Hello first time here!

Just a few questions.  When I record a track in pattern mode and make a musical playing error say at bar 3 and try to correct it with record mode on replace, it records my attempt at correction at measure 3 but erases the rest of the track.  Is this because of the phrase structure of pattern tracks?  This doen’t happen in song mode.  It occurs to me as I’m writing this that I never tried using punch in recording mode.  If that works I could punch in the correction or punch in silence and correct using overdub.  Might have answered my own question.  Any feedback/tips/workarounds?

Question 2:  Can you record volume fades up and down in a pattern section?  Can you have say drums on section A at volume of 40 and then same drum track set at 45 on section B?  Or are you stuck with mixing those parameters after converting to song mode in a final mix? 

Question 3:  Once a pattern is converted to song mode, does an arpeggiated track convert to actual notes on a track or does it remain a triggered arp?  Reason I’m asking is say your patterned song drum track is made up of several arps, one for intro, one for verse, one for chorus, etc.  If it converts to notes you could just go in and edit away in song mode.  But if it remains triggered arps will it play the various arps at the appropriate times on the drum track in the song mode?

I could probably figure all this out thru trial and error, but have only built songs in linear song mode and kind of avoided pattern recording until now.  Sorry for the long post.
Any comments appreciated.

These are excellent questions - and show that you have been working with the product.

PATTERN mode works in loops. And this is at the basis of all of the differences between it and SONG mode (which is linear).  There are things that it makes sense to do in PATTERN mode, there are some other things are better left until the looping Sections are placed in order and are transferred to a linear entity.

The looping nature of a PATTERN Section is very useful when constructing your musical composition a musical section at a time. You can preset a number of measures to record, and then place the sequencer in record. When recording drums and percussion you can record a different drum or drums on each looping cycle… adding data becomes quick and easy because it comes around again and again. Very useful for recording drums specifically. But you are not limited to just drums.

Many folks use PATTERN mode specifically and only for Drum Track construction - other use it for full musical orchestration - or for rhythm section parts… Data can be moved back and forth between PATTERN Mode and SONG Mode. You can move individual phrases or you can move entire multiple (ensemble) parts between a PATTERN and SONG.

Things that you ask about, like VOLUME fades… these are more logically done after the PATTERN SECTIONS have been chained together in a specific playback order and then converted to a linear SONG.

Say you write a simple song that is in classic song format of AABA

You write just two PATTERN Sections with Drums, Bass, Piano, Strings, Brass, Guitars, etc. Section A is the Verse and Section B is the Chorus.

If you want the first [A] to be played medium loud and the second [A] to be played with a crescendo, and the third time [A] comes up you want it to be played forte (loud). It would be silly (illogical) to do this in PATTERN mode. Say SECTION [A] is 8 measures. It is looping to create [A]-[A]-[B]-[A] - whatever you to do one letter [A] you will be doing to them all, while you are in PATTERN mode.

As you work with PATTERNs you begin to see their value and how they work. You do not want to do certain things to your data while in a looping section until you copy it out (the chain convert to song function, literally, writes the data out to a linear SONG location.

Arpeggio data is designed to be written to the sequencer - so when you hear an arpeggio in SONG or PATTERN mode, it is in the process of being written (the MIDI event data transfers) to the Track. Once it is recorded to a track, the arpeggiator can be shut off, or it can be applied (re-allocated) to a different part.

So the design concept of the arps with the sequencer is: they are designed so that you can creatively control the arp as it writes its data to a track. For example, say you want to create a drum track using some of the 2000+ drum arpeggio types in memory.

You decide on a main groove, a couple of alternate grooves, each a little more energetic, and a couple of fill-in arps. You can assign these to the [SF1]-[SF6] buttons as ARP1-ARP6.

Now say you want to create an 8 measure Main Section [A], where the drums will play a basic groove and execute a fill-in in measure 8. you can set it up so that you are controlling the playback of the arpeggio types in real time as the data gets written to the PATTERN sequencer set to record 008 measures - we call this “painting the tracks” with arpeggios. You are literally touching the [SF1]-[SF6] buttons to recall the NEXT arp type, as the sequencer writes that data out to the track. To recall an ARP type you simply press the [SF] with the fill-in anywhere in measure 007, at the top of the NEXT measure, it will change execute the fill-in arp type and then punch out. The MIDI data is now on the EVENT LIST>

Once transferred the data plays back same as if you had hit the keys. Now you can REMIX it / EDIT IT what ever !!! it is very cool.

We expect to be posting some MO-X guides and Power Users very shortly.

Thanks Bad Mister for your response.

So is a good way to get started experimenting with pattern mode to arrange the performance with the drums for various sections with some fills for the song (save the perf) and then trigger them at the appropriate moments in real time for each section?

And the same for the other arps as well?

Also is it possible to change the voices on the tracks as a song/pattern progresses. For instance, say I have a lead guitar on a solo for only 8 bars in a solo section on track 5.  It is wasted space for the everything but that span of 8 bars.  Could I have a piano comping along on track 5 and then toggle track 5 to guitr lead, then back to piano for the rest of the song?  I used to have this feature in my old Ensonq TS10.

Yes, of course, to all of your questions. And by the way, Ensoniq did not event that, it’s called a “Program Change”, and is a fundamental part of the MIDI specification since the very beginning. :)