Additional Advanced Pattern Changes

[Lucid]

In addition to the chaichain mode I would like to suggest ththree additional play modes for the pattern set:
Trigger, toggle, and hold.

Anyone who uses Ableton Live should be familiar with these modes. Trigger mode will relaunrelaunch the pattern if you tap on it. Toggle will switch the pattern from on to off or vice versa when you tap and hold will play the pattern for the duration of the time your holdnthe button. Naturally if hold is the active mode in the pattern set the long press doesn't apply.

With the new mode's thethe sequencer would have to continue to record even if no pattern is active.

Why do I suggest this?

Trigger
Say I've created a row of different drum breaks in the pattern set of 8 bars in length. Sometimes I want to cycle between the different breaks using chain and sometimes I just want to retrigger the same pattern a few times. Currently I can trigger an adjacent pattern but I can't retrigger the currently playing pattern. Retrigger in chain mode should allow you to retrigger the playing pattern (i.e. reset to the first measure )

Toggle
If toggle is active tapping the current playing pattern will simply turn it of and the sequencer will record silence. This is useful for pauses between song parts.

Hold
Say I want to use the pattern set as a drum pad. I would like to arrange a bank of patterns of short duration, perhaps only one measure having four ticks for single shots (kick, hat, snare, etc) I would like to record drumming in the pattern set without having the patterns loop. Of course this approach is far more interesting than using the drum pads as each pattern contains it's own effects, layers of different samples, and the Beast synth of course.

[planet-h]

Thank you for your suggestions, Lucid

Trigger
Say I've created a row of different drum breaks in the pattern set of 8 bars in length. Sometimes I want to cycle between the different breaks using chain and sometimes I just want to retrigger the same pattern a few times. Currently I can trigger an adjacent pattern but I can't retrigger the currently playing pattern. Retrigger in chain mode should allow you to retrigger the playing pattern (i.e. reset to the first measure )

Yes, I see the point, retriggering a pattern is a problem. I'll go after this.

Hold
Say I want to use the pattern set as a drum pad. I would like to arrange a bank of patterns of short duration, perhaps only one measure having four ticks for single shots (kick, hat, snare, etc) I would like to record drumming in the pattern set without having the patterns loop. Of course this approach is far more interesting than using the drum pads as each pattern contains it's own effects, layers of different samples, and the Beast synth of course.

That sounds like a nice feature. But I'd say this should be applied to the drum pads, and not to the pattern set.
As I understand, you want to hold particular tracks, not patterns.
Keep in mind, that it is not possible to play multiple patterns at once. Multiple tracks on the other hand is no problem.
There is already something similar on the drum pads, the rhythm arp. If active, it plays all the tracks which you hold (of course it plays not the regular beat, just the arp).
I'd say a mode which reacts the same way, but plays the regular sequence of the track while hold rather than the r-arp, would go in the right direction, right?

Toggle
If toggle is active tapping the current playing pattern will simply turn it of and the sequencer will record silence. This is useful for pauses between song parts.

Theoretically possible, in such a case, an empty pattern could take place.
But also here, I have a feeling that you want to play tracks, not patterns.
If this is the case, then the Mute mode (or solo which is the oposit) on the drum pads, is exactly what you're looking for.

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Bottom line, I see in what direction your idea goes, and I'll definitely think about it.

[Lucid]

I have a demo quality song that utilises the advanced pattern changes. We're it not for a botched ending, (the first four minutes we're dope) it would already be uploaded to Soundcloud. I'll have to try again. It has a Prodigy feel to it with with lots of variations on an Amen break. A workaround as you point out are blank patterns for the pause and duplicate patterns for the retrigger.

The problem with the drum pads on my device is I can't monitor the sound during record but that could be solved later. The drum pads are my favourite feature of the app.

[planet-h]

I have a demo quality song that utilises the advanced pattern changes. We're it not for a botched ending, (the first four minutes we're dope) it would already be uploaded to Soundcloud. I'll have to try again. It has a Prodigy feel to it with with lots of variations on an Amen break. A workaround as you point out are blank patterns for the pause and duplicate patterns for the retrigger.

Btw, you can easily re-trigger the same pattern. The only thing you cannot do is to retrigger it live in chain mode, that's the only lack;)
Recording or editing a song arrangement in song mode easily allows re-triggering a pattern.
When recording pattern changes in song mode (you must stay on the pattern set view for that), simply do not change pattern while recording, then it re-triggers the same pattern by itself (and also records the "no-change").

The problem with the drum pads on my device is I can't monitor the sound during record but that could be solved later. The drum pads are my favourite feature of the app.

The Drum Pads cannot be monitored during record on your device, because your device is too slow. It has a way too high latency for direct monitoring while recording. With the upcoming version 4.0.5 (which you have already, since you're member of the beta community), direct monitoring is automatically enabled for all devices with a latency of 40ms or lower (with the current version 4.0.4, it's 20ms). With 4.0.5, latencies of 40ms and lower will be possible on almost every quad core device running on Android 4.2 or higher, but definitely not on dual-core tablets (sorry). Unfortunately, the only way to solve this is to get a faster device. The nexus 7 2013 is sold at around 100$ at the moment (ebay, etc.), and it runs with a latency of 20ms, which makes live recording a pleasure.

The fact that you do not hear the pressed keys while recording on devices with a latency higher than 40ms is clearly pointed in the docs:
http://www.planet-h.com/gstomper/docs/pdf/G-Stomper_UserManual_LiveRecording.pdf
Chapter "Audio Latency may cause Silent Recording"
(please note that this is the doc of the upcoming release 4.0.5)

What you can monitor on the drum pads, is the rhythm arp mode (type the "mode" button in the upper right corner, and choose R-Arp). That's what I meant, in the same way (but playing the regular sequence instead of the arp) could the hold mode be implemented.

[Lucid]

Thanks Andreas. I'm making a promise to you that in 2015 I'll buy a new Android, whether it's a new tablet or smartphone I haven't decided yetbut either way I'll stop bothering you with latency issues eventually. Even though I can't monitor the pads when recording I'm still able to hammer down some good beats on the pads. Sometimes a slight adjustment is needed with the shift buttons but that is totally fine.

Regarding the arpeggiator, I'll put it down here as a request so you don't forget but an additional mode for the sliders (normal and fine tune) would make step automation a little more interesting. A snap mode that would automatically snap the sliders to the marker points. This is really great for beat slicing. Say the faders could snap in increments of five percent. Say I put in a loop, for example the Amen break on a track and set the arpeggiator to 8th note retriggering. In step mode I put in 8 step points per measure. At each step I adjust the sample start. In theory, if I move the sample start up 20 percent at each step point I should have a sliced Amen break. I could then copy that pattern and paste the start points per step per pattern. I could then play live with the drum pads in arpeggiator mode to get some crazy drum breaks. I've tested it and it does work. The only difficulty is getting the faders to lock on a precise point.

[planet-h]

Thanks Andreas. I'm making a promise to you that in 2015 I'll buy a new Android, whether it's a new tablet or smartphone I haven't decided yetbut either way I'll stop bothering you with latency issues eventually. Even though I can't monitor the pads when recording I'm still able to hammer down some good beats on the pads. Sometimes a slight adjustment is needed with the shift buttons but that is totally fine.

Oh, it was no bothering at all. It's just kinda hard to explain the latency issue in detail, so referring to the docs is the better way to show how it is handled;)

Regarding the arpeggiator, I'll put it down here as a request so you don't forget but an additional mode for the sliders (normal and fine tune) would make step automation a little more interesting. A snap mode that would automatically snap the sliders to the marker points. This is really great for beat slicing. Say the faders could snap in increments of five percent. Say I put in a loop, for example the Amen break on a track and set the arpeggiator to 8th note retriggering. In step mode I put in 8 step points per measure. At each step I adjust the sample start. In theory, if I move the sample start up 20 percent at each step point I should have a sliced Amen break. I could then copy that pattern and paste the start points per step per pattern. I could then play live with the drum pads in arpeggiator mode to get some crazy drum breaks. I've tested it and it does work. The only difficulty is getting the faders to lock on a precise point.

That sounds indeed interesting, and much more concrete than in the initial request. It is in the task list now, thanks for the suggestion.