Key-Triggered Sequences with the Arrange Page
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By:          Keith Cowgill
Respond to:  kcowgill@infinet.com

One of my biggest whines about the K2000 had to do with the lack
of an arpeggiator.  I couldn't understand how my old U-20 could
have such a useful feature, while the state-of-the-art K2000 did
not include it.

That whine was resoundingly answered with the release of the
Version 3 ROM, although many K2000 users remain unaware of some
of the useful real-time features built into this upgrade.

Most people who use the K2000 sequencer know that it is limited
in memory.  The maximum size of a K2000 object is 64k.  Hence,
any sequence with more events than that will not fit in the
K2000's sequencer.  The sequencer gets around that by letting you
link sequences together using the ARRANGE function.

Let's assume that you have--by whatever means--split a sequence
into two songs that you would like to have linked together to
play back as a single composition.  To do this, edit Song #1
(NewSong).  Push ARRANGE.  Cursor down from STEP (which will be
on 1) to SONG.  Enter the number of the first half of your song.

Make sure MODE: is set to NEXT.  Cursor up to STEP and set it to
2.  Cursor down to SONG and enter the number of the second half
of your song.  Make sure MODE: is set to STOP.  Exit out and save
the song you are editing under a new name and number, preferably
in the same bank as your other two sequences.

See what you did?  You have three objects--the two halves of your
original sequence and a master arranger that contains
instructions on how to play them and when to stop.  Play that
master arranger and it will call your sequence halves as needed.

Now for more cool stuff.

Create some little ditty--just a few notes.  Save it as a
sequence.  Do another one, and save it, too.  Now like above,
open up Song 1 (NewSong) and go to the ARRANGE page, assigning
your first ditty to STEP 1 and the second to STEP 2.

But this time, also assign a low key and high key to STEPs 1 and
2.  You can limit the range to one key
(i.e. LoKey: C3  HiKey: C3) if you like.  But do make sure that
you have completely different keys assigned to the two sequences.
Also, make sure that LATCH is set to ON and MODE is set to STOP
for each STEP.

Exit and save under a new name and number.

Now, with the sequencer (or SONG) set to the master arranger
song, press one of the keys you just assigned.  You should hear
one of your ditties.  Press a key assigned to the other sequence.
You'll hear that one, too.  Go back and forth.  Everytime you
press the keys, a sequence will play.

Notice:
  - You didn't have to press PLAY.  In fact, you don't even have
    to be in the song area.  Leave the master arranger song
    selected, but press PROGRAM.  Now, press one of your assigned
    keys.  See?  The sequence still plays.

  - You can put your sequences on different channels with
    different programs selected.  You'll have different sounds
    playing, while you are still free to play the currently
    selected program.

  - Notice how the sequence plays all the way through no matter
    when you release the trigger key?  Setting LATCH to ON did
    that.  Go back the ARRANGE page and turn it OFF for each
    sequence.  Now the sequence will trigger through only as long
    as you hold the trigger key depressed.

  - Did you assign the sequences to more than one key?  Check it
    out.  The sequence you wrote will play as written on the
    lowest key, and *be transposed* accordingly on higher keys in
    the range.  Cool.

  - You no doubt noticed on the ARRANGE page that you can set any
    number of times for the sequence(s) to repeat.  Great for
    those ostinato parts.

So, all I asked for was an arpeggiator to work as well as on my
trusty Roland U-20.  Instead, I got a super-arpeggiator and more,
ready to play any sequence--arpeggiatted or not--transposing on
the fly, assignable to any key or range of keys.  If you play
out, you should find this to be an indispensible feature of the
K2000.