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Routing signals, Voice allocation, Shift magic – Arturia KeyStep Pro Keyboard with Advanced Sequencer and Arpeggiator User Manual

Page 179

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10.6. Routing Signals

For each Track, you can decide to which Voice output(s) its CV/Gate signals will be routed.

By default, Track 1 will use Voice 1, Track 2 Voice 2, Track 3 Voice 3 and Track 4 Voice 4.

Hold down 'Shift' and press one or a combination of the CV Routing keys (G#, A, A#, B in the

upper octave). This will route the current Track to those Voices. You can repeat this action for

the other three Tracks. Switching to a Track will activate the Voice outputs you've assigned

to it.

CAUTION: When you try to assign a Voice to a Track and it is already assigned to another Track, the

new routing will overwrite the existing one.

While routing CV signals, watching the LEDs can be helpful. Voices already assigned to

the current Track will be indicated with brightly lit LEDs. To cancel that assignment, hit the

corresponding key. The LEDs of Voices assigned to other Tracks will be dimly lit.

10.6.1. Voice Allocation

What happens if you send two almost simultaneous notes to a Voice output when the

voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) connected to it is monophonic, meaning that it can only

sound one note at a time? Unlike male humans who tend to get confused when having to

do two things simultaneously, the Voice output circuitry knows exactly what to do: the

last

note you played will have priority. Every new note you play will 'kill' the previous one. If you

play two notes almost simultaneously, the note of the last key you press will be heard. Even

if you play more than two keys, it's always the last key you'll hear.

How does this work when you're playing a sequence (Pattern) and have more than one note

stored in a step? The Voice output will solve this be playing only the

lowest

note of the chord

stored in the step.

The KeyStep Pro has another trick up its sleeve: let's say you have a sequence (Pattern)

playing in Track 1 with a 4-note chord in each step and you assign the output of Track 1 to

Voices 1 to 4. What will happen? The KeyStep Pro will silently applaud your brilliant idea

while calmly distributing the notes in your step over the four Voice outputs!

If you have more than four notes in a step, the KeyStep Pro will 'steal' voices to solve that

problem; with five notes in a chord, the lowest note of the chord will be dropped, sacrificed

to play the fifth note. With six notes in a chord, the lowest two will be dropped ... you get the

idea.

Typically, the Pitch (CV) output is connected to a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), the Gate

output is connected to some trigger input or the gate input of a voltage-controlled amplifier

(VCA), and the Velocity output is connected to a CV input of a VCA or a voltage-controlled

filter (VCF) or both (through a patch bay or a CV splitter). These typical routings will produce

the most predictable results, but you can creatively route these signals to any parameter

that will accept them.

10.6.2. Shift Magic

All of the keyboard Shift functions will work their magic on the CV outputs: for example, <

Nudge and Nudge > will nudge your sequence Pattern to the left or the right; Semi Down and

Semi Up will transpose your sequence Pattern within the current scale.

The keyboard Shift functions will also work on the CV outputs! You can change Seq Pattern

direction, change the Time Division, Scale and Root Note and set a custom User 1 or User 2

scale.

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