n0nx0x2 - Manual

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IMPORTANT: In case it wasn't clear, n0nx0x2 uses a non-standard pattern format, this means that the patterns won't be compatible between n0nx0x2 and the standard adafruit/sokkos2 formats.
If you have precious patterns - make a backup!

If you're installing n0nx0x2 for the first time, you might get some weird behaviour since it loads the settings from the internal eeprom, and they will probably be random (usually 0xFF). It's recommended to reset to default settings.

Contents


UPDATING THE FIRMWARE
Sequencer quick overview

AT-BOOT functions

Reset to default settings
Batteries-Out effect
Force 2MHz SPI frequency
Set 4MHz SPI frequency

SETTINGS mode

Sync
Metronome
Master Wrap
Bank LED Display
MIDI Channels
MIDI-Notes Output
MIDI-Note Offset (NEW)
Show/Set Tempo
Show/Set Tempo Correction
XSync
Shuffle mode
Shuffle min/max level

Patterns

Selecting Patterns

PATTERN-WRITE mode

Pattern Length and Step Mode
Pattern CLEAR
Pitch Mode
Time Mode
Tap-Write mode
Pattern Copy / Paste / Swap

PATTERN-PLAY mode

Pitch-Shift
Test tone

Tracks

TRACK-WRITE mode

Setting the D.C. marker
Setting the Sign marker
What BAR is it?
Jump to BAR...
Bar Delete & Insert

TRACK-PLAY mode

TRACK-RECORD mode

MANIPULATE mode

1 - Shift
2 - Reorder
3 - Transpose (NEW)
5 - Mutate
6 - Randomize

A (Pattern-Trigger) mode

B (FLAT Edit) mode

MIDIPLAY mode

Panic!

Computer Control mode

Adjust "half-lit" LED brightness
Fancy LED animation
Dump current settings
Report MIDI-2-DinSync conversion errors

SPECIAL features

Delayed-Start & Delayed-Restart
Bypass Master Start/Stop
Shuffle
Freeze Frame

 




Updating the Firmware

Set the x0xb0x to BOOTLOAD mode. Switch OFF, then ON. You should see a special LED pattern which indicates that the bootloader is running, and waiting for commands.

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/bootload.png

Now that the bootloader is running - there are two ways to update the firmware:

Via USB (with avrdude):
- Get yourself avrdude, on windows it comes with WinAVR: read this guide
- Open a command prompt (terminal window) and "cd" into the directory where you have the n0nx0x2.hex file
- Use the following command to flash the firmware:

avrdude -p atmega2561 -c stk500v2 -P COM3 -b 57600 -e -U flash:w:n0nx0x2.00.hex

Replace COM3 there with the actual name of the virtual serial port device, and n0nx0x2.00.hex with the firmware filename.

Via MIDI SYSEX:
- If you don't have the firmware in .syx format - convert the n0nx0x2.hex to a SYSEX file (.syx) using the as_hex2syx tool.
- Use a MIDI librarian application (like MIDI-OX, Elektron C6, or other) to send the .syx file to the x0xb0x via MIDI.

When flashing has finished, the bootloader should automatically run the firmware.

Here is more information about the bootloader and a video demonstrating how the firmware update process looks like with avrdude. It will be more or less the same via SYSEX, just slightly slower.






Sequencer


/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/modes_and_banks.png

The modes on the left side of the MODE selector are mostly the same as in the stock firmware.
As shown in the illustration above, four of the modes are supposed to function just like on the TB-303, so they will not be covered here (not yet at least), except for the differences and/or extra functions.

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/chain_select.png

n0nx0x2 has 8 banks (I to VIII), each bank has 2 sections (A and B) of 8 slots. The total number of patterns is still 128.
There are also 16 tracks.


 

Numeric LED animation


To display numbers, n0nx0x2 uses LED animation.
It's used in most places where numbers have to be displayed. For bar numbers in Track mode - see below.

The animation has 4 "frames". 3 of these frames can be digits, the 4th one is always empty (a pause).


/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/digits.png
 

Example:
To display 10, the animation will be: [-, 1, 0, -]
To display 123: [1, 2, 3, -]
While this might require some getting used to, it makes possible to display numbers from 0 to 999.


 

Bar number LED animation (used only in Track mode):

This animation is slightly different, it uses all of the selector LEDs - 0 to 9, 100 and 200.

Example:
To display 10: 1 will be lit, 0 will blink.
To display 123: 100 and 2 will be lit, 3 will blink.
To display 255: 200 will be lit, 5 will alternate between blink and lit.

 






At-Boot functions


The following functions should be performed during boot. The FW will check for these button combos right after the intro LED animation, so hold the buttons in advance.
 

Reset to default settings

 

Hold FUNCTION+CLEAR while the FW is booting.

You will see a visual indication (via the LEDs) that the settings were reset.


The default settings are:

NAME VALUE
Sync 1 (INTERNAL - master mode)
Metronome ON
MIDI-IN channel 1
MIDI-OUT channel 1
Tempo 120
Master Wrap 16
Bank LED Display 1 (step position)
Bank LED Display Bar-counter Wrap 8
Tempo Correction 0
XSync Speed 2 (1x)
MIDI-to-DinSync conversion method 1 (Predict)
Shuffle 0 (Neutral)
Shuffle min -6 (bank LED 10)
Shuffle max +6 (bank LED 7)
SPI clock frequency 4MHz
LEDs "half-lit" brightness 6
Shuffled-Clock 0 (off)
MIDI-Note-Output 1 (enabled)
MIDI-Note-Offset 0 (1V = 24)

 

Batteries-Out effect


This function generates random patterns.

Hold RND+CLEAR while the FW is booting.

You will see a visual indication (via the LEDs) that the patterns are being overwritten, this process will take a few seconds to complete.
 

WARNING: There is no UNDO! All 128 patterns will be overwritten.

 

Force 2MHz SPI frequency


Since v2.09, the SPI clock frequency was doubled.
In case this causes issues in some x0xb0xes - the old (and safe) 2MHz frequency can be forced.

Possible issues with the faster SPI frequency to watch for are:
- At boot, the LEDs will function because the SPI is still running at 2MHz at that point, so you'll see the "sweeping" LED animation.
- After boot: LEDs don't function properly, and/or Buttons don't respond, and/or external EEPROM doesn't function (patterns/tracks are gone or bad).

In any of those cases, you can force n0nx0x to not switch SPI frequency to 4MHz but to keep it at 2MHz (the setting will be saved to internal eeprom).

Hold TIME MODE + SLOT 2 while the FW is booting.


 

Set 4MHz SPI Frequency


To set the SPI Frequency to 4MHz:

Hold TIME MODE + SLOT 1 while the FW is booting.






SETTINGS Mode


The following settings are stored into the Internal EEPROM (on the cpu itself).
Make sure you're in SETTINGS mode (mode selector pointing up).
 

Sync

 

Hold the TIME MODE button.


You will see the currently set Sync mode shown on the digit LEDs:

  1. INTERNAL (Master mode)
  2. DinSync (Slaved to DinSync, converts to MIDISync)
  3. MIDISync (Slaved to MIDISync, converts to DinSync)
  4. No sync? (if you see this - just change it)


 

To change the sync mode press the respective button (1 to 3 please) and release the TIME MODE button.

If the TEMPO LED blinks that means there is clock.

 


MIDI-to-DinSync CONVERSION METHOD:

When the sync mode is set to 3 (MIDISync) you can chose what method to be used for the conversion to DinSync.
The Bank LEDs (1 to 5) will display the current setting, and you can use the TEMPO encoder to change it.

  1. Prediction (the FW will try to keep the pulse-width at 50%)
  2. Fixed-PW (2ms)
  3. Fixed-PW (3ms)
  4. Fixed-PW (4ms)
  5. Fixed-PW (5ms)




The prediction algorithm is bound to break whenever there are sudden tempo changes from slow to fast between one tick to the next.
This may happen when:

In those cases, use the Fixed-PW method.
The 4ms setting should be optimal, but be aware that some older DinSync devices might require even higher setting (which on the other hand limits the maximum BPM).
 

For best sync results: Use a good master clock source (preferably DinSync). If you must use MIDISync - use a master device which keeps the MIDI_CLOCKs steadily running at all times (as the MIDI specification says), use the Prediction method, and avoid rapid tempo changes.

 

Metronome


It's possible to mute the metronome (which is used during Tap-Write mode) for example if you have another machine which can serve the purpose of a metronome.
 

Hold the TIME MODE button.
Press CLEAR to toggle the metronome.



If the CLEAR LED is lit - the metronome is enabled.
 

Master Wrap


n0nx0x2 keeps track of the master clock with some additional counters. These are used for the Delayed-Start and Delayed-Restart functions.
The counters are only reset when the Master starts playing. After that the counters "wrap" around when they reach the Master Wrap setting (which is in steps).
 

Hold RUN.


The current Master Wrap setting will be shown using the numeric LED animation.
 

To change it: dial-in the desired value using the digit buttons (0 to 9), and release the RUN button.

 

Bank LED Display


What do you want to see when you look at the Bank LEDs?

  1. The position in the pattern
  2. A Bar counter (Synchronized to the Master)
  3. Nothing (Off)
  4. A combination of 1 and 2


To set it:
 

Hold the STEP button, and use the SELECTOR buttons 1 to 4.


The Bank LED Display is shown in the following modes: Pattern-Write (when playing), Pattern-Play, Track-Play, Manipulate.

Option #1 is similar to what the stock firmware does. It could be distracting in some situations.

Option #2 (Bar Counter) can be useful when you want to keep track of the position in the song, while you might be playing irregular patterns or be distracted in other ways.
The Bar Counter uses the same mechanisms as the Master counter and Master-Wrap function, thus it runs independantly from the x0xb0x sequencer, and is only reset when the Master starts.
The actual length of one such "Bar" is the same as in the Master-Wrap feature.
If this option is selected, there is an additional setting of how many such "Bars" the counter should wrap at, it's indicated via the BANK LEDs, and can be set with the BANK selector (from 2 to 16).

With Option #4, the Bar number is displayed on the bank LEDs "half-lit".
 

MIDI Channels


Input Channel (this is used in MIDIPLAY mode):
 

Hold PITCH MODE+INS.


The MIDI-IN channel will be shown with the BANK LEDs.
 

Use the TEMPO encoder to change it.


Output Channel (this is used for outgoing MIDI notes (from the sequencer and from KEYBOARD mode)):
 

Hold PITCH MODE+DEL.


The MIDI-OUT channel will be shown with the BANK LEDs.
 

Use the TEMPO encoder to change it.


 

MIDI-Notes Output


When playing patterns, the sequencer generates MIDI Notes (sent to the MIDI Output Channel).
Since v2.10 this can be enabled/disabled.

Hold PITCH MODE.

The STEP LED indicates whether the MIDI-Notes-Output feature is enabled.

Press STEP to toggle it.


 

MIDI Note Offset


This offset is added to the Output MIDI Notes (generated by the sequencer), and subtracted from the Input MIDI Notes (used in MIDIPLAY mode).

Hold PITCH MODE, and press FUNCTION.

The Note Offset will be indicated using the Keyboard LEDs and DOWN/UP LEDs.
The neutral setting is when the low C LED is lit, and DOWN/UP are not lit. That equals MIDI Note 24.

Use the Key, DOWN, and UP buttons to change it.
Release PITCH MODE when done.


 

Show/Set Tempo

 

To show the internal tempo (BPM):
 

Hold the TEMPO button.


The current tempo will be shown using the numeric LED animation.

To set the tempo:
 

Hold the TEMPO button.
Dial-in the desired BPM using the digit buttons (0 to 9), and release the TEMPO button.

 

Tempo correction


Since n0nx0x v2.05, the speed of the internal clock can be corrected if it's off by +/- 10%.
The correction is stored in the internal EEPROM as a value from -100 to +100, where zero is "off".
When updating from a previous version, the value loaded from EEPROM might need to be reset.



To show the correction setting:
 

Hold the TEMPO button, press FUNCTION.


The current value will be shown using the numeric LED animation, and the DEL(-) / INS(+) LEDs will be used to display negative / positive sign.

To set the correction setting:
 

Hold the TEMPO button, press FUNCTION.
Dial-in the desired value using the digit buttons (0 to 9).
Use the DEL / INS buttons to set the negative / positive sign.
When finished - release the TEMPO button.


More on this here: Tempo Correction guide
 

XSync - eXtra Sync


Since n0nx0x v2.06, two additional analog signals are being generated:

The clock is sent on PortG-4 (pin 19) and the step-trigger is sent on PortG-3 (pin 18).
 

WARNING: additional protection circuitry may be a good idea here, before hooking the pins to other devices.
// TODO


Both signals are only generated while the Sequencer is playing (even if the patterns are empty).
Effectively these are two additional sync outputs, and you get them also converted (naturally) when the x0x is slaved!
The rate of the two signals can be adjusted from the settings.
Note: both share the same setting, for simplicity, but the step-trigger's rate depends on whether the Sequencer is playing normal patterns (4/4) or triplet (3/4).


To display the XSync clock speed:
 

Hold the TIME MODE button, and press NEXT.


You will see the currently set XSync speed shown on the digit LEDs:

# DESCRIPTION PPQN
1 2x - double 8  
2 1x - normal 4
3 half 2
4 quarter 1


As shown above, if set to 2, the clock will be firing 4 impulses per beat, while the step-trigger will be outputing 4 or 3 "steps" per beat depending on the pattern.
The step-trigger is a 50:50 pulse, while the clock is fixed width (5ms) so it should be used as a rising-edge trigger.
 

To change the XSync clock speed:
 

Use the digit buttons 1 to 4, and release TIME MODE.


 

Shuffle mode


To display the shuffle mode:

Hold the 3/4 (triplet) button and press the TEMPO button.

If the TIME MODE LED is lit - the x0xb0x will use shuffled-clock in Master mode, and tick-based shuffle in the Slave modes.
If the TIME MODE LED is not lit - the x0xb0x will use tick-based shuffle in all sync modes.

To change the shuffle mode:

Hold the 3/4 (triplet) button and press the TEMPO button.
Press TIME MODE to toggle Shuffled-Clock.


 

Shuffle min/max level


You can adjust the shuffle min and max level to your taste.

Hold the 3/4 (triplet) button and press the TEMPO button.
Use DEL / INS to select the minimum / maximum shuffle level.
Use the TEMPO knob to adjust the value.
Release the 3/4 button when done.


 






Patterns


What is a pattern?


A pattern stores 16 steps in memory, where each step can either be a valid note (with note Key and DUAS) or a special code.
The special codes can be Rest (the step is off), End-Of-Pattern (EOP), and Triplet.
That's not really important in practice because you cannot access the data directly in that form.
Instead, n0nx0x2 represents the pattern to you as Time and Pitch information, pattern Length and Step Mode, which is rather different than the actual binary format.
 



 

Selecting Patterns


This applies to the following modes: PATTERN-WRITE, PATTERN-PLAY, TRACK-WRITE, TRACK-RECORD.


To select a pattern:

- Make sure the PATT. BANK selector points to the desired bank (I to VIII).
- If needed, change the PATT. SECTION by pressing A or B.
Press the desired pattern SLOT button (1 to 8).

The selected pattern slot LED will blink.



 

When one patterns isn't enough - you can select multiple patterns (up to 4) from the same Bank and Section.
The patterns must be subsequent.

To select a chain:

Hold the SLOT button of the first pattern, and press the SLOT button of the last pattern.

The pattern slot LEDs of each pattern in the chain will be lit, and the LED of the current pattern will blink.

When the sequencer plays a chain - the patterns are played one after the other.

 

Note: changing the PATT. BANK itself doesn't actually change the pattern.
Note: changing the PATT. SECTION itself doesn't actually change the Bank.
Note: when the sequencer is running - the actual pattern change happens at the end of the currently playing chain.





 

PATTERN WRITE mode

 

Note: Selecting patterns in Pattern-Write mode is only available while the sequencer is stopped.


 

Pattern Length and Step Mode

 

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.


To check the Pattern Length and Step Mode:

Hold FUNCTION.

Now the Pattern Length will be displayed using the BANK LEDs, and the Step Mode will be indicated on the 3/4 (triplet) LED (lit means 3/4, otherwise 4/4).
 


To change the Pattern Length:

While holding FUNCTION, press the STEP button N times.
 - Alternatively, you can also use the INS / DEL buttons or the TEMPO knob to increment/decrement.
 - Release the FUNCTION button when done. This saves the changes to memory.


To change the Step Mode:

While holding FUNCTION, press the 3/4 button.
You can also change the pattern Length here.
Release the FUNCTION button when done.


Note: In Step Mode 3/4 the pattern Length cannot be more than 15 steps.
Note: When changing the Step Mode to 3/4 - the pattern Length is automatically set to 12 steps (which is equal to 4 beats).
Note: On exit from the submenu (when you release the FUNCTION button) the changes are written to memory, and any steps after the end of the pattern become Rests.
Note: If a chain of patterns is selected - the pattern length and step mode is shown for only the first pattern in the chain.

 

Pattern CLEAR

 

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.

 

Hold CLEAR and press the pattern slots (one by one) of the patterns you want to clear.


Clearing a pattern does the following:

 

 

PITCH MODE

 

Pitch Mode is where you access the "notes" or "pitch information" of the pattern.
 

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.

 

Press the PITCH MODE button.

The PITCH MODE LED will light up.


To exit:

Press NORMAL MODE.

This also saves whatever is in the buffer back to the memory.

 


While in Pitch Mode, you can do essentially two things with the notes:

Both of these actions automatically advance the position in the pitch buffer.


Writing notes:

Repeat for each note:

Press a Key button.

This (over)writes the note at the current position in the pitch buffer (including its DUAS attributes).
The position is auto-advanced when you release the Key button.

Hint: you can hold any of the DUAS buttons before pressing the Key.


Stepping through the notes:

This is useful when you want to check/hear the notes of the pattern, or to change some note attributes, or just to skip to a specific note.

Hold NEXT.

The note at the current position will be played, its Key will be displayed on the Keyboard LEDs, and the DUAS attributes will be displayed on the DUAS LEDs respectively.
You can change any of these attributes while still holding NEXT.
The position is auto-advanced when you release the NEXT button.


Inserting a note:

 

Hold FUNCTION and press INS.

The current note will be duplicated, and all following notes will get shifted one step forward.


Deleting a note:

 

Hold FUNCTION and press DEL.

The current note will be erased, and all following notes will get shifted to fill the hole.


 

TIME MODE


Time Mode is where you access the "time information" of the pattern.

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.

 

Press TIME MODE.

The TIME MODE LED will light up.


To exit:

Press NORMAL MODE.

This also saves the pattern to memory.


In Time Mode you can do two things:

Both of these actions automatically advance the position in the time buffer.
The Bank LEDs are used to indicate the current step position within the pattern.

 

It's important to understand what the time values mean and how they affect the pattern:

Gate - starts new notes
Tie - extends notes
Rest is simply a rest.

Each Gate takes a note from the pitch buffer, while Tie and Rest don't.
Tie can't "sit" after a Rest.



Writing the time information:

For each step in the pattern:

Press the Gate, Tie, or Rest button.

The respective LED will light up.
The position will be auto-advanced when you release the button.



Stepping through the time information:

This is useful if you want to check the data, or to change it.

Hold NEXT.

The current step's time value will be displayed with the Gate/Time/Rest LEDs.
You can change the time value while still holding NEXT by simply pressing the respective button.
The position will be auto-advanced when you release the NEXT button.


Once you go past the last step of the pattern (or chain) - you will be automatically returned to Normal Mode (and thus changes will be written to memory).

Tip: you can directly go from Time Mode to Pitch Mode by pressing the PITCH MODE button, which saves one button press.
Hint: you can display the whole Time information for the current pattern from the chain by holding the Slot 1 button. The Time information will be shown on the Bank LEDs: Gate(lit), Tie(blinking), Rest(off), and the steps beyond the pattern end will be "half-lit".

 

 

TAP-WRITE MODE


Tap-Write mode is an alternative way to enter the time information of a patter/chain.
Instead of using Time Mode, here you simply "tap" the notes while the sequencer is running, and this is then translated into Gate/Tie/Rest values automatically.

If the sequencer is stopped - press RUN to start it.

 

Press CLEAR.

This activates Tap-Write mode.

The selection is locked.
The time information of the pattern(s) will be overwritten with Rests.
The metronome will start (if enabled), and the CLEAR LED will blink with it. The metronome will play a beep twice per beat on patterns with Step-Mode=4/4, or once per beat on patterns with Step-Mode=3/4. The very first beep of each pattern will be low-pitched, all others will be high-pitched.

The patterns will continue to cycle untill you complete the cycle.


Wait untill the whole chain cycles around and start tapping from the first pattern:

Use the TAP button.

Each time you press TAP, a Gate value will be written to the current step.
Holding the button over the following steps will write Tie values to each of them respectively.
All other steps will remain with Rests.

Once you have began tapping within a cycle - you will be returned to Normal Mode at the beginning of the next chain cycle. The changes will be written to memory. The sequencer will continue to play, and you will hear what you've done.

Hint: you can hold a pattern slot button (any) while pressing TAP - this acts as sustain.

 

Pattern Copy/Paste/Swap


n0nx0x2 has a dedicated clipboard buffer for copying and pasting patterns.
It can hold a whole chain (4 patterns) and a pattern index.

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.

 

 

Copy:

Press CPY.

This copies currently selected chain from the pattern buffer to the clipboard buffer, and remembers the pattern index of the first pattern.

Paste:

Press PST.

The currently selected chain will be overwritten with the pattern(s) from the clipboard buffer.

Swap:

Each time you copy a pattern, the index is remembered, and that index is used for the Swap function.

- Copy one of the patterns/chains that you want to swap (this remembers the index).
- Select the other patterns/chains.
Press CPY+PST.

This will swap the actual patterns in memory.

 






PATTERN PLAY mode


In this mode, you can select patterns/chains and apply Pitch-Shift.
 

Pitch-Shift


The whole pattern/chain can be transposed with up to +12 semitones.


To apply Pitch-Shift:

Hold PITCH MODE.

The Pitch-Shift amount will be displayed on the Keyboard LEDs.

Press a Key button.

Note: If the sequencer is playing, the Pitch-Shift will take effect on the next chain cycle.
Note: Selecting a pattern/chain resets the Pitch-Shift to 0, but changing the Pattern Section doesn't.
Note: Switching to PATTERN-WRITE mode resets the Pitch-Shift to 0.

 

Test tone


In case you want to hear a test-tone in order to tune the x0xb0x to another synth or reference tone - you can do it here.

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.

 

Press TAP.

The sequencer will play a high-C note (3 volts CV).
You can now adjust the TUNING control to get ~130.813Hz.

Hint: the test-tone is affected by the Pitch-Shift setting. Use Pitch-Shift to 'A' if you want to tune to 220Hz.






Tracks


You can play patterns and chains of patterns and apply Pitch-Shift to them in Pattern-Play mode, but here, you can let the sequencer do that for you using tracks.
When a track is played - the sequencer automatically changes the patterns, and applies Pitch-Shift.


A track stores the following data:

Each Bar stores:

A bar is actually a pattern pointer. The length of a bar is the length of the pattern it points to.
Each track uses a fixed pattern bank. In other words, a track can use the (16) patterns from one bank.
See the table:

TRACK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
PATT.BANK I II III IV V VI VII VIII

Also shown on the TRACK/BANK selector.


Length:

This is the number of bars of the track.
It can normally range from 1 to 64.
It can be extended up to 256, which simply overwrites the following tracks' bars.


Extended tracks:

The maximum Length of each track is shown in the following table:

TRACK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
MAX LENGTH 256 256 256 256 256 256 256 256 256 256 256 256 256 192 128 64

In other words, if you extend track 1 to 80 bars - you should not modify track 2, because it's part of track 1 now.
Even if you extend track 13 to 256 bars (which would make it overwrite tracks 14, 15, and 16) - it will still only use patterns from its own bank (VII in this case).


Sign:

This is a unique pointer which points to a bar within the track.
When playing a track, it's possible to jump and continue from the bar pointed to by the Sign.



 

TRACK WRITE mode

 
Before you begin, two important things:

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.


While the sequencer is stopped - make sure you've selected the desired track using the TRACK selector (1 to 16).

Press BAR RESET.

This reset the position to bar 1 (the beginning of the track).


 

The actual track programming is done while the sequencer is running.

Press RUN to start the sequencer.

> The sequencer will play the pattern from bar 1 repeatedly.

Select some pattern and apply Pitch-Shift if needed.
Press WRITE/NEXT.

The selected pattern and pitch-shift will be written to bar 1, and the position will automatically advance to the next bar.
> The sequencer will now play the pattern from bar 2 repeatedly.

Repeat this process for each bar of the track.


When you reach the last bar of the track, before pressing WRITE/NEXT - set the D.C. marker.
The track is complete!


 

WARNING: Going past bar 64 will extend the track, which overwrites bars from the following track(s).

 

Tip: you can select whole chains of patterns (just like in PATTERN-PLAY mode) and write them at once by pressing WRITE/NEXT. This simply writes each pattern to a bar and advances to the next bar. If D.C. was set - the D.C. marker will be placed at the last bar of that chain.



 

Setting the D.C. marker


The D.C. marker has to be written on the last bar. It sets the Length of the track.

Press the D.C. button.

The D.C. LED will blink. Now press WRITE/NEXT to write the bar.



 

Setting the Sign marker


The Sign marker can be written to a bar in the track.

Press the Sign (BACK) button.

The Sign LED will blink. Now press WRITE/NEXT to write the bar.



 

What BAR is it?


The sequencer can display bar numbers using the BAR number LED animation.
If you've got disoriented, or want to know where the markers are - here's how:


To check the current position:

Hold BAR.

The current position in the track will be displayed.


To check on which bar the D.C. marker is:

Hold BAR and press D.C.

The bar number will be displayed. This is equivalent to the track length.


To check on which bar the Sign marker is:

Hold BAR and press the Sign (BACK) button.

The bar number will be displayed.



 

Jump to BAR...


You can go to a specific bar very quickly by dialing its number.

Hold BAR.
Dial the bar number using the SELECTOR buttons 0 to 9.
Release BAR.

The number you're dialing will be shown using the BAR number LED animation.
The actual jump will happen after you release the BAR button.

Note: when you release BAR - if the bar number is invalid - the jump is canceled. If you're unsure whether the jump operation was successiful - just re-check the bar position by pressing and holding BAR again.
Hint: you can use the SELECTOR buttons 100 and 200 here. Press one of them first, and then use the buttons 0 to 9 for the rest. Example: [100, 9, 7] = 197; [200, 5] = 205.



 

Bar Delete & Insert


You can delete or insert a bar at the current position.


To delete the bar:

Hold BAR and press DEL.

The current bar will be deleted and all following bars till the end of the track will be shifted back towards the "hole".


Example: deleting bar 6 - the remaining bars are shifted (including any markers).



To insert a bar:

Hold BAR and press INS.

The current bar will be duplicated and all following bars till the end of the track will be shifted forward.


Example: inserting a bar at position 6.



 






TRACK PLAY mode


In this mode, you can play the tracks.
Pattern selection and Pitch-Shift are in control of the sequencer.


First, select the track:

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.

Select the track you want to play using the TRACK selector (1 to 16).

Press BAR RESET.

This resets the position to bar 1 (the beginning of the track).


 

Press RUN to start the sequencer.

> The sequencer will play the track from the current position.


While the track plays you can:


When the end of the track is reached:

 

Hint: the sequencer can switch to another track if the TRACK selector points to it when the current track ends or if you've forced it by pressing BAR RESET.






TRACK-RECORD mode


This is an alternative to the original TRACK-WRITE mode, where you step through the bars and.

In TRACK-RECORD mode, you "perform" the track while the sequencer plays, and the information is "recorded" automatically into the bars in realtime.



Prepare to start recording:

It's not possible to select the very first pattern/chain during the actual recording, thus you have to select it before that.
First, select the track:

If the sequencer is playing - press STOP to stop it.

Select the track using the TRACK selector (1 to 16).

Select the very first pattern/chain and apply pitch-shift if needed.

You can start the sequencer in order to to exercise or just to confirm that you've selected the right pattern. Just stop the sequencer when ready to start recording.

When you're ready:

Press BAR RESET (CLEAR).

The CLEAR LED will blink indicating that the sequencer is now awaiting to start recording.
This also resets the position to bar 1 (the beginning of the track). You can change the starting position if you wish to start from somewhere else by using the Jump-to-bar function.

The actual recording will start when the sequencer starts playing (either via the RUN button, or via Delayed-Start, or simply when the Master starts).

You can now proceed to start recording!



Start recording:
 

Press RUN to start the sequencer.

> The sequencer will play starting with the pre-selected pattern/chain.
> At the end of each pattern (bar) - the pattern and pitch-shift are written to the track (bar) automatically (including the markers, if they are set) and the position is advanced.


While recording, you can:

A progress bar (using the Bank LEDs) will show the current position in the track against the maximum possible length of this track (including extending).
If the maximum length of the track is reached - recording stops automatically (but the sequencer continues to play).

 

WARNING: Going past bar 64 will potentially extend the track, which overwrites bars from the following track(s).


 

Hint: You can check which bar you're on.
Tip: If you make a mistake during the recording - you can fix it in TRACK-WRITE mode afterwards, or restart recording from bar 1 or from a few bars before the mistake.






MANIPULATE mode


In this mode, the currently selected pattern/chain is locked and cannot be changed.
All manipulators operate on the pattern buffer, so the changes can be heard instantly, while nothing is written to EEPROM.

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/manip.png

In the main menu, the WRITE/NEXT LED blinks when changes have been made, and WRITE can be pressed to save these changes to EEPROM.
The BACK button is used to discard the changes (reloads the the chain from EEPROM).

If the changes haven't been saved, and you leave MANIPULATE mode - you can still go to the other modes like PATTERN-PLAY, however, as soon as you change the selection - the changes will be lost (since selecting a chain overwrites the pattern buffer).
Hint: you can copy the modified chain into the clipboard buffer.

#1 - SHIFT


Hold the SLOT 1 button.

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/manip_shift.png

- Use DEL to shift << left, and INS to shift >> right.
- Use TAP to "tap-in" the beginning, which will make the sequencer automatically shift the whole chain so that the step at which you tapped becomes the first one.



TRIM-SHIFT & TILE-SHIFT & RESIZE
These three functions use the contents of the Clipboard buffer and the Pattern buffer as a destination (or frame).
It's essentially the same algorithm, and whether it trims, tiles, or resizes depends on contents of the two buffers.
Note: The contents of the Pattern buffer are overwritten with data from the Clipboard buffer.
Note: These three functions don't work if the Clipboard buffer is empty.

Press the PST button - the PST LED should light up indicating that the Clipboard buffer will be used.
Now shifting << left or >> right will be done with the data from the Clipboard.

TILE-SHIFT
If the clipboard contains less steps than the pattern buffer:

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/manip_shift-tile.png

TRIM-SHIFT
If the clipboard contains more steps than the pattern buffer:

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/manip_shift-trim.png

RESIZE
If the clipboard contains the same number of steps as the pattern buffer:
This function is more like a trick that can be used to:
- Combine multiple small patterns into smaller number of big patterns
- Split a big pattern into smaller patterns
- Adjust the sizes of the patterns

First, you have to go to Pattern-Write mode
1. Copy the pattern/chain
2. Change the pattern lengths individually for each pattern (this would mess up the actual patterns, but they were copied)
3. Re-select the pattern/chain which should now contain the same amount of steps (total) but different pattern lengths and/or count
4. Go to Manipulation mode, hold slot 1 (for Shift) and press PST.

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/manip_shift-resize.png
Example: 3 patterns of (12, 6, 6) steps were copied to the clipboard, then their lengths are changed to (8, 8, 8) and then pasted via the RESIZE trick.

#2 - REORDER


Hold the SLOT 2 button.
- Use RND to reorder everything randomly (small probability is used).
- Use FUNCTION to reorder in the pitch data only.
- Use BACK to reverse the chain.
- Use PITCH, DOWN, UP, ACCENT, SLIDE, to reorder the respective attributes.

#3 - TRANSPOSE


Hold the SLOT 3 button.
- Use DEL / INS to transpose down / up one semitone at a time.
- Use DOWN / UP to transpose down / up a whole octave.

#5 - MUTATE


Hold the SLOT 5 button.

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/manip_mutate.png

- Use RND to mutate everything.
- Use PITCH, DOWN, UP, ACCENT, SLIDE, to mutate the respective attributes.

You can chose whether the mutation will use random data or data from the Clipboard buffer by pressing PST.
If the PST LED is lit - all mutate operations will use data from the Clipboard.

#6 - RANDOMIZE


Hold the SLOT 6 button.

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/manip_randomize.png

- Use RND to randomize everything.
- Use PITCH, DOWN, UP, ACCENT, SLIDE, to randomize the respective attributes.






A (Pattern-Trigger) mode


Trigger Patterns via MIDI Notes!
This is an alternative way for playing patterns, radically different from the other modes.
MIDI-Trigger mode is similar to how software 303 plugins map patterns to MIDI Notes, and pressing down notes makes the sequencer play the corresponding pattern. Overlapping notes switches between patterns instantly without restarting the step position within the pattern, making it possible to make variations in realtime very easily.

In n0nx0x, MIDI-Trigger mode maps 16 patterns slots (1 whole Bank) to 16 subsequent MIDI Notes, as well as 13 pitch-shift keys to another 13 subsequent MIDI Notes.
n0nx0x will listen for MIDI Notes on the "Input Channel" (the same channel used for MIDI-Play mode).

This mode requires some source of MIDI Notes (MIDI Keyboard/Controller with at least 2 octaves, or a DAW), and makes sense only in Slave mode (you need to use external clock - MIDISync or DinSync).

Mapping


The offsets are stored in the internal EEPROM just like all the settings, however, configuring the offsets is not done in Settings mode, but here instead.

To set the offset to the pattern slots:
1. Make sure the sequencer is not playing.
2. Hold FUNCTION and press DEL.
- Now n0nx0x expects you to press the MIDI Note which will correspond to the first pattern slot.
3. Press the desired MIDI Note (e.g. C2).

To set the offset to the pitch-shift keys:
1. Make sure the sequencer is not playing.
2. Hold FUNCTION and press INS.
- Now n0nx0x expects you to press the MIDI Note which will correspond to the first pitch-shift key.
3. Press the desired MIDI Note (e.g. C4).

Note: The two offsets settings will be saved to EEPROM when you switch to another mode.

Start Playing


To start playing a pattern - Trigger it using the MIDI Note corresponding to that pattern.
Hold the note down untill the Master counter Wraps around - the sequencer will start playing only then.

As long as at least one pattern (MIDI Note) is held down - the sequencer will play.

Hold


Additionally, there is a "Hold" mode, which makes the sequencer start/stop together with the Master, and thus you don't have to keep holding a pattern (MIDI Note) all the time.
Press the TIME button to toggle the Hold mode ON/OFF.






B (FLAT Edit) mode


In this mode, you can edit patterns/chains while the sequencer is running, and the patterns are in "flat" format.

 

What is this "FLAT" format?


In Pattern-Write mode, the patterns are represented to you the same way as on the 303 - via Pitch Mode and Time Mode, thus you have the 303 pattern format abstraction, Gate/Tie/Rest and a list of pitches.

"Flat" format lacks that, and the patterns here are represented to you in the form of an array of steps with only Gate/Rest, where each Gate has pitch information which doesn't "move".
 

How to use B mode:


In B mode, the pattern/chain selection is locked.

While the sequencer plays:

The changes you make to the patterns are not saved to memory here.

While the sequencer is stopped:

If the patterns are modified - the WRITE LED will blink.
The selected pattern/chain is shown as normal but cannot be changed.

 






MIDIPLAY mode



In this mode, you can sequence the x0xb0x from an external sequencer or keyboard, via MIDI notes. The internal sequencer is off.

Up to 8 simultaneously held notes will be tracked.
After the first held note - additional notes will be played with Slide (legato style).
Velocity below 100 will result in "normal" notes, while velocity of 100 or higher - Accented notes.

The BANK LEDs will indicate the number of held notes in the Monophonic Voice Allocator.


 

PANIC!


In case a note gets stuck - use the panic function:

Hold FUNCTION and press CLEAR.

The hanging note is killed, and the MVA is reset.


 






Computer Control mode


Not much in this mode.
It is commonly confused that you must be in this mode in order for the x0xb0x to communicate with the control app. The x0xb0x FW accepts serial commands no matter what mode it's in.

However, some special little n0nx0x functions were put here...


 

Adjust "half-lit" LED brightness


Since v2.09, n0nx0x has a new LED state - "half-lit".
It actually blinks very quickly and gives the impression that it's lit at a lower brightness.

To adjust the brightness:

Hold Slot 1.
Press DEL / INS to decrease / increase the brightness.

The setting will be saved to the internal eeprom when you exit Computer Control mode.

 

Fancy LED animation


This is a silly feature, it has no real purpose, except to look nice ;]

To enable it:

Press CLEAR.

Additionally, you can make the animation faster or slower by pressing DEL / INS.

 

Dump current settings


The current settings can be dumped in a somewhat understandable format to the control app. The app should support MSG_TEXTOUT (thus c0nb0x v1.01).

Hold DEL and press INS.


 

Report MIDI-2-DinSync conversion errors


When using MIDISync, the conversion to DinSync can be problematic, n0nx0x keeps a record of how many missed ticks have occured (up to 65535) and can report that number to the control app using MSG_TEXTOUT.

Hold INS and press DEL.


 






SPECIAL features


Delayed-Start & Delayed-Restart


n0nx0x2 has dedicated counters to keep track of the Master clock. These counters are only reset when the Master Starts playing. The Master Counter "wraps" after a configurable number of steps (1 to 32).

Normally in n0nx0x2 you can START and STOP independantly from the Master, via pressing the RUN/STOP button.
However, if you want to Start the x0xb0x "right at the bar" against the Master, it might be tricky.

/cms/public/img/n0nx0x2_manual/func_run.png

Delayed-Start
When the x0xb0x is not running, press FUNCTION+RUN. The sequencer will not start immediately but wait for the Master Counter to "wrap".

Delayed-Restart
When the x0xb0x is running, press FUNCTION+RUN. The sequencer will wait for the Master Counter to "wrap", and then the playing position of the pattern will be reset to the beginning, and all tick counters will be re-started.

Note: Delayed-Start and Delayed-Restart are available in TRACK-RECORD, TRACK-WRITE, TRACK-PLAY, PATTERN-PLAY, PATTERN-WRITE, MANIPULATE, A, and B modes.
Tip: This functionality also works when the x0xb0x itself is in Master (Internal Sync) mode, the Master Counter simply wraps when the x0xb0x is started from the RUN/STOP button. Starting it via Delayed-Start doesn't reset the Master Counters.

Bypass Master Start/Stop


When the x0xb0x is slaved, this feature lets you Start or Stop the master without the x0xb0x reacting to it.
The master Start isn't completely ignored - the master counters will always be reset, thus you can use the Delayed-Start or Delayed-Restart functions to "join" the x0xb0x afterwards.

From the main menu - hold FUNCTION.

You'll notice that the TEMPO LED blinks in a slightly different way while you hold the FUNCTION button.
 

Note: This feature is available in all situations where Delayed-Start / Delayed-Restart are available, but only makes sense in Slave sync mode.



 

Shuffle


Since v2.09, n0nx0x has shuffle. It is adjusted globaly (it's not a per-pattern attribute).

Since v2.10, there are two kinds of shuffle: the classic "tick-based" shuffle and shuffled-clock (in v2.10).

Tick-based Shuffle:

Shuffled-Clock:


To adjust the shuffle level:

Hold the 3/4 button and hold the TEMPO button (you can then release 3/4).
Adjust using the TEMPO knob.
Release the TEMPO button when done.

The bank LEDs 1 and 16 will be lit when the shuffle is 0 (neutral).
If the shuffle is positive, LEDs above 1 will be half-lit (LED 7 means shuffle level +6).
If the shuffle is negative, LEDs below 16 will be half-lit (LED 10 means shuffle level -6).

 

Note: The shuffle adjustment is available in the following modes: TRACK-PLAY, PATTERN-PLAY, PATTERN-WRITE, MANIPULATE, A (MIDI-Trigger).


This shows the possible levels (with tick-based shuffle):

Every first out of two 16th steps are shown in cyan, every second - green. The percentage is of every first step.
The slightly brighter color shows where the notes (gates) will be held high during non-slid/non-tied notes.

The +6 level matches the maximum shuffle on some classic drum machines.
 

For reference, if the DinSync doesn't have 50% pulse-width, but fixed-width, the result might look more like this:

In this illustration every second clock tick (the falling edge) is placed right after the first clock tick (the rising edge) with some fixed, short delay. Since the clock ticks are no longer equally spaced - half of the shuffle levels don't make sense.



Shuffled-Clock:

When using Shuffled-clock, the shuffle levels are slightly different. The positions of the ticks are also squeezed/stretched in time.
The min/max shuffle levels in this case are equivalent to +/- 6 in the tick-based shuffle (25% to 75%).

In the illustration above, the A and B coefficients are used to calculate the resulting tempo.
For example, if the tempo is set to 120BPM, and shuffled-clock level of +7 is applied - the internal clock will alternate between 120*0.75 and (120*1.5) thus 90BPM and 180BPM.

 


Additional information:

Tick-based Shuffle:


The tick-based shuffle in n0nx0x works by counting clock ticks, and relies heavily on 48 evenly-spaced ticks per beat, to give a rich amount of levels.
It works ideally in Internal Sync mode (since the x0x generates its own dinsync clock).
It would also work in DinSync mode, if the source clock has 50% pulse-width.
It would work in MIDISync mode with the Prediction method.

In any case where the clock doesn't have proper 50% pulse-width, or in other words if the 48 clock ticks aren't equally spaced in time - some (or most) shuffle levels will not make sense.

Shuffled-Clock:


The Shuffled-Clock works only in Internal Sync (Master) mode, while for the Slave modes - the shuffle is switched to tick-based automatically.
It works by alternating the clock frequency between a slightly slower and slightly faster tempo on each step, where the effective overall tempo is still the same as the desired tempo.


When slaving other devices to shuffled clock, you should have the following things in mind:

If the device runs on DinSync - use DinSync, otherwise use MIDISync (or XSync).
Avoid converting the lower resolution clocks (MIDISync and XSync) to higher resolution clocks using converters because this could be problematic and may fail.
If the device internally generates a higher resolution clock than the clock it accepts - the result could be bad. As an example, if you slave another n0nx0x2 to the shuffled-clock via MIDISync - the converted DinSync would fail in some situations (when using the prediction method, or too long pulse-width with the fixed-width method).
With the max BPM (300) and max shuffle level, the tempo goes as high as 600BPM. This could be a problem to some devices which don't poll fast enough (including older versions of n0nx0x).


 

Freeze Frame


Freeze Frame is a performance-oriented feature. It works similarly to a buffer-override or stutter loop effect.
It does not modify the patterns/tracks in any way, it only changes what is being played by the sequencer in a surgically clean way.
 

8 circular note buffers are available, the sizes of the buffers is from 1 to 8. These buffers accumulate the notes which the sequencer plays.
Each of the 8 pattern slots is mapped to one of the buffers. Holding down a slot button activates the respective buffer, which then stops accumulating new notes, and instead - starts "injecting" the notes it contains into the sequencer.

 



To access the Freeze Frame micro menu:

If the sequencer is stopped - press RUN to start it.

 

Hold STEP.

Note: Freeze Frame is available in the following modes: TRACK-PLAY, PATTERN-PLAY.


 

From within the menu, holding down a slot button activates the respective Freeze Frame buffer. When activated - that buffer stops accumulating new notes, but starts injecting its contents instead. Multiple slot buttons can be pressed, but only one of the buffers may inject notes (the newest one).


MENU LOCK

You can press the MENU LOCK button (A#) if you want to stay in the Freeze Frame menu without holding the STEP button.
To get out of the menu - press STEP.

 


SUSTAIN

Sustain mode can be toggled with the SUSTAIN (G#) button.
When Sustain mode is enabled - the activated Freeze Frame buffer will remain active even when the slot button is no longer pressed.
The sustain will remain untill you switch it off (using the SUSTAIN button).
The sustained buffer will be deactivated automatically when:

 


FREEZE ALL

When "Freeze All" mode is enabled - activating even one of the buffers makes all other buffers stop accumulating new notes too.

 


DUAS - INVERT & MUTATE

When enabled, INVERT inverts the DUAS attributes of the injected notes.
MUTATE is a variation of INVERT but modifies the DUAS attributes in the actual buffers.

INVERT and MUTATE are "momentary" modifiers.
If you want to enable one of them without holding the respective button - go out of the Freeze Frame menu (by releasing STEP) while its button is held, then go back to the Freeze Frame menu - the modifier is still enabled.

 


Micro sustain

This is a technique for sustaining the activated Freeze Frame buffer quickly.
The trick is to go out of the Freeze Frame menu (by releasing STEP) while the slot button is held down.

This is a more "fragile" variant of sustain.
It gets deactivated automatically when: