untik

untik provides a clock for clock consumers like sequencers, etc. It is an evolution of the previous standard clock instrument master as it extends the notion of what a clock does and is.

bars, beats, ticks

Besides ticks, it divides time in divisions (“bars”) and subdivisions (“beats”). This allows clock consumers to express time intervals in more human-friendly formats (e.g. 16 bars is easier to deal with than 256 ticks).

time patterns

Beside the typical ticks with a steady time interval, untik allows you to create time patterns with irregular time intervals and with adjustable number of ticks per settable number of regular ticks (of the main clock). untik plays all active patterns in sync and clock consumers may pick one. You can have instruments play ternary rhythms while other instruments play quaternary rhythms at the same time. You can create a simple 4-tick pattern where the fourth tick is a tad bit late. Time patterns offer a lot of possibilities and are much more versatile than the shuffle parameter and the poly implementation of master.

unified interface

untik is not only a new clock, it is a clock system with a unified interface for clock consumers and clock providers. Since untik offers many clocks to pick from (if you activate and edit time patterns), clock consumers need a way to select one. This is handled with a single abstraction called [untik-clock-consumer]. It makes it really easy to integrate your clock consuming instrument into the untik system. There is also [untik-clock-provider] for instruments that generate their own clock and want it to make available to clock consumers.

main section

start/stop (square on the left)

starts and stops the clock.

bpm

sets the speed in beats per minute.

beats

defines how many beats a bar consists of.

ticks

defines how many ticks a beat consists of. This also affects the tick rate for a given tempo. The more ticks the higher the rate so that the higher number of ticks fits into the same beat length.

pos

displays the current clock position (with zero-based counting)

bar

displays the current bar (with one-based counting). A bar is beats*ticks long.

beat

displays the current beat within a bar (with one-based counting). A beat is tick*ticks long.

tick

displays the current tick within a beat (with one-based counting).

sync delay

displays the the sync delay to the peer with the most advanced clock. When autois enabled, delays above 300ms trigger a sync adjustment, which means that our clock jumps forward to compensate for the delay. Whenever this happens, a message is printed to the Pd console. The sync delay is never negative as by definition the most advanced clock among peers is the reference time. With auto syncing disabled, you can still compensate the delay by clicking on the number. ms / ticks defines whether the measured delay is shown in clock ticks or in milliseconds.

pattern editor

opens another window that hosts the pattern editor.

loop editor

opens another window that hosts the loop editor.

pattern editor

A time pattern is a series of ticks with editable time intervals. A time pattern is defined by its length - measured in regular ticks of the main clock, the number of ticks played within this time frame, and the exact position of each tick. Time patterns are repeated indefinitely and played back parallel to the main clock and thus each pattern constitutes its own clock.

pattern selection (top row of buttons)

selects a pattern to be edited. There are 8 patterns available. The button labels reflect the name given to the pattern.

pattern editing (middle section)

modifies the selected time pattern. The upper number on the left defines the length of the pattern (measured in regular ticks of the main clock), while the lower number sets the number of ticks. Each tick is represented by a green vertical line that can be moved around horizontally (grab it in the middle). The distance between two subsequent lines defines the time interval between those ticks. Whenever the numbers on the left are changed, the ticks are spread evenly over the pattern. For instance, a 3 - 7 pattern means that 7 ticks are played during the time of three regular ticks. This is similar to what could be achieved with the poly settings in master. However, in the pattern editor each tick can be moved around freely, which allows for much more rhythmical complexity and nuance. The number labels on the top show where regular ticks (from main clock) would be, while the number labels on the bottom show the even distribution of pattern ticks.

pattern properties (bottom section)

sets some properties of the selected pattern, namely whether the pattern is active and the name of the pattern. Inactive patterns are not listed in the list of available clocks. Giving a pattern a meaningful name, makes it easier for instruments to pick the right clock source.

NOTE: Before you can edit a pattern, you need to activate it first.

loop editor

enable ‘start from’

(left rectangle) controls how untik starts. With it disabled, untik starts from current position. With this enabled, untik starts from the position defined in ‘from’.

from

sets the start position. For this to have an effect, at least one of the two rectangles (‘start from’ and/or ’enable loop’) needs to be enabled. If looping is enabled, it sets the start position for the loop. If ‘start from’ is enabled, it sets the position for when untik is started the next time. The ‘from’ position can be set in bars, beats, or ticks.

enable ’loop’

enables looping. When enabled during playback, the clock position jumps imeediately to the corresponding position within the time frame defined by ‘from’ and ’loop’ (actually, length of loop).

loop

sets the loop length, either in bars, beats, or ticks.

usage in clock consumers

All instruments requiring clock information use a drop-down menu listing all available clocks. The untik clock systems isn’t restricted to clocks from untik, but any clocks are listed. Clocks are listed with a short-code prefix from the provider.

List of short-codes:

• u <- untik
• m <- master
• ms <- metaseq