FR: V2 of Octagon & Samplers

For discussion of the Voltage Modular synthesis ecosystem.
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sdv
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:21 pm

FR: V2 of Octagon & Samplers

Post by sdv »

Octagon is an interesting sequencer. What it lacks in traditional sequencing (e.g. set conditions for gate, probability, timing, transposition & velocity of step being triggered (see Reaktor's Kodiak sequencer)) it makes up for in other creative ways - step rate, gate length, number of overall steps - all controlled by CV. However, what Octagon needs to bring it into the modern age is a snapshot feature which allows a new pattern to be loaded. It needs at least 12-16 snapshots which one could cycle through via MIDI keypress (each Octagon could receive on its own MIDI channel) or CV modulation. I would think all the values of a snapshot (number of steps, note, steps per note, sustain/div/etc..) would be a list/vector, just about the easiest data structure there is, so it *should* be simple enough to implement.

A person shouldn't have to load 20 instances of the module to make a song. If one wants a 128 note sequence just sequence four snapshots. If you had snapshots three instances of Octagon would be plenty for a project I think. For something complex like Octagon (32 steps and a busy interface) you need snapshots as you simply could never tweak patterns in real-time like you could with something more simple (think the 8 or 16 step sequencer). So, patterns need to be pre-arranged, be allowed to do their thing and let the spice flow - that's the joy of modular but you need the fundamental 'goodness' in place to work with to allow the magic to happen. Just think of that - three sequencers with 16 patterns - up to 32 steps each - and each instance can accept different MIDI channels so you can designate a separate track for each instance of Octagon in your patch.

As mentioned by Ian Craig, SA2K and a few others in previous posts I don't want nor should I need to rely on 3rd party devs to come up with modules which need cobbling into a piece of abstract Byzantine artwork to get something done which should be standard operating procedure. Sure, sometimes you want to make a complicated monster 'just because' but most of us just want to get some music going.

Another gripe this time for the Sampler modules - why is there no 'sample map editor'? I should be able to load up quite a few samples into a map to spread out across a keyboard (it doesn't have to even be velocity mapped) and then have a specific sample loaded into the Sampler, again by keypress or CV. There can be but a single sample loaded at a time but there should be some mechanism to load them from a sample<->keyboard range structure. As with Octagon, a person shouldn't need many instances of a module to make a patch a performance instrument.
sdv
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:21 pm

Re: FR: V2 of Octagon & Samplers

Post by sdv »

Another thing I'd like to see in Octagon is a BoS/EoS (Beginning of Step / End of Step) trigger jack. That way whenever my playhead reaches the end of a step cycle (no matter how many pulses it contains) a trigger can be sent to start something else
Also, please add this to the 8 & 16 Step sequencers but in this case it would be an EoR (End of Row) trigger.

Oh, and another thing - how about the four banks selectable by CV? There could be a pass-through mode where all steps are played by whatever order is selected but, there could also be a setting where banks can be cycled through via CV (this way you could build up a song via a 5-step pattern, then switch to a 7 step for a few cycles, a 6 step, then a 8 step for a number of cycles.
Ultimately, you could switch to a pass-through where the 5 steps play then jump immediately to Bank #2 for the 7 steps, then to Bank #3 for 6 steps and then to Bank #4 for the 8 step pattern. Such a system would be massive!!
Last edited by sdv on Mon Apr 27, 2020 7:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
sdv
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:21 pm

Re: FR: V2 of Octagon & Samplers

Post by sdv »

One more thing for the CA sequencers - it would be great if there were a faint background color in the slider space to indicate to what level a slider is raised (that would give an entire sequence a histogram-type visual which is very easy to grok when thinking about an overall 'pattern').
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