856 for Zellersasn Controller

This patch will allow a Critter & Guitari Organelle to serve as a MIDI controller for a Montreal Assembly 856 for Zellersasn. The patch itself produces no audio, and uses the Organelle only as a convenient housing for advanced MIDI operation of the 856. The controller allows users to access functions otherwise unavailable on the 856, such as setting repeats & spacing for the N1 group and pitch transformations far outside the original -1 octave to +1 octave range.
 
Controls are as such:
  • Knob 1 determines which note/pitch set you are currently editing with the keyboard.
    • Note, this only changes which Note/Pitch set the keyboard affects. Knobs 2 & 3 are set to permanently edit the N1 set, as their function is available for the N2/N3 set on the 856 already.
  • The keyboard replaces the pitch knob. Middle C (on the Organelle) is unity pitch, low C is down one octave, and high B is up a major 7th. All keys in between function in half-step increments. Due to the lack of a high C key, and in order to make the patch more useful without an external MIDI controller, the Aux button functions the way a High C key would, setting the pitch transformation up one octave.
  • An external MIDI controller will give you full access to a wider range of pitch transformations – a note which normally corresponds to MIDI note 72 will give you unity pitch, the rest will scale accordingly (i.e. a MIDI note of 48 will give you a pitch transformation of 2 octaves down!). Time-stretching is now possible with this patch. 
    • The external keyboard in must be connected before the MIDI out to the 856, unless you’re using MIDI in/out ports that share the same USB cable.
  • Knob 2 acts like the ‘Delta’ knob does for N2/N3 while the switch is in the ‘Free’ position, but only operates on the N1 set. This means it determines the amount of time between repeats for the N1 note set. The screen reads out the fraction of the beat (n out of 64, where 64 is the entire loop length) that the repeats are delayed for Note 1 – e.g. either 16 or 17 should be one quarter of the loop length. 
  • Knob 3 behaves like the Tempo/Rep switch does for N2/N3, but only operates on the N1 set. This means it sets the repeat amount for the N1 voicings.  Line 5 reads out the exact number of repetitions of Note 1, from 0 to 16.
  • An external footswitch will allow normal “record/stop-on-stomp” looper behavior, rather than the 856’s “record/stop-on-release” behavior. This will allow more intuitive use of the 856 for musicians who are used to looping on the downbeat.
2 comments on “856 for Zellersasn Controller
  • Evan Gordon on said:

    Knob 4 still has no function – is there any function you’d like to see implemented for it? Check the manual for MIDI implementation, and I can implement whatever function you’d like.
    My current thought is to have the knob scroll through octaves, thus allowing extended-range pitch control without the need for an external controller. Let me know what you think!

  • ienraid on said:

    Love this. The 856 become far much clearer and powerful with this.
    I would love to record the sequence of the pitch I do with the keyboard.
    Instead of using the aux for just one note can it be possible to add the sequence recorder we see in many app ?
    Or is there another app that could run backward for doing this ?
    Adrien

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