Thanks. Kinda assumed it should work that way but nothing online seems to mention it.
Really tempted to pick one up to sequence the perfourmer
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Standard how? I would really advise against getting it for this unless you have a very specific use case you need it to cover in addition to using it more broadly as it’s original “generative pattern machine” thing. And I’d make sure you know exactly how you’d perform that specific use case, because it’s likely to be a huge pain.
The “standard” step sequencer features of the T-1 to me feel like they’re there for when you’ve generated an epic Euclidean arp looping in polymeters over inversions of three of Dorian chords, but it would be perfect with just two more notes. To me it’s about adding small things at the end of your explorations, not big things at the beginning.
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Thanks it’s really useful to get that insight.
The way I’m imagining it at the moment is similar to how I’m currently sequencing the perfourmer from an MPC. Some complex arps from the MPC on one or two of the tracks, then manually entering some atmospherics and a simple bass line on the others.
Planning a deep dive on YouTube when I find the time.
This is a pretty good overview of what making a (manual, non-pattern-based) bass line looks like:
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Just been watching this one and I have a question about the chord feature.
If you have a mono voice playing on one track in a scale and a chord voice on another track set to the same scale, does the t1 lock the chords harmonically to the scale?
IE: will it only let chords play that fit musically with the scale?
It sounds like at 19:50 when he starts to add chords using cycle it sounds like the t1 is allowing chords to be selected which don’t really fit when he’s trying to find chords that work.
Hi there,
In this instance Oora is using the chord machine on the Syntakt, which isn’t polyphonic.
This results in chord planing, transposing that chord shape by the same amount of tones for each note.
Whilst this is cool in certain uses, like that old school jungle and rave aesthetic, here it doesn’t work so well, as he’s set his scale up already and the chords are jumping out of it.
With a polyphonic synth and the T1, you build a chord note by note in the pitch function, and if you’ve set a scale then you can only select notes from that scale.
If you then transpose the chord within a cycle or within another pulse, it will maintain the notes of scale. Similarly if you use the harmony function, the T1 will move single notes of the chord within the scale up or down, in a harmonically pleasing way.
I love the T1 cos the settings can be changed per cycle, so you can dip out of a scale, to a user scale, to give the progression some tension.
Edit: scale settings can be changed per cycle or parameter locked pulse
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Ah of course. That makes total sense.
Thank you.
Do you know if there’s a maximum pattern length? It seems like when cycles get involved they can really balloon out to nice long extended patterns. Correct?
The answer to this has been different at different points in the T-1’s lifecycle. But as of v2:
- A pattern has 16 tracks.
- A track has between 1–16 cycles.
- A cycle has (amongst many other things) between 1–64 steps.
So in theory you could have a track with 16 cycles x 64 steps = 1,024 steps.
In practice, though, this would require locking each cycle, one by one, into “editing mode”, then navigating its four pages of 16 steps to set the per-step values you want. It’s totally doable and can lead to great results, but is awkward.
A more natural flow (in my humble opinion) is to keep the steps common between your cycles, using the different cycles instead to set more general parameters that will effect those steps each loop. So looping the same 16–64 steps, but changing the key, chord, direction or something per-cycle, for example.
And, of course, there’s all the turing machine, pseudo-random bits for keeping things from sounding repetitive even with very short loops.
But yeah, there’s a lot of flexibility in this little box now. You can attack it with patience, or creativity, or both!
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Hey there everyone! I’ve been loving this thing so far, very creative and fun to play. I just made a video demonstrating the basics of it, with a Roland CMU-800 
Curious go here!
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nice video. The sequencer looks fun but also a bit niche, or tailored to a specific thing
Still want to try one, I bet lot’s of happy accidents to be discovered
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I love it. It’s such a refreshingly different thing – lots of great Elektron-style stuff out there, but the T-1 stands out. Recommend giving it a try, if at all possible.
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Indeed quite niche but it’s really an instrument of it’s own I think, you have to learn to play with it your way.
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It’s definitely got its own way of doing things, and that can make it feel quite niche. Certainly it felt niche when I was trying to learn it, just because the community is rather small. Like being on the ride with the M8 or maybe even the Pyramid in the day?
But I also think it’s easy to mistake it as being “niche” as in it’s limited in what it can do or is a one trick pony or something. This I push back on. It’s an extremely flexible yet purposeful design that feels more expressive to me than proscriptive. I feel way more limited by my imagination than its possibilities 
Anyway, I’m unexpectedly traveling for two weeks, have very limited space, and the T-1 has earned a space alongside my M8 and laptop. That’s a first for me and a controller/sequencer.
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I’ve super tempted to try the T1 but not ready to drop the coin on a new one.
Anyone looking to trade or sell theirs? Check the Marketplace: Sell forum for gear I currently have on offer.
Paypal offers free 4X payment…You may have sold it before even having paid for it… 
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Hope colors are not big
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Have been using mine along with an elektron setup and now using it with my modular (3 voices).
Very happy with the result I get.
Workflow is fast when you get to understand the thinking behind the unit. I have set up a bank with various setup templates that I can load, save as new and start fresh.
What has helped me a lot:
- Latest manual is really well written
- Changing knobs for colored per function
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White mkII when I haven’t completely wrapped my head around black mk1 ? No way !
not sure its a mk2 tbh?