Note Pattern

Controls: Sgram/PT Dialog >> Pitch-to-MIDI >> Setup
Changes: Nv.i0="string", Nv=n
Table: Note Pattern Characters

See Voice Pattern Overview.

When a letter is present in a Note Pattern, the note it represents (as shown in Note Pattern Characters) is played instead of an input Pitch Track note. The note played will be relative to the Pattern Key, and unless Tempo Mode is set to Percussion it will also include +/-Note.

The Note Pattern letter assumes that the Pattern Key is a C. This means that anywhere an uppercase 'C' appears in the pattern, the note that is played will be identical to the Pattern Key (assuming no +/-Note value). An uppercase 'D' will be 2 semitones higher than Pattern Key.

Since the Pitch Track input is ignored, a letter Note Pattern is generally not used for a Voice Setup that is tracking a live input, but rather for voices that are providing background rhythm or melody lines. (But see below about using numerals and symbols.)

For DaqMusiq or KaleidoSynth performances, a Note Pattern can also be used to provide a complete song that can then be modified via Changes commands.

Or, with a random input source, selected notes can be inserted to provide a common theme or motif in an otherwise-changing performance. Such notes can be entered directly into the pattern if they are to be constant, or they can be derived from the input stream and "frozen" into one or more input buffers for subsequent insertion into the performance, and for possible modification over time.

Numeral and some symbol characters may also be used in a Note Pattern, as shown in Note Pattern Characters. These specify notes that are a certain distance (plus or minus) from the input note. In this case the Pattern Key is ignored, and normal Scale and Range operations are performed, including addition of the +/-Note value.

Numerals and symbols may be used with live input tracking to provide a harmonizing pattern as background for the main voice. They may also be used with a DaqMusiq or KaleidoSynth performance to create multiple interwoven voices from the same random input source.

The '+' and '-' symbols are "Blue" notes, which allow "playing in the cracks". The '+' is a half-semitone above the input note, and '-' is a half-semitone below.

A pattern may hold up to 256 notes. The control uses a fixed-width font so that each character lines up with the position indicator and corresponding Velocity Pattern above, and any Chord Pattern entries below. You can use normal mouse or keyboard scroll operations during entry, or the Pattern Scroll controls for later review.

Where no note is to be played, use a '.' (period) as a spacer.

If a note is to be held for multiple beats, place the note character at the position of only the first of those beats, with the desired velocity at the corresponding position above it in the Velocity Pattern.

Then for each additional beat the note should be held, use an '_' (underscore) at the corresponding position in the Velocity Pattern, and use period spacers in the Note Pattern (and Chord Pattern). It actually doesn't matter what you use as a spacer in these other patterns below an underscore in Velocity, since it will be ignored anyway. But a period or a blank space makes things clearer when viewing the pattern.

Note: When you conclude an edit that extends the Note Pattern beyond the end of the current Velocity Pattern, the Velocity Pattern is padded with '8' characters (maximum velocity) to match. You may then edit the Velocity Pattern as desired.

MIDI Changes Script:

Nv.i0="string" sets "string" characters to the Note Pattern for Voice v starting at position index i0, which which may be any unsigned integer or valid expression, including current MIDI control values, random values, current computer keyboard states or mouse position, input or buffered notes, or oscillators. The period before the index must be present. The index value will be limited to 0-255.

If the start index points to a position past the end of the current pattern, the intervening positions will be padded with '0', causing input notes to be used directly.

The entered "string" must include the surrounding quotes, and may have an arbitrary number of characters. Any characters that would extend past the 255 position will be truncated.

You can also use Nv=n to toggle the Note Pattern on or off, where n is any integer or valid expression. If it is 0, the Note Pattern for Voice v is off, otherwise it is on.

Alternatively, you can use x instead of a value to toggle the current state. For example, N2=x toggles the current Note Pattern state for Voice 2.

If you use Nv on the right side of an expression, it returns the current toggle state of the Note Pattern for voice v.

When the Note Pattern is active, letter characters replace the notes in the live input stream; when it is off, the live (scaled and range-limited) stream is used instead. You can use this with a DaqMusiq or KaleidoSynth performance to alternate between static and changing melodies or rhythms.

Note that you can use pv=n to set the overall pattern position pointer at any time. See the discussion under Voice Pattern Overview.

Note that you may also use the Buffer Copy or Xchange commands to copy or swap selected portions of the same or two different Note Patterns, including reversing their sequence.

Unlike Velocity or Chord Patterns, Note Pattern characters can also be copied to and from input note buffers, or swapped with them. The note buffers can then be used as inputs to the same or other voices.

Note that the special '+' and '-' "Blue" note characters will continue to work properly when copied or swapped among Note Patterns, but they will not survive copying from a Note Pattern to an input note buffer... they will be treated like '0' characters (unchanged input note.)

Note that you can not use "voice" 9 to set all voice patterns at once.

See also Voice Pattern Overview, Note Pattern Character Table, MIDI Voice Setup Dialogs, Pitch-to-MIDI dialog, Pitch Track Toolbox - Overview