Shakmat Modular Four Bricks Rook

MUSICAL FEATURES

Four Bricks Rook is a 4-channel trigger sequence generator.With an intuitive interface, this unit creates dynamic sequences using various functions such as changing the sequence length, shifting the playback segment, quantizing, and auto-randomizing. CV addresses can also be saved / read in possible memory.

HOW TO USE

Basics

The front panel of the Four Bricks Rook has a menu section with a 7-segment display, a small trimmer and LEDs.By default, the trimmer is operated to control the length of the output trigger in the range from the trigger signal of 4 milliseconds to the gate signal of the length of the clock cycle.To set a different trigger length for each track, double-click the FNCT button, check that the hyphen appears on the display, and operate the trimmer while pressing the pad that corresponds to the desired track.

The three knobs control the table index, pattern length, and sequence shift. The five buttons provide various functions such as erase, quantize, randomize, save and recall.

The four pads play the sequence in four different ways for each mode.Play, Pattern, Fill, MuteTo switch between the four modes, hold down the FNCT button and press the pad that corresponds to the mode you want.To start playing, input an external clock signal to the CLOCK jack.

Modes

Play Mode

In Play mode, use the four pads as manual triggers. By enabling REC, the accompanying LED will light up, and the module will record the performance information of the pad in the buffer.The recorded information will not always be quantized, but you can always quantize it by holding down the QUANTIZE button and pressing the pad that corresponds to the desired track.To erase the recorded buffer contents, hold down the ERASE button and press the corresponding pad.

Pattern Mode

In Pattern mode, pressing a pad will read a sequence of tables instead of the current buffer.The table will be defined by the TABLE knob and the TABLE CV input.

To understand this module, you need to understand two types of memory: buffers and tables.The buffer is a volatile memory that can be easily modified, and the sequences recorded in Play mode are stored in this buffer.In contrast to buffers, tables are stored in 2-slot non-volatile memory.Any information in the buffer can be permanently stored in one of these 16 slots, one of the eight table sets.

The slots are accessed through the LD PTRN (load pattern) and SV TBL (save table) functions.Each track can read information from either the buffer or the table, so track X can play patterns from the buffer and track Y can play patterns from the table.To load table information into a particular track, press the corresponding pad.At this time, the corresponding LED turns on in the opposite direction to the normal state, and the state is indicated by turning off only when the pad is hit.Press the REC button to copy the contents of the table to the buffer. By returning to Play mode and playing the pad, you can add a new recording to an existing pattern. 

Fill Mode

Fill mode works much like Pattern mode, but plays the pattern of the selected table only while the pad is pressed.This ability to instantly reuse a table can also be recorded, and by sending a gate signal to the Fill All CV, all tracks will play the fill for the duration of the gate signal.

Mute Mode

In this mode, you can mute the track by pressing the corresponding pad.The Status LED on the muted track is flashing slowly. When REC is enabled, a portion of the sequence is erased while the pad is pressed.

Sequences

The length of the sequence isLENGTHSpecify from 32, 24, 16, 12, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 step via the knob and LENGTH CV input. By using the RESET CV input together, you can easily play sequences of different lengths.SHIFTKnobs, andSHIFT CVSelects a portion of the recorded sequence.For example, set LENGTH to 32 for a 8-step sequence.This splits the original 32 steps into 8 steps x 4 segments, and the SHIFT knob shifts between these 4 segments.

A / B Recording

The above buffer has A and B like the front and back of the tape, and you can switch between them by clicking the A / B button.What was recorded in buffer A is also recorded in B, and the segments recorded in A are also recorded in all segments of B.

Load Pattern, Save Table & Load Fill

Four Bricks Rook stores two A / B buffers stored in volatile memory and various tables stored in non-volatile memory. The eight tables can be addressed directly via the Table knob and Table CV input.

To load the eight tables into any track, hold down the FNCT button and click the LD PTRN button. The LED in the menu section labeled LP will be lit and the display will show the 8 slots available.

To save the contents of the buffer to the table, hold down the FNCT button and click the SV TBL button.Select the track you want to save with the corresponding pad, the table you want to save to with the Table knob, and the slot with the trimmer and display in the menu section.

Load Fill selects a different slot in Fill mode than the one used in Pattern mode.To do this, hold down the FNCT button and click the LD FILL button.

Load Pattern, Save Table, Load Fill, these three functions can be confirmed by clicking one of the Rec, Erase, and A / B buttons.Click the FNCT button again to return to normal mode without saving your changes.

Randomizer

This unit implements a randomizer that randomly creates a fill. The probability that Fill will play can be changed by holding down the FNCT button and clicking the RNDM A button.You can also set the amount of randomization using the trimmer and display in the menu section.The numbers 0-9 affect only the probability of a Fill occurring, the values ​​A through E also affect the table that Fill references, and if F is selected it will generate a completely random trigger.The random amount can be set for each track.To execute, operate the menu trimmer while pressing the pad while the random menu is displayed.The Status LED for that track will flash, indicating that the track has a unique random amount.Note that the randomization algorithm is not a pure random generator, and the closer you are to the end of the sequence, the more likely it is that a fill will occur, just as a drummer plays a fill.

Current State Storage

The buffer contents, trigger length, random amount, fills and slots specified for the pattern can be saved so that they can be restarted in the next session even if the system is powered down.Press and hold the REC button for 5 seconds to save the status quo.

factory tables

All tables can be edited by the user.You can also restore the factory settings by performing a factory reset of the module.To do this, hold down the four pads, power on the system, hold it down for about 4 seconds, and then release it.All LEDs will flash to indicate that the factory reset is complete.

DEMO