Rhythm editor: "mute" step

[Chab]

Hello,

Today we have 3 options for each rhythm step: 

Velocity X: Will play the next pattern step at specified velocity (=  pattern step index is increased)
Rest: Will not play to the next pattern step, but also will NOT increase the pattern index (= pattern step index unchanged)
Tie: Like "Rest", but holds the previous note (= pattern step index unchanged)

I miss a "Mute" option that acts like "Rest", but where the pattern index is also increased. Today the only way to "move" to the next step in the pattern is by playing a note.. there's no way to move to the next step in silence.

Code:

Example with a 4 steps pattern: C, D, E, F
Rest behavior in a 4 steps Rythm: [127, 127, rest, 127] => C, D, silence, E, F, C, D, silence, E, F, etc.
Mute behavior in a 4 steps Rythm: [127, 127, mute, 127] => C, D, silence, F, C, D, silence, F, etc. 

[Steve]

Hi Chab,
You characterized it correctly with the three modes: Velocity, Rest, & Tie.  

To do what you are asking I have been using a velocity setting of 1 in the step and make sure that the patch on the target synth has the velocity mapped to volume (or some other parameter so that a vel=1 is for all intents zero).

I just verified that there are NO examples of this in the built-in rhythms, at one point I had this (vel=1) in an example rhythm.

Let me know if that works or are there other things I'm not thinking of. :-)
Steve

i.e.
Mute behavior in a 4 steps Rythm: [127, 127, 1, 127] => C, D, silence, F, C, D, silence, F, etc.

[Chab]

Hi Steve,

Thanks yes, I thought about this workaround too and while it "sort of work" on modern synth, most vintage synth don't have velocity. (i say "sort of work" because it still requires fine-tuning your synth to reach that point where "velocity 1 = almost silence", and then as soon as you change patch, you have to redo that all over again).

If adding a new option like "Mute" is not that simple, simply not sending notes having (velocity == 1) would be an acceptable convention i guess.

Thanks for hearing us

[Steve]

Hi Chab,
Conceptionaly I like the idea and when designing the Rhythm editor I used velocity to implement it. Maybe in hindsight I would’ve added another state for mute. Unfortunately adding a mute state would not be trivial at this point. I’m also trying to delicately balance between fixing bugs with adding promised features such as Strum, the Chords Sequencer, and the MIDI Controller, when I’m not assembling and shipping units. ...all great problems to have! 

With that said we are keeping a list of customer feature requests!   We know you guys have a lot of great ideas. 

Thanks for being a vocal customer and sharing your ideas!
Steve