A beginner's guide to the components of a modular synthesizer

6 - TRIGGER SEQUENCER “THE BIG BUTTON” :

It is a 6 channel sequencer that allows you to send a signal to trigger other modules.
Important : It needs to receive a clock signal to operate.

  • CLOCK INPUT : with an external clock you set the speed of the sequencer

  • CHANNEL SELECT : there are 6 channels, select for example channel 1 and the trigger signal will come out from the OUTPUT 1 when you press the Big Button or the Fill button.

  • 6 TRIGGER OUTPUTS : are the 6 outputs that will be connected to the modules that we want to trigger

  • SHUFFLE : “random mix”

  • STEP SELECT : with this pot you can choose the number of steps in the sequence (1/2/4/8/16 or 32)

  • BANK SELECT : 2 banks, you can record 2 sequences for the same channel, and switch from one to the other using this button.

  • CLEAR PATTERN : allows to erase the pattern of the selected channel entirely

  • DELETE ONE SHOT : unlike CLEAR, you can delete the “notes” one by one.

  • FILL : Pressing this button causes a rapid succession of triggers on the selected channel, to create an effect similar to a drum roll.

  • RESET : an impulse on this switch and the sequence restarts at the beginning

  • BIG BUTTON SWITCH : used to record sequences manually.

This sequencer can trigger a kick, snare … and a whole bunch of drum modules, but it can also be interesting to use it in an Envelope, a VCA, the SYNC IN of VCLFO …

5 Likes