11.3. The Touch strip
There are three functions on the touch strip. By pressing the corresponding icon, you select
either Spice & Dice or Bend.
11.3.1. Spice & Dice
Spice & Dice are inseparable twins. You can't use one without the other.
You can have a lot of fun with Spice & Dice without understanding how they work.
Dice acts on the gates and triggers of the currently playing Arpeggio or Sequence. It
randomizes all aspects of these targets and changes the distance between two triggers. It
also shortens or lengthens gates or leaves them out.
You change these values by clicking on the icon and touching the touch strip. You can do
this dynamically by tapping various positions on the touch strip.
How do you apply them?
First of all; to enjoy the varations of Spice&Dice the Arpeggiator or the Sequencer must be
active. Then, with Dice and the touch strip, you set the amount of randomness that will be
applied to the currently playing Arpeggio or Sequence. Zero on the touch strip equals no
effect; maximum on the touch strip equals maximum randomness.
You'll hear nothing yet; you need to add Spice to make the Dice setting take effect. To add
spice click on the Spice icon and slide your finger to the right on the touch strip. The more
Spice you add, the more result you'll hear when you go back to "throwing" the Dice. Here
again, you can apply the effect dynamically by tapping different places on the touch strip.
You can also do this the other way around: set an amount of Spice, then select Dice and
"roll" it by tapping on the touch strip. Repeatedly tapping on different positions will change
the kind of variation applied to the triggers but with the constant intensity that you set with
Spice.
Spice&Dice also (in a very subtle way) randomize octaves, velocity and the release time of
the AMP envelope. The behaviour is similar as the effect it has on gates. Spice is a deviation
from the "normal" value of the parameters. Dice updates the random value per-step.
In short: Spice & Dice are to triggers and gates what Pattern does to pitches. Where pattern
randomizes the pitches of your chord, Spice & Dice will randomize its gates and triggers.
Together they can change a sequence or an arpeggio beyond recognition.
Note: For the more technically-inclined readers we'll add a more in-depth explanation:
Spice & Dice change the Status of a Sequence or Arpeggio. We'll use a sequence to illustrate
this. All steps in a sequence have a gate length. The default length of these gates will depend
on what you have set in Utility>Preset>Default gate length.
The default gate length is 45%, which is about in the middle between 5% and 85%. A step
with a length of 0 is silent; a step with a length of 100 is a tie (i.e, it will proceed to the next
step without a noticeable pause). Anything in between has a gate length percentage. We call
this string of gate lengths the Status. In a new sequence, all steps will have the default gate
length.
Spice & Dice and Bend
65 Arturia - User Manual MicroFreak - Using the Icon Strip
To Next Page
Loading...
