For the first two steps after P3 is started, the pattern plays the notes just as you’d expect.
After the first time step 3 is reached, the notes all rise in pitch by 5 semitones.
What has happened is simple.
The “offset note abs” event puts the aux value into the note accumulator .
In the case of step 3 in the example pattern, a value of 5 is put into the note accumulator .
This value will remain in the accumulator until a new pattern is selected, or P3 is restarted.
All notes played by a pattern have the current note accumulator value added to them .
So all the notes in the example pattern are raised by 5 semitones after step 3.
It doesn’t matter that the pattern reaches its last step and repeats – the accumulator value will remain.
As an experiment, with the pattern still playing, change the value for aux A in step 1.
You will hear the pattern continue with the same notes until it passes step 1, at which point a new
value is put into the note accumulator, so the following steps will all be transposed by the new
amount.
That is, until the pattern reaches step 3 again – where the number 5 will be written back in.
Turn off aux A on step 3, and only the value from step 1 will apply to the notes.
This shows that the current accumulator value:
• applies to every step in the pattern
• only changes when an enabled aux event puts a new value into the accumulator
If you’ve followed this so far, you may be thinking that it’s handy you could transpose small sections
of a pattern with a couple of “offset note abs” events, but it’s not exactly earth shattering.
And you could always achieve the same thing by editing the notes.
The real power of the accumulators is only apparent when you use them in the way that their name
suggests – increasing gradually in quantity or number.
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