Total duration display when copying across patterns

Hey there,

So I already use the the pattern focus to display the total duration in a given pattern which is awesome for getting things on (or off) grid when using other sequencers, but I had a thought the other day while using recording with the the 102…

Specifically, I had recorded a bunch of patterns of varied step length and duration and wanted to copy the beginning of one recording and the end of another…but I had CR and Trigger Riot sequences syncopated with the sequence really well and didn’t want lose that so I carefully counted out the duration of what I wanted to copy and edited the sequences accordingly to preserve that feel before copying.

This was pretty time-consuming so as I was number crunching in my head I thought…wouldn’t it be awesome if when you copied multiple steps across patterns with the copy-and-scroll functionality that the total duration you were copying was displayed somewhere!

As often happens with my ER-101 quandaries, I often find what I need is already there or is in the config file in some form, but i only discovered that as you copy and scroll the number of steps is shown.

Would it be useful to have an option for total duration to be displayed instead of number of steps? Does anyone know if this is already available in another form of functionality on the ER-101? Has this already been asked?

Many Thx in advance for any assist;)

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You are not alone. This feature would prove super useful. I, like you, often do the number crunching in a series of steps in order that the phrase sits evenly within a range.

Glad to hear I’m not the only one that isn’t a member of Mensa using a ER-101 :joy:

Another thing too upon further reflection is the use-case of the number of steps copied being shown in the voltage window…

I guess what I mean is while knowing step numbers and step totals is immensely useful while setting up groups and parts, I would think for most copy operations specifically, the total duration of the copied space would carry more relevance since I’d imagine the total duration would have a greater impact on the sequence and it’s interaction within a system, regardless of the number of steps. Not to mention, there is no Mensa membership required to count total steps in your head while copy-scrolling. :smile:

Having said that, would love to hear people’s use of the step counter while copying :+1:

One strategy that I tend to follow is to build my sequences so that patterns are more like measures (i.e. equal duration or at least multiples of a common base duration), not phrases as is common in XOX sequencing That way you can just count patterns. This doesn’t always work but it is a good 80% solution I think.

Anyway, added to the list!

http://wiki.orthogonaldevices.com/index.php/ER-101/Tracker#Feature_Requests

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Thanks Brian!

Yeah I normally follow the same logic and it makes for a very smooth workflow and melodic/harmonic design.

This would definitely be in that other 20% since I had real-time recorded multiple patterns and kept the quantization at minimum and wanted to grab a copy across two patterns.

That’s awesome you added it to the feature request list! :raised_hands: A duration counter would also open up the copy-scroll function to quick counting and detailed rhythmic composition across tracks (i.e. copy-scroll to count all or portion of track 1, copy-scroll to count all or portion of track 2, then put both tracks or one track on or off-grid at the duration break-point you want/counted to.

Anyways, just stoked to see it considered. Many thanks again :slight_smile: