Notes hanging after sequencer stops

Greetings. I am new to this forum, and relatively new to modular synthesis. First off, a HUGE thank you to the creators of VCV Rack. This is greatly expanding my synthesis knowledge.

I have a basic sequencer patch set up - Impromptu Clocked into MSC Hack into a synth voice and then into the mixer. When I hit the run button on Clocked, the sequence works as it should. However, when I stop the sequence via the run button, the notes hang. I want them to stop when I stop the clock. I’m not quite sure what to look into to get the notes to stop.

Any help/advice on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Ron

I would guess that every sequencer is going to respond differently in this case, as there isn’t (I don’t think) and obvious “correct” answer to this question.

I just tried it with my “Seq++”, and it does turn off the notes when to press the run button in Clocked to turn it off. It’s been a long time, but I think it originally did not do that, but my testers requested the feature, so I did it.

btw, if you are curious, Seq++ also has a command called “hook up clock” that will search your rack for the nearest Clocked or CLKD and patch all the cables and set the clock rates to match.

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A screen grab of your patch setup might help?

Also by default I think Clocked leaves its outputs high when stopped (this feature can be turned off in global settings_ which may possibly have something to do with it? Hard to tell without seeing your patch though…

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Yeah changing that option in Clocked fixes that problem for me at least, although sometimes if you stop a sequencer it will be in the middle of a gate - not sure there is an easy fix for that.

Not really a fix, but I usually use sequencers similarly to oscillators, leaving them always running and muting their signals later in the chain when they aren’t needed. Is there a difference between a muted and a not running sequencer? (apart from possibly more cpu usage)

My sequencers put their gate low when they are “stopped”. Not sure it’s what everyone would want but it’s what someone wanted who asked me about it.

Here’s a manual, if anyone is interested. https://github.com/squinkylabs/SquinkyVCV/blob/main/docs/sq2.md

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if you muted the sequencer (I guess you mean mute the mixer channel) you lost the release of the last note

I have a method with Clocked, and I haven’t seen it anywhere else, because I’m probably weird or doing it wrong. But make sure to turn off high output in the right-click menu on Clocked, and use one of the clock outputs with maximum gate length to an ADSR envelope with no attack, full sustain, and just minimal release, and use that to control a VCA, that’s how you can start and stop while using any sound. You might need some extra VCA’s for it sometimes, but it works.

I can’t deal with clocks that reset with the gate on, then I can’t start a sequence from the beginning, much less stop it. Probably doesn’t matter if you only do free running stuff, but I like to record things that start and stop on time so they can become songs.

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Oh, and check “do internal reset” to make the Clocked gate go low when you hit stop.

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I use “Run” from clocked to mute/unmute tracks in MindMeld Mixer with the “Meld” module. When I stop the clock and there are tracks “hanging” I mute those and connect a “Run” to that channel. As seen Here :

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I didn’t mean muting audio but cutting the gate signal itself (before it goes into an adsr for example). This preserves the release and any longer lasting fx on the audio.

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To everyone who responded, a big thank you. Here’s a screenshot of the basic patch:

As I said, a very basic patch. I have “do internal reset” checked in the On Start and On Step settings in the right-click menu. Still no luck. I don’t see any setting regarding leaving the clocks “high” in the right-click menu.

I’ll check out the Squinky Labs sequencer (thanks).

imho you need an envelope generator for the patch, the oscillator is sounding even when not connected to a sequencer.

So connect the “Trig” output to e.g. Vults Slap and the Oscillator “Out” to the “In” of Slap and the “Out” of Slap to a mixer or … that should help, maybe …

Its this one - outputs reset high when not running - (you can see the gate is high in your screen grab because the CLK1 output is green when run is off).

But as rsmus7 says, if there’s no envelope/VCA your VCO will just drone away…

a picture for my setup vs yours ( yellow vs orange cable), ( but maybe I didn’t understand it right):

and here is a little patch that shows some ways to stop the sounds from the oscillators when the clock/sequencer is stopped

2020_09_28_rsmus_sequencer_mute_01.vcv (113.3 KB)

it uses the MindMelt Mixer, which is perfect for this,

just choose your audio interface and start the clock and then stop the clock, you’ll see it :wink:

This discussion has been covering relevant aspects and differences of sequencers behaviours (cool!).

It may be that @rer801 (welcome to the forum, by the way!) and anyone else with the same issue simply needs to learn more about the role of envelopes (in particular the difference between sustain and release) and possibly triggers vs. gates. If that’s the case, general introductions to modular synthesis can help and many of them are listed in Beginners guide to VCV Rack

The default patch also shows an ADSR envelope at work.

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could you elaborate? I don’t understand. If your envelope has any sustain, it will continue to output as long as the gate stays high. Are saying that with VCV one must always set the sustain of all ADSRs to zero to avoid “hung” notes?

No - I’ve shared links to generic resources which cover topics @rer801 may be interested in, and that’s it.