Note lists¶

In Poly pulse sequencer it is explained how the sequencer generates rhythms. Using the note list system pitches are assigned to these rhythms. Because the note list system is a system shared by all tracks, multiple tracks might use the same note list, and thus while their rhythms might be different, their pitches will be similar. Another advantage of composing pitch separately from composing rhythm is that you can quickly try out different combinations between certain rhythms and note lists, and with this you’ll likely discover new melodies that you had not thought of yourself.

Using note lists¶

Press note_list+# to select note list # for the current track. If you hold down shift while selecting a note list this note list will be selected for all tracks.

While holding down note_list a visualization is shown with squares representing note lists and their corresponding button. The highlighted white square is the currently selected note list and filled gray square are note lists containing at least one note:

Note selection¶

The poly pulse sequencer turns rhythmical patterns into melodies by picking notes from the selected note list. Each pulse has a note select parameter that determines the way notes are picked from the list:

forward: first note → last note.
reverse: last note → first note.
fwd+rev: first note → last note → first note.
random: continuously picks a random note.
markov: notes are picked in a semi-random order using a Markov chain.

Note

A Markov chain is a stochastic model that analyses sequences of values. It creates a rule set that describes which values are allowed to follow each other.

In musical applications it usually looks at sequences of notes, which we call note lists in the PolyPulse. Based on a note list it continuously generates new semi-random melodies which are similar to the original note list. A longer note list will result in more variation and shorter a note list is more likely to have no variation at all.

To give an example: the following pattern is generated by the sequencer. The currently selected note list contains 5 notes and the note select of both pulses is set to forward:

pulse 1:    1---2---3---4---5---1---2---3---   etc..
pulse 2:    1-----2-----3-----4-----5-----1-

As you can see, the sequencer will iterate through the note list from the beginning to the end. Once it reaches the end of the list, it starts again from the beginning of the list. If we now change the note select value of pulse 1 to reverse we will get the following result:

pulse 1:    5---4---3---2---1---5---4---3---   etc..
pulse 2:    1-----2-----3-----4-----5-----1-

The seq reset also affects the selection of notes. Once a sequencer reset occurs, all pulses will jump back to their initial starting point in the note list. Let’s set seq reset to 14:

seq reset:  |             |             |
pulse 1:    5---4---3---2-5---4---3---2-5---   etc..
pulse 2:    1-----2-----3-1-----2-----3-1---

Note list editor¶

Note lists are edited using the note list editor which can be opened by pressing edit+note_list and closed by pressing yes.

In the note list editor a single list is shown with the beginning of the list above and the ending of the list below. Notes are shown as a vertical lines: the position represents the pitch and the brightness of the line the loudness. A table on the right shows extra expression values attached to notes.

X scrolls through the notes in the current list.
Y changes the value in the table that is blinking.
Pressing and turning X changes the column / what value in the table that is edited.
note_list+# opens another list in the editor.
no removes a single note from the list. By holding down no multiple notes can be removed quickly.
# inserts a note to the list at the horizontal white line. Pressing multiple keys at the same time inserts the pressed notes in parallel with each other to form a chord.
shift+# inserts a note in parallel with the note that is blinking to create or expand to a chord.
+ and - change the octave of the keyboard.
shift++ and shift+- moves the currently blinking note/chord up or down in the list.
shift selects the blinking note/chord to apply Editing functions to.
edit opens a menu with additional functions (see Editing functions).

Up to 8 notes can be added in parallel, parallel notes are allowed to have the same pitch and each note has its own expression values.

Notes¶

Each note has the following values which are shown in the table on the right side of the screen:

pitch is an symbolic representation of the pitch.
octave is added or subtracted from the note pitch.
type can be set to any of the expressions listed in Note types.
dBFS is an amplitude value ranging from -96 (silence) to 0 (very loud).
chance sets the percentage of chance that this note will actually play when triggered, with 0 being 0% chance of playing and 10 being 100% chance of playing.

These values can be edited by pressing and turning X to select what column is edited the table on the right, and turning Y to change the selected (blinking) value.

Tip

Some synthesis engines have also attached a synthesis parameter to the dBFS parameter. Different dBFS values often not only change the loudness of a note, but also the timbre.

Note types¶

Icon	Type	Action
	note	Triggers a new note.
	note slide	Triggers a new note and slides from the previous note to the current note.
	slide	Triggers a new note and slides from the previous note to the current note, without restarting the envelopes.
	rest	Does not triggers a new note.
	notes off	Stops all synth voices that are currently playing.

When a synth voice is triggered with note type slide or note slide it will slide with the slide time set by the slide parameter.

Tuning systems¶

Various tuning systems can be used by the PolyPulse. Each note list can have a different tuning assigned so multiple tuning systems can be used in a single project. A small set of tuning systems is included but Scala files can be loaded to add more (see Projects and files). By default the 12 edo tuning is selected for all note lists. Tuning systems are not limited in the number of degrees they have, nor do all degrees need to stay within a single octave.

A note has an octave and a pitch which pitch refers to the degree in the current tuning system. If a tuning system has 19 degrees the pitches are numbered 0 to 18:

To select a tuning system see Change tuning.

Tip

A great tool to explore various tuning systems is Leimma by Khyam Allami and Counterpoint.

Editing functions¶

The note list editor includes several handy editing functions that can be accessed by pressing edit.

Some functions can either be applied to the complete list or on a selection of the list. Notes are selected by pressing shift and multiple notes can be quickly selected by holding down shift while scrolling through the list with X. If no notes are selected, the function applies to the whole list.

Copy notes¶

Note lists or selections of notes can be copied and inserted into any list at any position:

Open the list that you want to copy from with note_list+#.
(optional) Select a range of notes with shift.
Press edit to open the editing menu.
Scroll to copy notes and press yes.
(optional) Switch to the list that you want to copy to with note_list+#.
Set the position at which the copied notes are inserted with X.
Press yes to confirm and copy the notes to the selection position.

Shuffle¶

Shuffle randomly rearranges the selected or all notes in a list:

Open the list you want to shuffle with note_list+#.
(optional) Select a range of notes with shift.
Press edit to open the editing menu.
Scroll to shuffle and press yes to shuffle.

Transpose¶

Shuffle transposes the selected or all notes/chords in a list:

Open the list you want to transpose with note_list+#.
(optional) Select a range of notes with shift.
Press edit to open the editing menu.
Scroll to transpose and press yes.
Scroll to desired transposition and press yes to transpose.

Change tuning¶

For each list a different tuning system can be assigned.

(optional) Load a custom Scala tuning file. See Projects and files.
Open the list you want to change the tuning system of with note_list+#.
Press edit to open the editing menu.
Scroll to change tuning and press yes.
Select the tuning you want to use and press yes to confirm.