Gate choreography

Use gates to create fills, drops, and returns without redrawing the timeline. Measure-mask gates encode custom on/off patterns; every-Nth gates produce regular punctuation; boundary-hold gates snap loose triggers to the bar.

Gates take a steady stream of signals and choreograph it. The signals do not change: the gate just decides which ones get through and when.

A gate is easier to read as release logic: delay, every-Nth, mask, and boundary-hold all answer different timing questions.

Custom patterns with measure-masks

A measure-mask is a 16-character binary string. Each character represents one tick within the measure. 1 lets a signal through; 0 blocks it. The default 1010101010101010 is straight eighths. Try 1001001001001001 for a tresillo; 1100110011001100 for a Bo Diddley shuffle; 1000100100010001 for a clave-style pattern. Gate patterns can be edited live and the rhythm changes immediately.

Punctuation with every-Nth

An every-Nth gate counts arriving signals and releases on every Nth one. Set N=4 to drop a four-bar phrase to a hit on bar four. Set N=8 for an even longer-form gesture. Combine two every-Nth gates with different counts (one at 4, one at 6) to produce a polymeter.

Snapping with boundary-hold

Boundary-hold Gates capture an arriving signal and release it on the next measure, chord, phrase, or section boundary. Use one when an upstream Source or modifier produces irregular timing but the downstream result needs to land on the grid. Loose triggers in, locked rhythm out.