Chapter 18
Instrument & Effect Grids
An Instrument Grid produces sound for a track. An Effect Grid processes incoming audio in a device chain. They share the graph editor, but each device has its own patch and routing context.
This draft describes controls checked against the application source. Native app workflows and platform behavior have not been verified for this manual edition.
Factory playback and Pro authoring #
Enable Instrument & Effect Grids in the Store to expose the devices in their browsers. Factory instrument and effect patches can play in Free. Opening the patch editor and creating or editing custom Grids require Pro authoring authority. Add-on presence and Pro authoring permission are separate checks.
Load a factory device, play notes for an Instrument Grid or supply audio for an Effect Grid, and adjust its exposed device controls. The device tile may show volume and published macros. Those controls are the useful starting point when you do not need to edit the interior.
Opening the patch editor #
Choose the Grid instrument in the instrument browser or add a Grid effect from the effect browser. In the device panel, activate the edit control to open Edit Patch. An effect device's context menu also offers Open Editor.
Patch Bay device cards can descend into the same device patch. Check the device name and breadcrumb before replacing a starter or editing a module, especially when several tracks contain Grids.
The Nodes browser lists the node kinds admitted for the current graph. Categories and filters help find a processor. Available nodes vary with the graph, dependencies and feature permissions; the browser does not have one fixed palette size.
Building a playable instrument #
Keep the note input and Audio Out connected while learning a factory patch. Polyphonic Synth uses two oscillators, note pitch and an envelope. Playable Sampler needs a sample in Sample Player. Drum Rack needs a sample for each pad. Scrub Voice uses a Signal route to scan a sample slice while a note gate is open.
To make a small custom instrument, start from the default or a working factory patch. Add the source you need, route its sound through an envelope or VCA, then connect the result to Audio Out. Add modulation only after notes produce sound.
Note pitch, note gates and voice identity must reach the intended voice processor. A global modulation source may need Voice Broadcast. A fixed-pitch oscillator starter can sound without following the played note pitch; read the starter description before treating it as a keyboard voice.
In a track's Instrument Grid, open the Nodes browser and find the four Event note converters in Routing. Connect the note Event stream to the converter's Event input, then connect its Control output to a compatible per-voice Control destination. Each converter follows the matching active instrument voice.
Use Event Note Velocity for the note-on velocity clamped to 0..1. Use Event Note Number for note pitch normalized from A0 at 0 to C8 at 1. Both hold their value through note release.
Use Event Note Gate for 1 on a matching note-on and 0 on its note-off. Event Note-On Count increments for matching note-ons up to 127 and holds its count through release. A matching all-notes-off clears these converter values.
These outputs update once per Control processing partition. A note event within a partition affects the value from that partition's start, rather than at the event's exact sample. Use these nodes for voice Control modulation without assuming sample-precise event timing.
Building an effect #
Audio In and Audio Out define the effect's sound path. Begin with a connected processor between them, then add Control or Signal modulation to an admitted parameter. Use the device chain's bypass and wet control to compare the effect with its input.
Sidechain Duck follows score note velocity from a chosen key track. It needs both incoming audio and the key track selection. Generative Motion Filter moves cutoff with smoothed random steps. Recursive Delay Network returns audio through an explicit delayed feedback cable. Reduce feedback before changing the loop.
Hosted Modulation is a reference patch with a parked parameter sink. Choose a hosted effect and a real parameter destination before expecting modulation. Hosted plugin parameters do not gain sample-by-sample Signal support merely because the hosted effect sits inside a Grid.
Editing nodes and replacing starters #
Select a node to inspect its controls and sockets. Drag compatible output-to-input cables. Parameter inputs or E reveals parameter sockets; declared converter actions bridge compatible carrier or voice differences. Inspect the diagnostics after each structural change.
Replace Starter replaces the open device patch. Use it when you want the complete curated setup, not when you want to append a processor to existing work. The top-level Patch Bay and a device interior have different replacement rules.
Use annotations to explain a patch's intended signal path. The graph canvas supports selection, fit and deletion with the same keyboard controls as Patch Bay. Keep the output connected while changing intermediate processors so a disconnected cable is easy to find.
In an Instrument or Effect Grid, double-click an empty Hosted Instrument or Hosted Effect node to choose a plug-in. When its editor is available, it appears inside the node body.
Draft: hosted-node editor appearance and interaction still need verification on an installed build.
Publishing macros and saving modules #
A macro gives a useful parameter a control on the device rather than forcing every edit through the interior. Use Publish as macro on the supported macro control; Unpublish macro removes that exposure. Choose names that explain the audible operation.
Wrap Selection turns selected nodes into an editable module island. Save Module stores the selected island in the library. Insert Module places a compatible saved package; Reload refreshes that library. Modules preserve typed boundary inputs and outputs, so route the external sockets after placement.
The project stores the device patch with the device. Saving the project preserves that instance. Saving a module makes a separate reusable library item. A factory starter, a saved module and the live device patch have different purposes; replacing one does not implicitly update every other instance.
Diagnostics and current limits #
A connection can fail because of channel count, units, voice scope, unavailable nodes or a forbidden cycle. Repair the named cause rather than adding an unrelated cable. Feedback telemetry and quality-region diagnostics apply to the device runtime that owns the patch.
This draft does not promise a uniform palette size, execution of every recursive combination or native acceptance of the full Grid and Patch Bay expansion. The HTML module-control steps below describe a bounded child-module preview workflow; they do not establish browser editing of Instrument Grids or Effect Grids as a whole. Use the native editors for grid authoring and controls outside that workflow. Installed-app and rendered-preview acceptance remain unverified.
Draft: module controls in the HTML preview are documented from source. Installed app verification is pending.
When the preview offers Open Module, select an authored module and open its contents. You can navigate through two module levels and use the breadcrumbs to return. Select a node, edit the controls available in its inspector, then choose Apply.
Where Connect is available, choose the source output and destination input, then choose Connect. Use Remove for an existing connection that offers that action. The editor checks the local endpoints and refuses incompatible or cyclic connections.
Where node movement is available, drag an authored node to rearrange the canvas. The source-defined path covers two module levels in Instrument and ordinary Effect grids. Local module inlet and outlet nodes stay fixed.
Where Nodes offers an enabled entry, the reviewed HTML module workflow supports Constant, Random Step, Control LFO, Envelope, Clock Phase, Note Pitch, Note Velocity, Note Gate, Note Trigger, Note Count, Link Ratio, Control Range Map, Math, Round and Threshold. It also admits Control to Signal Hold, Control to Signal Smooth, Signal Sample, Signal Average, Signal RMS, Signal Peak and Signal Threshold. This path covers two module levels in Instrument and ordinary Effect grids. Use the enabled entries shown by the editor.
To delete a supported node, select it and choose the enabled Delete node button in the inspector. These twenty-two kinds have source-defined deletion support. Module input and output nodes, and nodes refused by the editor, keep deletion unavailable. Accepted deletion removes the node and its connected edges.
Draft: Clock Phase has no parameter controls in this reviewed HTML preview. Note Pitch, Note Velocity, Note Gate and Note Count offer Track and pitch-range controls. Note Trigger also offers Trigger Decay. Link Ratio offers Link ID. Their installed musical response, clock behavior and persistence remain unverified.
Draft: where Track is offered, choose from the project track names or Any track, then choose Apply. A stored track that no longer exists appears as a disabled missing-track entry; it is not automatically reassigned to another row. Track is also offered for canonical Envelope and a canonical LFO with retrigger enabled. Legacy source modes and a free-running LFO omit that control. Installed selection, deletion and project-recall checks are pending.
Draft: Control to Signal Smooth converts a Control value to a continuous Signal and smooths changes using its Time control. The reviewed source range is 0 to 2 seconds, with a 0.01-second default. Installed behavior is unverified.
These module controls do not establish importing or placing child modules, applying recipes, sample assignment or hosted plugin controls. Edits that change the enclosing module inputs or outputs remain outside this source-reviewed path.
Draft keyboard guidance: in the HTML graph library, press / to focus and select the search query when focus is outside an editable control. Escape clears the query and can also reach the native panel dismissal. Enter activates the first enabled displayed result for an available node, module or recipe action. Modified keys, repeated keys and input composition do not trigger these actions. Installed app keyboard and focus checks are pending.