Launcher View

The launcher is the zynthian's sequencer main view. You can always access the launcher by pushing the PAD button. You can also push BACK repeatedly until reaching it.

From the mixer, you can access the launcher by pushing BACK. Similarly, from the launcher, you can access the mixer by pushing BACK. Launcher and Mixer are, indeed, a single view with 2 modes.

The launcher is a grid where columns match chains (mixer's strips). Rows are called phrases, being quite similar to Ableton Live's scenes. Cells can contain step patterns or audio clips, except the main column that contains phrase launchers.

Initially the grid will be empty, showing the main strip alone. When adding a chain, a new column is added to the grid. When deleting a chain, the associated grid column will be removed. Note the associated patterns are not deleted. They are associated with the MIDI channel and if you create a new chain with the same MIDI channel, the removed patterns will be available again.

Cell selection

The cursor is a yellow box highlighting the selected cell. You can move the cursor by rotating knobs 3 & 4:

Knob 3 => Vertical move => Select phrase
Knob 4 => Horizontal move => Select chain

Cell actions

CELL ACTIONS	Short Knob 4 Short SELECT Short Touch	Short PAD Bold Knob 4 Bold SELECT Bold Touch	Bold F1 Bold F2	Short F1 Short F2
	> PLAY/STOP	> EDIT	> COPY	> PASTE
Step Pattern	Play/Stop	Pattern editor	Copy pat.	Paste pat.
Audio Clip	Play/Stop	Clip control	Copy clip	Paste clip
Phrase Launcher	Play/Stop	Phrase options	NOT IMPLEMENTED

Adding chains

To create a new chain, simply short-push knob 3 or F3. You can also use the main menu (short OPT).

Chain selection

The active chain is indicated by the legend at the bottom of the strip being highlighted red. You may change active chain by using the LEFT/RIGHT arrow buttons or rotating Knob 4. A thin strip at the bottom of the legend indicates the chain is active for MIDI input.

Moving chains

You can reorganize your columns (chains), moving any chain horizontally to the position you want. You can also dock the chains you want into the right side, sticked to the main chain:

Bold-push Knob 3 or F3 to start moving the selected chain. The chain legend will display a double-arrow symbol.
Use LEFT/RIGHT arrow buttons or rotate Knob 4 to move the chain to the desired position. To dock a chain into the right side, simply keep moving it to the right.
Short-push SELECT or BACK to finish.

Note you can also move your chains like this from the mixer's view.

Copy/paste patterns and audio clips

To copy/paste patterns or audio clips use the buffer keys F1/F2, like this:

Bold-push F1 or F2 to copy the content of the selected cell into the buffer. The F1/F2 button will blink in orange.
Use arrow buttons or rotate Knob 3 & 4 to move the cursor to the desired position. Note the button's blinking color changes when you move the cursor. Green when you can paste and red when you can't. (i.e. you can't paste a sequencer pattern into an audio clip cell).
Short-push F1/F2 to paste. You can paste the buffer as many times as you want. If the destination cell is not empty, confirmation will be requested before overwriting.

Phrase options

The phrase options menu allows to configure parameters and manage phrases.

The phrase parameters are:

Duration: Number of bars. By default, it takes the value from the longer sequence in the row
Tempo: When the phrase is launched, the tempo is changed to the specified value in BPM.
Beats per Bar: The time signature used in patterns.
Automate: "Loop from", "loops to play" and "jump to" options allow to create simple song structures.

The phrase management options are:

Insert Phrase: Insert a new phrase (row) in the launcher.
Clone Phrase: Clone the selected phrase (row).
Move Phrase: Move the selected phrase (row) to a new position.
Delete Phrase: Delete the selected phrase (row).

When managing phrases, you may need to adjust automation parameteres of the affected phrases.