combining the PC sequencer and the MIDIBOX to record patterns

[bosone]

in the following i will explain how to increase the power of the "record" function of the midibox sequencer.

main idea: you can create a MIDI pattern in sonar / cubase/logic and "transfer" it to the sequencer, to be tweaked, edited, combined to your songs or to other patterns.

maybe you are already doing this... but anyway! :)

i will refer to sonar as a midi sequencer (cubase/logic/etc are the same).

the "sequencer" is inteded to be the MIDIBOX SEQUENCER 3 (not to confuse with sonar/cubase/logic, etc)

create a MIDI pattern on sonar / cubase . at the beginning let's keep its  length to just 1 bar.

it's a wise idea to quantize it to 16th.

i noticed that it is better to create a several-bar-loop with that bar: so just copy that bar several times in order to create a seamless loop

- now  assign this track to the computer midi OUTPUT port connected to the sequencer midi INPUT. this is because we are going to send midi event from the PC to the sequencer.

togli da SFP ogni uscita del sequencer: il sequencer non deve suonare nulla, se no si rischiano loopback!

- pick up a blank pattern on the midibox sequencer and select its first track (lets mute all the other tracks for now!)

- set up its length to 16 (no "chain" for now!) and the normal divider (clock=4). the track events should be note/vel/length

- press the "utility" button and then the "Rec." button

- the record menu parameters should be:

record mode= realtime

Astart= I tried both on and off and it works the same

Step=1

recorded layers= note, vel, length

- now, go back to sonar and put to "solo" the "SEQ CONTROL TRACK". place the transport 2 or three bar before the pattern you created.

- press play on sonar

- once the whole 1 bar pattern in sonar has been played, stop sonar (the midibox sequencer should stop by itself).

- press "edit" on the sequencer in order to exit from the recording page

- now, you should have the 1bar recorded on the sequencer. you can press play on the sequence and let it play.

trick: if you select "transpose" as track mode you can change the pitch. try also "ForceScale", and tweak "Track Direction" in order to obtain variations. you can also act on controllers to change the sound in realtime once the loop is playing.

now, lets expand our mind, and record a 4 bar loop into the sequencer. this is a bit more tricky. you can apply the same ideas to record an 8 bar loop.

as before, lets start to record, in sonar, an 4 bar loop with variations.

pick up a blank pattern on the midibox sequencer and select its first track. i will assume the other tracks are/patterns are empty, too.

trick: set the length of the first and the second track to 32 (instead of 16!). do NOT set up chain mode

now, split the 4 bar in sonar into 2, each consisting of 2 bar. you now have 2x2bar. the idea is: the first part will be recorded into track 1, the second part into track2, and we will chain track1 and track2

following the same method explained before, record the first part (the first and the second bar) into track 1.

now, always following the same method , record the second part (the third and the fourth bar) into track 2.

go back to track 1 length page and set up chain mode to 1->2

playback track !

you can apply the same tricks as before (transpose, track direction, etc)

if yo uwant to record an 8-bar loop,. you will have to chain tracks 1,2,3,4 of the same pattern. the idea is the same!!

IMPORTANT: i have found that, in some case the gate length is not appropriately recorded, so that some steps are recorded shorted on the sequencer. i cannot understand why, but some times i had to manaully adjust the gats of some steps.

i have also recorded some waves explaining what i have done. in the following week i will upload them and, when i have time, i will create a wiki document

maybe some images will help, also...

let me know your comments!