Automaton

The automaton view turns the main grid into a cellular automaton: an 8 by 8 board of live and dead cells that changes by simple rules, generation after generation. A playhead sweeps across the columns, and the live cells it passes trigger notes. It is a view, not a mode. While it is open, the whole main grid is the automaton.

The automaton starts switched off. To hear it, open the view, press UP to fill the grid with random cells, and press SHIFT + UP to switch it on.

Not yet verified on hardware

The automaton has not been tried on a Launchpad with a synth. The descriptions here come from the app code.

Open and leave

Hold SHIFT and tap EDIT.

Hold SHIFT (1), then tap EDIT (2). EDIT is bright while the automaton is on and dim when it is off.
  • EDIT (pad 96) shows whether the automaton is on. Bright is on, dim is off.
  • Tap EDIT, PERF or SESS, or press SHIFT + EDIT again, to leave the view. Choosing a mode or a page also closes it.
  • Opening it from PERF, SESS or Global switches to EDIT first.
  • While it is open, the hold-EDIT picker is not available, and the sticky pads and the undo gesture are off. Pads 27 and 28 are grid cells here, not DUP and CLEAR.

The grid

Each pad of the main grid (pads 11 to 88) is one cell. Tap a cell to toggle it.

Tap a cell to toggle it (1). In TRACKS rows, the top row is track 1 and the bottom row is track 8 (2).

Two row modes:

Mode Rows Use
TRACKS (default) Top row is track 1, bottom row is track 8 Each live cell in a row triggers that track
NOTES Each row is one of the first eight scale degrees of one track, lowest at the bottom. Tap a track on the track column to choose it. All live cells in the playhead column sound together as a chord on that track

The playhead column moves one column per step and wraps every eight steps. It is lit while the automaton is on. The grid wraps around at its edges. The automaton counts steps of the bar master (a sixteenth note when the clock is the bar master), so it stays in time with the clock.

Arrows

Pad With nothing held With SHIFT
UP (91) Randomize, with a new seed and about 35 percent alive Turn the automaton on or off
DOWN (92) Clear the grid Switch rows between TRACKS and NOTES
LEFT (93) Next rule: Conway, HighLife, Seeds, Wolfram 1-D Previous rule
RIGHT (94) Next rate: one new generation every 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 steps. The default is 8, once per pass over the columns. Previous rate
UP (1) randomizes the grid. LEFT (2) picks the next rule.

The Wolfram 1-D rule is always rule 30. Its number cannot be changed on the pads.

Output

  • In TRACKS mode, a live cell in the playhead column triggers its row’s track on that step. It plays the first note, velocity and gate of that track’s current step, and the track’s channel and echo and voice settings. A muted track stays silent. If the step has no notes, the track’s root note plays.
  • In NOTES mode, the live cells of the playhead column play together as a chord on the chosen track.
  • Notes go through the global key and the Circuit Tracks transpose like sequenced steps.
  • The automaton runs only while the view is open and the automaton is on (SHIFT + UP). Closing the view stops it. The grid, rule, rate and on/off state are saved with the project.

Gotchas

  • Tap cells only while the view is open. Leaving the view stops the output.
  • Undo and the sticky pads do not work in this view. Use SHIFT + CLEAR outside the view to undo. See Held pads and undo.