What does "pattern steps" do? Can't seem to figure it out

[chardin]

Some thoughts about best practices while learning something new in Kirnu Cream...

Mark R, you're my hero. Thank you for the detailed explanation. I hope you'll post more tips, hints, and tricks for using Kirnu Cream.

[harmoney]

i cant find the advantage of this.
if i want solo- or tab-loops i can use the loop-line to set it. it does the same as this ptn reset (and the corresponding steps below) for the selected tab.
but if i want a global loop -there is no way to set it. i have to "ptn reset" (or loop the line) in ALL steps by hand.
this ptn reset should work global or inverted - if i set, all tabs get "slaved" to this, except this tabs where i manually excplicit disable this.

or do i miss something? - tell me what can i do with it, what the loop-clammy cant?

[Mark R]

Thanks for asking harmony, here is a simple demo that might help.

- INITIALIZE - Clear the slate by selecting 'Init' in the presets.

- Go over to the 'TRANS' Tab

- Set the loop points to loop "step bars" 5 to 8.

- Draw in a transpose of +24 into the 5th "step bar".

- Turn on 'RESET ON PTN RESET'

- Set the 'STEPS' value to '4'

Play one long note, you should be hearing a simple 4 note cycle with the first note marked by its higher pitch.


- Now change the 'STEPS' value to '11'


Say WHAT!
With one value change the syncopation just got quite interesting. (You might want to adjust your tempo to something comfortable that you can tap your foot to.)

You can see the BLUE "control position" indicators travel nicely inside the loop. The manual calls this the "currently selected control position".

Below that, we can see the WHITE notes are traveling through what the manual calls the "pattern control data area" and represent the "current pattern position".

In other words (and this could even turn out to a correct rewording):

The BLUE indicators show - which bar's control data is currently in use.
And the WHITE notes show - the pattern's actual output notes.

Most Importantly - you can see that this tab's output now resets itself when the WHITE note traces reach the end of the upper blue line that represents pattern length (controlled by the 'STEPS' value).

Play with other 'STEPS' values (except multiples of 4) to instantly hear all the other syncopations you might not have thought of. Combine this with other loopy things that might even be resetting differently in this pattern's other tabs.
Or add a few more instruments playing at the same time on Cream's four tracks and prepare to be amazed.


Some Notes:
You could up to a point actually program some of these results using just loop controls but would take a lot longer to set up and audition each example and you would run out of "step bars" as you tried to duplicate the higher 'STEPS' values.

Keep in mind that a spirit of intelligent exploration seems to be a key part of the design philosophy of Kirnu Cream.

harmoney's post made me realize I probably should not have used the term "Global" in my previous post. I posted a correction back there.

And thanks chardin for the pat on the back, glad to help out.

[nexussynth]

maybe you could put together a couple presets to post here to illustrate this? maybe a 'mini tutorial'? thanks for helping clarify this deep plugin.