I have only had my Pyramid for a couple of days, and I find it wonderfully intuitive already. It really is as immediate to use as my ancient MMT-8 (which still happens to be sitting, buttons defunct, in a crate somewhere in my music studio).
However, I am a bit confused about how to use the Euclidian Step Mode for programming e.g. complex drum rhythms. Is it really necessary to set aside a whole track for every single drum sound to use an Euclidian rhythm? Yes, I know I have 64 of them but each track still has to be set up to provide drum output, i.e. each track set to the same channel as the drum machine and, it seems, each track thus rendering a single drum sound in Euclidian Step Mode. This seems a bit cumbersome to me. It might be because the unit is completely new to me, and I do not yet understand how it works in every detail. In case I have understood it correctly, is there a way of circumventing this limitation and have one single rhythm track with several Euclidian rhythms? Can you e.g. copy an Euclidian Step pattern into another, non-Euclidian track?
yeah surprised me initially too,
however, the âissueâ is tracks are a particular length, but often your Euclidean sequences are of different lengths (or use different signatures) , thatâs part of the fun so its kind of makes sense that that they are on different tracks.
any how, that is how it is for now⌠perhaps it might change of OS 3, but we donât have any details yet.
btw, its not too bad to setup, as you can copy n paste tracks, so retaining setup info.
to keep things organised, you could use one bank for your drums using the Euclidean step.
another thing, i found out and useful, is whilst Euclidian is exclusive to notes modes, you can still have effects and cc modulations⌠which is fun too.
Oh, I see⌠It was the thing with different lengths I didnât get in the first place. Now it makes perfect sense! Thanks! The copy/paste feature is obviously going to come in very handy - I use it all the time in a lot of other stuff I do anyway (word processing, DAW recording, picture editing). The idea of using a separate bank of tracks also makes perfect sense. Thank you.
Recommend a bit of Swing FX on any Euclid track. Even if the rest of your grooves are straight. For Lower steps (like 3 in 15) try much higher Swing % values to hear your Pyramid getting loose and funky or drifting off into wonky deep tech wormholes⌠Bit of velocity % in the Swing and some Random FX on note length really helps bring it to life too. Chance is your friend for busier Euclid patterns, Pyramid will drop a few notes here and there to keep it interesting. Subtle LFO CC FX on something like cutoff running across the track lengths and you are away. You may never come back.
Try my channel on there is a demo with Pyramid using bounce metronome you will see all you need to see visually. It might help. For Synthâs Sake https://www.youtube.com/user/peterandaluz
Not really played around with chords and Euclidean mode much. But yeah, from memory, when youâre in Euclidean mode, if you hold down the main encoder the pads light up like a piano keyboard.You can play a chord in from there using the pads and transpose it up and down using the <>. If youâve got a midi keyboard connected then you can bang a chord or a note in on that - although i never tried it.
I donât think you can programme a different chord on each Euclidean step though. (There are plenty of super -users on here that Iâm sure will correct me if thatâs wrong!)⌠It just loops round sounding chords on each euclid step depending on the last input. But if youâre happy with your pattern you can always bounce it out and then turn the steps into specific chords from there (although of course, you wonât be able to change up your euclid pattern, which is where the fun lies, right?)
Alternatively you could make up patterns with different euclid steps and lengths and different chords, stick the patterns in different sequences and then chain them together. Or just jam it out with a tonne of different patterns you like and record the midi output. (Set the pattern delay in settings to BEAT to get the best out of this). I find this much easier than using the encoders on the fly to tweak the euclid controls and trying to remember which combo of steps, length, phase etc I liked best.
Last time I messed around with it I used a combination of Master Track Transpose to move the euclid note around and harmoniser FX on the euclid note output to sound the chord. Doing this you can put a âstraightâ chord sequence/riff down in your Master Transpose track, like 16, 32, 64 steps or whatever, but when you slave the euclid track to it, the âchordâ will sound out as per the euclid settings so you get rolling and evolving poly rhythms that are melodically related to the rest of your track. (If youâre track is generally in 4,8,16 bar phrases of course.
Bit of chance FX on the euclid track, some swing, CC LFOs for your synth, touch of delay on your audio output to give it a bit of a regular pulse and youâre away.
Many thanks for your prompt always constructive productive inspirational feedback ! Very motivating to read your expertise and to try it out . W must agree tons of features are well hidden between few fingers codings .
Indeed the Euclid mode remember the last chords ( mhhhh donât understand why he couldnât combine around between two or three different chords excluding crreating further tracks
Fabulous powerful tool . Thanks again Jim . Cheers from Hong Kong .
Ps : I was planing to post a video for demonstration but doesnât allow me
Iâm not sure if it could ever work with different chords on steps because your euclid steps will get moved around if/when you change the euclid parameters. Pyramid would not know where to move specific chords to or be able to place chords on any new steps you were to add by changing the number of steps in the euclid pattern. If it only has the option of adding a single note as defined by the note value on the new/re-located steps then the behaviour is always consistent.
If you could add different chords on different steps youâd have to accept that youâd lose your programming if you changed the parameters. Guess the euclid generator is built for live performance really. If you just want to use it to quickly create poly-rhythmic tracks that donât change over time then you can consolidate them and programme your chords in step mode innit.
Forgot to say, you can step sequence different chords by automating the harmonizer parameters using FX automations. This way youâre not stuck with just say, minor chords transposed up and down by the root note and the master transpose track. So that might be worth a try to make it more musically interesting.
You wouldnât âhaveâ to accept that. It could theoretically work that pyramid retains the pitches per step as the steps turn on, off and back on again. Would be a pretty cool feature I think
You could achieve that today by saving them into patterns and then switching between them/sequencing them. Although obviously if you edit any of the parameters on the fly you would lose your programmed chords.
Personally, I find saving them to patterns much more effective than tweaking the parameters live as only certain combinations of steps/length/phase etc work. Itâs hard to remember them (at least for me itâs hard!) plus you have to cycle through parameter changes to get to and from the combination you like or tweak multiple knobs simultaneously to dial it in and of course that disrupts the flow of your groove as your Euclid pattern catches up with the rest of your jam.