hi, i got a pyramid and i’m so losty. how do i even begin?
i saw the manual, saw some videos, but they all assume quite a bit of knowledge! how did you folks go about even getting started?
assume i know very little - i have connected my volca fm via MIDI A … fooled around with live and step modes… what next
start to describe the instruments you are sequencing. if you have many then just say couple of them.
then people will tell you what for them would come first with those.
ciao
volcas: sample, bass, fm
korg monologue
thats it!
i wanna start real small with just a volca fm
for example.
get the FM. it is polyphonic. First set the channel in your FM. let’ s say channel one.
go to pyramid. you start it and you have already a project there. project that then you save clicking 2nd and save/load.
so you have two fast ways to put notes in to your sequencer. LIVE and STEP.
before to start click on TRACK. with 2nd+zoom ( and turning the DIAL knob ( the highest ) you decide how many bars you re gonna play in. decide how long. let’s say 4. is gonna make 4 bars=64 steps.
OK
Click now on LIVE. click REC and i ready to record . than click PLAY and before to start the play it will make one bar metronome click made of the sound that comes from your synth ( there is no inner metronome sound as pyramid doesn’t have sounds).
start to play notes on the keyboard. once it will make the cicle of 64 steps it will repeat the cycle and you will hear what you have just played. if you click rec on it again and you will play , it will put new notes above what you have just played.
there s also a way to make the bars long as long as you play, but at the moment I dont remember and I have to ask it again to someone.
OK
the other way is STEP.
once you have recorded in LIVE you can add notes from this mode OR start again.
once you have set your bars you click on STEP. then click on DISP, and you will see the piano roll.
now with the DIAL knob you can scroll up to down the piano. depending on which note you are the pads will give you 16 beats ( by default, but you can ZOOM more for more steps by pressing again track and zooming) for page ( every page is one bar) . you press 4 notes there and then again 4 notes in each page ( you scroll page with the < > buttons ) . click PLAY and then you will hear them.
now try and ask…
I am not very good with pyramid but that’s something for now.
what does it mean “set the channel in your fm”?
You should set the MIDI channel to send the MIDI notes from Pyramid to Volca FM (or I don’t know how should I say it to be easily understandable).
To set the midi channel in Volca FM:
yes, then, after you did this. you go on your pyramid and : press track+pad 4 ( let’s say pad 4 ) you have your track selected. On the screen you see TR4. So now you are on the track 4. IN this track you want to put your FM. if you decided to you se the channel 4 on the FM you are gonna put on Pyramid channel 4. if you decided to put your Channel on FM as 1 you are gonna say to pyramid channel 1.
Well this is because you may have let’s say you bass and sample too.
but let’s say. if you have your sample for drums ok. ther I think you have 12 tracks if I am not wrong . you can set all the percussion of you sample from 1 to 12. it may be already set it like this by default. so you only need to put on pyramid : track one channel 1, track two channel 2 and so on… till 12.
after twelve . you have let’s say the bass. you give one track the 13 track to your bass. so you can choose to set your bass already on channel 13 cause your pyramid is on track/channel 13. I think so! because I don’t use multiple synths yet. 
wow. thanks to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iByN3jUdK3E i just learnt euclidean mode and its so easy! not to mention SUPER DUPER POWERFUL!!!
also… i think it finally clicked for me… with the pyramid i can apply euclidean to ANY sound … not just percussion. this massively expands my sonic palette.
i think cos i always read/heard about euclidean sequences as “percussive” i never thought/figured that oh! its just sound! and it can be anything!
bravo squarp! what an amazing instrument you have made!
its quite massive. there is a lot on which you can play. I think the best is to be in peace with your synths equip. than your on “track”