The example you have given here is exactly the demonstration of the OP-Z’s potential I have been looking for, I’d love to see more creative and logical uses of the step components (I will checkout the videos you posted as well), thanks
Awesome, I’m happy to hear that! Let me know if you have any questions and please share if you discover anything new along the way.
I actually learned something new this morning and your reply reminded me to share it here. 
Tonality 8-0
I was stumped by these for a long time, then a YouTube comment pointed out that they seem to align notes to the scale identified by the Master track. This was helpful but I still wasn’t sure when you’d want to use it.
This morning I realized it’s basically the opposite of Tonality 1.
Tonality 1 will cause a step on a track affected by the Master track to ignore the Master track transposition.
Tonality 8-0 will align a step on a track not affected by the Master track with the Master track’s detected scale. It seems to mostly favor the 1 and 5 of the scale but this hasn’t been totally consistent.
It’s still a bit odd, though, since these values don’t respond to Master track transpositions or key changes at all. So if the Master track detects C mixolydian (like it always does), Tonality 8-0 will transpose a step with a C# to a C or a G even if the Master track is transposed to C#.
I still don’t use the Master track’s transposition function at all but hopefully this helps someone.
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I’m working on a longer, more combinations-focused video. Basically looking at the step components all together instead of in isolation. The video will cover thinking of step components as syntax you can use to add structure to a track, as well as using them to fit more information on a single step. But like… cooler than that.
Here’s something that might help people:
Leaving a step open at the end of the sequence
If you don’t need a note on the last step in your sequence, it can sometimes be helpful to leave it open and add a Pulse Hold 2 + Jump 1 + (whatever component spark value fits your needs) combination on the second-to-last step. If your pattern is fewer than 16 steps you don’t even need to sacrifice a step.
Skipping the last step opens up a few interesting options:
- Adding a
Spark 0to the 16th step will reset the respective spark counter whenever the step is triggered, making it easier to do things like have a note play on passes 3 and 6 out of every 8 instead of 3, 6, 9, 12, etc. - Adding a
Jump 8to the 16th step will effectively stop/mute the track by keeping that track on that step indefinitely. So if you have a pattern that’s 4 bars long and you only want a track to play for 2 bars this is one way you could accomplish that. - Adding extra notes that spill over onto the second-to-last step is a great way of making sure those notes are played but don’t also spill over onto the first step on the track.
Getting the hang of this also makes it easier to repeat sections more than 8 times. Consider a track with the following chords:
Step 1: C#m
Step 5: A
Step 9: D
Step 13: E7
If I want to play C#m A 8 times before switching to the second half I only need to add the following:
Step 8: Jump 1 + Component Spark 888
Step 16: Jump 3
But if you want it to play C#m A 12 times before moving on you’ll have to use more steps and more math:
Step 7: Jump 1 + Component Spark 1 + Pulse Hold 2
Step 8: Jump 1 + Component Spark 666
Step 16: Jump 3
In other words, step 8 remains the same but step 7 now skips step 8 entirely the first of every 2 passes, and plays for twice as long to compensate. This makes the counter on step 8 advance at half-speed–hence 12 passes.
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I don’t have the skill, energy, or patience to make a book so this 37-minute video is more or less what I set out to learn and share about step components when I got my OP-Z: https://youtu.be/F7Xr_-dWWUk
It covers all of my favorites from all of these posts and other videos:
- Spark component combinations
- Jump 1-4 to make complex verse forms
- Jump 6 to play the pattern backward
- Jump 0 to advance FX tracks
- Component spark counter resets
- Stopping a track with jump 8
- Pulse & pulse hold
- Multiply
- Varying timing
- Turning the Bass track into an Arp track
- Fitting 8 notes on a step in the Arp track
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Great thread here. Thank you so much.
Where do I find the mentioned “speed guide”? I need it, to get started - so I can learn everything about step components afterwards, from you 
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You’re welcome!
I never actually made what I had in mind but I’d love to pick that idea up again especially with everything I’ve learned since then. It sounds like there’s interest in less advanced stuff so in the next couple weeks I’ll put together a long, slower-paced video about navigating the OP-Z with tips for going faster etc. Including graphics to make it easier to follow along.
For now I think this is my best beginner video (though I haven’t watched it since I published it): https://youtu.be/aTDagQ1gC6Y
Thanks so very much for posting all this - wow - so amazing! 
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You should have a book out on this! You’ve become my Z guru
This is seriously the opposite of advanced but I keep using it.
Sometimes I only end up playing a 4-bar loop when a track is set to 8 bars (i.e., a step length of 8), but I want to keep what I recorded and loop it.
If I set the step count to 8, it’ll loop back to the beginning after playing the first 8 steps, but it will completely ignore any notes that spilled over onto step 9 because they’re no longer part of the pattern.
I can avoid this issue by keeping the step count at 16 and putting a Jump 1 step component on step 8. It will loop back to the beginning after 8 steps but will include notes that spilled onto the step 9.
Note: this means you can’t add a component spark to this step but I mostly run into this issue recording tracks that are fairly dense with notes, in which case I typically don’t use any step components.
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Yes. Thanks for your work; these tips are really useful. Please don’t feel insecure! I wish there was a way to trigger patterns that I’ve programmed in the op-z with a foot pedal, or larger MIDI controller so I could be more flexible in how long I want a section to be when playing another instrument live, and switch when I want to rather than programming a pattern chain in advance. Perhaps I should start my own topic about this, but if you have an idea please let me know.
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I think you can work out something similar with OP-Z–check out the System table here: https://teenage.engineering/guides/op-z/midi
Aside from using Program Change you can change patterns using CC 103. Unfortunately I don’t think you can use that to cue a pattern to change at the end of a bar, it’s only instant.
You could also change a pattern’s length on the fly by using CC values to change the longest track’s step length.
Hopefully that gives you some starting ideas! And yeah, I wonder if it deserves its own thread so people who have actually used this type of setup can chime in too.