3.4. Sequencers, arpeggiators and clocked MIDI

Clocked MIDI nodes turn transport and rhythm into notes or repeats. Use the Global Clock for host timing, or connect a Clock for another source.

3.4.1. Sequencers and arpeggiators

Add MIDI Arpeggiator between MIDI Input and the voice.
Leave its Clock socket uncabled.
Start the header transport and hold a chord.

Result: the arpeggiator starts notes on the Global Clock rhythm.

MIDI Arpeggiator, Step Sequencer and Euclidean Sequencer follow the Global Clock when their Clock input has no cable. They then play with the header transport. Connect a Clock, MIDI Clock or Clock Divider for other timing. Adding a sequencer never adds a Clock node.

Choose the rhythm on the sequencer itself. The arpeggiator and Step Sequencer show a division with N, D and T. They also keep a saved value that matches no menu entry. A Clock Divider between a Clock and a sequencer changes the interval that drives it.

Euclidean Sequencer uses Rate for a straight, dotted or triplet division of the selected Clock. New nodes start at 1/16: increasing Steps makes a longer pattern with the same step duration. Older patches show 4-beat cycle (legacy), where each step lasts 4 / the current Steps count in Clock beats. Steps edits, live inputs and automation keep that cycle timing. Choosing a division switches to division timing; the legacy choice stays available. A legacy trigger Clock advances one step for each accepted trigger.

Swing on Step Sequencer, Euclidean Sequencer, MIDI Arpeggiator, MIDI Delay, MIDI Ratchet and Clock Divider is a shuffle. Steps play in pairs. The first step of each pair gets longer and the second gets shorter by the same amount. Each pair still lasts two steps, so the pattern stays on the bar.

At 0% the timing is straight, and at 100% it becomes a 2:1 triplet shuffle. Pairs count from the start of the Clock. As a result, a Clock Divider and a Step Sequencer at the same division and Swing play the same rhythm. In MIDI Delay and MIDI Ratchet, every second repeat or hit lands late.

On Euclidean Sequencer, shuffle pairs continue across pattern wraps, including odd step counts. Direction changes which pattern position plays, while the shuffle pairs stay on the Clock grid. Gate Ratio uses the duration of the shuffled step. A swung Clock Divider still shapes the incoming Clock; local Euclidean Swing adds its own shuffle inside that Clock phase. It does not replace the incoming timing with host timing.

Saved patches keep compatible Macro, automation and Group bindings to older timing controls. Those bindings update the single Division setting. Choosing Division also updates the Step Sequencer pattern grid, so the saved pattern and playback use the same timing.

3.4.2. External MIDI clock and clock facts

MIDI Clock turns incoming MIDI clock messages into a Clock signal. Connect MIDI Input to it when your host or external gear sends MIDI clock. Notes alone do not give a clock.
Clock Decode reads its Clock input and outputs its BPM, playing state, bar and beat position, time signature, reset and availability. Use these values elsewhere in the patch. With nothing connected it reads the Global Clock; so does Clock Divider.
The bottom Clock socket always draws as a diamond. With no cable, its row shows the Global BPM.