Odd arp behavior in Zebra 2

[Seventh7]

Hey guys. I'm seeing an odd situation where I have an arp setup where it plays 4 or 5 notes which, as far as the midi notes are laid out, all start at the exact same time, and play through a 2 octave arp for each note. It is setup to play through the notes by "note played"... which I take to mean that it starts at the lowest note and progresses to highest when run in the F direction.

The problem I'm having is that if I stop and go back to the beginning of the track (the arp starts right away for now), then hit play, the arp starts on random notes of the sequence each time, instead of on the lowest. Once it has started it plays the right following sequence of notes, but it just starts in a different place each time.

If I stagger the start of each note so they are in the order I want, then set the arp to sort the notes it plays by "as played", it always starts the sequence on the correct first note, so this is kind of a workaround.

But my questions are:

1. Is this expected behavior when playing all notes starting at the same time in the "by note" mode? If so this behavior I'm seeing is not intuitive..
2. Am I doing something wrong?
3. If it's a bug, can you please fix it?

[Howard]

1. Is this expected behavior when playing all notes starting at the same time? If so this is not intuitive...

This is normal behaviour. You have to stagger, otherwise you have no "as played" note order!

[Seventh7]

1. Is this expected behavior when playing all notes starting at the same time? If so this is not intuitive...

This is normal behaviour. You have to stagger, otherwise you have no "as played" note order!

I should be more clear... I already know what you mentioned... but my problem is that when I have them all start at the same time and have the arp function "by note" it starts on a random note in the sequence.. not the lowest note. Even if it didn't start on the lowest note, but still started on the same note each time it would be fine.. but really the issue is that it's not even deterministic in this mode for some reason.

[Howard]

...my problem is that when I have them all start at the same time and have the arp function "by note" it starts on a random note in the sequence.. not the lowest note.

Ah yes, OK. One of the notes in a 100% quantised chord will always be the first, and therefore the lowest for a split second... Tricky. Urs?

[Urs]

...my problem is that when I have them all start at the same time and have the arp function "by note" it starts on a random note in the sequence.. not the lowest note.

Ah yes, OK. One of the notes in a 100% quantised chord will always be the first, and therefore the lowest for a split second... Tricky. Urs?

I have no idea. Maybe Logic always sends the lowest note first in a quantised chord?

It should however still reset properly.

What if the first step of the control sequence is set to |<

?

[pdxindy]

1. Is this expected behavior when playing all notes starting at the same time? If so this is not intuitive...

This is normal behaviour. You have to stagger, otherwise you have no "as played" note order!

I should be more clear... I already know what you mentioned... but my problem is that when I have them all start at the same time and have the arp function "by note" it starts on a random note in the sequence.. not the lowest note. Even if it didn't start on the lowest note, but still started on the same note each time it would be fine.. but really the issue is that it's not even deterministic in this mode for some reason.

1 note has to be first and it is a different one each time from your host... this is not a problem in Zebra is my guess...

[Urs]

1 note has to be first and it is a different one each time from your host... this is not a problem in Zebra is my guess...

Well, on the other hand side all notes are usually scheduled before Zebra is processed, so Zebra should have plenty of time to sort through them.

I'll run some tests on this...

[Charlie Firpo]

I noticed the same thing when i did some fast C64 Arpeggios in Zebra 2.5. (i choosed "by note") but the arp played random notes at every start. The only way to solve this was to slightly delay the other notes. This happened in both Renoise 2.6 and Presonus Studio one 1.6.1

(By the way, i'm a new user! Thank you Urs for this fantasic synth!)

[mcnoone]

It should however still reset properly.
What if the first step of the control sequence is set to |<
?

This is correct.
The problem is, the OP is not using the "first" - "last" - "same" settings to accomplish the predictable behavior desired.
I have done many arps, and most will start recording on their intended starting notes, because of using those note priority settings along the top of the arp tab.
To get what the OP is looking for, he would need to have the 1st and last notes set to "first" and "last", and sometimes certain notes need the "same" settings in between to keep it consistent on each arp sequence.

[Seventh7]

It should however still reset properly.
What if the first step of the control sequence is set to |<
?

This is correct.
The problem is, the OP is not using the "first" - "last" - "same" settings to accomplish the predictable behavior desired.
I have done many arps, and most will start recording on their intended starting notes, because of using those note priority settings along the top of the arp tab.
To get what the OP is looking for, he would need to have the 1st and last notes set to "first" and "last", and sometimes certain notes need the "same" settings in between to keep it consistent on each arp sequence.

I thought setting first on the first note fixed it because then it starts deterministically but then it affects the sequence when it wraps around after all 16 notes have played too.. it alters it from what it used to be :\

Is it the DAW that is presenting these in seemingly random "first note" priority each time, so Zebra is not responsible for this behavior?

What I have is 5 notes.. the arp octave setting is set to 1.... so I have 5 notes spanning 2 octaves. I should have 10 notes. If I set the arp to 10 steps, I'd expect this sequence to just loop the 10 notes/steps. But instead what I get is the correct sequence the first time through, then the arp visually starts back at the beginning in the Zebra GUI but the notes have not started back at their low note, in the bottom octave.

Without the "first" setting set to the first step, the sequence is *exactly* how I want it, but it just starts on random notes of the sequence

[Urs]

Is it the DAW that is presenting these in seemingly random "first note" priority each time, so Zebra is not responsible for this behavior

Gonna check this out. The control sequence certainly helps, but random notes are hardly what I'd expect.

That said, do you have a demo project you could send me?

[Seventh7]

Is it the DAW that is presenting these in seemingly random "first note" priority each time, so Zebra is not responsible for this behavior

Gonna check this out. The control sequence certainly helps, but random notes are hardly what I'd expect.

That said, do you have a demo project you could send me?

Sure.. I sent it over to your email. Thanks for your time.

Just to clarify.. the note it starts on is always within the sequence (it's not some completely random note).. it's just not the right note to start on ... i.e. it starts somewhere midway through the sequence as its first note and progresses upwards as you'd expect, instead of starting at the beginning of the sequence when you stop, go back to the beginning, and hit play.

[Urs]

Thanks. I'll have a look later... won't be before tomorrow though...

[Seventh7]

Hey no rush, just checking in cause it's been a couple weeks. Any idea what's at fault here?

[Urs]

Not really, I've been working on the Arp a lot lately, but I can't make out any bug that might be causing this. I'll look deeper...

(otoh, a beta update is over due, I wanted to post it two days ago but then got distracted by some real life events. Anyhow, maybe the new beta will work better because of some rewritten code)