Advanced ways to use step components

OP-Z
41

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

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42

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. :slight_smile:

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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43

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:

  1. Adding a Spark 0 to 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.
  2. Adding a Jump 8 to 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.
  3. 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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44

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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45

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 :nerd_face:

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46

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

47

Thanks so very much for posting all this - wow - so amazing! :pray:

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48

You should have a book out on this! You’ve become my Z guru

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49

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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50

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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51

I think you can work out something similar with OP-Z–check out the System table here: OP-Z guide: 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.

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52

Thanks, and such a swift response! I think this may be exactly what I need… I’ll let you know (either here or in new topic) what happens.

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53

Hi - nothing to add here but I just wanted to say how useful this thread, and your explorations and clear explanations, have been for me. It’s really opened up the OP-Z as being more than what I bought it for (a fun little travel synth). Because of what’s here, the OP-Z has become the main driver in my little studio, either powering my modular via an MI CV-Pal or direct into the SOMA SimplexFM. It really is amazing.

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54

This made my day! Thank you for taking the time to leave a kind message. :heart:

Whaaaaaaat? I’ve spent the last two weeks obsessively practicing with SimplexFM. Not sure if it deserves its own thread but I’ve learned a lot from the process of mapping the OP-Z’s parameters to the Simplex and I’d be curious how you’ve been using it so far.

It doesn’t make the same deep bass sounds that some of the Z’s engines can but I’m basically in love with SimplexFM.

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55

That’s amazing! Yeah I’m slowly getting my head around the simplex. Found the instructions a little opaque so have been mostly just playing around and seeing what sounds good. Being able to set up four separate midi tracks, each with different step lengths but using the same sequence, and mapping whatever I can to the moderators has been interesting (not exactly musical but getting there)

It’s a great combination really. I feel that with more work just these two devices would be enough to make some complex, esoteric music.

Also - do you know about the music thing modular 8mu? Mapping its faders to the simplex gives a lot of control in a still tiny form

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56

I learned there’s a misprint in the manual by the way: the cyclic envelope toggle is controlled by CC 22, not CC 27.

Here’s the layout I’m using on the OP-Z (using a silent sample slot) for the parameters:

Page 1: Middle, Fold, Drive, Glide
Page 2: Period, Shape, Sustain, Release
Page 3: Keytrack toggle, Cyclic envelope toggle, Delay, Feedback
Page 4: (empty), FM Source, FM Volume, Volume

CC values: [ 10, 11, 7, 15, 8, 9, 19, 35, 22, 56, 32, 13, 0, 14, 34, 16 ]

I’ve gone through a lot of iterations and I think this one’s here to stay because it’s somewhat close to the OP-Z’s layout, and parameters 1/3/15 (all affected by Sweep step components) are on neat things to sweep.

I got too frustrated with Transpose because if you bump it slightly it can really mess with you so I’m avoiding it for now.

The FM is between tracks so I put it on page 4 because, after a lot of trial and error, it turns out page 4 will only load its presets if you haven’t touched the page 4 parameters on that pattern. So page 4 consists of parameters I’ll want to adjust per pattern/project instead of per “preset,” if that makes sense.

I’m not sure if I should be grateful or angry about being introduced to such a cool and useful piece of gear that’s right up my alley. :stuck_out_tongue:

It looks cool!

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57

This is wonderful. I’m going to deep dive into this over the weekend

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58

I’m gradually reorganizing this information and more into a Wiki on GitHub and could use help with how to organize this information and represent it in text in a meaningful way.

Here’s e very rough draft of a page: Step Components by Example · windowbed/op-z Wiki · GitHub

Any feedback would be very welcome. Thank you in advance!!

59

This may be easier to explain in a video but who knows when I’ll make the next one.

Delaying the start of a track

I like introducing drums one at a time in the intro to a song. The problem is I don’t always want to take up multiple pattern slots just to bring in the snare after 16 bars.

My technique is to put the actual drum pattern on steps 9-16, and to reserve the first 4 steps for a series of Pulse and Pulse Hold combinations that will delay when the track begins.

Say I want the snare to come in 4 bars late. I would do the following:

  1. Add a trigger/note to step 13
  2. Add a Pulse 8 step component to steps 1 and 2
  3. Add a Pulse Hold 5 step component to step 1, and a Pulse Hold 3 to step 2
  4. Add a Jump 3 to step 2
  5. Add a Jump 3 to step 16

Assuming a Step Length of 1 (default; the shortest), Pulse 8 causes the step to be held for 8 16th notes, or a half note. We need that to be held for 8 times this duration, but adding a Pulse Hold 8 isn’t an option since it will just make the step last 8 16th notes.

So we need to use 2 steps and a tiiiiiiny bit of math. Here’s my approach:

Step 1: Pulse 8; Pulse Hold 5
Step 2: Pulse 8; Pulse Hold 3; Jump 3
Step 16: Jump 3

5 + 3 = 8, so this is effectively the same as playing these empty steps for 8 x (8 16th notes), or 4 bars.

If you want to delay the start by 8 bars it’s a similar setup but with different values for Pulse Hold:

Step 1: Pulse 8; Pulse Hold 9
Step 2: Pulse 8; Pulse Hold 7; Jump 3
Step 16: Jump 3

9 + 7 = 16, so this delays the start by 16 * (a half note), or 8 bars.

Continuing this across steps 1-4 can give you a delay of 16 bars, which is beyond what you can accomplish with punch-in FX.

Reserving the first 4 or 8 steps of a track is obviously a big sacrifice, but for my intros I’m not usually doing any fancy fills or anything.

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60

Z & XY step component type/name differences:

  • Pulse Hold is now just Hold
  • Multiply is now Divide
  • Trigger/Component/Parameter Spark are now Skip Trigger/Component/Parameter. Makes way more sense. Too bad saying “spark” has become automatic for me :grimacing:

Z & XY step component value/function differences:

  • Sweep on OP-Z was replaced with Bend. Haven’t tested it much yet though.
  • They took my beloved Multiply 9 (split chord) and Multiply 0 (quantize timing) and replaced them with “Divide into 9 trigs” and “Divide into random trigs”
  • They eliminated counter resets for the Spark components (value 0). Now value 0 is random and value 9 behaves just like value 8
  • Jump 0 now jumps to a random step, and Jump 7 randomly jumps one step forward or backward.
  • You can set portamento as low as 10% with the step component but you can’t turn it off unlike on the Z

Gripes and other stuff I’m reporting to TE:

  • Jump overrides Pulse and Hold, which makes it so you can’t do stuff like “hold this step for X counts then jump to step Y”
  • Jump 1-4 take you to steps 1, 5, 9, and 13. Even if the step component is on a different page (e.g., Jump 1 on step 20 takes you to step 1 instead of, say, step 17).
  • I’m not clear if Bend works at all right now.
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