What's the Z2 overview ?

[Urs]

The ARP is interesting, more powerful than at first glance... It has the function 'step'. Options are Next, Same, First and Last... Not clear what they do. Sometimes one or the other creates some alternating pattern with each run through?

If you hold a chord, say d-e-a-c, a normal arp "upwards", "by note" would iterate through these in exactly that order.

So, when a step is set to [ > ] for next, this step would play e after d, a after e, c after a and d after c.

When a step is said to [ || ] for same, it plays the same note again, that's e after e, a after a...

[ |< ] for first rewinds the arp to d, while [ >| ] makes the arp go straight to c

This stuff is especially interesting when working on polyphonic and/or transposed patterns. If you do a transposition of a step that might sound dissonant, you can always rewind to the lowest note.

I should assemble some example settings from Podolski and FilterscapeVA. In this example from Podolski the whole trancey line is made using just the arpeggiator. All steps rewind to the bass note while some steps are polyphonic. This makes the bass note play through while the chords come in in a more complex pattern.

Also, the octave control. I am used to octave doing the run through the arp, then transposing up for the next run through. This does something different where it sound like it alternates by note rather than by sequence. A moe musical choice I would say.

Hmmm... interesting... I could add options for cycle based octave alternation rather than step based...

ARP Portamento switch is backwards. Off is on, On is off.

Well, it looks a bit misleading because I havn't found a good name here.

When the Arp Portamento is on, Portamento is only applied on steps that play legato (when the gate looks like an arrow), just like in good 'ol TB303... when it's off, Portamento is applied regardless of Arp Control settings.

Cheers,

Urs[/url]

[Urs]

When I overwrite a preset with change to the reverb settings, it does not save.

Ugh... please don't save presets over with the "leaked beta". I think it works with the official preview version, but as I'm into an overhaul of the file management system, I think patch overwrite was accidentally disabled. (Yeah, it's a bug, but it's fixed in current dev builds)

Also, would it be possible to make a module that had something like the osc fx which could be put in the chain after the comb module? The osc fx do wider range of shaping to an osc than a shaper module can do on the comb.

Heh, here you're asking too much for. The osc FX are not just separate modules that apply effects after the osc. They are algorithms that work between spectral analysis of the graphical waveform and rendering the bandlimited output into a wavetable. So, they are applied right while the oscillator creates its actual waveform.

This principle can't be applied to arbitrary, non-cyclic sample streams, at least not in realtime. Thus they can't be put into separate modules...

However, as you can see with the cluster experiment, there's a whole lot of ideas for future additions to the comb filters that go beyond common grounds.

The Z2 engine is designed for extensibility. Expect more modes added to each and every module in future updates

Cheers,

Urs

[pdxindy]

Also, the octave control. I am used to octave doing the run through the arp, then transposing up for the next run through. This does something different where it sound like it alternates by note rather than by sequence. A moe musical choice I would say.

Hmmm... interesting... I could add options for cycle based octave alternation rather than step based...

You could. Personally I have never really liked the cycle based one all that much. Your choice here is more interesting and varied.

[pdxindy]

The ARP is interesting, more powerful than at first glance... It has the function 'step'. Options are Next, Same, First and Last... Not clear what they do. Sometimes one or the other creates some alternating pattern with each run through?

If you hold a chord, say d-e-a-c, a normal arp "upwards", "by note" would iterate through these in exactly that order.

So, when a step is set to [ > ] for next, this step would play e after d, a after e, c after a and d after c.

When a step is said to [ || ] for same, it plays the same note again, that's e after e, a after a...

[ |< ] for first rewinds the arp to d, while [ >| ] makes the arp go straight to c

This stuff is especially interesting when working on polyphonic and/or transposed patterns. If you do a transposition of a step that might sound dissonant, you can always rewind to the lowest note.

I should assemble some example settings from Podolski and FilterscapeVA. In this example from Podolski the whole trancey line is made using just the arpeggiator. All steps rewind to the bass note while some steps are polyphonic. This makes the bass note play through while the chords come in in a more complex pattern.

Cheers,

Urs[/url]

Thanks for the explanation. I am doing some simple 4step patterns to understand the various permutations and then adding from there. The explanation helps. I do not understand it well enough yet to be able to understand in more complex patterns what note will play in what order, but getting there

It can be hard to see which step is which when creating patterns. Maybe a thin vertical divider line can be placed every fourth step to make that easier (same for arpmod)

The arpmod 1 and 2 are a nice addition! Very handy for controlling volume per step, or other parameter. Perhaps in the future you could put mod choices right there...

Thanks also for the portamento explanation. It is obvious once you explain it

This one of the better arps I have used. I have been digging ito Zebra2 and it does not disappoint !!