Getting started

Getting started: your first sound from Oxidzr

Oxidzr makes no sound of its own: it plays other instruments over MIDI. So the first step is always the same. Pick something to play, connect Oxidzr to it, then write a few notes.

What you need

Something that makes sound and listens to MIDI. A synth or drum app on the iPad, or a hardware synth connected over USB or Bluetooth MIDI. See Sequence hardware synths for hardware.
Oxidzr, as the app or as the plugin. The standalone app has its own play button, tempo, MIDI clock, metronome and Ableton Link. The AUv3 MIDI plugin runs inside a host such as AUM, which provides the transport, the tempo and the routing. Both have the same sequencers and modes. The full comparison is in the guide.

If you already use AUM, start with the plugin. If you want to play a single synth app or a piece of hardware, the standalone app is the shortest route.

In AUM, as a plugin

AUM treats Oxidzr as an Audio Unit MIDI processor: a plugin that produces MIDI rather than audio.

Add your instrument. Create a channel in AUM and load a synth into it, as you normally would.
Load Oxidzr. Add Oxidzr Sequencer from AUM’s list of Audio Unit MIDI processors. Tap its slot to open its window.
Route it. Open AUM’s MIDI routing and connect Oxidzr’s output to the synth.
Write some notes. Sequencer 1 starts in Mono mode on MIDI channel 1. Tap a few cells on the grid, or tap Random above it for a ready-made line.
Press play in AUM. Oxidzr has no play button in the plugin: it follows AUM’s transport and tempo.

Each of the 8 sequencers sends on its own MIDI channel, 1 to 8 by default. If your synth listens on one channel only, set it to channel 1 (or omni) for now. To play several instruments from one Oxidzr, route its output to each of them and give each sequencer the channel its instrument listens on.

The plugin saves its state with AUM’s session or preset. Clock, the metronome, Ableton Link and Help are in the standalone app only. In AUM, use AUM’s own.

As the standalone app

The standalone app sends MIDI two ways at once: through its own virtual MIDI source, called Oxidzr Sequencer, and to one destination you choose with MIDI Out.

Connect your instrument. Do one of these:
- In the synth app’s MIDI input settings, pick Oxidzr Sequencer as the source. Leave Oxidzr’s MIDI Out on Virtual only.
- Or, in Oxidzr, tap » at the top to open the transport settings, then choose the synth app, a USB interface or a Bluetooth device under MIDI Out.
Write some notes. Tap cells on sequencer 1’s grid, or tap Random.
Press ▶ at the top left. Set the speed with Tempo in the transport settings.

Use one of those two connections, not both. If the synth listens to the virtual source and is picked under MIDI Out, every note arrives twice.

MIDI Out goes back to Virtual only each time the app opens, so pick the destination again after a restart.

Your first sequence

Sequence 1 is a 16-step Mono line in C major. A few things to try:

Make a note longer: drag its right end. Hold a note to open its step editor, with velocity, length, repeats, probability and more.
Make it move: in the step editor, switch on Accumulate and the note climbs or falls a little each time round. Faded ghost notes show where it goes next. See Accumulate.
Add a second part: tap pad 2 at the top, choose a mode under Mode, and point that sequencer’s Channel at another instrument.
Keep harmony together: set a Mono sequencer’s Follow to a Chord sequencer, and its notes move to the nearest notes of each chord. See Follow.

If nothing sounds

Check	Why
Is the transport running?	In the plugin, press play in the host. In the app, press ▶.
Does the sequence have notes?	A new sequencer is empty. Tap the grid, or Random.
Channel	The synth must listen on the sequencer’s Channel (or omni). Sequencer 2 sends on channel 2, and so on.
Mute and solo	A sequencer pad’s M mutes it. With any S on, only soloed sequencers play.
Routing	In AUM, check the MIDI routing. In the app, check the synth’s MIDI input, or Oxidzr’s MIDI Out.
Doubled or flamming notes	The synth is getting Oxidzr twice, from the virtual source and from MIDI Out. Use one.
Glide or swells don’t work	Glide is sent as MIDI portamento (CC 65 and CC 5), and Stochastic’s Attack and Decay as Expression (CC 11). The synth has to respond to those controllers.

When the transport stops, Oxidzr releases every note and sends All Notes Off on all 16 channels, so stuck notes clear themselves.

The full guide covers every control, and in the app ? answers questions about it in your own words.