Purpose

Steps is an eight-step modulation sequencer for control signals. It steps through up to eight values at a rate, with playback direction, per-step probability, pattern rotation, swing, and slew between steps. It is a control-signal operator, not audio DSP: use it to step a filter, an effect amount, or any parameter through a repeating pattern.

Use

Dial the step values into Value0 through Value7, set Rate and Steps, and wire the value output into the parameter to modulate. Slew glides between steps, Probability skips steps at random, and Direction changes how the pattern is traversed. Wire a trigger source into trigger to advance on events instead of a clock.

Inputs and outputs

• Input 0: rate — control stream that scales the rate. Optional.
• Input 1: phase — external phase input. Optional.
• Input 2: trigger — advances or restarts on a rising edge. Optional.
• Input 3: gate — gates the sequencer. Optional.
• Output 0: value — the current step value.
• Output 1: phase — position within the pattern.
• Output 2: cycle — running pattern cycle count.
• Output 3: pulse — fires on each step.
• Output 4: active — whether the sequencer is running.

Controls

• Rate — steps per second.
• Swing — shifts alternating step timing, bipolar.
• Slew — glide time between step values.
• Probability — chance each step fires. Below 1 the pattern varies without editing it.
• Steps — pattern length, 1 to 8.
• Direction — forward, backward, ping_pong, random, or brownian.
• Rotation — rotates the pattern’s starting point.
• Seed — repeatable random for probability and the random directions.
• Value0 to Value7 — the step values, -16 to +16.

Notes

• brownian wanders one step at a time; random jumps anywhere. Both are repeatable per Seed.
• The pulse output fires per step and can clock another control op.
• Slew high enough relative to Rate turns a stepped pattern into a continuous morphing shape.

Ports

Inputs

• rate row
  control_f32_v1
• phase row
  control_f32_v1
• trigger row
  control_f32_v1
• gate row
  control_f32_v1

Outputs

• value row
  control_f32_v1
• phase row
  control_f32_v1
• cycle row
  control_f32_v1
• pulse row
  control_f32_v1
• active row
  control_f32_v1

Parameters

Rate (Rate) Float op('steps').par.Rate

Default:

4

Range:

0 to 1000

Swing (Swing) Float op('steps').par.Swing

Default:

0

Range:

-0.95 to 0.95

Slew (Slew) Float op('steps').par.Slew

Default:

0

Range:

0 to 10

Probability (Probability) Float op('steps').par.Probability

Default:

1

Range:

0 to 1

Steps (Steps) Int op('steps').par.Steps

Default:

8

Range:

1 to 8

Direction (Direction) Menu op('steps').par.Direction

Default:

0

Options:

forward, backward, ping_pong, random, brownian

Rotation (Rotation) Int op('steps').par.Rotation

Default:

0

Range:

-64 to 64

Seed (Seed) Int op('steps').par.Seed

Default:

1

Range:

0 to 16777215

Value0 (Value0) Float op('steps').par.Value0

Default:

0

Range:

-16 to 16

Value1 (Value1) Float op('steps').par.Value1

Default:

1

Range:

-16 to 16

Value2 (Value2) Float op('steps').par.Value2

Default:

0.25

Range:

-16 to 16

Value3 (Value3) Float op('steps').par.Value3

Default:

0.75

Range:

-16 to 16

Value4 (Value4) Float op('steps').par.Value4

Default:

0.5

Range:

-16 to 16

Value5 (Value5) Float op('steps').par.Value5

Default:

1

Range:

-16 to 16

Value6 (Value6) Float op('steps').par.Value6

Default:

0

Range:

-16 to 16

Value7 (Value7) Float op('steps').par.Value7

Default:

0.5

Range:

-16 to 16