Sequencing with a Palette

I’ve always done my sequencing externally but have been thinking lately about a Palette with Tetrapad and Tete as foundation. Maybe a 1U Steppy on top. What else could I add to the equation? Is a clock module or quantizer really necessary or could I fill the rest of the Palette with some other cazy stuff?

I have the Tete/Tetrapad combo and steppy in my 4U case. It’s a great sequencing setup, and I don’t feel I’m lacking anything. I use the Tete as my master clock and it’s been solid.

Great to hear!

If I was going to make a Palette sequencer based around Tete/Tetrapad, I’d probably do something like the below system, although I guess it would depend what you planned on sequencing. Steppy is a great option. Quadrax and Planar are also good pairings and offer a lot of flexibility. FSR will give you another bit of hands on control, and Duatt and the Dual VCA are always useful.

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Looks great! This is what I want to sequence.

Nice! Since you have Maths and Quadra+Expander, Quadrax might not be so necessary. Something to provide some basic sequencing to offset parameters on Tete might be useful.

Damn, that’s a pretty sweet system. I think I want one of my own!

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Despite this being the Intellijel forum. What about this? Really thankful for suggestions and discussions so far. Bought the Palette yesterday. So cute!
I don’t “need” the headphone jack, just handy I think. When you’re on the move. Maybe FSR would be cooler. Or another VCA. Suggestions for the 6 hp hole?

Go ahead! You can have it:)

If it’s a case dedicated to controlling another case of modules, I’d replace the headphone jack with the FSR.

You could put a Triplatt in the 6HP hole, since Marbles doesn’t have attenuverters for its inputs.

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Brought one home with me this weekend :slight_smile:

Maybe I’m not looking in the right places. But the uMIDI 1U seems out of stock. Does anyone know when it’s available again?

And I’m not too sure where to go in the Palette after Tetrapad and Tete. It’s gonna take some time to get the funds for them and all the other 1U I’m missing so suggestions are welcome. Want to make evolving things that could go to my other gear. The usual stuff. Some Elektrons and soon a Pulsar 23.

Good topic! For sequencing in the Palette, I currently have a Pam’s and Steppy 1u, which handles a good bit of the triggering & gate sequencing. Along with some Euclidean and other basic pitch CV out of Pam’s, though it’s a fairly menu-divey way to do pitch sequencing.

Having a quantizer in the case will help with getting pitch cv into semitone scales. An mk4 for sure for basic stuff, Scales would be even better, and o_c would be a good option for some.

I have uMidi 1u and often use external gear for pitch cv. An SQ-1, BSP or similar (Digitakt/Digitone for sure) would make nice external companion for sequencing.

To keep everything in the case, I was discussing on Modular Grid forums, and Mimetic Digitalis looks like a good, fairly compact option for pitch sequencing in a more performance-oriented way. And I am personally very interested in the Cartesian sequencing capabilities. Again, paired with an mk4 or better yet an o_c for quantization I could see a nice patchflow coming together for pitch sequences.

Interesting. o_c certainly looks powerful. And with a Scales. How does Steppy work with non rhythmic stuff?

Yes, many scales and flavors of quantization are possible with o_c.

It would be interesting to use Steppy to create arrhythmic stuff! One way I can think of would be to randomize the clock input signal—say with a square wave coming out of an LFO, who’s own clock is being modulated by another LFO, and so on. Then the speed of Steppy’s trigger patterns can be warped.

That warp factor could be attenuated or quantized to keep it under control, or get wild. It gets interesting if more than one of Steppy’s outputs are triggering things, and those warped patterns can interweave, much like traditional polyrhythms, but with tempo warping.

Have fun!

You can also make Steppy’s gates more arrhythmic or unpredictable by using lower Probability, Random Ratcheting, setting the Gate Length to follow the pulse width of the clock input, or setting odd pattern lengths.

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A lot to think about here. Big thanks! From one thing to another, do anyone know if the small tank from Springray fits in a Palette case?

It fits, but you would only be able to mount VERY shallow modules on top of it. A Tetrapad can fit on top, but where the ribbon cable connects is very tight!

I am real interested in this. Currently I have an Ocatrack which sometimes I use to send steps and pitch to my Palette. I have not learned everything I can do with the Octatrack, but I quickly learned that it could at least be a nice starting point to send triggers from.

I have been messing with my case (who doesn’t? lol) and my favorite modules are Pams getting clock from the ocatrack (via UMIDi1u). I use Pams sometimes to send an envelope or LFO or trigger. My main Oscialltor is the BIA, which can handle a lot of modulation.

for modulation I am using Clep Diaz (usually clocked from pams, sometimes I just send it clock from the Umidi trigger out, which is pretty cool). The clep diaz quite often controls my Low pass filter. I also have a sinc bucina for a low pass envelope. I am still learning that one, but it’s pretty cool as a mod source, and I also send it clock from Pams.

Anyway, I have another Osc (plaits) and more mod opportunities and I love NE modules so I ordered a Mimetic Digitalis to modulate CV on both oscillators. I dont have it yet, but what I am interested in is this - if I use my octatrack to trigger my Oscillators, but the MD to modulate the CV, I feel like it may be too random and tough to control without a quantizer. For basslines and melodies, I feel like modulating a simple bassline sequence with a few notes can be amazing but I currently use Marbles and its too random.

Long winded post to ask this - Would Scales pair up well with the MD and Octatrack, or is that overkill?

I believe MD has the option to toggle quantization on and off on the output.

Otherwise, Scales pairs really well with anything that can send CV. Although I always recommend pairing scales with an attenuverter like Duatt or Triatt.