................................................... 48

Record Midi Ch................................................................................................... 49

Playback Options ................................................................................................ 49

Swing Odd/Even ................................................................................................ 50

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Scale after Transpose.......................................................................................... 50

KeyScale/Launch/Step & Note Time Buttons......................................................... 51

Key Scale Panel ...................................................................................................... 52

Settings................................................................................................................... 55

Performance Panel ................................................................................................. 58

Inputs & Outputs on the Devices Panel ................................................................. 60

MidiSequencer Inputs ............................................................................................ 60

MidiSequencer Outputs ......................................................................................... 62

Files & Current Bank .............................................................................................. 64

Files Panel .......................................................................................................... 66

Snapshots Panel ................................................................................................. 69

Controller Panel ..................................................................................................... 72

Pick Controller Panel ............................................................................................. 76

Recording CC’s ................................................................................................... 78

Using MidiThru to play Fx ......................................................................................... 79

Using MidiSequencer with Audiobus ........................................................................ 79

Chords & Added Notes .............................................................................................. 83

Midi Learn – Autimating MS ..................................................................................... 88

Midi Continuous Controllers ..................................................................................... 90

Common Issues & Useful info ................................................................................... 92

Support ...................................................................................................................... 95

Terminology Every app has its own terminology!

MS – shorthand for MidiSequencer in this document.

Audiobus (or AB)– is an audio host app that can host MS as an input (even

though MS has no audible audio). It’s primary use it to be saved in AB presets

and to be able to control MS from other apps loaded into AB (mini controls).

Background mode. Needed to allow apps to work while minimized and in the

background. Audio apps (incl MS) need to have this enabled to work.

Banks – named group of 40 snapshots that can be saved to the Documents

folder of the app (as a file). The Bank Panel (accessible via the Files button)

will manage these (new, delete, rename, share).

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Chords – are really just extra notes played with the step note. The can be

musically inverted, cleared and individually tweaked. A Chord Panel exists to

enter these by touching a keyboard or selecting preset buttons.

Controller – Is a midi control message. A sequence has reference to up to 16

controllers. These can be CC, NRPN,RPN,Program Change,

Aftertouch(mono/poly), Pitchbend or Sysex(or any bytes you want). Some

controls have 2 byte data, so use A or B to select these.

CoreMidi – Is Apple IOS name for midi messaging. To route message, it

maintains a list of all active sources and destinations. Any app would read

input from a source(e.g. to allow a midi note on to play a sound), and write

midi (e.g. notes to play another app sound) to destinations. Midi messages are

all about control and emulate many of the things you would do on a keyboard

say (press a note, release a note, tweak a control, play a clock at a certain

tempo, dump a bank, etc)

Cycle – step sequencers play one step after another. When they reach the end

they need to reset, this represents a cycle. MS is unique in that virtually all

actions (e.g. change a step note value) can be delayed until this cycle resets.

This enables you to queue up changes that are applied for the next cycle.

Devices – CoreMidi endpoints (e.g. USM Port 1). This includes real (hardware

ports) and virtual ones (apps can create named ports). MS will present each

endpoint in the Devices Panel to allow you to enable it for input or output.

Drawing – a quick way to set the 16 analog sliders is by drawing across the

screen, otherwise you would need to either double tap or touch the control to

move. MS supports drawing for many functions (e.g. notes or %probability).

Enharmonic naming – in music notes can be spelt up to 4 ways (e.g. G,Fx,Abb

or Eb/D# are the same notes). MS will use your picked Key scale to label notes

using enharmonic spellings.

Fx – MS includes 9 different types of midi effects. Many of these transform the

note pitch, velocity or channel of the step note –e.g. Ostinato creates an

additional note to follow the step note, Filter mutes notes in certain ranges.

Each sequence can define up to 8 fx slots to play (and the order they apply).

Each step can additionally disable an effect slot.

Fx can be saved per snapshot.

Humanise – used to create per step variations on pitch & velocity. MS allows

extreme ranges for these (+/- 127). You can set the %chance this will be

applied and the range of the effect.

Invert – will reflect midi notes around a note you pick as the invert. Notes

higher will reflect to be lower, and higher reflect lower.

Key – Music scales are represented in MS and are used to conform the controls

& often the transforms (e.g. transpose, fx) to keep to the musical scales. E.g.

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D# would be changed to C in C Major. It is possible to bypass this scaling for

individual steps or on transforms.

Linked controls – enable you to move all 16 step controls together. For music

scales, this could alter the relative intervals, so an option exists to keep the

intervals intact. This is independent per control type (e.g. notes & vel).

MASTER mode –MS will use its own internal clock and can transmit clock

start/stop/continue & timing messages over midi.

Midi Clock – MS can send and receive MTC (midi time clock) signals. These

are used by other applications that run as a SLAVE in that they will attempt to

match the tempo. In MS, this is optional and you can select which outputs to

send it to. When MS is in SLAVE mode, only one device can be the clock

source.

Mute – steps can be muted from playing – but in a step sequencer they

maintain the rhythm (by playing silence). No midi is sent for a muted step.

OMAC – Open Music App Collaboration refers to the ability of registered apps

to launch other registered apps.

Options – refers to the settings available in the Options Panel (see Options

button at top of screen)

Ornamentation – these are musical embellishments to a step note. They break

the step note into two or more notes (e.g. acciaccatura plays a fast note a tone

higher than the step, before playing the step note for the remainder of the

time).

Pick CC Panel – a panel that shows you the step values of the CC picked. This

panel shows (in text) what sort of CC it is. It is split into A & B for those

controls that require two bytes of data (e.g. pitchwheel).

Play Logic can be picked for Forward, Reverse, Bounce & Random and steps

can also individually be set to jump (to a numbered step or the start of the

sequence) or repeat before continuing, or stop.

Probability – Each step can now have a %chance to play. 100% means always,

0% means muted, so any value between will vary when the step is played.

A FX % probability also exists which applies to all notes.

Recording – MS can record incoming midi notes (note, velocity, channel) from

the input to set the steps. If it is playing, then this will just transpose the

current sequence. Midi Thru needs to be off.

Repeated notes – an ornament that repeats a step up to 8 times.

Ratchet – is a way of breaking one note into smaller notes of the same pitch. It

is used for rhythm variations.

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Settings – IOS has a Settings app. Many apps have application type settings

stored here as defaults. MS has some too (e.g. to enable one tap load). Note:

These must be set before running MS app.

Sequence – the set of 16 steps (chords, note, vel, channel, gate%, 16x2xCC

data, %probability,%humanise (%chance, note & vel) and the transport

controls (tempo, transpose, invert etc) plus key Scale. Also included are the 16

CC’s (e.g. sysex data) and the 8 possible Fx.

All of this is stored in a snapshot (in a slot) which makes up a bank (40

snapshots) which can be stored/read as a named file.

Skip Button – refers to the round rubber type button of a step – it is used on a

step to set play logic, ornamentation, force chromatic and access chords & fx.

SLAVE mode – where MS starting/stopping & tempo are controlled by

external midi. MS will interpret the incoming midi clock to determine the

bpm.

Snapshots – A snapshot is a complete sequence saved as a numbered slot (1 to

40). It can also include controls (e.g. Tempo).

Step – one of 16, a step consists of midi (note, pitch, velocity, channel,

16x2xCC Data), additional notes (e.g. chords) and status (e.g. muted,

chromatic), together with Fx slot disables.

StepTime/NoteTime. Time in MS is normally measured in fixed ‘step’ intervals

(=tempo/4 seconds – as there are always 4 steps to a beat). Steps can play

shorter or longer than this time(gate%). MS can however work in note

duration time (NoteTime) which means a step plays for the duration of the

note – for legato type effect.

Swing – this effect is to delay even notes during play, giving the rhythm a

dotted note feel. MS allows this to be set per step and the % (of the step time)

to apply. An option exists to apply this to odd steps (1,3,5, etc) – so all steps.

Transpose – allows the sequence pitch to be adjusted in semitones (+/-36). A

pop up panel exists for you to easily pick during play.

Virtual Midi – These are sources & destinations created by apps – they are

typically named like the app (e.g. MidiSequencer or Sunrizer).

What’s new in v1.11

This was a bug & performance update with just a few updates. Change list:

Ability to auto-load last bank & snapshot

Additional clock sync tempos (8/1,16/1 & 32/1) – so slower echoes.

You can now clock divide the output midi clock (slower or faster) than main

tempo.

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Performance & Audio enhancements using IAA hosts (Audioshare, Audiobus

etc)

Linked controls now per type (e.g. Notes, Vel have their own setting)

New Lock control – to avoid unwanted changes – but can still audition

Here is what was new in v1.10

Thanks to everyone reporting issues and requesting enhancements. Your continued support benefits everyone using this sequencer. Change list:

New Midi Fx – Ostinato – plays a shadow note with the step note

Per step disable of Fx by slot.

%Probability, Humanise (%chance, note & velocity ranges), Swing

Filter output & input notes, CC’s Fx.

Input FX – play midi into MS to apply a dummy step to Fx sent to all outputs

Cycle reset option on numbered jumps

Option for linked notes to keep relative note intervals (rather than conform to

scale)

Tempo now shown to 2dp for clock divisions (1/2, 1/3, ¼).

Performance & Audio enhancements (Audiobus)

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Overview

This MidiSequencer iPad app is a 16 step sequencer with

analog style sliders and a very special button called Cycle for

delaying changes. It is equipped with step or note duration

timing and special step (or midi effects) such as

ornamentation and echoes.

MS is an app that generates midi notes for you to trigger audio apps connected as outputs. It can also take some of its note generation from audio apps connected to the input (e.g to transpose its own generated sequence). As well as midi notes, controllers & data can be generated by MS.

MS is squarely aimed at noodling rather than song composition. So it

encourages you to create a sequence of notes and alter them whilst they are playing to achieve a much more interactive experience than a formal song. As such, as many functions as possible are only one or two taps away, and the cycle ability means you have time to make many changes before being applied altogether as the sequence starts again.

Flexible routing allows network sessions and midi devices to be sources of midi

input to the sequencer. Additionally, the sequencer can be setup as a virtual source or destination to allow dedicated midi messaging externally to & from other apps. With extremely high & low playback clock speeds (.25 to 1020+ BPM) it can accomplish special effects on your synth apps or external midi equipment not even available on hardware sequencers. As a SLAVE, it can utilise incoming midi clock to synchronise to your DAW or hardware synthesizer, as a MASTER it can be used to start/stop external slave devices.

With the ability for each step to decide which step follows, the sequencer is capable of playing sub-sequences outside of the normal forward/reverse patterns. For example, you can jump to any other step after playing one step and thereby allow the sequencer to follow complex note patterns longer than the 16 steps.

Up to 16 midi controllers can be defined for the sequence. Each of these 16 CC’s can then have step data assigned (one or two byte) to accompany playback of midi note etc. Controllers can be defined as continuous (0..127 – e.g. 1 is the mod wheel), parameter (NRPN or RPN), Program change, Aftertouch, Pitchbend or Sysex(which can send any data bytes you want).

Recording midi data as steps is also possible and can recognise midi note, velocity, channel, and any controller values. Recording for each of these parameters can be selectively disabled in the Options. Additionally, you can select to record from only one midi channel, allowing you to use one midi source (e.g. a keyboard) to record from. Filters also exist to exclude notes or CC’s.

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Playback can also be restricted to midi CC’s to enable you to play the notes on

a keyboard and have MS control the synth by midi CC. Snapshots allow the current sequencer (with or without the transport controls) to be stored in up to 40 slots. They can be loaded or saved even when the sequencer is playing. In Cycle mode, this loading will occur at the cycle reset, allowing for creative changes during play. These 40 snapshots make up the current bank, which can now be saved as a named bank file to the documents folder of the ipad and shared via itunes/iFunBox etc. You can now draw the controls by swiping across the screen or even double tapping. Note values can be forced to a key scale, with options to ignore this. Midi Fx (available as an IAP) allow you to transform step notes, velocity or midi channel information using randomizing. For example, you could filter out note ranges, or play echoes, or add additional notes to a sequence. Define an fx rack with 8 slots and allow each step to choose which ones apply!

Stuck for a sequence idea? Use Humanise for subtle variations, or %probability for rhythm changes. Notes a little plain? Add note ornamentations: mordents, appoggiatura, triplet or even a ratcheting style. With chord steps, ornaments decorate the step note. Step notes can now be repeated x8 times before continuing with the next step. MS is primarily a performance midi tool providing quick access to tempo, transposition, music scales, muting steps, ornaments, fx, CCs, chords and play logic together with the ability to load snapshots with the touch of a button or by automation. The addition of chords made up of any note/velocity value mean complex midi setups can be accomplished using channel or velocity switching. Adding midi fx echo, which will make your sequence sound like multiple sequences!

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MidiSequencer Schematic MidiSequencer contains a lot of functionality, so the following diagram should

help you understand the basic data flow in MS. I will describe each section as

follows:

CoreMidi Source

On an ipad (i.e. IOS), midi message are transmitted to all apps by the

coreAudio framework. This framework allows any app to inspect a list of valid

sources – which mean inputs to MS.

Midi can come from apps running on the ipad (e.g. Animoog, Nave etc), MS’s

own virtual port (called MidiSequencer) or real hardware devices (like a

hardware synth midi’d to a USB midi interface connected through CCK).

Sources in one app are destinations in another.

MS presents these to the user in a list, and you can individually turn them off,

or filter certain messages. Note that this list is for each individual port on the

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device (so you may get several of a similar name if the source device has more

than one port). These are called endpoints in coreMidi terminology.

Midi Input

Sources (as a list of named device endpoints) provide your inputs. Normally

you would turn these off, but you can drive MS from midi from other apps. MS

allows each input to enable clock, midi note/on & CC messages, although one

can be defined for the clock.

To make best use of inputs you would put MS in record mode.

CC32 is special in that it automates the loading of a snapshot (a complete

sequence).

CC’s can be recorded into MS, but as it is a step sequencer it will only use the

value last set on a step.

Note On messages can set the step note, velocity & channel.

To use an input clock, MS would need to setup as a SLAVE (so it waits on clock

start/stop & tick messages & calculates BPM accordingly).

Another use for input is midi learn – where the main controls (e.g. tempo) can

wait for the next CC value to set this control up to be automated. Any

subsequent input of this CC will automate the control.

Midi Thru

MS has the ability, per input device, to send note on/off & CC’s directly to the

currently active output devices (which may have notes or CC’s individually

disabled). In this way Midi Thru acts as a one to many pass-through.

Another use for MidiThru is fx, where any note on will play a dummy step

(including any setup fx & CC’s) to the output. You could say connected a real

keyboard up as source and have it play the fx in realtime. The note off is sent

thru normally.

Internal Clock

MS has it’s own internal clock, which is driven by the tempo. This clock can be

overridden (when MS is in SLAVE mode) to run from midi input clock source

(24 clocks per beat, 6 per step), and listen to stop/start/continue.

When MS is set to MASTER, it can send its own midi clock messages , and

start/continue/stop to any selected output device. You can now divide this

output clock (faster or slower using tempo sync) in Options panel.

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Files

MS stores everything in the /Documents folder of the ipad app. The main file

is a .bank file and contains the complete set of up to 40 snapshots, where a

snapshot is a complete sequence (16 steps, fx, CC’s, tempo, etc).

With a bank containing 40 complete snapshots, the bank is first loaded into

memory – from which the user can pick one of the 40 to load into the

sequence. Saving works in reverse, save your sequence to one of the 40

snapshot slots, and save the complete set of up to 40 snapshots as a named

bank file.

Sequencer

Central to MS is the screen with 16 sliders setup as 4 beats (4 steps to a beat).

This represents up to 16 steps, each of which can be controlled independently

(e.g. using swipe gestures to draw the values).

A sequence also contains controls for tempo, transposition, key scale, play

logic, controller messages (up to 16 CC’s) and midi Fx (9 fx types in up to 8

slots).

Key scale can be used to conform step notes to a musical scale (e.g. Cminor),

and will display enharmonic notes (e.g. Bbb rather than A).

A step is more than just the note pitch, it contains velocity(loudness), length

(up to 4 steps), midi channel, %probability of playing, %swing (delay),

Humanising factors (%chance of applying a note &/or velocity variation),

along with other things like mute, ornamentation, play-logic, latching,

chromatic note, chords and added notes, fx slot disables.

CC

CC are available as an IAP. They are designed to give you control over the midi

controller messages sent with steps. These include continuous controllers (like

mod wheel), program changes, aftertouch, NRPN & RPN messages used on

many hardware synths, and sysex (which can actually be any data you want).

CC’s, like notes, can be filtered individually from each input & output device –

e.g. to enable you to send just CC’s to a device and play keyboard to provide the

notes.

Midi Fx

Midi fx are available as an IAP. They operate on step data and are designed to

transform steps before and after being sent to the output devices. These can

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transform pitch, velocity or midi channel before the note is sent to the outputs.

It can even disable the note from being sent (fx filter). Some fx (echo &

ostinato) also send additional transformed notes (as post fx).

As mentioned earlier, you can use midi fx on dummy notes if using midi thru

fx, or you could send fx to one device and notes to another.

Per Device output & CoreMidi Destinations

Like inputs, MS allows you to select which output devices to send

step/CC/Fx/Clock data to. You can also add additional latency to delay the

output per device.

Normally, you only need to activate MidiSequencer as an output, but you can

select individual destinations here if you want. Note: some apps don’t respond

to their own named ports!

If your output device is a USB midi interface, you can send midi to hardware

synths.

Quick Start

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Fig 2. Main Screen sections

The sequencer is laid out in 4 horizontal sections:

Title : open panels such as file loading/saving, options, MidiLearn, Key Scale, Time

& Exit

Sliders : 16 step sliders here allow analog style control over note, velocity, gate,

channel, and midi controllers 1-4. Buttons exist for skip logic and muting per step.

Tempo, Control & Transpose: Controls for tempo, transpose and

drawing/limiting.

Transport: Controls for playing, loop logic (e.g. cycle), Slider display & Midi.

MidiSequencer was primarily designed to work with hardware synths (via CCK or

other external usb midi devices), but it is also capable of running synths on the ipad

using coreMidi.

Example setups

How to play an iPad Synth:

There are two ways to play iPad synths 1) Using MS Virtual midi and 2) Using the

synth’s own VM(a similarly named device, e.g. Sunrizer).

MS can send both ways, but only one is needed, so there is no need to have all device

outputs enabled if you don’t need them.

Note: some apps don’t accept midi in their own VM ports (e.g. Animoog) so option 1

using MS VM, is generally preferred and should be tried first.

Method 1 – Using MS Virtual Midi

Runup the app & ensure it has background mode enabled.

Runup MS and open the Devices Panel making sure you pick Output (rather

than Input). Note: you could runup the app after MS, but would need to

Refresh the list to see it.

By default MS virtual midi (called simply MidiSequencer) is active by default,

if not select MidiSequencer in the list and touch the Active button to make sure

it is lit. If other app synths have entries in the list, you can deactivate them.

Close the Devices panel

Make sure the large Midi Mute button (bottom right) is lit (yellow with text

Midi Send).

Press Play (large triangular button – bottom left).

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You should now see the steps being selected and the led’s being lit. You should

also hear the audio from the app synth (if not, make sure the app has

background audio on!).

Move the sliders and note the changes in notes being produced by the synth

app.

Press Play button (shown as a large square) again to stop the sequence.

The sliders you moved represent semitones with C3 being middle C on a

keyboard. You can select one of the small blue buttons at the bottom to display

velocity (loudness), channel (midi channel) gate %(duration of the note –

default is 80%, but 400% means sustain for 4 step lengths) and the CC1-16

(which need to be activated in the CC Panel). Other options exist for

%probability, humanize etc.

Whilst playing, move the tempo slider to alter the speed of the play (there are 4

steps per beat meaning at 60BPM steps are played once every .25 seconds).

Method 2 – Using Synth App Virtual Midi

As Method 1, but select the app by name in the output list and make that active

instead of MidiSequencer in the list.

Network sessions work the same, but they are disabled by default in the

Settings (and must be set before running up MS). There is however additional

latency (delay) in using network sessions.

How to play an external hardware synth or DAW:

Playing hardware requires that you connect a USB midi device to the ipad. This can

be done utilizing the CCK (Camera Connection Kit) as this has an ability to plug USB

devices into the ipad.

Using a small interface (like the Edirol UM which has an advanced driver) you don’t

have to power the interface. Larger interfaces, or those without drivers will need

power.

With the USB midi interface plugged into the CCK, when running up MS the ports

will be shown in the Devices Panel under Inputs & Outputs. You can activate these

and have MS transmit to any outputs that are active and also enable for inputs.

Often, midi interfaces have leds which light up when midi is detected, so you can use

this as a visual clue that midi is being transmitted.

Plug your hardware devices (synths, other midi interfaces) into this USB midi

interface to complete the connection. MS will only know the name of the USB midi

interface as it does not know the name of any equipment connected to the midi

ports.

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Press Play and you should hear your hardware devices playing something.

If your midi interface is connected to a DAW, you will be able to record midi (e.g.

Ableton Live running on a PC), or play software apps (vst) on the DAW that can

respond to midi. Note that there will be additional delays in running software

remotely, so be sure to delay any faster routes (e.g. a synth playing on the ipad at the

same time) to keep them synchronized.

The Cycle Reset

If you are like me, you love playing sequenced step music but

can never seem to hit that transpose button at the right point

of the cycle to make a change of key say. Delay too long and

the first note in the sequence will be in the old key. Transpose

too fast and you risk playing the last note of a sequence at the

new key!

Add to this mix a desire to change a myriad of elements of the sequence on the fly and you are sure to fail on all but the slowest of tempos!

MS was designed to allow you to make multiple changes to a sequence whilst it

is playing and have them all applied seamlessly when the cycle resets back to the first step. In this way you can perform many more changes than would be possible if the controls were just updated instantaneously.

The CYCLE button (located in the middle of the transport controls) can be activated whenever you want to ensure that any further changes are stored and applied with the cycle reset. An led on this button will light to show you when this occurs. It can be switched on and off during play.

With the CYCLE button inactive (shown as gray), then changes will be applied

immediately the next step plays and nothing is delayed until the reset. Note : Cycle works on most elements of MS (even loading snapshots), but

does not (yet) work on tempo.

The Sequencer Steps

Steps represent an activity that occurs at regular time intervals. There are 16 of them on this sequencer, numbered 1 to 16 and laid out left to right across the main screen.

An individual step is like pressing a key on a keyboard. It starts with a key press (midi on message) and ends with lifting the key (midi note off). If the step (or midi output) is not muted, the sequencer will transmit these midi messages

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according to the control settings you have set on the step (ornaments & chords vary this).

Steps are able to show different their different values (Note, Velocity, Gate%, Channel, Midi CC1 to 16 A or B, %Probability, %Swing, Humanise Chance/Note/Vel) by using the set of Show buttons at the bottom of the screen.

The sequencer uses the skip buttons of each step to determine what is the next step to play. If it has an impossible selection, then the sequence will stop.Step Channel strip

Fig 7. Step Controls

The steps are laid out like a channel strip on a mixer 1 to 16, left to right. The Control slider can be moved vertically between the two blue buttons – low values at the bottom, high at the top. The blue buttons allow the control slider to be incremented or decremented by 1 for fine control (may be more if note and conforming to scale). The Select Area & LED are touch areas to allow you to select this step from the 16 available. You can do this whilst playing too to interrupt the sequence logic! It shows as yellow if a chromatic step. The Skip button determines the logic for this step (and also chromatic & chords) The Step value is displayed at the bottom in the units for the controls shown (i.e. Note names for Notes, values for velocity & channel or CC1-16, and percentages for Gate%. The step value is also colored Red for latched, yellow for chromatic. The mute button will silence the step (like x in skip button). Normally it is a green button, but changes to blue if the step has any added notes or chords.

What is Time? This sequencer is able to playback a sequence of steps in two types of time mode:

Step-time (regular intervals where Gate% dictates how much of the time interval is used to keep the note on (i.e. time before the note-off stops the note-on). It enables the sequencer to play arpeggios and regular pulses of notes. This is the default type of time used when you launch the Sequencer.

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Note-time (gated length), where the notes are legato as the time interval is always the Gate % and there is no appreciable gap between note off and note on (unless a step is muted). This mode allows more interesting musical timings.

The diagram below indicates what happens when the sequencer is in one of

these two modes. Note: Swing (introduced in v1.10) can delay the time too by shifting

everything in the step (note on & off) to a slightly later time than t0. It’s not shown in these diagrams for clarity.

Step Time Mode:

Fig 8. Step Time using Gate% as note on time Step-Time, the default mode of the sequencer, will play regular rhythm

patterns typical of many electronic hardware sequencers. Playing a sequence in this mode at high tempos or extreme pitches can create

psycho-acoustic patterns and effects on many of today’s synthesizers. Varying step velocity, gate % and any of the CC’s can add to this effect, especially if modified during play.

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Note that ornaments each utilize the Tempo interval differently (see the

section on Ornaments) as they break up the note into smaller notes. Chords and added notes just play for the full gated interval (even if the step note is ornamented).

Note Time Mode:

Fig 9. Note Time for legato playing & ornaments

Note-time will play the next step as soon as the previous step's note-off is sent. The effect of this is that it is possible to have no noticeable delay between steps , unless some steps are muted of course. This is equivalent to a legato playing style.

Use the steps Gate% to determine how much of the time interval the note is sounded before sounding the next step.

This mode is for more irregular timings that step-time as notes can be played

with precise timing. Ornamental playing can be achieved if you choose smaller note intervals

together with longer ones (e.g. Appoggiatura, Mordents or Trills), you just need to

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set the gate% and step note pitches accordingly. However, you could use the built in ornaments (see the section on Ornaments).

Fader Section

In this part of the display, each step has its own vertical slice or step,

numbered 1 to 16. The slider positions reflect the data value for the currently

selected control.

You can limit the range of the slider values (start & end) using the limit button

– the sliders will reset to the range picked. These limits are not saved

anywhere and are reset if you load a snapshot.

The collection of buttons shown below are used to switch between step

controls.

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Note : C-2 to G8 (if middle C=60) or C-1 to G9(if middle C=48). It can be

muted for recoding in the Options Panel. The middle C is an app preference

found in the iPad’s SETTINGS app.

For non-chromatic key scales, the note label will show the enharmonic

spelling of the note name for that key (e.g. G# Maj shows Fx rather than G).

Certain keys scales will also restrict the lower and upper range if the note is

not in the scale. Midi Note 0 = C-2, 127=G8, so for C# Maj for example, the

lowest note is C# (as there is no C) and the highest is F# (as there is no G).

Velocity : 0 to 127 where 0 is the same as muting the step. It can be muted

for recording in the Options Panel.

Gate % : 1-400. Amount of the step time interval(i.e. the time between

steps) to use before sending midi note off. This will be note duration for

Note-time.

Midi Channel : 1 to 16. This is per step Midi Channel. It can be muted for

recording in the Options Panel.

CC1 to CC16 with A or B selected: 0 to 127. This is where you set the

controller data (as defined in Controller Panel) and is available in two slots

A or B. The Controller type defines if A or B is used. Basically, B is only

used where the controller is marked as 14bit, so 7 bit means using A only.

Sysex has no controller data values – the sysex (or whatever data you want)

is held in the Controller Panel

%Probability: 0 to 100. This represents the % chance a step has to play –

100% being always, 0% meaning never. Choose a value inbetween and MS

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will have that % chance to play the note or exclude it entirely – which

means no CC’s or Fx either.

%Swing: 0 to 50. This represents a delay to playing the step measured

relative to the step interval (even for noteTime). 0% means no delay. Think

of this as the opposite of gate% (which restricts length of the note based on

the step interval), this swing moves the whole note later in time.

%Humanise: 0 to 100. This is the %chance that the step will be

humanized, which means varied. Currently this applies to note pitch &

velocity. 0% means ignore HumaniseNote & HumaniseVel

HumaniseNote: 0 to 127. Is the variation to apply (in semitones) to the

step note pitch if the %humanise is active. 0 means no variation, 1 means

+/- 1 semitone, but you can do extreme ranges +/-127. Remember that

notes outside of 0..127 range may not be played. This can be used to either

create completely random notes (high number) or subtle note changes(low

number on only a few steps).

HumaniseVel: 0 to 127. Is the variation to apply to the step note velocity

if the %humanise is active. 0 means no variation, but you can do extreme

ranges +/-127 . Velocity can never be less than 0 or greater than 127, and a

value of 0 will play the step but at 0 volume (some synths may treat this as a

note off).

Each step strip is made up of control buttons, leds & a slider(from top to bottom):

An increment button, to add 1 to the current value

shown. If the settings has linked set, this will

move all sliders up(if not already at the top). The

upper limit control may also restrict the max

value.

A control knob to change the value by sliding up

or down

A decrement button, to subtract 1 from the

current value shown. If the settings has linked set,

this will move all sliders down(if not already at

the bottom). The lower limit control may also

restrict the min value.

A blue LED, which lights when the step is selected

and is dim when not selected. Tap to select this

step (even whilst playing).

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A Skip button which will bring up a step options

panel where you can set play logic (e.g. jump to

another step after playing), latching, chromatic,

chords, ornaments and which fx slots to disable.

The Step Options panel is designed to remain

open so selecting another step can be easily

selected.

A label, showing the current value the knob

position represents for the type of controls

shown. E.g. Notes display note names such as

F#8.

This label can also be coloured. White for normal

scale note, Yellow for chromatic (so outside of

scale) and Red if latched (no midi off sent with

midi on).

Mute button. Quickly turns the step into a rest. In

StepTime this will not play the step and wait the

step interval time before playing the next step. In

NoteTime, this step is ignored – so jumps

immediately to the next step. Sequence patterns

often involve rests to create rhythmic variations,

and if the previous step has fx echoes say, it

would allow you to hear those echoes.

This button is also coloured (if not muted) blue if

the step has chords/added notes. Normally it is

green.

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Show Buttons

This section shows 5 buttons(plus two smaller for A & B) laid out as a grid.

Only one of these may be selected (highlighted label shows as yellow) at one

time.

Pressing one of these buttons will quickly update the central step controls to

show the corresponding settings for Notes, Velocity, Gate%, Midi Channel,

Midi control 1..16 (with a choice of A or B)

The A & B are only enabled if you select the larger CC button and then only if

that CC is defined as two byte (see CC panel)

Also used are show are the %probability,%swing,

%Humanise/HumaniseNote/HumaniseVel

Controls Section – Limit/Link/Draw/Random The controls section, sitting between the Tempo & Transpose sliders, has controls

that affect the 16 sliders.

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Limit

Allows you to set a temporary upper and lower limit for the controls shown

(notes, velocity, channel, gate% or each of the 16 midi CC’s – although this

limit affects both A & B).

This is useful for two reasons:

1) Allows you to work on a restricted range of values when entering values.

E.g. you could use limit to restrict note entry to one octave say.

2) To clamp values to a minimum or maximum value. This could be used to

change the values of those controls outside of the upper and lower to be that

of the upper or lower limit. Effectively this flattens a curve at the top and/or

bottom.

Every effort has been made to ensure limits work with other controls (e.g.

randomize, reset, autolink, draw etc), but they cannot be saved. They are

automatically reset if you load in another snapshot. This is because limits are

designed for data entry and could corrupt(by clamping) your sequence

unintentionally.

You can reset all the limits to default values with a button in the Controller

panel.

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Here is the Limit Panel that pops open when you press the Limit Button. The

upper and lower values are bound to the opposite value (i.e. lower can’t be

higher than upper & v.v) – they will turn yellow to indicate this.

Auto-Link

Will link all controls, so that moving one will attempt to move the others.

Linked controls will enforce limits (max or min) or the upper or lower values

(e.g. 0 or 127 for velocity). For notes with a key scale, the movement may be

further adjusted by conforming to the scale, or the upper/lower limit of the

scale.

With v1.11, this link button can be set independently for each type of control

show– i.e. different for Note, Velocity, Gate, Channel, CC1..16 A or B (as a

group), %Probability, Humanise controls, or Swing.

This setting is not saved with a snapshot.

Lock controls

When you have finished designing your steps, you may want to lock them to

prevent them being accidently moved with a touch. This lock button will lock

all movement of the sliders until you unlock again.

You can still use the increment/decrement buttons at the extreme ends of the

slider, or reload a bank.

It can be used to good effect with the audition button (touching a control to

‘play’ it even whilst the sequencer is playing), as it means you can setup a nice

set of notes (which could even be outside of the playing sequence), and play

these along with your sequence.

This setting is not saved with a snapshot.

Draw Controls

If this button is enabled (it will toggle both linked & locked controls button to

off), any touch and move in the fader section will snap the controls to your

finger position.

Like Linked Controls, max & min clamping (including limits) applies.

If the Settings is also set for animate controls, the controls will be moved

smoothly to their position

Random Button

This button enables to you randomize the 16 controls. It has options for

randomizing full or selected range, or ramp up/down.

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Randomise full range

Will use the full range of the sliders to produce a random value.

o Note : This will also be in-scale (if not chromatic) and therefore may not

be the lowest or highest notes if not in the current scale.

o The upper & lower values may be different if Limits apply.

o Velocity : 0 to 127

o Gate% : 1 to 400

o Channel : 1 to 16

o CC1 ..16 (A or B): 0 to 127

o %Probability : 0 to 100

o %Swing : 0 to 50

o %Humanise : 0 to 100

o Humanise note : 0 to 127

o Humanise velocity : 0 to 127

Randomise within min/max

As full range, but first works out the maximum and minimum values, all

random values will be contained within that range. Use this to keep a sequence

(melody) in a register (bass for example).

Note: This is really random – so very high notes, or very low notes may not

sound in your synth.

Limits (upper & lower) also apply for randomising

Ramp up

Will produce incrementing steps from 0 to max.

Ramp down

Will produce decrementing steps from max to 0.

Note: A useful tip is to use linked controls to squash the melody & place it in the

register you want. Then use Randomise within min/max to produce random

notes within this band.

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Tempo Section

Fig 4. Tempo Controls and pop ups

Tempo is the speed at which the sequencer plays each step and is measured as BPM

(Beats per Minute) with each step being a 16th note. So at 60 BPM, 4 steps will play

per second, whereas at 1020 BPM you would get 68 steps per second.

MS can run using an internal clock (MASTER) or use incoming midi clock

signals (SLAVE), and send/receive midi Start/Stop messages

The normal range of the Tempo is 0 (stopped) to 255, but this can be extended

by using the green clock multiplier button which extends this to 1020 BPM(x4).

Note: When changing the multiplier, MS will try to keep the same tempo and

adjust the knob position accordingly.

You can change the tempo by dragging the slider left or right, or using the

increment/decrement buttons.

Note: the minimum tempo you can get by dragging/decrementing is 1 – this is to

avoid accidently stopping the sequencer when dealing with low tempos. The Stop

button will set this to 0 however.

Clicking the clock multiplier button shows the 4 multipliers you can pick for tempo:

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Therefore the range of tempos available for each multiplier is:

Clock

Multiplier

Range Increments Description

X1/4 1,2,3..63 ¼

Lowest multiplier to allow finer

control at slow tempos. Shown to 2

dp.

X1/3 1,2,3..84 1/3 All tempos from 1 to 84. Shown to

2 dp.

X1/2 1,2,3..127 1/2 All tempos from 1 to 127. Shown to

2 dp.

X1 1,2,3..255 1 All integer tempos from 1 to 255

X2 2,4,6,8..510 2

Doubles the max, but only even

integer tempo values (unless using

the number keypad)

X3 3,6,9,12..765 3

Triples the max, but some integer

values not represented on the

slider.

X4 4,8,12,16..1020 4 Quadruples the max. Used for high

speeds effects. Integer only.

At a tempo of zero, the sequencer is stopped – from v1.6 a tempo of 1 is now

the lowest – just press the Play button to stop. The maximum tempo of 1020 is the

fastest operating speed and well beyond most software/hardware tempo rates

available/ Note: it is possible to go higher than 1020 by using NoteTime and the

gate%<100% - however tempos above 300 are usually considered high!

At any rate higher than 250 the special effects you get on your hardware will

depend very much on that hardware ‘s ability to react to faster midi signals.

Also consider the ability to have very slow tempo speeds – these are not

usually offered even on hardware (e.g Doepfer MAQ 16/3 has a minimum speed of

60 BPM).

An increment and decrement button exists to increase or decrease the Base

Tempo by +1 or -1 respectively (or whatever the current multiplier is set to – e.g. +/-

3 if clock multiplier is x3).

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For clock multipliers less than x1 (1/3, ½ or ¼) the tempo is shown to 2

decimal places.

If the Sequencer is placed into SLAVE mode (Options Panel setting), then the

Tempo section changes to hide the slide and disable the buttons

Fig 5. Tempo Controls (SLAVE)

The tempo is then taken from the incoming midi clock messages, so the tempo

knob and the clock multiplier are removed. If the Tempo is shown as WAIT, this

means that the sequencer is waiting for midi clock messages it uses to calculate

BPM. When these are received it will calculate the BPM as best it can.

The tempo can be saved & restored in snapshots if ‘included controls’ is selected.

New to v1.6 you can now use a keypad entry to set the tempo – this is the Set button

just above the red tempo led. Use this to jump to precise tempos (even ones not

obtainable because of x2 or greater clock multiples).

Only integer tempos are allowed here.

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Transpose Section

Fig 6. Transpose Controls

Transposition allows you to move the whole sequence of steps (your melody) up or

down semitones – much like playing in a different key on the piano. This does not

alter the note slider positions, but is applied to the note slider pitch (after invert &

humanize).

This section allows you to control the amount of transposition (0 meaning none) in

the range -36 to +36 semitones. This only affects the midi note sent to the output

device and not the slider values shown (which may be key scaled also). Transposed

notes are never taken out of their midi value range (0 to 127) so will be clamped.

Ornaments and chord/added notes are also transposed.

The final midi note played to the output is:

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Step note value => Inversion Key => Humanise Note => Transpose =>

Conform to scale

Additionally, this transposition can be delayed, if the Cycle button is enabled, until

the next cycle reset. The transpose slider will then be sampled at the next cycle reset

(when the Cycle LED is lit) and applied to all steps until sampled again at the next

cycle reset. This is an effective way to introduce key changes and allow you enough

time (assuming reasonable tempos!) to ‘play’ the transpose control & pick the next

shift.

Double tapping the transpose slider or clicking the set button pops open the

Transpose Panel. This panel can be dragged in the control area as it remains open to

allow you to interact with the sequencer (like Skip button panel).

Pick the transpose from -24 to +24 range, and the transpose slider will move to that

value.

The Transpose can be saved & restored in snapshots if ‘included controls’ is selected.

The Transport Controls Consists of three buttons :

rotate sequence backwards 1 step

o This rotates the sequence backwards (step 1 becomes 16, step 2

becomes 1, etc and step 16 becomes 15). This has an effect on step 1 &

16 being automatic cycle reset points.

o Use this to line up a sequence during design (e.g. you don’t want steps

1..4, so shift left 4 to make steps 5+ steps 1,2, etc.)

Play/Stop (changes from |> to [])

If the sequencer has stopped it will display the triangular Play button. If

it is playing, it will display the square.

o In Master mode, this starts the sequencer if currently stopped or stops

it is currently playing.

o If Cycle mode is on and you press stop (shown as a [] button), it will

carry on until the next cycle reset. It may be possible that your

sequence is not cycle resetting – the setting for cycle reset on jump is

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off and you have a sub-sequence of jumps, in which case disable the

cycle first.

o An ornament Stop exists (red hand icon) will automatically stop the

sequencer when that step has played.

o In SLAVE mode, the sequencer will only start or stop when receiving

a midi clock message start (or continue) and stop. Make sure you have

you midi inputs enabled for clock receive!

o It is possible to midi learn the start/stop button - the CC learnt data

is 0 for stop (if currently playing), anything else for start (if not

currently playing).

rotate sequence forwards 1 step

o This rotates the sequence forwards (step 1 becomes 2, step 2 becomes

3, etc and step 16 becomes 1)

The Logic Controls Consists of two buttons :

Loop Type

Use this button to cycle through the sequencer loop type (Forward, Reverse,

Bounce, Bounce* and Random).

o Forward – will play steps increasing step order 1,2,3 etc up to 16, then

return to 1. It may be asked to jump out of sequence but will try to

continue forward after the jump.

o Reverse – will play in decreasing step order 16,15,14 down to 1, then

jump to 16,15 etc. A jump out of sequence will try and continue in reverse

after the jump.

o Bounce – will alternatively play forward then reverse, changing direction

at steps 1 & 16. Any jumps out of sequence will try and maintain the

current direction. Steps 1 & 16 are only played once (e.g.

1,..15,16,15,14..1,2,3,…)

o Bounce* - like Bounce, but plays steps 1 & 16 twice. E.g.

1,2,..16,16,15,…2,1,1,2,3….)

o Random – will play the steps in a random order – all steps are the same.

Cycle Button:

o If shown as Red, indicates the sequencer is operating in Cycle mode. This

is where values changed (e.g. midi note on a step, or transpose) are not

applied until the cycle resets (indicated by LED flashing).

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Show Buttons

This section shows 5 buttons(plus two smaller for A & B) laid out as a grid.

Only one of these may be selected (highlighted label shows as yellow) at one

time.

Pressing one of these buttons will quickly update the central step controls to

show the corresponding settings for Notes, Velocity, Gate%, Midi Channel,

Midi control 1..16 (with a choice of A or B).

The A & B are only enabled if you select the larger CC button and then only if

that CC is defined as two byte (see CC panel).

Also used are show are the %probability,%swing,

%Humanise/HumaniseNote/HumaniseVel.

Invert Key This control inverts the step notes, reflecting them around a user settable key.

Invert off. Notes play as described by slider (and transpositions etc)

Invert on. Notes from slider are reflected around invert key, before being transposed etc.

Click the button to open the Invert Key panel, which allows you to pick the key

(enharmonic naming):

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o On/Off : Enable/disable the inversion

o Invert Key Note : use the rotary to pick the note.

o X : exit without making a change & close the panel.

o Def : reset to default (off & C-2)

o Tick : accept the change & close the panel.

Function:

This does not modify the step notes and only transforms the played note

when playing, so you can enable this without losing your note sequence.

Any notes higher than the invert key note (z) by x semitones are

altered to be x semitones below z (i.e. z-x).

Any notes lower than the invert key note (z) by x semitones are

altered to be x semitones above z (i.e. z+x).

In all cases notes are limited to the midi byte range 0 to 127.

When playing a note, inversion is done first. The exact order is:

Step note defined by slider

Inversion around key note (if enabled)

Humanise note by +/- random amount up to humanize note

range (if %humanise chance met).

Sequence transpose (the transpose slider)

Apply music scale (if non-chromatic note and not chromatic

scale)

Ornament altering (e.g. appoggiatura plays a higher note first

before playing the note).

FX transforms

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o Limiter may cap the min/max range of the notes, and

optionally apply a music scale to it (if not chromatic

step)

o Filter, may ignore the step note altogether if the note is

in an active range.

o Transpose – for notes in a min/max range, can alter

the pitch of all step notes +/-127, and apply to music

scale afterwards (if not chromatic step)

o Remap – could modify the note in a min/max range to

one value. No music scale applies (as you pick the new

note yourself)

In all cases a note pitch <0 or >127 will not sound.

Record button

Record In Disabled

Record In Enabled

This button must be enabled if you want to record anything into MS (e.g.

notes).

If MS is loaded into Audiobus, it can be toggled by another app using the AB

mini-control.

Note that the Options Panel settings for Notes/Vel/Channel/CC/CC32 &

record midi channel apply to additionally filter out input.

Reset button

Resets the currently shown controls to their default values. Many options can

be choosen, from individual clears to whole sequencer resets.

Depending on which one is currently selected: Notes reset to C3, Velocity to

127, midi gate % to 50%. Midi Channel to 1, Midi CC’s 1..16 A & B to zero,

%probability to 100%, %swing to 0%, %Humanise (%chance, note & vel) all to

0.

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Midi section

39

The bottom right of the main sequencer screen contains information about

midi input & output.

Midi Send/Mute button

The button will be coloured yellow (and say Midi Send) if midi output is

enabled, and gray (Midi Muted) if disabled.

Use this to quickly mute all midi output.

It can also be set using Audiobus mini-controls.

There is a delay when midiSequencer starts (it’s not enabled at the start) to

check there are any devices. If you can’t enable it, go into Devices panel and

refresh.

Midi In LED

This will flash when midi in is received (note, cc, midi thru, etc but not midi

clock as that occurs too fast or during midi learn).

Final note output

Will show the note being output (after transpose etc)

Panic button

This will send a note off for all notes (0..127) on any active channel (i.e. all

channels between min & max channel). It will also send a CC123 (all notes

off) to every channel. It sends this to all active output channels.

Audition button

Turns midiSequencer into a realtime controller! By touching some controls,

it will immediately play that step to all output devices (i.e. just like the

sequencer does – including fx, but here you can do it just by touching).

There are three types of touch recognized in IOS : touch begin, touch move

& touch end, these are auctioned differently for some control types.

o CC – will send the CC only when you touch begin and when you move.

o All others Note, Vel, Gate%, Channel only send the step when you

touch begin

The Audition button then has three purposes:

o As part of design, allows you to setup a sequence by hearing the note,

velocity/length & channel.

o Allows you to play over a sequence currently playing. So it works also

whilst the sequencer is playing steps, and you can use this to good

effect by say, setting aside steps just to play live.

o Turns midiSequencer into a realtime 16 lane controller (if you use

CC’s) – so could send sysex, NRPN, Aftertouch or continuous

controller messages at a single touch.

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Skip (or Step Option) Button

The skip button makes available many features of a step , but mainly allows for rhythm variation within a sequence. It was first called skip button because it just handled play logic, but now it does more.

The skip button can be used to good effect when the sequencer is playing as you can keep the panel open and reselect different steps, so modifying the sequence on the fly. It supports:

Muting (x or Rx)

Play logic : choosing the next step to play (Jump to numbered step)

Cycle resets (R & Rx)

Repeating steps(x2 up to x8)

Ornamentation (e.g. latching)

Chromatic notes

Access chord & added note Panel for this step Latching

Enable/Disable individual fx slots

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Previous/Next step:

Use these buttons to cycle through the 16 steps whilst keeping the panel open.

Muting:

An ‘x’ on the step button indicates that it should not be played (no midi output). In Step-Time, this is equivalent to a rest on a music score as the step is effectively silenced for the regular step interval, but does not affect the next step. In Note-Time, this is the same as a skip as the note step is ignored completely and the sequencer will immediately jump to play the next step. Note: The new mute button, shown in the main screen is now the same as x.

Play Logic:

Plays this note as a midi-on message, followed by a midi-off message after a period defined by the tempo and the gate % setting (varied for ornamented notes/chords). The logic applies to what it does next, as normally (for a blank skip button) it just plays the next step in the sequence. Sequences can also change direction depending upon the Loop type (e.g. Bounce* plays the end notes twice). The following types of logic apply (more will be added in the future):

Play next step

Skip the next step

Reset to the first/last (numerical) step in the sequence

Repeat the current step (up to 8 times)

Jump to numbered step (does not cycle reset)

Stop sequence

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Fig 10. Step logic

Cycle Resets:

Cycle resets are important when the Cycle button is lit and there are pending

changes (which MS delays until this cycle reset time).

Although a cycle resets normally at step 16(1 if reversed), there are two skip

button types that trigger a cycle reset at other steps (after playing the note or reset):

Reset after playing the note

Reset after playing the muted note (i.e. silence)

The loop type also alters the behavior:

Forward : Resets to the first numerical playable (incl. muted) note from

step 1, and triggers a cycle reset.

Reverse : Resets to the last numerical playable (incl. muted) note from

step 16.

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Bounce : After playing the note, even muted, will reverse the direction.

You could have one, or two, R’s (or Rx’s) in a sequence to shorten it to a

smaller sequence.

Bounce* : As Bounce, only repeats the R or Rx note before reversing the

direction.

Random : The reset has no effect and either acts as a blank (for R) or a

mute (for Rx), this is because random notes have no cycle.

Ornamentation Rather than play just a string of single notes for the duration of the gated

interval (see What is Time), ornamentation adds additional notes within the same

time interval by breaking the step note into smaller steps, yet keeping the overall

duration.

Note : This is a great way to create rhythmic variation in your sequence whilst

maintaining the overall rhythm. Traditionally, ornaments were used as a form of

decoration, and MS can disable them all easily (Performance Panel).

Ornaments, because they introduce additional notes within the same step

duration, are often only effective at lower tempo (e.g. <120 BPM), but depends very

much on your hardware synthesizer & the program chosen.

Note: Why is this, it’s because while the midi note on and off (representing the key

press & release on a keyboard) may be short, the ADSR or your synth may have a

long sustain or release. So interpretation of precise step lengths & ornaments will

vary depending upon the patch you pick on your synth. Percussive sounds (with

sharp attack and releases) will make this much more defined than pad sounds that

slowly decay. For this reason, sequencers tend to play using percussive sounds so

as not to be too muddy (notes will sustain over each other and blur).

All durations are also modified by gate % just as a step’s note really plays for

(tempo interval x gate %) rather than just tempo interval. So the gate% has quite a

large effect on the ornament heard. You can modify the gate% to speed up or slow

down the ornament (as often the note off occurs when the synth ADSR has closed

the amp or filter). I encourage you to experiment with the gate% to achieve the

desired effect as it may not always sound good to just add them to a step.

Some ornaments also work on modified pitches, so some of the notes may be a

semitone/tone or scale note different from the step note.

These are the types of ornamentation currently available in MS:

Note: ornaments only affect the step note, chords & added notes always play for

the full interval time * gate% (like the step note would if it wasn’t ornamented)

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Ornament Skip Button Description

Mordent

This is actually an inverted mordent. Three

notes are played instead of the single one. The

middle note is a semitone lower than the step.

The note durations are ¼,¼ and ½ of the step

duration. Note this is multiplied by gate %!

Appoggiatura

The appoggiatura plays two notes rather than a

single one. The first note is a semitone above

the step note.

The note durations are ½ and ½ of the step

duration. Note this is multiplied by gate %!

2 note

Tremolo

This short tremolo plays two notes in the same

time interval – the 2nd is played an octave

above the step note.

This type of ornament is good to combine with

other ornaments. Another use is to create a

digital delay effect as the notes can fill in a

rhythm.

The note durations are ½ and ½ of the step

duration. Note this is multiplied by gate %!

Duple

The duple ratchet plays two notes rather than a

single one. All notes are the same pitch &

duration.

The note durations are 1/2 of the step duration.

Note this is multiplied by gate %!

Triplet

The triple ratchet plays three notes rather

than a single one. All notes are the same pitch

& duration.

The note durations are 1/3 of the step duration.

Note this is multiplied by gate %!

The effect of this is called ratcheting in

electronic music and was introduced by

Tangerine Dream’s Chris Franke.

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Quad

The quad ratchet plays four notes rather than

a single one. All notes are the same pitch &

duration.

The note durations are ¼ of the step duration.

Note this is multiplied by gate %!

Quin

The quin ratchet plays five notes rather than a

single one. All notes are the same pitch &

duration.

The note durations are 1/5 of the step duration.

Note this is multiplied by gate %!

Six

The six ratchet plays six notes rather than a

single one. All notes are the same pitch &

duration.

The note durations are 1/6 of the step

duration. Note this is multiplied by gate %!

X2 to X8

Repeats the step up to 7 times more. Each step

plays for the full interval x gate%. The repeat

includes ornamentation and chord/added

notes.

If muted, the whole step is a rest.

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Options Panel The options panel can be invoked by pressing the ‘Options’ button at the top of

the main sequencer screen. Use it to set your MS preferences. They are saved to disk

when you exit this panel and recalled when you next start the app.

Fig 12. Option Controls

Note: All rotaries will now follow your touch. There is a snap point to make it

easier to pick zero or full values (i.e. the rotaries are not fully 360 degrees).

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Note: Background midi has been removed as midiSequencer is designed to run in

the background.

The Options available are:

WIST

Values : On or Off

This is Korg’s wireless start protocol which enables you to send a start message

to another WIST enabled app (e.g. Gadget or iMS20) when connected.

Clicking on, will attempt to discover other WIST devices that are available. In

practice this is abit hit and miss. The first app to enable WIST is considered

the Master, any app connected after the Master is the Slave.

MS will send start/stop signals if the master and listen to stop/start if the

slave.

Please refer to the info button (small ? button) to refer to the documents on

this.

Tempo Master/Slave

Values : Master or Slave

If set to the default MASTER, then the sequencer will use an internal clock to

run the sequencer. The tempo controls are enabled and you have control of the

speed of playback.

In SLAVE mode, sequencer will use midi in clock messages to run the

sequencer. If you want to sync the playback speed to an external DAW (e.g.

Ableton Live) or external hardware then use this setting, but remember to

enable midi clock in this panel & input devices too.

Midi Clock

Values : On or Off or Off X(disabled)

You would want to send midi clock messages to destinations if you need to use

this sequencer’s tempo as a master to other devices.

This control is disabled ( ) if tempo is SLAVE as incoming midi clock

messages control the tempo.

If On, will send 6 midi clock message signals per step to the output

destinations. This means 24 clocks per beat as MS has a 4 step beat.

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The default value is Off and I suggest not setting this unless required to sync

other apps to midiSequencer and it will ‘clutter’ the midi stream.

Midi Clock Rotary

Values : 1/1,1/2,1/2T,1/2D,..1/32D,2/1…32/1

This rotary is used to change the rate of the midi clock output to all active midi

device endpoints that have clock enabled.

1/x : faster by x

1/xT : faster by 3x/2 – i.e. triplets in the time of two.

1/xD : faster by 2x/3 – i.e. two in the time of three.

x/1 : slower by 1/x – e.g. 2/1 is half as slow.

The 1/x has x=1,2,4,8,16,32 divisions. The x/1 has x=1,2,3,4,8,16,32.

Why would this be useful? Well the echo fx has it’s own time divisions (which

work inversely the same as this). This would enable you to have a step time of 1

(say 15 bpm = 1 step per second), and echoes playing ½ (30BPM = 2 echoes

per secong) and then you could have a midi clock output to another device (e.g.

drum synth) set to 2/1 to make the clock run also at 30 BPM(2 drum steps per

second).

Note: As midiBus only has one midi clock, it is not possible to have multiple

clock bpms, so run at the fastes rate you need and divide if needs be in your

external equipment.

You would want to send midi clock messages to Output Latency

Values : 0 to 1000 milliseconds

This adds latency (delay) to all outgoing midi messages – by adding to the midi

timestamps. A value of 120ms is default, but for faster devices 0ms is ok.

Note : this is in addition to individual output device latencies

Record Options Note/Vel/Gate/Ch/CC/CC32

Values : On or Off or Off X(disabled)

These buttons allow you to include/exclude certain parts of the midi note on

data when recording midi. This would be useful when you want to record just a

small part of the message (e.g. just the note & velocity) without altering

current values for the other settings (e.g. gate/channel/cc).

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You can only record incoming midi information if the Record mode button is enabled on the main screen.

Gate recording (i.e. length of note) is permanently disabled. It may be added at a later date.

Note: The recording may also be blocked if the record channel is not set

correctly (see below in this section).

Note: if you disable Note but enable Velocity, you still need to send a midi

note to MS to be able to record – it is the midi note on message that triggers

the record (so velocity, channel & CCs last received are used).

Note : If lit, will record midi note into the step from the midi note received on

the recording channel. If not, will ignore changing the step’s note value.

Vel : If lit, will record velocity from the midi note on velocity into the step.

Ch : If lit, will use the midi note on channel to set the steps channel.

CC : If lit, will record up to 16 midi CC values – if midi CC messages have been

received for any of the currently set controllers (see below). So, incoming midi

is matched to the CC setup in the Controller Panel. This includes all types of

CC (CC,NRPN,RPN,Prog change, Aftertouch, PitchBend) but not sysex.

CC32 : If lit, will use any midi CC32 message received to load in a snapshot.

This does mean CC32 can still be recorded into a step, but should be reserved

for loading.

Record Midi Ch.

Values : Rotary (0=Omni, 1 to 16)

Allows you to select only one midi channel to record midi note-on messages

(including CC), unless set to Omni, in which case all channels are used.

This would be useful for a multi-midi channel setup where you want to record

midi from say a single keyboard with a specific midi output channel. You could

dedicate a keyboard then for the purpose of recording.

The default is OMNI.

Playback Options

This is a global setting that enables/disables all note, CC or Fx(notes).

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With Note disabled, no step notes are sent to the output devices. If enabled,

then this can also be disabled per output device.

With CC disabled, no controller messages (CC, NRPN, RPN etc) are sent to

output devices. Like notes, this can be disabled per output device.

With FX disabled, no additional fx notes are sent to output devices. Fx notes

are currently generated just for echo and ostinato. Like notes, this can be

disabled per output device.

So, ignoring per device for the sake of clarity and CC’s, it is possible to have the

following types of output:

Note + FX – output devices are sent step notes(midi on+off)+fx(midi on/offs)

Note + no FX – output devices are sent just the step notes(midi on+off)

No Note + no FX – output devices are sent just the CC’s if enabled.

So this is a quick way of disabling steps (to hear just fx), fx additional notes(to

hear just fx notes) and CC’s(e.g. to stop synth modulations)

To use this more creatively, you would normally leave these on and set per

device. For example, you could set one device to just receive step notes and

another to just receive fx notes.

Swing Odd/Even

This allows swing controls to be applied on Odd steps (1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15) as

well as the even ones (2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16). So in effect, swing on all steps.

Swing is the effect of adding a delay in the step, which gives a dotted note feel

to the rhythm (skipping effect if applied to just even steps). MS allows the

amount of swing to be set per step, so you could use this for interesting

rhythms (i.e. to alter the start of the note) and gate% to alter the length (and

therefore the end) of the note.

Leave this off to apply to just even steps.

Scale after Transpose

When choosing a key scale (e.g. C major), certain notes are chromatic in that

they don’t fit in the scale (e.g. Db). A key scale exists as a set of fixed intervals

from the root note (e.g 3rd step of a C major is E), but if the whole sequence is

transposed (say down 1 semitone) the notes may no longer fit the scale (e.g. D

becomes Db which is not in C Major).

With this option Scale after Transpose, MS will adjust the step note, after it is

transposed, to fit the key scale, ensuring that no note is generated that is

outside of the key (assuming the step isn’t marked as chromatic that is).

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However, if you link all notes and move them down one semitone say, this will

destroy the relative chromatic intervals (the semitone difference) between one

step and another, so set the Scale after Transpose to off to keep this relative

interval between steps intact.

You can toggle it on/off at will, so may want to toggle off just for linked

movement, but turn on again if you use the transpose slider say.

Previous versions of MS had this always ON.

KeyScale/Launch/Step & Note Time Buttons The top right of the screen contains four buttons and the exit.

Midi Learn button:

Use this to enable midi in of controller messages to set automation on

certain controls (e.g. step 2 notes or tempo). These controls can also be

set manually. See the section on Midi Learn for more details.

KeyScale button:

This enables you to conform the pitches of the notes that MS plays to a

music scale (e.g. G minor). It is possible to still use notes outside of the

scale if you make the step chromatic. See the Keyscale section below for a

description.

Launch button:

This is a duplicate of the launch button found on the devices panel. It is

grayed out until you use it in that panel, then it will be available on the

front panel too.

StepTime/NoteTime button:

This important button determines the sequencer timing logic. The

default is step time, where an internal timer (tempo or bpm) is used to

determine the rate steps are played. Note time just plays legato (no gap

after one step plays to the next starts).

If set to Step-Time (default value), then every step is exactly the same

length (determined by tempo). The gate % only determines how long

after the note-on is played does the note-off get sent. This is like staccato

– which you can hear if you make the gate% short, although you can

make it longer that the step (400% = 4 steps long).

If set to Note-Time, then every step is played for a period defined by the

tempo and the step’s gate%, and immediately the note-off plays, then the

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next step’s note-on plays. So there is no gap between note-off and note-

on and the sequencer is effectively playing legato style.

Note: From v1.6, you can now toggle this during play, but the timing of the note about to play may be undesirable.

Key Scale Panel Midi defines notes in semitones – which in musical terms represent a

chromatic scale. But there are music scales where not all notes are used (e.g. C

major does not use the black keys on a keyboard).

MS currently allows all Major, Minor, Pentatonic (Maj or Min) and the two

Wholetone (C,C#) scales. This works by mapping those notes not in a scale to

ones that do – the closest lowest note in the scale. So for C major, the C#/Db

key is altered to C, one semitone lower.

The effect of this is to create a much more musical sequence than would be

obtained by using all 12 tones, and MS is designed for you to use as a

composition tool to find melodies.

This conforming of a step note to the scale operates on the main controls and

includes transposition and ornamentation. It is even represented for chords.

Click the round Treble clef button at the top of the MS screen, and the Key

Scale panel will open.

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Exit button – closes this panel without changing the key

Pick button – once you have selected your key using the other buttons, select

the Pick button to apply this choice to your sequence. The display (under the

Analog Midi Sequencer label on the main screen) will change to show the new

key and the notes in that scale (enharmonic spellings).

Scale Type buttons – select the type of scale you want.

The chromatic scale has no root note, so the root buttons will be disabled.

There are only two wholetone scales, represented by C or C#(or Db).

# button – will alter the round root note buttons to show sharps rather than

flats.

b button – will alter the round root note buttons to show flats rather than

sharps.

With scales you will also find the extreme ranges (midi lowest = 0

highest=127) also restricted from selection. E.g. D major will only allow the

slider control to go down to C#-2 rather than C-2. Same applies for the highest

note (midi 127=G8) which may be restricted to a lower note (126 for F#). This

is all managed for you by MS.

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Chromatic steps

You don’t always want step notes to be restricted by scale, so they can be

indicated as being non-scale notes by selecting the Chromatic button in the

Skip Button Panel. These steps will show their labels in yellow (rather than the

usual white) for easy identification. You can then pick any semitone you want

whilst maintaining scale conforming for other non-chromatic steps.

Key scale is also saved in snapshots (not as an included control so always

saved/restored with step data) so you could load in different keys using the

performance panel for example.

When you pick a scale, all steps (not indicated as chromatic) will be conformed

(moved to the lowest closest scale step). This does mean that C3 will be moved

to B2 if you move from Chromatic to D Major for example, as C is not a scale

note in D Maj.

When you draw, increment/decrement, double tap and move linked steps,

non-chromatic steps will conform.

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Settings

IOS has a settings app where many apps have options that you want to set by default. You need to set these before running the app!

56

Locate midiSequencer in the list. The slider button is green if option enabled, white

if not. The picture above is my normal settings.

The settings are:

Double Tap Controls

Normally, you need to grab one of the 16 slider controls to move it. Draw can

move it, but this option allows you to just double tap on the central slider to

position it (without grabbing it). I would leave this enabled.

Cycle on numbered step jumps

This enables cycle reset to apply to out of sequence jumps – otherwise you

could have a loop which never resets if it never reaches step 16 or a R,Rx type

skip.

Performance – On Touch Load

This relates to the way the Load button works on the Performance Panel.

Off : The you need to select a slot, then press load for every load you want.

On : Press Load once (it animates), then selecting a slot automatically loads it.

Note: loads may be delayed if Cycle is on.

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While you are learning midiSequencer leave this off. When you want quicker

reaction to loading during play then enable it to make switching quicker.

Animate controls when drawing

Just a preference, setting this active will smoothly animate control changes

(e.g. double click) to the new position, rather than jump immediately. It works

for the transpose slider too.

Middle C(C3) is 48 rather than 60

Some applications don’t have middle C as midi note 60, but 48 – for example

Logic on the Apple Mac. Enable this if you need this. Should remain off for

most other uses.

MS will change the range of the note values to show C-1 to G9 if on and C-2 to

G8 if on.

Midi muted on startup

When you press the launch button on the main screen, the devices panel opens

automatically. Enable this if you would rather have this disabled. Leave this off

normally.

Link increment decrement controls

Enabling this means the 16 step increment & decrement buttons are linked –

meaning changing one step, changes them all. Disable if you prefer to change

each step by step. It is similar to the linked controls button (which relates to

dragging one step that drags them all).

Include Network Sessions

By default network midi is excluded from the midiBus startup. Enable this

only if you want to use the Network. You will then see it in the devices panel.

Midi Start same as Continue

MS when it receives a Midi Start message will start play from step 1. Continue

will start from whatever step is currently selected (i.e. it won’t reset to step 1).

Enable this if you would prefer start to always just continue.

Launch at start

MS will automatically launch to the main sequencer screen at startup,

bypassing the menu screen (which you can still get to by using the exit button).

Audiobus presets, if containing MS and you select in AB,will also try and

automatically launch if at the main menu.

Auto reload sequence bank & snapshot

MS will now remember the current bank filename and snapshot slot selected,

so if you exit the app and restart it (with this option enabled), it will attempt to

load the same file & snapshot you used. If the file is missing (e.g. deleted via

funbox etc), then it will tell you it is unable to load.

In this way, you can quickly get back to the sequence you were working on

without having to go to files, load bank, select snapshot & load.

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Audiobus presets also have this ability to reload bank & snapshot.

Performance Panel MS has the concept of snapshots (also called a sequence) which is a saved copy of

virtually everything you see in the sequencer main screen - all 16 step data plus

controls (e.g. tempo) and the 16 defined controllers and the midi fx (up to 8 fx slots)

So why are snapshots good? Sequences are just melodies and are repetitive by their

nature as they play in a loop (think of a guitar riff here). So, unless you are looking

for a simple repetition, introducing variation into a sequence gives it life and

character (emphasis and rhythm say). During design, whilst you are exploring

melodies, you can come up with some sequences you really like, and these can be

saved to the snapshot numbered slots for later recall.

So why a performance panel? It exists to allow rapid loading & saving of the

sequencer from (or to) the current bank, especially during playing as you can queue

a load to occur at cycle reset.

The design of this small panel was aimed at remaining open at the top of the screen

whilst other performance type panels are open (e.g. skip button panel) and you still

have access to the fader controls.

Snapshots can also include controls. This enables you to save tempo, key, controllers

and fx etc, but you can then decide to ignore them in a load (by just disabling this

button).

The Save Bank button allows you to quickly save the 40 snapshots to a file

(new.bank if one not loaded). Remember to do this before you exit MS!

Note: The 16 Controllers for the Sequencer are saved & loaded with every snapshot.

Include Controls is only for the transport controls. They (16 controllers) are also

saved independently when you exit the Controller Panel, but loading a snapshot

overrides these.

Note: Empty snapshots are not saved – reducing the bank sizes to about 33k on

average.

Launch the Performance Panel by pressing this button on the main screen.

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The buttons on this panel (left to right) are as follows:

Open/close – to close or reopen this panel

Save Bank – enables to quickly save the bank (without going to the Files Panel)

– all snapshots are written to the last filename shown (which will be “new

bank” if none loaded).

Load – will load the selected slot snapshot into the sequence.

o If the Setting ‘Performance – One Touch Load’ is enabled, then this

button will remain set (indicated by animating) – in which case just

touching a slot will load that snapshot into the sequencer.

o If this setting is not enabled, you will need to select a slot first, then press

Load.

o If the Cycle is enabled, then the load will be deferred (or queued) until

cycle reset (the sequence plays note 16 or a R or Rx note, or if the setting

is enabled – on a numbered jump). Only 1 can be queued – the last one

selected.

Save – will save the current sequence into this slot. If the slot is already

populated (green rather than gray), then an alert will pop up to confirm you

wish to overwrite.

There is no one-shot save like there is in Load as Save is more likely to be used

creating the bank, whilst load is for use during play.

Note : The cycle button has not effect for Save.

Include Controls button – used to load or save control information with the

data load/save. The controls are: Tempo, Clock Multiplier, Transpose, Loop

Type, Time (Step or Note), Invert button(on/off), Invert key, Ornaments

enabled(on/off), Key Scale(e.g. C# Minor).

This also includes the 16 defined Controllers (cc panel) and the 8 FX slots (fx

panel).

Show next button – use to toggle ranges of slots show: 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 & 31-

40. You can save to any slot – you don’t have to save them in order.

Selected slot – the selected slot is indicated by a yellow (if slot has data) or red

box (slot is empty).

Note: A tick in a slot – indicates that slot includes controls.

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Inputs & Outputs on the Devices Panel The devices panel will allow you modify & inspect your connections to coreMidi (the

software layer that handles Midi IO in IOS) as a list of input & output devices.

When MS launches it attempts to scan coreMidi to look for inputs & outputs, this is

the initial scan, it will recognize if you add/remove devices automatically for you

also. If you run apps (or stop them) when MS is already running, then you use the

Refresh button to update the list. The device MidiSequencer is always displayed.

Note: Network input is the same as output.

MidiSequencer Inputs Inputs to MS (called sources in coreMidi terms because they are a source of midi)

will allow you to read midi messages that are output from other apps that send midi

data to their listed destinations. This also includes hardware devices connected via

CCK USB (e.g. a mini keyboard or a USB midi interface).

You will need to activate the Record In button to use input – it can also be set using

Audiobus mini controls from another app.

Also Options may need to be set to enable this (e.g. SLAVE mode or Clock enable).

OMAC is a way of launching apps. Swipe the name or click the launch button when

lit to jump to the app). MS can also be jumped to by other OMAC apps.

Note : only one input can have receive midi clock!

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There are 6 main uses for inputs in MS:

Using a keyboard (or any midi source) to set the sequence notes, velocities &

CC’s

o The step advances with each midi note on

o Any type of CC (except sysex) is recorded only at the time of the note.

The CC will try and match those defined in your list of 16 (see CC panel).

Some CC’s require 2 bytes of data (e.g. NRPN or RPN)

Using a keyboard (or any midi source) to transpose a playing sequence

o If the sequence is playing, midi input (note on) is used to set the

sequence transpose. In this way you can quickly transpose using a

keyboard or automation source.

o The range of transpose is -36 to +36 semitones

Automated load of a sequence from the current bank (cc32)

o Midi controller 32 (if enabled in Options Panel) will automatically load a

snapshot (defined by the data value of CC32 : 1-20 for snapshot 1-20

(without controls) and 21-40 for snapshot 1-20 including controls).

o If Cycle is enabled, I will load the sequence on cycle reset

Running MS as a SLAVE (will use incoming clock to determine tempo)

o When MS is in SLAVE mode (set in Options Panel), the tempo controls

and the play button become unavailable. The tempo will say “WAIT”

until the sequencer receives a midi clock start or continue message. After

that, 24 midi clock messages will be timed to derive the BPM of the

sender.

o The Record In button isn’t required for SLAVE mode.

o A midi clock start ($FA) message always starts the sequencer from step 1

o A midi clock continue ($FB) message will start from the currently

selected step

o A midi clock message ($FC) will stop the sequencer if playing

o A 2nd midi clock stop message (i.e. a stop whilst sequencer already

stopped) will reset the sequencer to step 1

Midi Thru – passing all input (notes & CCs) to multiple active outputs

o If the input device has Midi Thru enabled, but not the FX, then it will

send any midi note on/off or CC message through to any active outputs.

o Each individual output can enable/disable notes, CC’s or FX notes.

Midi Thru as Fx to use MS as a midi fx on any note in.

o If the input device has Midi Thru enabled and the FX, then it will

simulate a step if it receives a midi note on. This simulation will act as if

the step was the same note & velocity as the midi note received, and

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default the length to the step time (which is determined by the tempo). It

will additionally pass this through the midi fx slots (1..8) just like normal

steps.

o If Note is disabled, it will play only Fx notes (e.g. Obligato or echo notes)

not the step notes

MidiSequencer Outputs Outputs from MS (destinations in coreMidi) will send midi messages to other apps

and connected midi hardware (via CCK for example or wifi).

To enable MS to drive another coreMidi app (or a hardware device) two things need

to be enabled:

The large Midi Mute button, bottom left of the screen, must be enabled and say

Midi Send. If Gray (and saying Midi Muted) no output will be sent. It exists to

quickly mute all output, and can be activated by the Audiobus mini controls

from another app.

The device you are trying to send midi too must be enabled in the Devices

Panel Outputs. This destination has to be active.

You can add latency (delay) to all messages being sent to an output device by dialing

in a 0 to 1000ms delay. This is in addition to the one in the Options panel. Use this

to delay faster responding devices (e.g. ipad apps) to synchronise with slower ones

(e.g. soft synth on a PC attached via CCK & a usb midi interface).

Only midi messages are ever sent to an output port, but these can be notes (on/off),

controls (continuous, NRPN,RPN, Aftertouch, Pitchbend etc) or data (sysex). There

is no audio, just midi messages.

As MS is a step sequencer, each (may) be transmitted when the sequencer reaches

that step (designated by the blue led on the screen). Steps may be muted, in which

case nothing is sent, except maybe fx.

A step can consist of the following:

Note pitch – a midi note (0..127) generated from the position of the note slider

modified by transpose, key scale and fx (which can also transpose, mute and

scale).

Note velocity – a loudness (0..127) with 0 meaning no volume, and 127

meaning maximum. This can also be modified by fx (which can adjust

volume).

Note Channel – one of 16 values 1 to 16. This is to allow devices to listen only

on one channel, although they can be set to OMNI which will allow them to

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listen to all channels. In MS use this create independent melodies and controls

to selected synths (e.g. Sunrizer on ch1, Animoog on ch2).

Gate % - this is the length of the note relative to the step interval (the time

given to each step to play to maintain tempo). This determines when the note

off message is sent.

CC message data A & B. You can define up to 16 controllers to use with MS in

the CC panel, and you would use the sliders to determine the data that goes

with that controller. For example you could set control 1 to CC 1, which is

continuous controller 1 (modwheel). This is one byte only (so doesn’t need B),

which means any value 0 to 127 would emulate the modwheel being changed

from min (0) to max (127) range. In some synths you can see the modwheel

moving position.

Sysex is a special kind of control data – you can send any sequence of midi

messages using this, or even chain them together (as control 2 is sent after

control 1) for longer messages.

Ornaments allow notes to be broken into smaller fragments without altering

the overall time – e.g. tremolo will split a note into two halves, the 2nd half

playing at an octave above the step note.

Chords and Added notes are a way of sending multiple notes in one step. Each

note can have a relative (to the step note) length and velocity defined.

Fx data. Some midi fx either modify data (transpose note or velocity or

channel), filter the whole step from being sent (filter or %probability), or

duplicate the step (echo or ostinato).

MS will output midi for the following:

1) Panic

Touch the panic button to send midi note off messages (for every

note/channel) to all outputs.

It will try and optimize to only transmit between min/max channels defined

in steps.

Midi controller 123 (all notes off) is also sent, but not all hardware/app

synths will recognize this.

2) Midi Clock

If the Options Panel Midi Clock is active and the output destination (in

Devices Panel) has Midi Clock active, then midi clock messages will be

transmitted.

a. Midi Clock Start – when Play pressed

b. Midi Clock Stop – when Stop pressed

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c. Midi Clock timing messages – when Play pressed, midi clock timing

messages will continue to be sent (6 per step, so 24 per beat).

Note: The tempo defines how fast these clock timing messages are

sent.

The MidiBus library has excellent accuracy for midi clock timing!

Files & Current Bank Files in MS are also called Banks. They are stored in the Documents folder of the app

and exist as files with the extension .bank (e.g. file1.bank).

You can use iTunes file sharing or apps like iFunBox to export or import banks.

A bank consists of a header and 40 snapshots.

Bank Header:

a. File name (up to 20 characters long – but certain characters restricted)

b. date last modified

c. user description (up to 120 characters long).

d. Number of snapshots (see 3 below) – will be 1 to 40.

Bank Snapshot 1..40 (if not empty)

Header information:

Music Scale (Chromatic, C Major etc

Control information (if Include Controls on):

Tempo (0 to 255) – multiplied by clock multiplier to give bpm

Clock multiplier (0.25,0.333,0.5,1,2,3,4)

Transpose (-36 to +36)

Loop Type (Forward, Reverse etc)

Time type (Step or Note)

Invert (on/off) & Key (0..127 for C-2 to G8)

Ornament play (on/off)

FX definition – slots 1 to 8 and the fx settings as defined in the fx panel.

Step information (for each of the 16 steps)

Note, velocity, gate%, channel

Muted, latched, chromatic

Chord (type & added notes)

Probability, swing, humanize (chance, note, vel)

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In MS there exists the current bank – which is a bank (complete with controls

and up to 40 snapshots) loaded into memory.

The main screen of MS (the 16 sliders and transport controls etc) is collectively

called a Sequence and represents one Snapshot + controls.

Important note : The File Panel does not load or save anything from the

Sequence (main screen) but only operates on the current bank in memory.

Likewise the Snapshot panel deals with loading snapshots from current memory

into the Sequence (main screen). It does however have a save bank option as a

shortcut, but the load works better with a list so is on the File Panel.

The following diagram explains this concept…

So, snapshots are loaded into the sequencer from the current bank, and saves of the

sequencer are saved in the current bank. The current bank is therefore a bank ‘in

memory’.

The Files Panel deals with loading & saving banks into the current bank.

The Snapshots Panel deals with loading snapshots into the sequencer, and saving

the sequencer to a snapshot. Note: It can also save the Bank as a shortcut.

The performance panel is a quick way of handling snapshot loading/saving, and you

might find yourself using this more than the Snapshots Panel slots for saving. There

is now a handy button to allow you to save the whole bank of snapshots to file.

Buttons exist on the Files & Snapshots panels to allow navigation to the other panels.

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Let’s now describe these panels in detail:

Files Panel

This panel is accessed via the Files button at the top of the sequencer screen. As this

screen is designed to complement the Snapshots Panel, the Snapshots Panel may

open instead if it was the last panel closed.

The files panel is used to manage bank storage in the iPads documents folder. From

this screen you can load & save banks, rename them or delete them.

Select a file from the list to display its description in the header. The list is displayed

in alphabetic order (A at top, Z at bottom). MS will also remember the last selected

filename when you enter back into this panel.

MS will also keep track of changes to loaded (or new) banks and prompt you to save

if exiting the panel or loading another bank.

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The following items are on this panel:

Exit button – closes this panel. MS will warn if it thinks a save is pending

(often indicated by yellow text and a * next to the filename), but you can

choose to exit without saving yet.

When next clicking the Files button this Files Panel will open (rather than the

Snapshots Panel).

Snapshot button – switches to the Snapshot panel (see next section)

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Filename – all banks can have a filename up to 15 characters long. Some

characters are restricted and replaced by a question mark. This file is actually

stored as <filename>.bank (e.g. Magellan bank 20 May1.bank).

When creating a new file, you will be prompted for a filename. You can also

rename an existing file (with the Rename button)

Description – all banks can also have text added which can be used to describe

the bank. You will be prompted for a description when creating the bank, but

you can modify this description later (in the Snapshots Panel).

Bank Function Buttons

o Load – loads a selected bank (from the Documents area of the app) and

replaces the current bank. Note: MS warns if the current bank has not

yet been saved.

o Save – saves the current bank to the selected bank file in the Documents

area of the app. MS will ask you to confirm.

o Rename – allows you to rename the file (and so the file in the

Documents area of the app). You will not be able to rename to a file that

already exists.

o Delete – allows you to delete the file from the Documents area of the

app. MS asks you to confirm as there is no way to get this file back after a

delete!

o New – you can create a new current bank. MS will give you options to:

Save as newBank (prompts you for a name) if you have started

creating snapshots without creating a current bank first.

Use current bank contents

This keeps the current bank, so not resetting anything. Use this

option to clone a bank, or started saving snapshots without starting

a new file.

RESET ALL TO DEFAULT

Cleans all current bank snapshots to empty removing any data you

have stored there. You will be taken to the Snapshots Panel –

which will be empty.

Keep current snapshot only

Cleans all current bank snapshots except the one you last selected

– which it will keep (and rename internally) as snapshot 1. Use this

option if you want to start a new bank with variations in this

snapshot.

Refresh List Buttons

These buttons list the files in order of name or date last modified. They

toggle, showing green if enabled.

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If you have just added files to the app documents folder click these to

refresh the list.

File list

The scrollable list of files is displayed in date modified order, with later files

shown at the top. Swip up or down the list to scroll when you have more files

listed than can be displayed in the window.

Snapshots Panel

This is the companion panel to the files panel and effectively handles the current

bank.

Note : The Performance panel mimics the load & save of snapshots into the

sequencer, so you may well be using that panel more during design & playing.

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The following items are on this panel:

Exit button – closes this panel. When next clicking the Files button next this

Snapshots Panel will open rather than the Files Panel.

File List button – switches to the Files panel (see previous section)

Filename – the current bank filename. If you double tap this box you can

change the filename. It will then be displayed in yellow (rather than white) and

display a * to indicate the current bank has changed.

Note: changing the filename here – will also rename the name on the files

panel – but you still have to save it (either by using the Save Bank button

here or the Save button in the Files Panel).

Description – current bank description. Double tap on the box to enter a

description. Note: This is the only place you can modify the description.

Modifying the description will highlight the description and filename text in

yellow and display a *.

Include Controls – determines if the snapshot load & save will include

controls. So for loading, with this button lit, it will update the sequence with

the tempo, transpose, invert, key scale etc values stored in the snapshot.

For saving, it will save the current sequencer tempo, key scale etc to the

snapshot.

The 16 steps (with their note, vel, gate, channel, CC1..4, mute, fx, chords etc)

will always be loaded/saved with a snapshot load/save action.

So this button gives you the option to save controls and not load them later

(e.g. to keep the tempo).

Number slots 1-20 – touch a slot to select that snapshot. It will highlight the

slot with a yellow frame (if it has data) or red frame (if it is currently empty).

The load snapshot & save sequence buttons will then use that slot. Note: only

20 of the possible 40 are shown here – use the performance panel to see the

additional 20.

Save Bank – will save the current bank to the file. This includes renaming. I

suggest saving the bank periodically when designing snapshots. It duplicates

the Save button in the Files Panel.

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Load Snapshot button – if a slot is selected, then will load that numbered

snapshot from this current bank into the sequencer. If Include Controls button

is lit, then it will modify the sequencer controls also.

Save Sequence button – if a slot is selected, then will save the sequencer to the

numbered snapshot in this current bank. If Include Controls button is lit, then

it will also save the sequencer controls.

Reset Snapshot button – if a slot is selected, then will remove the data for this

snapshot (turning the slot button gray). Use this to remove temporary

snapshots you no longer require in the bank.

Reset All button – resets all snapshots to empty and removes controls from the

current bank.

Share Bank button – will enable you to send an email with the bank as an

attachment. You can then use iTunes file sharing (or iFunBox for example) to

load this bank into another device running midiSequencer.

Note: You have to enable email on your iPad for this to work. Otherwise you

will need to extract the file from MS documents folder, which is probably the

preferred method anyway.

Note: incorrectly named or structured files in the Documents folder may

cause MS to crash. Please only use genuine .bank files created by MS in this

folder.

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Controller Panel The new Controller panel is designed to allow you to define the types of CC

that make up controllers CC1 to 16. Previously, this was in the Options Panel, but

with the increase to 16, it made sense to place this in its own panel.

It is designed to work with another new panel Pick Controller (see later

section) which will then define how the sliders allow you to set data values for CC’s

with no, one or two data values. The 2nd data value sliders can be picked by selecting

B (select A if you want the default or 1st data value).

Everything you see in the Controller Panel is saved in two places:

1) On disk when you exit – this is similar to the Options Panel, where MS will

remember your settings from the last time you opened the app.

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2) In Snapshots – so every snapshots now contains a copy of the Controller Panel.

Before v1.7 it was easy to remember just 4 CC’s – they were saved in the

options, but not in banks. With the rise from 4 to 16 and multiple types of

controller, it was necessary to save this with your sequence.

This can be used to great effect to change external equipment setups quickly.

The values for A & B are sent as individual bytes with the midi message (there

is no translation to 14 bit in MS), so A always means the first byte sent, B the second.

Midi CC’s are now defined with the following types:

CC (Continuous Controller )

o Data Slider A = data for CC (0..127)

o Data Slider B Not used

These are the pre-existing CC’s 0 through to 127 and are the common way of

altering synth parameters (panning, filter, resonance, note reset etc) with a

single byte (value 0 to 127).

Because these are single byte, B is never used.

The midi specification defines these, but many are left open to the

manufacturer to allocate. In fact some hardware reuses the special values (99-

101 & 6 & 38) used for NRPN, so you need to refer to your user manual to see

how this is interpreted!

Because of this redefinition, I have started to include some known translations

into MS. If you have a device you use and would like me to include a mapping

for it let me know and send me a list of how CC’s 0 to 127 translate to text.

As of v1.7 there are translations for Waldorf Q & Blofeld, Novation Ultranova,

Access Virus TI.

NRPN (Non Registered parameters) - manufacturer specific controller

o Data Slider A = data for top 7 bits (or value if 7 bit)

o Data Slider B = data for lower 7 bits (only if 14 bit)

These are used when the manufacturer wants more than 128 values for a

parameter(although many are defined with just 1 byte) – so are device specific

and sometimes quite extensive!

Please refer to this for an explanation : http://www.philrees.co.uk/nrpnq.htm

They are actually using CC 100 (NRPN coarse) & 101 (NRPN fine) to define the

controller. You can then send data messages using CC 6 (data coarse) and an

optional CC38 (data fine) to the same controller. It’s always good practice to

send NRPN 127 ($FF) at the end of a message, so MS does this.

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MS actually sends each NRPN as the following string of bytes (using a

combination of Controller Panel settings and slider values):

7 bit:

100 + Rotary A from CC Panel + 101 + Rotary B from CC Panel + 6 +

Slider Value A + 100 + 127 + 101 + 127.

14 bit:

100 + Rotary A from CC Panel + 101 + Rotary B from CC Panel + 6 +

Slider Value A + 38 + Slider value B + 100 + 127 + 101 + 127.

RPN (Registered parameters) – Midi specific controllers

o Data Slider A = data for top 7 bits (or value if 7 bit)

o Data Slider B = data for lower 7 bits (only if 14 bit)

These are midi standard messaged, however only 6 of these were ever defined!

Please refer to http://www.midi.org/techspecs/midimessages.php#3a

They send data like the NRPN but use 98 & 99 instead of 100 & 101.

MS does allow you to send 7 or 14 bit RPN’s – just like NRPN, but again you

would probably only want to use these:

o 0,0 = Pitchbend sensitivity (14 bit) – A is semitones, B is cents (100ths of

a semitone)

o 0,1 = Channel fine tuning (14 bit) – 2 semitone range (-1 to 0 to +1)

where 0 represents A440 standard tuning. 0=-1 semitone, $ffff (so

A=127+B=127)=+1 semitone,$4000(so A=64,B=0)=A440.

o 0,2 = Channel coarse tuning (7 bit) – tuning displacement (0=-64

semitones, 64=none, 127=+63 semitones).

o 0,3 = Tuning program select

o 0,4 = Tuning bank select

o 0,5 = Modulation depth range

Program Change – change to program number 0..127

o Data Slider A = new program number

o Data Slider B Not used

You could use this with CC’s 0 (Bank Select coarse) & 32 (Bank Select fine) to

select a Bank then a Program. Make sure the CC’s are defined in strict order

(0,32 then PChg in the list of 1 to 16 that are available).

Aftertouch – either monophonic or polyphonic pressure

o Data Slider A = Amount of aftertouch (0..127)

o Data Slider B Not used

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This message represents you pressing harder on a key when it reaches the

bottom of the keybed. A lot of synths then apply some sort of modulation to

this (pitchbend, tremolo etc).

Aftertouch applies to a midi channel – so will not affect other devices listening

on other midi channels).

Midi has two types of message to represent this:

o Monophonic Aftertouch

This means apply aftertouch to all held keys in this midi channel – so

holding a chord and then pressing harder on one key in that chord would

affect all other notes in that chord.

This message requires one data byte (as the value) – so uses only Data A.

o Polyphonic Aftertouch

This means apply aftertouch to a specific held key in this midi channel –

so holding a chord and then pressing harder on one key in that chord

would only apply aftertouch to that one key.

This message requires two data bytes (a note and a value), but as MS is a

step sequence it already has the step note, so only requires Data A.

Note that midi aftertouch (like all other CC’s) is sent after the note on message

as it needs to apply to a held note(s).

Sysex – up to 76 bytes of any data

o Data Slider A : Value 0 = don’t send for step, >0 means send for step

o Data Slider B Not used

This message type allows you to send a string of bytes to the midi channel (of

the current step). You can enter this string in a special sysex editor panel

accessed by double tapping the text on the Controller Panel.

The Data A control is used to decide if the string of bytes is sent.

The string does not have to be sysex data so considerations are:

o If using as sysex start with F0 and end with F7 – failure to supply the F7

will result in the device hanging (as it expects the F7 to finish sysex).

o You can specify up to 76 bytes here, so you could include normal midi

messages (note on, CC reset, NRPN etc) but it’s up to you to define.

o You could specify multiple sysex’s (or any non sysex message) in one

string (e.g. F0 … F7 … F0 .. F7 etc) – just remember to always match F0

& F7!

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o If 76 bytes is not enough, MS sends active CC’s one after the other (CC1,

then 2, etc up to 16) – so you could continue the message by defining

another sysex! Again there should always F0 & F7’s matched – but they

can be in different CC’s.

So you have defined your controllers (which may require one or two bytes of data),

how do you use the sliders to set the data?

The show buttons at the bottom of the screen have been modified – it used to show

CC1,CC2,CC3 & CC4. Now there is just one (longer) CC button and two buttons

called A & B (which may or may not be enabled).

When you click the longer CC button, MS will :

If you previously were displaying another type of control (Note, gate, Channel

or Velocity) just show the sliders for Data A, or

Pop open an Pick Controller panel – which presents all 16 controllers and

there state (active, type etc) from which you can select. You can even select

inactive ones – MS will warn you. You might want to do this to setup data

whilst MS is playing so as not to hear you sweep through values!

Pick Controller Panel Whilst the Controller Panel defines the type of CC’s, the Pick Controller panel

is used to select which of the 16 should be displayed on the main screen. This means

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the sliders used for data entry.

As controller data can be 14 bit, this is represented by two different sets of

sliders, A & B which enabled as appropriate to the type of controller selected:

CC – only A enabled

NRPN & RPN– only A enabled, unless 14 bit in which case B is also enabled.

Program Change – only A enabled

Aftertouch – only A enabled

Pitchbend – A & B enabled. Note that B isn’t much used and may usually be 0

or 64 if being recorded.

Sysex – only A enabled. The sliders only have 0 and non-zero meaning –

where non zero means send sysex, and 0 means don’t send sysex.

The Pick Controller is invoked by single tapping the longer CC button. This never

occurs if just switching from another (non-CC) type of display –just in case you

wanted to keep the current CC displayed.

On the screen there exists:

A ‘Controllers’ button to take you straight into the Controller Panel

An exit button to close the panel (or you can just click outside the panel)

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16 individual buttons (laid out in two columns of 8) to select the CC. If this

button is lit (green rather than gray) , it indicates the CC is currently active.

Selecting the button will close this panel and change the sliders to display

the data for the selected CC. Also, the long show CC button label will be

updated and the A,B buttons enabled/disabled accordingly.

The text to the left of the button gives an indication of what type of CC this

is. This text will be coloured yellow if there are non-zero values in the data,

and gray if it is currently at default (all zero values for A & B).

So remember A & B should be enabled/disabled automatically for you according to

the CC type. You can still enter data even if the CC is disabled. Tap the long CC

button to pick another CC. Tap the A or B buttons to view the first or second data.

Note: An anomaly in midi messaging is the pitchbend. It’s 14 bit so requires A & B,

but whereas A normally means MSB & B LSB the midi message for Pitchbend send

LSB first followed by MSB. MS will reverse this for you when outputting midi, so

treat A as MSB & B as MSB – like the NRPN’s etc.

Recording CC’s

MS will recognize midi input if enabled. It needs to be enabled in three places 1)

Record button (round button next to the right of the big yellow Midi Send button

and 2) Options panel – where you can selectively enable/disable recording of CC’s

(or indeed CC32 used for snapshot loading). The third place is the Devices panel –

Input – which needs to be active.

MS will record all types of CC’s except sysex. It will try and match the input midi CC

control with any active CC and will use the current step to set the data . It handles

each type slightly differently and will try and match NRPN/RPN CC’s to both high &

low controls.

CC32 is special in that it loads a snapshot too.

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Using MidiThru to play Fx MS can take input midi on notes and play dummy notes (using the midi on message

pitch, velocity & channel) in the sequencer. This includes midi fx. It will send this

dummy step to any active output (that hasn’t filtered notes & fx).

You need :

1) Record In button enabled

2) Input device active

3) midi thru + FX enabled in your input device

4) Options record channel set to omni (or at least the channel you are sending on)

5) a note on message from the input If you have this right, the midi In LED should

flash.

To get it out of MidiSequencer, you need (as per normal sequencer output of fx).

6) Options Panel send FX (and normally note)

7) Some FX setup in the FX panel 8) Midi Send enabled.

So, get a sequence to play FX out first (6..8), then switch to using input 1..4. Sorry

it's complicated, but MS allows you to filter per midi endpoint (i.e. port on an

interface) and has many options for routing endpoint to endpoint. If you get this

working, then you could try sending the note to one device and the fx to another....

Using MidiSequencer with Audiobus Since version 1.5 MS is available as an input in Audiobus even though it doesn’t

really use audio as a generator.

It can still operate outside of Audiobus, but having MS as an input allows you to

control MS from other apps that are also running in Audiobus.

Steps to add MS to Audiobus

1. Runup Audiobus

2. Select MidiSequencer as as input.

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3. Add a synth (e.g. sunrizer) and fx (e.g. crystalline) and an output

4. From within MS you can go to (and possibly control) other Audiobus apps

Here you can see the AB panel on the right edge.

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5. And from within other Audiobus apps you can control MidiSequencer. Here is

an example of Sunrizer (but it would be the same for all other Audiobus apps).

6. The Audiobus control panel will show the following:

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Reset to step1, Play (or stop if MS is playing), Midi In (enabled if says

IN/disabled if no text), Midi Out (enabled if says OUT/disabled if no text)

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Chords & Added Notes With v1.6, MS now has the ability to add additional notes to every step, either as

chords or individually added notes. Up to 127 notes can be added to the step

although you are more likely to add 2 or 3!

Note : This screen only available as an IAP, but you can try this out in the Lite

version.

A new UI panel has been designed to make entry of these additional notes as easy

and as quick as possible by using a 2 octave keyboard where you can select the keys.

This keyboard can be shifted to cover the full 10 octave range of midi (C-2 to G8).

Using a set of preset chords, it is possible to add basic chords to the step note.

In this screen, all chords and notes relate to the step note – they are stored internally

as intervals from this step note. It is however possible to make any additional note

the new step note.

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You can also invert all chords/added notes by inverting up or down, and this

includes the step note.

The new UI screen is available in the Skip Button panel – so click the blue Chords

button and the Chords panel will appear. It is possible to return to the Skip panel by

selecting the Skip button.

Note: MS remembers which screen you had open last time (Skip or Chords) and

will open that screen when you next click a skip button with no panel shown (much

like the Files/Snapshots panel).

The description of each control is defined (top to bottom, left to right)

Step Note – details about the step note you are adding notes to. Will show the

enharmonic note name, velocity & gate. Remember these step details can be

modified in this screen

Chord note – pressing the preset buttons will automatically add notes to the

step. These chord notes are highlighted as yellow (like the step), on the

keyboard (added notes are green). They function identically to added notes,

but are just coloured for reference. They may also be converted to added notes

(which removes the chord and changes the colour to green).

Step number – shown in the title for reference

Title – shows the Step number selected (e.g. Step 8 Added Notes)

Count – how many notes are being added to the step note (e.g. Maj would add

two additional notes).

Scale – shows the currently selected scale and the notes of that scale for

reference. Any notes not in the scale are considered foreign but you can still

pick them (see foreign notes button below).

Skip button – closes this panel and opens the skip button panel

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Exit button – closes this panel

Selected note indicator – A green dot that shows you which key is being shown

in the bottom right hand panel at the moment.

Touch keys – added notes are toggled on/off by touching the keys. Chord notes

can’t be toggled(they wouldn’t be preset chords then), but can be converted.

Keyboard octave – The keyboard range shown is C2 to C3 to C4 by default. You

can alter this range by using the + or – or Step or C3 buttons, and the

keyboard range will show the correct octave (-2 to 8).

Preset chord buttons – allow you to quickly add notes to a step in a predefined

pattern (i.e. a chord which has a fixed interval pattern). All notes are shown in

yellow and relate to the step note. The available presets are:

Row 1:

None No chord – select if you want to remove an existing chord, or want to just have added notes. It is the default setting for steps.

Major The major chord is +4 +7 intervals above the step note.

Minor The minor chord is +3 +7 intervals above the step note.

Augmented The augmented chord is +4 +8 intervals above the step note.

Diminished The diminished chord is +3 +6 intervals above the step note.

Dominant 9th The dominant 9th chord is +4 +7 +10 +14 intervals above the step note.

Row 2:

Invert + Inverts the chord (including any added notes) – making the bass (lowest note) the treble (highest note). Also works on the step note.

Half Diminished 7th The half-diminished 7th chord is +3 +6 +10 intervals above the step note.

Diminished 7th The diminished 7th chord is +3 +6 +9 intervals above the step note.

Minor 7th The minor 7th chord is +3 +7 +10 intervals above the step note.

Minor Major 7th The minor major 7th chord is +3 +7 +11 intervals above the step note.

Dominant 11th The dominant 11th chord is +4 +7 +10 +14 +17 intervals above the step note.

Row 3:

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- Invert Inverts the chord (including any added notes) – making the treble (highest note) the bass (lowest note). Also works on the step note.

Dominant 7th The dominant 7th chord is +4 +7 +10 intervals above the step note.

Major 7th The major 7th chord is +4 +7 +11 intervals above the step note.

Augmented 7th The augmented 7th chord is +4 +8 +10 intervals above the step note.

Augmented Major 7th The augmented major 7th chord is +4 +8 +11 intervals above the step note.

Dominant 13th The dominant 13th chord is +4 +7 +10 +14 +17 +21 intervals above the step note.

The selected note section allows you to inspect and modify any chord or added

note (even the step note!). It has controls for Velocity & Gate% and turning

notes into the step note.

o Make Step button – will be enabled (lit) only if the selected note is an

added note or chord note. Selecting this will automatically adjust all

other notes to be relative added notes to this new step note.

o 100% button – resets the velocity & gate to 100% values (the default

value of any added note or chord note)

o Velocity slider – allows you to modify the loudness (midi velocity) as a

percentage of the step note. 100% will therefore sound the note at the

same loudness as the step. 0% will not sound the note.

When the step note is selected, this will adjust the velocity between 0

and 127 (with 100% being 127). All added notes will then play at their

defined velocity %’s in relation to this step velocity.

o Gate% slider – allows you to modify the length (duration) as a

percentage of the step note. 100% will therefore play the note (time

before midi note off is sent) at the same time as the step.

The minimum gate% is 1% (as 0 would be no time).

When the step note is selected, this will adjust the steps gate% directly

(1-400%). All added notes will then play at their defined durations in

relation to this step duration.

Note that if the added note gate% is 400% and the step gate is 400%

then the added note could sound for up to 1600% (400x400) of the

normal step time interval!

So remember, added note velocity & gate values are relative to the step note.

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The controls under the keyboard provide ranging and some additional

functionality:

Step Button – alter the range of the keyboard to show the step note. Use this if

you want to quickly display the step note.

Foreign notes button – will display a round red f icon on all keys that are

foreign to the scale (e.g. in c major this would be all the black keys). Press

again to remove.

- button – will reduce the keyboard range shown by 1 octave (if not already at

the minimum C-2).

C3 button – will center the keyboard range on middle C (C3).

+ button – will increase the keyboard range shown by 1 octave (if not already

at the maximum C8).

Convert button – allows you to change the preset chord (shown as yellow

notes) into added notes (green). This sets the preset chord to None.

As preset chords are a handy way of creating a group of note intervals you

could use this to combine chords (pick chord, convert, pick another etc).

When playing, chord notes are really the same as added notes, so chords are

really only for quick pick & display.

Clear button – removes the current chord (setting it to None) and removes all

added notes. A quick way to start again.

Save & Restore Preset buttons – allows you to create a copy of the keyboard

notes & chord in memory and restore it either a) on another step or b) to undo

changes you have made. Use this to quickly copy chords to multiple steps.

Note : Chords & added notes can be delayed using Cycle. If you make multiple

changes, the latest will be used.

So what limitations currently exist for chords/added notes?

Because they are, by definition, fixed intervals, transposition will not conform

to scale. This may be added in a later version as an option though.

Inversions up & down was considered the best approach rather than having 1st,

2nd inversion etc. The reason being is that you might have 20 notes in a chord

– so there would be 19 different inversions possible.

Not all chords are available as presets. I have therefore designed this with the

most commonly available. Remember you can add any chord you want using

added notes – chord presets are only a shortcut.

Added note velocity is restricted to 0-100% of the step note, so therefore this

added note cannot be louder than the step note (although it can be longer).

This might be changed in a future version.

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Playing 127 note chords will probably not be very performant on older

technology (ipad 2 say) – remember every note (incl step & ornaments) need

to be sent to every output device you activate – so with a fast tempo, small

gate% - this is 1000’s of midi notes in only a few milliseconds!

At the moment there is no way to copy chords/added notes from one step to

another – that will be added in a future version though.

Midi Learn – Autimating MS It is now possible to control midiSequencer controls via use of a midi CC which may

either be set manually or learnt (from incoming midi data).

Click the MidiLean button at the top of the screen, and this overaly will appear. Click

the midiLean button again to get back to normal mode.

There are two ways to set a mapping:

a) Tap the gray box which overlays the control. It will turn blue. Hold and drag

up or down. This will manually set the midi CC used to control. Any value 1 to

127 is allowed. – is shown if set to 0 to indicate note mapped.

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b) Tap the gray box overlaying the control and MS will map any incoming midi

controller number to the box.

c) Clear button – will wipe all current mappings

The controls that can be mapped are:

Tempo – values 1..127 allowed. It will however use the current clock multiplier

to scale the tempo.

Loop Type

Invert On/Off

Invert Key

Midi Out Mute On/Off

Transpose

All 16 Step notes

All 16 Step velocities

All 16 Step gate%

All 16 Step channels

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Midi Continuous Controllers A midi controller (CC1 to CC16) defined as a CC (continuous controller type) has its

control set by a rotary in the Control Panel.This can be any number from 0 to 127

and can be set regardless of the midi standard definitions for these.

MS now has some inbuilt hardware mappings for these (Waldorf Q, Blofeld,

Novation Ultranova and Access Virus TI). Many can be added in future on a request

basis.

Please refer to the midi implementation section of your hardware manuals to

understand how they use these internally.

Note - Control 7 (Main Volume) can mute the hardware!

Control Code Usable? Description

0 No Bank Select (Controller # 32 more commonly used)

1 Yes Modulation Wheel. Is the default CC1 control.

2 Yes Aftertouch/Breath Control. Is the default CC2 control.

3 No Undefined

4 Yes Foot Controller

5 Yes Portamento Time

6 No Data Entry MSB

7 Yes

Main Volume. Sometimes makes you think midi isn’t working

when default CC value 0 sent! Useful to stop sequencer when

changing controls with the rotary!

8 Yes Balance

9 No Undefined

10 Yes Pan

11 Yes Expression controller

12 & 13 Maybe? Effect Control 1 & 2.

14 & 15 No Undefined

16 to 19 Yes General Purpose Controllers (Nos. 1-4)

20 to 31 No Undefined

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32 to 63 Maybe? LSB for Controllers 0-31 (rarely implemented)

64 Yes Damper Pedal (Sustain) [0-63=0ff, 64-127=On]

65 Yes Portamento

66 Yes Sostenuto

67 Yes Soft Pedal

68 Yes Legato Footswitch

69 Yes Hold 2

70 to 79 Maybe? Sound Controller 1 to 10.

80 to 83 Yes General Purpose Controllers (Nos. 5-8)

84 Yes Portamento Control

85 to 90 No Undefined

91 to 95 Yes Effects 1 to 5 Depth

96 Yes Data Increment

97 Yes Data Decrement

98 Maybe? Non-Registered Parameter Number LSB

99 Maybe? Non-Registered Parameter Number MSB

100 Maybe? Registered Parameter Number LSB

101 Maybe? Registered Parameter Number MSB

102 to 120 No Undefined

121 Maybe? Reset all controllers

122 Maybe? Local Control

123 Yes All Notes Off

124 Yes Omni off

125 Yes Omni on

126 Yes Mono on (Poly off)

127 Yes Mono off (Poly on)

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Please refer to the midi.org website

(http://www.midi.org/techspecs/midimessages.php) & your own hardware manual

for interpretations on these controls.

Common Issues & Useful info 1) You can select a step by touching the area of the screen that displays the Step

number & LED. You can do this whilst the sequencer is playing to interrupt the

sequence logic.

2) No Midi output?

midiSequencer currently does not show a list of all the devices

(destinations) it sends midi messages to (it will do soon). This list is managed

by Apple’s coreMidi libraries, so any app also using coreMidi should be visible

to midiSequencer as it automatically refreshes & auto connects/disconnects

every 5 seconds.

Some things to check if you are not hearing anything:

a) Make sure the midi channel being sent is enabled on the receiving app or

midi hardware synthesizer.

b) Ensure your iPad synth app is playable from within it’s own screen. E.g. if

using audioBus ensure there is an output (e.g. loudspeaker)

c) Ensure that your iPad synth app has background audio on, otherwise when

you switch to the midiSequencer screen it will go silent.

d) Check you have midiSequencer background midi on (in the Options

Panel). The default is on and should never really need to be switched off

(unlike some synth audio apps).

e) To get midiSequencer to show in a list of devices on a synth app, enable the

the virtual source in the Options Panel. This tells midiSequencer to send

midi out as ‘midiSequencer’ virtual device.

It should not make any difference if midiSequencer or the synth app is started

first, but please check your synth app manual as it may be required to start

first.

3) Glitchy audio or step-timing?

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midiSequencer at high speeds will tax your iPad’s cpu. This will take away

valuable cpu cycles from any audio applications you also have running. There

should not be any problems with memory as it has a small footprint.

It’s important to remember that an iPad isn’t a PC and Apple’s implementation

of IOS does not yet provide rock-solid timing although every effort has been

made, and will continue to be made in midiSequencer to provide stable

timing intervals.

I suggest trying not to runup other apps whilst the sequencer is running if you

are recording as this is heavy on cpu. For the best results, run them up first to

ensure they are in memory.

For example, I would switch off auto-lock in the settings/general as this will

blank your screen and glitch any application currently running!

4) MS crashes when opening Files Panel

Note: incorrectly named or structured files in the Documents folder may

cause MS to crash. Please only use genuine .bank files created by MS in this

folder.

5) Ornaments don’t sound?

Ornaments can be globally disabled using this button in the controls section

(lower middle of main sequencer screen)

If your ornaments aren’t sounding correct, remember that the gate % will

affect the length of the notes too, so set gate to 100% for normal operation.

At higher speeds you may not hear ornaments (as they are just too fast).

6) No CC’s being output?

make sure midi Send button on the main screen is enabled (yellow)

select cc button (on far left) to open controller panel

for CC1, dial in an appropriate CC controller (e.g. 1 is mod wheel), then

enable it (press 1 say). close this panel.

In main screen at bottom, press the longer CC button (above A & B), this

being clicked the first time, switches the sliders to show CC1 data. The A

button is lit, B is unlit (as CC's only have 1 data byte)

draw or move the sliders

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So that's the sequencer defined to play CC1 (as 1=mod wheel) with every step.

Lets check everything is enabled.

Open the Options Panel & make sure Master is enabled, output latency is

reasonable (<=120ms say), playback options are enabled for Notes, CC's

& FX. Close the options panel

Click Devices button to open the Devices Panel. It shows the Outputs by

default first time. Make sure MidiSequencer is enabled (you can disable

all others), select it in the list - make sure Active is on, and 'send midi for'

notes, CC & FX are all on. Close this panel.

Press play on the sequencer and you should get CC's sent out with notes.

Also, make sure your synth is setup to receive midi cc's and that you are

sending/receiving on the same midi channel (e.g. 1)?

Some synths use some CCs internally (e.g. sunrizer uses CC1) - so try

something like 73.

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Support AMS Software hope you enjoy using the midiSequencer with your own iPad &

hardware synthesizers. However, if you do have any issues or want to report a bug,

please email us on: midisequencer@amssoftware.org including as much information

as you can to allow us to recreate it.

Please check the product web-site : http://amssoftware.org/index.hml to find out

any additional info on this software, known issues etc. You can get this from the Info

page in the app.

If you feel that this app is missing a really cool feature or a neat trick, we would also

love to hear from you.

Also, if you’ve made an interesting track using this software we would love to hear it

and include a link on the product page.

Like some of the features or graphic design of midiSequencer but would like this

included in your own app? We would be happy to discuss consultancy with your

team.

Planned developments include:

More complex loop types (user programmable)

Song/Phrase/Pattern screen – to allow you to drag n drop

patterns(=snapshots) into an arrangement and have them play in a logical

sequence (e.g. repeat, jump, stop, transpose, change key etc).

Simpler versions to focus on types of play (e.g. note intervals rather than

absolute notes, rotaries rather than sliders)

Independent MidiFx app.

Grid editing (piano roll) option for those who prefer more modern note entry

and drawing lengths.

Realtime recording of midi and saving to standard midi files.

iPhone, Mac OSX & Android development – starting with MidiFx.

Note : I use the facebook product page to maintain a blog:

Product page : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Midisequencer/558588387561014

If you like midiSequencer, please support its development by leaving a review on

iTunes as it will help me maintain this product.

Tony Saunders

AMS Software

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30th Dec 2014