Am i actually able to 'build' a whole song?

[lanzafame]

I'm getting to grips with BSP now and loving it mostly... i use it almost exclusively for triggering my Formanta drum machine, but i'm at the point where i want to put my patterns into an order and save them... basically a composition.

Is this possible, either within bsp or mcc?

i read an earlier thread about saving chained patterns, couldn't work out whether it was dealing with this same issue.

I'm really baffled if the answer is no!!

thanks

[megamarkd]

You can't save your chains but you can record them by running the BSP into a regular MIDI sequencer.  I have written down a bunch of my pattern chain orders and it's not hard to quickly smash in a new order when I want change.

[lanzafame]

thanks for your reply.

So what is defined as a chain? a chain of patterns that play in a specific order? Am i able to create that?

[megamarkd]

You can chain the patterns in a project by pressing a bunch of buttons, the exact buttons to press and in what order is described in the manual updates.

7.6 Chaining Patterns
Hold [SHIFT] + [SEQUENCER 1, 2 or DRUM]. This activates pattern chain mode. [SHIFT]
can be released but [SEQUENCER 1, 2 or DRUM] button must remain pressed.
Press the steps in the order that you want them to play in your chain.
Release the [SEQUENCER 1, 2 or DRUM] button. The chain will be created in the order
that you built it.
You can, for instance, create the chain 1 – 1 – 1 – 4.
The pattern chain cannot be saved. If you manually change to a new pattern, the current
chain will be lost.
You can press any combination of the [SEQUENCER 1], [SEQUENCER 2] and [DRUM]
buttons while holding [SHIFT] to create the same chain on the selected Sequencers.
The PRST LINK function has no effect on pattern chains, which means that other
sequencers will not change patterns because a change occurred in a chain.

What is not mentioned in the manual is that there is a maximum of 16 patterns that can be chained per sequencer.

Just a note, as it seems to be a common want: Step sequencers are not really made for composing entire songs, that is what hardcore multi-channel MIDI sequencers are for (and why there was such a revolution in popmusic when MIDI was invented).