Record knob movements: modulation tracks
How the sequencer records your knob turns, up to four per pattern. Read only, because the model does not record them.
A sequence stores more than notes. The MicroFreak records knob movements too, in up to four modulation tracks per pattern, one knob each, with one value per step. It is how you get a filter sweep that repeats exactly. The model does not record motion, so this lesson is a tour of how it works on the real synth.
- What a modulation track is and how many you get
- How to record knob movements step by step or in real time
- Which knobs can be recorded
- How to smooth and clear tracks
The steps4 steps · a tour
- Each pattern has four modulation tracks. In step recording, turn a knob (for example Cutoff) and release it: that value is stored on the current step. Then turn Rate to move the recording point to the next step, and repeat on every step for a sweep.
- The Oct | Mod button cycles through the tracks you have used, so you can check what each one holds.
- In real time, start playing and touch Record, then move a knob. Recording begins at your first movement, runs one loop and stops by itself, so a single gesture becomes a repeating sweep.
- To remove a track: press Oct | Mod until its light blinks, then hold Oct | Mod and touch Hold. Repeat to clear the next track. The Smooth setting for each track is in the Utility menu, under Seq/Arp.
Turn a knob while recording and the sequencer remembers it. Four tracks per pattern, one knob each, smoothing optional, and a clear gesture to wipe a track.
On the real MicroFreak
In step recording, turn a knob to preview it and let go to store a snapshot at the current step; the screen shows the step, the track, the parameter and the amount. The first knob you touch takes the first free track, and a fifth knob flashes Memory full. Oct | Mod cycles through the active tracks, and notes and motion can be recorded at the same time.
In real-time recording, the sequencer starts recording at your first knob movement, runs one full loop and then punches out.
To clear a track, press Oct | Mod until that track's light blinks, then hold Oct | Mod and touch Hold; each further touch of Hold clears the next track.
Recordable knobs include Type (or the sample slot), Wave, Timbre, Shape, Cutoff, Resonance, Attack, Decay, Sustain, Filter Amt, LFO Rate, the four cycling envelope knobs, matrix amounts and Glide. Shift jobs and buttons cannot be recorded.
Utility > Preset > Seq/Arp has a Smooth setting for each of the four tracks: a track made by step recording starts with smoothing off, and one made in real time starts with it on. Patterns A and B share the last modulation value when you switch.
Questions2
How many knobs can I record?
Four per pattern. Each takes a track, and a fifth flashes Memory full.
Is pressure recorded?
Not in step recording. Pressure is not recorded in step mode.