LFO types : How to hold?

[Hansson0728]

Is there any way to have the lfo hold as you can on the digitakt trigger mode? I dont remember what it is callee

[avantronica]

I’d like to know this as well

There does not seem to be any LFO ‘trigger modes’ per se i.e. one / half / hold etc, fair enough

This could potentially be less bothersome, if as i do you mainly use the hold mode on other Elektrons with a random shape, if the following is how reset works …

Desired outcome is a modulation depth which is static per step and different every step

This could be achieved if the free running (non reset) LFO was timed at the rate discussed here

LFO rates [& How random is random?]

Two things Firstly, if you want a regular LFO shape to cycle every bar, you set the factor of speed and Multiplier to 128 (or -128) so e.g. Spd 1 Mult 128, Spd 4 Mul 32, Spd -2 Mul 64 this is in free mode btw ! The random LFO is 16 times faster, so at the same rate as above, the random value will change every trig step, well kinda, certainly at that rate ! If you want to have a random modulation exactly every step, then you set the factor to 128 - however, the phase is not on the trig, it …

However, there’s no guarantee that the phase of the periodic random LFO ‘step changes’ are aligned with the trig step start position, so even if you have a factor of 128 and a random shape it is not locked to the grid

Reset/phase are not plockable, so reset is set per track, so you can’t lock the phase on the first step to ensure that the periodic changes are linked to sequencer steps

This could work if the following is true, and iirc, it wasn’t originally for the A4 …

if Reset is On and phase is default 0 and fade is off will the random LFO provide a different value for each press of a key (let’s even just wind the speed right back from factor 128) ? i.e. is the random shape truly random, such that when reset by triggering manually or via sequence it is recalculating a new value each time

If it isn’t i might find this somewhat hard to overlook tbh, it’s my go to way to breath variation, subtlety or surprise into sounds

If this is reset with a new value at each press then all is good, otherwise it is a matter of whether it could be addressed as a firmware update as it was in A4 when i brought this up , see edit in post above

LFO rates [& How random is random?]

some issues fixed in subsequent os updates (i.e. non random random) !!!

Having hold on teh other shapes could have been nice, but i can see that they have to pair back the depth to keep it lean, but this could be a bit jarring for me, especially if the sound design potential is reduced, it’s more important to introduce subtle shifting

Hold mode on an LFO is as Elektron as parameter locking to me - using a slow square with plocked depths is not a viable compromise, it would vary the modulation to a parameter over a pattern, but it would then repeat, and it would not work with playing notes live

I’m super keen to hear if a slow random lfo will truly randomly reset at every key press or in seq

[avantronica]

lfo hold

some insights here fwiw by way of a workaround for one use case

Model:Cycles Q & A

I have been trying it a little bit more; with LFO velocity set to 0 random LFO behaves like Hold (the given random value stays for as long as pad is pressed no matter what LFO multi value is entered), pressing the pad again gives a new value each time. How random the LFO is I can not say, I can not compare to other Elektron LFOs but I would not say it is as random as an analog sample and hold, sometime feels like if there was some kind of pattern to it, like sometimes it just goes up or down fo…

[pselodux]

I’m super keen to hear if a slow random lfo will truly randomly reset at every key press or in seq

It does it seems to use a random generator rather than a set “noise” wave.

[mess_er35]

I have a feeling i will love m:c, but also appreciate my a4 even more