Oberheim Cyclone Perf/x User Manual

cyclone

••••••••••••

Pei-i'/x

MIDI Perfonnance Effects

~g""'"

Oberheim..

~f§i,8

732 Kevin Court

Oakland, CA

94621

Conte/lis

(~haptc

1 'Velcolllc 1

Chapter

Quicl{-Start

2.1

Setup 3

2.2 Selecting

Programs

2.3 Playing the Cyclone

2.4

The Factory Prol!.r:lllls 5

Program

- Traditional Arpeggi.lIor 5

Program

OC\;Ive

Tlanspose Arpeggi:llion 5 Program 02 - Two-Nolcs·at-a-Time Arpeggiation 6 Program 03 -

Dunl

Arreggiation 6

Program 04 - Auto-lJoubled Arpeggiation 6 Program 05 - Manually-Doubled Arpeggiation 6 Program

- Inversion Transpose Arpeggi:ttion 6

Plogr:tm

- Chlomalic Recursion Arprgr.iation 6

Program

- Auto Record Arpeggiation 6

Program 09 - Plcssure

Mod

Arpeggiation · 7 Program 10 - Emcrsonic 7 Plogr:lIl1

- Random Notes 7

Progr:un12- One-track Sequence

RecorcVPlayhal'k

Program

- Recorded Rhythm

Arp~ggiation

Program

- Live Rhythm Playback 8

Program

- rylotechnics! 8

2.5 Global Perfonnance Effects 8

TenlJX)

Tap 8 Sustain 8 Tenlpo

~1odulation

Duration Modulation

Chapter

Unpacking

& )Jool{Up

Procedurc

3.1

Unpacking the Cydone

3.2 Rear Panel Connections & Power-On

3.2.1

~1IDI

3.2.2 Ped'lls

3.3 Powering

3.3.1

Local Control

Resetting the Cyclone

Chapter

General

Overview

.15

4.1AnIntroductiontoArpcggialipll

.15

Cloning

Order

Auto·Transpose

4.2 What Makes the

Cyclone.>

I.>ifferent?.

.t7

The

real

clock gener:ltor 17

TIle

reallllelllory hllffrr 17

The reaIclone fu

net

ion

A couple

exalllples

Auto Transpose

Auto-Double

Clmpter

Genenll

OrganizatioIJ

5.1

rront

Panel 01 gani1.aliol1

PROGRAM

Par:llllcte.>rs

V!i. MASTER P;lIalllclcrs

PLAY

r.1ode

vs.

EDIT

Mode 21

PLAY

Mode

EDIT

Modc

5.2

'1\1COlOIY

USER Prograrns

FACTOR Y Progranls 22

Chapter

6 PLAY Mode 25

6.1

Inlroduction 25

6.2 Selector Keys .

- Select-"and "Enable" 25

6.3 PLAY Mode Functions

Clone

Cycle

Manual Control

Rec.ord/Hold

6.4 "Store" and "HoldtonlUle"

Store

Ilold to mute 27

CI13pter 7

EDI'r

l\1ode

EDIT Options

Select

and "Enter" 29

7.1

Pages, Paranlcters & Functions 29

Single Pararneter Pages

~1ultiple

Parameter Pages

7.2 Display Conventions /

ShortcuL~

Values

Notes

Chapter

Sources

Uestinations

8.1

Sources 33

8.2

Destinations

8.3

Zone

Limits

Chapter

Cloning:

Rhythm,

Orders

& l\1ode 35

9.1

\Vhatsina clone 35

9.2

Rhytlll11

9.3 Mode 36

9.4 Order 37

9.5 Cloning

The General Case 37

Chapter

Tempo,

Timing

Cycling

10.1 Tempo 39 Tempo Tap 39

10.2

Tinling

.40

P.n - Pulse Note

d.U - Duration

L.i - Link

10.3 Cycling

E.b - End Beat

.41

S.Y - Sync-to-Trigger

r.S -

Mode

Resel.

- Invert Alternate .42

Chapter

Record

I Hold 45

r.H - RecordlJlold

r..1ode

.45

A.C

- Auto-correct

Step

Size

.45

I) Record Ready

Record

Start.

; .48

3) Record·in·Progress .48

Record

Stop

Chapter

Control

Option

C.t

Manual

Control

. L.n and

B.n

Zone

Lirnits 52

b.n - Base Nole

A.V

- Audible Conllol

P.r - Transposc p/

i'JI

ity

P.3 Local Pedal 3

P.4 Local Pedal 4

E.3 MIDI Pedal 3

E.4 MIDI Pedal 4

Chapter

Auto

Effects

13.1 Auto Xpose

A.\ - Auto-Transpose

t-1ode

S.Y

-Auto-Tnmspose

Sync 56

r.i

- Recursion Intervul 56

Il.t

- Number

Auto-Transpose Stages 56

E.t - Current Edit

Stage 56

i.n - Interval.

r.E - Repeats

13.2

AUIO-Double

n.d -

NUlllberofl)oubles

E.d -

CUlTent

Edit Douhle

- Douhle Interval

C.JI - Channcl

13.1 Auto·t-.1utate (t-.1odulalions)

n.L - Note Loudness/Velocity

t.A

- Tempo

t-.·1ndulation

A/llount 59 t.C - Tempo Modulation Controller Numher 59 d.A - Duralion Modulalion Amounl. 59

d.C - Duration

r-.1oclulalion

Controller 60

(~hapter

I)EVALS

61 redall:unction Listing 62 Para/neter Edit Exanlplc

rrogram Chain ()pcr:llioll

Chapter

I\tASTEn

Parmncters

& Functions 65

]

5.1

"t-tIDI " 65

b.C -

Basic Chanllel

E.C -

1\1101

E<:ho

C.L -

f\.11DI

Clock 67

E.l,

E.2, E.3 and

--- MIDI Pedal Conuollers

15.3 "Dunlp/Load " 68

Chapter

Reference

Vata

16.1

Factory Default PlUgrallls & Master Parameters 69

]6.2 Global Parallleters 69

16.3

Editable P:lramelcrsinFactory Programs 70

16.4

F,.ont

Panel

1\1nel1l0nics

Chapter

"'a.'ranty

Chapter 1

Welcome

Congratulations on your purchaseofthe Cyclone, the newestofOberheim's

MIDI

Performance instrument line, Perf/x, The Perf/x line was created with the intention

supplying the

modem

musician with time and labor-saving devices that simplify the

ever increasing complexityoftoday's music systems, while also providing all-new performance and programming controls that allow your creativity to Oourish in areas you might

never

even have thought about.

The Cyclone integrates the concepts

cuveggiation, sequencing, and MIDI rhythm

driving all

one package.Itcombines traditional arpeggiation and sequencing capabilities

with entirely

new

performance techniques, programmability, and synchronization.

One

innovation is the ability to provide

independence

rh~'thm

and

pitch,

andtoprovide

interactive controlofboth from the keyboard. Its 16 ROM and 16 (expandable to 83)

RAM

Programs allow you to pre-program pitch and rhythm events that will play simultaneously

independently, dual keyboard ranges, doublings, transpositions, tempi,

MIDI

assignments and many

other

parameters.

The

arpeggiation section is without precedent, allowing for not one, but

two

independent

keyboard

ranges as well as recorded information. There are eight transposition stages

per

Program, each stage having it's

own

numberofrepeals, inversions,orprogrmllmable

recursions. ]n addition to steady pulses you can program your aJveggiation rhythm.

Instead

single nole lines the arpeggios can

now

consistofchords as well.

The possibilities for live performance arc endless as all parameters can be altered "on-the-Oy", making the Cyclone the creative improvisor's

dream

come

true.

Add to these the ability to use your Cyclone as a master

I\HDI clock, fully capableoflive

"human feel" tempo changes using the

Tap

Tempo

pedal.

That'sjust

oneofthe 9

modes

your 8 independently programmable pedals

cu'e

capable of.

This manual provides both an introductory tutorial and a complete reference to the information for

use

once

you are familiar with the overall operationofthe Cyclone.

We hope that you enjoy this extraordinary instrument and recommend (as always) that you read this manual in it's entirety.

Thank you for your investment in the State

the Art.Itjust

got

better.

Welcome

Page

Chapter 2

Liftoff!

...

Quick-Start

Guide

the

Cye/one

This section explains how to getupand

running (without gelling into serious programming

or editing),bytaking advantageofthe

Factory Programs shipped with the Cyclone. Each Factory Program behavesina different way, which provides the ability to try out manyofthe

Performance Effects available with

the

C)'Cloncina short time.

2.1

SETUP

Before

JOlJ

turn

iJnyJhillC

011,

the

following -

Master Controller

Channel 1

MIDI

our

MIIJI

MIDI

MIDI MIDI

OUT

THRU

«~rc~©~8.l

Slave

Channel 1

CR.

Master Controller

Channel 1, Local

CII

OFF

MIDI MIDI OUT

MIIJI MIIJI

CUT

C)f

Q!il

t11

Connect

the

MIDI Out from your Master controller to

the

MIDIInof

the Cyclone. The Mastercontroller can be a MIDI keyboard, a MIDI guitar controller, a sequencer, a computerwith sequencing software, a drum machine or

any

other sourceofMIDI information.

Connect MIDI Out from

the

C)'clonetoMIDIInof

the slave instrument you

want to control and set the slave's Basic Channelto1.

Ifyou want to use a synth

both

your master and slave, make sure MIDI Local ControlisOFF on the

synth. When you turn on the CJclone, it

will

automatically tell the slavetoenter

this mode.

you

have problems when

you

me arpeggiating

the

voicesinyour master controller

or when plilying the keyboardsofslave units, see the section on Locnl

Control

chapter

Quick

Start

Page 3

you have oneormore "momentary" (spring-loaded ON/OFF) footswitches,

plug them into the Cyclone's rear panel Pedal jacks according to the desired

functions:

• Pedal 2 acts as a Program Chain advance, automatically selecting the next Program.

• Pedal 3 turns starts and stops arpeggiation when in Play Mode.

• Pedal 4 provides a "Tempo Tap" ability.

• The Pedal 1jack

used as an audio out jack, providing a metronome click out

under certain conditions.

4) Turn on your Master controller and set its MIDI Dasic Channel to

5) With the switch on the

€yc!one's

rear panclinits down (off) position, plug the

provided power pack into

AC outlet and connect it to

t1le

power jack on the

rear panel.

Tum

the C)'c1oneonby flipping the switch to its up position.

• The section describing the factory presets assumes that a Hard Reset has been performed, otherwise the

Cyclone

may not

perfonn

as described. A "Hard

Reset"

erases allofthe memory, including userprograms

and

Master settings

and initializes the C)'c!one to the condition in which it is shipped from the factory.

perform a "Hard Reset" hold the switch on

t1le

front panelofthe

C)'c1one labelled "Enablc" while turning on power.

7) On the Slave(s), select sound patches with a short attack and a medium release, such as an organ, piano,

plucked guitar.

2.2

SELECTING

PROGRAMS

• Press the "Mode" key so that the "Play" LED is flashing. This

LED

is now

flashing on quarter-notes at the current tempo.

• Use the "<" and ">" keys to select a program. Programs

through15are the Factory Programs, while higher numbers are the User Programs. After selecting the program, press "Enable" to activate the program.

• Pressing the "Enable" key while in PLAY Mode causes the display to

show"

••"

and effectively disables the

C)'clone. At this point, the unit simply passes

MIDI

data as MIDI Thru.

re-enable the Cyclone, simply press

"Enable"

again.

2.3

PLAYING THE CYCLONE

The

Cyclone

provides many different kindsofPerformance Effects, someofwhich may be familiar and others will be new. Some effects are generally always available, while most are dependent on which Program has been selected. There is always

one

and only one Program in effect.

at any time you want to mute all the sounding voices, just press and hold the far right

switch (labelled "hold to mute") and the

Cyclone

will automatically shut

off

every

Page 4

Cyclone Owner's Manual

sounding voice

ill

the system. When the voices have been muted, press "Mode" to

return to "Play" mode.

2.4

THE

FACTORY

PROGRAMS

Program 00 -

In\uitional

6u'l..~ggiator

Clnssic

Arpcggialion

This

isitbasic arpeggio, without any frills:

lkld

notes are played repetitively

an cighth-note pulse rhythm in up/down note order, one at a time. This

is also a good stiu"ling place to demonstrate someofthe other featuresofthe Cyclone.

• Play and hold (using the Sustain pedalifdesired) any numberofnotes.

•

Tap

Pedal 4inqUilrter-notes to set the Tempo.

•

change the oruerinwhich the held notes are played:

Press the "Mode" switch to enter "Edit Mode"

Press the "Clone" switch until the

LED

to the leftof"Order" is lit.

c) Use the

"<"

and

">"

keys to select other orders and press the "Enter"

switch.

Press the "t\1odc" switch to return to "Play Mode".

ChordIlIold

• Turn

off

the "Clone" functionbypressing the associated switch.

•

Press the "Record/llold" switch causing the associated LED to flash.

• Any notes you now play will be latched. fie wamed that although the chord

is still held in the Cyclone's memory, with some patches the

sound may fade away.

•

Press the "Manual Control" switch, causing both its

LED

and the

"Record/IIold"

LEDtocome

on steady.

• Play notes in the lower octave

the keyboard. This will cause the

Cyclone

to gate and transpose the held chord accordingly.

Arpeggiating,

Gating

and

Transposing

a Held

Chord

• From Chord Hold mode, press the "Clone" switch, causing both its LED

to come on and the "Record/llold"

LED

to extinguish ("Manual

Control" will still

lit).

• Play notes

the lower octaveofthe keyboard, to simultaneously gate,

arpeggiate, and transpose the held chord.

• Also play notcs above the lowest

octllve to simultaneously mveggiate the

keyboard

and

the "Record Duffer" - the notes held in the

CJclone's

memory.

Program01- Octave Transpose Au'eggiation Same

as Program 00, but with automatic transpositionhyoctaves ("untransposed/I

octave up/untransposedlJ octave down") at the end

each "scan"orpass through the

held notes.

Also, the orderofeach scan is the same as the order played. insteadofjust

strictly up and down.

Quick

Start

Page 5

Program 02 -

TWQ-NQtes-at-a-Time

Arpe&l:iation

SameasPrQgram

00, but playing

tlVO

nQtes

at a time insteadofjust

Qne,

andinthe

Qrder

played.

Program 03 - Dual

AQ)eggiation

SameasProgram 00, but with

tWQ

keybQard

"Zones" active, providing two

il/dependel/t

arpeggiatiol/s at once. The

two

Zones split

the

keybQardatMiddle

Also,

t11e

Qrderofthe

arpeggiatiQnist11e

Qrderinwhich the

nQtes

were played.

• Play

QneQrtWQ

notes below Middle C, and a related

chQrd

abQve

middle

Note that

the

two arneggiatiQns can pulse "Qut-of-phase".

Program 04 - Auto-Doubled

ArpeggiatiQn

SameasProgram 01, but with cach held note automatically doubled atanoctave below

and a

fifth

above when

thc

Clone LEDislit.

Program

- ManuaJly-Doub1cd Arpeggiation

SameasProgram 01, except

the

functiQn

initiatedbythe "Manual Control" switch

allows real-time definition

doublestobe

used with

the

arpeggiation.

• Playa chord

the

high

cndQfthe

keyboard

and

play low CQnthe keyboard.

You will hear

the

chord arpeggiated. If

you

play

anot11er

note

t11e

bottom

octave,

YQU

will hear anothcr copyQfyour pattern playingatthe same time that

transpQsed from

the

Qriginal.

Program 06

-Inversion

Transpose Arpeggiatjon

SameasProgram 01, but

with

automatic transpositionbyinversions (like you would

invert a C chord:

CIEIG,E/G/C,G/C/E,etc.) at the beginning

each scanofthe held

notes. Three inversiQns occur at each octave, after playing once without inversion. Program 07 - Chromatic Recursion

Arpeggiatjon

SameasPrQgram

01, but with chrQmatic (half-step)

transpQsitiQns

at the beginning

each scanofthe held notes. The original plus

tlu'ee

chrQmatic

transpositions are played

at each octave. Program 08 - Auto Record

Arpcggiation

SameasProgram 01, except the Cyclune automatically replaces the previQus

contents

t11e

Record Duffer when new

nQtes

are played - and just playing back

when

keys are held.

• With

the

"ClQne"

LED lit,

playa

chQrd

and release

it.

The Cyclone will

continue to arpeggiate that chord.

Page 6

Cyclone Owner's Manual

Program09- Pressure Mod

"rpcggiation

Same

as Program 00, but with tempo and duration controlled by keyboard pressure.

• Play and hold chords/notes, and while holding those notes, use keyboard pressure to simultaneously control the tempo and duration

the resulting

notes.

Proglam

to -

Emersonic

SameasProgH\1lJ

02, but with an 8-stage automatic transposition through intervals

bascd on a

"V,

VII, IV, VII,

octave

V, I, IV, VII" progression.

• Use keyboard pressure to vary betwecn staccato and legato.

•

Works very well

withh

sampled piano.

Program I I -

Random

Notes

Same

as Program

00,

except that the order,

numberofheld-notes-at-a-time, and pulse

timingofthe arpeggiation are random. Program

J2 - One-track Sequence Record/Playback

This program starts playing the contents

memory as soon as it is selected to

dcmonstrate lhal just

selecling the program is

a1litlakcs to start playing; you don't

need to manually tum cloning on.

Recording up to 32 notes:

• Connect the Pedal

jack

to oneofthe audio inputs on

your

mixer for a

meU'onome click.

• Press the "Record/I lold" switch, causing its

LED

to flash at the current

tempo.

• Press the "Clone" switch, causing its

LED

to light.Ifhooked up, the

metronome should now be audible.

Use

Tempo

Tap

to adjust

tempo

desired.

•

The

Cyclone

will start recording

when

you start playing, automatically

placing the first note

the first beat, and quantizing note-ons to the

nearest 16th note.

• Press "Clone" to stop recording,

"Record/Hold" to

stop

and

automatically begin playback.

• By starting recording,

resuming Recording, the

C)'clone

erases

any

previous recording,soadditional takes can be started immediately.

2) Playing back a previously recorded sequence:

• With the

"Record/llold"

LED

turned off, press the "Clone" switch.

•

Use

the "Cyclc" switch to control

whcther

the

CJ'clone

loops the

recording

plays it only once.

• Duration Modulation has

effect.

•

hear the Factory

Demo

sequence. first select (User) Program16to

redefine the Record Buffer

(if

any prior Recording/Holding has been

happened since

lIard

Reset).

Quick

Start

Page 7

Program]3- Rccordcd Rhythm Arpeggiation Same as Program 00, except that this Program:

1) uses a previously recorded rhythm instead

a pulse

2) uses the recorded note-groupings to determine arpeggiated note-groupings

3) the order is as played.

• Use Program 12 to record a sequence with the desired rhythm pattern into the

Record Buffer. Then resclect Program

to use that rhythm pattern.

Program

- Live Rhythm Playback

The inverse

Program 13, i.e. this program plays a previously recorded sequence

notes with a rhythm which is played Jive on the keyboard.

• Use Program

to record the desired patternofnotes and chords into the

Record Buffer.

• With the "Clone"

LED

lit, play notesinthe bollom octaveinthe desired rhythm

pattern, and the

CJclonc

will step thru the recorded notes and chords

accordingly.

Program

- Pyrotechnics!

This program demonstrates what happens when you really start to use someofthe Cyclone's more interesting features. This program is actually the same as program 03, with only three parameters changed.

• After selecting

this program, press and hold the "Record/hold" button, then press the "Store" button. This erases the current recording and prepares for recording.

• The tempo is automatically changed so it always takes the same amount

time

to get through the pattem,

matter how many notes you play.

• Play and release chords. Each time you

playa

new chord it replaces the

one

in memory.

• When you get a pattcrn you like in memory, press the "Record/hold" button to disable recording. Whatever is in memory will continue

play.

•

Now

play more chords.

The

keyboard is split at middle C, so you can get two

more independent patterns going over what is playing from

memory.

•

change the memory pattern, press "Rec/hold" to start recording, put in a

new

chord, then press "Rec/hold" again to play over the memory pattern.

2.5

GLOBAL PERFORMANCE EFFECTS

Tempo

Tap

When the "Clone"

LED

is lit, simply tap at least 3 quaJ1er·notes on Pedal 4 at the

desired tempo and the

CJclone

will follow along. .

Sustain The

sustain pedal functionofthe Master controller "holds" any played keys until it is

released. .

Tempo

Modulation

Page 8

Cyclone

Owner's

Manual

When the "Clone"

LED

is lit. the pitch bend lever on your controller controls

tJle tempo. At center position, the tempo is normal. When you bend down,itslows down.

Durntion I\lodulaCion

The mod wheel/leverofthe controller keyboard provides the ability to modify the

relative lengthoftime which noles sound, generally causing a more staccato feel with increasing mod wheel position. This is also called "Gate Time" on other instruments.

These

factory presets are designec110 give you

justanavor

for what the C)'clone is

capable of. They also make good starting points for your own experiments, As you can sec, this is a very nexible box: There are many features which are not even hinted at by these examples.

encourage

)'CLlll

to read on and find out exactly why we say this is the

world's most powerful performance arpeggiator!

Quick

Start

Page 9

Chapter 3

Unpacking

and

Hookup

Procedure

3.1

UNPACKING

THE

CYCLONE

The

CJdonc

~hipped

from Oherheim boxed in protective

foam.

With it is this

Owner's Manual and a

power

pack.

( )nce you have unpacked the

CJdOIlC, place it on any solid

~urface

near

your

MIDI setup.

Bdore

JOU

tunt

fl1lylhim:

on,

refer to the following procedure for

connecting

the unit.

3.2

REAR

PANEL

CONNECTIONS

POWER-ON

3.2.II\IIDI

1) Connect the MIDI Out

fwm

your Master controller to the MIDIInof

the

Cyclone.

The

Master

controller can be a MIDI keyboard, a MIDI Controller

("mother") keyboard, any MIDI synthesizer or sampler that has a keyboard,

any other sourceofMIDI notes.

Connect MIDI

Out

from the C)'clonc to MIDIInof

your

fir~t

Slave instrument.

The first Slave can be another MIDI keyboard, a keyboard synthesizer

sampler,

MIDI voice module (rack-mountortable-top)orthe

~]aster

controller keyboard itself.

a second Slave instrulllcntisavailable, conncct the MIDI Thruofthe first Slave to the

MIDI

Inofthe second.

3.2.2

Pedals

The

back panelofthe C)'clOIlC also includes four 1/4"

jacks

which accept any

"discrete" pedal (also known as

a "footswitch"). A discrete pedal is a momentary

(spring-loaded

ON/OFF) footswitch type.

sure not to use a "continuous" (rocker

type) footpedal.

you plan to use any pedals with the C)'clone, simply

plug

them into

the desired inputs. There are two kinds

discrete pedals available. The

C)'done

can use

either

kind by

automatically deciding which kind is in use

when

poweristurned on.

make

sure

that the kind

pedal is correctly determined, plug in the pedals before turning on

powcr

and

lIot

press

the

pedals

while

power

being

turned

011.

Unpacking

Hookup

Page

3.3

POWERING UP

For starters ....

Tum

on your Master controller and set its MIDI Basic Channel.

Turn on the first Slave,

and set its Basic Channel. If you're using a second Slave, tum

on and set its Basic Channel as well.

Then

power

on the

CJclonc

....

Connect the provided Power Pack (Oberheim Part Number 400006 for 120V, 400007 for

220/240V) to the connector on the back

the C)'c1one and plug the pack into an

AC outlet.

Tum

the power on

lifting the power switch on the left rear panel.

The

cUlTent

software revision number will be brieOy displayed, the the C)'CIone will

enter

Play Mode and willbein the same program as when it was turned off.

3.3.1 Local

Contrul

When the

Cycloneisfirst powered on, it sends a MIDI Local Control

Off

command

the Basic Channel (the C)'c1une is shipped from Oberheim set to MIDI Basic

Channell).

This allows you to use the Cyclone to arpeggiate the same keyboard you

are using as a Master.

Cwdon~

Oul

I Internal Voices

~·Olf

Local Control

Keyboard

Under normal conditions, synths operate in "Local control ON" mode. This means that what you play on the keyboard

goes to the voices andissent to MIDI Out. The voices

can also be controlled from MIDI In.

you connect a synth in Local Control On mode

to a Cyclone, when you

playa

note on the synths keyboard its will first play

one

the synth's internal voices then

will be sent to the Cyclone via MIDI Out. After the

Cyclone

processes the note, it may senditback, causing another voice to play.

Sometimes this

good, but itisusually not. By putting the Synth in Local Control

Orf

mode, all the notesgoto the

Cyclone

before they are sent to the voices.

cases where thisisnot desirable, holding the switch on the front panelofthe

Cyclone

labelled "Manual Control" while powering on sends a MIDI Local Control

command on the Basic Channel.

Page

Cyclone

Owner's

Manual

Some synlhs, notably the DX-7,donot support the Local Control OFF function,

when those instruments are used as the master, it may be better not to try to arpeggiate

the built-in voices. You will pruhably want to use a separate master and slave since the

"doubling" problem described above only happens when the master and slave are the

same unit.

RescUing the

CJclolle

The

C)'c1one can be initialized to the condition it left the factory by performing the

"Hard Reset" function. This

accomplished by holding the Enter/Enable buttononthe

front panel while tuming on

IXW.'cr.

But be careful: the Hard Reset initializes the C)'c1one to the default factory settings. This erases all programmed data and replaces them with the Factory settings.

Unpacking

Hookup

Page 13

Chapter 4

General

Overview

4.1

INTRODUCTION

ARPEGGIATION

Clock

Typical

Arpeggiator

Cion"

Transpose

Tpmpo

Order

CUIT

(Which

f-+

Time

Current.

nOles)

Sian?

Pulse ISlan

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The

Cyclone

is a high perfonnance, real-time, programmable, perfonnance-oriented arpeggiator. That sounds neat, but what does it doexactly? The answer to that question occupies the remainder

this manual. In other words, thereislot goingonin this box!

We will

try to make things easier

developing an understandingofwhat is going on by

starting all the way from scratch.

The meaning

"arpeggio"inits most basic senseis"The playingofthe tonesofa chord

rapid succession rather than simultaneously." Thisisexactly whatisperformed by a typical electronic arpeggiator: You play the chord from your keyboard and the arpeggiator will play the tones one after

the other as rapidly as you like and

will

continue to repeat the tones as long as you hold the chord. There aren't usually too many things to control. The main ones are:

•

TEMPO

- How fast the notes should be played

• ORDER

- When playing the notes, in which order should they be played? Typical

options include:

Stan

with the lowest pitch followedbyhigher and higher

pitches, start with the highest pitch and

down,orgo up then down. l\'Jany

nrpeggiators can also play the tones

the order that you played the keys in the

chord (or backward

forward then backward, etc.).

Unpacking

Hookup

Page

• TRANSPOSE - Someofthe better arpeggiators will play the pattern, then transpose it by an amount you specify, then play the pattern again and transpose it and

on.

• SOURCE - While much

the time you will hold notes to be arpeggiated on the

keyboard, sometimes you will want to play some pattern without actually holding

the keys. Some units will let you hold a set

notes to be arpeggiated in their

"memory". You then need to select the "source" for the arpeggiator:

you want

to arpeggiate what you are playing from the keyboard

whatisbeing held in the

memory?

Cloning Beyond that, not too much is standard. The picture above shows what this basic structure looks like. There

a clock generator (a metronomeofsorts) which allows you to control

the rate at which the notes are played. This drives a function which we call

Clone

which

makes copies

the notes you play and alters them by parameters such as the mode, order,

and rhythm.

What

does the clone function do? Let's start out with what happens in a

simple arpeggiator. The figure above shows the two main parts

simple cloning:

Deciding when to play the next note, and deciding what pitch it should be.

The

clonc

function keeps trackofwhen the next note should play and for how long it

should play. For example

you wanled to have new notesbegenerated on quarter notes,

the

clone function would

waiting for the clock to reach the first beat, then the second

beat, then the third beat and so on, just like a sequencer would. When the clock reaches the next "Start" time ,clone creates a "gate". That is, clone says

"We

should start playing a

note now and it should

last for an eighth note."

Ordcr

Note that the previous sentence did not say what pitch should be played, it only said that

something should be played and that it should last for a certain length

time.

The

order

function looks at the sources that are active (memory, the keyboard,orboth) and picks which pilch to play for each gate. Which one

picked depends on whether you want play

back the notes from lowest to highest, highest to lowest, random,

whatever.

Auto-

Transpose After the clone function generates new notes, they canbetransposed automatically by the Auto- Transpose function. Remember, clone generates a patternofnotes based on what you play and what is in memory. Auto-Transpose changes the pattern into a new key after

each time the pattern is played. That

about all that most arpeggialors do. In the Cyclone there are a lotsofother things

going on as well. We'll get to most

those later in the manuaL There are a few other

relevant things that are important

understanding how the CyClone works.

Page

Cyclone

Owner's

Manual

4.2

WHAT

MAKES

THE

CYCLONE

DIFFERENT?

Clock

Cyclone

Clone

Order

fT...-'..,~.

UDoo.-.~

TrlInspose

E.lernal

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Reco'de

Timing Recorded Grouo.

run

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live

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necord

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nAco,"ed

SIM

10'213 16

2'-,1Q~

Doubles

Ga,os

Dura"on.

2 8 , 4 4 6

f-+

Transposocll

rI1r.h~~

Pilch

A C

o n

Doubleo

Ilole.

Oul

As the above picture indicates, there are quite a few things going on in the Cyclone which go

beyond a typical arpeggiator. Don't worry - everything you, seeisdescribed

completely in later chapters. This

just a chance to see where we are going to end up.

If you aren't comfortable with arpeggiators yet, or would just like to start playing with the box,

you can skil) the restofthis

chapter,

and

ahead to

chapter

5. You may

also want to come back to this section after you have gone through a few

the parameters

to get a "big picture"

how it all fits together.

The

real clock

generator

Let's start at the left sideofthe picture. The first thing to seeisthat the clock generator has a couple

new options. The internal clockisstill there and the

Tempo

control still

controls how fast it is going, but you can choose one

two other sources for the clock:

External clock like that generated by some drum machines, and MIDI clock for syncing the

Cyclone to sequencers. The

real

memory

buffer

Next we move into the memory buffer. Above we said that the memory buffer memorizes what keys are held so you can arpeggiate without actually holding the keys. \Vell. in the

Cyclone the memory buffer holds not only what notes you played, but it also the order in

which you played them, when you played them, how hard you played them and how long you held them.

that sounds like what a sequencer does, you're right. And the Cyclone

candomany things that a sequencer can.

~ut

look at the memory buffer again. Although

there

I Start

Time

and duration togowith every note, the rhythms are handled

independantly from the pitches. This one simple fact makes the

C)'clone very different

from a sequencer.

The

real

clone function

The most obvious change isinthe clone function. Although basically the same things are still happening here, there are a few extra things to see. And

course, thisiswhere things

start to gel complicated. First

that the current timeisstill updated by the clock, but now

there are two different rhythm sources. The Pulse Rhythm source provides nice evenly

Unpacking

Hookup

Page 17

spaced gates with fixed durations, while the Rhythm partofthe Record Buffer uses the

rhythm you have recorded, including chords and rests. In either case,

clone

generates

gates based on these rhythms. These gates still don't have pitches, they

just

indicate that something should happen and for how long. Another way to indicate when something should be played and for how long is to use the keyboard. A range

notes can be set up

on the keyboard from which you can play the rhythm live.The

rhythm

function decides

which source to

use for these gates: The Pulse Rhythm source, the Record Buffer,orthe

Live Gates.

The next step

the mode. This basically decides how many notes should be played for

each gate coming from the

rh),thm

function. In a traditional arpeggiator,

mode

simply

says play one note for each gate coming from

rhythm.

That is what happens when you

are playing

traditional arpeggiator modeorin

sequencer mode. When you choose other

combinations

rhythm

and

l11o.de

settings,

mode

can either play more than one note

per incoming gate,

it can ignore someofthe incoming gatesiftoo many start at the same

time. We'll get into more detail about this later in the manual when

modeisdiscussed.

The last step

the clone function is to take the gates from

mode

and give them pitches.

This is what the

order

function does. The pitches can come from either what is currently

being held on the keyboard or from what

storedinmemory.

Order

simply picks the

next pitch to give to each gate.

couple

examples To see how these functions relate to things we are familiar with consider these two examples:

When

rh)'thm

is set to the Pulse Rhythm generator,

mode

is set to exactly

one

note

per gate and

order

is set to UP, the resultisa very basic arpeggio where the notes play

steadily, one at a time, starting with the lowest pitch and continuing up. When

rhythmisset to Recorded Rhythm,

modeisset to one note for each gate (also

known as the "recorded" mode), and

order

is set to use the pitches from the memory

buffer in the order in which they were recorded, the result sounds like a sequencer. When the clock comes to each recorded note's start time, a gate is generated. Since one note

played for each gate, the corresponding pitch from the record bufferisplayed

for the duration

the gate. In short, for every note you recorded,

one

note comes

out

at the right time, with the same pitch and lasts for the same lengthoftime.

Auto

Transpose The auto-transpose function now processes the notes coming from clone according to the transpose list. The main difference from a typical arpeggiator here

that you can set how

many times the

C)'clone should playineach key. It will then play the pattern that number

timesinthe given key before going to the next transposition.Inaddition, there are two

new ways

doing auto-transpositions: Recursion and inversion. Recursion means that at

the end

a pattern the key is changed by an assigned numberofsemitones, the pattern is

played again, the key

changed by

tire

same numberofsem;tones , the pattern is played

yet again, and this keeps going for some·number

times

....

Inversions keep the pattern goingbyputting the lowest note on top (or vice versa) and playing the pattern again.

Auto-Double

The last step before sending the noles out is to add extra copiesofeach note transposed

fixed amounts from the original. A common useofthisisto double each note in the

Page 18

Cyclone

Owner's

Manual

(Irpeggio at

onc

octave below the original note. Since the C)'c1onc

can

supportupto

eight

simultaneous doubles, each note from the arpeggio could result in 8n

eight

note chord being

played.

hope that this has given you

some

insight into the overall layoutofthe

C)'clone.

We've

just

scratchcd the surface, but when you understand these last few pages it will

easier to grasp how all the parameters fit together and to see how to use them.

Unpacking &

Hookup

Page 19

Chapter 5

General

Organization

Order Timing...

Auto

Control

P.d

1&2

••.

Doubl....

Options

...

5.1

FRONT

PANEL

ORGANIZATION

PHOGHAJ\J Pnrulllelers

\'S.

J\JASTEH Parfllllelers

The PROGRAM section includes all the parameters which can be stored and recalled

together

as a group. Each groupofparameters is called a "Program". The

MASTER

section contains the parameters and functions which are shared by all programs.

PLAY

Modc

\'S.

EDIT

Mode

The C)'c1onc has two basic modesofoperation: PLA Y and EDIT.

The

"Mode" switch selects between these two modes. The "Mode" switch also doubles as a cancel switch that aborts any action which would nonnally require pressing the "Enter" button to complete.

PLAY

Mode: PLAY mode is used to select programs and to enable the basic real-time functionsofthe Cyclonc. In this mode each button generally does only one thing and the

LED

above

each switch shows whether that function

isonor

off.

EDJT J\lode:

The

EDIT

mode allows access 10 the over60parameters which control the operation

the Cyclune.

look atorchange these parameters you must first select them via the

"Parameter Matrix". Each

the labels in area above and to the rightofthe

LED

indicator lights represents oneormore parameters.

General

Organization

Page

+ 48 hidden pages

Oberheim Cyclone Perf/x User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual