Good to have you with us Dr T!
I also use a related trick for polyphonic stuff. Here's a simple example of
how it can work. Work out a scale, then set up a seqence for each note of
the scale. Set these sequences to different lengths (rather like having lots
of individual tape loops). Just before your sequence sounds a note with a
midi ON message, send a midi ON message of velocity zero to any other notes
that might be sounding and would lead to cacophony, for example notes
seperated by a semitone don't sound that good. Thus a note will sound
indefinitely until along comes another discoprdant note, whereby it will be
muted. With this sort of system you can get close to a polyphonic Music for
Airports style.

===============================================================

> Just tried these, and they are great! I never knew open mode could do
> this. I really liked the hubido.all. Worth checking out.Just load the
> file, select EDIT, then OPEN PLAY and hit the 2 computer key.
> Facinating to watch!
>
> TimC.
=================================================================



Thanks for this and the advice Tim, as I said before, I believe you can do
all the algorithmic stuff through open mode. A word of advice, when you
trigger a sequence in open mode from your keyboard you should press the
sequence number (or letter) once for it to repeat indefinitely, or twice in
quick succession for it to play only once. The great thing about open mode
is that you can effectively set up control sequences, so that one sequence
controls another. In order to do this you need to know about these event
types:
AC accelerando
CU wait until cue
DC decelerando
DE a deleted event (useful when used in conjunction with RA)
MS mute sequence
PT pitch transpose
RA random event (if you specify RA 6, it will choose one of the following 6
events in the sequence at random)
ST start a sequence (so you can start sequence x from sequence y. You can
also specify how many times the seuence is to play. Furthermore if you
follow the repeat parameter with a W, the sequence x will wait until
sequence y has played before continuing to play back sequence x)
US unmute sequence
VT velocity transpose (instannt snare rushes!)
XX sequence stop at the end of a loop
Within no time at all you can end up with cacophanous chaos, but even with
these few commands it's possible to create very deep and satisfying
algorithmic structures. I find it very useful to think in terms of
asynchronous or synchronous designs when planning a piece, otherwise it can
be difficult to predict, let alone debug a system.
Tim W