A recent post in the MOXF forum…
http://www.motifator.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/481692/
...reminded me that some users might not be aware of a technique that can be useful at times.

Most users are probably aware of the Pattern Chain function “Convert to Song”, the Song Job “Split Song to Pattern”, and that you can go back and forth between the two as needed. However, some of you might not know that there’s a way to use that capability in an unusual manner.

Let’s say you have a Pattern and convert its Chain to a Song. Once it’s a Song, the “Split Song to Pattern” Job allows you to determine which measures of the Song are to be split to a Pattern Section. That includes the possibility of copying all measures of the Song. In other words, one of the Sections of a Pattern can be what was the complete Song. If you copy the Song to the original Pattern, one Section can play what was the Chain.

You may be thinking “I don’t see an advantage to that, I can just select the Chain and play it.” Here are some possible uses for the ability…
1) Two versions of the chained Pattern can be stored in one Pattern. That is, once a Chain is converted to a Song and then copied back to a Section, the Chain can be edited to a different version. You’d then have the choice of playing the previous version (as a Section), or the newly edited Chain.
2) The approach in #1 can be repeated, allowing for several variations to be stored in a single Pattern.
3) If you run out of Song locations (OK, 64 are usually enough, but...), Patterns can be used to store complete Songs by “splitting” all measures of a Song to a Pattern Section. Of course, the track data won’t be there.
4) When a Pattern is assigned to a Master, if Play is pressed when the Master is selected only the first Section (A) of the Pattern will be heard. If for some reason you want to play the Pattern Chain directly from a Master, the Section created as described above can be placed in A. Of course, to retain the previous Sections they would all have to be moved up by one letter position first.
5) Multiple Songs could be stored as separate Sections of a single Pattern, as long as they use the same tempo and Voices for each Part.

There are likely other ways to use the concept. Naturally, storing a complete Song as a Pattern Section will use sequencer memory, so doing it might not be appropriate under conditions when such memory is near capacity.

5pinDIN,

KEEP posting these nuggets!  Lack of replies does not mean it’s not appreciated.
8-)

I use MOXf but I think things are roughly the same in Motif cousins. Its important to remember that the memory for sequences is devoted to All Songs and/OR Patterns stored within that All file. So its wise to save things as independent AllPattern and AllSong files, after (that is) you’ve completed doing your Chain and Split to Pattern operations. It is also sensible to create a dedicated All Pattern or All Song file for each individual song or project you’re working on. I use Songs and Patterns in a “live” show setting and make sets (using Master mode) for each gig which can lead to some confusion days or weeks later. Even if I’m just practicing, it’s really easy to get inspired and make a change in a Song while I’m in the All mode then either forget what I did, or that I even did it and then confuse myself later with stray (and now obsolete) versions of Songs (or Patterns) floating around. So I try to force myself to, upon deciding that I want to tweak the mix or redo something on a particular Song, stop and load up the All Song file dedicated to THAT particular song. Its tedious, but also makes sense since you will have access to previous versions of the Song or the original Pattern material, whatever, cause you’ve done all and ONLY that work for that Song/Pattern within that file. And you will be less likely to use up all your sequence memory if it’s just one Song or Pattern in various “drafts”. I try even to NEVER use a previous All file to build a new set list, always going back to the last version of the Song file in the dedicated All file.

As for the original posters suggestions, I often use the whole Song as Section A (though it does mean that your Pattern ends up taking up more sequence memory instead of less). I do this because I’m using the MOXf “live” and it gives me the option to depart from the original sequence (and structure) mid performance. I just hit B where the 4 measure Verse section resides, then jump to D where I’ve put the Bridge, then back to C where I’ve put just the Chorus.  So I’m improvising/re-arranging the song on the fly based on audience response (those nice people just got up to dance and the Song’s about to end....). Or the guitarist is killing it on his solo, so lets give him a Bridge and then another Verse to play through.) Doing things this way requires remembering how I broke out and assigned each part of the song, but I find that I don’t need more then 4 or 5 sections on most Songs.

Appreciate the tip.  I can see uses for it.

Many thanks