Step Sequencer

A classic CV step sequencer with up to 32 steps, a per-step gate lane, and sixteen pattern memories. Program a value and a gate for each step, then clock it to play melodies, basslines, or rhythmic modulation — with a movable play window, four play modes, and live pattern shifting.

How it works

Each step holds a CV value (the column height) and a gate (the toggle beneath it). Length sets how many steps exist, while Start and End carve a play window inside that pattern — loop a short phrase out of a longer sequence without re-editing. Shift rotates the read position through the window, replaying the same steps in a new order and wrapping back to the original at a full turn. Sixteen memory slots each store their own values and gates, so you can flip between variations (or sweep them with CV) while the window and mode stay put.

Controls

  • Grid — paint each step's value as a column and toggle its gate underneath; the playhead lights the step that's sounding.
  • Length — how many steps the pattern holds, 1 to 32.
  • Start / End — the first and last step of the play window inside the pattern.
  • Shift — rotates the windowed values and gates; at full turn it lands back where it started.
  • Mode — how the playhead moves: Fwd, Rev, Pend (pendulum), or Rand (random).
  • Clock: Ext / Int / Song — who advances the sequencer.
  • Ext — one pulse at Clk = one step. The classic wiring, and the default.
  • Int — free-runs at its own BPM, one step per Div, while ▶ Run is on.
  • Song — the position is taken from the song timeline. Drop the playhead

anywhere, in the Automation dock or on a Song Clock, and the sequencer plays the step that belongs at that point — the same pass every time, however you got there. In Rand mode the random walk becomes positional too, so it repeats identically on every playthrough instead of rolling fresh (which is what makes it usable in a song). Two things behave differently here: Chain is inert — each sequencer runs its own window, because which one is "next" depends on history the module can't see, so a chained pair should both be switched to Song (a Song-mode sequencer never pulses Chain Out, and a downstream one waiting its turn would stay silent) — and moving Start/End/Length re-maps the position rather than continuing from where it was. Rev also starts cleanly on the window's last step, where Ext holds the first step for one clock before counting down.

  • Div — the step rate for Int and Song: 1/1 down to 1/32. Ext

ignores it, since the cable you patch sets the rate there.

  • ⏮ ⏹ ▶ — the transport. ▶/⏹ run the internal clock, so they're live only

in Int; ⏮ works in every mode (in Song it rewinds the whole song).

  • BPM — the internal tempo, editable in Int. In Song it dims and shows

the timeline's tempo; in Ext it dims, since the cable is the clock.

  • Range — output scaling: ±5V bipolar or 0-10 unipolar. Ignored while Quantize is on, which sends pitch instead.
  • Quantize — snap every step to a scale, turning the sequencer into a melody

writer: Out becomes 1V/oct pitch and each column's height picks a degree of the scale rather than a raw voltage. The bar's full travel spans the scale across five octaves, so drawing your bars within a narrow band keeps the line in a narrow range — and no matter where you draw them, every note is in key. Thirty-two scales, from the everyday (Ionian, Aeolian, the pentatonics, Blues) through the exotic (Bali Pelog, Persian, Hungarian, Komet) to four that aren't scales at all but melodic sequences — Prism, Bach, and the two Inversions — which walk their own patterns as you climb the bars. The scale tables come from the Quantimator hardware module.

  • Random — scrambles the current slot's values and gates within the window.
  • Memory — sixteen slots (two columns of eight), each holding its own pattern; the lit one is live.

Inputs & outputs

  • Clk — advances one step per pulse in Ext mode; this sets the tempo there.
  • Rst — jumps back to the window's start step (in Song mode it rewinds the song instead, since the position comes from the timeline).
  • Chain In / Chain Out — link sequencers end to end: each runs one window pass, then hands off to the next through Chain Out for longer, evolving sequences. Works in Ext and Int; inert in Song.
  • Start CV / End CV / Mode CV / Shift CV — 0–10V control over the matching knob, for modulating the window, direction, and rotation while you play.
  • Mem CV — 0–10V selects memory slot 1–16, overriding the buttons.
  • Out — the current step's value, scaled per Range — or, with Quantize on, the step's scale degree as 1V/oct pitch (patch it straight into an oscillator's V/OCT).
  • Trig — a short pulse on every gated step; patch to envelopes or drums.

Tips

  • Keep Length long and the Start/End window short to audition slices of a big pattern, then sweep the window with CV for fills.
  • Gates are independent of values — leave a melody intact but mute steps with the gate lane for syncopation.
  • Patch a slow LFO or another sequencer into Mem CV to cycle your sixteen patterns as song sections.