Duty Cycle?

[Spadehead]

Hey All,

Can someone explain to me what the duty cycle setting is and when I might need it? I can only find one reference to it in the manual which doesn't actually explain it.

many thanks

[shankiphonic]

honestly, I never understood this either.
the docs say:

The duration of the note events where 0% is inaudible, and 100.0% is always playing.

this reminds me of the Star Wars nit pick about Han doing the Kessel run in12 parsecs. Parsecs aren't a measure of time.
Duration describes a time measurement, while inaudible does not.

I've never touched this setting. Perhaps this is what's holding me back from going platinum?!? (probably not).

[Aaron]

It is essentially the note length for the entire sequence. For example, if your step length is 1/4, you have a note 1 step in length, and the duty cycle is 50%, the note will play for half of the step time, or 1/8th.

[shankiphonic]

That’s clear. Thank you!

[Spadehead]

Thanks! I’m in the process of exploring various options to try and create some randomisation so this helps…

[fracrist]

I find Duty cylce very useful in order to have different sequences playing the same pad with a different feeling.
To be clearer:
- I have a kick sample on a pad, with a "long tail"
- I could duplicate the pad and trim the wav and use it in Trigger mode
- or
- I could use the same sample in Gate mode, setting a shorter duty cycle to get a "snappier" sound (on one seq) and setting a longer duty cycle to get the "long tail" (on one other seq)
I usually use the last way, if I understand correctly this will bring less "system load" on the blackbox.
And if you also play with the step probability, that could bring to some interesting beat patterns.

just my 2c , hope this helps.