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Programming the Roland TB-303
| start | | | Sequencer: | workflow - pattern play - pattern write - track play - track write - quick results | | | Sound | | |
workflow
Some focus points:
- the workflow follows the question: "Do you want to listen to (or create) a track, or one single pattern?"
- a track (=song) is made of patterns.
- look closely at the TB-303 layout: there is a MODE switch (write/play) and there are 3 MODE buttons (pitch, time and normal).
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when writing (=editing) the TB-303, please execute the first 4 steps during STOP state and in NORMAL mode*.
Workflow:
| => 1. | MODE - TRACK/PATTERN switch | to select track (=song) actions, or single pattern actions. |
| => PLAY/WRITE selection of the MODE switch | to select the play state, or the write (=edit) state | |
| => 2. | TRACK/PATT.GROUP switch | to select one of the 7 tracks, or one of the 4 pattern memories |
| => 3. | BAR/PATTERN buttons | to select another bar in the track, or another pattern in memory |
| => 4. | only when in PATTERN WRITE: NORMAL, PITCH, TIME MODE buttons | to select what kind of data to edit for this pattern |
| => 5. | STOP/RUN state | to start, or stop the sequencer |
| => 6. | different button functions and undocumented features | to execute an action |
- "press" means press once and release.
- "hold" means while holding this button down, press another button. like how a shift key functions.
buttons that can double as "hold" buttons are: PITCH MODE, the horizontal row from BAR onto 
and WRITE/NEXT.
- "D.C." => Da Capo is a musical term in Italian, meaning from the beginning.
- "D.S." => Dal Segno is used as a navigation marker, Italian for "from the sign": 
.
* for examples, when you don't:
-
when you are editing the Pitch or Time of the notes in a Pattern, switching to PATTERN PLAY stays in PATTERN WRITE mode. So stop editing and press the NORMAL MODE button first.
- when you are playing a Pattern and you switch to PATTERN WRITE, you cannot start Real Time recording on the fly. Restart the sequencer by pressing the RUN/STOP button twice.
The 152x47 cm scroll I used to sort everything out (see hilites from the scroll).
