Section B: A Brief Overview
B-1: THE TWO WINDOWS:
The INSTRUMENT CONTROLS WINDOW is where you will record everything, manipulate MIDI loops, and set up your sound characteristics in terms of MIDI channel, sound program number, filtering, density, loop length, etc. This is the main level window that opens when you open the Playpen . The SEQUENCER CONTROLS WINDOW is where you will play and manipulate your sequences, once they are recorded. You will undoubtedly be going back and forth between the two windows during performance, alternating between MIDI loops and sequences, or perhaps even playing them together. To access the SEQUENCER CONTROLS WINDOW, double-click on its patcher in the middle right portion of the main (INSTRUMENT CONTROLS) window.
B-2: DEFINITION OF MIDI LOOP/SEQUENCE: In order to understand the concept of the PLAYPEN, it is necessary to distinguish between the MIDI loops and the sequences. The MIDI loops reside exclusively with Instrument #1 on the INSTRUMENT CONTROLS WINDOW. Each of the 12 modules has one MIDI loop. The composer sets the loop length, and plays musical material from a keyboard, and the music, whether chordal or single notes, enters a MIDI loop, which, via the MAX “pipe” object, recycles continuously. If left alone, it will sound exactly the same each time. There is no way to save this loop (unless you record it into a sequence – more later about that), and once the program quits, it is gone. Its advantage is that there are many more avenues of exploration and manipulation of this material via the MIDI loop than there are with the sequences.
Instruments 2 and 3 also have a non-sequencer mode not unlike the MIDI loops, in that they too are temporary. The difference is that in Inst. 2 and 3 once you have finished entering your keyboard performance the instrument will not repeat exactly what you have performed, but rather will improvise on it. And so we may call these “improvisational quasi-loops.”
SEQUENCE: The sequence resides in all three instruments. There is one sequence per module in Inst. #1 912 in all), and one sequence each for Inst. # 2 and 3. The purpose of the sequence is twofold: first, it allows the composer to store and save and recall the material as per the MAX “seq” protocol. This is important when one is compiling a complex set of sequences to form a larger hierarchy of structure. Second, the sequence allows exact control of playing start times, exact tempo changes, transpositions. And in the SEQUENCER CONTROLS WINDOW, one can do several of these tasks together, under control of a preset. The composer records material into the sequence in a way somewhat similar to that of a MIDI loop, and will often be recording material into both at once.
B-3: Ways to manipulate MIDI loops (or quasi-loops) (refer to Instrument Controls window, from top to bottom):
Loop length (Inst. 1 only)
Sound Program # (& bank # if called for)
MIDI Channel #
Play status on/off, in normal and enhanced modes.
Density
Collapsed rhythm (Inst. 1 only)
Velocity and random velocity
Modulation Wheel
Breath Controller (or ctrl # 7)
Random pitch (Inst. 1 only)
Transposition (on the fly via mac keyboard only)
Transposition (initially as the sequence is played into the MIDI loop, remaining as such until the loop is succeeded by another)
Tempo on the fly (Inst. 2 & 3 only)
Duration (Inst. 2 & 3 only)
Various auto functions
All except collapsed rhythm are non-destructive, in that one can return to the original MIDI loop (or quasi loop) after the manipulation has taken place.
B-4: Ways to manipulate sequences (refer to Sequencer Controls window):
Tempo (not on the fly-must be set before sequence starts)
Start/stop at will (Unlike MIDI loops, sequence ALWAYS starts at the beginning)
Continuous sequence repeats on/off
Delay time between repetitions of sequence
Transposition on the fly (more versatile than that with MIDI loops)
All are non-destructive
B-5: Manipulations shared by MIDI loops, sequences:, and improvisational quasi-loops (these are all
accomplished in the Instrument Controls window):
Sound program
MIDI channel
Modulation Wheel (MIDI controller #1)
Breath Controller (MIDI controller #2)
To reiterate:
MIDI loops (and their Inst. 2 &3 counterparts improvisational quasi-loops) are temporary, have more abilities for manipulation
Sequences are more permanent, have more exact controls as to start times, tempo, transposition
Only Inst. #1 has MIDI loops. Inst. 2 & 3 have improvisational quasi-loops. All instruments have sequences.
Each module of Inst. #1 has its very own MIDI loop. Inst. 2 and 3 each have their own improvisation system (they are identical systems). And each module of Inst. #1, and each of Inst. 2 and 3 have their own individual sequences, for the purpose of saving and recreating what you did at a later date.
Both can and will exist simultaneously in a live performance, and can be recorded into each other and, while playing, alternate between each other.
You can begin to see already that this is going to be one doozy of a creative experience.
B-6: DEFINITION OF INSTRUMENT/MODULE: There are three instruments in the Playpen (do not confuse the word “instrument” with something that makes a sound -- these are control instruments). Instrument #1 is further divided into twelve modules. Instruments #2 and 3 are not divided into modules. Instruments 2 & 3 and the modules of Inst. 1 have similar functions in that they each deal with one MIDI channel of synthesizer sound. They also share many identical or similar control characteristics (program change, modulation wheel and breath controller manipulation, play on/off, velocity, etc.). Finally, they can each be recorded into a sequencer (which is the “seq” object in MAX), saved, and re-constituted at a future time.
INSTRUMENT #1 allows for 12 separate and independent control modules of synthesizer MIDI channels via MIDI loops which are first recorded via keyboard and then modified. Each channel of control is called a “module.” If no modification takes place, the recordings remain intact. The feature can accept chords as well as single notes. After the material is recorded, just about any parameter can be modified, either manually via MIDI continuous controller, or via global controls (i.e. the Mac keyboard) which can be set up beforehand.
INSTRUMENTS # 2 & 3 utilize a method whereas the composer enters melodies or generic pitch/rhythm/velocity keyboard strikes, and then the instrument remembers these along with the durations and improvises on them. Unlike INSTRUMENT #1, the details are always changing, relying on probability tables which correspond to the material entered by the composer. Again, during performance, many details of the process can be changed.
All material entered in all three instruments may be automatically stored as sequences (or it may not, depending on how you set up your recording--see below), so if the materials become altered beyond recognition through your manipulation, the original is always just a click away if it has been recorded into its sequence. You do need to press a couple of additional keys to initially enter your recording into the sequencers. In all three instruments, the sequencers are an additional item apart from the routine recording/playback functions of the instruments. The sequencers, then, may be labeled “backup” devices. Or, they may be used in performance directly on the Sequencer Controls page.
In all three instruments, it is possible to save the material entered into the sequencers via the traditional Macintosh save window and protocol, and start up the next session with the material automatically called up and ready to play.