5. Pattern Editor
The Pattern device is the most powerful device in Apollo Studio. It allows you to design arbitrary shapes in a frame-based editor separate from the device view. After adding a Pattern to your chain, click the large pop-out button in the middle of the device to open the full editor window.
The basic idea of the Pattern device is to store a frame list. Each frame consists of the Launchpad light state for that frame and a duration value. When a signal is received, the frame list is played back and displayed on the Launchpad for its assigned duration. The frame list is visible on the left side of the editor. Click the + button to add more frames. Frames can be selected and have operations applied to them by right-clicking. They can also be dragged around and moved, even across different editor windows. You can have Apollo Studio copy the previous frame when adding a new one in the Preferences.
In the middle of the window, you will find the Launchpad view, which displays the currently selected frame. By clicking and dragging you can draw your frame here. To select a different color, use the color picker on the right hand side, or the color history below the color picker. To select a color from the on-screen Launchpad, hold CTRL(PC) or CMD(Mac) and click the color you'd like. To view your effect, either press the Play button in the bottom-left corner which plays your effect isolated in the editor, or press the Fire button which plays your effect in the chain. To view your effect from an arbitrary point in time, choose Play/Fire here from a frame's context menu.
The Duration dial in the bottom-right corner changes the duration for all selected frames. The Reverse button reverses the order of all selected frames. The Invert button visually inverts (rotates by 180°) all selected frames.
To quickly navigate the frame list while drawing an effect, you can use the arrow keys or navigation keys (HOME, END, PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN). Using the arrow keys will automatically add a new frame if you try moving outside the frame list. You can also manually insert and remove frames with the INSERT and DELETE keys as well as the + and - keys, respectively. Pressing ENTER will play your effect, while pressing SHIFT+ENTER will fire it. Additionally holding CTRL(PC) or CMD(Mac) while inputting the play effect shortcut will play your effect from the currently selected frame.
Instead of editing on-screen, it's possible to take over a physical Launchpad and use it exclusively as an editor. To start editing on your Launchpad, select it in the top-right corner. Tap or slide on the Launchpad to apply colors to the current frame. A Launchpad can edit only one Pattern at a time. To restore control to the project, either deselect the Launchpad in the top-right corner or close the editor. The Launchpad can be automatically taken over when opening the editor in the Preferences.
Gestures are special button combinations you can do on the Launchpad to control the editor directly while drawing. To use gestures, make sure they are enabled in the Preferences. To execute a gesture, hold down any button on your Launchpad and then consider the 8 buttons around the button you are holding. You can then tap the desired button while holding down the original button to execute the gesture:
- Left – Previous frame
- Right – Next frame
- Up – Select color from color history
- Down – Draw on the mode light (Novation LED instead if using a Launchpad X generation device)
- Bottom-left – Remove frame
- Top-right – Insert frame
- Top-left – Play effect
- Bottom-right – Fire effect
Below the frame list, we can find parameters that change how the Pattern device plays back the frame list. Changes to these are purely related to behavior in the chain, and will have no direct impact in the Pattern editor itself.
While the Pattern normally always plays back at a static absolute position, with the Root Key parameter it's possible to enable relative playback based on the position of the incoming signal. The key selected as the Root Key will always match the signal entering the Pattern by moving the frame around. If the Wrap checkbox is checked, signals that would land outside the range of the grid will be wrapped back inside the range, making them appear on the opposite side of the grid.
The Repeats dial controls how many times the frame list will be iterated through during playback. The Gate functions as a simple multiplier for the duration values of all frames.
The Pinch dial allows for steady speed ramping of signals to allow for really intense, but subtle and smooth build-ups in speed. This works as a great visual effect for fast build-ups in long sections or even if you just need your light effects to hit a little bit harder. It can be right-clicked to switch it to bilateral mode.
The drop-down below controls how the playback will behave based on incoming signals. If Mono is selected, the Pattern plays once regardless of when the incoming signal is released, and receiving another incoming signal stops and restarts the Pattern. If Poly is selected, the Pattern plays for each incoming signal independently, regardless of when the incoming signals are released. If Loop is selected, the Pattern repeats while the incoming signal is held, and receiving another incoming signal stops and restarts the Pattern.
If the Infinite check box is checked, it overrides the duration value of the last frame and never releases the signals the frame outputs, making it render until cleared or drawn over with another effect.
The entire panel can be collapsed with the arrow icon on the top.
With the Import button in the top-left corner, it's possible to import a Pattern from non-Apollo Studio file formats. There are three supported formats:
- MIDI clip file (.mid) – Loading a MIDI clip will convert the notes found in the MIDI file to frames. For color resolving, the palette specified in the Preferences will be used.
- Animated GIF image files (.gif) – Loading an animated GIF image will stretch it to 10x10 pixels and load the frames into the editor, therefore it's a good idea to trim your GIF to a square before loading. The colors are preserved as in the original image.
- Static image files (.jpg, .bmp, .png) – Loading a static image will stretch it to 10x10 pixels and load it as the first frame into the editor. The colors are preserved as in the original image.