Notes mode
When you start the program, you begin in notes mode. In notes mode the pads are used to play midi notes. By default the rows are offset by fourths like the strings of a guitar, and the root note (highlighted in pink) is C, but you can change the layout and scale in the notes setup mode.
The arrow buttons at the top left can be used to transpose the notes on the pads. The up and down arrows transpose the pads by a whole octave, and the left and right arrows transpose by just 1 half step. Currently, the half step transpose buttons only cover a 1 octave range (C-B), so you can’t repeatedly press them to go multiple octaves up or down, you have to use the octave buttons.
There rest of this section covers some useful shortcuts available in notes mode, but they might not make sense until you’ve skipped ahead and read about some of the other modes.
##Midi
The notes you play in notes mode are immediately sent on the channel of the current active track. Note on and off messages are sent along with the velocity of the press. Polyphonic aftertouch is supported, as well as mapping aftertouch to a control code, but it is not enabled by default.
##Sustain
While holding down notes, you can press the shift button, which will act as a sustain pedal. The notes that are currently being held will stay on as long as the shift button is held, so you can release them and play other notes on top of them. A maximum of 8 notes can be tracked, so the oldest note will be killed if you go over that limit, to prevent it from getting stuck on.
##Tap Tempo
The click button on the left of the pads can be used as a tap tempo, which is always active in every mode, but in notes mode it has additional functionality. By default clicking the tap tempo button 4 or more times in a row will set the tempo by averaging the time between clicks.
If you’re in notes mode you can also hold the click button down and tap the pads themselves to simultaneously enter a tempo and record the tapped notes into the active sequence (see active track). Once all 8 beats in the sequence have been entered, the sequence starts playing automatically so that the flow of the notes is unbroken. Note that this is only possible with tracks that are not already playing, and the notes that you play while holding click are immediately recorded over any existing notes in the sequence, rather than waiting until all 8 beats are played.
##Live Recording
Live recording is the feature you want if you want to record the notes that you play on the pads. If you’d rather enter the notes one at a time without having to play in time, then scroll down to sequencer mode.
To enter live recording, the sequencer must be armed by pressing the record arm button, and then played by pressing the play button by itself. While the record arm button is lit red, and the active track is playing, any notes you play will be recorded. If you arm the sequencer, but don’t play the active track, live recording will not be active. For more information about managing the state of the tracks, see the Playback Submode.
Once you’ve started live recording, just press the pads to enter notes into the sequence. There is no freeform/off-grid recording, so notes are always quantized to the current sequence step. After notes are recorded, you’ll notice the pads lighting up as the sequence plays. Lights only show up for the active sequence, and they might not be visible if you transpose the layout out of range of the recorded notes, but otherwise, this is a handy visual indicator of what’s playing in the sequence without having to switch to sequencer mode.
In addition to note and velocity, you can also record aftertouch as you play, and use it to send a midi control code. By holding down a note and varying the pressure on the pad, a varying value can be entered. For more information about aftertouch, see Aftertouch/Control Codes.
##Arpeggiator
By pressing the record button (the one with the circle on it, not the one that says record arm), you enable the arpeggiator. The record button highlights green to indicate that it is enabled. With the arpeggiator on, notes that you play do not immediately sound, instead they sound one at a time as the sequence plays. This means that the sequence must be playing for the arpeggio to be heard. Up to 8 notes can be simultaneously held as part of an arpeggio.
Once you have a pattern you like, you can press the shift button, and the arpeggio notes will be transferred into the sequence, and every other note in the sequence will be set to be skipped, so the pattern's length will be determined by how many notes you are holding.
The arpeggiator plays notes in the order they were pressed. Other patterns like ascending, descending, and pingpong are a possibility, but haven't been implemented yet.
##Shortcuts
By pressing the undo button while the active track is playing, its playing direction will be reversed.
Pressing and holding the delete button while the active track is playing turns the playhead into an erase head, and clears any notes it passes over. If you press shift+delete, the whole sequence is cleared at once. The track does NOT have to be armed for this to work, so look out!