when in step edit mode, i love the fact i can just click on another step in the bar and edit those settings without any additional button presses. its a great workflow. however, if i then want to move onto the next bar, i have to press back twice, scroll to bar 2 using the ‘Select’ knob in Step Program mode and then go back into step edit.
Could the Transport scroll (<< and >>) buttons be mapped instead to navigate to the next programmed step? And perhaps Shift+>> would take you to the next step in the next bar?
Currently the transport controls in step edit change the track, but you can also do this with any given pad, which is prob more intuitive than using the scroll buttons. I would say it wouldn’t materially impact the existing workflow if you made this change.
Obviously if there is already another shortcut to navigating to the next step/bar the above then please let me know!
I think what you’re describing is similar to my ex MPC60. I too totally prefer using the << & >> buttons to navigate through steps to edit.
Feels much more tactile/solid-choosing, faster and simpler… rather than multiple button presses and using a knob (which needs more finger precision to place on step).
Absolutely. I’ve been REALLY hoping to be able to jump ahead or back in patterns via the <<< and >>> buttons in the main pattern screen for a year now. More than FX or any bells and whistles, the addition of that would SERIOUSLY speed up my creative process.
This is by FAR my top request. Being able to move through every step on a track at whichever given quantize setting you choose, whether the step is populated or not, would make the step sequencer amazing for what I do. At the moment my 2400 is getting little to no use because of it lacking this type of sequencing tbh. As is, it’s pretty long and tedious to use as is for deep/heavy editing. It’s fine for tweaks and such, but it mainly seems built for playing stuff in and tweaking, rather than actually step sequencing a few hundred bars manually.
I would also love to see a some improvements of TR mode. Like a step resolution, eg. allow for 32/64 steps in tr mode, this would result in half/quarter of a bar at a time on the pads rather than one bar at all times obviously.
Substeps in tr mode would be sick, loving that in my SP404. But I would argue that S2400 is actually pretty damn good for making detailed edits. I waaaay prefer it to the latest MPCs. Just needs a few workflow tweaks. My favourite workflow feature is the way copy and paste is implemented…it’s extremely fast to work with. Hopefully step editing will get some of the suggested improvements in the next update.
Funnily enough, I actually got an MPC Live recently and that’s what I’m using at the moment. I like it a lot, but it also needs this same feature, which the old MPCs had. I thought list edit would allow you to step through like on the old ones, but it’s only for editing existing steps, annoyingly.
One way to improve this may be to allow the location field to be selectable. When the cursor is over this field one press of the transport key would go to the next event for this track, long press go to the next bar for that track.
Yeah def think transport controls are the way to go, since navigating is what they’re for, and anything involving long presses doesn’t exactly make for fast editing.
Edit Step Paramaters specifically for the Midi-Sequencer edits per-step would be awesome too (like on a classic MPC)… eg: which keyboard notes were sequenced/recorded (C, C#, D, D#, E, etc., etc.), velocity/level, length, etc.)… note=velocity=length laid out and shown line by line (per << >> step), for easy readability (just like a classic MPC).
The current params (Level, Pitch, Env, Slice, Filter, Res) is great; but only suited for the internal samples/tracks.
i would love, that if you are not in record mode, that you can press a pad, and then navigate through the steps of that pad. i fell like step edit is still really cumbersome and frustrating. i hope they will work on it in a future update.
(for more notes, like 11th, 13th chords or added bass notes… then it will be scrollable downwards for more room/notes… and for single note melodic playing, bass lines, solos, etc… it’ll obviously only show 1 note per step)
As you can see in the above example… I was trying to play an A7dominant chord on that step.
After scrolling thru the edit-steps to double-check my playing/recording (as I usually did on my old MPC60), I see for the A7 chord in this particular step, my pinky finger accidentally played it weakly on the G note. Now, I can adjust its’ Velocity and Length.
Agreed, being able to step through every step at the given quantize setting, regardless of whether or not there is notes on the step, would be a god send.
IE: 8/8T/16/16T/32/32T/64/64T/FINE(every possible step)
And obviously as you say, all parameters on the page, for both audio and midi tracks, of course.
MPC style step sequencer would be SO good. I’m literally begging for this haha
Me… I’m begging for the Midi-Sequencer ability to record/automate Mod-Wheel/Pitch-Bend/CCs of my external synths, hehe
Honestly… I can’t really make music without it (well, I can… but it’ll be compromised big-time and be super boring without them synth-filter/lfo/etc. sweeps, tweaks and evolving sounds/pads).
But, Brad already mentioned this will happen sooner or later, thank goodness.
Did he say for sure it was going to happen? I’m paraphrasing here but the last time I heard him say anything about that he said something more along the lines of…we’re looking into it and if we can make it happen we will.
Yeah I can’t argue with that haha, that’s some of the basic functionality that I often forget it still lacks. Hopefully soon!
The step sequencing is still just a bit too clunky/ slow for me as is, so that’s my main hurdle to properly using the machine at the moment, and having mpc style step sequencing as discussed here, would dramatically change that for me.
It’s honestly mainly acting as an insanely pricey phono preamp for ripping vinyl, and doing some resampling here and there at the moment heh. I do love the sound of the machine though, and have not lost hope that it will get there yet anyhow.
Of course, the classic MPC style step-sequencing with <<< >>> step navigation, sounds super awesome too; but this is a new feature-request… so, we haven’t heard from the devs about it yet.
Just noticed, F7 and F9 are still unused in number view (I also hadn’t even spotted number view until you pointed it out in that pic @fooddude so cheers for that!). That window is the PERFECT place to just enable stepping through every step, and everything could remain totally unchanged by using F7 and F9. Since F1 & F3 go to previous & next event, and F4 & F6 go to previous and next event for the current track, F7 and F9 being go to previous and next step, would make total sense.
