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concepts - lcd display - edit steps - edit realtime - step & gate length - play mode - quickresults - side notes - signal flow
Concepts of the MC-202 sequencer
The "MC" stands for Micro Composer, it's the sequencer.
- The upper half of the front panel is much like a SH-101 synthesizer, but without the noise VCO.
- The lower half can be compared to a trimmed down MC-500 sequencer with soft calculator buttons and no midi.
Patterns/Tracks
- you have 2 Tracks ("Channels") in which you program your songs
- the MC-202 does not use Patterns and Tracks concepts, like the way the TR-606 or the TB-303 do
- (so you can not switch from one Pattern loop to another in live situations)
Programming the sequencer can be done in 3 different ways:
1. Using the STEP, GATE and NUMBER buttons
2. Play in time using the keyboard or an external cv/gate keyboard
3. Enter the notes using the keyboard and TAP the notes in time (rhythm)
A note always contains:
- Pitch
- STEP length: duration of the note until the next note or rest plays
- GATE time: the time the key on the keyboard is pressed (=attack-decay-sustain time)
>
so a note's GATE time can never be longer than its STEP time
Optional properties of a note:
- Accent
- Porta (from previous note)
- an "End of Measure" marker (yes this is a note property)
| NOTE PITCH | "End of Measure" marker |
| STEP length GATE time ACCENT PORTA (from) |
Modes:
- PLAY mode: synthesizer/sequencer play
- EDIT mode: sequencer edit
Sequencer data
After editing, the sequencer will contain something like this:
CHANNEL 1| PITCH | STEP | GATE | ACC | PORTA | Measure | |||
| 3d | 24 | 24 | ||||||
| 2d | 48 | 12 | x | x | ||||
| 3e | 48 | 12 | x | |||||
| 5d# | 24 | 6 | ||||||
| 2d | 48 | 36 | x | End of Measure |
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 |
||||||||
| 2d | 12 | 0 | ||||||
| 3d | 24 | 24 | x | |||||
| 3e | 96 | 48 | x | |||||
| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | |||
| .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | |||
It looks a bit like a rudimentary MOD Tracker.