squarp-instruments Squarp Instruments Pyramid SQUARP Pyramid Sequencer User Guide V1

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Pyramid Sequencer

User Guide

Squarp Instruments

Manual based on PyraOS version V 1.0

Transcribed from Squarp Instrument’s original HTML to LATEX by Juan Pumarino.

Edited and revised by Ryan Gallagher (ryanpg).

This document was generated on November 29, 2016.

Contents

1 Quickstart 1

Pyramid Workﬂow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Wire Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Sequencer workﬂow . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Tracks vs Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Quick tour of the four Pyramid modes . . . 2

Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Selecting the current track . . . . . . . . . 4

Capturing a performance . . . . . . . . . . 4

Using the step sequencer . . . . . . . . . 4

Muting and unmuting tracks . . . . . . . . 5

Selecting the current sequence . . . . . . 5

Creating and editing sequences . . . . . . 5

Performing sequences . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Saving and loading a project . . . . . . . . 6

Eﬀect manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Assign a control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Display features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Quick track settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Play/Pause/Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Metronome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Settings menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Inputs/Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

MIDI connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

USB connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

CV/Gate connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

DIN Sync connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Pedal foot-switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Connectivity examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Pyramid on stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Pyramid sequencing virtual instruments . 10

Pyramid on the studio table . . . . . . . . 11

2 Live Mode 13

Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Pads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Play with the keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Record your performance . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Countdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Hard record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Live looper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Change smartpad type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chord smartpads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Scale smartpads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Repeat smartpads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Relatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Copy/Paste/Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3 Step Mode 17

Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Pads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Change Stepmode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Note Stepmode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Add notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Poly / Mono editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Note parameters: velocity, width, oﬀset . . 18

Quick step edits: velocity, width, oﬀset,

transpose, move horizontally . . . 19

Note learn with a keyboard . . . . . . . . 19

Piano roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Chord Stepmode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Add chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Quick step edits: velocity, width, oﬀset,

transpose, move horizontally . . . 20

Piano roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Euclid Stepmode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

CC messages Stepmode . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Create step automation . . . . . . . . . . 21

Draw automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Step-lock automation . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Eﬀects Stepmode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Create step automation . . . . . . . . . . 23

Draw an automation . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Step-lock automation . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Track player: pages, zoom and length . . . . . 24

Rotate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Copy/Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Encoder step edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Player tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4 Track Mode 27

Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Pads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Mute/unmute tracks on the ﬂy . . . . . . . . . . 27

Mute/unmute in sync . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Mute/unmute tracks to create sequences . . . . 28

Save mute states OFF . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Solo a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

MIDI Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Copy/Paste/Delete a track . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Time signature and polyrhythm . . . . . . . . . 29

Polyrhythms signature (x:4) (default) . . . 30

Polymeters signature (x/4) . . . . . . . . . 30

Track length fraction and polymetry . . . . . . . 31

Irrational rhythms (advanced users) . . . . . . . 31

DISP track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Microstep track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

5 Seq Mode 33

Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Pads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Create and edit sequences . . . . . . . . . . . 33

“PERFORM” project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

PERFORM delay selection . . . . . . . . 34

“PLAY” project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

“LOOP” project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Note about track lengths concurrence & se-

quences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Track run modes: FREE, RELATCH & TRIG . . 35

RELATCH run mode . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

TRIG run mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

FREE, RELATCH & TRIG mixed . . . . . 36

Copy/Paste/Delete a sequence . . . . . . . . . 36

6 Eﬀect Manager 37

Eﬀect manager principles . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Adding eﬀects to a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Other tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Eﬀect list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Quantizer / humanizer . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Arpeggiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Harmonizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Randomizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Equalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Note to CC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

BPM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

LFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

7 Assign 45

Assign principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Assign a CC message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

How to assign an eﬀect parameter . . . . . . . 46

Automation recording and overdub . . . . . . . 47

Assign touchpad to smartpads . . . . . . . . . 48

Note about analog input voltage assignment . . 49

8 Save/Load 51

Save/load principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Save As . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Project ﬁles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Import and export ﬁles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

9 Settings 53

Settings menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

MIDI in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

MIDI out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

CV/pedal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Misc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

10 Shortcuts 57

In any mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Live mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

ii | Contents

Step mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Track mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

FX manager mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Assign mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Save/load mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Contents | iii

1 Quickstart

Pyramid is an instant source of inspiration to start and ﬁnish your song. You will never run out of ideas!

TRACKS VS SEQUENCES

Pyramid Workﬂow

WIRE UP

Connect the Pyramid to the supplied mini USB power supply, or connect the Pyramid to a computer with a standard mini USB cable, and press the on/oﬀ button.

SEQUENCER WORKFLOW

Pyramid provides 64 sequencer tracks. A track is a loop that contains polyphonic or monophonic notes, automation and eﬀects; plays repeatedly, and controls instruments connected to MIDI A, MIDI B, USB MIDI, or CV outputs. The Pyramid workﬂow is designed around muting and unmuting tracks to build sequences and songs.

A Pyramid project can include up to 64 tracks. Tracks are organized into 4 banks: A, B, C, D. Each bank contains a group of 16 tracks. Thus all 64 tracks and four banks are organized from TR01A to TR16A (track 1 through 16, bank A) up to TR01D to TR16D (track 1 through 16, bank D).

Each track can be conﬁgured according to your needs.

A track can be:

• a standard pattern (e.g. a 4 bar track)

• a linear clip (e.g. a 384 bar track)

• an euclidean pattern

• a polymetric pattern (e.g. a 1+1/4 bar track)

• a polyrhythmic pattern (e.g. a 8 bar track with 7/8 time signature)

• a micro track with a high zoom resolution (e.g. a 1/4 bar track with 1600% zoom)

A Pyramid project can be composed of up to 32 sequences. A sequence deﬁnes the mute states of each of the 64 available tracks. In each sequence, you choose which track is unmmuted (active) or muted (inactive) in order to build your song or arrange your set:

Pyramid also provides powerful creative tools:

• smart chord harmonizer

• scale generator

• beat repeat

• hold and relatch

• groundbreaking step sequencer (unlimited number of notes and CC messages per step, per-step FX parameter locks)

• euclidean sequence generator

• polyrhythmic & polymetric sequences

• real-time MIDI eﬀects

You can choose to play 64 tracks at the same time in a single sequence, or mute/unmute any of the 64 tracks across 16 sequences: it’s a great and versatile way to create songs very quickly.

In the example below SE01, (sequence 01) has only

TR02 (track 02) unmuted. In SE02 (sequence 02), TR02A and TR11A (tracks 02 and 11) are unmuted. In SE03 (sequence 03), tracks 01, 06, and 14 are unmuted:

or scaled piano), an attached MIDI controller, a Control Voltage instrument, or your computer.

Individual tracks are shared between sequences. Changes to TR02A will apply to all sequences where TR02A is active (SE01 and SE02 in the example above).

When the sequence changes, if a previously active track is still active in the next sequence, it will not restart from the beginning like a classic sequencer. It will continue to play & loop and therefore keep its shift with the other tracks, to keep the polymetry running (see ”Note about track lengths concurrence & sequences” section). If you want to restart your track from the beggining like a classic sequencer, conﬁgure your track in ”relatch mode”.

Moreover, if you want to add some MIDI eﬀects on TR02A, you can assign a control (e.g. an encoder) for this eﬀect, and aﬀect the sound of the TR02A in real-time, no matter which sequence you are in.

Press notes and chords using the 16 pads of the &

CHORD oﬀset of a single note or a group of notes. Edit your live recording with surgical precision. Switch to stepmode to auto-ﬁll steps. Switch to stepmode to create or edit MIDI CC automation. Switch to

EFFECTS ter locks. Each step (and even microstep) can contain an unlimited number of notes, CC and FX automation!

Press two rows of 16 pads . Change the current BANK (A/B/C/D) with<and>. Set up the length, time signature, zoom, and MIDI channel of the current track. Build a sequence.

Press of all 64 tracks) on the ﬂy, or program a chain of sequences to create a complete structured song.

: ﬁll steps of the currently selected track with

STEP

stepmodes. Conﬁgure velocity, width, and

CC MESSAGES

stepmode to create or edit eﬀect parame-

TRACK

SEQ

: mute/unmute the tracks using the bottom

: launch your sequences (stored mute states

NOTE

EUCLID

QUICK TOUR OF THE FOUR PYRAMID MODES

Pyramid is a dynamic sequencer that allows you to interact intuitively with tracks and sequences. All modes are always accessible. Launch sequences in mute/unmute tracks in and even add notes and CC messages in

STEP

functional rotary encoders to control MIDI eﬀect parameters in real-time. Encoder assignments are independent of the sequence you are viewing or the mode you are working in.

Press rent track using the built-in keypads, smartpads (8 pads that can be conﬁgured as chord generator, note repeat

2 | Quickstart

modes. You can assign one of the 5 multi-

: record notes and CC automation to the cur-

LIVE

TRACK

mode; play with eﬀects,

SEQ

LIVE

mode;

and

SCREEN

In each of the four modes, the following data is displayed:

stead continue to play & loop thus preserving polymetry (see “Note about track lengths concurrence & sequences” section, p. 35). If you want your track to restart from the beginning as with a classic sequencer, conﬁgure your track to play in “relatch mode.”

Mode:

STEP TRACK

LIVE

SEQ

Project name: name of your saved song.

MIDI in ﬂashes if a MIDI message is received; MIDI out A, MIDI out B and USB out ﬂash when a MIDI message

is sent.

Tempo: BPM of your project.

Current track: track number and bank (A, B, C, D) in Live

and Step Modes.

Track out indicates which output is transmitting sequence

information (MIDI A, MIDI B, USB, CV), and which MIDI channel is conﬁgured. Multiple outputs can be selected.

Current sequence: sequence number and the tracks you

are editing in TRACK mode. Can also display the next sequence to be played in the chain.

Mode zone: highlights the main parameters of each

mode, which generally can be edited via the clickable data encoder .

Player zone: track player (a representation of the current

track, the level of zoom, the track length), the player position, and the page you are viewing in Live, Step and Track modes:

The example above shows a 12 and 1/4 bar long track (12 bars + 1 beat). The four outlined squares represent the ﬁrst page of the track. The arrow icon indicates the player is currently at the twelfth bar.

In Seq Mode the Player zone displays the sequence chain:

In the example above, 6 sequences are chained and SE06 (highlighted) will play 2 bars.

When chaining sequences, any active (unmuted) track that is active in the following sequence will not restart from the beginning like a classic sequencer but will in-

Quickstart | 3

Basics

CAPTURING A PERFORMANCE

SELECTING THE CURRENT TRACK

As described in ”TRACKS VS SEQUENCES” a Pyramid project can include up to 64 tracks:

• 16 tracks in bank A

• 16 tracks in bank B

• 16 tracks in bank C

• 16 tracks in bank D

In any mode hold pads to select the track of the current BANK you want to work with (for example TR03A).

To change the current track BANK (A/B/C/D), hold

TRACK

and press<or>.

TRACK

while pressing one of the 16

When in rently playing track by pressing press rec . If the track is paused, press rec to ”arm” the track, then press to begin a count-oﬀ before recording begins.

You can play and record notes with the built-in keyboard

and smartpads . Use the 5 assignable encoders and the assignable touchpad to record CC and FX automation.

You can also use an external MIDI controller to record notes and automation. It’s even possible to record CV events thanks to the CV/gate input!

Pyramid allows unlimited polyphony and CC automation data per track. Quantize is not active by default, so you will capture the “human feel” of your performance.

Enter

STEP

roll and recorded notes:

mode, capture a performance on a cur-

LIVE

mode then press

to view the piano

DISP

The current track number and its output channel are displayed on the screen:

Change the MIDI output channel of the selected track by pressing transmit on the same MIDI channel.

Note: A track is created as soon as you edit a note or a CC message in

TRACK

MIDI channel

LIVE

STEP

. Multiple tracks can

mode.

Of course, it’s possible to add, remove, edit notes in a ﬂash in STEP mode with the step-by-step sequencer.

USING THE STEP SEQUENCER

Add, remove, and edit notes in the current track in mode with the step sequencer.

Enter

STEP

• to select the note (e.g. C4), rotate

• to add a note, press one of the 16 steps

• to remove the note, press this step again

• you can also hold one of the 16 steps and rotate to set the note.

Pyramid is fully polyphonic, so you can add as many notes as you want on each step. You can set the

velocity zoom

= a quarter note, but you can zoom in so that 1 step = a 1/64 note). Finally, you can set the

time signature

short or very long patterns!

mode:

, the

to set the resolution of steps (by default 1 step

, and the

width

of the track, so you can work on very

oﬀset

of a note. You can

length

STEP

and the

4 | Quickstart

Press the notes entered in

to view the piano roll of the current track and

DISP

LIVE

and

STEP

mode.

Cycle through stepmodes by holding

. There are 5 stepmodes:

• NOTE (add, delete, edit notes)

• CHORD (add, delete, edit chords)

• EUCLID (generate algorithmic patterns)

• CC MESSAGES (add, delete, edit CC automation)

• EFFECTS (add, delete, edit FX automation)

Multiple stepmodes can be used on a single track (except EUCLID) to add notes, chords, CC automation, and FX automation. Of course, you can also create tracks that only contain note or CC information.

STEP

and rotating

MUTING AND UNMUTING TRACKS

In any mode, hold SE01 to SE16) by pressing the corresponding pad

. If you select an empty sequence a new sequence will be created and the track mute states of the last sequence will be applied. To display sequences from SE17 to SE32, hold

To launch a new sequence after the end of the currently playing sequence, enter 16 pads . The newly selected sequence will begin when the current one ends. Holding one of the 16 pads will start the newly selected sequence without waiting for the end of the currently playing sequence (instant jump).

SEQ

and press>.

and select a sequence (from

SEQ

mode and press one of the

SEQ

while pressing

CREATING AND EDITING SEQUENCES

TRACK

you want to create or edit by pressing one of the 16 pads

and press>. The current sequence number is displayed on the screen:

mode, hold

. To display sequences 17 through 32, hold

SEQ

and select the sequence

SEQ

Enter

TRACK

Use the 16 pads to mute/unmute any tracks you have created, from TR01A to TR16D.

You can play up to 64 tracks simultaneously! Muting and unmuting tracks is a great and intuitive way to perform your project spontaneously.

Press sion:

Note: Changes in mute/unmute states sync diﬀerently depending on the PERFORM type selected in

DISPinTRACK

mode. Press

mode to display track progres-

to select a track bank.

< >

SEQ

mode.

SELECTING THE CURRENT SEQUENCE

The current sequence number is displayed on the screen:

Then mute/unmute your active tracks to build the sequence. A sequence is automatically created as soon as you change the mute state of a track.

PERFORMING SEQUENCES

Once you have created several sequences, enter mode to play them. Make sure PERFORM is selected in order to perform sequences on the ﬂy. Sequences will always remain in sync:

You can select how Pyramid transitions between sequences: instant, 1 beat, 1 bar, 2 bars, which gives you deep control over performing with sequences.

Press any sequence number to launch it. Pyramid waits until the current sequence ends (the end of the bar, if “1 BAR” selected) before launching the next sequence.

SEQ

Quickstart | 5

The current sequence will play in a loop until you press another sequence number.

TEMPO

EFFECT MANAGER

Press Chain up to 4 real time MIDI MIDI eﬀects per track:

to access the EFFECT MANAGER screen.

Tap

to set the tempo, or hold

BPM

while turning the data encoder . To ﬁne tune BPM to decimal values, press while rotating. Tempo resolution ranges from 10.0 BPM to 999.9 BPM.

TIP

Hold

2ND+BPM

and turn the data knob . The

tempo change will be applied only when you release

2ND

TIP

Hold

2ND+BPM

and slide the touchpad X axis to temporarily shift the tempo up or down. Very handy for manually syncing Pyramid to an external sound source (for example a turntable).

TIP

Hold

and press<or>to double or divide the

2ND

BPM in a ﬂash.

By default Pyramid automatically synchronizes BPM to any instrument providing a sync signal at the MIDI input.

UNDO

In any mode, press for example notes or automation recorded in Live mode. Another press of

undo

Undo will work on the following actions:

• REC ON in Live mode,

• PLAY ON,

• stepmode change,

• new track selection,

• step copy,

• track delete.

2ND

to cancel the last edit,

undo

will redo the last edit.

SAVING AND LOADING A PROJECT

In any mode, press load, or create a new project.

An SD card must be inserted or you will be unable to enter the save/load menu.

6 | Quickstart

2ND

save/load

to save, save as,

There are eleven eﬀects to choose from:

• Quantizer

• Arpeggiator

• Harmonizer

• Swing

• Randomization

• Delay

• Equalizer

• Scale

• Note to CC converter

• BPM

• Chance

Eﬀect parameters can be edited using the 5 encoders

. Experiment to ﬁnd your favorite settings:

TIP

You can still play or add notes in mode, mute/unmute tracks in launch sequences in

SEQ

mode with the eﬀect manager

TRACK

and

LIVE

STEP

mode, and even

activated.

Change an eﬀect’s position in the chain by holding

2ND

and rotating . Diﬀerent arrangements may produce very diﬀerent results. Experiment!

Quantize can only occupy the ﬁrst eﬀect position.

TIP

The eﬀect manager is also a great tool if you are a keyboardist and you want to revive your old synths. Give them new features like arps and eﬀects and they’ll sound like they never did. You can also use Pyramid to control your modular system using CV in & out to create a truly unique instrument.

The eﬀect engine also works when the player is stopped, as Pyramid clock always runs.

ASSIGN A CONTROL

Once a controller has been assigned use it to make realtime changes in any mode.

Press rec in

mode to record automation on a

LIVE

currently playing track:

• If the encoder is assigned to a CC message, automation will be recorded to the track only if the MIDI out and the MIDI channel of the CC is the same as the current track out settings (for example MIDI A channel 04).

• If the encoder is assigned to an eﬀect parameter, automation will be recorded to the track only if this eﬀect is active on the current track.

Controller assignments are saved with the project and are independent of track and sequence. Selecting a new track or a new sequence will not unlink or change controller assignments.

DISPLAY FEATURES

You can access extra information in some modes by pressing

will show the piano roll editor:

DISP

. For example, in

DISP

STEP

mode, pressing

Pyramid provides 5 clickable encoders and a touchpad. You can assign values by holding

ASSIGN

and turning

an encoder or sliding the touchpad.

For each controller you can:

• send a CC MIDI message to the current track’s MIDI channel (for example pitch or a CC message)

• link to a track’s eﬀect eﬀect parameter (for example the quantization grid, the swing % or the arpeggiator rate of the track 02)

TIP

Press an encoder to display its assignment and its

value (for example TR02A Swing Grid = 1/16).

The above is an example of a track programmed with notes of diﬀerent lengths. You are viewing the page 1 of 4. The current note is C4, the current velocity is 127, the current note length is 4 steps and the current note oﬀset is 0%. If you add a step by pressing a pad you will add another note with these parameters.

QUICK TRACK SETTINGS

This is one of Pyramid’s most useful features, we strongly advise you try it!

To change the current track settings, in any mode, hold

TRACK

to use the shortcuts:

Quickstart | 7

•

solo

•

MIDI channel

•

zoom length

•

time signature

•

For example, when in

zoom

25% to 1600%) in a ﬂash.

and rotate to change the zoom resolution (from

STEP

PLAY/PAUSE/STOP

mode, hold

TRACK

SETTINGS MENU

Press

2ND+FX

Select a category to conﬁgure your project:

• MIDI IN (MIDI input conﬁguration)

• MIDI OUT (MIDI output conﬁguration)

• MISC (other project and core options)

• CV/PEDAL (CV/Gate inputs+outputs analog conﬁgura- tion, pedal control assignment)

• DISK (save/restore all settings, save/restore all track channels)

to enter General Settings.

Press to play/pause the sequencer. ﬂashes (depending on the BPM and the current track time signature) if the project is playing, and is softly backlit if the project is paused.

Press to stop the sequencer. If you are working with multiple pages (see Step Mode section), pressing once stops the player at the current track page, while pressing

twice rewinds to the beginning of the track.

Two presses on STOP will send an All Note Oﬀ MIDI message to your instruments, a third press will send an All Sound Oﬀ MIDI message to silence the synth’s note release instantly. In addition, the third STOP press also sends Program Change messages of active tracks, if set.

By default MIDI clock is sent to MIDI A out, MIDI B out and USB out. Play/stop/continue messages are disabled by default. You can activate them separately in the SETTINGS menu.

METRONOME

Hold

2ND

and press

to activate the metronome:

LIVE

Inputs/Outputs

MIDI CONNECTIVITY

MIDI input

Connect one or more MIDI controllers (e.g. keyboard, drumpad, fader surface) to Pyramid’s MIDI in, and transmit MIDI notes and MIDI CC messages to Pyramid. In SETTINGS you can choose between OMNI-mode (con- trol the selected track, regardless of controller output channel) and MULTI-mode (control TR01A if a con- troller’s channel = 01, control TR14A with a controller set to channel 14, etc.). This option allows you to record multi-channel events as a MIDI looper.

Synchronize Pyramid’s clock (tempo) with an external machine and even control play, pause, and start remotely.

The metronome will send a speciﬁed MIDI note on the selected output channel and will follow the tempo. You can conﬁgure it in SETTINGS > MISC.

8 | Quickstart

MIDI outputs

Pyramid provides two MIDI outputs (A and B) to control a large range of electronic instruments such as synthesizers, drum machines, and MIDI enabled eﬀects. Because both MIDI outputs provide 16 MIDI channels Pyramid can control up to 32 instruments.

USB CONNECTIVITY

USB MIDI input

Connect Pyramid to your computer with a standard mini USB cable and Pyramid will receive MIDI notes, CC messages, pitch, aftertouch, transport messages and MIDI clock. USB works exactly like a MIDI DIN input.

CV/GATE CONNECTIVITY

CV/Gate inputs

There is one CV and one Gate input on the Pyramid. You can use them to convert CV/Gate notes to MIDI notes, then add real-time MIDI eﬀects to your CV/Gate performance, and ﬁnally send these notes to MIDI OUT, CV/Gate OUT, or USB OUT.

To use these inputs, plug a CV pitch output from your instrument to the Pyramid’s 3.5mm CV input jack, and plug the gate output of your instrument to the 3.5mm CV Gate input jack. Your external instrument will control MIDI notes on the currently selected Pyramid track.

You can also use the CV inputs as a voltage controlled MIDI CC MESSAGES. For example, a CV voltage of +5V can be converted to a CC MESSAGE value of 127. Pyramid will then send the CC Message via MIDI OUT, or you can choose to control an internal MIDI eﬀect (e.g. control TRACK04 arpeggiator rate with CV input #1, and control the TRACK11 quantize grid with the CV input #2).

We added these 2 CV/Gate inputs to Pyramid for those who like to experiment.

CV/Gate outputs

USB MIDI output

Pyramid can also control and sequence up to 16 virtual instruments (VST) on your computer, and sync your DAW via MIDI clock.

Pyramid has only one CV output and one Gate output because we wanted to keep the machine compact. “ENV” is another control voltage output that is very useful for sequencing ﬁlters or any voltage-controlled input on your modular or CV synth.

Quickstart | 9

DIN SYNC CONNECTIVITY

Pyramid provides an optional DIN sync output (conﬁgurable to Sync48, Sync24, Sync12, …in menu SETTINGS) that lets you synchronise your vintage instruments with tempo clock and a run/stop message.

The DIN sync output is available on MIDI out B, routed as following:

Connectivity examples

PYRAMID ON STAGE

In SETTINGS, you can also conﬁgure the 3.5mm CV ENV jack as a DIN Sync output to provide analog clock to your modular.

PEDAL FOOT-SWITCH

You can plug a foot-switch type pedal and assign it to an internal control (REC, play/pause or play/stop). You can also use a double pedal (stereo jack) to control 2 actions in Pyramid.

PYRAMID SEQUENCING VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS

10 | Quickstart

PYRAMID ON THE STUDIO TABLE

Quickstart | 11

Play with the keypad

2 Live Mode

Live Mode is the quickest way to create tracks from scratch.

In your studio, use Live mode to experiment and record your music using the built-in keypad, knobs, touchpad and smartpads (that can be conﬁgured as chords harmonizer, advanced beat repeat or a scaled piano).

On stage, play with Pyramid and make your performance lively and creative. Real-time eﬀects allow you to easily generate complex music, always in sync.

Screen

Use the keypads to play your performance live. Press<or>to shift down and up octaves.

You can also use external MIDI controllers (keyboards, drumpads, fader surfaces) connected to the Pyramid’s MIDI input to control the current track (control notes with velocity + aftertouch + pitch, or control CC messages).

With OMNI-mode disabled, a controller transmitting MIDI on channel 01 will control track 01A, a controller transmitting MIDI on channel 12 will control track 12A,…

TIP

MIDI eﬀects on the current track will be applied to your

live performance, even when using an external controller.

Record your performance

Press rec (or rec + if the track is paused or stopped) to record your live performance on the current track using the keypads, smartpads, or an external MIDI controller.

Record FX and MIDI automation using the assignable encoders , the touchpad , and the analog inputs. (See the Assign section to learn how to assign a control.)

Note: the track player zone is described in the Step Mode section.

Pads

Pads in Live Mode are divided into two parts: a oneoctave keyboard and 8 smartpads .

Note: Processed & recorded notes are displayed on the 13 black & white keypads with low luminosity. This feature is very fun and useful when using the arpeggiator & chord smartpads for example.

COUNTDOWN

When the player is stopped , ”arm” the track for recording by pressing rec . When you press , Pyramid sends a MIDI metronome countdown before recording starts pressing tinue playing and remains until the end of the track loop.

Deﬁne the countdown duration in SETTINGS > MISC > REC COUNTDOWN.

2ND

and

causes the metronome to con-

LIVE

HARD RECORD

Press Previously recorded notes are overwritten in this mode of recording.

2ND

RECORD

to activate ”hard recording.”

LIVE LOOPER

Pyramid provides you a new way to capture your performance in the style of looper pedals! In this mode, the length of a track grows to ﬁt your initial performance. Press rec to start recording a loop. Press rec a second time to stop recording. Track length is now ﬁxed. Perform freely without worrying about pre-determining track length.

To activate Live looper, enter SETTINGS > MISC > LIVE LOOPER and select the looper time quantization (beat = the track length is set to the nearest beat, 1bar = the track length is set to the nearest bar, ...) To activate a Live Looper recording, ﬁrst stop Pyramid, press rec , then press .

Change smartpad type

Hold tion of the 8 smartpads :

• CHORD (default)

• SCALE

• REPEAT

and rotate the data knob to change the func-

LIVE

Pyramid’s original harmonizer algorithm allows you to quickly select a relative tone by rotating . Unleash your creativity by building complex harmonies.

Holding jor/minor tonality. Add complexity by pressing and rotating :

Press<or>to shift the chord down or up by octaves.

TIP

Increasing complexity will add «alterations» and even-

tually bring you to complex jazzy chords.

TIP

Set a low complexity value to perform simple chords

and then add additional tones with the keypads.

Press smartpads and the currently recorded notes:

DISP

+ rotating will jump to the next ma-

2ND

to display the generated chords for the 8

Chord smartpads

The Chord Smartpads represent the 7 degrees of the harmonized scale. These harmonized scales are the basis on which almost every song you know is built.

In Pyramid, we use two parameters to build chords: ”tonality” is the ﬁrst note of your harmonized scale and ”complexity” represents the number of notes in each chord and chord inversion.

If we choose a CMaj tonality and 4 notes of complexity, we can obtain the following chords by pressing one (or more) of the smartpads:

Scale smartpads

A scale is an ordered set of musical notes based on a root note. Prediﬁned scales help you easily compose melodic patterns.

Pyramid includes a varied set of scales: Minor scale, Harmonic minor, Minor blues, Major blues, Romanian minor, Tunis scale, Dominant 7th, Spanish scale, Gipsy scale, Arabian scale, Egyptian scale, Hawaiian scale, Japanese scale, Minor third, Fourth scale, Fifth scale, Octave scale, Ionian scale, Dorian scale, Phrygian mode, Lydian mode, Mixolydian mode, Aeolian mode, Locrian mode.

Rotate to select a scale from the list:

14 | Live Mode

Hold scale.

With the Romanian Minor scale and a root note of C, you can perform the following notes using the smartpads:

and rotate to select the root note of the

2ND

Hold

Hold Hold allows you to sustain notes played with the keypad, smartpads, or an external MIDI device. Held notes are highlighted on the keypad.

TIP

Hold is very useful when designing drones/synth

pads or experimenting with an eﬀect like the arpeggiator.

When HOLD is enabled, is displayed on the screen.

and press to activate the HOLD function.

2ND

Relatch

Press<or>to shift the scale’s octave down or up.

Repeat smartpads

Hold a smartpad to choose a repeat speed (for example 1/8 = 8 notes per bar) and use the keypad to play a note repeatedly.

Rotate to select the gate of repeated notes (from 0% to 100%):

Hold tion, allowing you to hold the last keys or chords played until you play something else.

When RELATCH is enabled, the icon is displayed on the screen.

Hold

LIVE

and press to activate the RELATCH func-

2ND

and press a third time to go back to regular

2ND

Mode.

Copy/Paste/Delete

Press

2ND

notes + FX + FX automation + CC automation).

copy

to copy the selected track (copy all

Press

DISP

smartpads:

to display the repeat speed of each of the 8

Press

2ND

lected track.

All notes, CC automation, FX, FX automation are copied, however track parameters like track length are not.

Press

2ND

tion + FX automation of the current track.

paste

to paste the copied track to the se-

delete

to delete only notes + CC automa-

Live Mode | 15

16 | Live Mode

Change Stepmode

3 Step Mode

Step Mode is another way to create rhythms and melodies. Unlike Live Mode–where you perform in realtime using the keypad and the smartpads–Step Mode allows you to “program” sequencer information directly into the current track. Step Mode is a great way to get the best from your synthesizers and drum machines.

Pyramid includes 16-step pads , but you are free to extend the length of the track up to 384 bars and zoom up to 1600%: the number of steps is almost inﬁnite! The ability to add multiple notes on a single step, modify the velocity, note width, and oﬀset for each step makes Pyramid one of the most advanced sequencers on the market.

Step Mode also allows you to edit a previously recorded live performance using the piano roll view.

Screen

Stepmode deﬁnes how steps are ﬁlled. Hold turn the data knob to select Stepmode from the following modes:

• NOTE (default)

• CHORD

• EUCLID

• EFFECTS

• CC MESSAGES

All stepmodes (except EUCLID) can be used together to create a track. For example, you can add chords with the CHORD stepmode, then edit these chords with the NOTE stepmode, create step-lock automation with CC MES- SAGES and EFFECTS stepmodes, and ﬁnally go back to NOTE stepmode to add extra notes.

EUCLID stepmode can’t be used with NOTE or CHORD stepmodes because the euclidean algorithm takes exclusive control of the track player.

STEP

and

Pads

Note Stepmode

This mode allows you to program notes by ﬁlling steps.

ADD NOTES

Select a note on the screen with .

Press a step pad to ﬁll it with the current note.

Press the pad again to remove the note. You can add multiple notes on a single step. The pad corresponding to the step ﬁlled with the selected note will be softly backlit.

TIP

Hold

faster.

TIP

Preview the selected note by pressing . Pressing

<or>

while pressing allows you to jump octaves and

and rotate to scroll the current note list

2ND

navigate notes more quickly. You can also press a key

while holding to directly enter a desired note (or

press multiple keys to enter a chord).

At any time, you can

zoom

to increase the step resolu-

tion and navigate the pages with<and>.

POLY / MONO EDITING

Switch to MONO/POLY EDITING by pressing rec

POLY EDITING is enabled by default. Poly mode is

useful when editing tracks controlling polyphonic instruments. This mode allows you to add multiple notes to a single step. In POLY EDITING mode, pads will be softly backlit only if they are ﬁlled with the current note, displayed on the screen. When copying steps, only copy the current notes. The same behavior is true for

paste

, transpose, move horizontally, and for

width,oﬀset

quick edits.

To switch to MONO EDITING, press rec (rec led will lit). It’s useful to edit tracks controlling monophonic instruments, like a classic step sequencer. Whatever the current note is, steps softly backlit if they are ﬁlled. You can’t add multiple notes on a single step: all notes of the track are stacked. If you

copy

some steps, the copy will be eﬀective for all the notes in selection. Same behavior for

velocity

TIP

paste

, transpose, move horizontally, and for

width,oﬀset

quick edits.

Switch to MONO EDITING to have a global view of which of the 16 steps are ﬁlled with notes. If you press a ﬁlled step, it will remove all notes in this step, whatever the current note is.

TIP

A long press on a step (if MONO EDITING enable) auto-select the nearest note of the step. For example if a step contains a C2♯ and a E2 note, and if the selected note of the piano roll is C4, a long press will select the note E3. Very handy to quickly view or edit a note in a step.

copy

velocity

will

Default velocity is 100, default note width is 1 step, and default oﬀset is 0%.

This means that by default notes will ﬁll a step from its start to its end. Note duration depends on zoom and time signature. If

zoom

= 100% and

note width

= 1, an added note will be a quarter note (because the 16 steps represent 16 quarter notes). If

note width

= 1, the added note will be an eighth note

zoom

= 200% and

(because the 16 steps now represent 16 eighth notes). You can play with the

zoom

shortcut to edit your track

with a high degree of resolution!

● SET NOTE VELOCITY

To change the defalult note velocity, hold

velocity

and

rotate (from 0 to 127):

TIP

Double tap a step pad to add a low velocity

note in order to create accents quickly.

● SET NOTE WIDTH

By default notes are played the entire width of a step. To change the default note width, hold

note width

and ro-

tate (from 1/32 of a step to 16 steps):

NOTE PARAMETERS: VELOCITY, WIDTH, OFFSET

When you add a note on a step, the step is ﬁlled with its 3 current parameters:

18 | Step Mode

velocity

note width

and

oﬀset

TIP

Using a

note width

longer than 1 step is an easy

way to create slides on monophonic instruments.

● SET NOTE OFFSET

Each note starts at the beginning of a step. To change

the default oﬀset, hold

oﬀset

and rotate (from 0% to

99% of a step):

QUICK STEP EDITS: VELOCITY, WIDTH, OFFSET, TRANSPOSE, MOVE

HORIZONTALLY

When you hold a step (or when you hold two steps to select a row of steps), the screen displays the note parameters of the selection:

TIP

You can also press a keypad while holding to directly select a note. Select multiple notes to quickly create a custom chord. Pressing<or>while holding

allows you to jump octaves.

PIANO ROLL

Note velocities ranges from 60 to 120, note width ranges from 1 step to 4 steps, note oﬀsets ranges from 0% to 45%.

Now you can edit in a ﬂash selected note parameters:

● Rotate encoder1to transpose notes

● Rotate encoder2to transpose notes, by octaves

● Rotate encoder3to increase/decrease note velocity

● Rotate encoder4to increase/decrease note width

● Rotate encoder5to increase/decrease note oﬀset

● Press<or>to move horizontally the selection

TIP

In POLY EDITING mode, you will edit only the current note of the selection. In MONO EDITING mode, you will edit all notes of the selection.

TIP

Hold rec to select the entire track, instead of pressing the ﬁrst and the last step. For example, hold rec and rotate1to transpose all notes.

Press

An example of a track, programmed with notes of diﬀerent lengths. You are viewing the page 1 of 1 page. The current note is C4, the current velocity is 127, the current note length is 2 steps and the current oﬀset is 0%. If you press a step to add a note, the note will be added with these parameters.

to view the piano roll sequencer:

DISP

It’s a great way to see the notes you are editing, for example:

● In POLY EDITING, hold rec and rotate to transpose the current notes of the track (e.g. all C4 notes).

NOTE LEARN WITH A KEYBOARD

Use your external keyboard to set the current note, or even a chord, in a ﬂash!

The current step can be ﬁlled with a note received on the MIDI input, (for example C3#). You can also perform a chord with your external keyboard (for example C2+2) instead of a note. So you can ﬁll your step sequence with custom chords:

● In POLY EDITING, hold a step and rotate to transpose only the current note of the step.

Step Mode | 19

● In MONO EDITING, hold rec and rotate to trans- pose all notes of the track.

● In MONO EDITING, hold a step and rotate to transpose all notes of the step.

TIP

Hold

Press a step pad to ﬁll it with a chord. A step ﬁlled with a chord is semi-highlighted.

TIP

Preview the selected chord by pressing .

You can only add one chord per step. If you add a chord to a step that has already been ﬁlled, the previous chord will be replaced with the new one.

There are 7 chord degrees across the 10 octaves:

I II III IV V VI VII

These are the same chords you will ﬁnd on the Live Mode’s chord smartpads (chord degree I is smartpad 1, chord degree III is smartpad 3, etc.)

The chord tonality (by default CMAJ) and the chord complexity (by default 3) can be set in the Live Mode using the chord smartpads.

Note: Read the Live Mode section for further details about chord generation.

and rotate to change the chord tonality.

2ND

QUICK STEP EDITS: VELOCITY, WIDTH, OFFSET, TRANSPOSE, MOVE

HORIZONTALLY

TIP

Press

STEP

again to go to the next nearest note.

to go to the nearest note. Press

STEP

Chord Stepmode

This mode is similar to Note Stepmode except the steps are ﬁlled with chords.

ADD CHORDS

Select a chord degree on the screen with :

As in Note Stepmode, you can edit the

note width

and

oﬀset

of a chord.

velocity

PIANO ROLL

Press

An example of a track, programmed with chords of diﬀerent lengths. You are viewing the page 1 of 1 page. The selected chord root note is E4, the current velocity is 100, the current note length is 1 step and the current oﬀset is 0%.

to view the piano roll sequencer:

DISP

20 | Step Mode

Euclid Stepmode

The Euclidean sequencer provides one of the most intuitive ways to create uncommon and rich rhythmic patterns.

Originally derived from nuclear physics, and then applied to music theory, an Euclidean algorithm evenly generates distributed notes (ﬁlls) among a deﬁned number of available slots (steps).

This leads to a great number of well-known rhythm patterns, as well as many odd-sounding ones. Almost all traditional rhythms from across the world can be generated with this tool, which is why we decided to implement on the Pyramid.

The EUCLID stepmode takes exclusive control of the track player. You can’t use it together with NOTE and CHORD stepmodes. When you change stepmodes, EUCLID is activated at the STEP pad release, and NOTE + CHORD stepmodes are disabled. As soon as you switch to NOTE, CHORD, CC MESSAGES or EFFECTS stepmodes, EUCLID is disable again.

Hold

euclid ﬁlls

notes in your EUCLID pattern. Hold tate to select the number of steps in your pattern. Press

+<or

2ND

to change the triggered note (for example C3♯) and use

note width

and rotate to select the number of

euclid step

+>to rotate the pattern. Turn

2ND

to change the gate.

and ro-

TIP

Steps that are ﬁlled with notes are displayed on the pads. You can press a pad to add or remove steps and thus create your own pattern.

You can create multiple euclidean tracks to generate complex rhythmic patterns. Each pattern will be 1 bar or shorter in length, but if each bar is a diﬀerent length, they will shift against each other creating a constantly changing loop.

TIP

Decrease the time signature lower number to multiply the euclidean pattern length. By default the time signature of a euclidean track is 4/16 (1 bar long) but you can set a 4/8 time signature (2 bars long), a 4/4 time signature (4 bars long)…

CC messages Stepmode

This stepmode allows you to create CC automation.

CREATE STEP AUTOMATION

Using select a CC message (0 to 119), PITCH BEND, PRESSURE or PROGRAM CHANGE message you want

to automate. Hold faster:

and rotate to scroll the CC list

2ND

By default, there are 16 euclid steps (1 bar) and 4 euclid ﬁlls.

Press

to view the Euclidean circle:

DISP

PITCH BEND message is selected, the current value is 63

Now you can ﬁll steps with the selected CC message.

velocity

Hold the touchpad from left to right) to select a CC value, from 0 to 127:

and rotate (or hold

velocity

Step Mode | 21

and slide

PITCH BEND automation is selected, the current value is 127 (if you press a step, a pitch=127 message will be added)

Continue to hold

velocity

while activating step pads

to create steps with diﬀerent CC values.

At any moment, press

A 16-step automation of the PITCH BEND message. The dotted line represents the current CC value.

TIP

Press

ASSIGN

to activate ENCODER STEP EDIT.

to display the automation:

DISP

This allows you to select the current CC value directly with the touchpad X axis or with encoder3.

This stepmode can also be used to display and edit automation recorded in live mode, for example CC10 value performed with the touchpad:

A live recorded automation of the CC10 (PAN), zoomed.

You can create an inﬁnite number of automation on the same track. Rotate to select another CC message and program another automation!

TIP

Press the menu encoder to preview the current (dot-

ted line) CC value.

TIP

Press

STEP

to go to the nearest CC automation.

again to go to the next nearest CC automa-

tion.

DRAW AUTOMATION

Hold rec while sliding the touchpad to draw a CC automation. Very useful for experimenting with complex automation in a ﬂash!

A live recorded automation of the CC10 (PAN) message.

As in other stepmodes, you can

zoom

to increase the

step resolution and navigate the automation pages with

and>:

22 | Step Mode

Each new automation drawn will delete existing automation.

STEP-LOCK AUTOMATION

Hold a step and rotate the encoder3to increase or decrease the step’s automation. Very useful for quickly creating step-lock automation.

You can also increase or decrease a row of steps , by pressing the ﬁrst and last step, and rotating the encoder3.

TIP

Hold rec and rotate3to equally increase or de-

crease all the values of an existing CC automation.

Eﬀects Stepmode

This stepmode allows you to create FX parameter automation. First, you need to add at least one eﬀect with the FX manager on the current track, for example an arpeggiator.

CREATE STEP AUTOMATION

In EFFECTS stepmode, select the eﬀect parameter you want to automate by rotating :

ARPEGGIATOR eﬀect: RATE parameter is selected, the current parameter value is 1/4.

Now you can ﬁll steps with FX parameters. To choose the parameter value, hold

velocity

and slide the touchpad from left to right):

velocity

and rotate (or hold

As in other stepmodes, you can step resolution and navigate the automation pages with

and>to create complex automation:

A 64-step automation of the QUANTIZER eﬀect: GRID parameter

This stepmode can also be used to display and edit automation recorded in live mode, for example a swing automation performed with an encoder:

zoom

to increase the

ARPEGGIATOR eﬀect: RATE parameter is selected, the current parameter value is 1/32 (if you press a step, a rate=1/32 message will be added).

Fill some steps with diﬀerent parameters values. Press

to display the automation:

DISP

A 16-step automation of the ARPEGGIATOR eﬀect: RATE parameter.

TIP

Press Then you can select the current FX value directly with the touchpad X axis or with the encoder3.

ASSIGN

to activate

ENCODER STEP EDIT

You can create an inﬁnite number of automation on the same track. Rotate to select another eﬀect parameter and program another automation!

DRAW AN AUTOMATION

Hold rec while moving your ﬁnger across the touchpad to draw FX automation. Very useful for experimenting with complex automation!

Newly drawn automation replaces all prior automation on that track.

STEP-LOCK AUTOMATION

Hold a step and rotate3to increase or decrease that step’s automation value. Very useful for quickly creating step-lock automation.

You can also edit FX parameters on a sequential range of steps . Select a range of steps by holding the ﬁrst and last step and rotate the encoder3.

TIP

Hold rec and rotate3to increase or decrease the

whole existing FX automation.

Step Mode | 23

Track player: pages, zoom and length

The track player zone displays data on of the current track:

• Track length (number of bars )

• Page position (viewed bars on the 16 pads)

• Player position (sequencer track progression)

A default track is 4-bars long. Therefore, the track player zone displays 4 white bars: they are the 4 bars you can see on the 16 pads (currently viewed page) in Step Mode. These 16 pads represent 16 steps = 16 quarter notes.

If you want to program a longer or shorter track, hold

length

TRACK

ber of the track to 16 bars for example:

and rotate to change the bar num-

Zooming in changes the track resolution (step length) and allows you to rotate your track with increasing precision..

TIP

Press

track.

and hold<or>to quickly rotate your

2ND

Copy/Paste

Press notes and/or automation contained in a step.

You can copy multiple steps by pressing + the ﬁrst and the last steps of your selection.

You can paste notes and automation in the current track or in another track by pressing

Note: copy/paste is not available in EUCLID stepmode.

2ND

you wish to paste into.

copy

+ any step to copy all the

paste

2ND

copy

+ the step

Delete

Press<or>to navigate through the pages:

TIP

Hold<or>to quickly navigate.

To change the pad resolution, hold and rotate . For example, 2 bars are displayed in 200% zoom on a row of 16 pads, also called a page. In 400% zoom, only 1 bar is displayed.

TIP

Microscope mode: 1600% zoom provides you with the highest degree of precision to edit your track step by step.

Note: All examples given reference a standard 4/4 time signature. Pages always represent a 4/4 bar. This convention is used because all 16 physical pads can be divided into four 4/4 bars. For all other time signatures, represents all pages, and

represents the currently active group of 16 pads.

TRACK

zoom

Rotate

In stepmodes NOTE, CHORD and EUCLID, press +<or

+>to shift the track one step left or right.

2ND

Press notes contained in the step.

Note: delete is not available in EUCLID stepmode.

2ND

delete

+ any step to delete all the

Encoder step edit

At startup, the 5 encoders can be used to assign a CC or FX parameter, in every mode. But they can do more. In the 5 encoders and the touchpad to step shortcuts.

Simply press feature:

It’s a great way to quickly edit your notes and automation, you no longer have to rotate while pressing a green shortcut.

In stepmode NOTE, encoders & touchpad will control:

•

In stepmode CHORD, encoders & touchpad will control:

•

STEP

note

note octave

note velocity

note width

4 5 note oﬀset touchpad X

chord degree

chord tonality

chord velocity

mode, you can decide to assign directly

ASSIGN

note velocity

to enable the “encoder step edit”

24 | Step Mode

•

chord width

•

5 chord oﬀset touchpad X

•

In stepmode EUCLID, encoders & touchpad will control:

euclid steps

•

euclid ﬁlls

euclid velocity

•

euclid gate length

•

5 rotate touchpad X

•

In stepmode CC, encoders & touchpad will control:

•

CC value

touchpad X

•

In stepmode EFFECTS, encoders & touchpad will control:

•

3 FX value touchpad X

•

TIP

LIVE

the velocity of the keyboard and the smartpads.

Press

ASSIGN

chord velocity

euclid velocity

CC value

FX value

mode, you can also use the touchpad to set

again to disable these shortcuts.

Press

2ND

STEP

to exit the ﬁlter mode.

Player tracking

The viewed page (viewed bars on the 16 pads) can autofollow the player position if you press ful if you are working on multiple pages.

2ND

DISP

. Use-

Filter

In stepmode NOTE and stepmode CC MESSAGES, press

2ND through programmed notes or CC messages. A popup is displayed for a few time:

For example, in NOTE stepmode, rotating will jump to the next programmed note (e.g. D4), useful if use a wide range of notes. In CC MESSAGES stepmode, rotating will jump to the next CC automation (e.g. Program Change).

When the ﬁlter is activated, a circle pictogram is displayed next to the stepmode name:

to activate the ﬁlter, in order to scroll only

STEP

Step Mode | 25

4 Track Mode

Track Mode has three purposes:

1. to conﬁgure the current track (MIDI channel, zoom, length, time signature) using the shortcuts before playing in Live Mode or programming in Step Mode

2. to mute/unmute the 64 tracks using the 16 pads and

. This tactile, intuitive method allows you to

< >

perform your song on the ﬂy

3. to build your current sequence (a set of the 64 muted/unmuted tracks)

Screen

Pads

Mute/unmute tracks on the ﬂy

Press one of the 16 pads to mute or unmute a track in the current BANK. Change the current BANK (A/B/C/D) with<and>.

An empty track (without notes, eﬀects, or automation) can’t be muted.

When the sequencer is playing, tracks evolve in parallel even if they are muted: this enhances your ability to perform with tracks.

In the example below, 3 tracks are unmuted, 2 tracks are muted and all tracks are the same length:

This display shows that TR01A is selected (current track) and contains notes, eﬀects, CC automation and FX automation, with a 200% zoom and a 4/4 time signature.

Sequence SE01 groups 6 unmuted tracks of bank A: TR01A, TR02A, TR05A, TR08A, TR12A and TR15A. The other tracks are muted or empty.

Tracks of diﬀerent lengths are played simultaneously; shorter tracks will repeat before the others:

TIP

Use diﬀerent track lengths (for example 2 bars, 4 bars

and 6 bars) to create a non-repetitive, evolving sequence.

MUTE/UNMUTE IN SYNC

SAVE MUTE STATES OFF

Mute/unmute changes are in sync, depending on the PERFORM type selected in

For example, if you unmute track 01, this track will be activated at the beginning of the next bar (if PERFORM = 1BAR in changing mute states in perfect sync.

To mute/unmute tracks instantly, select PERFORM = INST in

TIP

to specify that tracks mute/unmute in sync by selecting ”SEQ PERFORM,” or mute/unmute instantly by selecting ”INST.”

TIP

pressing

SEQ

mode). This allows you to play tracks by

SEQ

mode.

SETTINGS > MISC > TRACKS MUTE allows you

You can always mute/unmute a track instantly by

+ its corresponding pad .

2ND

SEQ

mode:

Mute/unmute tracks to create sequences

By default, track mute states changes are saved in the current sequence (rec is lit). If you mute or unmute a track, the sequence will save the mute states.

Press rec to disable saving sequence mute states (REC led will be OFF). If you mute or unmute a track, the sequence will not save the mute states. This allows you to mute and unmute tracks in ing your sequence’s track states. Switching a sequence restores it to its “default” state.

TRACK

mode, without los-

Solo a track

Hold a track.

To cancel solo, press any track .

and select a track with the pads to solo

solo

A sequence is a set of 64 tracks, muted or unmuted. To build a sequence, mute and unmute tracks using the 16 smartpads and

For example in SE01, only TR02A is unmuted. In SE02, TR02A and TR11A are unmuted. In SE03, TR01A, TR06A and TR15A are unmuted:

< >

MIDI Channel

Pyramid includes two MIDI outputs, one USB MIDI output, and one CV/Gate (analog) output.

Each MIDI output provides 16 channels, which means that you can control up to 16 electronic musical instruments per MIDI output.

Hold

MIDI channel

nel of the current track.

TIP

Hold

MIDI channel

the MIDI output of the track. A message pops up, displaying the selected output type (MIDI A, MIDI B, USB, CV) and channel number:

and rotate to select the MIDI chan-

and press and rotate to select

Once you have created your sequences, jump to Seq Mode to launch them, or program a chain of sequences to create a complete structured song.

28 | Track Mode

TIP

You can link the track to two diﬀerent outputs, for ex-

ample both MIDI A and MIDI B or CV/Gate and USB.

The output channel is always displayed under the track number:

MIDI B CHANNEL 01 + USB OUT CHANNEL 01 is set

Note: DIN sync output (also called SYNC24) is available on MIDI port B. You can enable and conﬁgure it using the Settings menu.

Zoom

Hold

zoom

to 1600%:

and rotate to set the resolution, from 25%

A length of 4 bars, a length of 64 bars.

length

Hold with step precision:

A length of 2 bars + 1 quarter note, a length of 0 bar + 1 quarter note (1/4 bar = 1 quarter note).

TIP

Remember, in every mode, hold

the following shortcuts:

•

solo

•

MIDI channel

•

zoom length

•

time signature

•

and press + rotate to set the track’s length

TRACK

to activate

A 100% zoom means that 1 step = 1 quarter note.

A 200% zoom doubles the resolution: a quarter note is divided into 2 steps. With a 1600% zoom, a quarter note is divided into 16 steps. Edit your track with surgical precision.

A 50% zoom decreases the resolution. This is useful if you want to have a global view of your track: two quarter notes become one step.

Note: please read the Step Mode section “Track player: pages, zoom and length” for further details about the zoom feature.

Length

length

Hold track’s length in bars:

and rotate to increase or decrease a

Copy/Paste/Delete a track

Press

2ND

Press

2ND

TIP

Copy/paste is very useful to create a new pattern from an existing track. Copy saves track settings + notes + automation + eﬀects.

Press

2ND

copy

+ a track to copy it.

paste

delete

+ a track to paste it.

+ a track to delete it.

Time signature and polyrhythm

Create cross-rhythms and pattern variations! The 4/4 standard time signature often sounds good, but sequencing with other time signatures is an easy way to add complexity and originality to your songs.

SETTINGS>MISC>SIGNATURE how your track time signature will be interpreted by Pyramid: either

● If polyrhythms when diﬀerent time signatures are used. If you select a 3:4 time signature you will have bars of 3

Polyrhythms

(default) or

is selected, Pyramid apply true

, you can choose

Polymeters

Track Mode | 29

quarter notes, but the bar will have the same duration as a 3/4 bar. The bar size is the same, but the beat diﬀers.

Polymeters

● If same. If you select a 3/4 time signature you will have bars of 3 quarter notes, and each quarter note will have the same length than the 4/4 ones. The length of the bar diﬀer, but the beat unit remains the same. The polymetric mode is easier to understand than the Polyrhythmic one because it doesn’t mix several speeds.

is selected, all quarter notes remain the

The diﬀerence is the length of each quarternote. If you increase the time signature’s upper number, it will increase the number of quarternotes in one bar: 4/4 means 4 quarternotes in a bar, 15/4 means 15 quarternotes in a bar.

time signature

Hold signature’s upper number on the current track:

and rotate to change the time

The lower number works the same in

Polymeters ber is set on 4, which means ”quarter note”. It can also be set on 2 ”half note”, 8 ”eighth note” or 16 ”sixteenth note” by holding

Each increment multiplies or divides the basic /4 bar length by 2:

. By default the time signature’s lower num-

time signature

and pressing + rotating

Polyrhythms

You can adjust the track’s length to 4 bars to work achieve a 7:4 time signature (28 quarter notes) or any other track length you choose (for example 2 bars + 2/7ths quarter notes).

POLYMETERS SIGNATURE (X/4)

With this setting, all quarter notes will remain the same as a 4/4 beat, but the length of your loop will be diﬀerent. Your loops will shift against each other as they play: this is polymetry!

In other words, the length of the bar diﬀer, but the beat unit remains the same.

POLYRHYTHMS SIGNATURE (X:4) (DEFAULT)

With Pyramid you can mix a 4/4 track with a 5:4 track, a 9:4 and a 15:4 track: true polyrhythms! Tracks with dif-

ferent time signatures are synchronized and will loop at the same time, but steps follow their own path. The bar size is the same, but the beat diﬀers. Of course you may still use all functionalities such as track length, zoom, oﬀset and eﬀects, as the PyraOs core system is based on Polyrhythm.

The length of a bar is the same whether you set a common 4/4 signature or you choose an odd one such as 15:4. For example, at 120 bpm, a bar in 4/4, 3:4 or 15:4 will last 2 seconds, and will loop at the same time:

30 | Track Mode

• The 1st track is a standard 4/4 bar

• The 2nd track is a 3/4 bar (3 quarter notes)

• The 3rd track is a 5/4 bar (5 quarter notes)

time signature

Hold signature’s upper number on the current track:

and rotate to change the time

Track length fraction and

Irrational rhythms

polymetry

Changing the length of a track is an other way to create polymeters.

Let’s say we are working with a 1 bar track and a 4/4 time signature. Each step represents a quarternote.

length

Hold quarternote (one step) to the length of the selected Track. This leads to the following possibilities:

and press + rotate to add or remove one

(advanced users)

An irrational rhythm uses step durations that lie outside the scope of the 4/4 system and loop on a diﬀerent bar length.

Create a polyrhythmic (tracks with diﬀerent time signatures) and polymetric (tracks with diﬀerent bar lengths) sequence to experiment irrational rhythms! Both the measure size and the beat diﬀer.

In the example below you get a simple overview of all these concepts for 3 simple tracks:

• The 1st track is a standard 4/4 bar

• The 2nd track is a 4/4 bar with 1 removed quarternote

• The 3rd track is a 4/4 bar with 1 added quarternote

The length of your loops are diﬀerent, so they shift against each other as they play. The length of the bar diﬀer, but the beat unit remains the same.

Using polymetric patterns is a good trick to create lively, ever-changing and lengthy sequences. In the following example, the sequence composed of 3 short tracks will get back to its starting point after 15 loops of the standard 4/4 track:

TIP

Link these 3 tracks to the same MIDI channel (ie to a unique musical instrument) to create a progressive pattern.

This sequence will get back to its starting point after 6 loops of the 4/4 track. Within the sequence, track quarternotes are never on time because of the beat phase shift.

DISP track view

Press ily understand your track polymeters:

This screen displays:

• Track number: from 1 to 16

• Track progression: percentage of the loop being played

• Track bar length

• Track time signature

• Run modes: RELATCH , TRIG or FREE (nothing displayed)

to display your tracks progressions and eas-

DISP

Track Mode | 31

• Output: ﬂashes if the track is sending events via MIDI, USB or CV/GATE.

Muted tracks are shaded:

The the selected bank. If you press play TR09 to TR16 tracks. You can also use the menu encoder to select the displayed tracks.

With send MIDI events (notes and CC messages).

view displays tracks from TR01 to TR08 of

DISP

again, it will dis-

DISP

activated, the 16 pads ﬂashes when tracks

DISP

Microstep track

To create a Microstep track, set the track length on 0+1/4 bar, the zoom on 1600% and increase the time signature lower number to 4/16. The step-by-step player will run at high speed, which is very useful to create drones, black midi and glitch sounds, and to expand the boundaries of your instruments.

32 | Track Mode

5 Seq Mode

After creating your tracks in assembling them into several sequences in you are now able to play with the sequences.

Seq Mode is the second way to perform your song. Instead of muting/unmuting tracks like you do in Track Mode, Pyramid oﬀers an advanced system of playing sequences:

PERFORM: launch your sequences on the ﬂy. You can select the delay Pyramid will wait until playing the next sequence (Instant, 1 Beat, 1 Bar, 2 Bars, …8 Bars). It’s a great creative tool to improvise with total freedom, while always remaining in sync!

PLAY: play straight through a sequence arrangement (chain) programmed using the project song zone.

LOOP: loop a sequence arrangement (chain) programmed with the project song zone.

When your sequences are playing, remember that you can still

TRACK

enter playing sequence; enter rec or program notes and automation on the current track.

mode to change mute states of the currently

LIVE

Live

mode or

and

Step

STEP

mode, and

mode,

Track

mode to play,

Below, the full length progression of a sequence is displayed. For example, if the current sequence contains a 3 bar track and a 4 bar track, the sequence will be 12 bars long (number of bars after which all tracks restart at the same time again). This progression zone will be 100% ﬁlled after 12 bars.

Note: On all 4 modes, Pyramid displays the current sequence and the next sequence to be played if there is one:

Pads

Screen

Seq

the sync with the BPM (4 beats = 1 bar):

mode screen displays a 4/4 beat progression in

Create and edit sequences

TRACK

you want to create or edit with one of the 16 pads .

To display sequences from SE17 to SE32, hold press

The current sequence number is displayed on the screen:

Then mute/unmute your active tracks to build the sequence. As soon as you made a mute state change, the sequence is created.

When selecting an empty sequence, Pyramid will copy the previous mute states, so you can perform your live set without blanks!

mode, hold

SEQ

and select the sequence

SEQ

and

Selecting a sequence can only be done with SEQ PERFORM enable. This action is non available with SEQ PLAY or SEQ LOOP enable, because the sequencer will play the deﬁned sequence chain (and therefore the selected sequence = the played sequence).

“PERFORM” project

This mode allows you to build a song from sequences in a free and creative way, while always remaining in sync.

At startup, PERFORM is activated and the sequence SE01 plays in a loop.

Press any sequence number to launch it on the ﬂy. Pyramid waits until the current sequence ends (the end of the bar, if “1 BAR” selected) and then it launches the new sequence right away. The new sequence will then play in a loop until you press another sequence number.

BEAT: The next sequence will be launched at the next beat of the current sequence.

1 BAR: The next sequence will be launched at the next bar of the current sequence.

2 BAR …8 BAR: The next sequence will be launched at the modulo (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 bar) of the current sequence.

“PLAY” project

This mode allows you to program a set of sequences to compose a complete song ready to play.

Before enabling PLAY PROJECT, you need to design your chain of sequences.

Rotate clockwise to highlight the ﬁrst sequence slot:

Press to make your selection and rotate to choose the ﬁrst sequence in the chain, for example SE03:

In the example above, Pyramid plays SE01, where only the TR01 is unmuted. The user then presses SE03

which starts as soon as the SE01 ends. Tracks: TR02, TR03, TR04 and TR05 play together in a loop until the user presses another sequence.

PERFORM DELAY SELECTION

You can select the delay Pyramid waits before switching to the next sequence.

Press to conﬁrm and rotate to choose the number of bars this sequence will play. A sequence can be between 1 bar and 64 bars length, or can be shorter that on bar (1/4 bar, 2/4 bar, 3/4 bar...)

For your information, the screen indicates the full length of the sequence. This is the number of bars after which all tracks are perfectly sync again, if using diﬀerent track length. For example a sequence with a 3 bar long track and a 4 bar long track has a total length of 12 bars.

Press to conﬁrm:

Repeat this one-handed operation to create a sequence chain as long as you choose, there is no limit to the number of sequences you can chain:

INST: The next sequence will be launched instantly, without delay.

34 | Seq Mode

Select the PLAY PROJECT Submode:

TR01 is unmuted in all sequences: it plays fully.

TR02 is muted in SE02: it replays from the start in SE03.

TR03 is 6-bars long: it replays from the start in the middle of SE03.

TR04 is only 1-bar long: it loops in SE04.

The player stops and stands ready to play the programmed sequence chain. Press play to launch your project. Once the song is ﬁnished, the player stops and waits for another press of .

Once the chain is programmed, you can change the number and the length of a sequence, and even move it and delete it.

“LOOP” project

It’s exactly the same mode as the “PLAY” project, except the sequence arrangement loops creating an inﬁnite song.

Track run modes: FREE, RELATCH & TRIG

By default tracks play concurrently in FREE run mode. Each track can also be conﬁgured in RELATCH or TRIG run modes:

RELATCH ( icon displayed under TR): when a new sequence starts, the track always restarts at its beginning. It’s an easy way to sync tracks.

TRIG ( icon displayed under TR): the track plays once at the beginning of the sequence and does not loop. The track is simply triggered and stops when it reaches its end.

To change the track run mode, enter

TRACK

and rotate :

TRACK

mode, hold

Note about track lengths concurrence & sequences

One of Pyramid’s great features is when switching from one sequence to another a track active in the prior sequence keeps playing from its last position. We call it FREE run mode (enabled by default).

In the example below, you see 4 tracks:

If you play these tracks organized in sequences:

TR01A conﬁgured as a RELATCH track, and as a TRIG track.

RELATCH RUN MODE

Each of these 4 tracks are conﬁgured in RELATCH run mode:

If you play these tracks organized in sequences:

If an active track in the sequence is set to RELATCH, it will always start from the beginning of each sequence,

Seq Mode | 35

even if the track is not ﬁnished yet. In other words, each track restarts at the beginning of each sequence.

TRIG RUN MODE

Each of these 4 tracks are conﬁgured in TRIG run mode:

If you play these tracks organized in sequences:

If an active track in the sequence is set to TRIG, it will play once without looping. If the track is active in the next sequence, it will continue to play just as in FREE run mode.

FREE, RELATCH & TRIG MIXED

A great way to add complexity to your song is to use diﬀerent run modes for diﬀerent tracks. Performing sequences just goes one step beyond!

Copy/Paste/Delete a sequence

Press

2ND

copy

+ a sequence to copy it.

paste

delete

+ a sequence to paste it.

+ a sequence to delete it.

36 | Seq Mode

6 Eﬀect Manager

Eﬀect manager principles

You can add up to 4 real-time MIDI eﬀects per track, from TR01A to TR16D. Notes (played or recorded in mode, or programmed in and sent to the outputs in real-time by the eﬀect engines. All the eﬀects are non-destructive.

The position of an eﬀect in the chain is very important: an Harmonizer placed after an Arpeggiator will not sound like an Arpeggiator placed after an Harmonizer. Experiment with the order of eﬀects to generate eccentric melodies. It’s also possible to add multiple eﬀects of the same engine on the same track (e.g. chaining two arpeggiators).

STEP

mode) are processed

LIVE

With the eﬀect manager activated, you can still play notes and smartpads in stopped or paused, very handy to experiment with eﬀect parameters. You can also add notes in mute/unmute tracks in

SEQ

Eﬀects compute notes according to the track time signature, so if you change the time signature from 4/4 to 4/8, eﬀects will operate twice as fast.

Finally, all the eﬀect parameters can be edited in realtime using the programmable controllers, even if you are not in the FX manager. You can even automate parameters in REC mode or even step (parameter locks).

Some examples of MIDI FX chaining:

mode.

TRACK

mode even if Pyramid is

LIVE

mode, launch sequences

STEP

mode,

Adding eﬀects to a track

Press track:

To place an eﬀect in the chain, select one of the 4 racks and press :

to display the Eﬀect manager of the current

Select an eﬀect from the list, for example an arpeggiator, and press to add it. It is now possible to edit the eﬀect using the 5 encoders to ﬁnd a preferred setting:

To exit the eﬀect manager, press

Other tools

TIP

In ing the 5 encoders , press rec to directly record eﬀect parameter automation.

Press again to go back to the FX manager. Repeat this operation to ﬁll up to 4 racks:

mode, when you are editing an eﬀect us-

LIVE

Rotating while pressing position of the selected eﬀect. The Quantizer can’t be moved.

Edit, delete or replace an eﬀect by selecting it with :

allows you to change the

2ND

The Quantizer can only occupy the ﬁrst position. If you attempt to add the Quantizer on another rack, the eﬀect manager will automatically move it to the ﬁrst position.

A disabled eﬀect is greyed (in the screen below, the SWING and the HARMONIZER are disable):

38 | Eﬀect Manager

Quick FX selection:

• Press encoder 1 to enter the conﬁguration page of an eﬀect in slot 1.

• Press encoder 2 to enter the conﬁguration page of an eﬀect in slot 2.

• Press encoder 3 to enter the conﬁguration page of an eﬀect in slot 3.

• Press encoder 4 to enter the conﬁguration page of an eﬀect in slot 4.

Quick FX enable/disable:

• Press encoder 2ND + 1 to turn on/oﬀ the eﬀect in slot

• Press encoder 2ND + 2 to turn on/oﬀ the eﬀect in slot

• Press encoder 2ND + 3 to turn on/oﬀ the eﬀect in slot

• Press encoder 2ND + 4 to turn on/oﬀ the eﬀect in slot

TIP

Selecting another track with not exit the FX manager, useful to check if eﬀects are added in the other tracks.

TRACK

+ does

Eﬀect list

ENABLE

ON OFF

Activate/disable the arpeggiator engine.

QUANTIZER / HUMANIZER

Eliminates or adds imprecision to your performance or step note edits.

ENABLE

ON OFF

Activate/disable the quantizer / humanizer engine.

GRID

1/6 1/8

1/4

Amount of quantization. A grid of 1/4 bar will move notes (forward or backwards) to the nearest beat.

HUMAN-

Amount of humanization advance. Moves notes backwards (millisecond level) randomly, to mimic the “organic” human playing.

HUMAN+

Amount of humanization delay. Moves notes forward (millisecond level) randomly, to mimic the “organic” human playing.

…

1/12

1/16

1/24

1/32

STYLE

DOWN UP/DOWN RANDOM ASSIGN

Direction of the arpeggiated pattern. UP plays the pattern from the lowest note to highest. RANDOM will play notes in a random order. ASSIGN will play notes in the order they were played.

GATE

…

200%

1/64

Pattern note lengths, depends on the rate.

RATE

1/4

Speed of the pattern. A rate of 1/4 will play a note of the arppegio every beat.

OCTAVE

-5

To create octave shifted progression. If OCTAVE=1 the arpeggiator will play the original pattern, followed by the same pattern one octave higher. If OCTAVE=-2 the arpeggiator will play the original pattern, followed by the same pattern one octave lower, followed by the same pattern two octaves lower.

HARMONIZER

Turns notes into chords.

ARPEGGIATOR

Turns notes and chords into running patterns.

ENABLE

ON OFF

Eﬀect Manager | 39

Activate/disable the harmonizer engine.

RANDOMIZER

HARMO1

-24 …

Add an extra note simultaneously with the sequenced note according to the selected interval (harmonic). If HARMO1=12, a note will be generated one octave higher. If HARMO1=NO, no note will be added.

HARMO2

-24 …

Add a second extra note.

HARMO3

-24 …

Add a third extra note.

HARMO4

-24 …

Add a fourth extra note.

+24

SWING

Swing notes to create groove rhythms and easily go “oﬀ the grid”.

Randomly changes notes parameters (velocity, pitch or length).

ENABLE

ON OFF

Activate/disable the randomizer engine.

PARAM

VELOCITY PITCH NOTE LENGTH

Note parameter to be randomized.

RANDOM-

… 127

Negative amount of randomization. 0% (default) has no eﬀect on notes. 100% set the maximum range of negative randomization.

ENABLE

ON OFF

Activate/disable the swing engine.

PERCENT

50%

Percentage of swing (delay the position of every second point in the quantization grid). 50% (default) has no eﬀect on note position.

GRID

1/1

Swing quantization grid, to deﬁne positions of second points. Most common grids are 1/8 and 1/16.

VELOCITY

Amount of swing accent. 50% (default) has no eﬀect on note volume. Decrease this parameter to accentuate the ﬁrst note. Increase it to accentuate the second note.

…

99%

1/64

100%

RANDOM+

… 127

Positive amount of randomization. 0% (default) has no eﬀect on notes. 100% set the maximum range of positive randomization.

All random-based FX (Humanizer, Randomizer, Chance, Arpeggiator) utilize a True Random Number generator algorithm!

DELAY

MIDI delay creates a copy of entered notes, simulating a standard delay eﬀect, but using velocity MIDI data.

ENABLE

ON OFF

Activate/disable the delay engine.

40 | Eﬀect Manager

TIME

1/8

1/4 is the amount of time between the original notes and the delay notes.

REPEAT

FEEDBACK

-100%

Change the MIDI velocity of each delay note. The velocity of the delay notes will be gradually decreased (positive feedback) or increased (negative feedback). If the feedback is set to 0% velocity will not change.

DRY/WET

Change the MIDI velocity of all notes:

• if 0%, you will only hear the original notes,

• if 50%, you will hear both the original notes and the

• if 100%, you will only hear the delay notes.

TIP

synth you are using, as the velocity MIDI data can be interpreted in many ways.

128

…

delay notes,

Delay can work very diﬀerently depending on the

1/16

1/12

Number of delay notes.

50%

…

1/24

100%

1/32 1/48 1/64

Delay time

EQUALIZER

MIDI equalizer changes the velocity of the original notes, simulating a standard EQ eﬀect, but using the velocity MIDI data. It increases or decreases note velocities, according to the note pitch. The EQ slope is linear. You can, for example, increase the velocity of all lowest and highest notes, increase only medium notes, decrease the velocity of highest notes, ...

MID GAIN

cording to the BASENOTE parameter).

HI GAIN

(F9#).

…

100%

Select the gain of the central notes (ac-

100%

Select the gain of the highest notes

SCALE

This eﬀect quantizes all note pitches to a deﬁned scale in real time, to reﬁne your melody.

ENABLE

ON OFF

SCALE

MAJOR MINOR CHROMATIC

KEY

… B

STICK

UP scaled notes, select if the eﬀect have choose the note below or above.

Activate/disable the scale engine.

…

Select the scale.

Select the scale root note.

DOWN

If a non-scaled note is exactly between two

AEOLIAN LOCRIAN

ENABLE

ON OFF

BASENOTE

C-1#

note pitch of the equalizer.

LOW GAIN

1#).

Activate/disable the equalizer engine.

Select the ”mid gain note” = the central

F9#

…

100%

Select the gain of the lowest notes (C-

TRANSPOSE

Transpose all scaled notes

-12 …

+12

NOTE TO CC

This eﬀect converts a note parameter value (note pitch or note velocity) to a selected CC message (or to the MIDI ”pitch bend”, ”aftertouch” or ” program change”). For example, you can change a synth parameter (like the ﬁlter) according to the velocity of a note. It’s also very handy to fully control the Korg Volca Sample parameters (pitch, velocity, ...) with a keyboard.

Eﬀect Manager | 41

ENABLE

ON OFF

PARAM

NT ON VELOCITY NT ON/OFF rameter value to convert (pitch of the note ON, velocity of the note, pitch of the note ON and note OFF).

TO CC

CC0 Select the MIDI CC message to be created.

PLAY NOTE

OFF ON tered. If ON, the original entered note will be played.

Activate/disable the Note 2 CC engine.

Select the note pa-

CC119 PITCH PRESSURE PR. CHANGE

...

If OFF, the original entered note will be ﬁl-

BPM

This eﬀect enables you to create global tempo automation! Very useful for creating BPM changes between two tracks during your live set, automating small BPM variations, creating ”bouncing ball” eﬀects in sync, ...

ENABLE

ON OFF

CHANCE

0% be played. If ”50%”, the note has a ﬁfty-ﬁfty chance to be played. If ”99%”, the note will almost always be played. If ”VELOCITY,” the note will have the same probability of being played as its velocity. Very handy for programming diﬀerent per note probability.

SYNC

OFF chance” parameter). If sync = ”1/4”, all beat notes will have a diﬀerent probability of being played. If sync = ”1/16”, all sixteenth notes will have a diﬀerent chance to be played...

SYNC CHANCE

0% played. For example, if sync = ”1/4” and sync chance = ”100%”, all beat notes will be played.

APPLY

PER PPQN the probability aﬀects a group of notes contained in the same PPQN (if a chord is played, all notes of the chord will be played or not). If ”PER NOTE” selected, the probability aﬀects each note (if a chord is played, only some notes of the chord will be played).

Activate/disable the Chance engine.

...

100%

1/4

1/8 1/16

100%

PER NOTES

VELOCITY

The probability of a synced note to be

If ”0%”, the note will never

Add a synced probability (”sync

If ”PER PPQN” is selected,

ENABLE

ON OFF

BPM

Activate/disable the BPM engine.

The new global BPM (substitutes tap BPM).

250

...

CHANCE

This eﬀect plays or does not play a note based on probability. It’s a great way to add variations to drums or melodies.

42 | Eﬀect Manager

LFO

Generate high resolution CC waveforms in a ﬂash, based on wavetables!

WAVEFORM

OFF SINE TRIANGLE

Set the LFO waveform.

SQUARE

S AND H

RAMP

S AND H

means ”sample and hold”, generating a random value at each synchronized step.

PHASE

0°

...

Set the phase of the waveform.

180°

RANGE

-127 ...

...

Set the amplitude of the wave-

+127 form. If 0, no LFO will be generated. If +63, the LFO will be generated with the maximum range value (0 to 127). If -63, the LFO will be generated with the maximum range value, but the waveform will be inverted (127 to 0). If the value is upper 63, the LFO will ”saturate”.

RATE

1/16

...

Set the rate of the waveform (from 1/16 bar

to 64 bars).

TO CC

CC0

CC119 PITCH PRESSURE PR. CHANGE

...

Set the CC message destination.

TIP

The central value of the LFO is 63. To set an other central value (0 to 127), add a CC automation in stepmode CC.

TIP

Press

to display the LFO in real-time:

DISP

SINE

TIP

It’s possible to chain multiple LFOs (with the same CC number, on the same track), in order to create original waveforms:

TRIANGLE+TRIANGLE

RAMP

SINE

RAMP

S AND H

Eﬀect Manager | 43

7 Assign

Assign principles

The 5 encoders , the analog inputs, as well as the touchpad X+Y axis, are able to control CC messages and eﬀect parameters in real-time.

Once they are assigned, you can perform with them in all Pyramid’s modes and submodes.

To record CC messages automation or eﬀect parameters, you must be in

Assignments are saved with the project and are independent of the current track and sequence. Selecting a new track or a new sequence will not unlink or change the assignment. That means that you can work on track TR05D and slide the touchpad to control a CC message or an effect parameter of TR01A, perfect for live performance. The controllers are always ready for use, very handy for simultaneous multi-track control.

We tried to make the controller assignment process as easy as possible. If you love to play the touchpad for creating automation, it’s fast and simple to reassign the control to another CC message or eﬀect parameter and record your performance.

TIP

Once an encoder is assigned, press it to display its set value. In played on the 16 leds when rotated.

You can record automation on a track ﬁlled with notes, or on a blank track. This allows one to create tracks ﬁlled only with automation, and thus mute/unmute, and sequence CC messages and eﬀect parameter automation.

LIVE

mode, with

LIVE

mode, the encoder value will be dis-

REC

enabled.

Now you have two options:

Assign the CC message to the MIDI channel and out-

1 put of the selected track. The CC will be always sent to the same channel & output, whatever the current track.

Assign the CC message to ”GLOBAL”: the CC mes-

2 sage will be sent on the channel of the current track. For example if you assign the CC7 (VOLUME) on the encoder 1, this CC will control the VOLUME of the current track instrument.

Assign a CC message

Hold

ASSIGN

• turn an encoder , or

• slide the touchpad X or Y axis, or

• plug a jack into the CV or the GATE input.

The display “ASSIGN ENCODER TO…” will appear on the screen. Select MIDI CC by rotating then press to conﬁrm:

and …

Now select the CC message number, from CC0 to CC119. Scroll the list and press to assign the CC message. Holding

and rotate allows fast scrolling.

2ND

How to assign an eﬀect parameter

At the end of the CC list, you can ﬁnd the PITCH

BEND, the PRESSURE (aftertouch) and the PROGRAM CHANGE MIDI messages:

You can record automation on the current track only if:

• the CC channel (e.g. CH14) is the same as the track channel

• the output of the CC is the same as the track

Note: as soon as you assign a CC control and move it to set the value, an automation message is created to store this value (you can display it or remove it in stepmode CC MESSAGES). This message will be sent at the start of the track, so your synthesizer will always have the right set value. You can disable this feature in SETTINGS > MISC > CC ASSIGN > AUTOREC OFF.

When an assigned encoder is moved or pressed, a popup is displayed, with the CC number (68), the CC value (111) and the CC MIDI channel (CH09A):

Hold

ASSIGN

• turn an encoder , or

• slide the touchpad X or Y axis, or

• plug a jack into the CV or the GATE input.

The display “assign control to…” must popup. Select and press EFFECT PARAM with :

Using , select the track containing the eﬀect you want to assign:

Select the eﬀect you want to assign with :

and …

46 | Assign

Using , select the parameter you want to assign:

You can record the eﬀect parameter automation on the current track only if the eﬀect belongs to the current track.

When an assigned encoder is moved or pressed, a popup is displayed displaying the eﬀect (ARP), the eﬀect parameter (STYLE), the eﬀect value (DOWN), and the eﬀect track (01A):

Automation recording and overdub

Unlike notes, automation is not recorded with overdub. That means that the player will erase existing automation step.

For example, if you activate rec in gressively change an assigned value (e.g. CC10) during the ﬁrst loop, an automation is created:

mode and pro-

LIVE

If you don’t disable rec during the second loop, and even if you don’t change the assigned value, the automation will be erased step:

Assign | 47

You can of course record another automation if rec is still enabled:

Assign touchpad to smartpads

When assigning the touchpad, another option appears: SMARTPADS

Select the octave range of the touchpad X axis:

Disable rec to preserve automation:

This operation applies to all CC messages, pitch bend, pressure, program change and eﬀects parameters.

Assign the touchpad Y axis to a note parameter:

Now you can slide the touchpad X axis to:

• play with chords (if

• play with repeats (if the

• play with scales (if the

For example, if OCTAVES and Y axis = VELOCITY, slide the touchpad X to play notes (in the selected scale) and the touchpad Y to change note velocity.

You can play smartpads with the touchpad in every mode, and record your performance. Notes are always sent on the current track so you can use MIDI eﬀects if you want.

LIVE

smartpads = CHORD)

LIVE

smartpads = REPEAT)

LIVE

smartpads = SCALE)

LIVE

smartpads = SCALE, X axis = 2

48 | Assign

Note about analog input voltage assignment

You can assign the two analog jack inputs (CV input and GATE input) to control in real-time CC messages and effect parameters. It’s a great way to control Pyramid with your CV modules, or to create your own DIY analog controller.

The voltage (0V to 5V) will be converted to a CC MIDI value (0 to 127) or to an eﬀect parameter value (for example the arpeggiator STYLE).

Hold

ASSIGN want to assign (CV input or GATE input), the assign manager display will appear. Then select the CC message or the FX you want to assign. Moreover, the option “CV IN MODE” in stead of CV/GATE.

and plug a mini jack on the input you

SETTINGS

will be autoset to CC MESSG, in-

Assign | 49

8 Save/Load

Save/load principles

To save or load a project, make sure a SD card is inserted, hold menu:

A project is a whole set of 64 tracks (notes + eﬀects racks + CC messages automation + eﬀect parameters automation), 16 sequences, sequences chain, assignments and settings. Saving or loading a new project will stop playback.

Please do not remove the SD card while save/load menu is activated. To exit the save/load menu, press

To exit the Save/load menu, press

2ND

and press

save/load

2ND

save/load

to enter the

save/load

2ND

Select “<” to delete the last character. Select “SAVE” to conﬁrm.

TIP

Hold

in the edit display.

and rotate to move the cursor vertically

2ND

Load

Select LOAD with to load a new project on the SD card. This action will delete the current project: you must save your project before loading an other one.

Select the project to load in the dropdown list with :

Save

Select SAVE with to save the project on the SD card with the current project name. If no project name was deﬁned (NEW PROJECT), SAVE will redirect you to SAVE AS.

Saving an existing project creates a backup ﬁle on the SD card, for example “BACKUP_PROJECT1”, to always keep an old version of your project. This backup is not displayed on the LOAD project list. If you want to load it, rename the ﬁle, for example “PYRA_PROJECT1”.

Save As

Select SAVE AS with to save the project with a new name. Then edit the project name with this edit display:

Press to load selected project.

TIP

Press 2ND + delete to remove the selected project permanently from the SD card (note: the backup project is not removed).

New

NEW

Select from scratch.

to delete everything in the project and restart

Project ﬁles

Project directories are always saved on the SD card with the preﬁx “PYRA_”, in the SD root directory.

You can read the project ﬁles on your computer:

The core.pyr ﬁle contains the project settings, the sequences data, assignments and eﬀects racks.

The other ﬁles can be deleted:

The track 01A contains MIDI notes (track01.mid), MIDI CC automation (CC_track01.mid) and eﬀects parame- ters automation (FX_track01.pyr).

The track 09A contains only MIDI CC automation (CC_track09.mid).

The track 10A contains only eﬀects parameters automation (FX_track10.pyr).

The track 01B contains only MIDI notes (track17.mid).

The track 16D contains only MIDI notes (track64.mid).

You can also create a MIDI track from scratch on your DAW and export it to an existing SD card project directory, with a valid name. If you want to export the *.mid ﬁle (ﬁlled with notes) to the Pyramid TR08A, name the ﬁle track08.mid. For TR01B, name the ﬁle track17.mid. For TR16D, name the ﬁle track64.mid...

Pyramid will play this .mid note pattern in a loop, depending on the track length.

Import and export ﬁles

It’s easy to import and export MIDI ﬁles (notes and CC automation) because Pyramid store these ﬁles as standard *.mid data (type 0 MIDI ﬁle: single track). All popular DAWs can play and edit MIDI ﬁles.

You can import or export from short patterns up to long linear tracks. For example, you can drag-and-drop a *.mid ﬁle from the SD card project directory to your favorite software sequencer (e.g. Ableton) and play and edit this pattern on the DAW:

52 | Save/Load

9 Settings

Settings menu

Press

2ND+FX

Then select the settings folder. You can also select the disk icon to:

• ● Save settings currently stored in ﬂash memory. Settings options will be auto-loaded at Pyramid startup.

• ● Save current track channel mapping in ﬂash memory. The 64 track channels will be auto-loaded at Pyramid startup.

• ● Restore default settings.

• ● Restore default track channels.

To exit the settings menu, press

TIP

You can also restore default settings at startup: hold

the encoder5while powering ON Pyramid.

MIDI in

PYRAMIDI

CHANNEL 1

Select the input channel to control Pyramid with PYRAMiDi messages (see the MIDI implementation chart). For example, if CH13 is selected, you can send channel 13 MIDI CC messages (with an external controller) to Pyramid, to mute/unmute the 64 tracks on the ﬂy, select a track, activate REC, launch a sequence…

to enter General Settings.

FXor2ND

CHANNEL 16 OFF

...

MULTITRACK OFF will play notes and CC on the current track, regardless of the controller channel. MULTITRACK ON will play CH01 notes and CC on TR01A, CH02 notes and CC on TR02A, …CH16 notes and CC on TR16A.

IGNORE SYNC

OFF ON

Enables or disables BPM auto-sync, if your MIDI IN controller is sending a timing clock.

IGNORE CC MESSAGES

OFF ON

Filters out all CC messages from your MIDI IN controller.

IGNORE START STOP

OFF ON

Filters out all START, STOP and CONTINUE messages from your MIDI IN controller.

IGNORE PITCH

OFF ON

Filters out all PITCH BEND messages from your MIDI IN controller.

IGNORE AFTERTOUCH

OFF ON

Filters out all AFTERTOUCH (channel pressure) messages from your MIDI IN controller.

IGNORE PR CHG

OFF ON

Filters all PROGRAM CHANGE messages of your MIDI IN controller.

TRANSMIT SYSEX

MIDI A MIDI B MIDI AB

If OFF, received sysex messages are ignored. If Midi A (or Midi B, or Midi A+B), received sysex messages transmitted to MidiA (or Midi B, or Midi A+B).

ANTI ECHO

OFF ON

If ON, received notes (midi in) are not transmitted to midi out, but they still can be recorded. Handy if your synth (connected to Pyramid via midi in and midi out) does not include the setting ”Local Control = Oﬀ/On”

MIDI out

ASSIGN NOTE TO

KEYPAD OFF

Speciﬁes if received notes are performed as notes, smartpads (e.g. CHORDS) or ignored. If SMARTPADS ONLY WHITE is selected, only the white keys will trig the smartpads.

OMNI MODE

MULTITRACK ON MULTITRACK OFF

SMARTPADS SMARTPADS ONLY WHITE

MIDI A MODE

MIDI OUT TURBO MIDI X2 TURBO MIDI X4 TURBO MIDI X5 TURBO MIDI X6.7

Conﬁgures Pyramid MIDI out A as a MIDI out (default), as a MIDI thru (all messages received on the MIDI input will be sent directly on the MIDI out A), as a MIDI out + thru (all messages received on the MIDI input will be sent directly on the MIDI out A, together with Pyramid MIDI messages).

MIDI THRU

MIDI OUT + THRU MIDI OFF

It’s possible to speed up the midi A communication up to 6,7 times and avoid latency problem, when sequencing an Elektron machine (Analog Four, Analog Keys, Analog Rytm, Octatrack), by using the TURBO MIDI protocol.

SYNC MIDI A

OFF SEND

Sends BPM MIDI clock to MIDI out A.

START/STOP MIDI A

OFF SEND

Sends START, STOP and CONTINUE messages to MIDI out A.

MIDI B MODE

MIDI OUT

Conﬁgures Pyramid MIDI out B as a MIDI out (default), as a MIDI thru (all messages received on the MIDI input will be sent directly on the MIDI out B), as a MIDI out + thru (all messages received on the MIDI input will be sent directly on the MIDI out B, together with Pyramid MIDI messages).

MIDI THRU

MIDI OUT + THRU MIDI OFF

SYNC MIDI B

OFF SEND

Sends BPM MIDI clock to MIDI out B.

START/STOP MIDI B

OFF SEND

Sends START, STOP and CONTINUE messages on MIDI out B.

SYNC USB

OFF SEND

Sends BPM MIDI clock to MIDI out USB.

START/STOP USB

OFF SEND

Sends START, STOP and CONTINUE messages to MIDI USB.

SYNC STOP

NO CLOCK SEND CLOCK

If NO CLOCK selected, the sync (timing clock) will never be sent when the player is stopped or paused.

CV/pedal

CV IN MODE

OFF CV/GATE CC MESSAGES

Selects if the CV inputs control notes of the current track (CV/GATE) or CC messages (see Note about analog input voltage assignation).

CV IN 2V NOTE

...

F4#

C1#

Selects the CV INPUT TO MIDI root note. By default, a CV voltage of 2V plays a C2 MIDI note on the current track.

Selects if your analog controller generates CV V/oct or CV Hz/V.

CV OUT 2V NOTE

...

F4#

C1#

Selects the MIDI TO CV OUTPUT root note. By default, a C2 MIDI note plays a CV voltage of 2V.

CV OUT TYPE

VOLT/OCTAVE HERTZ/VOLT 1.2 VOLT/OCTAVE

Selects if your analog synthesizer is controlled by CV V/oct or CV Hz/V.

GATE POLARITY

ACTIVE 5V ACTIVE 0V

Selects the active polarity gate of your analog synthesizer.

ASSIGN ENV OUT TO

VELOCITY PITCH AFTERTOUCH MODULATION DIN SYNC METRONOME

Selects if the CV ENV outputs the note velocity, the pitch, the aftertouch (channel pressure) or the modulation of the CV track. You can also assign the CV ENV output to the din sync clock, to easily sync your modular system with a mini jack.

DIN SYNC

OFF SYNC1 SYNC2 SYNC4 SYNC8 SYNC12 SYNC16 SYNC24 SYNC48 SYNC96

Selects the DIN SYNC clock speed.

SEND DIN SYNC

PLAY ONLY ALWAYS

The DIN SYNC clock can be sent only when the player is playing, or always (when player is stopped or played).

PEDAL HOT

REC HARD REC PLAY/PAUSE PLAY/STOP PREVIOUS TRACK NEXT TRACK NEXT SEQ

Sets the action triggered by the footswitch pedal.

TAP TEMPO

PREVIOUS SEQ

PEDAL COLD

REC HARD REC PLAY/PAUSE PLAY/STOP PREVIOUS TRACK NEXT TRACK NEXT SEQ

Sets the second action that will be triggered by the footswitch pedal (if double pedal used).

TAP TEMPO

PREVIOUS SEQ

ANALOG IN

(display only)

Display the 4 input voltages (0 to 5V).

ANALOG OUT

(display only)

Display the 3 output voltages (0 to 5V).

Misc

CV IN TYPE

VOLT/OCTAVE HERTZ/VOLT

54 | Settings

LIVE LOOPER

OFF

BEAT 1 BAR 2 BAR ...

8 BAR

Enable LIVE looper recording and select looper time quantization (see Record your performance).

SIGNATURE

POLYRHYTHMS POLYMETERS

- If POLYRHYTHMIC is selected, Pyramid apply true Polyrhythms when diﬀerent time signatures are used. If you select a 3:4 time signature you will have bars of 3 quarter notes, but the bar will have the same duration as a 3/4 bar.

- If POLYMETRIC is selected, all quarter notes remain the same. If you select a 3/4 time signature you will have bars of 3 quarter notes, and each quarter note will have the same length than the 4/4 ones. The polymetric mode is easier to understand than the Polyrhythmic one because it doesn’t mix several speeds.

DOUBLE TAP MODE

VELOCITY GLIDE

In NOTE and CHORD stepmodes, double tap a pad to enter velocity accents or gliding notes. Glides only works with compatible synths: if two notes follow, the ﬁrst one must be double tapped to create a glide (= an overlapping) between these two notes.

REC COUNTDOWN

OFF

1 BAR 2 BAR

Activates a countdown before a recording in live mode (When the player is stopped and you press REC then PLAY). You can select the duration of the countdown. The countdown will be sent on the metronome output channel and note.

3 BAR

4 BAR

METRONOME CH

CURRENT TRACK MIDI CH01A

Select the metronome output channel (made with midi notes). If the metronome is activated (2ND+LIVE), the metronome will be send on this selected track, and will follow the beat.

USB CH16

…

METRONOME NOTE

C-1 G9

Select the metronome output note. If the metronome is acti-

2ND+LIVE

vated ( note.

), the metronome will click on the selected

STEP LEARN

OFF LEARN NOTES

If OFF, step note learn with an external keyboard is disable (see Note Stepmode).

CC ASSIGN

AUTOREC OFF AUTOREC ON

With autorec on, as soon as you assign a CC control and move it to set the value, an automation message is created to store this value (you can display it or remove it in stepmode CC MESSAGES). This message will be sent at the start of the track, so your synthesizer will always have the right set value.

PLAY PAD

PLAY/PAUSE PLAY/RESTART

If ”play/pause” selected, a press on the PLAY pad will alternately play and pause the playback. If ”play/restart” selected, a

PLAY/MUTE

press on the PLAY pad will always restart the current sequence playback from the beginning. If ”mute” selected, Pyramid continue to play but send no midi data if the player is paused.

MUTE DELAY

SAME AS SEQ PERFORM

Select if tracks mute/unmute are in sync with SEQ PERFORM or always instant (see Mute/unmute tracks on the ﬂy).

INSTANT

DEFAULT TRACK

MODE FREE MODE RELATCH MODE TRIG

Set the default run mode of new tracks.

DEFAULT ZOOM

25% 50% 100% 200% 400%

Deﬁne the default zoom of all tracks at startup.

DEFAULT LENGTH

1 BAR …

Deﬁne the default length of all tracks at startup.

64 BAR

DEFAULT TS L

Deﬁne the default time signature top number of all tracks at startup.

…

24/

DEFAULT TS R

…

/16

Deﬁne the default time signature bottom number of all tracks at startup.

DEFAULT PERFORM

INST

Set the default run mode for new tracks.

BEAT 1 BAR …

8 BAR

POPUP ASSIGN

ON CLICK ON ROTATE AND CLICK

Displays a popup with encoder assignment information on click or on rotation.

TOUCHPAD

ON OFF

Enables or disables the touchpad.

TOUCHPAD RELATCH

NO RELATCH

If no relatch is selected, the touchpad (assigned X or Y position) will keep it’s last set value. If a value is selected (for example

0), the touchpad will send back this value when the touchpad is released.

… 127

ENABLE USB

ON OFF

Enables or disables the USB output.

AUTOLOAD

OFF LAST SAVED PROJECT LAST LOADED PROJECT

After startup, Pyramid can load an empty project, load the last saved project or load the last loaded project.

Settings | 55

STOP/PAUSE LED

OFF ON

When Pyramid is stopped or paused, the led displaying the player position on the 16 pads will blink.

56 | Settings

Step mode

10 Shortcuts

In any mode

Hold

TRACK

•

solo

•

MIDI channel

•

zoom length

•

time signature

•

To change BPM in decimal increments, turn while pressing it.

Hold

2ND+BPM

the tempo, which will apply only when you release

Hold

2ND

BPM in a ﬂash.

Once an encoder is assigned, press it to display its set value.

FX manager,Assign

to exit and return to the current mode.

BPM

Hold

2ND

Live mode

Hold

LIVE

smartpads.

Hold

STEP

and smartpad velocity. You can also press enable the ENCODER STEP EDIT feature, in order to set

velocity

the

Hold

2ND

When the player is stopped and you press rec , Pyramid waits for play to be pressed. Once you press a countdown begins. After a speciﬁed number of countdown bars, recording starts and continues until the end of the track loop at which point recording stops and the loop continues to play as normal.

When smartpads = CHORD, to the very next major/minor tonality. Add complexity by pressing and rotating .

When smartpads = SCALE, the root note of the scale.

+ play activate the HOLD/RELATCH mode.

2ND

Press

2ND

tion + FX automation of the current track.

to activate the following shortcuts:

and turn the data knob to change

2ND

and press<or>to double or divide the

DISP

and press

and rotate to change the function of the 8

velocity

using the touchpad X axis.

and press rec to activate a hard recording.

delete

to activate the metronome.

LIVE

and rotate to change keypad

2ND

to delete only notes + CC automa-

Settings

+ rotating will jump

+ rotating will select

, press

ASSIGN

Hold

STEP

Hold list faster.

Preview the selected note by pressing . Pressing or>while holding allows you to jump octaves for a quicker note navigation. You can also press a key while holding to directly select the note number.

In stepmode a step. Hold (and even edit) the step velocity. Same functionality is true for edit several steps: hold and press the ﬁrst step together with the last step of the row .

Double tap a step pad to add a low velocity note in order to create accents quickly.

velocity

Hold quickly set the velocity, the CC value or the FX value.

Hold<or>to quickly navigate pages.

Press (shift all notes one step left or right).

Press rec to switch to MONO EDITING, to have a global view of which of the 16 steps are ﬁlled with notes. Pressing a ﬁlled step will remove all notes in this step, whatever the selected note is.

In stepmode a row of steps) and rotate to transpose it. Hold rec and rotate to transpose the track notes.

In stepmode step (or a row of steps) and rotate to increase/decrease its value. Hold rec and rotate to transpose the whole automation.

In stepmode rec and slide the touchpad to draw an automation.

Press feature, in order to assign directly the 5 encoders and the touchpad to shortcuts.

In stepmode

STEP

programmed notes or CC messages. Press

STEP

and turn to change Stepmode.

and rotate to scroll the note list or the CC

2ND

, you can display the parameters of

NOTE

velocity

length

2ND

ASSIGN

to activate the ﬁlter, in order to scroll only through

again to quit the ﬁlter.

and

and slide the touchpad from left to right to

and hold<or>to quickly rotate the track

NOTE

CC MESSAGES

NOTE

and press a ﬁlled step to display

. You can also display and

width

velocity

and

CHORD

to enable the ENCODER STEP EDIT

and

CC MESSAGES

length

(or

, hold a step (or

and

EFFECTS

and

EFFECTS

, pres

width

, hold a

, hold

2ND

)

Track mode

Hold instantly.

Hold lect the MIDI output of the track.

and select a track to mute/unmute it

2ND

MIDI channel

and press + rotate to quickly se-

length

Hold step precision.

time signature

Hold signature’s upper number on the current track.

Pess rec in order to disable saving sequence mute states (rec led will be OFF). If you mute or unmute a track, the sequence will not save mute states.

DISP

> TR07A, TR08A > TR16A, TR01B > TR07B, …)

and press + rotate to set the bar level with

and rotate to change the time

view, rotate to scroll the track banks (TR01A

FX manager mode

With the eﬀect manager activated, you can still play or add notes in tracks in

SEQ

Rotating while pressing position of the selected eﬀect.

In encoders , press rec to record directly the eﬀect parameters automation.

In the main EFFECT MANAGER window:

• Press encoder 1 to enter the parameter screen of the eﬀect in slot 1.

• Press encoder 2 to enter the parameter screen of the eﬀect in slot 2.

• Press encoder 3 to enter the parameter screen of the eﬀect in slot 3.

• Press encoder 4 to enter the parameter screen of the eﬀect in slot 4.

• Press encoder 2ND + 1 to turn the eﬀect in slot 1 on or oﬀ.

• Press encoder 2ND + 2 to turn the eﬀect in slot 2 on or oﬀ.

• Press encoder 2ND + 3 to turn the eﬀect in slot 3 on or oﬀ.

• Press encoder 2ND + 4 to turn the eﬀect in slot 4 on or oﬀ.

TRACK

mode.

mode, when you are editing an eﬀect with the 5

LIVE

and

LIVE

mode, and even launch sequences in

STEP

2ND

mode, mute/unmute

allows you change the

Assign mode

Hold

and rotate to scroll through the CC list faster.

2ND

Save/load mode

Hold the SAVE AS…edit display.

In the LOAD project list, press a project deﬁnitively from the SD card (note: the backup project is not removed).

58 | Shortcuts

and rotate to move the cursor vertically in

2ND

delete

to remove

squarp-instruments Squarp Instruments Pyramid SQUARP Pyramid Sequencer User Guide V1

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

1 Quickstart

TRACKS VS SEQUENCES

WIRE UP

SEQUENCER WORKFLOW

QUICK TOUR OF THE FOUR PYRAMID MODES

SCREEN

Basics

CAPTURING A PERFORMANCE

SELECTING THE CURRENT TRACK

USING THE STEP SEQUENCER

MUTING AND UNMUTING TRACKS

CREATING AND EDITING SEQUENCES

SELECTING THE CURRENT SEQUENCE

PERFORMING SEQUENCES

TEMPO

EFFECT MANAGER

UNDO

SAVING AND LOADING A PROJECT

ASSIGN A CONTROL

DISPLAY FEATURES

QUICK TRACK SETTINGS

PLAY/PAUSE/STOP

SETTINGS MENU

METRONOME

Inputs/Outputs

MIDI CONNECTIVITY

USB CONNECTIVITY

CV/GATE CONNECTIVITY

DIN SYNC CONNECTIVITY

Connectivity examples

PYRAMID ON STAGE

PEDAL FOOT-SWITCH

PYRAMID SEQUENCING VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS

PYRAMID ON THE STUDIO TABLE

Play with the keypad

2 Live Mode

Screen

Record your performance

Pads

COUNTDOWN

HARD RECORD

LIVE LOOPER

Change smartpad type

Chord smartpads

Scale smartpads

Hold

Relatch

Repeat smartpads

Copy/Paste/Delete

Change Stepmode

3 Step Mode

Screen

Pads

Note Stepmode

ADD NOTES

POLY / MONO EDITING

NOTE PARAMETERS: VELOCITY, WIDTH, OFFSET

PIANO ROLL

NOTE LEARN WITH A KEYBOARD

Chord Stepmode

ADD CHORDS

PIANO ROLL

Euclid Stepmode

CC messages Stepmode

CREATE STEP AUTOMATION

DRAW AUTOMATION

STEP-LOCK AUTOMATION

CREATE STEP AUTOMATION

DRAW AN AUTOMATION

STEP-LOCK AUTOMATION

Track player: pages, zoom and length

Copy/Paste

Delete

Rotate

Encoder step edit

Player tracking