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Pagan

A Mobile Music Sequencer

Get it on Google Play
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Table of Contents

Reading The Layout
Controls Overview
Settings
Exporting A Project
How Tuning Works
F.A.Q.

Reading The Layout

The Rhythm

Pagan is laid-out on a beat-by-beat basis, rather than by groups of beats (measures). So a time signature wouldn't really make sense to use here. Each column represents a single beat, regardless of visual width.

"The Lick"
Notice the columns aren't all the same width, but they will occupy the same duration.

So the equivalent of a quarter note or crotchet in 4/4, would be a column's width.
The equivalent of an eigth note (or quaver) in 4/4 time would be a column divided in 2.
A triplet would be a column divided in 3 and so on.
Rests are implicated by the lack of an active note in any given position.

Some random progression in Pagan
⇵ These images represent the same thing. ⇵
The same progression in Musescore

The Notes

Instead of using letters with sharps and flats, Pagan uses the offset of the note in the octave.
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11
A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#
...and the octave is represented by the subscripted prefix...
octaveOffset
Octaves are counted starting at A (0) rather than C (3). So A0 remains 00, but the proceding C is not 1C, but rather 03
So middle C (C4) would be written as 33

The Instruments

On the left side of the Pagan interface, you'll notice labels that look something like:

First, note the numbers in the top-left corners.

This is the channel number. Each channel is also delineated by a thick line to help differentiate at a glance. You'll also notice that there is a ! preceding channel 1. This indicates a percussion channel .

Next, note the numbers in the bottom-right corners.

These indicate different things between standard & percussion channels.
In standard channels, this number is the line number.
In percussion channels, this number the instrument being used by that line as is defined in the table below. (The project pictured has a side stick and an acoustic snare active.)

The numbers identify the percussion instruments being used. It varies based on the soundfont being used, but soundfonts that adhere to the General MIDI Standard will follow this table:
08 | Acoustic Bass Drum
09 | Bass Drum 1
10 | Side Stick
11 | Acoustic Snare
12 | Hand Clap
13 | Electric Snare
14 | Low Floor Tom
15 | Closed Hi Hat
16 | High Floor Tom
17 | Pedal Hi-Hat
18 | Low Tom
19 | Open Hi-Hat
20 | Low-Mid Tom
21 | Hi Mid Tom
22 | Crash Cymbal 1
23 | High Tom
24 | Ride Cymbal 1
25 | Chinese Cymbal
26 | Ride Bell
27 | Tambourine
28 | Splash Cymbal
29 | Cowbell
30 | Crash Cymbal 2
31 | Vibraslap
32 | Ride Cymbal 2
33 | Hi Bongo
34 | Low Bongo
35 | Mute Hi Conga
36 | Open Hi Conga
37 | Low Conga
38 | High Timbale
39 | Low Timbale
40 | High Agogo
41 | Low Agogo
42 | Cabasa
43 | Maracas
44 | Short Whistle
45 | Long Whistle
46 | Short Guiro
47 | Long Guiro
48 | Claves
49 | Hi Wood Block
50 | Low Wood Block
51 | Mute Cuica
52 | Open Cuica
53 | Mute Triangle
54 | Open Triangle

Controls Overview

The App

The App
Start Playback. Tap again to stop. Also tap anywhere to stop
Undo last action. (max history size is 100 actions)
Quick Navigate to a specific beat or section if any sections are tagged.
Select column and open up column menu. The circled column number indicates a section.
Select line and open up line menu. The numbers indicate the channel and the line. (eg, 0/4 means channel 0, line 4).
Select to set meta control initial values
Select percussion line. The "!" denotes the line belongs to a percussion channel.
Select a note. Brings up note menu. Tap and hold to link, copy or move beats.
Set the initial tempo.
Set a tempo change.
Press and hold title to change the project name or add text notes to the project.
Open the song configuration menu.

The Config Menu

The Config Menu
Set the song's name and add text notes to project.
Open The Tuning Table. This is where you can set the transposition and manually tweak the tuning.
Add New Standard Channel (Instrument) to the Song
Add New Percussion Channel to the Song
Change Channel Instrument
Remove Channel
Set Drum
Toggle Drum visibility
Save the current project. Long press to "save as"
Move to a copy of the current project
Delete the project
Export the project to .wav or .mid. Can only export to midi when Radix is 12.

The Tuning Table

The Line Menu
Transpose the project by the given note. Maximum is the Radix - 1
Set the number of notes-per-octave to use in the project. Default is 12
Tune the notes using ratios rather than 'cents'. See How tuning works for more information.

The Line Menu

The Line Menu
Tap again to open the channel menu
Show line meta controls (currently volume & pan)
Set line's drum. (Exclusive to the Percussion Channel)
Remove a line from the channel. This button will *not* be visible when there is only 1 line in the given channel
Add a line to the channel.
Mute/Unmute line
Control the line's volume

The Channel Menu

The Channel Menu
Show line meta controls.
Uniformly adjust all notes in channel.
Remove the channel.
Add a percussion channel.
Add a standard channel.
Mute/Unmute Channel.
Choose channel instrument.

The Column Control Menu

The Column Menu
Tag section. If not tagged, tap to create unnamed section or tap & hold to create named section. If it is already tagged, tap to name/rename the section.
Remove section tag.
Uniformly adjust all notes in the column.
Remove beats. (Short tap for 1. Hold to input a number)
Add more beats. (Short tap for 1. Hold to input a number)

The Note Control Menu

The Note Menu
Change to Relative/Absolute Note Input Mode. This can be toggled from the settings menu.
Split a cell into finite divisions. (Hold to input a number)
Insert an empty cell after the currently selected one. (Hold to input a number)
Remove the selected cell. (Hold to remove all cell at the current level)
Unset a note.
Set a note's duration (Hold to reset to x1)
Set a note's octave
Set a note's offset

Settings

Active Soundfont

From here you can either select an imported .sf2 file or select 'import' and use a soundfont from your device. By default, a message will appear if you have no soundfonts, providing a link to the Fluid R3 general midi soundfont on the internet archive.

Playback quality

Set the sample rate of the playback (export is unaffected). This is useful for less powerful devices with a large amount of notes being played.

Clip sample fade-out on same lines

Some instruments have long fade-out durations. Enable this option to prevent notes on the same line from overlapping.

Relative input mode

Enable relative input. This means you can input notes based off of the previous notes (ie +3, -12 etc) instead of using absolute values like normal.

Remember soundfont when loading project

The Soundfont being using is saved within a project file. If this option is enabled, Pagan will *attempt* to change to that soundfont when loading that project.

Enable midi playback

When a midi device is connected to Pagan, it will automatically attempt to play through the Midi device.
Disable this option to ignore midi output devices.

Use percussion as standard instrument

Percussion instruments are stored exclusively within Midi Bank 128 in Soundfont files. Pagan usually separates these from the rest of these instruments.
Enable this option to allow setting standard channels to percussion instruments in bank 128. This means drum lines can be on single lines as opposed to giving each instrument its own dedicated line.

Screen orientation

Force the screen orientation to landscape or portait or defer to the device's orientation.

Exporting a Project

JSON File

Pagan projects are stored in JSON formated files. This is how to store your project for transport without losing any data.

MIDI File

Export to a Midi 1.0 .mid file.
Midi 1 doesn't support more than 16 channels including a single percussion channel. Keep this in mind as any channels after the 16th will be ignored as well as any percussion channels after the 1st.
Also keep in mind that Midi 1 doesn't support per-note pitch bending so non-standard tuning will prevent this option from being available.
Finally, Midi 2.0 support is planned and somewhat in progress and is *not* subject to the aforementioned limitations.

WAV File

Export to a lossless wav file at a sample rate of 44100 kHz.
The balancing is handled automatically using the hyberbolic tangent (htan) function which is fine but usually insufficient for production purposes.
To manually balance the lines, I recommend exporting each line to a wav (see next section) and using something like Audacity to merge the output.

WAV Files (Lines)

Export each line to a separate lossless wav files.
This is useful for manual mixing with software like audacity.

WAV Files (Channels)

Export each channel to a separate lossless wav files.
This is useful for manual mixing with software like audacity.

How Tuning Works

Equal Temperament Tuning

Simply put, this means each note is double the frequency of the same note one octave lower. Mathematically speaking, equal temperament is defined thusly: 
    base_frequency * (2 ^ ( x / radix ))

Where, relative to western music: 
    base_frequency = 27.5
    radix = 12

27.5Hz is the frequency of the A0 on a piano and there are 12 keys per octave

Using The Tuning Table

The tuning table has 3 parts:

Radix

Changing the Radix changes the number of notes per octave. The note tunings will default to equal temperament when this gets changed.
This means you could set the radix to 24 and use the even notes as normal and the odd notes as micro-tones. Or you could experiment with different sized octaves.

Note Tunings

Instead of using "cents" and "semi-tones", Pagan uses ratios and offsets.
The Offset is the index of the note given a list of notes. (See How to Read).
The Ratios are the (x / radix) part of the function in equal temperament tuning.

This means that if you want to tune a key up you'll need to have a ratio
between (offset / radix) and ((offset + 1) / radix)

A cent is a 1/100th step between each note.
This means that in order to tune a note Up One Cent, the ratio would be: 
((offset * 100) + 1) / (radix * 100)

Transpose

Pagan defaults to 00 = 27.5Hz (or A0).
The transpose is which offset you want to start at.
So if you wanted to set 00 to C, you would change Transpose to 3 / 12. (A:0, A#:1, B:2, C:3)

F.A.Q.

Why would you make this?

So the next person who wants it doesn't have to be the one to make it.

What's with the name?

This is a bit of a walk...
Pagan eschews some western music concepts like Staves, Measures, Alphabetical Note Names and Sharps & Flats.
These are all concepts created within the context of the Christian church.
The same church which would historically group any faith outside of Christianity within the blanket notion of Paganism.
So "Pagan" seemed an apt name to apply to a music app that out-right rejects so many of the musical structures put in place by monks and clergy explicitly in the name of the Christian Faith.
To be clear, I didn't decide to make a specifically anti-christian music sequencer and then design it around that concept. Rather, I designed a music sequencer around the way I personally conceptualize music. When I noticed that I didn't really add any ideas but did disregard a few, then I thought of a name based on that.
The original working name was actually Radixulous but I thought that may be too esoteric.
...Also, it sounds a bit like Paganini. And that's fun too.

What's a Radix?

A radix is the number by which you group when counting. If you are part of most of the modern world, you'll be familiar with radix-10, in which we count in groups of 10 numerals.
Binary is radix 2 and hexidecimal is radix 16.
Pianos are implicitly radix 12. Even if western music thinks of notes as letters rather than numbers.

How Do I...

Name my Project?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap 'Change Project Name'.
  3. Enter the new name and tap 'OK'.

Adjust a selection

  1. When selecting a channel, line, column or range, tap the "+/-" icon.
  2. Choose the octave and/or offset you want to adjust it by.
  3. Tap Ok.

Add a Channel?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap "+" to add a standard channel, or "!+" to add a percussion channel.
--OR--
  1. Tap a line Label. Any line label. To select a line.
  2. Tap it again to open up the channel menu.
  3. Tap "+" to add a standard channel, or "!+" to add a percussion channel.

Remove a Channel?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap the "X" button on the channel you want to remove.
--OR--
  1. Tap a line label in the channel you want to remove.
  2. Tap it again to open up the channel menu.
  3. Tap the "X" icon.

Add a Line?

  1. Tap the line label where you want to insert a new line.
  2. Tap the 'add line' button.

Remove a Line?

  1. Tap the line label of the line you want to remove.
  2. Tap the 'remove line' button.

Import a MIDI file?

  1. Tap the vertical ellipsis.
  2. Select 'Import'
  3. Pick your .mid file.

Import a Project?

  1. Tap the vertical ellipsis.
  2. Select 'Import'
  3. Pick your exported project (.json)

Change a Soundfont?

  1. Tap the vertical ellipsis.
  2. Select 'Settings'
  3. Tap the 'Active Soundfont'
  4. Pick from already imported sounfont or choose 'Import' and select a .sf2 from your device.

Remove a Soundfont?

  1. Tap the vertical ellipsis.
  2. Select 'Settings'
  3. Tap and Hold the 'Active Soundfont'
  4. Choose the soundfont to remove from the list.

Change the Sample Rate?

  1. Tap the vertical ellipsis.
  2. Select 'Settings'
  3. Use the 'Playback Quality' Slider to set the rate.

Change an Instrument?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap the channel with the instrument to be changed.
  3. Pick an instrument from the menu.
--OR--
  1. Tap the label of the line which instrument you want to change.
  2. Tap the the same label again
  3. Tap the button at the bottom that has the name of the currently active channel instrument
  4. Pick an instrument from the menu.

Change a Percussion Instrument?

  1. Tap the label of the percussion line to change
  2. Tap the button with button labelled with the current instrument name (eg. 0: High Q)
  3. Pick an instrument from the menu.

Set the Tempo?

To set the initial tempo:
  1. Tap the metronome icon at the bottom of the table.
  2. Tap the BPM button.
  3. Input the new tempo in Beats per Minute.
To change the tempo within the song:
  1. Select a leaf along the tempo line as you would the other lines.
  2. Tap the BPM button.
  3. Input the new tempo in Beats per Minute.

Add Beats?

  1. Tap the top of a column.
    2. Single Beat:
  2. Tap the 'Add Beat' button in the corner
    3. Multiple Beats:
  3. Tap and Hold* the 'Add Beat' button the corner.
  4. Input the number of beats to add.

Remove Beats?

  1. Tap the top of a column.
    Single Beat:
  2. Tap the 'Remove Beat' button in the corner
    Multiple Beats:
  3. Tap and Hold* the 'Remove Beat' button the corner.
  4. Input the number of beats to remove.

Move a Line?

  1. Insert a line where you want the moved line to go.
  2. Drag and drop the line label of one onto the other.
  3. Delete the empty line.

Hide (or show) the Percussion section?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap the eye icon at the end of the percussion channel button.
--OR-- (hide only)
  1. Double tap a percusion line label.
  2. Tap the eye icon to hide.

Jump to a Beat?

  1. Tap the arrow icon in the top-left corner of the editor
  2. Use the slider to select a beat.
--OR-- (to jump to 0)
  1. Tap and Hold the arrow icon in the top-left corner to jump to the first beat.

Jump to a Section?

  1. Tap the arrow icon in the top-left corner of the editor
  2. Use the drop-down menu to select a section.

Set the tuning?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap the 'Tuning' button.
  3. See the Tuning Section if this table doesn't make sense to you.

Save the project?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap the floppy disk icon in the bottom-left corner.

'Save As...' the project?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap and hold* the floppy disk icon in the bottom-left corner.

Export a MIDI file?

NOTE: Projects can only be exported to midi when the Radix and Tuning table are unaltered. (See Tuning for more information).
  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap the 'Export' button at the bottom-right of the menu.
  3. Select 'Midi File'.

Export a WAV file?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap the 'Export' button at the bottom-right of the menu.
  3. Select 'Wav File'.

Delete the Project?

  1. Tap the hamburger menu to open the configuration menu.
  2. Tap the trash bin icon.
--OR--
  1. Tap the verical ellipsis.
  2. Select "Load Project"
  3. Tap-and-hold the project you want to delete.
  4. Tap delete