Generative non-linear step sequencer - new 'Swing' panel, and more!

This was going to be a quick post to describe a new panel for my 'ProbablyR' generative, probabilistic sequencer, but it seems to have grown into a longer tome because version 14 has made rapid progress... So this post will cover:

1. The new 'Swing' panel
2. The new 'time manipulation' facilities in the 'Order' panel
3. The new 'Nudge' buttons in most of the panels

As always with a new release of ProbablyR, don't forget to send it a MIDI note (from the keyboard emulation on a laptop, or from MIDI In), click on the 'D' default button to get a clean setup, and then save the settings using the little 'floppy disk' icon in the top right hand corner so that you get a saved .adv file in your library. Then explore the new stuff!

Oh, and I suppose that I should use my new naming scheme, so this updated device is really called: 'MIDIprobablyR 0v014'.

The Swing panel

The 'Swing' panel adds the ability to set the length of each step in the sequence in 64th note intervals. Note that ProbablyR already lets you set the length of the generated note at each step in the sequence,  so the 'Swing' allows you to control the time between steps, which is somewhat unusual in step sequencers.

I'm using the term 'swing' here because that seems to be the most commonly used term in the DAW industry, and I'm very aware that 'Swing', 'Shuffle', 'Groove', and 'Nudge' are all terms that can be used for similar parameters. Now, having been using the amazingly excellent Novation Circuit for the last couple of months, I have to say that 'nudge' was my first choice, but that was already taken for a completely different new feature. (Of course, these days, maybe what I should be doing, is putting a picture up on Facebook in a DAW group that asks: ''Swing', 'Shuffle', 'Groove', or 'Nudge': Which is the right word?' and waiting for comments...)

The 'Swing' panel is the slightly purply, dark blue one (not the re-coloured teal one for 'Note Length' that used to be 'the dark blue one') on the far right of ProbablyR, and uses the same probabilistic grid that I have been using for all of the major control functionality in the Probably series. (Time usually goes horizontally, each white cell vertically is selected at random.) So, yes, the horizontal axis is time: 18 steps maximum in this version (the UI is holding me up for more steps...), whilst the vertical axis sets the number of 64th notes between each step, with fastest (1/64th) at the top of the panel, and the slowest (64/64ths) at the bottom of the panel.

Now, following my usual trend of not doing things in the conventional way, the 'swing' control presented here is rather different to the more usual percentage value from 50% (Straight or 'even' timing, where, for example, every 16th note is the same time after the preceding note - so they are evenly spaced in time) to 70%, or even 85% (Not straight timing at all, but 'swing'-timing, where (typically = there are variations!) each second note is moved in time so that it is not the same time after the preceding note as that preceding note was for the one before that.) Instead, the probability grid allows you to set the thing of any of the 16th notes backwards or forwards in increments of 1/64th notes. In the Ableton Live manual, they describe 'groove' in terms of having a piece of elastic for the timing, instead of a fixed metronomic grid. So in ProbablyR, the probability grid provides exactly that sort of timing flexibility, but it also allows probabilistic control, so the swing is not necessarily the same for each note, or each bar, or each repetition... Now this is quite an unusual ability, even these days, unless you have ever programmed something like a Roland MC500. (where each note's timing can be controlled individually!)

Since ProbablyR's timing runs on 16th notes, then the default horizontal row is the 4/64ths line, which is a 16th note. This row is highlighted in dark grey, with the rows above and below in lighter grey. If you let ProbablyR run with the default '4' setting of white cells for each step, then there is no effect: each step is 16th of a note, as usual. The very top row is coloured red to indicate that it is very fast, so fast that on some slower computers the timing might not be exactly as you would expect. This is a result of the way that ProbablyR gets timing information from Live, and I suspect that a better programmer than me (Gregory Taylor from Cycling'74, for example) would be able to improve upon it. Having been raised in a world where the limits of analogue devices were very evident (anyone who has tuned a Yamaha CS-80 will know what I mean), then I'm very gratified that digital devices  also have limitations and wrinkles, albeit sometimes very different ones. And, as they say, 'limitations are the spurs to creativity'!

First half fast (so middle note is early), and second half slow - on average!

But adding an extra white cell at the start and middle of the sequence (the left hand side and the middle of the grid in the panel) can change the timing - quite radically if you want, or reasonably subtly if you prefer. The timing is altered 'per step', so you can have different timing for each step in the sequence if you wish, although this can be quite challenging to minds and ears that are mostly acquainted with regular 4/4 at 120 bpm. The 'Swing' panel uses the same probabilistic control as the rest of ProbablyR, so if you have more than one white cell in a vertical column, then the probability of that value being used is the reciprocal of the number of cells. In other words, if you have 1 white cell, then it happens with a probability of 1/1, which is 100% of the time. If you have 2 white cells, then each cell has a probability of happening of 1/2, which is 50%. Three cells is 33% each, four cells 25% each, and so on. The mathematical term for assigning probability weights to events is 'Bayesian', so if I was a marketing person, I would be calling this a 'Bayesian step sequencer with weights of 50%, 33%, 25%, 20%...'. But you get the idea - the more white cells there are in a vertical column, the more 'spread out' the chance of each one happening becomes. So an alternative way of thinking about the white cells is that they 'spread' the chance of that value happening: one cell doesn't spread it at all, whereas 10 white cells means that each one is only going to happen 10% of the time, on average.

So what happens when we add a white cell to the default row of '4'? Well, in step 1, the length of the step will be either 3/64ths of a note, or 4/64ths of a note. Each of these will happen half of the time, but randomly - so it won't be 3 followed by 4 followed by 3 followed by 4 each time, it could be more like: 3, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4... but where the 3s and 4s are randomly distributed over time. If you listen for 3 minutes and count them, then each of the counts would be pretty close to being half of the total number. It's a bit like tossing a coin: long-term, it will land on 'heads' 50% of the time, but this doesn't mean that if you get 10 heads in a row the next toss will have to be tails ('to even things out' is what people tend to say). Nope, each and every time that you toss the coin it will give heads or tails independently of the previous tosses, which is why the long-term results are going to be very close to 50% heads, 50% tails. (I am aware that it is possible, with practice, for people to deliver heads or tails on demand, but I'm assuming here that the people tossing the coins are not trained specialists at coin tossing! Or dice throwers, or whatever other 'random choice' mechanism you care to use...)

The step in the middle is going to be either 4/64ths or 5/64ths of a note, so this is slightly longer in time. So the two white cells alter the 'elastic' timing of the step sequence so that the first half of the bar is up to 1/64th note faster, while the second half is slower by up to 1/64th of a note. I write 'up to' because the grid is probabilistic, and so the two white cells in a vertical column mean that the average speed-up or slow-down will be half of 1/64th note (1/128th note). In the UI, white cells above the '4' row make things go faster, whilst white cells below the '4' row make things run slower.

I'm going to stop talking about probability right here, because this is sounding increasingly like a TED talk!

Anyway, back to music and the 'elastic' time concept. The 'Swing' grid allows you to assign any time interval for each of the steps - from 1/64th to 16/64ths (which is a 1/4 (quarter) note). Now if you set all of the notes to 1/64th notes then the whole grid is going to take 16/64ths of a note for all 16 steps (assuming we are using the 16 steps per grid default setting), which is 1/4 of a note - so the whole grid runs at 4x speed and what should be a whole note plays in a quarter note's time. At the opposite extreme, setting all of the steps to 16/64ths gives 1/4 notes per step, and 16x 1/4 notes is 4 whole notes, so the grid runs at 1/4 speed. Okay, so the grid runs faster or slower, but the bars are still in time. Unfortunately, these are ideal cases...

Suppose we leave all of the white cells in the Swing grid in the default '4' position (4/64ths = 1/16th notes, one for each of the 16 steps in a 16 step sequence), except for one. Let's make that 3/64ths, which is 1/64th shorter in time. The whole grid will now take 63/64ths of a whole note to play, which means that it jumps forward in time by one step for each repetition (and so it is not in sync), and after 64 bars we will be back in sync again. Whilst this can be useful for polyrhythms, it would be nice if there was a way of knowing when the Swing grid is going to take the sequence out of sync with
Live's transport, and that is what the large number on the right hand side of the grid is used to indicate (for a 16-step sequence, it will be showing '64' when we are in sync) - the number just above the black box with a 'G' or '4' in it. When the '64' is green, then ProbablyR is going to be playing at the same speed as Live's transport - and don't forget you can always click the Grey "Resync' circle button in the 'Memory' panel if you need to get ProbablyR back in sync with Live. But when the number shows anything other than '64' in red (in the example described just now, it would be showing '63'), then you can immediately see that ProbablyR is going to be slipping or dragging in time. So the number going green is something to look out for if you want to have ProbablyR running in sync.

First quarter of the bar is fast, the second quarter is slow, the third quarter is fast again, and the fourth quarter is slow again - on average.

When you edit the Swing grid live, you will find that the number goes red or green depending on where the white cells are, and it is easy to get out of sync. To enable you to edit the grid and not lose sync, there's a special button that enables you to make changes in the background, check that they add up to '64' (for a 16 step sequence) when the number goes green, and then apply the new swing all at once. It is the 'G'/'4' black box - when you click on it so that it shows '4', then the default 4/64ths '4' setting of swing will be applied to the whole grid, regardless of what the grid actually shows. So you can click and put/remove white cells and check that you get a green number, and then click on the '4' in the black box so that it changes to 'G', and now the Grid will be active and you will get the swing settings that you have chosen applied to the grid step timing. You may need to practice this so that the process of

[ '4', then edit the grid, then check for green, then 'G' to Go with the Grid ]

is fixed in your mind (and fingers), and you will be able to change the swing during live performance without losing sync. If you have seen the fist ProbablyR video then you may not have noticed that it is a live recording and that I never stopped ProbablyR running - it just plays the whole time, live. Well, the 'G/4' button is designed to enable you to make changes to the swing whilst ProbablyR is running and in sync with Live.

Putting a speed-up just after the first note in the bar, then a slow-down just before the middle beat, then a speed-up for the third beat, and a slow-down at the end of the bar

Of course, if you do not want to stay in sync, then go for red numbers and don't bother with the 'G/4' button! I'm hoping that some people will do this live, so please let me know if you are using ProbablyR 0v14 in this way! There is another feature for people who want to do 'off sync', and this is the smaller number just lower down from the black 'G/4' box - this number shows the running average number of steps that ProbablyR has played over the last few repetitions. So if you set the 63/64ths swing grid from earlier, then this will go from 64.0 to 63.0, going through 63.9, 63.8... etc. on the way. And if you go back to 64/64ths (or click on the 'G' black box - just reminding you!), then this 'running average' will gradually go back to 64.0. This is intended to give the performer who wants to go 'off sync' a way to see when they are back in time with Live's transport, or maybe when they need to click the grey 'Resync' circle in the Memory panel to get properly back in sync. With a little practice, you can be in complete control of where ProbablyR is in relation to Live's transport.

Editing the Swing grid whilst the '4' button is active - so the timing is even across the whole bar.

Once the 'G' button is shown, the timing variation is alive. Here the middle beat is late by 1/64th of a note, and the rest of the bar is slightly faster to compensate. Note that there are no vertical columns with two white cells, so this timing is always constant and the sequencer should stay in sync...

The 'Time Manipulation' facilities in the 'Order' panel 

The 'Order' grid sets the order in which all of the other panels happen, and the default is just the lower left-to-upper-right diagonal, which gives the 'linear' time that you expect. The first step is followed  by the second step, then the third, and so on (the cursor lines move from left to right across the panels). If you click on the '-1' button, then you get the opposite diagonal (upper left to lower right) and now time runs backwards in the panels - the cursor lines go from right to left!

Now, whilst you can do a lot with the Order panel, it often requires lots of clicking to clear and set white cells, and so the first new feature is the 'Inc' control number. This sets the number of steps that the sequencer advances across the grid for each step - known as the 'Increment'. Previously this was fixed at 1, and so the default diagonal meant that the cursor moved from left to right one cell at a time. Editing the grid to change the diagonal is possible, but the 'Inc' increment button makes it very quick and easy to change the number of steps. The default is 1, as expected, but if you set it to 2 then the Order grid cursor will jump across the grid two cells at a time, and so the grid takes half the time to complete, assuming that you are using the default 16 steps per bar for the Order grid. But the interesting setting is 3, because now the cursor jumps from cell 0 to 3, then to 6, 9, 12, 15, and then to cell 2, then 5, and ending up at 14, followed by cell 1, then across again, and finally back to cell 0. So the cursor scans across the grid three times, and ends up where it started (assuming 16 steps is set!). Setting Inc to 4 goes across very fast, but 5 is another 'multiple scans for a complete bar', and all of the odd numbers do the same re-ordering of the notes in the Pitch panel, when you have 16 steps set. So why did I include the odd numbers?

Okay, the even numbers are there for when you use an odd number of steps: 15 is a good starting point. You need to change the 'Max' control number to '15' - it will no longer be green (assuming you have the Steps selector in the 'Length' panel is set to 16). The Order grid is now only 15 steps across, and so if you use an Increment (inc) setting of 2, then you now get two scans across the grid for one bar. Now, whilst the Order grid is 15 steps long, assuming that you have left the Steps pop-up menu at 16 (the default), then all the other grids will still be 16 steps long - but only the first 15 of them will now be available to the Order grid. So the Order grid will scan back and forth (depending on the Inc value) and the cursors in the other grids will follow along, but step 16 will never be reached. If you want to use step 16 then you set the 'Min' control number to 2, and Max to 16, and now the Order grid will scan from step 2 to step 16.

In other words, the Max and Min control numbers set the width of the Order grid, and this can be anywhere from 2 cels to 16 cells (as set by the 'Steps' pop-up menu in the 'Length' panel. This allows you to set up several different orders in the Order grid, and choose them by setting the Max and Min control numbers, or control the scanning across the Order grid by using the Inc control number. And I haven't mentioned that the Order grid is probabilistic yet, so that makes things even more interesting. Basically, my recommendation is that you should proceed in this way in order to get familiar with what the new features can do:

1. Play with the Order grid with the default settings of Inc=1, Min=1 and Max =16 using one white cell per vertical column.
2. Then try two or more white cells per vertical column.
3. Then try the 'Inc' increment control number.
4. Then use the 'Max' and 'Min' control numbers to choose a part of the Order grid to control the same part of the other grids. Yes, with Inc=1 and Min and Max set not to overlap, then a basic setup might have two 8 step sequencers on two different Memory slots, or four 4 step sequences, or even two 5 step sequences and an 8 step sequence (with the 'Steps' pop-up menu in the Length panel set to 18 steps). And when you have all of these sub-sequences set-up, then don't forget that the 'Inc' control number will allow you to quickly change the order that the grid plays, or changing Min or Max will change the boundaries of the sub-sequences, and you can overlap them if you want. There's a lot to explore here!

 The 'Nudge' buttons

The Order, Probability, Velocity and Length panels all gain four new buttons plus some associated control numbers, whilst the Pitch and Octave panels both gain two extra buttons. The buttons are Nudge buttons for the grids, and they allow you to move the contents of the grid up, down, left or right. For the Pitch grid this means that you can either use notes in a Clip to control the transposition, or you can do it live using the Up/Down Nudge buttons, or store the nudged grid in a Memory slot. For the Octave grid it speeds up choosing the range of the instrument sound.

But the real fun is the Nudge control numbers. These automatically click the associated Nudge buttons according to the number in them. The default '1' setting doesn't do anything, but if you set the left nudge control number to 16 (and the steps are set to 16...) then the grid will scroll to the left by one cell each 16 steps (each bar). So if you have a probability grid or velocity grid or length grid that is controlling which notes are playing and how they are being articulated, then you can move these independently in time.

I like to have a velocity grid with an up and down wiggle and set to be nudged 1 step less than the number of steps in the bar, so that the grid moves horizontally, but each note gets a different value for 16 bars, and then it repeats. (You can hear this happening on the demo on SoundCloud). If you want, you can set more than one Nudge control number, and then the grids will slide about all over the place. There's huge amounts of control to explore here! (And you can always add more automation using Live's internal facilities as well, of course!)

SoundCloud demo

I'm working on a video, but that takes a long time, so, in the meantime, there's a demo up now on SoundCloud. This is a live recording of a single instance of ProbablyR, plus a drum pattern, and has too much reverb on it. (But it IS a demo, and they always have too much reverb, so that's how you know it is a demo!) The demo has velocity nudging, swing time manipulation, and uses the modulo scanning of the Order grid to give interesting variations of the note pool in the Pitch grid. Hopefully, if I've done it well enough, it should sound like someone improvising on the Marimba, and they are slightly imperfect in their timing... But it isn't anything like that, of course. It is produced by one of those 'boring, static step sequencers that monotonously repeats exactly the same notes...,' except that ProbablyR isn't that kind of sequencer. Not at all.

Enjoy!

Documentation for Probably

The MIDIprobablyR(S,Z...) series is getting to the point where it needs a proper manual, but this may take some time, so, in the meantime, here are links to all of the blog posts covering the various versions of the Probably step sequencer. (and related devices) 

The Probably... step sequencer

Probably was the first (and simplest) of the 'Probably' series of step sequencers. This blog post is a good place to start. 

Probably blog post                  The first in the series (four grids, limited panel colouring) 

ProbablyZ blog post               The second iteration (added the time-warping 'Order grid/panel)

ProbablyS blog post               The third iteration (added the sub-sequencer 'Memory' grid/panel)

ProbablyR 0v11 blog post      The fourth iteration (added 16 step sub-sea, warp fills, and Step length)   

ProbablyR 0v14 blog post      This post! The fifth iteration (added 'Swing' panel and 'Nudge' buttons)

Latest ProbablyR on maxforlive.com

Other 'Probably...' devices

After Probably, there were some other devices that added extra letters to the end. The 'step sequencer' series adds a single letter: S, Z, R - the other devices add more than one letter. The release sequence for 'Probably the step sequencer'  is: Probably, then ProbablyZ, then ProbablyS, then ProbablyR (current).

ProbablyLFO blog post           Outputs probabilistic (variable) waveforms    

ProbablyLFO blog post2         Extra asynchronous additions... ('swing-like?')   On maxforlive.com

ProbablyGEN blog post          A poly-rhythmic drum sequencer, plus...         

ProbablyGEN blog post2        Extra asynchronous additions...                           On maxforlive.com

ProbablyCHORD blog post     Probabilistic chord generator ('Sergeant...')        On maxforlive.com

ProbablyCHORD blog post2 - coming soon!

There's now a 'coffee-book' illustrated version of this section in a separate new blog post:

    Probably documentation

Hardware Sequencing

If you make hardware sequencers and are busy taking notes from this blog as potential ideas for your next release, then perhaps we should talk. I would love to help someone make a proper advanced hardware sequencer that goes 'beyond' the current 'state of the art', and hopefully ProbablyR (and the other M4L devices in the Probably series) vividly illustrate that I may be useful to you.

Getting MIDIprobablyR 0v014

You can get MIDIprobablyR on http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device/5529/midiprobablyr

Here are the instructions for what to do with the .amxd file that you download from MaxforLive.com:

     https://synthesizerwriter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/where-do-i-put-downloaded-amxd.html

(In Live 10, you can also just double-click on the .amxd file, but this puts the device in the same folder as all of the factory devices...)

Oh, yes, and sometimes last-minute fixes do get added, which is why sometimes the blog post is behind the version number of MaxForLive.com...

RAM and CPU in Live

This MaxForLive device uses quite a lot of CPU and RAM, because it is doing quite a lot of work behind the scenes. This is also a very 'wide' device, but I'm cautious about doing a pop-up window (and not very good at programming them!).

Modular Equivalents

In terms of basic modular equivalents, then ProbablyR V14 would require several sequencers in series/parallel to give the same functionality, plus quite a lot of utility logic to do the linking, the probability functions and the nudging, as well as a dedicated 'clock' sequencer just to do the swing function, giving a total of about 16 ME.

Buy me a coffee

ProbablyS tutorial - using the newly added memory sequencing

Probably was my first attempt at an 'antidote to step sequencers' - a simple monophonic step sequencer that took a different approach to step sequences by adding probabilistic control over events, as well as legato note lengths.

ProbablyZ added extra time features, a well as separating the octave transposition from the notes in an octave. The controls that you get over time allow probabilistic control over time-warping, which isn't a common feature of sequencers...

Since I first released ProbablyZ, I have fixed the state memories (the little grey squares)(thanks to Cory at Ableton for his help on this!) and improved the sync with Ableton Live's transport. Whilst I was fixing the memories, I tried out one of my further extension ideas, and this is now ready for release...

ProbablyS (available from MaxForLive.com)

ProbablyS adds extra control over the state memories. There are now 12 'State' memories (each grey square can save the state of all the grids to the right - just Shift-Click in one of the grey squares in the black 'Memory' section). To recall a state then just click on the grey square, and it will turn white.

The 'Memory' grid on the left of the vertical bar of memories allows you to sequence thee. Each row corresponds to the associated memory on the right, and so if you set all of the memory cells to the top row only (white cells all along the top of the grid), then ProbablyS will play back just the state stored in that memory. Here's an ASCII text illustration of the layout:

State Grid  OOOOOOOO []  State Memory

            OOOOOOOO [] 

              ... 

The default setting for the state grid should be similar to the basic setting for the other grids - a horizontal line o white 'cells'. (As with the time grid, the 'cells' are round, not squares...). Time scans horizontally across the cells - and this is shown by a darker cursor line.

If you set the 'repeat' to 1 and the length to 2, and set the second grid position to a different memory, then the memory grid will cycle between those two memories. If you set the 'repeats' to 4, then each memory will play for four times, before moving to the next memory. If you set the 'length' to 8, and the 'repeats' to 8, then it will play each memory 8 times.

The two screenshots above show the 2nd and 8th stage of the 8 step state sequencer (which drives the underlying 16 step grids). The 2nd stage is playing the top memory (see the white square in the vertical memory bar in the 'Memory' section?), which has a very simple set of grids, whilst the 8th stage gas chosen one of 9 possibilities, and has chosen a memory four steps lower, with a much more complex set of grids controlling the output.

As with all the other grids in Probably, you can have more than one white cell in a vertical column, and the choice between the two cells will happen at random. This means that you now have probabilistic control over which memory is playing at any time.

(I'm still working on providing a separate way to store the 'State' grid - and I may provide a preset state in the next version, plus some new functions...)

Looking at just the state grid (plus the time grid so you know where the new Memory section is positioned):

The first two stages (which could each be from 1 bar through to 8 bars long), are set to play the top memory. The next two stages play the next memory down, and the same for the firth and sixth stages. The final two stages are different - they each provide a choice of any of the remaining 9 memories for each stage. So the first couple of stages could be simple introductory patterns, the next two could add some extra detail, and the next two might add some more detail. The final two stages are chosen from a range of memories, and could provide lots of variations of the basic patterns. 

In this state grid, the second repeat stage for the first six stages provides a choice of 1 of 3 memories. As you may be realising, the key to using the state memories effectively is to fill them with fried patterns, and to keep track of where you store each pattern, so that you can then sequence them into builds, breaks and other pats of your song structure. 

Hint:

Here's a hint derived from hours of playing with state memories:

"Keep shift-clicking to save your work!"

The sinking feeling you get when you click on another memory and you realise that you have just lost that brilliant pattern you were working on, is not a good one... Save, save, save...

My recommendation is that you start with Probably, then try ProbablyZ, and then ProbablyS - the features increase each time if you try them in this order, and this should give a smoother learning curve. ProbablyS is the most complex step sequencer so far in this series, and I have more ideas in the pipeline. 

New to this?

(If you are new to Probably's way of working, then don't forget to set the transpose by setting the record focus to the track with ProbablyS in it, and then playing a note - otherwise you just get very low MIDI notes. Transpose from a clip in the track can still be used to transpose ProbablyS, of course...)

Tutorial for Probably (1st in the series):
http://synthesizerwriter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/probably-antidote-to-step-sequencers.html

Tutorial for ProbablyZ (2nd in the series):
http://synthesizerwriter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/probablyz-tutorial.html

SoundCloud demo for ProbablyZ:
https://soundcloud.com/martinruss/probablyz-tutorial-demo-01

ProbablyZ Tutorial - adding time warping

When I released Probably, my Max For Live 'antidote to step sequencers' MIDI Effect for Ableton Live, I included some details on how to use it, particularly the way to use the probabilistic 'more than one white square in a column' interface metaphor that it uses. ProbablyZ, the first 'expanded' version, adds in some new grids, and these extend the control possibilities, so I thought it was about time to produce a tutorial...

Programming ProbablyZ

ProbablyZ is an unusual step sequencer that breaks some of the usual rules. Here are the main features:

*NEW* A 'purple' 'Order' grid that allows time to be re-ordered and repeated, with the usual vertical column probability-based control (one white cell in a column means that note plays every time, two white cells means each plays 50% of the time, three cells equals 33% of the time, etc.). 

The red 'Pitch' grid is the same as in Probably, and allows notes to be entered over a one octave range.

The old orange 'Probability' grid has been moved downwards slightly, to make way for a new grid. It allows the probability of a note being played to be controlled, independently of the pitch, octave, velocity and length, and once again, the choice between possibilities can be controlled by having more than one white cell in a vertical column.

*NEW* The newly added, small, red 'Oct(ave)' grid controls the octave shift of the notes, and it is independent of the 'Pitch' grid. The default white cells in the Oct grid are in the middle of the five octave range, so you can shift the note in the 'Pitch' grid up or down by up to two octaves, and the usual probabilistic column control applies, so if you fill all five cells in  column, then the pitch of that note will be shifted to one of those 5 octaves at random each time the column is scanned. 

Having the Pitch and Octave of the notes controlled independently like this provides very precise adjustments to be made to what actually plays. If you have a fixed Pitch grid, but put a bit of variation in the Oct(ave) grid, then the sequence will play those notes, but the octave can vary. You can use this to create lines where just the leading note plays different octaves, or the 'on the beat' notes play a choice from a set of octaves, etc. If you do it the other way round, and put the variability in the Pitch grid, with  fixed Octave grid, then the notes will only play in the ordinary one-octave range. Remember, that this range can always be transposed sing a MIDI keyboard or the Virtual A-L keyboard on a laptop - or by the notes in a Clip. (Oh, and don't forget that you need to set the transposition when you first start ProbablyZ by sending it a note event, other wise it thinks the transposition is right at the bottom of the MIDI range, and you get very low notes!)

The green 'Velocity' grid controls the velocity of the notes in the sequence, and as usual, is independent of any of the other grids.

The blue 'Length' grid controls the length of the notes produced, and is not only independent of the other grids, but it also allows the length of the notes to be controlled, which means that you can have notes overlapping in the output. This is quite unusual for a step sequencer...

Getting Started

I'm still trying to get ProbablyZ to start up with a special default state, and this doesn't always happen. It should look something like the first screen-shot above...

From that starting position, then edit the Pitch grid so that there is only one white cell in the first column, and the Oct(ave) grid so that there is only one white cell in the first column.

I chose a very basic Electric Piano preset for this track, followed by a little reverb - simple percussive sounds are often good when starting work on a step sequence. If you set Live to play, then you get a 'ting', followed by silence for the rest of the bar, and then another ting. So far, so good, and if not, then you did remember to set the transpose by sending a note event, didn't you?

Next, let's explore the Oct(ave) grid. Add four extra white cells in the first column:

Playing this gives us one of five things, dependent on the octave that ProbablyZ randomly chooses for each repetition. If you are used to ordinary step sequencers that always play exactly the same notes every time, then this is your first glimpse of the hidden depth inside ProbablyZ.

When you are bored with those slow tings, then add in some more notes on the beat in the Pitch grid, and give them the same 5 octave choices in the Oct(ave) grid:

This gives us a ting on each beat, with a random choice of octave. This is probably a little too extreme for most purposes! (Used live, it can give the impression that something is about to happen, and can give you time to set up your next song... In the 80s, some bands used Sample & Hold into VCF for the same sort of tantalising effect. )

Next, change the last two Cs to Fs, and adjust the range in the Oct(ave) grid. this is also a good time to tweak the Velocity grid so that the beats are louder, and alter the Length grid so that the beats are longer too:

Okay, so now we have the start of something that has a bit of variation in it, and we can now add in some choices for the second and fourth beats, adjust the Octave so that it feels like a descending line on average, and make the first and third beats longer:

What we are really doing here is defining probabilities. The Pitch grid has set the first note to be a C (always, so 100% probability), and the Oct(ave) grid provides a choice of the upper four octaves (So each octave will happen 25% of the time on average). The second note can be a C or a D#, with a three octave range that doesn't have the top octave included any longer. The third note is always an F, with the four octaves shifted downwards, and the final note is either an F or an A#, with a three octave choice. Taking the final note as an example, then there are six different notes (two notes, three octaves) that could occur, so a specific note will occur 1/6th of the time, on average. Over the course of six repetitions, you might get all of these, and you might not. It is rather like throwing a die (or several dice): you will eventually throw all of the numbers from 1 to 6, but getting them all in 6 throws, or in a specific order, doesn't happen very often...

When you set this sequence playing, then what you hear might be difficult to reconcile with what you see on the grids. There may not seem to be enough white cells to create the variations that you are hearing! If this happens, then read the previous paragraph again, matching the chosen note that you can hear, with the white cells in the Pitch grid and the Oct(ave) grid. As I said earlier, ProbablyZ has hidden depths that are not immediately obvious, and a little time spent getting familiar with the way it works can be time well spent.

At this point, ProbablyZ is playing stuff that is not quite your typical robotic, repetitive step sequence. Now, let's add in some extra notes away from the beat:

You should be able to figure out that these new notes have a fixed pitch and a fixed octave. The lower velocity makes then sound like grace notes or ornamentation. You can experiment with reducing the velocity, or giving a range of velocities, or making these notes very short.

Bending time

So, far, we haven't explored the new 'Order' grid, so let's add a few extra choices to the ornamentation, tweak the octave choices, and increase the length of the beat notes. Then, let's edit the Order grid so that the diagonal is broken, and add in two 'off-the-diagonal' cells: 

 The ornamentation is now chosen from a D and a D# in the first part of the bar, and an F, G or A# in the second part of the bar... Except that the Order grid changes the order in which time happens in all of the other grids. So the first column plays as normal, but the second column jumps to the ornamentation in the second part of the bar, then jumps back to playing the middle part of the bar, and then swaps back to the first little bit of ornamentation just after the middle beat note, and the back to 'time as usual'.

This means that the time order of the columns in all the grids that you see to the right of the Order grid has been changed. Time no longer scans across the grids evenly. Instead, it now follows the Order grid. Watch the dark vertical cursors jump back and forth when this plays...

In detail, this means that after the first C, we will now get a random choice from F, G or A#, then a C or D#, and then the choice of D or D# that we got before. We then get an F, followed by the ornamentation that used to follow the C at the beginning of the bar.

If you want to, you can replace the standard 'lower left to upper right' diagonal in the Order grid with one that goes from upper left to lower right, and the sequence will play backwards. You can adjust the ordering of the sequence in any way you like, live!

If you don't remove the white cells on the diagonal, then things happen a little differently. (In fact, tings happen a little differently! :) ):

The Order grid has exactly the same probabilistic behaviour as th other grids, so when we put two white cells in a column, then it makes a choice between the values. In the Order grid, this means that we have control over the probability that time will be warped. In the above Order grid, there is a 50% chance that the first ornamentation will be swapped to the later one, and a 50% chance that the later one will be swapped with the earlier one. So there are now four ways that time can be warped in the bar: no warping, early ornamentation repeated later, later ornamentation repeated earlier, and ornamentation swapped in time (early moved the later, later moved to earlier). Thos two extra white cells have a big effect!

(As before, feel free to experiment, and to re-read the previous paragraph whilst listening to the output. ProbablyZ can be tricky to get your head around at first!)

Finally, what happens if we extend the time warping to all of the ornamentation? Here's what it looks like inside Ableton Live:

What we have set ProbablyZ to do here is this: Whenever we have an ornamentation note choice, choose from one of the four possibilities and play that. Because the ornamentation is just two sets of notes, then we are only using half of the available possibilities - you can try changing the fourth and eighth columns to give a different 'pool' of notes if you want, and then listen to the output.

You can listen to the output of the above grid setup on Soundcloud here. Remember, this is a single step sequence, produced using only the setup shown above.

I hope that this quick tutorial has shown you some of the possibilities (!) of ProbablyZ.

Warning - you may find it hard to go back to the step sequence that you used previously...

ProbablyZ can be downloaded from MaxForLive.com. It is FREE!