Future Retro Zillion Owner Manual

futureretro

…a zillion possibilities inside!

WELCOME

Thank you for choosing the Zillion sequencer. This device will provide
you with a lifetime of musical musings and inspiration.

The Zillion is single track algorithmic sequencer based on the principles
of the Triadex Muse. The Muse used counters and a shift register to
generate more than a million musical melodies.

The Zillion expands on these features to add more functionality and
provide a zillion possibilities for you to discover.

Although different from most sequencers you may have used, it is not
difficult to master the infinite range of possibilities.

Please read this manual to gain a better understanding of the operations,
and techniques you can use to generate music with algorithms.

WARRANTY

This product comes with a 1 year warranty. Please register the product
within 30 days of purchase online at: www.future-retro.com/register.html

PRECAUTIONS

Never expose this device to rain, moisture, smoke, dusty, or extreme hot
and cold environments.

Clean the exterior with a soft dry cloth. Do not use abrasive cleaners that
may harm the surface and finish of the unit.

Never use hard or sharp objects on the touch pad, as this may damage
the component. For normal operation, use only the pad of your finger.

POWER

A 9V DC universal power supply is provided, and can be used in any
country by selecting the correct AC outlet pin type for your country.

Never use AC output power supplies to power the Zillion!

Insert the power supply into the wall outlet. Connect the DC output plug
to the power jack located on the back panel of the Zillion.

Slide the power switch to the ON position to turn the unit on. Slide the
power switch to the OFF position to turn the unit off.

MIDI IN

The MIDI IN accepts MIDI clock and note information for syncing
playback to external MIDI devices, programming music scales, and
transposing melodies.
Connect the MIDI OUT of your MIDI controller keyboard, sequencer, or
DAW interface to this input.

MIDI THRU

The MIDI THRU will transmit all data that is received by the MIDI IN.
Connect the MIDI THRU output to the MIDI IN of any device you wish to
receive the same MIDI data the Zillion is receiving.

MIDI OUT

The MIDI OUT sends MIDI clock and note information for syncing and
playing external MIDI devices.
Connect this MIDI OUT to the MIDI IN of the sequencer or sound module
the Zillion will be playing.

CONTROLS AND NAVIGATION

The Zillion provides four soft keys under the display, increment (+) and
decrement (-) keys, and circular touch pad.

Soft Keys

The four soft keys allow you to select functions and variables shown in
the lower half of the display respectively above each key. Pressing one
of these keys will select the function or variable displayed. Holding one of
these keys allows you to make adjustments to the value, and changes
will not take affect until you release the key.

+/- Increment / Decrement Keys

When a function is selected you can use the +/- keys to increment or
decrement the value. Pressing the +/- keys will advance the value in
single steps. Holding down the +/- keys will allow the value to advance
continuously and will increase in speed the longer they are held.

Touch Pad

When one of the four soft keys is held, you may also use the circular
touch pad to increment and decrement the selected function’s value very
quickly. To increment a value, drag your finger across the pad in a clock­wise direction. To decrement a value, drag your finger in the counter
clock-wise direction. Once the value is set, release the soft key for the
value to take affect.

For typical behavior, avoid dragging your finger past the 12 o’clock
position of the pad. If you do drag across this position you will notice the
value will jump in the opposite direction by a value of approximately 50.
Once you are more experience with this technique you can use it to your
advantage to make large value changes quickly.

When a soft key is not being held, touching the pad will select one of the
various modes of operation. Modes are spaced evenly throughout the
range of the circle, and text around the pad help identify where modes
exist. You can touch any portion of the pad to jump directly to that mode,
or you can drag your finger around the pad to see the various modes.

MODES

The Zillion provides 16 modes as listed below.

1. Playback 9. Melody

2. Tempo 10. Rhythm

3. Swing 11. Velocity

4. Direction 12. Theme

5. Loop 13. Shift Register

6. Transpose 14. MIDI Out

7. Scale 15. MIDI In

8. Program 16. Sync

These modes are evenly spaced around the circular touch pad, starting
with mode 1 located in the 1 o’clock position, and increasing as you
move clockwise through the range of the pad.

PLAYBACK

The top line of the display will show the current state of playback, and
the note pitch being generated.

Soft key 1 will stop playback. Pressing the Stop key when manually
stepping through a sequence will cause the counters to reset.

Soft key 2 will start playback. Pressing the Start key while a sequence is
playing will cause playback to start again from the beginning.

Soft key 3 will hold the transmission of MIDI note information being sent
to the MIDI OUT while the sequencer plays. If a MIDI note is playing and
Hold is pressed, the note will continue sounding until the Hold soft key is
pressed again. When Hold is activated, the sequencer algorithm still runs
in the background so that when Hold is deactivated, playback resumes
where it should be.

Soft key 4 allows you to manually step through the sequence. A note will
sound for the duration the Step key is held, and advance the sequencer
each time the Step key is pressed.

TEMPO

The Zillion has an internal tempo range of 25 – 250 BPM.

Each of the four soft keys can be used to select a different value for the
Tempo. This allows you to instantly jump to different tempo values. The
active tempo value will be indicated with a triangle next to the value.

The active tempo value can be adjusted at any time using the +/- keys.

While holding any soft key you can then edit the tempo value using the
+/- keys, or the touch pad. The new tempo will take affect when the soft
key is released.

If the Zillion is set to sync to an external clock, the lower line of the
display will show “Sync To External”. In this case, you can not adjust the
internal tempo, as the tempo will be controlled by an external MIDI
device.

The LED on the front panel will blink at ¼ note intervals to indicate the
current tempo.

SWING

Swing adds a human feel by delaying the start of every other note by a
set percentage.

The Zillion can swing the timing of notes from 50% – 75%.

With a 50% setting notes will play back strictly quantized for a rigid feel.
While a 75% setting will provide the maximum amount of swing.

Each of the four soft keys can be used to select a different value for the
Swing. This allows you to instantly jump to different swing values. The
active swing value will be indicated with a triangle next to the value.

The active swing value can be adjusted at any time using the +/- keys.

While holding any soft key you can then edit the swing value using the
+/- keys, or the touch pad. The new swing value will take affect when the
soft key is released.