Patterns

If a Track is the member of a band or orchestra, then a pattern is a page of sheet music that each member is reading. Each track can play up to 16 unique patterns, and patterns may be chained if needed. A pattern itself is made up of a maximum of 16 steps. When a pattern plays (press the play button to start or stop playing), each track steps through these steps

While playing, you will see a blinking "play head" to indicate the position, running from left to right, top to bottom. As your Woovebox steps through the pattern, any steps that the play head encounters that contain notes (lit up) are played. Any steps that do not contain a note (not lit up) are ignored at that moment in time.

By default most tracks step through their patterns at a speed of 16 steps (e.g. 4 beats, or one bar) per pattern. The overall speed is determined by the "BPM" setting in the Song settings. However it is possible to modify this speed (see "b.div"/"BPM div" parameter on the "Pttn" page) on a per-pattern basis.

Note that, by default, the Chord track is the only exception; the default settings cause the pattern to be stepped through at a slower pace (there "b.div"/"BPM div" is set to divisor of 4 instead of 1, so that a a pattern now takes 4x as long to be stepped through, compared to the other tracks.

It is also possible to change the length of a pattern to something smaller than 16 steps (see "Pt.Ln"/"Ptrn Len" parameter) on a per-pattern basis. Changing the length of a pattern can create complex and interesting sounding polymeters, and can even allow for different time signatures within one song.

At first glance, 16 patterns with only 16 steps each per track may appear to be extremely limiting. However, as you will discover, the Woovebox is all about doing more with less; your device comes with a vast arsenal to quickly transform riffs and motifs into complex and interesting arrangements. In fact, it is possible (and common) to create full, complex sounding songs with just one pattern per track.

As opposed to many other grooveboxes, patterns (and their chains) should be considered to be living mostly in isolation until they are mixed and matched in Song (fragments) or Live (scenes) mode.