2 SEQ

Every track has up to 16 patterns. Each pattern has its own length, 1–256 steps (16 to start with), and the GRID shows it one page of 16 steps at a time. Each step holds up to 8 notes (a chord), each note with its own length, velocity and a small timing offset (6 microsteps per step). SEQ has three pages:

Page	For
ROLL / STEP note page	writing, editing and recording notes, in two views: ROLL piano roll and STEP, drawn like a drum machine; on a drum track the STEP view is the DRUMS drum machine
PATTERN	choosing, creating and queueing the track's patterns
TRACK	the track's sequencer switch, the current pattern's length, global swing and BPM

The note page's two views

↵OK is this page's record key: tap it to switch between the two views, hold it for the RECORD panel. With steps selected a tap on ↵OK picks what you edit instead (see Selecting and editing).

01

ROLL piano roll: time × pitch, notes drawn as bars. Melodic tracks start here.

02↵OK

Tap ↵OK: STEP, a row per note over the steps, and on the right the GRID of the note the pads chose. Drum tracks start here: it is their drum machine.

03↵OK

Tap again: back to ROLL. The OK strip on screen is in ROLL, in STEP.

Both views show the same pattern and take exactly the same keys; only the drawing differs. Drum tracks and melodic tracks each remember their own view. The 16 GRID keys are the 16 steps of the page on screen (row 1 is steps 1–4, row 2 steps 5–8…):

Key	Does
GRID tap	selects that step and keeps it, so your hands are free for the pads; tap it again to let go, tap another step to move there (with SELECT MULTI a tap adds a step)
GRID held	the step is selected while its key is down and let go when you release it; steps held together are edited together. Stopped, you hear the step while you hold it
PADS held + GRID	the held notes go into that step; if it already holds any of them, they all come out instead
PADS with steps selected	the same on the selected steps: a pad's notes (its whole chord) go in, or come out
PADS with nothing selected	just play (and record live with REC on)
↑← / ↓SUB	selected steps: change them; nothing selected: next / previous page of a long pattern
FN+↑← / FN+↓SUB	selected steps: change them in bigger steps; nothing selected: next / previous pattern
↵OK	tap: switch the view (with steps selected: the next edit lane); hold: the RECORD panel

Nothing moves on by itself: there is no write cursor, and a step you leave alone is a rest.

ROLL piano roll

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1A note: length = duration
2. 2Every C is marked
3. 316 steps = GRID
4. 4ROLL view
5. 5Has notes: half lit
6. 6Empty step: off

ROLL: a few notes on T2. The row of small cells at the bottom is the GRID's 16 steps.

The page's steps run left to right (a pattern shorter than 16 steps fills the width too), pitch bottom to top. On a melodic track the rows are every key the pads play at the current octave, used or not, black-key rows shaded; notes outside that range widen it (up to 41 rows). On a drum track the rows are the drums in use, by name. The more solid a note, the higher its velocity; the green line is the playhead. The small cells at the bottom: dithered where a step holds notes, white where it is selected, green where the playhead is.

While you hold pads, the rows of their notes light up across the roll (chord tones too), so you see where a tapped step will write. An empty pattern says HOLD A PAD + TAP STEPS.

Write notes: hold one or more PADS, then tap steps on the GRID.

01HOLDC

Hold a note (C3, bottom left): its row lights up.

02HOLDC+9G1

Keep holding and tap GRID 1: C is written into step 1.

03HOLDC+OG5›KG9

Go on with 5, 9…, then switch to another note and tap a few more steps. Tap a step that has the note and it comes out again.

• Look at a step: tap its GRID key; its notes light up fully on the pads, so you see at once what it holds. Tap the same step again to let go. See Selecting and editing.
• Record live: turn REC on (FN+▶PLAY or the RECORD panel), start playback, then play the pads, see Play and live recording.
• With the track's sequencer off (TRACK page) the page says SEQUENCE OFF - SEQ > TRACK.

STEP view

The STEP view draws every track the way a drum machine does: the whole page at a glance on the left, and on the right the GRID as it lies under your fingers.

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1A row per note × the page's 16 steps
2. 2E3: the note the pads chose last
3. 3Step 2: selected
4. 4Edit lane · the step's notes
5. 5Selected: fully lit
6. 6Its notes D3 E3: fully lit
7. 7Has notes: half lit

STEP on T2: step 2 selected, the pads D and E tapped into it.

• Left: one row per note (on a melodic track every key the pads play at this octave, the highest at the top, black-key rows shaded; widened for notes outside it, up to 41 rows) over the page's 16 steps. Held notes light their row; the selected steps light their column.
• Right: the 4×4 GRID for the note the pads chose last (its name above): its 16 steps, how hard by dither density, the selected steps inverse.
• The keys are those of every note page (see the table in The note page's two views). To write a step at a time without keeping time:

01↵OK

Tap ↵OK for the STEP view.

020G2›D›E

Tap GRID 2: step 2 is selected and stays so. Press D, then E: both go into step 2. Press E again and it comes out.

030G2

Tap GRID 2 again to let it go, or tap the next step you want to write.

• Notes written from the pads get the velocity of SETUP KEYS (VELO) and are one step long; drums go in as hard as their pad's row. Change them with the edit lanes (see Selecting and editing).
• While playing, the step the playhead enters flashes green once and keeps a green outline until the next step; the steps behind it leave no trail.
• VIEW in the FN menu and in the RECORD panel switches the view too.

Selecting and editing

A GRID key selects its step, in both views and on drum tracks alike, the way MatrixOS's sequencer does:

• Tap (released within 0.25 s, no other key meanwhile): the step stays selected and the hands are free. With SELECT ONE (the default) a tap on another step moves the selection there, and a tap on the step selected alone lets it go. With SELECT MULTI (on the KEYS page of 0 SETUP, see KEYS) a tap adds a step, and a tap on a selected one takes it out.
• Hold (longer, or another key pressed meanwhile): the step is selected only while its key is down. Hold several to edit them together.
• ESC clears the selection; turning the page with SELECT ONE clears it too.

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1The selected step
2. 2Selected: fully lit
3. 3This step's note: fully lit
4. 4Other keys: half lit

Step 5 selected: its column is highlighted and its note lights up fully on the pads.

The notes of the selected steps light up fully on the pads; while playing with no step selected, those of the step under the playhead do. Once a step is selected:

01OG5

Tap GRID 5: step 5 is selected and its column highlighted.

02↵OK›↵OK

↵OK cycles what you edit, NOTE → LEN → VEL → TIME; the bottom line shows the lane and its value.

03↑←

↑← / ↓SUB change it; held they repeat. ESC clears the selection.

Key	Does
PADS	put that pad's notes into the selected steps, or take them out: a chord goes in or out as one group (a step that holds any of its notes loses them all and gains none); while playing they edit without sounding
↵OK	what you edit: NOTE (pitch) → LEN (length) → VEL (velocity) → TIME (small timing offset)
↑← / ↓SUB	change it; held they repeat; with FN in bigger steps
FN+↵OK	switch between editing all notes of the chord (ALL) and just one of them (its name on the bottom line)
ESC	clear the selection (the next ESC changes scene)

On a drum track the pads choose the drum, so the NOTE lane does not move hits (ADD / SUB say PADS PICK DRUMS); LEN, VEL and TIME work as on any track.

DRUMS: the drum machine

On a drum track (T1 DRUMS by default) the STEP view is the drum machine, its tab reads DRUMS, and it is where drum tracks start. ↵OK switches to ROLL, a piano roll of the drums in use, as on any track.

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1Eight drums × 16 steps
2. 2The chosen drum (CH) on the GRID
3. 3DRUMS
4. 4Has hits: half lit
5. 5Nothing on this step: off

The drum machine on T1: the beat of every drum on the left, the chosen drum's 16 steps on the right.

• PADS are drums and velocities: each column is a drum, each row how hard (top row 127, then 100, 70, bottom row 40). A pad sounds and chooses the drum the GRID on the right shows.
• Hold a pad and tap steps: that drum goes into them as hard as the pad's row (or comes out where it already is). Or tap a step first and then press pads.
• Change a hit: select its step (hold or tap it), ↵OK to VEL or TIME, ↑← / ↓SUB.
• How hard a hit is shows as dither density in four clear levels (solid, half, a quarter, an eighth); a hit off the beat is a thin bar at its place in the step.
• While you hold a pad its drum's row lights up across, as dense as the pad hits, and its name turns inverse.

01HOLDCH+9G1›-G3›OG5

Hold the closed hat (CH, bottom row) and tap every other step: CH goes in at the softest velocity.

02HOLD9G1+↵OK›↵OK›↑←

Hold step 1, tap ↵OK twice for VEL and press ↑←: its hits get harder. Let go and step 1 is no longer selected.

• GRID lights as on every note page: steps with hits half lit, selected steps fully lit, empty steps off; while you hold pads, the steps that hold their drums are fully lit.
• Record live and the RECORD panel work as on the other tracks.

Play and live recording

01▶PLAY

▶PLAY: play; the green line is the playhead. Press again to stop, and the playhead rewinds to step 1.

02FN+▶PLAY

FN+▶PLAY: record arm (REC). The PLAY light blinks, REC blinks in the status line and, while playing, a red frame goes around the screen.

03C

Play the PADS while it plays: the notes are written into the pattern where you play them (overdub).

• REC can also be turned on in the RECORD panel or with REC in the FN menu. While recording is armed the PLAY strip on screen is red.
• Recording is overdub: existing notes stay, and new ones land on the nearest microstep. With ARP on, the arpeggiator's notes are what gets recorded.
• Live recording takes the pads while no step is selected, in both views and on the drum machine; with steps selected the pads edit them instead.
• A wrong note: select its step and clear it with FN+X, or tidy the timing with FN+Q.

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1REC: blinking
2. 2Playhead
3. 3PLAY: blinking
4. 4REC ARMED
5. 5Blinking: recording

Recording while playing: a red frame around the screen, REC blinks in the status line.

The RECORD panel

On the note page hold ↵OK (about half a second) for the RECORD panel, or pick RECORD in the FN menu; ESC closes it.

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1Settings: REC · SNAP · VIEW
2. 2Last 8 takes, newest first
3. 3The chosen take
4. 4How this bar would land
5. 5±bar · OK new pattern · FN+OK merge
6. 6Settings
7. 7Takes

The RECORD panel: settings on top, takes in the middle, the bar to place below.

GRID	Holds
row 1	REC live recording on / off · SNAP whether takes land on whole steps (STEPS) or keep their timing (FREE) · VIEW ROLL / STEP; the fourth cell is empty
rows 2–3	the last 8 takes (capture), newest first
row 4	the chosen take's bar as it would land in a pattern

• Setting cells: a tap switches them; ↑← / ↓SUB work too.
• Take cells: a tap chooses; ↑← / ↓SUB choose the bar; ↵OK puts it into a new pattern; FN+↵OK merges it into the current pattern.
• GRID lights: settings half lit, REC and SNAP fully lit when on, the focused cell fully lit, takes half lit.

Capture: get back what you just played

No need to turn on REC: every note you play on the pads is kept in the background (capture). When something good came out, put it into the sequencer afterwards:

01C›E›G

Just play. A pause longer than 2.5 s, a track change or 60 seconds starts a new take.

02HOLD↵OK

Hold ↵OK: the two middle rows are the last 8 takes, with number, track and note count.

03PG6

Tap a take: row 4 shows how its bar would land. ↑← / ↓SUB pick another bar.

04↵OK

↵OK: into a new pattern on this track; not a single existing note is touched.

• The 8 takes share room for 400 notes; when it is full, the oldest take makes way.
• Without a free pattern slot it tells you; use FN+↵OK to merge into the current pattern instead.
• Takes played while the transport ran keep their place against the bar; takes played while stopped start with their first note, timed at the BPM of that moment.
• With SNAP on (default) every note lands on the nearest whole step with a whole-step length; off, your playing's fine timing is kept.

Long patterns and step pages

A pattern can be up to 256 steps long; the GRID and the screen always show one page of 16 steps. The page number sits at the right end of the bottom line (for example 2/4, yellow when you turned the page yourself).

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1PAGE − / PAGE +: page / pages
2. 2LEN − / LEN +: the length

The SEQ menu (hold FN): row 3 turns the pages and sets the length.

• Set the length: STEPS on the TRACK page (↑← / ↓SUB one step, FN+↑← / FN+↓SUB to the next page boundary), or LEN − / LEN + in the FN menu: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 48 … 256.
• Turn the page: ↑← / ↓SUB on the note page with no step selected (their icons are → ←, and PAGE n/m pops up), or PAGE − / PAGE + in the FN menu.
• Change pattern: FN+↑← / FN+↓SUB on the note page with no step selected go to the next / previous pattern (PATTERN n/m and its name pop up); while playing the switch waits for the end of the loop (NEXT PATTERN).
• While playing the GRID follows the playhead from page to page; after you turn a page yourself it stays there until the next PLAY. With a step selected it does not turn.
• A new pattern starts with the length of the current one; a duplicated pattern keeps its length. Steps beyond the length are off on the GRID.
• Memory is used only by pages that hold notes. When it runs out the note is not written and the screen says MEMORY FULL - NOTE NOT WRITTEN.

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1page 2/3
2. 2PAGE 2/3

A 48-step pattern after ↑←: the GRID now shows steps 17–32.

PATTERN page

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1Existing pattern: half lit
2. 2In use: fully lit
3. 3NEW: create one
4. 4PATTERN page
5. 5Existing
6. 6Current
7. 7NEW: off

The PATTERN page: this track's pattern slots.

• Tap a slot: switch to that pattern. Stopped, it switches at once; playing, it is queued until the track finishes its loop (the cell shows NEXT and a countdown bar, its key light is blinking).
• Tap the "NEW" slot: a new empty pattern (up to 16 per track).
• The pattern in use shows how many of its steps hold notes.
• ↑← / ↓SUB (with or without FN): next / previous (queued while playing); ↵OK goes back to the note page.
• FN+D: duplicate the current pattern into the next free slot. FN+C / FN+V copy and paste a whole pattern, FN+X clears it (after confirming).

TRACK page

The screen and the key lights at that moment

1. 1SEQ on / off
2. 2STEPS
3. 3SWING
4. 4BPM
5. 5Four tracks: engine · pattern · step ruler

The TRACK page: four settings on top, an overview of the four tracks below.

Setting	Range	Meaning
SEQ	on / off	whether this track's sequence plays (a tap or ↵OK switches it)
STEPS	1–256	the length of the current pattern; each pattern has its own (12 against 16 for polyrhythms)
SWING	50–75 %	global swing
BPM	30–300	global tempo; also tap it with FN+T or hold FN and use 6 / Y

Tap a cell to focus it, ↑← / ↓SUB change it (FN for bigger steps). The overview squeezes long patterns into 16 cells.

Copy, paste, clear, quantize

Hold FN with a letter, or pick the item in the FN menu (COPY, PASTE, CLEAR, QUANT, DUP: their second line says STEPS or PATTERN). On the note page they act on the selected steps; with none selected, and on PATTERN and TRACK, on the whole pattern:

1. 1Hold
2. 2Copy
3. 3Paste
4. 4Clear
5. 5Quantize
6. 6Duplicate pattern
7. 7Tap tempo

Edit keys while FN is held

Keys	Does
FN+C / FN+V	copy / paste (PASTE is off until something is copied)
FN+X	clear (asks first for a whole pattern)
FN+Q	quantize to whole steps
FN+D	duplicate the pattern into the next free slot
FN+T	tap tempo

The SEQ menu on the GRID, the same on all three pages:

Row	Items
1	COPY · PASTE · CLEAR · QUANT
2	DUP · VIEW (ROLL / STEP) · RECORD (the RECORD panel) · SCOPE (FN+↵OK, with steps selected)
3	PAGE − · PAGE + (note page, long patterns) · LEN − · LEN +
4	SAVE · TAP · REC · SETUP, as on every screen

More on the menu in The menu on each screen.

warning

There is no undo, so clearing a whole pattern always asks first.