Probability Sequencer

The stochastic sibling of the Drum Sequencer — same 8-lane × 32-step grid, but every step holds a probability instead of a plain on/off. On each clock the playhead advances and every active, un-muted lane rolls the dice, firing its trigger with the step's odds. A cold, computer-core faceplate: pads glow with cyan "signal-strength" heat and pulse white-hot only when a step actually lands, so you watch the pattern flicker with chance in real time.

Clock

Three modes, chosen with the Clock switch on the strip above the grid.

• Ext — each pulse at CLK advances the playhead one step and rolls the dice. ▶ ⏹ are inactive: the cable is the clock.
• Int — the sequencer runs at its own tempo. Press ▶ to start, ⏹ to stop. This is the only mode where the BPM box is editable.
• Song — the pattern follows the timeline. One step per 16th, counted from the start of the song. Length still applies, so an odd length gives polymeter against the song.

⏮ rewinds. In Ext it resets so the next pulse is step 1; in Int it restarts on the spot; in Song it rewinds the whole song, since the sequencer's position is the song's. RST follows the same rule.

The dice in Song mode

This is the one place the Probability Sequencer behaves differently from its siblings, and it's worth understanding.

In Ext and Int the dice are live: every roll is genuinely random, so each pass through the loop differs and no two performances are the same. That's the point of the module.

In Song the dice are tied to song position instead. Rolls are computed from where you are in the song, which buys you two things at once:

• A song plays back the same way twice. Seek to bar 33 and you get the same hits you'd have got playing into bar 33 — so an arrangement is a fixed thing you can mix against, not a different performance each time you hit play.
• Consecutive loops still differ. The roll follows the absolute position, not the position within the pattern, so bar 2 rolls differently from bar 1 exactly as it always did. The module keeps its character; the song gains an identity.

The dice are tied to a seed stored with the patch, so the same patch always rolls the same song — on any machine, after any reload.

• mem — 0–10 V selects the memory slot (1–16), overriding the slot buttons

(patch a sequencer/quantizer here to switch patterns).

• 1–8 — eight trigger outputs (one per lane, 10 V, 1 ms pulse) that fire only

when that lane's current step wins its roll.

The grid

• Draw probabilities — click or drag directly on a step: the cursor height

on the pad sets its odds (bottom = off, top = 100 %), in 16 fine levels. Drag up/down to fine-tune one step, or drag sideways across a lane to draw a run or a rising/falling curve. A live % readout floats over the pad as you draw.

• Level readout — each pad's fill-height and brightness show its probability:

a short dim teal bar = a rare ghost hit; a tall white-hot bar (with a ring) = a certain 100 % hit. Pads flash only on a real hit, not every pass.

• LENGTH — click a beat-lamp in the top row to set the loop length (1–32);

lamps past the end dim. The lamps also chase the playhead.

• MUTE — click a lane number on the left to silence that lane (its steps stay,

its dice aren't rolled).

• MEMORY — 16 magenta slot buttons on the right (two columns, 1–8 then

9–16). Each slot stores a full 8-lane probability pattern; LENGTH and MUTE are shared. Click to switch; patch mem to select by CV.

Tips

• Humanized hats: a lane of 75 % eighth-notes drops the occasional hit for a

looser, less machine-like feel; drop to 25–50 % for sparse, ever-changing fills.

• Ghost notes: a low-probability lane (25 %) sprinkled around the backbeat adds

life without cluttering the groove.

• Fills via memory: program a busy variation in another slot and jump to it with

a clock/quantizer into mem for a probabilistic fill every few bars.

• 100 % = deterministic: set a whole pattern to 100 % and it plays exactly like

the Drum Sequencer — dial individual steps down to introduce chance where you want it.