Sequencer
Chapter 06: Step Sequencer & Song Mode
6.1 Introduction to the TOMiC Sequencer
TOMiC features a polyrhythmic step sequencer allowing music producers to compose complex percussive patterns directly inside the plugin without requiring DAW MIDI note drawing.
Figure 6.1: Step grid view, velocity, pitch, and step parameter controls.
6.2 Pattern Length & Pattern Banks (A - L + FILL)
Pattern Length: Every channel track can have its own independent step length (from 1 to 64 steps), enabling complex polyrhythms (e.g. Kick on 16 steps, Hi-Hat on 12 steps). Length is set freely, not restricted to fixed 16/32/64 presets.
12 Pattern Banks (Slots A-L): The plugin memory holds 13 pattern slots in total, but only the first 12 (lettered A-L) are regular, selectable pattern banks used for pattern switching and Song Mode chaining. Seamlessly switch between them live during performance.
Dedicated FILL Slot: The 13th slot is a special FILL pattern, toggled with its own FILL button next to the bank selector. It is not lettered and cannot be added to a pattern chain or locked to a channel — activating it temporarily overrides whichever pattern is currently playing (e.g. for a live fill/break), on every channel at once, and deactivating it restores normal playback exactly where it left off.
Per-Channel Pattern Lock: The PAT lock button in the mixer locks a specific channel to a chosen pattern bank (A-L only — FILL cannot be pinned to a single channel, since it is a global performance override) independent of global pattern changes — e.g. Kick stays locked on Pattern A while Hi-Hats cycle through Pattern C.
Step Rate (Resolution)
Each channel features an independent step resolution setting (StepRate):
1/32
32nd notes — finest resolution for hi-hat rolls
1/16
16th notes — standard resolution
6.3 Per-Step Parameters
Clicking any step in the sequencer provides granular per-step parameter editing:
Step Parameter
Range
Description
Trigger
On/Off
Step active state
Accent
On/Off
Accented hit (increased velocity with transient emphasis, scaled by the channel's Accent Amount, see 6.11)
Reverse
On/Off
Reverse sample playback for this step
Velocity
0 - 127
Step velocity level
Pan
L - R
Stereo panorama placement
Pitch Offset
-24 to +24
Transposition in semitones
Probability
0% - 100%
Trigger probability (live randomness)
Ratchet (Roll)
1x - 8x
Sub-step repetition count (trap rolls, hi-hat bursts)
Roll Style
-
Shapes the ratchet's sub-hits independently of the hit count: Pitch (Flat/Up/Down/Alt Up/Alt Down/Random, with a semitone-per-hit amount), Velocity (Flat/Crescendo/Decrescendo) and Time (Even/Accelerate/Ritardando/Burst)
Micro-timing (Nudge)
0 - 100
Micro-timing offset shift
Gate
0 - 100 (or None)
Gate duration time
Mutation (Morph)
0.0 - 1.0
Step-specific Layer A↔B Morph position
Slice Index
-
Sample slice selection for this step
Sample Variant (VAR)
Auto or A/B/C/D
Forces one of the 4 round-robin sample variants for this step; Auto lets the voice's own round-robin cycling pick
Sample Start/End Override
-
Override trim points for this step
AR Lock
On/Off
Excludes this step from every Auto-Randomize lane, so it always keeps its manually drawn values even while a lane is actively rerolling
6.4 TrigConditions (Conditional Step Triggers)
Each step can be assigned a conditional trigger (TrigCondition) controlling under what conditions the step fires, evaluated against the channel's own loop counter:
None
Step fires unconditionally (default)
Ratio(x, y)
Step fires only on the x-th pass out of every y loops of the channel's pattern (e.g. Ratio(1,2) = every 2nd loop) — x and y both range 1-8
NotRatio(x, y)
Inverted Ratio — fires on all loops except pass x out of y
First
Step fires only on the channel's first loop after playback starts
NotFirst
Step fires on every loop except the first
Pre
Step fires only if the same step also fired on the previous loop
NotPre
Step fires only if the same step did not fire on the previous loop
Fill
Step fires only while the FILL pattern (see 6.2) is active
NotFill
Step fires only while FILL is not active
Conditions can be scroll-cycled step by step in the editor, or set via the Randomize button, which draws from a musically curated pool of the more common ratios (weighted toward simple, frequently-used divisions rather than exotic ones).
6.5 Algorithmic Euclidean Pattern Generator
The Euclidean generator automatically produces traditional and exotic world rhythms based on the Euclidean division algorithm, distributing hits as evenly as possible across the channel's current step length:
Figure 6.2: Algorithmic Euclidean pattern generator window.
Hits: Number of active hits to distribute (1 up to the channel's current TRIG length; e.g. 5 pulses in 16 steps = Tresillo)
Rot (Rotation): Pattern offset rotation shift (0 up to length − 1)
Live toggle: Activating the Euclidean button re-generates the pattern immediately and keeps it live-updating as you drag Hits/Rot or change the channel's step length; deactivating leaves the last generated pattern in place for further hand-editing
There is no separate "Steps" field — the generator always distributes across the channel's own current pattern length (adjust that first via the length control described in 6.2).
6.6 Auto-Randomize Lanes
Every per-step parameter lane can be auto-randomized independently. There are 13 built-in lanes (AutoRandLaneConfig, indices 0-12) plus two further dedicated lanes for the SLICE and VAR (round-robin) grids — 15 randomizable lanes in total:
TRIG
Trigger
Step activation/deactivation
ROLL
Ratchet
Random sub-divisions (1-8)
PITCH
Pitch Offset
Random pitch shifts (optionally snapped to one of 14 musical scales, see below)
VOL
Velocity
Random velocity levels
PAN
Pan
Random stereo panning
PROB
Probability
Random probability values
REV
Reverse
Random sample reverse flags
NUDGE
Micro-offset
Random micro-timing offsets
GATE
Gate length
Random gate durations
MUT
Mutation/Morph (step)
Random per-step Morph values
MORPH
Morph
A second, independently clocked Morph randomization lane
COND
Trig Condition
Randomizes each step's TrigCondition from the curated pool
SLICE
Slice Index
Random slice selection (own clock, see 6.7)
VAR
Sample Variant
Random round-robin variant selection (own clock, see 6.7)
Each lane's roll behavior is independently configurable:
Cadence: re-roll every N pattern loops, every N bars (keeps polymetric channels in sync), every N activations of the FILL pattern, or Manual (dice button only).
Mode: Reroll (fresh random value each time) or Drift (nudge the current value by a configurable amount, so the pattern evolves gradually).
Mutate: Fresh values, Shuffle the existing values among the selected steps, or Rotate them by a random offset.
Chance: per-step probability that a selected step actually rerolls, independent of the density/range settings.
Seed Lock: freezes the RNG to a fixed seed so a roll is perfectly reproducible; stepping the seed browses through variations deterministically.
The PITCH lane (and manual pitch painting) can additionally be constrained to one of 14 built-in scales (Chromatic, Major, Minor, Harmonic Minor, Pentatonic Major/Minor, Blues, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Whole Tone, Octaves, Fifths) and to a single octave register.
6.7 Per-Lane Polymetry (Independent Lane Clocks)
Beyond giving each channel its own step length and rate, TOMiC lets individual lanes within the same channel run on their own independent length and StepRate — true nested polymetry inside a single drum voice.
Every built-in parameter lane (Accent, Ratchet, Pitch, Volume, Pan, Probability, Reverse, Micro-offset, Gate, Mutation, Morph, Trig Condition), the SLICE lane, the VAR (round-robin) lane, and any custom-drawn param lane can each be unlinked from the channel's main TRIG clock via a link/unlink toggle in the lane's clock controls.
Once unlinked, that lane gets its own Steps (1-64) and Rate (1/32 - 1/1) fields, completely independent of the channel's TRIG length/rate and of every other lane.
Unlinking seeds the override with the channel's current length/rate, so the sound never jumps the moment you unlink — only your subsequent edits diverge it.
Because lanes with coprime lengths cycle against each other, this produces long, evolving combinations before the pattern truly repeats — e.g. a 3-step VAR lane against a 5-step SLICE lane yields 15 distinct (variant, slice) pairings before the loop returns to its start, all while the channel's TRIG pattern itself stays a plain 16 steps.
A linked lane (the default, and how every pre-existing project still behaves) simply follows the channel's own length/step_rate verbatim.
This is the mechanism that also powers the channel's musical cycle for Song Mode advance, pattern-chain timing, clip-launch quantization and TrigCondition loop counting — all of those always follow the TRIG lane specifically, while every other lane is free to drift against it.
6.8 Swing & Groove Templates
Global Swing (0% - 100%): Delays every second step, giving the whole pattern a swung feel.
Groove Templates (GrooveTemplate) — 7 built-in timing templates that nudge steps off the strict grid:
None
No groove — strict quantization
Laid Back
Behind-the-beat, relaxed hits
Push
Ahead-of-the-beat, driving hits
Shuffle
Classic 16th-note shuffle feel
Bossa Nova
Brazilian groove with asymmetric micro-timing
Funk Heavy
Heavy funk feel with sharp subdivisions
Human
Randomized micro-timing deviations simulating a human drummer
Groove Amount (0% - 100%): Controls how strongly the selected template's timing offsets are applied.
6.9 Song Mode Arrangement & MIDI Export
Song Mode
Song Mode (SongMode) allows chaining pattern banks (A-L) into full song arrangements:
Figure 6.3: Song Mode arrangement window.
Pattern Chain: Ordered list of pattern playbacks (e.g. A → A → B → C), each with its own repeat count.
Recorded Automation Overlay: While recording, Song Mode can capture per-channel mute/solo and parameter changes (ChannelAutomation) plus global swing/tempo/Morph changes (GlobalAutomation) at any step of the chain. During playback, this recorded automation is layered on top of each chained pattern's own step-drawn parameter lanes — both sources are always composed together, so switching Song Mode on never silences a pattern's hand-drawn modulation.
MIDI Export
TOMiC can export sequences as standard MIDI files (SMF Type 0) that you save to disk and import into your DAW:
Per-channel export — exports one channel's active pattern as a single-track MIDI file, with each triggered step becoming a Note On/Off pair; step Velocity, Gate length and Pitch Offset are baked into the exported notes, and channels are mapped to sequential General MIDI drum notes (Ch1 = C1/36, Ch2 = C#1/37, …) so they line up top-to-bottom in a DAW piano roll.
Full song export — merges every channel across the entire pattern chain into one track, tiling shorter channels to fill each pattern's length, at the project's current tempo.
Both use a standard Save File dialog (.mid); TOMiC does not drag MIDI directly onto the DAW timeline.
6.10 Choke Groups
TOMiC supports 4 independent Choke Groups (A, B, C, D) plus an Off state per channel:
When two channels share the same Choke Group (e.g. CH3: Closed Hi-Hat in Group A and CH4: Open Hi-Hat in Group A), triggering one immediately cuts off the other's decay. This behaves exactly like a physical hi-hat closing on a real cymbal stack.
6.11 Accent
Every channel has an Accent Amount parameter (modulation target LfoTarget::AccentAmount, range 0-100%, default 50%). Steps with Accent enabled play back with additional dynamic emphasis scaled by this amount.
The Range Ring provides an intuitive, interactive ribbon positioned directly above the step matrix of any active sequencer lane (Trigger, Pitch, Velocity, Accent, Roll, Pan, Gate, Filter, etc.):
Dynamic Loop Windowing & Sliding: Drag the left and right boundary handles to adjust the active playback window (win_start and win_len). Click and drag the center body of the ring to slide the entire loop frame across the 16, 32, or 64-step sequence on the fly!
Direct Correlation with Copy Range UI: Moving the Range Ring automatically stages and mirrors step boundaries into the Copy Range controls (From / Len / To).
Lightning-Fast Step Cloning & Variation: Seamlessly duplicate and vary step fragments within the same channel without manually typing numeric step values into spinners. Simply isolate a 4- or 8-step groove or roll with the Range Ring, hit Copy Range, shift or position the destination, and click Paste Range.
Double-Click Reset: Double-clicking the Range Ring instantly resets the playback window to the full lane length.
Full Engine & Playback Sync: Playback engines, polymetric counters, Song Mode pattern progression (cycle_ticks), WAV renders, stem bounces, and MIDI exports strictly respect the active Range Ring boundaries.
