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5.1 Defining Sequences
Sequences
Example5.1 creates a 2 bar pattern. The Drum, Chord and Bass patterns repeat on every bar; the Drum-1
sequence repeats after 2 bars. Note how the Arpeggio pattern is defined at run-time.1
If there are fewer patterns than S EQ S IZE, the sequence will be filled out to correct size. If the number of
patterns used is greater than S EQ S IZE (see chapter 21) a warning message will be printed and the pattern
list will be truncated.
When defining longer sequences, you can use the “repeat” symbol, a single “/”, to save typing. For
example, the following two lines are equivalent:
Bass Sequence Bass1 Bass1 Bass2 Bass2
Bass Sequence Bass1 / Bass2 /
The special pattern name “-” (no quotes, just a single hyphen), or a single “z” can be used to turn a track
off. For example, if you have set the sequences in example 5.1 and decide to delete the Bass halfway
though the song you could:
Bass Sequence The special sequences, “-” or “z”, are also the equivalent of a rest or “tacet” sequence. For example, in
defining a 4 bar sequence with a 1-5 bass pattern on the first 3 bars and a walking bass on bar 4 you might
do something like:
Bass Sequence Bass4-13 / / z
Walk Sequence z / / Walk4-4
If you already have a sequence defined2 you can repeat or copy the existing pattern by using a single “*”
as the pattern name. This is useful when you are modifying an existing sequence.
For example, assume that we have created a four bar G ROOVE called “Neato”. Now, we want to change
the C HORD pattern to use for an introduction ... but, we really only want to change the fourth bar in the
pattern:
Groove Neato
Chord Sequence * * * {1 2 90}
Defgroove NeatoIntro
When a sequence is created a series of pointers to the existing patterns are created. If you change the
definition of a particular pattern later in your file the new definition will have no effect on your existing
sequences.
Sequences are the workhorse of MmA. With them you can set up many interesting patterns and variations.
This chapter should certainly give more detail and many more examples.
The following commands help manipulate sequences in your creations:
1 If you run MmA with the “-s” option you’ll see pattern names in the format “ 1”. The leading underscore indicates that the
pattern was dynamically created in the sequence.
2 In reality there is always a sequence defined for every track, but it might be a series of “rest” bars.
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