I got a Model:Cycles a few days ago. I really like it so far, but there is one limitation that I find frustrating.
So let’s say I want to record a volume automation from 50 to 70 on my whole 16-step pattern. I know that with Elektron’s sequencer, it’s impossible to get a perfectly fluid automation as the volume information will be recorded in each trig (so I’m limited by the pattern resolution; in this case, a maximum of 16 volume changes).
However, when I record my knob turning live, sometimes the volume value doesn’t have time to change between two trigs, which apparently results in trigs without any lock on the volume value. These trigs are still dependent on the pattern value of the volume knob. So the end result could for example be a trig at 58 volume, the next one at the base value of 50, and the following one at 59. When this happens, I have to manually lock these trigs to an intermediate value so that my automation is somewhat continuous, which is really tedious and time consuming.
My question: when live recording, is there a way to force each trig to lock the current value of the parameter I am trying to automate? Or do you have a work around to achieve what I am trying to do?
If I think i’m understanding your question correctly you can hold down a trigger and change a paremeter to what you want it to be on that trigger.
I don’t know if it would sound a bit choppy but you could divide the volume increase from 50 to 70 by the number of steps you want to use and have gradual incriments.
Not sure if it’s exactly what you are referring to, but I’ve noticed when recording live automation, sometimes a step doesn’t end up with any p-lock trigs on it despite the fact that I was moving the knob at that time. Never really dived too deeply to work out why
This is the exact issue I am encountering. This seems due to the fact that during live recording, the trig locks don’t record the current state of a parameter, but rather the change of its state.
To give a more concrete example: let’s say that I want the volume to vary between the values 20 and 21 along the first 3 trigs of my sequence. As I will start turning the knob, trig 1 will lock on value 20. Then the sequence goes on trig 2 but even if I am still turning the knob, the value didn’t have time yet to change to 21; as a result, there is no volume lock on trig 2. Finally, as the sequencer arrives to trig 3, my knob turning brings the volume value to 21, so trig 3 is locked at 21, as wanted. In that scenario, I would like trig 2 to be locked at 20, even if technically there hasn’t been any change of state for the volume parameter while the sequencer was on this trig.
I would have expected something like an “automation recording mode”, where all the trigs lock on the current value of the selected parameter to ensure continuity.
Ahh I see, so you think it records where the control is at the start (“onset”) of the step in question, rather than e.g. at the end of the step? That would make sense, and is a reasonably logical way to design it in theory, but in practice does lead to these kind of issues…
This only works if the range of values for the parameter is larger than the number of steps. For example if I want to go from 20 to 30 through 16 steps, I will always get unlocked trigs.
Almost! It actually seems to record only when the value changes while on the specific step. It would be nice if it worked like you said, whether the value is recorded at the start or the end of the step, as long as it always records a value. As it is, if there is no change in the parameter value at the exact moment the sequencer is on that step, nothing is recorded.
Got ya! That’s a shame, explains what I’ve noticed too. If you write to Elektron support with a clear reproduction, they might consider it a bug too? They’re usually pretty good about responding
