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A QUICK CRASH COURSE IN MC-202 PROGRAMMING:
1 - There are TWO basic modes: PLAY and EDIT. To enter or change notes you have to be in an edit mode, to play the sequence you have to be in a play mode. The indicator at the right of the display shows you which mode you are in.
2 - There are THREE kinds of EDIT modes: PITCH, STEP and GATE. Again, the indicator at the right will tell you which edit mode you are in. The display shows the current note you are on within the entire 202's memory - changing edit modes with EDIT will not move you forward or backward through wherever you are at.
3 - To input new notes, go to PITCH (press EDIT once from PLAY mode or press EDIT until you go into PITCH.) Press notes. The 202 is only writing the PITCHES of the notes you enter, not how long they last or anything else. If the display currently shows a note (like 3d or 2A) - you are not at the end of the bar or song - and you will replace the existing note with the note you hit.
4 - So, how do you change how long the notes will play. Hit EDIT again, and now you will be in EDIT STEP mode. Notes you entered during PITCH will have a step of 24 (that's an eighth note - 16 = sixteenth note, 48 = quarter note, etc.) Modify the value by entering a new value with the number keys (same as the bottom right keys of the keyboard.) You must hit ENTER to "stamp" the new step value on the current note. Once you stamp a value, you will go to the next note and can stamp the same step by just pressing ENTER. (So, if you enter 16 pitches and want to change them all the 16th notes, go to EDIT PITCH mode, enter 2, 4, and then press ENTER until you are at the last note of the bar.) If you want to put Acc or Porta on a note, do it here, this is the only mode where you can!
You can't delete or overwrite notes in STEP or GATE mode, you can only modify existing step or gate values.
Still with me?
5 - GATE mode works just like STEP mode, except GATE affects how long the note actually sounds. (STEP just determines when it sounds in the bar). If you make a note's GATE equal to it's STEP it will smoothly junction to the next note as though both notes were one. WHEN YOU GO BACK AND FORTH THROUGH THE PATTERN IN PITCH OR GATE MODE IT WILL SKIP ALL NOTES THAT ARE CONNECTED. GATE 0 = rest and the note won't sound. For example:
Note# 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pitch a2 g2 g3 a2 g3 a2 Step 16 16 16 16 16 16 Gate 8 8 16 8 0 8
Notes 3 and 4 will be connected like one note of 32 step and 24 gate. The envelope won't retrigger either. When you step back and forth in Pitch or Step mode it will skip from 3 to 5. 5 won't make any sound. KEEP THIS IN MIND.
6 - STEP CHECK - hit SHIFT+STEP TIME in PLAY mode (only) to see what all the steps add to. They should add up to 192 for 4/4. If it doesn't, you need to add or take away more notes to get it in sync.
7 - Hit SHIFT+TEMPO(Cycle) if you want to make one bar (or whatever else) repeat over and over.
8 - THERE ARE NO PATTERNS - JUST BARS. When you finish entering a bar, hit BAR to end it. THE WHOLE SONG IS LIKE ONE GIANT PATTERN and this is a disadvantage of the 202...
9 - COPYING BARS (PITCH EDIT only). If you hit SHIFT+(Copy) the bar you are on will be tacked on to the end of the song. It copies from your current position in the bar so be sure you are at the beginning of it (just go back one bar and forward again - or switch to PLAY mode real quick and go back to EDIT.)
10 - INSERTING BARS (PITCH EDIT only). Hold SHIFT+(Insert) - all notes you enter will be inserted at that position (with the default STEP=24)
11 - TURN THE BEEP OFF BY PRESSING SHIFT+BAR. TURN IT BACK ON THE SAME WAY.
That's the basic basics. Hope it helps all of you out. E-mail me for more details!
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