Guide

How to use Oxidzr

Every mode, control and screen, as you see and hear it. The same guide is built into the app: tap ? and ask in your own words.

New to Oxidzr? Start with Getting started, or see the task guides and requirements.

Overview

Oxidzr Sequencer is a MIDI step sequencer for iPad. It makes no sound of its own: it plays your synths, drum machines and other apps by sending them MIDI notes and controller changes.

Eight sequencers, nine modes

Oxidzr has 8 sequencers that run side by side, all in time with each other. Each one plays in one of 9 modes, picked with Mode in the controls row:

Every sequencer also has its own settings, such as MIDI channel, scale, root, step length (Div), play order and swing, plus its own Arp and 8 mod lanes. Each mode has its own chapter.

How MIDI goes out

Each sequencer sends its notes on its own MIDI channel, set with Channel in the controls row. By default sequencer 1 sends on channel 1, sequencer 2 on channel 2, and so on up to 8. Multitrack and Matriceal set a channel per track instead. Mod lanes set to MIDI CC send their controller changes on the lane’s own Ch: on Auto (the default) that’s the sequencer’s channel, or track 1’s channel in Multitrack and Matriceal.

Where the MIDI goes depends on how you run Oxidzr:

• The app: Oxidzr always appears to other apps as a MIDI source called “Oxidzr Sequencer”. You can also send to one destination, such as a USB interface or another app, with MIDI Out in the transport bar.
• The plugin: the MIDI goes to the host app, which routes it on.

When the transport stops, every sounding note is released, and an All Notes Off message is sent on all 16 channels.

The app and the plugin

Oxidzr comes as a standalone app and as an AUv3 MIDI plugin (a MIDI processor) for hosts such as AUM. Both have the same sequencers, modes, patterns, mod lanes, Arp and Rec. What differs:

In the plugin the transport bar is gone. Its remaining controls (the IN and Thru lights, Undo, Redo and the settings cogwheel) sit in a row just under the sequencer pads.

The screen

The Oxidzr screen is laid out in rows, top to bottom. The transport bar and the sequencer pads stay put; everything below them scrolls when it doesn’t fit on the screen.

Transport bar

The transport bar runs along the top of the screen in the app: play and stop, the OXIDZR title, the » button that slides out tempo, MIDI and sync settings, then the app menu ☰, ?, Undo and Redo. The plugin has no transport bar. See Transport bar.

Sequencer pads

The sequencer pads are the row of 8 pads under the transport bar, one per sequencer. Each pad shows the sequencer’s name (or number) and its mode, with small M (mute) and S (solo) buttons on its right. Tap a pad to select that sequencer: everything below it then shows the selected sequencer. See Sequencers 1–8.

Controls row

The controls row holds the selected sequencer’s settings: Mode, Scale, Root, Octave, Div, Order, Start and End, Channel, Swing, Follow and, in some modes, more. Arp and Rec come after them. Which controls appear depends on the mode. When they don’t fit on one line, Arp and Rec move to a row of their own. See Arp and Step recording (Rec); the mode-specific controls are described with each mode.

SONG

SONG is a fold-out panel under the controls row. Tap its header to open or close it. The header always shows the current pattern (“Pattern 2”), the pattern waiting to take over (”→ 3”), the chain position (“Chain 2/4”) while the chain plays, and LOOP while a performance loop is held. Opened, it holds the pattern slots, the chain and the loop strip. See Patterns, the chain and the performance loop.

The editor

The mode’s editor fills the space below SONG: the note grid in Mono, Poly and Chord, the track grid in Multitrack, and so on. It changes with the selected sequencer’s mode. See the chapter for each mode, and Editing notes on the grid.

MOD LANES

MOD LANES is a fold-out panel under the editor. Tap its header to open it, and the screen scrolls so the whole panel is in view. While any of the selected sequencer’s lanes is on, the header shows how many (“2 on”). See Mod lanes.

SONG and MOD LANES both start closed each time Oxidzr opens.

Transport bar

The transport bar is the top row of the standalone app. It isn’t there in the plugin, where the host owns the transport.

Play and stop

The play button (▶) starts all 8 sequencers together, and turns into a stop button (■) while they play.

• Starting: every sequencer starts from its first step, and so do the mod lanes and the chain. With Ableton Link off, the beat count starts from zero too: a MIDI Player sequencer starts at its left loop bracket, and Stochastic’s Barline and Velocity and Gate profiles line up with where you pressed play.
• Stopping: every sounding note is released, an All Notes Off is sent on all 16 channels, and a pattern switch that was waiting for the bar line happens at once.
• With Ableton Link: play may wait for the next bar line of the Link session. See Ableton Link below.

The » button and the transport settings

The » button, right of the OXIDZR title, slides out the transport settings: Tempo, MIDI Out, Clock, Metronome, Ableton Link, the settings cogwheel and the IN and Thru lights. While they’re out the button is lit in the app colour and points back the other way («). Tap it again to slide them back in. Oxidzr remembers whether they were out or in next time it opens. When the screen is too narrow for all of them, as in portrait, swipe the row sideways to reach the rest.

Tempo

Tempo sets the playback speed in beats per minute, from 20 to 300 in whole numbers. A new project starts at 120.

• Tap − or + to nudge it by one, or press the number and drag sideways to change it quickly.
• Tempo is saved with the project, but it isn’t part of a pattern and changing it doesn’t add an undo step. Undo leaves it as it is.
• With Ableton Link on, Tempo is the Link session’s tempo: changing it here changes it for every app in the session, and a change made elsewhere shows up here.
• The plugin has no Tempo control; it follows the host’s tempo.

MIDI Out

MIDI Out chooses where the app sends its MIDI, besides its own virtual source.

• Virtual only: Oxidzr sends only through its virtual MIDI source, “Oxidzr Sequencer”. Other apps can still receive from it by picking that source in their MIDI input settings.
• A destination: the list shows every MIDI destination on the iPad: USB and Bluetooth interfaces, network sessions and other apps’ inputs. Picking one sends to it as well as to the virtual source.

The list updates as apps open and close and devices are plugged in. If the chosen destination goes away, Oxidzr starts sending to it again as soon as it comes back. MIDI Out goes back to Virtual only each time the app opens. The plugin has no MIDI Out: its MIDI goes to the host.

Clock

Clock sends MIDI clock so that drum machines, other sequencers and apps can follow Oxidzr’s tempo.

• Send: while playing, Oxidzr sends 24 clock ticks per beat at the current tempo. Pressing play sends Start (not Continue), because Oxidzr’s patterns restart from their first step and anything following it should too. Pressing stop sends Stop. No clock is sent while stopped.
• Off: no clock, Start or Stop is sent. This is the default.

Clock goes to the same places as the notes: the virtual source and the MIDI Out destination. It’s off each time the app opens. The plugin never sends clock, because the host is the clock there.

Metronome

Metronome plays a click on every beat while the transport runs, so you can hear the tempo.

• The sound: a short stick-on-snare click, played through the iPad’s own audio output and mixed with other apps’ sound. It’s the only sound Oxidzr makes.
• Accent: the first beat of every 4 is brighter and louder, counted from where you pressed play (or from the Link session’s bar line).
• When it plays: only while playing. Stopped, it’s silent.
• Default: Off. Oxidzr remembers the setting next time it opens.

The metronome is in the app only.

Ableton Link

Ableton Link keeps Oxidzr in time with other Link-enabled apps and devices on the same network. The pill shows Enabled or Disabled; tapping it opens Ableton’s Link settings, where Link is switched on and off, Start/Stop Sync is set, and the connected apps are listed. Tap Done to close them.

With Link on:

• Tempo: all apps in the session share one tempo. On its own, Link takes Oxidzr’s tempo. When it joins a session, the session’s tempo wins and Tempo changes to match it.
• Beat and bar: Oxidzr lines its patterns up with the session’s bar of 4 beats. Starting playback waits for the next bar line when other apps are connected; alone, it starts at once.
• Start/Stop Sync (in the Link settings): when on, pressing play or stop in Oxidzr starts or stops every app in the session that has it on too, and play or stop pressed in another app starts or stops Oxidzr. When off, each app starts and stops on its own, still on the shared bar line.
• In the background: Oxidzr leaves the Link session while it’s in the background and not playing, and rejoins when you return to it.

Link is in the app only. In the plugin, use the host’s own Link support.

Settings cogwheel

The cogwheel opens Settings: the app colour and high contrast. See Settings. In the plugin it sits on the right, under the sequencer pads.

IN and Thru

The IN and Thru lights show and control incoming MIDI notes from a keyboard or another app. In the app they’re at the end of the transport settings; in the plugin, on the left under the sequencer pads.

• IN lights while keys are held, and shows how many: “IN 3”. It counts notes arriving on any channel, from any connected source. These are the notes Arp plays and Rec records. Nothing needs to be selected for input to arrive: the app listens to every MIDI source on the iPad, and to its own “Oxidzr Sequencer” input that other apps can send to. In the plugin, input is whatever the host sends.
• Thru echoes the notes you play straight back out, so you can hear your keyboard through the instrument you’re sequencing. It plays them on the selected sequencer’s Channel, whatever channel the keyboard sends on, and does so whether or not the transport is running. Selecting another sequencer releases any held notes and moves Thru to the new sequencer’s channel.
• Thru with Arp: while the selected sequencer’s Arp is on, Thru stays quiet, since the arp is already playing the keys you hold.
• Thru passes notes only, not controllers or other messages. It’s off each time Oxidzr opens; tap the light to turn it on.

Undo and Redo

Undo steps back through your last edits, and Redo steps forward again. Up to 20 steps are kept. A tap is one step; a slider or a drag is one step however far it moves; swipe-painting notes is one step. Switching patterns by tapping a pattern slot is one step too, whether playing or stopped, and it keeps the history, so edits made before the switch can still be undone. Each button is greyed out when there’s nothing to step through. See Saving and undo for what counts as an edit.

The app menu (☰)

The ☰ button just left of ? opens the app menu:

• Settings: the app colour and high contrast (also on the cogwheel).
• Help: opens Help.
• How to use: the full guide on the Oxidzr website.
• Contact and Privacy Policy: the website’s pages.

The » next to the app title is a different control: it slides out the transport settings (tempo, MIDI out, clock, metronome, Link, settings and the input lights), and turns round to « to slide them back in.

Help (?)

Tap ? next to Undo (or Help in the app menu) to ask a question about the app in your own words, such as “how do I make a note slide into the next one?”.

• How it answers: help finds the parts of this guide that match your question, and Apple Intelligence writes an answer from them. Everything runs on the iPad itself, with no internet connection needed.
• Sources: under each answer are the sections it came from. Tap one to read the whole section.
• Follow-ups: you can ask about the previous answer, such as “and in Poly?”.
• Broad questions: ask how a whole mode or feature works (“how does Chord mode work?”) and the answer draws on that whole chapter, not just one part of it.
• Without Apple Intelligence: help needs Apple Intelligence switched on (Settings › Apple Intelligence & Siri) to write answers. When it’s off, still downloading, or not available on the iPad, a card at the top of Help says so (with an Open Settings button when it’s simply switched off), and questions show the matching sections of the guide instead. Help checks again when you come back from Settings. It also shows the guide’s sections if an answer can’t be produced.
• Standalone app only: help isn’t available in the plugin.

Sequencers 1–8

The row of 8 pads under the transport bar selects, names, mutes and solos Oxidzr’s 8 sequencers. It stays at the top of the screen while the rest scrolls.

Selecting a sequencer

Tap a sequencer’s pad to select it. The selected pad is filled with the app colour; the others are only faintly tinted.

• Everything below the pads (the controls row, the editor and the mod lanes) shows and edits the selected sequencer.
• Arp and Rec work on the selected sequencer, and Thru plays on its channel.
• Each pad shows the sequencer’s name, or its number if it has none, and its mode underneath.
• Selecting a sequencer doesn’t change what plays: all 8 keep running.

Naming a sequencer

Hold a sequencer’s pad to rename it, for example “Kick” or “Bass”.

• A box opens titled “Rename sequencer 3”. Type the name and tap Save.
• Length: up to 8 characters on iPad. In a narrow window, such as a small plugin window, the limit is 4. The box tells you the limit, and typing stops there.
• Use number clears the name, and the pad shows its number again.
• Cancel leaves the name as it was.

Names belong to the project, not to a pattern, so switching patterns doesn’t rename anything. Renaming can be undone.

Mute (M) and solo (S)

Each pad has two small buttons on its right: M mutes the sequencer and S solos it. Tap to turn either on or off. M lights white and S lights in a darker shade of the app colour while on.

• Mute: a muted sequencer keeps running, playhead and all, but sends nothing: no notes and no mod lane controllers. Unmute it and it comes straight back in at the right place.
• Solo: while any sequencer is soloed, only the soloed ones are heard. Solo several to hear just those together.
• Mute beats solo: a sequencer that is both soloed and muted stays silent.
• Dimming: the pad of a sequencer that can’t be heard, whether muted or left out by someone else’s solo, dims to about half brightness. Its M and S buttons stay bright so you can still reach them.
• Saved with the pattern: mute and solo are part of each pattern, so switching patterns brings back that pattern’s mutes and solos. They can be undone like any other edit.

The controls row

The controls row sits under the sequencer buttons and holds the settings of the selected sequencer: its mode, scale, timing, range, MIDI channel and how it relates to the other sequencers. Arp and Rec come at the end of the row (see Arp and Step recording).

Using the controls row

The controls row changes with the mode: each mode shows only the controls that mean something there. The table under “Which controls each mode shows” lists them.

• Number controls (Root, Octave, Start, End, Channel, Swing, Voices, Span): tap − or + to nudge the value. Press and hold the value itself and drag sideways to set it quickly.
• Choice controls (Mode, Scale, Div, Order, Follow, Voice, ChMx): tap to open a list and pick a value.
• When the row doesn’t fit: the settings scroll sideways, and Arp and Rec move to a row of their own underneath.
• Every change can be undone with Undo.

Which controls each mode shows

The controls row shows these controls, in this order, for each mode. Arp appears in every mode; Rec appears in Mono, Poly, Chord and Multitrack.

Mode

Mode in the controls row picks what kind of sequencer the selected one is: Mono, Poly, Chord, Multitrack, Stochastic, Matriceal, Domino, Saga or MIDI Player. A new sequencer starts in Mono. The sequencer’s button shows its mode under its name.

• Mono and Poly share the same steps, so switching between them keeps your notes.
• The other modes each keep a pattern of their own. Switching to another mode and back loses nothing.

Scale

Scale in the controls row sets which notes the grid’s rows stand for. Each row is one note of the scale, so you can only place notes that are in it. The default is Major.

The scales are Chromatic, Major, Minor, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Locrian, Penta Maj (major pentatonic), Penta Min (minor pentatonic), Harm Min (harmonic minor) and Mel Min (melodic minor). Chromatic has all 12 notes of the octave.

Notes are stored as steps of the scale, not as fixed pitches. Changing the scale moves every note to the same step of the new scale: the third note of Major (E in C) becomes the third note of Minor (E♭). Going between a seven-note scale and a five-note pentatonic one can move notes into another octave, because the steps no longer line up.

Stochastic and MIDI Player have no Scale.

Root

Root in the controls row sets the scale’s starting note, shown as a note name. It runs from C-2 to C8, and the default is C2. On this scale middle C is C3.

When you select a sequencer, the grid’s bottom row is the Root. Every note is counted from it, so changing the Root transposes the whole pattern while keeping it in the scale. The Root’s key is marked on the piano keys beside the grid.

MIDI Player has no Root.

Octave

Octave in the controls row moves everything the sequencer plays up or down by whole octaves, from −4 to +4. The default is 0. It shows in every mode.

Div

Div in the controls row sets how long each step lasts: 1/4, 1/8, 1/8T, 1/16, 1/16T or 1/32 of a bar. The T values are triplets. The default is 1/16, so 16 steps make one bar of 4/4. Div also sets the speed of the Arp.

In Multitrack and Matriceal the controls row shows Div only while Arp is on, labelled Arp Div, because there it sets only the Arp’s speed. Each Multitrack track has its own Div in its track row, and each Matriceal lane its own Lane Div.

Stochastic and MIDI Player have no Div; they keep their own timing.

Order

Order in the controls row sets the order the steps between Start and End are played in. The default is Fwd.

Skipped steps (see Step options: Skip) are taken out before the order is worked out, so they never play in any order.

Stochastic and MIDI Player have no Order. Multitrack and Matriceal have no Order in the controls row: each Multitrack track has its own Order in its track row, and each Matriceal lane its own Lane Order.

Start and End

Start and End in the controls row set which steps the sequencer plays: it plays from Start to End and loops. In Mono, Poly and Chord each can be anywhere from step 1 to 128; the default is steps 1 to 16.

• The grid shows only these steps. Notes outside the range are kept, but hidden and silent until you widen the range again.
• Start after End doesn’t play backwards: the sequencer still plays the steps between the two in the order Order sets. Use Rev to play backwards.
• Domino shows Trig Start and Trig End (its trigger row, 1 to 64) and Note Start and Note End (its notes, 1 to 32) instead.
• Saga sets its range in stages, from 1 to 96.
• Stochastic, Matriceal and MIDI Player have no Start or End.
• Multitrack has no Start or End in the controls row: each track has its own Start and End (1 to 32) in its track row; see Multitrack mode.

Channel

Channel in the controls row sets the MIDI channel the sequencer sends on, from 1 to 16. Each sequencer starts on its own channel: sequencer 1 on channel 1, sequencer 2 on channel 2, and so on.

Multitrack and Matriceal have no Channel in the controls row, because each of their tracks has its own channel.

Swing

Swing in the controls row delays every second step to give the pattern a shuffle. It runs from 0% to 75% in steps of 5%, and the default is 0% (straight).

• At 50% the delayed steps land a quarter of a step late.
• Around 65–70% they land close to the triplet: the classic shuffle.
• Only the timing you hear changes; the grid stays as it is.

Stochastic, Saga and MIDI Player have no Swing.

Follow

Follow in the controls row makes the selected sequencer follow the harmony of another sequencer, its leader. The default is None: the sequencer plays its notes as written.

Pick another sequencer from the list (shown with its mode) and the button shows it as Seq 1, Seq 2 and so on. The list only offers sequencers in modes that share their notes: Mono, Poly, Chord, Domino, Saga and Stochastic. From then on:

• Every note moves to the nearest note of the leader’s harmony. The harmony is whatever the leader played most recently: a single note in Mono, the whole chord in Chord or Poly. A note moves to the closest pitch that shares a note name with one of the leader’s notes, in roughly the same register.
• The harmony holds until the leader plays its next step, even through rests.
• Before the leader has played since you pressed play or since a pattern change, notes play as written.
• A muted leader still leads. Mute it to hear only the follower moving to its chords.
• Which sequencers can lead: Mono, Poly, Chord, Domino, Saga and Stochastic share what they play, and so does any sequencer whose Arp is playing. Sequencers in Multitrack, Matriceal and MIDI Player don’t, so the Follow list leaves them out.
• Chord mode has no Follow. A Chord sequencer can lead others but can’t follow.

A common setup: a Chord sequencer plays the progression (muted, or on another instrument) and a Mono bass line follows it, so the bass always lands on chord notes.

Voices (Poly)

Voices in the controls row appears in Poly mode only. It sets how many notes one step can hold, from 1 to 7. The default is 7. See Poly mode for how it affects notes already on the grid.

Voice (Domino and Saga)

Voice in the controls row appears in Domino and Saga. Mono plays one note per stage; Poly plays every note on the stage. The default is Poly.

ChMx and Span

ChMx (channel multiplex) in the controls row spreads the notes of one step over several MIDI channels in a row, starting from Channel. Use it to play chords on several mono synths, or on a multi-part synth with one voice per channel. It appears in Poly, Chord, Domino and Saga.

• Low to high: the notes are spread by pitch, lowest first, whatever order they were added in or the chord’s voicing.
• A step with a single note stays on Channel.
• Channels past 16 wrap round to 1.

Example: Channel 1, Lo, Span 3, and a four-note chord: the notes go out on channels 1, 2, 3 and 1.

Random and Clear

Random and Clear generate or wipe the selected sequencer’s pattern. In Mono, Poly and Chord they sit just above the grid. In Multitrack they sit in the Generators panel under the grid and work on the selected track. Both can be undone with Undo.

Random in Mono, Poly and Chord

Random writes a new pattern into the steps between Start and End. Steps outside that range aren’t touched.

Random only chooses which steps have notes and what they are. Each step’s velocity, length, repeats, probability, offset and switches stay as they were.

Clear in Mono, Poly and Chord

Clear removes every note from the sequencer: all 128 steps, not just the ones between Start and End. In Chord mode it also removes the chords’ settings. The scale, range and other controls-row settings don’t change.

Random and Clear in Multitrack

In Multitrack, Random and Clear sit on the right of the Generators · Track row under the grid and work on the selected track only.

• Random: each step in the track’s range has a 40% chance of being lit. Steps outside the range aren’t touched.
• Clear: unlights all 32 steps of the track. The track’s Drum pattern generator, if it’s on, keeps playing.

Editing notes on the grid

In Mono, Poly, Chord, Domino and Saga, notes sit on a grid: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top.

A note’s start and end are marked by a faint dash just inside the note. On a short note the two ends sit close together, so a sideways drag picks whichever end is nearer.

In Saga a stage is one column however long it lasts, so dragging the start moves the note within its stage only.

Copy and paste a note

At the bottom of a note’s step editor are Copy and Paste.

• Copy takes the whole note: its pitch, velocity, length, repeats, probability, offset, Tie and Skip, and its Accumulate settings if it accumulates.
• Paste puts that note into the step you’re editing, replacing what was there. It’s dimmed until something has been copied.
• Across sequencers: a copied note can be pasted into another step, or into another sequencer of a note mode (Mono, Poly, Chord, Domino). A chord is only kept when pasting into Chord mode. Saga stages copy and paste between stages.

Domino’s trigger row

Domino’s main sequence is the row of trigger pads above the notes.

Step options: Tie, Accumulate, Skip

Hold a note on the grid to open its step editor. Under the sliders are three switches: Tie, Accumulate and Skip. Each one is per note, so you can mix them freely within a pattern.

All three work in Mono, Poly and Domino. A Saga stage has Accumulate and Skip but no Tie (its gate type decides how long it sounds). Chord and Multitrack have Tie and Skip but not Accumulate.

Tie

A tied note keeps sounding until the next step begins, instead of stopping when its own length runs out.

• Into a different note: the tied note overlaps the start of the next one very slightly (a tenth of a step, never more than about 25 ms). On a mono synth with legato or glide, that overlap is what makes the two notes slur together instead of retriggering.
• Into the same note: the note isn’t played again; it simply carries on. A run of tied steps on the same pitch plays as one long note, and the last step in the run sets where it finally stops (its own length).
• Into a rest: if the next step is empty, or doesn’t play because of its probability, the tied note stops exactly where that step begins.
• Length: a tied note’s own length is ignored, because the tie decides where it ends. On the grid it’s drawn as a full step with no end handle.
• With repeats: a tied note that also has repeats can’t hold over, because every repeat is its own short note. It fills its step instead.

Currently in Mono mode. In Poly and Chord, Tie still makes the note fill its step without holding into the next one.

Accumulate

Accumulate makes a note’s pitch move each time it plays: a step that climbs, falls or wanders while the rest of the pattern stays put.

Turn Accumulate on and its controls appear underneath. Every note has its own settings, so one step can climb in octaves while another drifts down the scale. A note with Accumulate on shows a faint Acc inside it on the grid.

The first time the note plays, it plays as written. After that it moves by Amount each time, within the bounds you set.

Seeing where it goes. On the grid, an accumulating note shows the pitches it is still to play as faded ghosts of itself in the same step:

• “next” marks the pitch it plays next time round. “2”, “3” and so on mark the plays after that.
• Live labels: as the pattern plays, the labels move along. A ghost that has just been played takes its new place in the queue (with bounds of 4, “next” becomes “4”).
• The written note: it keeps its Acc label, and has no ghost of its own. When it’s next in line, the ghosts start at “2”.
• Stopped: with On stop set to Reset, the ghosts show the walk from the start, as it will play when you press play.
• Unpredictable walks: when Chance is below 100% or Size is Random, the order can’t be known ahead, so the ghosts mark the pitches it can reach with ”?”.

Turning Accumulate off keeps the note’s settings, so turning it back on picks up where you left them.

Skip

A skipped step is taken out of the pattern entirely. The playhead never lands on it, so the pattern gets shorter.

• Skip vs. an empty step: an empty or switched-off step is silent but still takes up its time. A skipped step takes up no time at all. A 16-step pattern with three steps skipped loops as a 13-step pattern.
• On the grid: a skipped note is faded and marked Skip (just S on a short note). The rest of the column looks normal: the step is still there, and the pattern’s start and end don’t move.
• Skip belongs to the note: remove the note and the step is back in the loop as an ordinary empty step. Add a note there again and it plays.
• Use it for: odd lengths and shifting rhythms without moving the pattern’s start or end, and for trying a phrase with and without a note, since the note stays in place while skipped.

Mono mode

What it’s for

Mono mode plays one note per step: a single melodic line, for a bass line, a lead or an arpeggio-like riff on a monophonic synth. It is the mode every sequencer starts in.

The grid

Mono mode uses the piano-roll grid: time runs left to right, one column per step, and pitch runs bottom to top, one row per note of the scale. See Editing notes on the grid for tapping, holding and dragging notes.

• One note per step. Tapping an empty cell puts the step’s note there, replacing any note the step already had. Tapping the note removes it.
• 12 rows are shown at a time. Swipe up or down, or drag the piano keys, to see higher or lower notes. Thin strips above and below the grid show notes that sit outside the rows in view.
• Only Start to End is shown. The grid has as many columns as the pattern has steps, up to 128. When they don’t fit on screen, swipe sideways to scroll.
• The playhead moves across the columns while the transport runs.
• Random and Clear sit above the grid (see Random and Clear).

Controls

Mono mode shows these controls in the controls row: Mode, Scale, Root, Octave, Div, Order, Start, End, Channel, Swing and Follow, then Arp and Rec. Each is described in The controls row.

How notes play

Mono mode plays each step’s note on the sequencer’s Channel, with the step’s own velocity, length, repeats, probability and offset (set in the step editor: hold the note).

• Tie holds the note into the next step. Mono is the mode where a tie really carries on: into a different note it overlaps slightly so a mono synth slurs, and into the same note it plays as one long note. See Step options: Tie.
• Accumulate makes a note climb, fall or wander each time it plays. See Step options: Accumulate.
• Follow moves each note onto the nearest note of the leader’s harmony. See The controls row: Follow.

Tips

• For a slide on a mono synth with glide or legato, set Tie on the note before the slide.
• To keep a bass line on the chord tones of a progression, put the progression on a Chord sequencer and set the bass’s Follow to it.
• Mono and Poly share their steps: switch a Mono line to Poly to start stacking notes on it.
• To transpose the whole line in key, change Root. To move it by octaves, use Octave.

Poly mode

What it’s for

Poly mode lets every step hold several notes: free chords, clusters, two-voice lines and pads, for a polyphonic synth. Unlike Chord mode you place every note yourself.

The grid

Poly mode uses the piano-roll grid, like Mono, with one column per step and one row per note of the scale. See Editing notes on the grid.

• Tapping an empty cell adds a note to that step’s chord. Tapping a note removes just that note.
• Dragging a note up or down moves only that note; the rest of the chord stays.
• When a step is full (it has as many notes as Voices), tapping another cell in it does nothing. Remove a note first, or raise Voices.
• Random and Clear sit above the grid (see Random and Clear).

Voices

Voices in the controls row sets how many notes a Poly step can hold, from 1 to 7. The default is 7.

Lowering Voices doesn’t delete notes. Steps that already have more notes keep them on the grid, but only as many as Voices play: the ones you added first. Raise Voices again and the rest play again. Step recording also keeps at most this many notes from the chord you play.

Controls

Poly mode shows these controls in the controls row: Mode, Scale, Root, Octave, Div, Order, Voices, Start, End, Channel, Swing, Follow and ChMx (with Span when ChMx is on), then Arp and Rec. Each is described in The controls row.

How notes play

Poly mode plays all of a step’s notes together, with the step’s shared velocity, length, repeats, probability and offset (set in the step editor: hold a note).

• Accumulate moves the whole chord together, so it keeps its shape as it climbs or falls. See Step options: Accumulate.
• Tie makes the chord fill its step, but doesn’t hold it into the next one.
• Follow moves each note of the chord onto the nearest note of the leader’s harmony.
• ChMx sends the chord’s notes out on several channels, one note per channel, counted from the lowest note up. See The controls row: ChMx and Span.

Tips

• Set Voices to the number of voices your synth has, so you can’t write chords it would cut short.
• With ChMx you can play Poly chords on several mono synths, one note each.
• For ready-made chords that follow the scale, use Chord mode instead.

Chord mode

What it’s for

Chord mode plays a whole chord on each step from a single note: you place the chord’s root, and pick its type and voicing. The chords are built from the scale, so they stay in key. A Chord sequencer can also lead others’ harmony through Follow.

The grid

Chord mode uses the piano-roll grid, like Mono, but each note on it stands for a whole chord. See Editing notes on the grid.

• The note shows the chord’s root. The rest of the chord isn’t drawn. The step editor’s title shows the root and the type, such as “C2 · Triad”.
• Tapping an empty cell puts a new chord on that step: a Triad in Root voicing, built on that row. Any chord the step had is replaced.
• Tapping the chord’s note removes the chord.
• Dragging the note up or down moves the chord to a new root and keeps its type, voicing and other settings.
• Notes from Mono or Poly: a step that already had a note when the sequencer switched to Chord mode (or that was pasted from one) plays a Triad on that note, and is drawn there like any other chord. Its chord settings start from that Triad the first time you change them.
• Random and Clear sit above the grid (see Random and Clear).

Chord settings

Chord mode’s step editor (hold the chord’s note) has the usual velocity, length, repeats, probability and offset, plus Tie and Skip, and these chord settings. Oct ↓ and Oct ↑ at the top move the whole chord by an octave.

The chord’s notes are counted in steps of the scale, so the chord quality follows the scale. In C Major, a Triad on C is C major (C E G) and a Triad on D is D minor (D F A). In Chromatic every row is a semitone, so the same types give close clusters instead.

Controls

Chord mode shows these controls in the controls row: Mode, Scale, Root, Octave, Div, Order, Start, End, Channel, Swing and ChMx (with Span when ChMx is on), then Arp and Rec. Each is described in The controls row.

Chord mode has no Follow: it leads harmony but doesn’t follow it.

How chords play

Chord mode plays each step’s whole chord on the sequencer’s Channel (or over several channels with ChMx).

• Tie makes the chord fill its step, but doesn’t hold it into the next one.
• Accumulate isn’t available in Chord mode.
• Skip works as in the other modes: see Step options: Skip.
• As a leader: every chord a Chord sequencer plays becomes the harmony that sequencers following it snap to.

Tips

• To move a chord and keep its settings, drag it up or down. Tapping a new cell in the same step starts a fresh Triad.
• Inv 1 and Inv 2 keep a progression in one register instead of jumping up the keyboard.
• Bass with Spread makes a wide, full chord from a single note.
• A small Strum (10–30%) sounds like a strummed guitar; ↑ on the downbeats and ↓ on the off-beats gives an up-and-down strum.
• Use a Chord sequencer as the harmony for the others: set their Follow to it, and mute it if you only want to hear them.

Multitrack mode

What it’s for

Multitrack mode turns one sequencer into eight separate one-note tracks, each on its own MIDI channel and pitch. It is made for drums: one track per drum sound, with Euclidean rhythms and a drum pattern generator built in.

The grid

Multitrack mode shows a grid of eight rows, one per track: T1 at the bottom to T8 at the top. Each row has 32 steps; swipe sideways to see them all.

• Each track has its own playhead, drawn as an outline on the step it’s playing.
• Steps outside a track’s range are dimmed. Each track plays steps 1 to 16 to begin with. Set its range with the track’s Start and End (see Track settings), or with Euclidean Apply (see Euclidean rhythms in Multitrack).

Track settings

The Generators · Track row under Multitrack mode’s grid picks which track the panel below it edits. Tap the number to choose Track 1 to Track 8 (muted tracks are marked). Holding a pad on the grid also selects its track. Random and Clear sit at the right of this row and work on the selected track (see Random and Clear).

These settings are in the track row next to Ch and Note, and belong to the selected track only, so every track can run at its own speed, in its own order and over its own length.

Note moves in steps of the scale. To reach every note, for example to pick a drum sound on a drum machine’s key map, set the sequencer’s Scale to Chromatic: then each step of Note is one semitone.

Euclidean rhythms in Multitrack

The Euclidean (destructive) section of Multitrack mode’s Generators panel writes an evenly spread rhythm into the selected track. Nothing changes until you press Apply.

Apply is destructive: it unlights every step of the track, lights the hits of the new rhythm in steps 1 to Len, and sets the track to play steps 1 to Len. Each step keeps its own velocity, length and other settings. Undo brings back what was there.

Tracks with different Len values loop at different lengths, so they drift against each other and line up again later.

Drum pattern generator in Multitrack

Multitrack mode’s tracks 1, 2 and 3 each have a Drum pattern generator in the Generators panel, labelled Kick, Snare and Hat. With On, it adds generated hits to the track while it plays, on top of the pads you’ve lit. The generated hits are new every time the track loops, and they aren’t drawn on the grid.

X, Y and Chaos are shared by the three tracks; On and Density belong to each one.

• Kick: leans on the first step of every 16, then the other beats.
• Snare: leans on the backbeats (steps 5 and 13).
• Hat: leans on eighth notes.

Generated hits use the settings of the step they land on (velocity, length, probability), so you can shape them with the step editor.

Controls

Multitrack mode shows these controls in the controls row: Mode, Scale, Root, Octave, Swing and Follow, then Arp and Rec. While Arp is on, Arp Div appears after Octave.

• Scale, Root and Octave set the pitch every track’s Note is counted from.
• Swing applies to all eight tracks.
• Follow moves every track’s notes onto the leader’s harmony.
• Arp Div sets the Arp’s speed only.
• Tracks keep their own timing. There is no Channel, Div, Order, Start or End in the controls row: each track sets its own Ch, Div, Order, Start and End in its track row (see Track settings).

The step editor in Multitrack

Multitrack mode’s step editor opens when you hold a pad, lit or not. It has Velocity, Length, Repeats, Prob and Offset, the Tie and Skip switches, and Copy and Paste. There is no Accumulate in Multitrack.

• The title shows the note the hit plays: the track’s Note, plus any shift on the step.
• Oct ↓ and Oct ↑ play that one step an octave below or above the track’s Note.
• Tie makes the note fill its step.
• Skip takes a lit step out of that track’s loop only, so the track becomes shorter than the others. An unlit step stays in the loop, as in the other modes.
• Repeats is handy for drum rolls and flams; Prob for hits that only play sometimes.

Recording into Multitrack

In Multitrack mode, Rec writes into the track selected in the Generators panel, and the cursor wraps within that track’s range. The pitch you play is kept: the step plays the note you played, even if it’s different from the track’s Note. See Step recording (Rec).

Tips

• Set each track’s Ch and Note to match your drum machine: the same channel with a different Note per drum, or a different channel per drum.
• Use Chromatic scale so Note can reach every key.
• For polyrhythms, give tracks different Euclidean Len values or Start and End, or Skip steps on one track.
• Set a track’s Div to 1/32 for fast hats, or 1/8T for a triplet part against straight sixteenths.
• Start a beat with the Drum pattern generator on tracks 1–3, then add your own hits on top.
• Tap a track’s label to drop it out and bring it back in as a fill.

Domino mode

What Domino is for

Domino mode separates rhythm from melody. A row of up to 64 trigger pads decides when notes play; a separate note layer of up to 32 steps decides which notes play. Every time a trigger fires, the note layer moves on by one step and plays it, like a line of dominoes falling one after another.

Because the two layers have their own lengths, a 5-note melody driven by a 16-step rhythm lands on different beats every time round. Use Domino for melodies that keep their order but shift against the beat, for rolls that run quickly through several notes, and for rhythms you want to change without touching the notes.

How Domino plays

Domino mode runs on the trigger row. The trigger playhead moves through the pads from Trig Start to Trig End, one pad per step at the sequencer’s Div, in the sequencer’s Order.

• A lit pad fires. Each time it fires, the note layer moves to its next step and plays whatever is there.
• An unlit pad is silent and leaves the note layer where it is.
• Chance: a lit pad with its chance below 100% sometimes doesn’t fire. When it doesn’t, the note layer doesn’t move either.
• Repeats: a pad with repeats fires several times inside its step, evenly spaced. Every hit moves the note layer on by one, so a pad with 3 repeats plays the next three notes as a quick run.
• The note layer always plays in order, from Note Start to Note End, then wraps back to Note Start. Order only changes the trigger row, never the note layer.
• Empty note steps are rests. A note step with no note still uses up a hit: the trigger fires, the note layer moves, and nothing sounds.
• Skipped note steps are passed over. A note with Skip on is stepped past without using a hit (see Step options: Tie, Accumulate, Skip).
• The note layer keeps its place when the trigger row loops round. It only goes back to Note Start when you press play.

The first trigger to fire after you press play plays the note at Note Start.

Domino’s trigger row

In Domino mode the trigger row sits above the note grid: 64 pads in one row, scrolling sideways. Pads outside the trigger range are dimmed. The touches (tap to switch, hold to edit, swipe to scroll, drag a bracket) are listed under “Domino’s trigger row” in Editing notes on the grid.

• Range: the trigger range is set by Trig Start and Trig End in the controls row, or by dragging the brackets at either end of the range. New sequencers play triggers 1 to 16.
• Labels on pads: a pad shows ×3 when it has 3 repeats, and a percentage such as 50% when its chance is below 100%. A pad at the defaults shows nothing.
• Playhead: while playing, an outline moves along the pads to show which trigger step is current.

Editing a Domino trigger

In Domino mode, hold a trigger pad to open its editor, headed Trigger and the pad’s number. Tap outside it or press the ✕ to close.

Holding a pad doesn’t switch it on or off. A pad that is off keeps its Repeats and Prob, and uses them again when you switch it back on.

Domino’s note layer

In Domino mode the note layer is the piano-roll grid under the trigger row. Each column is one note step; it shows only the steps from Note Start to Note End (steps 1 to 8 on a new sequencer, up to 32). Edit notes on it as described in Editing notes on the grid: tap to add or remove, drag to move in pitch or time, drag a note’s end to change its length, hold to open the step editor.

• Voice Mono: one note per step. Tapping another pitch in the same column replaces it.
• Voice Poly: each tap adds a note to the step, up to 4 notes, which play together as a chord. Tapping one of them removes it. New sequencers start in Poly.
• Note lengths are measured in hits, not steps. A note’s length, offset and repeats are relative to the hit that plays it. When a trigger with 4 repeats plays four notes inside one step, each note is squeezed into its quarter of the step and keeps its shape there.
• Playhead: while playing, the note grid’s playhead shows the note step the last hit reached, even when that step is empty.

Editing a Domino note

In Domino mode, hold a note on the note grid to open its step editor, headed Step and its number, with the note names beside it. It has the same controls as in Mono:

The accumulator follows the note step, not the trigger: a note that accumulates moves on each time the note layer reaches it.

Domino controls

When the selected sequencer is in Domino mode, the controls row shows:

Rec (step recording) isn’t available in Domino.

Random and Clear in Domino

In Domino mode, Random and Clear sit above the trigger row.

• Random switches each trigger in the Trig Start–Trig End range on or off at random (about half on). It doesn’t touch the note layer, so you can try new rhythms for the same melody.
• Clear switches every trigger off, resets every trigger’s Repeats and Prob to the defaults, and removes every note from the note layer.

Both can be undone.

Domino tips

• Phasing melodies: make the trigger range and the note range different lengths, such as 16 triggers against 5 notes. The melody keeps its order but starts on a different beat each bar.
• Rolls: give one trigger 3 or 4 repeats to run quickly through the next few notes, then carry on at the normal pace.
• Rests that move: leave a note step empty. It is a rest in the melody, so it lands on whichever trigger reaches it.
• Waiting instead of skipping: a trigger with Prob below 100% makes the melody pause, not lose a note. A note with Prob below 100% loses its note but keeps the melody moving.
• Same melody, new groove: keep the notes and change only the triggers, their repeats, or Order.

Saga mode

What Saga is for

Saga mode is a stage sequencer: instead of a row of equal steps, it plays a row of stages, and each stage lasts as long as you tell it to, from 1 to 16 steps. One stage can be a short blip and the next a note held for a whole bar, without filling the pattern with empty steps.

Each stage also decides how it fills its time: one short note, a note on every step, or one note held across it. Use Saga for basslines and leads with long and short notes, for phrases of odd lengths, and for patterns that change rhythm just by changing a stage’s length.

How Saga plays

Saga mode plays its stages one after another, from Start to End, in the sequencer’s Order. There are 96 stages; new sequencers play stages 1 to 8.

• Duration: the playhead stays on a stage for its Duration, counted in steps of the sequencer’s Div. A stage of 4 at 1/16 lasts a quarter note.
• Gate type: how the stage fills that time, with Single, Multi or Hold (see Saga gate types).
• Empty stages are rests. A stage with no note is silent, but it still lasts its full duration.
• Prob: a stage whose chance doesn’t come up is silent for its duration. The time still passes.
• Skipped stages take no time. A stage with Skip on is taken out of the cycle altogether, so the pattern gets shorter.

The length of the whole pattern is the sum of the durations of the stages in the range.

Stages on the Saga grid

In Saga mode the grid is a piano roll where each column is one stage, drawn as wide as its duration. The grid shows only the stages from Start to End.

• Adding notes: tap a cell to put a note on that stage. In Mono voice a stage has one note, and tapping another pitch replaces it. In Poly voice each tap adds a note, up to 7, and they play together. Tapping a note removes it. New sequencers start in Poly.
• The note’s shape follows the gate type: a Hold note is drawn across the stage, a Single note within its first step, and a Multi stage as one note per step.
• Moving notes: drag a note up or down to change its pitch. Dragging its start sideways moves it within its own stage only. Dragging its end changes its length (its Gate); a Multi stage has no single length, so its end can’t be dragged.
• Hold a stage (a note or an empty cell) to open its stage editor.
• Playhead: while playing, the playhead shows the current stage.

The duration strip. Under the grid is a strip with one handle per stage, as wide as the stage and showing its duration in steps. Drag a handle sideways to make that stage longer or shorter, from 1 to 16 steps. The stages after it move along. The whole drag is one undo step.

Saga gate types

Each Saga stage has a gate type, set with Gate type in its stage editor. It decides how the stage fills its duration.

Repeats works on top of the gate type: it cuts each note the stage plays into that many hits. A Hold stage with 4 repeats plays four even hits across its length; a Multi stage of 4 with 2 repeats plays eight.

Saga stage editor

In Saga mode, hold a stage on the grid to open its stage editor, headed Stage and its number, with the note names beside it.

There’s no Tie in Saga: use a Hold stage, or a longer duration, instead. When Accumulate and Rng are both on, the random move is added to the accumulated pitch.

Saga controls

When the selected sequencer is in Saga mode, the controls row shows:

Saga has no Swing, because its stages aren’t on an even grid of steps. Rec (step recording) isn’t available in Saga.

Random and Clear in Saga

In Saga mode, Random and Clear sit above the grid.

• Random goes through the stages from Start to End and gives about six in ten of them a random note of the scale, in the octave from the Root up. The others are switched off. Durations, gate types and other stage settings are kept.
• Clear switches every stage off. Their durations and other settings stay, so cleared stages still take their time as rests.

Both can be undone.

Saga tips

• Long and short: for a bassline, use Hold stages of different durations. A 1-step stage then a 7-step stage is a stab and a long note, with no empty steps to manage.
• Rhythmic stages: set a long stage to Multi to repeat its note on every step, then add Repeats for faster rolls.
• Rests with a length: a stage with no note is a rest as long as its duration.
• Odd lengths: the pattern’s length is the total of its stages, so stretching one stage by a step changes where everything after it lands.
• Variation: a little Rng on one or two stages makes them wander around their written pitch while the rest stays fixed.

Matriceal mode

What Matriceal is for

Matriceal mode builds a part from separate lanes instead of from notes. One lane is the rhythm (Trigger). The others each hold one property of the note, such as pitch, velocity, length or octave, as a row of 16 values. When the trigger fires, the note is put together from whatever value each lane is on at that moment.

Every lane can have its own length, speed and play order. A 16-step rhythm read against a 5-step pitch lane and a 3-step velocity lane gives a pattern that keeps recombining and takes a long time to repeat. Use Matriceal for evolving sequences, polymetric patterns and generative parts that still stay in key.

A Matriceal sequencer has four tracks, each with its own lanes, channel and base note. All four play at once.

How Matriceal plays

In Matriceal mode, each track plays from its Trigger lane. The trigger playhead moves through the Trigger lane’s steps between the lane’s brackets, one step per the Trigger lane’s Lane Div (1/16 by default), in its Lane Order (Fwd by default).

• A lit trigger step plays a note. An unlit step is silent. Nothing plays unless the Trigger lane fires.
• The note is built from the other lanes. When the trigger fires, the app reads the step each other lane is on at that moment: Note and Interval for the pitch, Octave, Velocity, Gate, Probability, Retrigger, Glide, and Pulses for how long to hold.
• Each lane loops on its own. Every lane plays between its own brackets, at its own Lane Div and in its own Lane Order, so lanes of different lengths or speeds drift against each other.
• The lanes don’t follow the trigger’s columns. With Advance on Free, every lane moves one step per its own Lane Div whether or not a note plays, so a trigger on step 5 reads whatever each lane is on at that time. With all lanes the same length, speed and order and no Pulses, that is the same column; once they differ, it isn’t.
• Pitch: the note is the track’s Note, plus the Note lane, plus the running Interval total, counted in steps of the sequencer’s scale from its Root. The Octave lane and the sequencer’s Octave then shift it by whole octaves.
• Each track plays on its own channel (its Ch), so four tracks can drive four instruments, or four voices of one.

Pressing play starts every lane from its first step and resets the Interval total.

Matriceal tracks

At the top of the Matriceal editor are the track controls. They apply to the track shown.

Lane Div and Lane Order act on the selected lane of the shown track only, so every lane can run at its own speed and in its own order.

A new track has no trigger steps lit, so it is silent until you light some.

Editing Matriceal lanes

In Matriceal mode all ten lanes of the shown track are on screen at once, one row each, with its name on the left. The Trigger lane is drawn in the sequencer’s full colour and the value lanes at half strength.

• Selecting a lane: tap a lane’s name. The selected lane is filled with colour and shows an ⓘ. Lane Div, Lane Order, Random lane, Clear lane and the Interval Bound act on the selected lane.
• What a lane does: tap the selected lane’s name again to open a short explanation of it.
• Trigger steps: tap a step to light it or switch it off.
• Value steps, tap: steps the value up by the lane’s increment. Past the top it wraps round to the bottom. Velocity and Probability tap differently; see The Matriceal lanes.
• Value steps, hold: hold a step for about a third of a second and a tall slider opens over it, with the current value under your finger. Drag up or down to set any value in the lane’s range, reading it above the slider. Let go to close it. The whole drag is one undo step.
• Brackets: each lane has a bracket at its first and last playing step. Drag one to change where that lane starts or ends. The lane plays its new length straight away. Steps outside the brackets are dimmed and their values hidden; they keep their values and come back when you widen the lane again.
• Playheads: while playing, each lane shows its own playhead, so you can watch the lanes drift against each other.

How a step looks: a lit or unlit pad on the Trigger lane; a level rising from the bottom on most value lanes, with the number on it (on Note, Interval and Octave, zero sits at half height); and one bar per count on Pulses and Retrigger, so ×3 shows three bars.

The Matriceal lanes

Matriceal mode has ten lanes per track. Every value lane always has a value on every step; a step you haven’t touched plays the default.

Details:

• Retrigger splits the trigger step into that many even hits. With Retrigger above 1, each hit is a little shorter than its share of the step and the Gate lane isn’t used.
• Gate at 100% ties the note: it carries on a touch past the start of the next trigger step, so a mono synth with legato or glide slurs into the next note instead of retriggering, like Tie in Mono.
• Glide above 0% switches portamento on for the track’s channel and sets its time from the value; a note read at 0% switches it off. The synth needs portamento for this to be heard.
• Probability is rolled each time a note would play, including each repeat of a Pulses hold.

Matriceal Pulses lane

The Pulses lane in Matriceal mode holds the trigger on a step. When a lit trigger step plays and the Pulses lane reads ×3, the trigger stays on that step for 3 steps in all, and the step plays again on each of them.

• Every lane waits. While the trigger is held, the other lanes stop where they are, so each repeat of the step plays the same values. When the hold ends, everything carries on from where it stopped.
• The pattern stretches. A hold of ×3 adds two steps to the pass, so Pulses lengthens parts of the pattern without editing them.
• Read when the step lands. The Pulses value is read once, when the trigger arrives on a lit step, from wherever the Pulses lane is at that moment. Unlit trigger steps aren’t held.
• ×1 is no hold. The default plays each step once.

Don’t confuse it with the Pulses stepper beside Eucl Len, which sets how many hits the Euclid generator spreads over the Trigger lane.

Matriceal Interval lane and Bound

The Interval lane in Matriceal mode doesn’t set the pitch directly; it moves it. Each time a lit trigger step plays, the Interval lane’s current value is added to a running total, and the total is added to the note’s pitch, in scale steps.

• Climbing and falling: a lane of +1 everywhere raises the melody by one scale step on every note. A mix of +2 and −1 climbs slowly and unevenly.
• Zero does nothing: a step at 0 leaves the total where it is.
• Bound: with the Interval lane selected, Bound appears at the top of the editor (±0 to ±24, default ±7). When the total would pass +Bound it jumps to −Bound, and past −Bound it jumps to +Bound. At ±0 the Interval lane has no effect.
• Every play counts: the total moves even when the note is dropped by the Probability lane, and on every repeat of a Pulses hold.
• Reset: the total goes back to 0 when you press play. RLen doesn’t reset it.

Matriceal Advance: Free or Trigger

Advance, under the Matriceal lanes, sets how the shown track’s value lanes move. Tap it to switch between Free and Trigger. Default Free.

• Free: each value lane moves on by one step per its own Lane Div (every sixteenth note by default), whether or not a note plays. A note reads each lane at the step it’s on at that time, so the rhythm decides which values get heard. Values that fall between notes are passed over.
• Trigger: each value lane moves on by one step only when a lit trigger step plays. Every note reads the next value of every lane in turn, so no value is passed over, however sparse the rhythm. A value lane’s Lane Div isn’t used then, but its length and Lane Order still apply, so lanes still drift against each other.

In both, a Pulses hold keeps the lanes still, and a lit trigger whose note is dropped by Probability still moves the lanes on.

Matriceal RLen

RLen (reset length), under the Matriceal lanes, restarts the shown track every so many trigger steps. Range Off or 1 to 64. Default Off.

• When the count is reached, the Trigger lane and every value lane go back to their first step together, and any Pulses hold is cancelled.
• The count is in trigger steps, and steps held by Pulses count too.
• Off lets the lanes run on and drift for as long as the transport plays.
• RLen doesn’t reset the Interval total.

Use it to keep a drifting pattern to a fixed length: lanes of 5, 6 and 7 steps with RLen 16 make a pattern that repeats every 16 steps.

Matriceal Euclid generator

In Matriceal mode, the Euclid generator writes an evenly spread rhythm into the shown track’s Trigger lane.

Only the Trigger lane changes; the value lanes keep their steps and lengths. Eucl Len and Pulses are settings for the button, not part of the track. The change can be undone.

Matriceal Random and Clear

Four buttons at the bottom of the Matriceal editor fill or empty lanes of the shown track. Each is one undo step.

None of them move the lanes’ brackets, and none of them touch the other three tracks.

Matriceal controls

When the selected sequencer is in Matriceal mode, the controls row shows Mode, Scale, Root, Octave, Swing, Follow and Arp. While Arp is on, Arp Div appears after Octave.

There is no Div or Order (each lane has its own Lane Div and Lane Order, in the row with Track, Ch and Note), no Start / End (each lane has its own brackets) and no Channel (each track has its own Ch). Rec isn’t available in Matriceal.

Matriceal tips

• Start simple: light a few Trigger steps, then shorten one value lane at a time with its brackets and listen to how the pattern changes.
• Odd lengths: lanes of 3, 5 and 7 steps against a 16-step rhythm take a long time to come round to the same combination.
• Lanes at their own speed: set a value lane’s Lane Div to 1/8 or 1/4 for values that change more slowly than the rhythm, or its Lane Order to Ping or Rnd for a lane that wanders.
• Melodies that walk: set a few Interval steps to +1 or −1 and keep Bound small for a line that climbs and wraps round within a range.
• Every value heard: switch Advance to Trigger when the rhythm is sparse and you want each note to read the next value in turn.
• Fixed length: use RLen to bring all the lanes back in line every bar or two.
• Four parts at once: give each track its own Ch and Note for drums, bass and chords from one sequencer, or the same channel for a dense part on one synth.

Stochastic mode

What Stochastic mode is for

Stochastic mode turns a sequencer into a probabilistic melody generator, modelled on the SIG (Stochastic Inspiration Generator). There is no step grid. Instead you set how likely each note, octave, length and articulation is, and the sequencer keeps inventing a line from those odds for as long as the transport runs.

• Every event is drawn fresh: each new note (or rest) picks its pitch, octave, length and articulation from the bars and sliders on screen.
• Free-running lengths: an event lasts as long as the length it drew, and the next one starts when it ends. A 5/16 note pushes everything after it off the straight sixteenth grid, which is part of the character.
• Change it while it plays: every bar and slider takes effect on the next event, so you can steer the line live.
• Keep what you like: Capture in the Loop section freezes the last events the generator played into a loop you can replay, reverse, mutate and copy into a Mono sequence to edit by hand.

Choose it with Mode → Stochastic in the controls row.

The Stochastic screen

The Stochastic screen is one scrolling page of controls, from top to bottom:

On an iPad in landscape, the bars (notes, octave, duration, velocity, gate) fill the left part of the screen and Melodic, Articulation, Timing and Loop sit in a column on the right, so everything shows at once. In portrait it is a single column.

The mod lanes sit below the editor, as in every mode.

Stochastic controls row

In Stochastic mode the controls row shows fewer settings than in the step modes, because the generator brings its own pitches and timing.

Scale, Div, Order, Start/End and Swing are not shown: the 12 note bars are the scale, and the Duration bars and Timing section set the rhythm. Rec (step recording) isn’t available, because there are no steps to record into.

How Stochastic mode chooses each note

In Stochastic mode, every new event goes through the same series of decisions, in this order:

1. Length. A length is drawn from the Duration probability bars. Rests get a length too, so silence takes up time just like a note.
2. Rest. The Rest bar is the chance that the event is a rest. It is checked before anything else, so at 100% nothing sounds at all, Repeat included.
3. Repeat. The Repeat slider is the chance of replaying the previous note exactly: same pitch, velocity, length and articulation. It only applies straight after a note, not after a rest.
4. Density. The highest of the 12 note bars is the chance a note plays at all; otherwise the event becomes a rest. With every note bar at 50%, about half the events are rests.
5. Note. One of the 12 notes is picked, weighted by the note bars’ levels relative to each other. Ascend, Descend and Linearity shift those weights based on the previous note.
6. Octave. An octave is drawn from the Octave probability bars. With Linearity above 0, there is that chance instead of placing the note in whichever octave is nearest the previous note. The note’s own Octave offset (hold its bar) is then added.
7. Velocity. The note starts from velocity 96, scaled by its own Level (hold its bar), up to a maximum of 127.
8. Articulation. Portamento, Ratchet, Legato, Attack and Decay are each rolled separately, with their own chance.

As the event plays:

• The Velocity and Gate bars for the 1/16 of the bar it starts on scale its loudness and set its length.
• Barline can cut its length short, and Demand makes every event 1/16 long.
• Follow, if set, moves its pitch to the leader’s chord.

If every note bar is at 0, every event is a rest: time passes but nothing plays. If every Duration bar is at 0, events are 1/16 long. If every Octave bar is at 0, notes stay in the home octave.

Note probability

The Note probability bars are the core of Stochastic mode: 12 bars, one per semitone, set how likely each note is to be chosen.

• Relative levels pick the note: a bar at 100% is twice as likely as a bar at 50%. A bar at 0 is never played.
• The highest bar sets the density: the tallest note bar is also the chance that an event plays a note at all. Keep at least one bar at 100% for a line with no extra gaps (the Rest bar adds gaps on purpose).
• Counted from Root: the bars count up from the sequencer’s Root, and each is labelled with the note it plays. With Root at C the first bar is C; with Root at D the first bar is D, the next D#, and so on. Changing the Root transposes the whole pattern of bars.
• Black keys: the bars of notes that fall on black keys are shaded a little darker, so the shape of the scale is easy to read.
• Default: a new sequencer starts with the Root at 100% and its major third and fifth at 70% (C, E and G with the default Root C2).

Rest is the grey bar to the right of the notes. It is the chance that any event is a rest, whatever the note bars say (the SIG’s Pause). Default 0%. The note presets don’t change it.

While the transport runs, the bar of the note that is playing is outlined; when the event is a rest, the Rest bar is outlined instead.

Note presets

In Stochastic mode, the buttons to the right of the Note probability title replace all 12 note bars at once with a ready-made set. The levels count from the sequencer’s Root.

• Which preset is lit: a preset button is filled when the notes that are switched on (above 0) are exactly that preset’s notes, whatever their levels. Adjusting a level keeps it lit; turning a note on or off that isn’t in the preset unlights it. The default (root, major third and fifth) matches none of them.
• The glow after Random: when Random picks a preset, that preset’s button glows in the app colour, fading out over about 30 seconds, so you can see where the new notes came from.

Per-note Octave and Level

In Stochastic mode, holding a note bar opens that note’s own settings. Hold it still for a moment (a drag cancels the hold). A sheet titled with the note the bar plays, counted from the Root (such as “Note D”), opens:

A note with its own settings shows them as a small label at the top of its bar, such as +1 or 120%.

The touch that starts the hold also sets the bar to where your finger is, like any touch on a bar. To keep the note’s level, hold at the top of its fill.

Only the 12 note bars open this sheet. The Rest, Octave, Duration, Velocity and Gate bars don’t.

Octave probability

In Stochastic mode, the five Octave probability bars, −2, −1, 0, +1 and +2, set how likely each octave is, relative to the sequencer’s Root and Octave.

• Relative levels: like the note bars, the levels are weighed against each other. 0 at 100% and +1 at 50% plays the home octave twice as often as the one above.
• Default: 0 at 100%, the others at 0, so every note stays in the home octave.
• Linearity overrides it: with Linearity above 0, there is that much chance a note goes in whichever octave is nearest the previous note instead, even an octave whose bar is at 0.
• Per-note Octave adds to it: a note with its own Octave offset is moved on top of the octave drawn here.
• While playing: the octave each note was drawn from is outlined.

Duration probability

In Stochastic mode, the Duration probability bars set how likely each length is. Every event draws one, rests included, and the next event starts when it ends.

The lengths come in three sets, as on the SIG. The buttons beside the title choose which set the bars show:

• All three sets count: the buttons only change which bars you see. Every length in every set with a level above 0 can be drawn, weighted against all the others.
• The dot: a set button shows a • after its name when that set is hidden but still has a length above 0, so you can tell it is in play.
• Default: 1/16 at 100%, everything else 0: a stream of sixteenths.
• Irregular lengths shift the line off the straight grid. Combine them with Barline to bring it back in line every bar.
• While playing: the length each event drew is outlined, rests included, when it is in the set on show.

Velocity and Gate profiles

In Stochastic mode, the Velocity and Gate rows each have 16 bars, numbered 1 to 16: one per sixteenth of a 4/4 bar, counted from where you pressed play (or from the Link session’s bar line). A note takes the values of the bar for the 1/16 it starts on. While playing, that column is outlined.

The profiles also shape a captured loop as it plays, and Legato and Ratchet override the Gate value (see Articulation).

Melodic

In Stochastic mode, the Melodic sliders shape how each note relates to the one before. Each runs from 0% to 100%, default 0%. Ascend, Descend and Linearity only act when the previous event was a note; straight after a rest, the next note is chosen from the note bars alone.

Ascend and Descend move within the octave. They choose the note name; the octave is drawn separately. With only the home octave on, a climbing line wraps from the last note bar back round to the first (the Root). Add some Linearity so the line carries on into the next octave instead of wrapping.

Notes only ever come from note bars above 0, so the Melodic sliders can’t bring in notes you’ve switched off.

Articulation

In Stochastic mode, the Articulation sliders are the chance that a note is played with each articulation. Each is rolled separately for every note, 0% to 100%, default 0%.

• Attack and Decay together: a note that draws both swells up and back down.
• Expression afterwards: after a faded note, the next plain note puts Expression back to full, so a Decay never leaves the following notes silent.
• Only when used: a sequencer never sends Expression unless Attack or Decay is above 0, or its captured loop holds a faded note.
• Your synth must respond: Attack and Decay only change the sound if your synth maps Expression (CC 11) to its volume.

Timing

In Stochastic mode, the Timing section can tie the free-running lengths back to a bar, or replace them with a steady sixteenth pulse.

Random and Clear in Stochastic mode

In Stochastic mode, the Random and Clear buttons above the bars set up the whole generator at once. Both can be undone.

Random builds a fresh setup that plays well straight away:

• Notes: one of the presets Major, Minor, Dorian, Penta, m Penta or Maj7 (never Chroma or Drone). The root stays at 100%; the other notes’ levels are varied a little. The chosen preset glows. Every note’s own Octave and Level go back to +0 and 100%.
• Rhythm: one of a handful of rhythms, plain ones most often: running sixteenths, eighths, a sixteenth/eighth mix, slow quarters and halves, dotted syncopation, or lopsided 5/16 and 7/16. Levels are varied slightly.
• Octaves: a spread that stays mostly in the home octave, sometimes reaching one either side.
• Velocity and Gate: one of several shapes, such as strong downbeats, an off-beat push, a backbeat or a swell for Velocity, and full, staccato, long-short or long-on-the-beat for Gate.
• Space and motion: Rest 5–25%, Linearity 20–60%, either Ascend or Descend at 10–30% (or neither), Repeat up to 15%, Portamento up to 10%, Ratchet up to 8%, Legato up to 15%.

Random leaves Attack, Decay, the Timing section, the captured loop and its Pitch and Rhythm settings as they were. It does turn the loop’s Play off, so what you hear is the new setup.

Clear puts every Stochastic control back to how a new sequencer starts, and erases the captured loop:

Working with the Stochastic bars

In Stochastic mode, every vertical bar (notes, Rest, octaves, durations, Velocity and Gate) works the same way.

• Touch to set: touching a bar sets it to that height straight away, and dragging up and down changes it.
• Snapping at the ends: the bottom and top few percent of a bar snap to 0% and 100%, so both ends are easy to reach without hitting the exact edge. Values are whole percentages.
• Value labels: the bar’s value in percent appears at its top while you touch it, then fades away over about 7 seconds after you let go.
• Empty means 0: a bar at 0% has no fill at all.
• Scrolling the page: a drag on a bar sets the bar, so scroll from the titles, labels and the gaps between sections instead.
• Live outlines: while the transport runs, the bar for the note, rest, octave, length and 1/16 position of each event is outlined as it plays.

The horizontal sliders (Melodic, Articulation, Pitch and Rhythm) always show their value in percent at the right.

Capturing a Stochastic loop

In Stochastic mode, the generator never plays the same thing twice, so the Loop section lets you keep a phrase you liked. The sequencer continually remembers the last 18 events it generated, rests included.

Capture takes those last 18 events into the loop and starts playing it straight away:

• The last four sound: like the SIG, all 18 events are kept, but Start and End are set to the last four, so the bit you just heard is what loops.
• Play turns on: the sequencer stops generating and replays the loop.
• Fewer than 18: if fewer events have played, it captures what there is.
• Nothing played yet: if the generator hasn’t played anything since the app started, Capture does nothing.
• Stopped is fine: the remembered events survive stopping the transport, so you can capture after you stop.
• Only generated events: events replayed from a loop aren’t remembered. Capturing while a loop plays takes the last events generated before the loop started.
• Replaces the loop: capturing replaces whatever loop was there. It can be undone.

Stochastic loop controls

In Stochastic mode, these controls in the Loop section play and edit the captured loop. Everything after Reverse appears once something has been captured.

What a loop keeps: each captured event holds its exact pitch, velocity, length and articulation (Portamento, Ratchet, Legato, Attack, Decay). So while a loop plays:

• Fixed pitches: changing Root, Octave or the note, octave and duration bars doesn’t change the loop (only Pitch and Rhythm mutation draw from them).
• Still applied: the Velocity and Gate profiles, Barline, Demand and Follow still shape the loop as it plays.
• On play: pressing play starts the loop from Start (from End when it plays backwards).

The captured loop view

In Stochastic mode, once a loop has been captured, a row of bars under the Pitch and Rhythm sliders shows every captured event, in order.

• Height is pitch: low notes are short bars, high notes tall ones.
• Rests are flat grey slivers.
• In range or not: events between Start and End are bright; those outside are dim.
• Playing: while the loop plays, the event sounding is outlined.
• Live: with Pitch or Rhythm mutation above 0, the bars change as the loop rewrites itself.

Stochastic loop mutation (Pitch and Rhythm)

In Stochastic mode, Pitch and Rhythm let a captured loop drift slowly instead of repeating exactly, like the SIG’s mutation Amount. Both appear once a loop exists, 0% to 100%, default 0%.

• Pitch: each time an event comes round, this is the chance it is replaced by a fresh draw from the note, Rest, octave and Melodic controls. Its pitch and velocity change; a note can become a rest, and a rest can come back to life as a note.
• Rhythm: each time an event comes round, this is the chance it draws a new length from the Duration bars.
• Changes are kept: a mutated event stays changed in the loop, so the loop evolves over time rather than flickering back. It is saved with the project.
• 0% keeps the loop fixed.

Mutation only happens while the loop is playing.

Copying a Stochastic loop to Mono

In Stochastic mode, Copy to… writes the loop into another sequencer so a phrase the generator found can be edited by hand. The menu lists the other seven sequencers with their current modes.

The sequencer you pick:

• Becomes a Mono sequence with the Chromatic scale, the same Root and Octave as the Stochastic sequencer, and Div 1/16. Every note keeps its exact pitch.
• Gets the loop’s Start–End range, in the order it plays (reversed if the loop plays backwards). Each event lands on the 1/16 step where it played, as long as it lasted: a 1/4 note fills four steps’ worth of time.
• Note settings: velocity is kept as drawn, before the Velocity profile. Length is 85% of the event’s length, or the full length for a Legato note. A Ratchet note gets repeats, one per sixteenth, up to 8.
• Rests become gaps. Portamento, Attack and Decay aren’t copied.
• Replaces its steps: all of its existing steps are cleared first. Start is set to step 1 and End to the last step used.

What doesn’t apply in Stochastic mode

In Stochastic mode, a few features that work on step patterns don’t apply:

• The performance Loop strip in SONG has no effect, because Stochastic has no steps to hold. Use Capture in the Loop section instead (see Loop (performance)).
• Rec (step recording) isn’t available.
• Scale, Div, Order, Start/End and Swing aren’t shown in the controls row.
• Arp works: see Arp.

MIDI Player mode

What MIDI Player mode is for

MIDI Player mode loops a standard MIDI file (.mid) on one sequencer, in time with the app’s tempo. Use it to bring in a bass line, chord part or melody written elsewhere and play it alongside the other sequencers, loop part of it, and transpose it.

The file’s notes play on the sequencer’s Channel. The notes are shown in a piano roll you can loop sections of, but not edit.

Choose it with Mode → MIDI Player in the controls row.

Loading a MIDI file

In MIDI Player mode, a sequencer with no file shows No MIDI file loaded and a Load .MID File… button. Once a file is loaded, Load… beside Transpose loads a different one.

1. Tap Load .MID File… (or Load…).
2. Pick a MIDI file in the file browser.
3. The file appears as a piano roll, ready to play.

• The header shows the file name and its size, such as “212 notes · 8 bars”.
• The loop starts whole: a newly loaded file loops from beginning to end.
• Transpose is kept: loading a new file keeps the Transpose you had set.
• Files that don’t load: a file that can’t be read, or has no notes, is ignored, and the file already loaded stays.
• Undo: loading a file can be undone.
• Switching modes: the file stays with the sequencer if you switch to another mode and back.

What MIDI Player mode takes from a file

In MIDI Player mode, only the notes of a MIDI file are used: their pitch, velocity, start and length.

• All tracks and channels are merged. Every note from every track and every MIDI channel in the file plays together on the sequencer’s one Channel. To play a single part, load a file holding just that part.
• Tempo comes from the app. The file’s own tempo is ignored; it plays at the app’s tempo, beat for beat.
• Bars are 4/4. The file’s length is rounded up to whole 4-beat bars (at least one bar), whatever time signature it was written in.
• Timing is quantised to 24 positions per beat.
• Only notes: controllers, pitch bend and program changes in the file aren’t played.
• A note still held at the end of the file lasts until the end.
• File types: standard MIDI files, type 0 and type 1.

The MIDI Player piano roll

In MIDI Player mode, the whole loaded file is drawn as a piano roll that fits the width of the screen: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top.

• Pitch range: from just below the file’s lowest note to just above its highest.
• Grid: bar lines are stronger, beat lines fainter.
• Notes are drawn in the sequencer’s colour; louder notes are brighter.
• Outside the loop: the part of the file outside the loop is shaded, and its notes are faint.
• Playhead: while the transport runs, a line shows where in the file playback is.
• Progress: the percentage next to the file name shows how far through the loop playback is. It is greyed out while stopped.

The piano roll is for viewing: notes can’t be added, moved or removed.

MIDI Player loop brackets

In MIDI Player mode, the ruler above the piano roll shows the bar numbers and two brackets marking the loop. The looped part is shaded in the sequencer’s colour.

• Snaps to beats: brackets land on whole beats.
• At least one beat: the brackets can’t cross, and the loop is always at least one beat long.
• Takes effect straight away: the new range plays as you drag.
• On play: pressing play starts the file at the left bracket.
• One undo per drag.
• Bar numbers are thinned out when the bars are narrow, such as for a long file.

What plays in a loop:

• Notes that start inside the loop play. A note that starts before the loop and is still sounding when the loop begins isn’t played.
• No note lasts longer than the loop itself, so a long note can’t ring on into its own next repeat.

MIDI Player Transpose and Octave

In MIDI Player mode, two controls shift the file’s pitch without changing the file:

A note pushed below or above the MIDI range (0–127) isn’t played.

With Follow set to another sequencer in the controls row, each note of the file moves to the nearest note of the chord that sequencer is playing.

MIDI Player controls row

In MIDI Player mode, the controls row shows only what applies to a file:

Root, Scale, Div, Order, Start/End and Swing aren’t shown: the file brings its own pitches and timing, and the loop brackets set the range.

What doesn’t apply in MIDI Player mode

In MIDI Player mode, some features of the step modes don’t apply:

• The performance Loop strip in SONG has no effect; use the loop brackets instead (see Loop (performance)).
• Rec (step recording) isn’t available.
• Random and Clear aren’t shown.
• Editing notes: the piano roll can’t be edited. Edit the file in another app and load it again.

Arp

Arp (in the controls row) turns the selected sequencer into an arpeggiator for the keys you hold on a MIDI keyboard.

• Off: the sequencer plays its own pattern.
• On, no keys held: the sequence plays as usual, and its playhead moves.
• On, keys held: the held keys play as an arpeggio, in time with the sequencer’s Div (shown as Arp Div in Multitrack and Matriceal) and swing. The sequence’s own notes are silent but it keeps running, so when you let go it carries on from where it has got to.

Its settings appear to the right of Arp when it’s on:

The arp works in every mode, Stochastic included: while keys are held the generator is silent, and it carries on when you let go.

Step recording (Rec)

Rec lets you enter a pattern one step at a time from a MIDI keyboard. The transport doesn’t need to be running.

It’s available in Mono, Poly, Chord and Multitrack: the modes with a plain grid of steps to write into. Rec sits next to Arp in the controls row, and opening Arp moves it along.

1. Switch Rec to On. Two more controls appear beside it: At step (where the next note goes) and Rest.
2. Play a note or a chord on your MIDI keyboard. When you let go of every key, what you played is written into the step at At step, and the cursor moves on to the next step.
3. Press Rest to move on one step without writing anything, leaving a gap in the pattern.
4. Switch Rec Off when you’re done.

What gets written:

• Notes:
  • Mono: keeps one note, the lowest you played.
  • Poly: keeps the whole chord, up to the sequencer’s voice count.
  • Chord: works out the chord type closest to the notes you played.
  • Multitrack: writes to the selected track.
• Velocity: how hard you played. A single kept note keeps its own velocity; a chord takes the loudest of its notes.
• Pitch: each note becomes a step of the sequencer’s scale, measured from its Root and Octave. A key outside the scale lands on the nearest note in it.
• Everything else stays: the step’s length, probability, repeats, Tie, Accumulate and Skip are left as they were. Recording over an existing step only replaces its notes and velocity.

The cursor wraps: after the pattern’s End it returns to Start. If you set At step outside the pattern’s Start–End range, the next note goes to Start.

Only notes from an external MIDI input are recorded, the ones that light the IN dot. The piano keys beside the grid are for listening to a pitch and don’t record.

Patterns, the chain and the performance loop

Open SONG (under the controls) to reach patterns, the chain and the loop. The header shows the current pattern, plus the next one while a switch is waiting.

Patterns

There are 8 pattern slots. A pattern is a snapshot of all 8 sequencers: their modes, notes, step settings and mod lanes. Tempo and the sequencers’ names belong to the whole project, not to a pattern.

• Current pattern: filled. Your edits go into it.
• Stored slots: bright numbers. Empty slots: dim numbers.
• Switching: tap a slot. Before leaving, the pattern you’re on is saved into its slot, so edits are never lost. Store saves without switching.
• Undo: a switch is one undo step, whether playing or stopped. It doesn’t wipe the undo history, so edits made before the switch can still be undone.
• On the bar: while playing, a switch waits for the next bar line. The slot’s outline pulses until then. At the bar, the old pattern’s notes stop and the new pattern starts from its first step. Tap the current slot again to cancel a waiting switch. When stopped, switching is immediate.
• Duplicating: switching to an empty slot copies what you’re playing into it, ready to vary.
• Clearing: hold a stored slot (not the current one) and choose Clear slot.

Chain

The chain plays patterns one after another, for a set number of bars each.

• Add adds a link for the current pattern, 4 bars long. Each link has its pattern (tap to pick another), its length in Bars (1–64), and × to remove it. Up to 32 links.
• Play chain on: pressing play starts from the first link’s pattern, and each link hands over to the next after its bars, looping at the end. The link playing is outlined.
• A link pointing at an empty slot is skipped, and the pattern already playing carries on.

Bars are always 4 beats (4/4), for both the chain and switching on the bar. A bar isn’t the same as a pattern’s length: a sequencer of 12 sixteenth-notes loops every three quarters of a bar and keeps its own cycle. A switch or chain link still lands on the bar line.

Loop (performance)

Choose a length, then hold one of the 16 step buttons. 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 are one tap away; for any other length from 1 to 16, use the stepper after or custom: (tap − / +, or hold and drag). The stepper lights up when its length isn’t one of the buttons. Otherwise the matching button lights up instead. Playback loops that many steps from there for as long as you hold, and returns to the full sequence when you let go. Slide your finger along the strip to move the loop to another step without letting go.

• Counted from Start: the strip’s step 1 is the sequence’s first step, wherever its Start is set.
• Stays inside the sequence: a loop that would run past the sequence’s End shifts back so it keeps its length. A loop as long as the sequence, or longer, simply plays the whole sequence.
• Performance only: it isn’t saved and doesn’t add an undo step.
• Selected sequencer only: it loops whichever sequencer is selected.

Stochastic and MIDI Player don’t loop. Stochastic generates its notes as it goes and MIDI Player plays a file, so neither has steps to hold. Holding the loop there changes nothing. It works in Mono, Poly, Chord, Multitrack, Domino, Saga and Matriceal.

Mod lanes

Mod lanes are step sequences of values (0 to 127) that run alongside a sequencer’s notes. Each one either sends a MIDI controller (CC) to your instrument, or steers the sequencer itself: its transpose, velocity, note length, probability or swing. Every sequencer has 8 mod lanes of its own, in every mode.

Opening the mod lanes

Tap MOD LANES under the editor to open the panel. It shows the selected sequencer’s lanes:

• Lane buttons 1–8: tap one to edit that lane. Each button shows its destination: “CC74” for a MIDI CC lane, or the target’s name (“Transpose”). The lane being edited is filled with the app colour; any other lane that’s on has a small dot in its corner.
• The settings row: On, To, CC and Ch (MIDI CC lanes only), Div, Order, Start, End, Rise Slew, Fall Slew, Random and Clear. Swipe it sideways if it doesn’t all fit.
• The curve: a small graph of what the lane actually outputs, slews included, drawn over the steps between Start and End. A line moves along it while playing.
• The 16 step bars: the lane’s values.

Mod lane controls

A new project’s lanes are set to MIDI CC on controllers 1, 74, 71, 7, 10, 91, 93 and 11 (lanes 1 to 8), so each one is ready for a different common control.

Setting mod lane steps

A mod lane’s 16 step bars hold its values, 0 at the bottom to 127 at the top.

• Drag a bar up or down to set its value. The value jumps to where your finger is. Setting a value also switches that step on: it shows its number, and the bar is filled.
• Hold a bar still for about half a second to switch that step off. It then shows ”–” and sends nothing.
• Steps outside Start–End are dimmed and don’t play.
• The playhead: while playing, the step the lane is on is outlined.

A step that’s off doesn’t make a gap: the lane holds the last value it played until it reaches a step that’s on. A lane with every step off does nothing.

Mod lane timing

Each mod lane keeps its own time, separate from the notes.

• Own length and speed: a lane’s Div, Start, End and Order are its own. At the same Div, a 5-step lane against a 16-step pattern drifts against it and lines up again every 80 steps.
• Swing: lanes follow the sequencer’s Swing, so a lane at the same Div as the notes moves with them.
• Only while playing: lanes run only while the transport runs. Pressing play, and a pattern switch while playing, start every lane again from its first step and send its controller values again.
• Muted sequencers: a muted sequencer’s lanes keep running but send nothing.

Slew

Slew makes a mod lane glide between values instead of jumping. Rise Slew sets how long it takes to reach a higher value, and Fall Slew a lower one, each as a share of one lane step: at 50% it arrives halfway through the step, at 100% just as the next step begins. With both off, the lane jumps straight to each new value.

Setting them differently shapes the lane like an envelope: Rise off and Fall at 100% snaps up and then falls away. On a MIDI CC lane, the values along the glide are sent as it goes. Slew works the same way on the other targets.

Mod lane targets

The To setting decides what a mod lane’s value does.

Transpose, Velocity, Gate, Probability and Swing steer the sequencer itself and send nothing out. Each holds its value between the lane’s steps, and stops having any effect the moment the lane is switched off. Until the lane’s first step that’s on has played, there’s no effect.

If two lanes of the same sequencer go to the same target (not MIDI CC), the higher-numbered lane wins.

Mod lanes with modes and the Arp

Mod lanes work in every mode, and keep running when the mode changes.

• Transpose, Velocity and Gate apply to every note the sequencer plays: in every mode, including Stochastic and MIDI Player, and to the Arp’s notes.
• Probability applies to the modes with step chances: Mono, Poly, Chord, Multitrack, Domino (triggers and notes), Saga and Matriceal. It has no effect on Stochastic, MIDI Player or the Arp.
• Swing applies wherever there’s step timing, the Arp included. Stochastic, MIDI Player and Saga have no Swing control, and a Swing lane doesn’t affect them, though it still swings the mod lanes’ own steps.

Mod lanes are part of each pattern: switching patterns brings in that pattern’s lanes. Every change to a lane can be undone.

Settings

Settings holds the app colour and high contrast. Open it with the cogwheel (in the app, in the transport settings behind »; in the plugin, under the sequencer pads) or with Settings in the app menu ☰. Close it with × or by tapping outside it.

Settings are remembered on the iPad, not in the project, so they stay the same whichever project is loaded. The plugin keeps its own settings, separate from the app’s.

App colour

Oxidzr is drawn in a single colour, set with App colour. Every lane, pad and note is drawn in it; buttons that are on use a darker shade of it with white text, and playheads and brackets a lighter tint.

• Swatches: tap one of the 8 quick colours: the default pale cyan, then red, orange, yellow, green, sky blue, blue and purple. The one in use is outlined in white.
• Custom colour: the colour well after the swatches opens the system colour picker, for any other colour.
• Reset to default: goes back to the default pale cyan.

High contrast

High contrast makes everything around the app colour easier to see: a pure black background, brighter grey text, stronger outlines, and brighter switched-off pads and out-of-range steps. It doesn’t change the app colour itself. Off by default.

Saving and undo

Autosave in the app

The standalone app saves your project automatically. There is no save button.

• When: about a second after you stop editing, and straight away when you leave the app (switch to another app, go to the home screen or lock the iPad).
• Backup: before each save, the previous save is kept as a backup. If the project can’t be read when the app opens, Oxidzr opens the backup instead.
• On opening: the app opens the project as you left it.

What’s saved

The project holds:

• All 8 sequencers as they are now: mode, notes and step settings, every mode’s own settings, channels, Arp settings, mod lanes, and mute and solo.
• The 8 pattern slots, and which one is current.
• The chain, and whether Play chain is on.
• The sequencers’ names.
• The tempo.

Not saved with the project:

• The performance loop, which only lasts while you hold it.
• Rec: it’s off when the app opens.
• Which sequencer and which mod lane are selected, and whether SONG and MOD LANES are open.
• Thru, Clock and MIDI Out: Thru and Clock are off and MIDI Out is Virtual only each time the app opens.
• The undo history.

Some preferences are remembered by Oxidzr itself rather than by the project: Metronome, whether the transport settings are slid out, Snp in the step editor, the app colour and High contrast.

Saving in the plugin

The plugin doesn’t save on its own: the host saves it. When the host saves its session or a preset, the plugin’s whole project goes with it (sequencers, patterns, chain and names), and reopening the session brings it back. Each copy of the plugin in a session has its own project, separate from the app’s.

When the host loads a session or preset into the plugin, any notes still sounding are stopped first, and the undo history starts afresh.

Undo and Redo

Undo takes back your last edit and Redo puts it back again. They’re in the transport bar in the app, and under the sequencer pads in the plugin.

• How far back: the last 20 steps. Older ones are dropped.
• One step: a tap that changes something (adding a note, flipping a switch, picking from a menu) is one step. A slider or a drag is one step however long you keep moving it; pausing for more than about half a second and then moving it again starts a new one. Swipe-painting notes is one step for the whole stroke.
• What it covers: everything in the project: notes, step and sequencer settings, mod lanes, mute and solo, names, and the pattern slots and chain, including storing and clearing pattern slots.
• Switching patterns: tapping a pattern slot is one step, whether playing or stopped. It doesn’t wipe the history: edits made before the switch can still be undone.
• Not undoable: the tempo (undo leaves it where it is), play and stop, which sequencer is selected, the performance loop, Thru, Clock, Metronome, MIDI Out and Settings.
• Redo is available until you make a new edit; after that, what was undone can’t come back.
• Steps that changed nothing, such as picking the option that was already chosen, are passed over, so every Undo visibly does something.
• The history isn’t saved: it starts empty each time Oxidzr opens.