Rapture 1.1: EZ Random @ Note On

I almost forgot about these obscure little items. One uses a Freq setting of 0.00 in one of the LFOs, set to either Random Unipolar or Random Bipolar. Every subsequent Note On generates another random value.

To test, set the Pitch LFO to a somewhat high Depth, and a Status of either On or Shot. Of course, Freq (and not Sync) needs to be used, and set to 0.00. The Random Unipolar goes in one direction (up) to maximum Depth. Random Bipolar shifts Pitch in both directions per Note On.

Perhaps it's more useful in the filter sections. Copy LFO from Pitch, and Paste LFO into Cut 1 and Res 1. Sourcing with a rich wavetable (like a sawtooth), set up a DSP routing, and load one of the filters. Set the Cutoff and Resonance to middle values for now. Each Note On brings another combination of Cutoff and Resonance depths.

A Freq of 0.00 acts a little differently in a step generator. It's still locked to Note On. However, with a Status of On or Shot (not Step), the stepgen is "frozen" at the value of the first step. It doesn't matter how many steps are exposed. Use it for a static added value to your Modulator; one that you can "trim" by adjusting the first step's value with the mouse or keyboard commands.

I can't believe that I missed this one the first time around. Adjust a step value as needed, then hold the Shift key. Click again in the step, and you can drag out a straight line of values in the steps ahead of it. (These will constrain to whatever Snap To ... Level that you have previously set.) And if you "back up" while still holding Shift, you can draw all sorts of combinations of straight-line values and curved shapes.

sounds like you could use this as a virtual sample and hold generator for pitch or filter.

You sure can, Alan. To prove a point, set it up as described. Then put a single MIDI 16th note in a pattern or clip, and loop it. Classic S&H until the cows come home. Of course, that also proves another point: It's a cool effect with pitch and filter, but best used sparingly, as it grows tiresome in short order.

But now more subtle uses ... we haven't mentioned panning or amplitude, or shallow random detuning with a parallel 'straight' Element. You could always do something similar in the MIDI Matrix, but this brings easy adjustments to front and center.

Sample and hold has come to refer to a narrower meaning, but it always depended on exactly what you were sampling, the trigger rate, and what you point to as the destination. It's "the show that never ends".

That shift-line feature is nice. Of course, now that we have copy-paste LFOs to StepGen ...