Senode | Help

Graph Editor Help

Senode is a graphical step sequencer that is based on finite state machines. The sequences are drawn as a graph with four main elements:

Nodes are states that produce output. Whenever a node is activated, MIDI messages are generated, for example single notes or chords. Similar to musical notes on sheet of paper, nodes contain pitch information and have a duration which is controlled by the number of clock ticks.
Tokens are sent on the graph and produce output as soon as they enter or leave a node. The movement of tokens can be controlled by the ticks of a main clock or MIDI bindings. Using multiple tokens, a graph can play several voices or instruments at the same time.
Edges connect the nodes, so that the tokens can travel between them. Each edge has a single direction. Depending on the transition mode, an outgoing edge is selected by random choice or user control.
Emitters are nodes that produce tokens. Similar to musical instruments or audio tracks, emitters control either an internal synthesizer or send out MIDI messages to other apps or MIDI devices.

Edit Modes

The graph editor works similar to a graphics program.
You can use the following tools to create and modify your graph:

Moving Nodes

Select the move tool
Drag nodes with your fingers
Double tap and drag the canvas to lasso-select multiple nodes

Adding Emitters

Select the emitter tool
Tap the canvas to create a new emitter
You can also directly drag new emitters from the toolbar

Adding Nodes

Select the node tool
Tap the canvas to create a new node
You can also directly drag new nodes from the toolbar

Connecting Nodes

Select the connect tool
Drag a new edge from one node to another
To delete an edge, drag the same connection again

Deleting Nodes

Select the nodes you want to delete
Tap delete

Keyboard Input

Playing the Synthesizer

The keyboard controls the "MIDI Thru" synthesizer
Tap the canvas to see the parameters for this synth
You can select a MIDI channel, if external devices are connected and enabled

Recording Notes

Hold down notes on the keyboard
Pressing record will record these notes
if a node is selected, its notes will be replaced, otherwise a new node will be created
in connect mode a new node will be connected to the selected one

Editing Notes

Select the node you want to edit
Hold down edit/latch
Now you can toggle notes from the keyboard

Parameter Help

Clock

The yellow main clock sends ticks for synchronization.
It generates 4 ticks per beat and will sync all actions to this 16th grid.

Play

Press clock start to play
Tokens of all active emitters will restart

Pause

Press clock pause to pause or resume
All tokens are left untouched

Stop

Press clock stop to stop
All tokens of all emitters will be cleared

Tempo

drag the tempo between 40 and 240 beats per minute

Tap Tempo

tap the metronome to set the tempo manually

Emitter

Emitters are controlled by actions, which can be triggered from the main clock, the on-screen buttons or using MIDI bindings.

Emit

send a new token to the graph
the token is queued until the next tick or step action is called

Toggle

if the emitter is inactive, send a new token to the graph
otherwise remove the token from the graph

Step

advances all tokens by one edge and trigger the nodes
if there exists no token from this emitter, emit one
node ticks are ignored

Tick

send a single tick to each token
if node tick number is reached, advance tokens by one edge and trigger the nodes

Trigger

trigger all nodes which have a token on them

Purge

remove a single token from the graph
the token is retained until the next tick or step action is called

Clear

clears all tokens from this emitter

Parameters

Name – emitter name
Ticks – number of ticks. Use this as a clock divider, e.g. select 4 (default) for quarter nots.
Vel – overrides velocity for all notes. Select "Node" to use node's individual velocitites. Select "Input" to retain the velocity from MIDI bindings.
Octave – transpose generated MIDI notes up or down full octaves. Select 0 for no transposition.
Transp – transpose generated MIDI notes up or down. Select 0 for no transposition.
Output channel – MIDI channel to send notes. Select "Synth" to use the internal synthesizer. MIDI devices can be enabled in the settings popup.
Program change – Program change that should be send when the patch is loaded.
Receive clock ticks – When enabled, the emitter receives ticks from the main clock. Otherwise it needs to be clocked with MIDI bindings.
Emit on startup – When enabled, the emitter emits a Token when the patch is loaded. Otherwise it waits to be started manually.

Node

Parameters

Name – node name. Will use contained notes if empty.
Ticks – number of ticks until the graph steps. Use this for individual note durations.
Vel – velocity for generated notes. Might be overridden from emitter.
Len – length of the generated notes. Select "legato" (default) to keep the note until the token leaves the node. Otherwise select a value between 1 (10ms) and 127 (1s).

Synthesizer

Parameters

Wave – waveform for oscillator. Select sine, saw, square or noise.
Tone – volume of sub oscillator. This will add overtones to sine and noise, and more "body" to saw and square.
Vol – volume of the synth
Filter – lowpass filter (1-pole)
Reverb – amount of reverb
A – attack of amp envelope
D – decay of amp envelope
S – sustain of amp envelope
R – release of amp envelope

MIDI Implementation

MIDI Control Bindings

When activated, Senode will listen to all MIDI IN devices on the selected channel for control messages. These can be used to play the on-screen keyboard, control the synthesizer and clock. Furthermore, each emitter can be assigned MIDI bindings that will trigger actions.

Type	Message Chan #	Control #	Parameter	Transmitted	Recognized
Note On/Off	(emitter chan)		Note On/Off Emitter Output	X	O
Note On/Off	(key chan)		Note On/Off Keyboard Input	O	X
CC	(key chan)	64	Sustain Pedal (0/64)	O	X
Note On	1–16		Emitter Action Note Bindings	O	X
CC	1–16	0–127	Emitter Action CC Bindings	O	X
PC	(key chan)		Program Change (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	70	Selected Synth Wave (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	71	Selected Synth Tone (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	7	Selected Synth Volume (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	74	Selected Synth Filter (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	91	Selected Synth Reverb (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	73	Selected Synth Attack (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	76	Selected Synth Decay (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	77	Selected Synth Sustain (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	72	Selected Synth Release (0–127)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	80	Main Clock Play (0/64)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	81	Main Clock Pause (0/64)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	82	Main Clock Stop (0/64)	O	X*
CC	(key chan)	83	Tap Tempo (0/64)	O	X*

* only if "generic MIDI control" is enabled