In view to change pattern you just have to program change on Pyramid.
Very easy, you go in step menu, cc message “prog change” (you turn the encoder until cc 122), then your pattern number. The change will take place at the end of the pattern length of the Elektron machine.
It works great with MD and MnM, but I have some issues with A4. But I don’t spend a lot of time on that problem because since I work with Pyramid, I oftenly use elektron as expanders.
The Pyramid can send an enormous amount of cc per step.
last message and I stop monopolysing the thread (sorry to abuse Andreas)
On this picture you can see the “disp” menu of prog change. When you want to alter the program, you just have to turn the encoder and select the number you want (u per left number) and select the Step on Pyramid and it’s done, the prog change is locked. With zoom you can be more precise. Change can be programmed live and will take place immediately.
Powerfull device.
So know my apologies for turning this thread to Pyramid sequencer one. But I can’t help talking about it. The more people support Squarp, the more the os will be developed.
Okay, thanks a lot for the info Elena! I believe everyone wins if we talk about the Pyramid
I’ve found that the problem with program changes and the Elektrons is that you have to send the actual program change a few steps before you actually switch patterns. Something like this:
PAT1 - PAT2
So you have a program change message on step 12 of PAT1 – but let’s say you want to stay at PAT1 for a bit - the program change still gets sent at step 12, so now your Elektrons are out of sync. IF you could send the program change to the Elektrons only when PAT2 starts, the Elektrons wouldn’t change patterns before you actually switch over to PAT2. I hope I can explain this the right way.
Do you get this problem with the Pyramid? Sorry if I’m being a bit difficult to understand here, but this program change stuff is what really bugs me with sequencers, still, especially the Elektrons.
Well, with Pyramid, I use the same trick than I use with an Elektron set only : the multi map that permit you to change patterns instantaneously. So the problem doesn’t occurs.
But for that, Pyramid isn’t necessary. Can do that with any Elektron machine.
Here I give a very useful thread that permit me to understand multi map on A4, in 5 min.
So you just have to program the change (a note) on the first set of new pattern that wI’ll make change the other Elektron gear.
Everything wil be at the right place at the right moment on different machines
Yes, can be. Everything depending on the way you work.
This is sure that if you buy Pyramid just to solve your pattern change problem on Elektron, it’s overkill.
Haha, yeah more like, I’m intrigued by the added possibilities in sequencing and the linearity. But it still needs to add up to a sensible workflow as a whole.
I know that each pattern can only sequence on one MIDI channel, but can one pattern send MIDI data to multiple channels?
My only use for this:
MIDI CH 1 - Rytm
MIDI CH 2 - bass synth
Is there a way to trigger a bass synth sequence that also sends a program start message to the Rytm so it can start flawlessly? I wouldn’t feel safe trying to hit play on both Pyramid and Rytm at once
One track is for one channel only, as far as I can tell, though still being noob at the Pyramid.
But that one channel can send a ridicilous amount of MIDI data. If the Rytm allows for separate starts and stops per track through transmission and reception of Midi CC, then you can be sure the Pyramid can handle it.
Given the flexible nature of the Pyramid’s track structure, though, I’d say that in the case of the Rytm, you could consider ditching the Rytm’s sequencer entirely and let the Pyramid just control it. With its endless parameter locks feature, anything the Rytm can handle through Midi CC, you can lock and load from the Pyramid.
My experience with the Pyramid so far, is that it enables your instruments in new ways. I’ve had it hooked up to a Volca Sample for a couple of days now, and all kinds of interesting stuff pour out from it, which just wouldn’t be possible on the VSample.
In contrast, the immediacy of the VSample’s groovy interface, there’s stuff that’s just better suited for an integrated sequencer that’s very hands on. So the contrast becomes obvious.
For example, let’s say you’ve got something funky going on with your VSample, that you’ve built within its sequencer, but you still got voices to spare. Fire up the Pyramid, trigger the VSample sequencer from the pyramid, and then play the remaining voices from the Pyramid, to let the Volca Sample do stuff it can’t on its own, while still maintaining the groovy stuff you built within its own sequencer.
I realize this isn’t anything new, in terms of features or workflow, but with the Pyramid, it becomes obvious in another way.
from reading this whole thread, the pyramid is starting to look really tempting…
but then again - could Elektron+Pyramid owners answer me this: why would I need a Pyramid if I have three black Elektrons? does it bring anything new to the table? And even if so, how to incorporate it to a tri-Elektron setup to get the most of it?
I mean, hooking the OT, AR and A4 together makes a tight little ecosystem and I’m not sure how could it benefit from introducing another sequencer.
I’ve gone on a bit of a research binge. The upsides I’ve found are:
-Truly polyphonic, piano roll style sequencing
-The Euclidean sequencers
-The polyrhythmic aspects seem a bit more developed?
-Midi effects, such as humanizing
-A linear workflow, as opposed to pattern-based
-CC/automation curves, as opposed to just p-locks (with slide trigs)
-Smartpads for scales/chords/etc.
But that being said, I’m thinking of the same thing, myself. You said it well, the dark trinity is a nice ecosystem of its own. I haven’t had a really nice time working out the program changes on the Elektrons, so I’m a bit wary of incorporating anything that upsets the delicate balance of all-Elektron patterns…
I imagine the workflow with the Pyramid & the black Elektrons would be a hybrid of sorts – I can definitely see lots of use for Elektron sequences with the Pyramid, still – especially with the upcoming update for the Analog machines, which adds trig probability and more.
So, for me to be able to use the Pyramid in a sensible way with the trinity, it’d take basically one thing: easy ways to sync pattern changes with what’s going on in the Pyramid.
I also read a message from the developer where they said they’re basically developing loop regions within sequences. So if I got the message right, if you had a 128 bar sequence, you could choose to loop just bars 1-8, 32-64, 7-8, or whatever you choose. That would bring the Pyramid a lot closer to a pattern-based thinking – but I’d never base my buying decision on an upcoming feature. Besides, I think the cool thing about the pyramid is being able to break out of pattern-based thinking at will.
The dark trinity’s sequencers are all the same - pattern-oriented, designed around a 64-step structure (which you can break, I know, but it’s still at its heart a 4bar64step story).
The Pyramid is based around a different idea entirely, where you can compose sections of greatly varying length, mix them with each other effortlessly without any boundaries of what remains within a pattern, string them together and blend them into sequences and then experiment further with all this, in a live mode. Given this, and the granularity of the sequencer’s resolution, you’ll get very different results from it once you unthink Elektron’s structure and approach it on its own terms.
But I’ve had the same thought myself, so I’m currently challenging myself to produce things only with the Pyramid and the Volca Sample, and see if I can come up with stuff that would be difficult or impossible with an Ocatrack and a Volca Sample (disregarding sampling and resampling), or even just ideas I never would’ve thought of, given the workflow.
But I’d imagine that using the Pyramid as a master sequencer for your dark trinity, would open up possibilites the three of them combined couldn’t offer.
Whether those possibilities have any real value or are true enablers for great music, is another matter. I am of the opinion that the tools actually matter a lot, and the Pyramid can do so much, that it’s worth a look for anyone who’s into hardware sequencing of any kind.
