JUPITER-Xm Step Edit Sequencer Tutorial - Patterns, TR-REC, Poly and more

[@danield_sounds]

Great tutorial. Everyday i get more impressed about how bad the interface implementation is on the JPX.

[@RobertSaintJohn]

Sometimes painful, usually worth it 😄

[@danield_sounds]

@@RobertSaintJohn Sure , it’s a great synth but I’m on my third month with it and still scratching my head from time to time ... and I have an Octatrack , so I’m used to unfriendly interfaces 😂

[@MarianoPerez]

This right here 100%. I love the sound of this machine, but I might sell it just because how clunky the os is. I can't believe this synth was created by the same company that made the fantom, mc707, and verselab, which are so easy to use.

[@danield_sounds]

@@MarianoPerez I sold mine months after this comment

[@MarianoPerez]

@@danield_sounds I'm probably going to keep it as a sound module just because I got it so cheap, $800.

[@marsancientruinsspotter9819]

September 2022. Only 11,755 persons know how to use the Jupiter-X arpegiator as 4 separates sequenced tracks. Thanks for this :)

[@oscarelfving5865]

I hope Roland have started paying you. This was exactly what I needed. THANKS!

[@GeorgiRusev]

Тhe hardest synth to program. Need 2 University years to study and learn everything. Incredible sounds though.

[@michaeldandrea9039]

It’s actually fine once you learn it. DX7 would ruin you

[@gcoudert]

Thanks! That was 'siriusly' useful!

[@MikeHenrick1]

Jesus Christ. After a few clicks and twists I thought do I sell this keyboard I just bought. Can you play real-time and record it? Would 3 million times easier

[@JackOasys]

Great job, great demo... everything is very clear, thanks

[@Aardmanfan888]

Great spot-on tutorial, thank you.

[@brunocordier6335]

Pourquoi faire compliqué quand on peut simple à notre époque. J'ai également un jupiter X mais rentrer dans cette fonction non et non . Merci pour votre travail .

[@jrf1962]

Also in the jd xi you can customise the drums

[@RobertSaintJohn]

Yes, the Xi has flexibility with individual drum parts that is not in the JUPITERs.

[@MarianoPerez]

Can you record patterns in with a keyboard. For example, press record, get a 4 beat count in, play your pattern, and have xm save that pattern?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

This video is 4 years old. The X/Xm OS has been upgraded to somewhat allow what you're asking about, but there is no count in and the real-time recording is not its strong point

[@VTOLKits]

Can you input chord progression live on the keys and the programed arpeggio plays on the notes you held down ?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

No, but that appears to be a feature of the new SH-4d that is much better geared towards pattern building and sequencing than the X/Xm

[@VTOLKits]

@@RobertSaintJohn I think the SH-4d don't have own pattern programming, only the normal up / down stuff plus this visual ping pong. But the SH-4d have a real sequencer.

[@JDSoundsets]

This looks so much fun :)

[@RobertSaintJohn]

Synth fun, step edit not fun 😄

[@scottblanchard7542]

Hello, excellent job. Does this tutorial apply to fw 3.0? Thank you!

[@RobertSaintJohn]

This was about two years ago when X and Xm were at 1.20 (hard to believe!). What’s shown here will actually still work in 3.0. But Step Edit has improved a great deal with real-time recording features. So this is probably the slowest way to re-create something like Sirius on the X/Xm now. The menus and navigation will look a little different now, but this will essentially work the same way now as it did then.

[@scottblanchard7542]

@@RobertSaintJohn Thanks for the reply! Have you made a tutorial on the real-time recording? I'll take a look around and see if I can find anything.

[@RobertSaintJohn]

@@scottblanchard7542 You can get a brief glimpse of it in action in my 1.50 video, but I have not done any major videos or tutorials for a few months. If I can find the time and if the X/Xm firmware stops changing, I would like to do an entirely new set of tutorials, including that

[@scottblanchard7542]

@@RobertSaintJohn Thanks a bunch, this tutorial helped me grasp the basics of the step editor. Not too tough now!

[@loicmarbach1419]

coool Can you program a beat for example and play free synnth on it to train?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

Absolutely, take a look kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJuseXywaLCibdk

[@loicmarbach1419]

@@RobertSaintJohn thx !!

[@musicmatti]

Great tutorial, thank you! I am on the Jupiter X and it seems that i only can mute/unmute the parts when pressing shift+part … you do not need shift to mute parts!? Whats the trick please?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

musicmatti Page 46 JUPITER-X Reference manual, Part Btn Assign. I customized 6-10 to PartSw and 6-10+S to KeySw. This lets you mute Parts with just the one button press. Much easier!

[@musicmatti]

Robert Saint John oh yes!!!! This does the trick!!! Awesom thank you!

[@Pulse2AM]

Sounds nice! Can you import midi files for each part? I'd much prefer that or actually play the parts in, are either possible?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

Thanks! No, I’m afraid neither is possible at this time, but both have been suggested to TPTB. Either or both would save a lot of time. I’m hopeful about the MIDI import because it can actually *export* MIDI patterns for each Part that has Step Edit data

[@Pulse2AM]

@@RobertSaintJohn Thanks for clearing that up. Seems like an oversight on their part, that's so cumbersome. Midi import at least!

[@RobertSaintJohn]

@@Pulse2AM It’s a strange omission considering that the JUPITER 60/80 had MIDI import for this very purpose (custom arps), IIRC. I suppose they felt it wasn’t necessary with the inclusion of an onboard Editor. Even so, it’s the note entry method here that’s so clumsy, TR interface or not. I’ve encouraged them to consider an option that allows SH-101 style entry: just play notes in order and let them populate the grid. You could always go back to edit in ties, skips, velocity, etc. Fingers-crossed for something. To be fair, Roland simply don’t see or market this feature as a sequencer (the word is not used at all). It’s a custom step arpeggiator. But even for that, these default methods are painful and non-intuitive

[@Pulse2AM]

@@RobertSaintJohn Especially for a performance synth, who wants to do that for an entire set list of songs!

[@GusFogle]

Sir, can you give a brief tutorial on how to mute and unmute parts? Say for example you've recorded all five parts using the step edit tool, but you want to gradually introduce each part as the sequence repeats.

[@RobertSaintJohn]

But that’s exactly what I demonstrated in this video, with the muting detailed and shown stating around 11:50 . Is there something in particular you didn’t understand?

[@GusFogle]

@@RobertSaintJohn I missed the "Part Button Assign" under system features. Thank you for pointing that out in the video. I think that answers my question.

[@GusFogle]

I was a bit confused as to how to assign the parts to buttons 6-10 at first. Just took a little menu diving, but worked like a charm. I have the Jupiter X which is laid out a little different but essentially the same ideas apply.

[@RobertSaintJohn]

@@GusFogle Glad you found it (don’t forget to Write System if you want to save it). Changing those assignments has made all the difference to me when I perform

[@waltercheng5707]

This is the way back to jd-xi

[@francknowak4883]

Bon travail cela paraît évident 👍pas pour moi 😂😂 félicitations

[@drifter7508]

Why not just init the whole scene instead?

[@mertongoldfein6445]

can you step program the built-in drum kits like this to tho?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

Yes, absolutely. See my latest blog entry (see description above) for a note on this. In short, each part in a drum kit is just a note on the keyboard, and you can use this to create your own custom, static drum beats. It is slow and cumbersome, but TR-REC method speeds it up and it works!

[@NikolaNovak]

Merci!

[@davidknight754]

How do you start the sequence without being in step edit mode?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

Pattern play is triggered by the keyboard outside of the Step Editor. Be sure to see my 1.50 update at kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGrSaYOoaJt-p68 , as pattern editing is vastly different than shown in this video

[@davidknight754]

@@RobertSaintJohn Yes indeed. That is where I came from and then tried to follow this video. I think it made it even more confusing.

[@FourthWayRanch]

anyone figure out how to hold a note in the sequencer?

[@VTOLKits]

With tie: =

[@FourthWayRanch]

@@VTOLKits ok, at the bottom of the velocity selection, thanks! it only seems to hold on for a couple bars tho then it ends even though you use tie symbols

[@VTOLKits]

@@FourthWayRanch I think the max. is 64 steps / 4bars if you use 16th notes. But you can 8th, 4th or longer for more bars.

[@michaelmoore1434]

This sounds like the Alan parsons projects Sirius. Am I right or is it coincidence?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

No, this piece is actually called “Serious ;)”, not a coincidence. BtW, the entire Scene file is in the Facebook group

[@omenarya4221]

I use novation slmk3 sequencer keyboard with xm, it takes less than a minute to create tracks, xms sequencer is too old school and time consuming

[@wolfgangwiesinger9502]

Hi. Can you assign each part to a different midi in channel?

[@omenarya4221]

@@wolfgangwiesinger9502 yes, you get five individual parts in the slmk3 channels one to five. The fifth one is the drum. You can easily sequence each part separately. Midi out from slmk3 to midi in to xm. You can also midi out from xm and in to slmk3 to record into its sequencer while playing the xm.

[@wolfgangwiesinger9502]

@@omenarya4221 i can't find the menu, where i assign a single part to an incoming midi channel. The synth is complicated.

[@RobertSaintJohn]

UPDATE April 23, 2020: See an addendum to this video at kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHrUqIB_dsmbisU for an even faster way to create polyphonic/chord sequences

[@Digiphex]

"The preset INIT SCENE comes with baggage" LMAO.

[@vicioussuspicious894]

I love the sound but it has so much menu diving. The sequencer doesn't seem to be practical

[@MajorOSC]

Yeah I was thinking that whole time hmmm i think I could have the entire portion written in a DAW in a matter of minutes. Then again, I don't know if you can assign independent midi tracks to each part. Someone let me know if you are able to check thanks.

[@SuchaDoofus]

Bloody hell Roland. Not exactly cutting edge is it? Its 2021...

[@RobertSaintJohn]

Well TBF I’m taking a Step Edit intended for creating simple custom arps and forcing it to be a step sequencer. Worth noting: Roland themselves never refer to “step sequencer” in the specs, marketing or doc. The word “sequencer” is never used at all. There are no buttons for Play, Record, or Stop. Actual sequencers on the JD-Xi, System-8, FANTOM, MCs etc are much more capable and intuitive.

[@SuchaDoofus]

@@RobertSaintJohn Not blaming anyone haha. Ithink its cool to do these kinds of things. I just cant understand why Roland didnt do a kind of supercharged JDxi thing here from the get go here. They even have the 16 buttons there crying out for a sequencer!! And those menus...its like a dark ages flip Nokia.

[@purpl3t1m3]

Ikeya Seki

[@jrf1962]

Too complicated that way. It is much easier in the jd xi

[@AcidTechnoMan5000]

Is there something in the app that you can do this with now?

[@RobertSaintJohn]

No, I’m afraid not. Nothing like a pattern editor that could transfer over sequences to that grid, which would be awesome. But it has gotten better (for usable, more features) since I made this video (pre 1.50)

[@ramraider4159]

Only thing that annoys me is no live step recording 🫠 its so infuriating having to knock it in a key at a time