Lesson 18
Session Mode: clips & scenes
Lay out your ideas as clips and scenes in Session Mode, and launch them in time to switch between parts of a song.
- A Move that is switched on
- The Set from the earlier lessons, with a drum beat and a bassline in it
The idea
Most songs are built from sections. A verse, a chorus, a quiet break, a big ending. Each section is a mix of parts: maybe the chorus has busier drums, while the bass stays the same.
On Move, each part is a clip. Session Mode puts all of them on the pads at once, as you saw in Lesson 4. Each row of pads belongs to one track, and each pad in that row is a slot where one of its clips can live. A column of pads, one slot from each track, is a scene. Think of a scene as one section of your song: start the scene and all its clips play together.
Your Set
The pad lights tell you what is where:
- A dark pad is an empty slot.
- A pad lit in the track’s colour holds a clip.
- A white pad is an empty slot you have selected, ready for a new clip.
- A pad pulsing white is the clip that is selected on that track (the one that plays).
- A pad pulsing green is waiting to start. A pad pulsing in the track’s colour is about to stop.
Why wait? When the music is already running, a clip you launch doesn’t jump in straight away. It waits for the start of the next bar, so the new part lands in time with everything else. You can press a little early and let Move do the timing.
Each track plays only one clip at a time. So when you start a new clip in a row, the old one in that row stops.
Press Note/Session to switch to Session Mode. Look at the pads before you press any of them.
Didn’t work?
If the pads play sounds instead, you were already in Session Mode and have just switched to Note Mode. Press Note/Session once more.You should see: The pads show your clips: one row per track, lit pads for clips, dark pads for empty slots.
Find a column where every pad is dark. Press its pad in the row of your drum track. The drawing shows one example; your empty column may be in a different place.
Didn’t work?
Each row lines up with the track button beside it. In a new Set, the drum kit is on the top track. If the music was playing, the drum clip in this row now pulses in the track’s colour, which means it is about to stop. That is normal: an empty slot is now the drums’ selected clip.You should see: The pad turns white: an empty slot, selected and waiting for a new clip.
Press that row’s track button (the top track button in a brand-new Set). This opens Note Mode, ready to fill the new clip.
Didn’t work?
Pressing Note/Session works too. Either way, the notes you add next go into the slot you just picked.You should see: Move switches to Note Mode on the drum track, ready to fill the empty slot.
Build a new beat, just as in Lesson 9: press a drum pad, then press some step buttons. Make it clearly different, for example busier hi-hats and an extra snare, like a chorus.
Didn’t work?
If the music isn’t running, press Play to hear your pattern. Keep it simple: two or three drum sounds are plenty for now.You should hear: A new drum pattern, different from your first beat.
Press Note/Session to go back to Session Mode.
You should see: Session Mode again. The slot you picked is now lit in the drum track's colour: it holds your new clip.
Press the pad of your first drum clip, in the same row. Listen for the moment it switches.
Didn’t work?
Press the new clip’s pad to switch back the same way. Nothing waits if Move was stopped: pressing a lit pad then starts the music straight away. If you want to stop, press Play.You should see: The pad you pressed pulses green, then takes over at the start of the next bar.
Now give the new column a bassline too. Hold Copy and press a lit pad in the bass row: the bassline you want to reuse. If the bass row has several clips, pick your favourite.
Didn’t work?
Changed your mind? Press Copy again to empty the clipboard.You should see: The display confirms the copy, then asks where to paste it.
Let go of Copy. In the bass row, press the dark pad in the same column as your new drum clip.
Didn’t work?
Pasting onto a lit pad replaces the clip that was there. If that happens by accident, press Undo straight away.You should see: The pad lights up in the bass track's colour: a copy of the clip is now in that slot.
While the music plays, pick a column that holds your older clips, with several rows lit (the drawing shows one example). Slide one finger quickly down it, from the top pad to the bottom one.
Didn’t work?
Make it one smooth, quick slide, and do it while the music is running. If Move is stopped, press Play first.You should hear: On the next bar, every clip in that column starts together: your first section.
Now slide down the column with your new drum clip and the bass copy. You have just switched from one scene to the next, like a song moving into its chorus.
Didn’t work?
Slide back and forth between the two columns a few times, a little before the end of a bar. Getting a feel for the timing is the whole trick.You should hear: On the next bar, the section changes: new drums, same bass.
Press Play to stop the music.
You should hear: Silence.
Lesson complete! Try the challenge below, or keep going.
Next lesson →Try it yourself
- Open the copied bass clip in Note Mode (select its pad, then press Note/Session) and change a few notes, so the second section has its own bassline.
- Build a third scene in the next column: a break with only drums and chords. Then play your scenes in order: first, second, break, first again.
- While the music plays, slide down a column of dark pads. Every clip stops, but the music clock keeps running, so the next scene you start still comes in on time.
Good to know
- To delete a clip, hold Delete and press its pad. It’s gone at once, so keep Undo in mind.
- You don’t have to fill a slot from Note Mode by sequencing. Recording and Capture (Lesson 11 and Lesson 12) put their notes into the selected slot too.
- A scene can mix clips from all four tracks, but each row still plays only one clip at a time.