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Quantum Midi Step Sequencer for IOS Quick Start Guide (27th Jun 2018)

Table of Contents

Quantum Midi Step Sequencer for IOS ....................................................................... 1

Intro ......................................................................................................................... 2

Overview .................................................................................................................. 3

The Quantum approach ........................................................................................... 5

UI Navigation & Controls ......................................................................................... 6

16 General Faders and their controls ................................................................... 6

Selection mode ..................................................................................................... 8

Sub Panels ............................................................................................................ 8

A Sequence ........................................................................................................... 9

Looping in Sequences ........................................................................................... 9

Saving Sequences ................................................................................................. 9

Sequence Parts – splitting a sequence ............................................................... 10

What are Steps? .................................................................................................. 10

Session 1 : Getting started with your first sequence .............................................. 12

Session 2 : More than one tune for more than one synth ....................................... 15

Session 3 : Transposing sequences ........................................................................ 19

1. Linked faders to move them all ................................................................... 19

2. Sequence/Part transposition ....................................................................... 20

3. Transpose of the whole song (so all sequences) .......................................... 21

Session 4 : Value only Sequences ........................................................................... 22

Session 4 : Loop Follow Actions............................................................................. 24

Whats new in V1.6 .................................................................................................. 28

How to switch UI ................................................................................................ 29

How to create midi files ...................................................................................... 29

The new User Key Scales panel .......................................................................... 31

Note In driving steps .......................................................................................... 32

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Intro

AMS Software is proud to present its second IOS universal app Quantum!

Quantum builds on MidiSequencer to effectively give you 6 MidiSequencer apps

in one package but with lots of additional functionality & cross-modulation/sync to

bring you step sequencing features rivaling many hardware step sequences.

Integration with Ableton Link & Audiobus 3 midi, as well as sharing documents via

airplay, Dropbox or email, bring additional functionality and a much improved user

experience.

For quicker setup you can copy steps/sequences or apply updates to selected steps as

well as individual or all.

Great care has also been taken to automate many parameters of the sequences via

midi CC or NRPNs and even support external controllers with automated faders

(like the Yamaha 01v).

Available as a universal app – this software has been designed to run on iphones (4s

upwards) and all ipads from ipad 3 upwards.

As Quantum (just like MS before it) is primarily a midi generator & processor, it

relies on you using this with IOS synths (such as Moog’s Model 15) or your external

hardware synths/DAWS via the cck and a midi USB device.

Hope you enjoy! Please use the in-app buttons on the credit screen to let me know of

any bugs & future enhancements you would like to see, but lots of features are

planned.

Thank you for your purchase – please don’t forget to leave a rating on itunes it helps

indie one-man teams like me continue to support.

This latest version overhauls the UI into a more modern flat design, but you can go

back to that retro feel if you wish.

Tony Saunders

AMS Software © 2018.

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Quantum main screen

Overview

The Quantum app is a 6 track (expandable to 24) 64 step sequencer with

analog style sliders & rotaries with all the features from MS plus a whole lot more.

Step sequencers are unlike DAW type sequencers, in that they have a linear

approach with the focus being a single step– think of this as melody lines rather than

piano roll (as in Gadget or Cubasis) where notes get all sorts of parameters. As such

it requires a different compositional approach in that you visually create single

melodic lines that together play polyphonically rather than see boxes on a grid.

As you can see from the picture above, it allows you to see the flow of the pitch

intervals visually and encourages sight singing - Quantum then allows you to

create or modify these with horizontal swipe gestures, dragging individual faders or

copy/paste using selections.

This visual approach to composition is typical of the baroque/classical music

period where contrapuntal music (literally note against note) created interest from

the interval relationships in lines. Heavy ornamentation also livened up the plain

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melodic lines to add chromaticism (notes outside of a scale). Classical music evolved

the equal temperament scale and Fugal style of playing where melodic lines were

repeated in different voices.

A more modern approach would be something like the Berlin School of the

1970’s era when hardware step sequencers (like Moog’s 960) tuned large banks of

oscillators with control voltages. You could effectively add/subtract or slew voltages

that resulted in different pitch or controls. Techniques developed during this time

emulated renaissance/classical ornamentation – ratchetting was popular (dividing a

note into small repeated divisions over the same time frame) with Tangerine Dream

or Klaus Schulze music for example.

Today there are many hardware midi step sequencers (doepfer MAQ 16/2,

Schrittmacher, Cirklon/P3, Squarp Pyramid, MidiboxSeq, etc) but these are very

expensive, difficult to get hold of and often cryptic to program due to a limited

display, but here you can also see the rows of controls that relate to tracks and the

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controls themselves would relate to a step in that track

The Quantum approach

So how does Quantum approach this counterpoint/fugal/performance to emulate hardware sequencers? Apple IOS includes coreMidi and Midi allows messaging for note pitch & velocity(loudness), as well as messages for continuous controllers (rotaries say on an external hardware controller), aftertouch, pitchbend, etc.

Quantum is therefore a midi processor, primarily a generator (it creates midi note messages say), but it also has comprehensive inputs (for automation or recording) and manipulations (e.g. summing routines to transpose melodies or logic for deciding which steps to play or how to play it).

You route midi messages through independent input & output devices which

can represent a real hardware interface (e.g. USB midi interface connected via cck or another IOS device connected via bluetooth) or any midi enabled app running on that device (e.g. a software synth like the Animoog app).

Unlike most hardware sequencers, Quantum can make use of the excellent

quality touch display of an iphone or ipad. To that purpose, a lot of functionality has been made available up front in the main panel, or within sub-panels that overlay the main one – so everything is only a few taps away.

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UI Navigation & Controls

Most of the time you will work in the main page which displays a set of 16

general-purpose faders vertically aligned left to right in a similar way to channel strips on a mixer. Each of these channels then represent a particular step, which one is defined by the range buttons as sequences can be longer than 16 steps (the lable above the main faders change to show you which range is selected).

A song represents everything in your rack so this represents all sequences and

global controls (e.g. main transport controls or tempo). Most of those controls are at the bottom of the screen.

Below the faders are the individual sequencers arranged as in a rack. As you

can have more sequences than those displayed there a page button to display another page of sequences (3 per page on an ipad, 1 on an iphone).

Additionally, as sequences have a lot of controls there is another button (* at

the bottom right) that toggles between those sequence pages. The main controls, like tempo division, transpose or format are on page 1, additional ones like music scale & follow actions on page 2.

16 General Faders and their controls

As 16 faders can refer to a variety of data values, there is a select button in the middle right of the screen to enable you to select the type of data shown (notes, velocity, etc).

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If you have more than one sequence, the numbered buttons on the LHS select that sequence although touching most sequence controls auto-select that sequence and update the faders automatically too.

Sequences can have a variety of parameters : notes, velocity, gate %, midi channel, midi cc, steptime, swing%,probability%, humanise% and mute status – each of which have their own data values per step. For example notes display music notation (C-2 to G#8 say) whilst velocity shows numbers 0 to 127, although you can alter the displayed scale using limits & that green bar on the RHS.

The display buttons allow you to update the faders to show those settings for

the selected sequence & step range.

Faders can also be coloured : white is normal, Red means selected, Blue means the limit range places this control outside of the grid:

Moving a fader is as simple as touching the control and moving it up or down, but you can enable a draw mode that allows you to swipe the screen and have the controls follow your swipe.

Increment & Decrement buttons are available at the top & bottom of the fader channel to enable you to alter the data by +1 or -1 (although notes may adjust if following a music scale).

Faders coloured blue are considered out of the displayed range. Quantum has adjustable limits that enable you to scale & set the minimum & maximum data values. This allows you to make finer adjustments or focus on a smaller range. You can drag the top/middle/bottom of the green bar to scale or use the Limits button. Limits exist for each display type (notes, velocity etc) Faders can also be linked meaning that moving one (dragging or using the inc/dec buttons) will move all other faders. Again, notes may be adjusted to conform to a music scale.

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Selection mode

A selection mode also exists to enable you to select faders individually or in groups – this selection is then used in certain ways – e.g. Link will only apply to selection not all faders when moving a fader in the selection. Faders in a selection are red.

Sub Panels

Many buttons either open up new panels or present a selection list. If you

press the button (also available in most panels too) the app will allow you to touch the controls to see a pop-up text explaining the function of the control.

Panels, when opened, can often be dismissed by tapping outside the panel area

or when seen by an exit button. Some panels like the transpose panels, allow you to keep them open and still

interact with the main screen behind it. These panels also allow you to drag them vertically by holding the edges or title area and moving up or down.

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A Sequence

Sequences in Q represent the melodic lines. It does not have to be a melody (e.g. it could just be midi ccs) but represents a list of steps that are played forward (or backward) in time. Once all steps are played this melody repeats by performing a loop.

Whilst you can have up to 6 sequences in a song, each sequence can be formatted as into one to four sub-sequences called Parts. These parts contain many elements of a sequence but all refer to the same pool of steps (e.g. parts can overlap and so share steps).

Steps in a sequence are numbered from 1 to 64 but you can define a sequence (or its parts) to use any range within that range (e.g. steps 2 to 4 only in a 16 step sequence). Quantum will hide the faders and controls relating to steps outside of the selected sequence/part start & end range to make it clearer to see the end points – the steps are still there just hidden.

Looping in Sequences

When you play a sequence the loop type defines the general process of step order. I say general because each step can be marked to skip or jump to another step. The default loop type is FWD which represents playing steps start to end then looping back to the start again. The REV loop type is reverse and plays end step through to the start step, looping back to the end step again. Double tap (or touch and drag) the Loop Type label to alter these. There are many more choices, including play & skip type options such as F3B2 which plays a step, jumps forward 3 then plays that step then jumps back 2 steps.

The last step in the loop is important as it defines a loop event. This is a point

when special features like Cycle (for delayed changes) or follow actions (programmable functions such as transpose) are applied.

Saving Sequences

Sequences in Quantum can be saved & loaded in a number of ways :

• As part of the song (save/load/share/open from another app)

• Individually as files (save/load/share/open from another app)

• Copy & paste within the song.

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• Versions which can be save/loaded/edited and can even be programmed to load when a sequence/part loops.

• As a snapshot for actions

• Exported via midi to a standard type 1 midi file (1 tempo track plus one track per sequence) Quite often you will build one melodic sequence and copy then modify it (e.g.

divide the tempo to make it slower) to add interesting polyphony that plays well together especially if you have music scales.

Quantum has a special type of sequence called a Transpose sequence where

only the note value is considered because they transpose other sequences rather

than send midi to output devices.

Sequence Parts – splitting a sequence

It’s possible to format a sequence into a combination of up to 4 variable length parts (A,B,C or D) and an overall sequence length (16,32,48 or 64 steps).

A part is considered a semi-independent sequence which shares some parameters (e.g. key scale) but can be different (tempo division or transpose). Each part can define its own start & end step

Double tap the Fmt label on a sequence to open up a panel that allows you to choose between these settings, although for single part sequences, you can swipe the label to switch between 16,32,48 & 64 quickly.

What are Steps?

As in music notation, a step represents one note on a music stave. As such it

contains all the information needed to perform via midi (note on with velocity

followed by note off) together with many additional data such as timing (step

interval to allow longer/shorter notes), ornamentation (ratcheting which splits the

notes into faster repeating notes in the same time interval), number of repeats,

muted status etc.

A step also contains up to 16 user definable channels of midi cc data

information (7 or 14 bit).

The step is the core foundation of any step sequencer and Quantum has

many parameters you can tweak to add variety whereas hardware step sequencers

typically have only a few. For example you can add randomness to your step notes

in both pitch & velocity, or define a % chance of playing the step or ignoring it, or

even ignore a particular midi fx just for that step(great to create patterns if using

midi echo).

The main parameters of a step which are represented by faders are:

• Midi note – often shown notated (e.g. c#3) it represents pitch, but on

transpose sequence will represent transpose adjustment. Steps can be

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chords(in which case the green button will display [pic of chords

button]), but this represents the main note of that chord.

• Midi velocity – a value 0 to 127 representing volume, with 0 being off

and 127 being maximum. For 0 velocity, no midi note will be sent (as

midi note on velocity = 0 is treated as midi note off).

• Gate% - each step lasts for an interval defined by various tempos, so

gate% is a way of shortening the played (note on/note off time) portion

of that interval. This can be 0% to 400%.

• Midi Channel – midi defines up to 16 channels for many of its messages

to enable you to setup synths to listen on only one channel. Each step

can have its own channel, although you can override this on a sequence.

• Swing% - defines an adjustment to when odd numbered steps are played

to make notes sound less mechanical. There is a setting to enable this to

work on both odd & even steps.

• Probability% - enables you to add randomness to playing. Reducing this

from 100% has a greater chance of not playing the step.

• Humanise% - this applies variation to both note & velocity, both

adjustable. The humanize% parameter is the chance this will happen.

• Mute – steps can be muted to represent rests in music notation. There

are only two states on or off. They mirror the sequence step buttons.

• Midi CC – you can define up to 16 x 14bit midi CCs (which can be

CC,NRPN,PChg etc) per sequence(or as a global setting) and pick the CC.

The B button represents the lower 7 bits when 14bit ccs are used.

Each step also has a special control button to open up an options panel where you

can choose many of the step settings such as repeats or ornamentation or chords.

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Session 1 : Getting started with your first sequence In this session we are going to play a typical IOS synth using coreMidi on the same

device. I’m going to pick Sunrizer (but many other midi enabled synths will operate

in a similar way).

Runup Quantum and pick the “New rack” option. You are then presented with

Quantum’s default main screen with one sequencer defined & selected. Its 16 steps

running from 1 to 16 (you can see this as Start 1 End 16).

At this stage you could run the sequencer, but there won’t be anything at the other

end of the midi pipe to receive the midi, so let us now runup Sunrizer.

The first thing you need to do is enable Audio background, otherwise switching to

Quantum will mute Sunrizer. At this stage, for Sunrizer anyway, the only thing you

need to do is pick a nice patch that is percussive. If the sound is too slow (refer to the

ADSR attack) to play, then throwing notes at it won’t give you much feedback! Use

the keyboard to get something you like.

Press Utils then Midi & then Inputs and you will see Quantum listed in the list and

automatically ticked. Other apps may require you to enable Quantum in the midi in,

but Sunrizer does this automatically. You can dismiss the pop-up.

Switch back to Quantum and look for the song play start button at the bottom

left of the screen. Press this and you will notice the following:

• You should hear regular notes being played by Sunrizer. If not check to make

sure your synth is receiving midi on channel 1.

• The row of 16 leds on the sequence line light up 1..16 then loop around 1..16

again etc.

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• The play button has changed to a Pause button that pulsates

Press the square Stop button and you will see the sequence has

stopped and Sunrizer no longer playing. Floating messages appear to guide you on

your actions.

Stopping does not return the sequence to step 1, so press the stop again to reset the

sequence.

Press the Play again, but this time after a short time, press the Pause button. You

will see the white triangular play button come back , so press it again to resume from

where it paused.

Congratulations, you can now play an external synth and start/stop/resume/reset

the playback, but Quantum can do more!

With the sequence playing, drag your finger sideways over the fader section at the

top of the screen and you will see the fader controls follow your finger. You will also

see those C3 letters change to other music notation values as you have altered the

midi note of the 16 steps. As this sequence is chromatic, all 12 semitones are

represented (with flats shown as sharps).

The height of the fader represents the midi note value with the lowest possible being

C-2 (midi note 0) and the highest G8 (midi note 127). Now drag one of the faders up

and down vertically and you will see you can set its value.

If you want to increment (or decrement) a value, then use the blue buttons

or at the top (or bottom) of the fader strip to adjust the fader position, and

hence the midi note, by 1 semitone.

To switch the drawing mode off, press the hand icon to make it grey . Now you

won’t be able to draw but faders will snap to your finger position.

Now let us adjust all faders together by using the Link button With this enabled,

moving one fader moves them all! As you move them you will notice that they

maintain the shape until they reach the top or bottom of the fader strip – this

represents clamping midi notes between 0 and 127 as midi only supports this range.

With you being able to alter the melody notes, let us now look at controlling the

velocity or loudness of these steps. This does require a synth & patch that responds

to midi velocity – otherwise you will hear no difference!

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Press the Show Velocity button (located center screen), but you can switch back

to notes by pressing . With the Vel button highlighted again draw some values.

If your sequence is playing you will hear lower fader values result in a quieter sound

with the topmost value representing the loudest. You can obviously use this to great

effect on synth patches as velocity may also control other parameters such as filter

cutoff etc.

Let us shorten the sequence by altering the start & end steps – currently they are 1 &

16 resp. With the sequencer playing, touch & hold the number next to the Start lable

on the sequence, then drag this sideways to modify it. You will see the number

change and all faders & leds become hidden. The sequence will now play a much

shorter loop. Drag the start fader back again to 1 & this time drag the End label value

16 to the left. Like the start it shortens the sequence length hiding the faders higher

that the number.

In this way you could set start & end to 1 & 8 to make an 8 step sequence, but you

cannot make start less than 1 or greater than the end, and in the same way you can’t

make the end lower than the start or higher than 16.

So let us make this sequence longer. Hold and drag the Fmt label value (it should

show 16) to the right very slightly, and you will see 16 change to 32. If you accidently

double tap the Fmt button dismiss the panel – this allows you to set other options.

You could continue dragging this to values 48 & 64. It makes no difference to the

sequence playing steps 1 to 8, so hold the End label again and drag to a value higher

than 16.

You will now hear the sequence play your 16 step melody, then a series of C3 (middle

C) notes – the leds have all gone dark. You will notice that a new button has

appeared in the middle left but the one next to it is still lit (yellow text).

These buttons allow you to switch the horizontal step range – so button 1 is steps 1 to

16, button 2 is steps 17-32.

Press the 17-32 button and you will see the C3 notes that were playing. Also, the

numbers at the top of the screen have changed to show 17,18,.. up to 32. Whilst on

this page all step references (faders, buttons etc) relate to 17 onwards.

Congratulations, you can now create a very basic sequence, change its length,

melodic pitches & loudness over those pitches.

Be sure to use the orange Save button at any stage to save your work.

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Session 2 : More than one tune for more than one synth In this session we are going to start introducing an additional sequence to drive

another synths. This could then be applied to create more if you wish.

Quantum is capable of playing up to 6 sequences either all together or in some sort

of logical progression. As each sequence could be split into a max of 4 parts this

could be 24 sequences.

Each sequence can have its own output definition – meaning that you can make a

sequence reference a specific midi channel or device.

Midi channels, of which there are 16, is the simplest way to separate your sequences

as you can define most synths to respond to specific channels. If you see an Omni

mode setting on your synths input this means all channels.

Devices (in coreMidi – Apple’s name for its midi framework) are made up of

endpoints – think of these as named ports on a physical device (like in 1, in 2 etc).

For simpler devices there is just one endpoint per device, it’s more likely to be usb

midi interfaces that have more endpoints.

Virtual devices (as opposed to physical ones) are midi interfaces created by software

– most apps have these and they are generally named like the app. Quantum has

them too – called ‘Quantum’.

In the end, Quantum just presents these endpoints in a list – both input & output.

Runup Quantum & pick the “New Rack” option.

Runup a synth (e.g Sunrizer) & enable background audio. Make sure the synth has

midi channel 1 selected (Utils/Midi/Channel). Don’t worry about inputs – Sunrizer

automatically adds them.

Runup another synth (e.g. Animoog) & also enable background audio

(Setup/Configuration). Let’s use midi channel 2 for this synth (Setup/Midi & set the

IN CH. Value to 2). Tap Quantum in the IN list to enable Animoog to receive midi

from Quantum. Pick a nice patch.

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Note: Animoog is automatically added to Sunrizer’s midi input, so disable it in

Sunrizer.

Switch back to Quantum so that we can now setup some sequences.

Reduce sequence 1 End to 8. Tap the Music stave button (to the right of the

faders) & pick a key (e.g. C Major).

Draw in the notes (make sure you are on the notes display ).

Press the song play button at the bottom left and you will hear Sunrizer playing.

It’s only Sunrizer because by default all steps are sending output on midi channel 1.

Now you could go into the Channel display and move the sliders to play notes on

channel 2 (Animoog), but if you just want to redirect a sequence output to another

midi channel there is another way.

Tap the * button (bottom right) and you will see the sequence display change

slightly. Next to the Scale (which should show C Major), is a Ch 0 label. Double tap

this and pick 2. This Ch setting overrides all step midi channels – so setting this back

to 0 would mean you’re back using step values again). So with this set to 2, press

play again and you will hear Animoog playing.

So now, with multiple synths open & their midi input channels set to a value

matching this Ch setting, you can play different synths easily.

We now want to have a 2nd sequence. There are a few ways to do this, but we have

created a nice tune have we not so surely it needs a similar tune to play along with?

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There are a group of buttons at the bottom of the screen to enable you to

add/copy/paste or delete sequences . As we want to make a copy of

Sequence 1 (now called S1), press the copy button and pick the “Copy Sequence

Seq1” option. This takes a copy of S1 & places it in a buffer.

You should notice now that the paste button is enabled . Tap that and pick the

option “Append as Sequence Seq2”. Now you will see an exact copy of S1 as S2.

Now you have more than one sequence you will notice the larger numbered buttons

on the left ( & ). They go green to indicate a sequence is selected, grey

otherwise. It’s important to know that you need to have a sequence selected to use

controls such as the faders because they related to that selected sequence data.

However, touching many of the sequencer controls also selects that sequence for

you.

We want to now modify the notes (they are also in C Maj) of S2, so modify a few of

them (select the fader & move them up or down) and pick notes that go well with

your original (e.g. pick an E, F or G if you have a C). As you move the fader you will

see the note name change on the sequencer line.

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Let’s now point S2 at Animoog on midi channel 2. With S2 selected(2 button lit )

touch the * button again & modify CH from 0 to 2 – but this time hold & drag the

value to 2 as we don’t need the pop-up. Press the * to switch back to the first

sequence page.

At this stage you might need to change the synth patches you have chosen –

percussive sounds are best whilst you are trying otherwise it can sound muddy!

Press Save – always good to save your sessions often! You can load it again as

quicksave (or rename it).

Congratulations! you can now play multiple synths using different sequences.

But this is just the start, try the following (although each will be covered in later

sessions):

• Modify the Loop label from Fwd to something else to change the direction of

play & therefore the order of the steps. The F+n options give you quick

variations on your sequence by missing out notes.

• Modify the Start &/or End to create unequal sequences. e.g. 8 steps vs 4 steps

will play S2 twice for every S1.

• Modify the tempo of a sequence by tapping the Tempo label . 1/1 means

sequences are played at the ratio of x1 of the song tempo, 2/1 is x2 etc. The D is

dotted (x3/2) & T is triplet (x2/3).

• Stop/Start individual sequences using the sequence play controls ([pic]).

• Transpose a sequence by using the Tr label (Or double tap to bring up an

interactive panel) – you can transpose sequences by +/- 2 octaves.

• Modify the volume of a sequence using the Vol label. This is a multiplier on

midi velocity of every step. Double tapping this label also opens up a mixer

panel.

• And many more settings such as inversion, reflection, midi fx, accents etc –

which I will cover later.

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Session 3 : Transposing sequences In this session we are going to look at 3 ways to take your drawn melodies and

transpose them (e.g. play an octave lower).

Setup Quantum to play a synth (e.g. Sunrizer like in other sessions) so we can hear

the effects of the transpositions. Transposition is a like playing a melody on a piano,

then moving the whole tune to start on another note, so 12 semitones (keys) down is

an octave lower.

Note : Sunrizer has a bug that means it doesn’t play notes around the 5th octave.

Quantum allows transposition in the following ways:

1. Linked faders to move them all

2. Sequence/Part transposition

3. Transpose of the whole song (so all sequences)

and covered in other session

4. Designated ‘value only’ sequence

5. Midi input via (e.g. a keyboard)

6. Loop Actions – Quantum’s programmable tasks to apply when a sequence

loops.

1. Linked faders to move them all

Start Quantum & pick new rack.

With the note display selected the fader vertical position represents midi note

number - 0 at bottom, 127 at top (although limits can be applied to change the lower

& higher number, they are still in the same order).

Draw a melody on the faders. These notes represent a chromatic series of notes

(since no scale has been applied it should remain chromatic) – so semitones will

range from C-2 to G8. Press the Link button to enable it and then move one

slider – you will see all the sliders move & keep the same relative shape (as long as

you don’t hit the top or bottom of the fader range). This shape represents musical

intervals (e.g. G3 following a C3 is a perfect fifth or 7 semitones).

Press play and move the linked faders and you will hear them all being

transposed.

This method could be used, but it is difficult to drag the correct distance and when

music scales apply the notes are modified to conform to the scale (e.g. C Major only

allows C,D,E,F,G,A,B notes so no sharps or flats that you get in a chromatic scale).

So use it more for quickly changing octaves when finding a nice melody or register

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where your synth sounds good (e.g. low notes on a bass patch would have been

created for low octaves).

2. Sequence/Part transposition

Now, rather than move the faders we are now going to use a parameter of the

sequence to enter a shift in semitones by anything from - 24 to +24 which represents

a full 4 octave span.

With your sequence playing, locate the Tr label on the sequence display.

It shows - - for 0 semitones or any value or the transpose in the range -24 to +24.

You can interact with the label in two ways – touch and swipe left (or right) to alter

the value down (or up).

Try this now with the sequence playing. You will see the faders and the note names

remain the same, but the final midi note being sent to your synth is transposed

(which you should be able to hear!).

Now double tap the Tr label and you will see a new panel pop up. This panel has two

sections (left & right). The right section has a list of 49 buttons representing all of

the possible transpose values with the 0 button in central position.

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With the sequence playing, tap the buttons to instantly transpose the sequence (you

will see the Tr label updated if on an ipad). It might take a moment for you to

recognize it if your notes are fairly random.

Note that this panel allows you to interact with the main sequencer controls, the

ones you can still see anyway. This is because it is sometimes useful to keep this

panel open while performing.

3. Transpose of the whole song (so all sequences)

Now we are going to look at transposing all sequences together – collectively called a

song.

Create a new sequence (press new & then press the green 2 button to select

it). Draw some notes.

Now locate the song Transpose label (bottom left). It operates in the same way as the

sequencer Tr label (so you can drag -24 to +24 with – for 0) or double tap.

Play the song and you will notice that this song transpose applies to all sequences.

In the Song Transpose panel there is no LHS set of buttons this time as this is the

highest level of transpose.

Go back to a sequence Tr label & double tap it – this time we will examine the LHS

controls.

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The left part of the panel shows which sequences are involved with modifying this sequences transpose. They are added to the RHS value & the step note to give the final note you can hear. The Song button enables/disables the song transpose from affecting this sequence. The S1 to S6 are used to select other sequence note values to act as modifiers. A X will appear for its own Sequence number (S1 in this case). See next section. The last button will ensure that any transposition input is mapped to a music scale (chromatic being none, C Maj just CDEFGAB etc). This button also affects Link moving to allow you to keep intervals in a music key (which creates chromatic notes).

If you now disable the Song button in the Song Transpose panel for one sequence,

only the other sequence will transpose. This is useful when you don’t want

transposition (e.g. drums or samples mapped to specific keys).

Session 4 : Value only Sequences In this session we are going to look at something that will be further developed but

currently works well for transposing sequences – using sequence notes as input to

another sequence to transpose it. The beauty of this method is that this sequence

does not have to match the other sequence (it can be shorter or longer).

The only values available at the moment is the sequence step note value.

Additionally, this type of sequence cannot be made into parts.

Start the app with a new rack and add another sequence using the new button.

Modify the S2 sequence to be only 4 steps long. We are going to use this sequence to

transpose S1, but if you press play now S2 runs at the same speed as S1. We want it

to transpose S1 after 16 steps have played, so we need to slow down S2 so that each

of its steps plays at exactly the same time as step 1 of S1.

With S2 selected, locate the Tempo label (it shows 1/1) on the sequence (not the

Song one at the bottom), and double tap. In the window select 1/16 (just below 1/1),

then tap outside the panel to close it. You should see S2 Tempo set to 1/16 now.

Before we press play we need to make sure synchronization isn’t enabled, otherwise

it will take control. Press the Setup button, then on the RHS tap the Non-Link

buttons to show None on both Seq 1 & Seq 2 lines. A later session will explain these

in a more detail.

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Ensure both sequences are at step 1 (press song stop button twice to reset), then

press song play button & you will notice S2 plays steps in the correct time – only

when S1 step 1 plays.

Now we have two sequences running at the same speed, we need to alter S2 to be a

Value only sequence and not output midi (i.e. play notes).

With S2 selected, press the * button (bottom right) to switch to its 2nd page. You will

see a green button labelled Global Midi . Press this and in the pop-up pick

“Step Values only (No Midi)”. The button changes to .

You may also notice the note names have changed to numbers, that is because those

notes are now numerical values (i.e. they are going to be added to other sequencer

notes values). Also the panel is coloured blue so you can spot this easier in the rack.

To make S2 transpose Seq 1 we need to do two more things:

• Open up S1 Tr panel and enable S2 button – we do want S2 value output to be

added to Song, S1 transpose & step notes.

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• Open up S2 Tr panel and disable Song button – we don’t want the song

transposing our song transpose in this session, but you should notice

Quantum has done this for you. The sequence Tr label has in-fact changed to

show a * indicating that it is not affected by the song.

With the above changes made, press play! If it sounds confusing, then Reset all of S1

notes to C3 (Press Reset button and pick Reset Notes to C3), this way S1

doesn’t change other than by influence of S2.

Note: If you change the length of S1 you need to ensure that S2 is a common ratio –

e.g. shorten S1 to 8 steps – this time S1 plays twice per S2 step. But if you change to 5

say, the transposing action of S2 won’t match S1 step 1.

Session 4 : Loop Follow Actions Up until now, we have looked at sequences playing steps in loops, but what if we

want to have a more song like approach (e.g. play a melody twice , then play it a

perfect fifth highter?). This is where loop follow actions help and the good news is

they are user programmable.

The important thing to remember here is that the actions are applied only when a

sequence loops – this is when a forward going sequence moves from the end step to

the last, or a reverse loop goes start to end. You can see this indicated by the blue led

flashing on the sequence [pic of blue led]

Other things happen on loops – the current step indicated by a led wraps around to

show the new step and if cycle is activated (red button at bottom of main screen)

delayed changes are applied. However another important task occurs here – loop

actions which are applied per sequence or part.

So what are actions exactly? They fall into 4 groups:

Logic flow & counting:

o Restart Actions

o Loop x more times

o Wait x loops and y steps

Sequence/Part parameter changes (apply to current sequence or part usually):

o Transpose x

o Transpose +/-x

o Tempo Division

o Loop Type

o Start Step

o End Step

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o Mute/UnMute Sequence or Part

o Mute/UnMute Step in current part

o Randomise notes

o Key Change

o Midi Channel override Change

Play actions:

o Stop

o Start Sequence or Part

o Start relative sequence

o Start Random Sequence

o Start Random Sequence other than current

o Start Part in current sequence

o Start relative part in current sequence

Big data change

o Load a version

o Load a relative version

Actions exist in a list to enable you to apply more than once change on a loop (e.g

start & end steps can change together).

But some actions allow you to wait until another loop, or just restart from the

beginning again.

As each part of a sequence can have its own list of actions, you can have a sequence

with multiple parts having all parts interacting – for example you can define your

own logic flow through sequences or parts by using the start & stop actions.

An action exists to also load in a sequence version – this loads in completely new

sequence & parts each with a new list of actions for all parts! This enables you to

reprogram the actions by using versions – they of course operate on a completely

new sequence or part.

So let’s examine a typical set of actions and see how this all fits in with a simple

sequence (no parts).

In this example we want to play 2 loops, transpose by +7 semitones, play another

loop, then adjust back to the original. Play that for a loop then repeat again etc.

The achieve this we need:

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The sequence to be at the starting state to be modified – this means just loaded from

a file or a version. To aid this process there is also snapshots we could use to

save/restore the original point.

With the sequence of steps laid out how you like, go to the 2nd sequencer page (*)

button and double tap the Actions label (it should say no actions). This opens the

Actions Panel

This panel is laid out in three vertical sections:

• Left hand side is a set of actions on buttons. Tap these to select them

• Middle section is the selected action – indicates any user input (eg Transpose

amount in semitones) applicable to this action. At the bottom of this section is

a % chance of apply input – you can make each action have a chance to be

executed or ignored!

• Right hand side is the set of actions in a list – this is your sequence/part list of

actions. The first is at the bottom.

Let us now setup our actions:

Remember we want to play 2 loops, transpose by +7 semitones, play another loop,

then adjust back to the original. Play that for a loop then repeat again etc.

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Now actions are not applied until a loop and that does not happen until all the steps

in that loop have played. This means we get the first loop free in’play 2 loops’. But we

need to add another loop.

Pick ‘Loop x more times’ button from the LHS. In the middle section leave the rotary

as 1. Now tap the > button. You will now see something appear in our RHS list “1

Loop x1”. When this step is actioned (in the first loop) it will no longer carry on

execute higher number steps until the next loop.

On the next loop we want to transpose, so tap the Transpose +/- button and move

the rotary to +7. Tap > and you will see “2 Trans adj 7” just above the other action.

To allow the sequence to play the next loop at +7 semitones we need to now add

another Loop x1. Add this now it should show “3 Loop x1”.

To adjust back to the original transpose we can add another action “4 Trans adj -7”.

Now we need to play this for a loop then repeat the whole process until we manually

stop Quantum playing. If there were more actions & loops we would just add

another Loopx1, but this is the last one, so this time we add “5 Restart Actions” as

this also stops executing any more actions in the list. In fact this will apply step “1

Loop x1” on the next loop.

Your list of actions should now look like this:

• 5 Restart Actions

• 4 Trans adj -7

• 3 Loop x1

• 2 Trans adj 7

• 1 Loop x1

Now before we can try this out, changes in this panel need to be applied first. This is

because Quantum is a performance sequencer – meaning that modifications often

occur during play and as it takes time to set these actions up the apply button allows

you to do this whilst the sequence is playing.

So press Apply button – you will see a message saying Actions Applied. Also press

the Show button – this enables us to see a message of actions as they are applied.

Just before we leave this panel though, press the Save Snapshot button – this save a

copy of the sequence (and all its actions) in a buffer so we can restore it again quickly

– useful if we interrupt a series of actions and need to get back quickly to the initial

state. Pressing this shows the Load snapshot highlighted in case you need to restore.

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So we are ready to try our actions, press exit (or tap outside the panel) to close the

panel.

At this stage it’s a good habit to press the orange save button – that way you

have a quick save handy.

Press * again to go back to the first sequence page. We want to keep an eye on the Tr

label – this should show the action transposes being applied. You might also want to

run up a synth so you can hear the results.

Restart the sequencer (press Stop twice) – this also restarts any action lists on

sequences or parts.

Press the song Play button and you should hear 16 C3 notes, then another 16, them

the Tr changes to +7 and the 16 steps play a G3(whilst showing C3 of course) then

the whole thing repeats (2 more loops then another at +7 etc).

Remember if you stop the sequence whilst in the TR +7, just open up the Actions

panel & load snapshot again.

This example used the fact that TR adj +7 followed by a TR adj -7 returns to TR 0,

but you could just set the transpose to 7 then 0.

Experiment with other actions here:

• Try adding a randomize of notes just after step 2. Do this by selecting

Randomise Notes in the LHS, tap > then using the down button to move the

action into position. Hit Apply & the play the song.

You will notice that your notes are randomized every time that action is

executed. To restart you need to save the initial sequence as a version and have

an action to load that version.

• Add two parts (using Fmt panel) and get the actions of part A to start Part B &

v.v. You will need to stop the part after starting another part & restart to allow

it to repeat. Here you could make use of the action Start Part +1 to allow it to

start the next relative part (so B if on part A or A if on part B).

Note: You can also use the Copy button to grab the list of actions & paste them

onto Part B.

• Create a sequence and create an action list to load version +1 & restart. Save

this as version 1, modify the sequence & save as version 2. Playing this would

play version 1,2,1,2, etc.

Whats new in V1.6 The latest version 1.6 is quite different in looks from 1.4 but all the controls are

basically in the same place.

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This version adds:

• An optional new modern UI – no italics, rounded buttons, shadows, sans serif

fonts and minimalist colouring, etc.

• The ability to create midi files from sequences

• A complete rewrite of music keys to allow custom scales (you specify how

semitones map to other semitones if they are non-scale and you can choose the

enharmonic spelling you prefer)

• Note In Clock – Using midi notes to drive steps

How to switch UI

In the Settings app, the last item is UI Style (Classic ON, Modern OFF). So by default

the modern UI will be picked because I feel most people will want that. Its applied

next time you runup Quantum.

The main UI now features a selection box (red/green/blue) to make it more obvious

which sequence is chosen.

New to v1.6 is that there is a new skip button (next to the mute button) for each step.

This skip functions the same as that in the Step Options panel in that it ignores the

step jumping to the next step immediately. In this way you could temporarily

shorten a sequence.

How to create midi files

Quantum can now create standard type 1 midi files (.mid extension with beat format

for timestamps). There are two versions of this file you can create:

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Song – where all sequences are written as one track per sequence

Sequence – only the currently selected sequence is created in the midi file (so

one track)

Both types include a tempo track, but the sequence file is single track only.

A new files Midi panel has been created to allow you to create, rename, delete or

share these .mid files stored in the documents folder. The three files panels

(Song/Seq/Midi) now are standardized to allow you to navigate between them

easily.

On the midi panel (showb on the right) the buttons are:

• New – create a new song or sequence midi file. A pop-up will appear asking

you which & allowing you to modify the filename before its written – it

defaults to either the song filename or Sequence1 say. It does not refer to the

selected midi file in the list.

• Delete – with a midi filename in the list selected you can remove the midi file

from the documents folder

• Rename – with a selected midi filename, this allows you to enter a new name

for the midi file in the documents folder

• Share – With a selected midi filename in the list, this will open the AirDrop

panel to enable you to share that .mid file with other apps (email, audioshare,

dropbox etc) – any app that can input midi files

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The Song & Sequence panels also have a new Export button – this works like the

New button above but writes all sequences or the selected sequence resp.

So how are sequences turned into midi tracks? They are basically flattened, so an 8

step sequence writes 8 notes. But ornamentation, repeats jumps etc all modify whats

written by adding detail. E.g. A 2 ratchet writes two half-steps instead of the one step

(i.e. two semiquavers instead of quaver) as that’s how they would play.

Parts in a sequence are still represented as one music track, but the range of steps

used (min to max of any part) is written. This isn’t how they are played necessarily,

but then parts can overlap, restart etc independently which is not possible to flatten

out.

As different sequences can tempo divide the song bpm, these are written into the

midi file to allow for the tempo factor (e.g. a 2/1 sequence finishes halfway through

the same length sequence running at 1/1).

Sequences can also have different keys, but midi files offer only a simple count of

sharps or flats to support only Major & Minor keys. As such other keys, including

custom don’t export key signatures.

The new User Key Scales panel

It became clear that there were a lot of keys and maintaining this in code was

difficult, so a simpler way to manage any key (built on the equal temperament

system of semitones) was to allow each semitone of an octave to be mapped.

This mapping consists of two parts:

Enharmonic spelling (Note Name) – this is where notes like B could be spelt as Cb or

Ax, so each semitone has the ability to pick from up to 4 spelling versions.

Adjustment (Adjust) – scale notes would have no adjustment (so blank in this box).

If you swipe or double tap the box you can re map this semitone to any other. E.g In

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C Major the C# note is not a scale note, so you could map this to D (adj = +1) or C

(adj = -1) or indeed any other semitone in the octave. The note name is coloured red

to highlight it being non-scale.

The common scales (Major, Minor, Pentatonic, Wholetone, Chromatic) are mapped

out automatically for you, but changing any of the semitone note names or adj will

make the scale custom. Common scales & Custom scales are the same thing so when

you apply scaling to fader input on notes, or choose a new scale, it applies the Adj to

steps in the sequence & updates the note labels to use the note names.

These custom scale settings are saved & loaded with file saving operations, but it is

not currently possible to save these a separate file.

Note In driving steps

In the Options panel you can now choose to have Quantum being driven only by

midi note on messages – these could come from a midi keyboard attached to your

ios device say, or could be another sequencer app (like MidiSequencer) etc.

Change Master to NoteIn and change the rotary to set the midi note number (60 is

middle C normally). You can if you wish set this to 127 (which shows as Any, so midi

note numbers 0 & 127 are not available) in this case any midi in message (with

velocity >0) could trigger the playing of a new step.

This living document will be regularly updated to add more quick start sessions, but

be sure to check out my youtube channel too

https://www.youtube.com/user/manowargoblin/videos