ER-101 Favorite Clock Input Rate?

What is the preferred PPQ to pump into the clock input? I know it’s imminently flexible, but what’s the best practice?

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My favorite is 24ppqn.

  • Whole notes are 96 pulses.
  • Dotted half notes are 72 pulses.
  • Half notes are 48 pulses.
  • Dotted quarter notes are 36 pulses.
  • Quarter notes are 24 pulses.
  • 8ths are 12 pulses.
  • Triplet 8ths are 8 pulses.
  • 16ths are 6 pulses.
  • Triplet 16ths are 4 pulses.
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I always end up with single notes and weird stuff going on elsewhere to shift the notes around (always liked this way of working), but… I really need to explore this - thanks for sharing!

i use 24ppqn too, have the e-rm multiclock as my main clock source.
would love to have an even faster clock but unfortunately that’s not possible with the multiclock, so sometimes i multiply it inside the 101.
the faster the clock the more “humanizing” options you get, eg phasing sounds more natural.

this for example: Share your ER-301 Music - #193 by kilchhofer
was only possible with an ultra fast clock so the “marimba” hits shift around a few clock pulses and it gives a “duet” like impression.

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I send a 24 ppqn clock too but then using the following multiplication/division pairs 2/3, 4/3 or 8/3 where I use the higher multiplication values if I want very fine control over different timings.

The 2/3 = 16th note with a duration of 4

The 4/3 = 16th note with duration of 8

The 8/3 = 16th note with duration of 16

Using the 8/3 is useful for percussion as you can more control over the timing on a much finer grid.

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Thanks, guys…I’m going to embrace some 24ppq.

New to the ER-101. This was a bit puzzling at first for me. I just created a cheat-sheet of useful timing grids for myself. Maybe it will be useful to others. I like 16ppqn because it gives me resolution down to 64th notes = 1 pulse. I don’t need triplet 64th notes and the numbers make more sense to me.

This is a great foundational topic! Please add ideas.

Clock Durations

Whole note = 96 pulses.
Dotted half note = 72 pulses.
Half note = 48 pulses.
Dotted quarter note = 36 pulses.
Quarter note = 24 pulses. (24ppqn)
8th note = 12 pulses.
Triplet 8ths = 8 pulses.
16th note = 6 pulses.
Triplet 16th note = 4 pulses.
32nd = 3 pulses.
Triplet 32nd are 2 pulses.
Triplet 64th = 1 pulses.

Whole notes = 72.
Dotted half notes = 48.
Half notes = 36.
Dotted quarter notes = 24.
Quarter notes = 16. (16ppqn)
8th note = 8.
Triplet 8th = 6.
16th note = 4.
Triplet 16th = 3.
32nd note = 2.
64th note = 1.

Whole note = 36.
Dotted half note = 24.
Half note = 16.
Dotted quarter notes = 12.
Quarter notes = 8. (8ppqn)
Dotted eighths = 6.
8ths = 4.
Triplet 8ths = 3.
16ths = 2.
32nd = 1.

Whole note = 16.
Dotted half note = 12.
Half note = 8.
Dotted quarter notes = 6.
Quarter notes = 4. (4ppqn)
Dotted eighths = 3.
8ths = 2.
16ths = 1.

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Don’t overlook the multiplication and division of the clock per track - for instance you could send a 24ppqn clock then use the multiply/divide (2/3) so you can then still specify a quarter note with a duration of 16. This gets interesting if you then use 8/3 which means a quarter note is a duration of 64 … it means you can create sequences where the duration is slightly off to create swing etc by having 61 & 67 duration notes etc

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That’s interesting… I’ll have to think about that one. I have a Pams New Workout - haven’t got into swing yet but was planning on controlling it from there. I think it’s cv controllable as well. Nice idea!

I tend to work in boring 4ppqn (either by diving down 24ppqn or sending 4ppqn in the first place) until I find the need for something else (then change mult/div and use maths to fix the pattern) but maybe I am limiting myself by doing this.

Going to try some of this stuff above and see if it leads me to a new wonky place!

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24ppqn here as well. Then depending on my needs I`m either multiplying or diving it. I stopped using my clock divider because of that :slight_smile:

I’m curious how you’re using this. Which divisions and multiplications are useful? Do you have any lag from the synthesized clock - the manual says the sequencer waits 1 full period.

If I wanted to use an external 24ppqn clock, but wanted the track clock 16ppqn - would I have to divide by 3 and multiply by 2?

When dividing and multiplying, do you need to start sending resets?

You can probably tell I’m new to all this. Really enjoying the modular ride :grin:

This is referring to a lag in responding to a change in tempo. It needs to see one whole period of the new tempo before it can measure it and respond.

On the other hand, the lag in responding to an external clock pulse is always 0.333ms.

Thanks Brian,… I’m trying to understand a couple things:

  1. There is a synthesized clock created when multiplying or dividing - syncing to external clock? Do you need to send a reset?

  2. When clock division set to “1”, there is no synthesized clock - the external clock drives each step?

  3. Can you divide and multiply or just one or the other?

Thanks

  1. There is a synthesized clock only when the multiplier is greater than one. Resets in general are always needed to sync with other processes going on in your modular, regardless of whether you are multipying and/or dividing. So I’m not sure why you are asking this here.

  2. Division does not cause clock pulses to be synthesized. External clock pulses are counted and passed through only on every Nth pulse. In other words, division removes pulses so there is no need to synthesize more.

  3. You can do both simultaneously. That is how you create all the time signatures.

Apologies Brian, my reason for asking was I was wondering if controlling the ppqn from the external clock (Pam’s New Workout in my case) was more streamlined and possibly tighter.
Thanks for answering my questions.

No problem at all. I did not really understand the line of your questioning so I had to resort to answering each question literally. :wink:

This is not something that I can answer because it depends on your entire patch. Just try both, but most likely it won’t make a difference.

Would these be the duration values?
Duration of 24 at a clock of 24ppqn related to a nice clean quarter note?

I’ve been trying to grasp what duration lengths mean in relation to what ppqn you feed it… any info would be appreciated!