Impromptu GateSeq 64 is great for programming drums as it has probability per step and advanced gate modes.
You can do some pretty crazy stuff with Shapemaster Pro when Synced and Locked and then sequencing the cycle length (with just a simple trigger shape). It’s also good for doing polyrhythms.
BTW, I’m investigating those territories of ShapeMaster Pro. I’ve tried it to control the ENV parametr of VCV Drums, and It makes drums feel so alive… In love with ShapeMaster <3
Excellent - the sync lock function on ShapeMaster can take a while to really understand what it does and when to use it. There are two main use cases:
When triggering cycles manually (when performing for example) the lock will quantise your manual triggers, so cycles start on the division.
When modulating/sequencing synced lengths in auto (LFO) mode. The lock will quantise all your cycle length changes so you can go crazy modulating the lengths and when you end up back on 1/4 it will still be perfectly synced with the main 1X beat clock output of Clocked.
It’s always best to turn lock off if you are triggering channels from a source that is already quantised like a clock or a sequencer - otherwise you will probably get “quantisation conflicts” which manifest as weird timing issues. When that happens you might see cycles not starting when you expect or cycles not completing - it can be hard to figure out what the issue is - the answer is almost always “turn lock off”.
Also whenever you use lock it’s essential to have the Run and Reset inputs connected to the main clock. As the lock function essentially counts pulses from the moment the clock starts running (which is how it figures out where beats and bars are) - so your main clock and ShapeMaster’s internal clock need to be both synced and starting at exactly the same time for that to work, otherwise all the quantisation will be messed up.
Once you have got your head around the lock though, it can be a lot of fun, particularly for drums.
entrian sequencers is the best for static sequences, though it also has probability options. the only drawback is that there’s no built-in swing and clocking it with a swung clock is jank.
Looks neet! I think for whose, who want mainly VCV it should be great. I use Bitwig as main DAW, so all those thing cood be done outside VCV (grid like patterning).
I do not have a how-to, but in this video I used it for all drum sounds. It is essentially a random trigger sequencer for 2, 4 or 8 triggers or gates with a random CV that is changing when a trigger is activated, so basically a S&H. Connect it to an external clock, put it in 4-lanes mode and connect the outputs to some sounds you want to have as fillers over your main drum groove.
Ha! Found a Strip you can use with Stoermelder in V1 if you own the VCV drums.
while vcv now has a vst version, there are still aspects of working with entrian sequencers that are better than the majority of DAWS. for instance, you can randomly change between patterns with the song cv input, or use other sequencers in conjunction with entrian. Also there are arbitrary time divisions, which is not present in reaper. also using vcv as a standalone daw in itself has the benefit of being able to instantly see everything you’re doing.
I play a lot with host synchronization and clock dividers to sync up to other synths/instances. Can get loads of interesting poly-rhythms if you put some async lfo’s into the mix,