symbiote
symbiote · sources · schema v1Self-contained drum + bassline machine — Marbles core running the always-on "Symbiote" alt-firmware (Grids T-section + TB-3PO X-section). The T-section runs the Grids drum engine: BD / SD / HH on t1 / t2 / t3, with a DRUMS sub-mode (Émilie Gillet's 2D drum-map with bilinear node interpolation + perturbation, driven by MAP X / MAP Y / per-voice BD/SD/HH density) and a EUCLIDEAN sub-mode (shared step length, with a bipolar CHAOS knob: CCW adds probabilistic SD fills, CW rotates the pattern). The X-section runs a TB-3PO generative acid sequencer: ACID DENSITY morphs gate/slide/accent + pitch-change density, TRANSPOSE is ±18 semitones (1V/oct), ACID LEN is 1..32 steps, SCALE picks the in-scale degree set, SEED LOCK commits/reseeds the pattern. Outputs: t1/t2/t3 drum gates, x1 step clock, x2 1V/oct pitch (slewed on slides), x3 acid gate, y accent. ALWAYS in Symbiote mode — the hardware T-MODEL long-press and déjà-vu-button sub-mode toggle are dropped; sub-mode + all TB-3PO controls are normal params. Grids drum-maps are GPLv3 (AGPL-compatible); TB-3PO from the O&C Hemisphere applet.
the faceplate
10 inputs · 7 outputs · 14 params
inputs
| id | cable | what it does |
|---|---|---|
rate_cv | cv | CV that offsets the RATE macro — speeds up or slows down the internal master clock that drives both the drum and acid sections. control voltage (CV); modulates rate (additive offset — ±1 CV sweeps the full range, centered on the knob) |
submode_cv | cv | CV that offsets the MODE selector (discrete), switching the T-section between the DRUMS map and the EUCLID pattern generator. control voltage (CV); modulates sub_mode (integer buckets — CV selects a discrete step) |
bd_cv | cv | CV that offsets the BD density — raises or lowers how often the bass-drum trigger (t1) fires. control voltage (CV); modulates bd_density (additive offset — ±1 CV sweeps the full range, centered on the knob) |
sd_cv | cv | CV that offsets the SD density — how often the snare trigger (t2) fires. control voltage (CV); modulates sd_density (additive offset — ±1 CV sweeps the full range, centered on the knob) |
hh_cv | cv | CV that offsets the HH density — how often the hi-hat trigger (t3) fires. control voltage (CV); modulates hh_density (additive offset — ±1 CV sweeps the full range, centered on the knob) |
chaos_cv | cv | CV that offsets the CHAOS amount — adds or removes randomness/variation in the generated drum pattern (and, in Euclid mode, fill/rotation). control voltage (CV); modulates chaos (additive offset — ±1 CV sweeps the full range, centered on the knob) |
aciddensity_cv | cv | CV that offsets the ACID DENSITY — how many of the TB-3PO steps play a note vs. rest. control voltage (CV); modulates acid_density (additive offset — ±1 CV sweeps the full range, centered on the knob) |
transpose_cv | cv | CV that offsets the TRANSPOSE — shifts the acid sequence up or down (1V/oct-style pitch passthrough on the worklet param). control voltage (CV); modulates transpose (additive offset — ±1 CV sweeps the full range, centered on the knob) |
acidlength_cv | cv | CV that offsets the ACID LENGTH — the number of steps in the TB-3PO loop before it repeats. control voltage (CV); modulates acid_length (additive offset — ±1 CV sweeps the full range, centered on the knob) |
scale_cv | cv | CV that offsets the SCALE selector (discrete) — picks the musical scale the acid pitch CV is quantized to. control voltage (CV); modulates scale (integer buckets — CV selects a discrete step) |
outputs
| id | cable | what it does |
|---|---|---|
t1 | gate | Grids BD trigger — a rising-edge pulse on each bass-drum hit of the generated drum pattern. Patch into a kick voice. gate / trigger |
t2 | gate | Grids SD trigger — a rising-edge pulse on each snare hit. Patch into a snare voice. gate / trigger |
t3 | gate | Grids HH trigger — a rising-edge pulse on each hi-hat hit. Patch into a hat/percussion voice. gate / trigger |
x1 | gate | TB-3PO master clock — a rising-edge pulse on each acid step. Use it to clock other sequencers/envelopes in sync with the acid line. gate / trigger |
x2 | cv | TB-3PO pitch CV (1V/oct) — the current acid note, quantized to the selected SCALE and shifted by TRANSPOSE. Patch into an oscillator's pitch input. control voltage (CV) |
x3 | gate | TB-3PO note gate — goes high while the current acid step plays a note (and low on rests). Patch into an envelope/VCA to articulate each note. gate / trigger |
y | gate | TB-3PO accent gate — a pulse on accented acid steps. Patch into a second envelope, a VCA boost, or a filter ping to emphasise accented notes (classic 303 accent). gate / trigger |
params
| id | label | range | default | curve |
|---|---|---|---|---|
rate | Rate | -60..60st | 0 | linear |
sub_mode | Mode | 0..1 | 0 | discrete |
map_x | Map X | 0..1 | 0.5 | linear |
map_y | Map Y | 0..1 | 0.5 | linear |
bd_density | BD | 0..1 | 0.5 | linear |
sd_density | SD | 0..1 | 0.5 | linear |
hh_density | HH | 0..1 | 0.5 | linear |
chaos | Chaos | -1..1 | 0 | linear |
euclid_length | E.Len | 1..16 | 16 | discrete |
acid_density | Acid Dens | 0..1 | 0.5 | linear |
transpose | Transpose | -18..18st | 0 | linear |
acid_length | Acid Len | 1..32 | 16 | discrete |
scale | Scale | 0..? | 0 | discrete |
seed_lock | Seed Lock | 0..1 | 0 | discrete |
controls
| control | what it does |
|---|---|
| Acid Dens | TB-3PO note DENSITY (0..1) — what fraction of the acid steps play a note rather than rest. CV via the ACID DENS input. |
| Acid Len | TB-3PO loop LENGTH (1..32 steps) — the number of steps in the acid sequence before it repeats. CV via the ACID LEN input. |
| BD | Bass-drum fill density (0..1) — how busy the BD (t1) trigger pattern is. CV via the BD input. |
| Chaos | CHAOS (−1..+1) — injects randomness/variation into the drum pattern (its magnitude is the randomness amount). In EUCLID mode negative values add T2 fill and positive values add rotation. CV via the CHAOS input. |
| E.Len | Euclidean loop LENGTH (1..16 steps) — used only in EUCLID mode; sets the period of the Euclidean drum pattern. |
| HH | Hi-hat fill density (0..1) — how busy the HH (t3) trigger pattern is. CV via the HH input. |
| Map X | Grids drum-map X coordinate (DRUMS mode): scans across the 2-D map of pre-baked drum patterns, morphing the FEEL/style of the three drum channels together. |
| Map Y | Grids drum-map Y coordinate (DRUMS mode): the other axis of the drum-pattern map; MAP X and MAP Y together pick a point in the pattern space. |
| Rate | Master clock RATE macro (−60..+60 semitones of tempo, i.e. a wide ±5-octave speed range) — the single tempo control for the whole module; everything (drums + acid) runs off this internal clock. |
| Scale | TB-3PO SCALE — the musical scale the acid pitch CV is quantized to (C major / C minor / Pentatonic / Pelog / Raag Bhairav / Raag Shri). Cycle on the card; CV via the SCALE input. |
| SD | Snare fill density (0..1) — how busy the SD (t2) trigger pattern is. CV via the SD input. |
| Seed Lock | SEED LOCK — when on, freezes the current generated pattern seed so the drums + acid stop re-randomizing on each cycle (a repeatable loop); off lets the pattern keep evolving. |
| Mode | T-section MODE — DRUMS (the Grids drum-map engine, steered by MAP X/Y) vs EUCLID (a Euclidean pattern generator, where CHAOS becomes fill/rotation and E.LEN sets the length). Toggle on the card. |
| Transpose | TB-3PO TRANSPOSE (−18..+18 semitones) — shifts the whole acid melody up or down. CV via the TRANSPOSE input. |
source
symbiote.ts on GitHub.