Chapter 22 - Appendices¶

A - Glossary
F - Per-mode control reference
G - Gesture cheat sheet
H - What the knob presses do

The CC map is in Chapter 15.

Appendix A - Glossary¶

Terms as this manual uses them. Where a term has a chapter of its own, the chapter is named.

Timing¶

Term	Meaning
Tick	UNA's internal unit of time - the smallest amount of time the sequencer can resolve. There are 384 ticks in a bar. The high resolution is what lets swing, microtiming and per-step Delay feel natural rather than snapped to a grid. (Chapter 16)
Bar	One measure of the current time signature. Always 384 ticks, whatever the time signature.
PPQN	Pulses per quarter note - the resolution of the MIDI clock UNA sends and receives. UNA emits the standard 24 PPQN, which stays aligned with its 384-ticks-per-bar internal grid. (Chapter 16)
Step	One slot in a track's sequence. A track has between 1 and 32 steps, set by STEPS.
Step duration	How long a single step lasts, set by the TIME parameter as a musical division (1/16, ⅛, ¼ and so on). Step duration and note duration are separate: GATE sets the note length in ticks or bars and does not scale when TIME changes. (Chapter 7)
Loop length	STEPS × step duration - how long the basic sequence runs before it repeats. Stepper lane lengths and Modulators can make the true repeat much longer. (Chapter 10)

Structure¶

Term	Meaning
Track	One of UNA's three voices - Chord, Melody, Bass. Each has its own parameters, MIDI channel and editing surface. (Chapter 5)
Patch	The complete state of all three tracks, their parameters, sequences and modulation. Patches save themselves as you edit. (Chapter 14)
Bank	A group of patches. Switching between patches in the same bank keeps the playback position. (Chapter 14)
Chord chain	The progression driving the whole instrument - up to 32 links, each holding a chord and a duration. (Chapter 8)
Link	One slot in a chord chain: a chord, an octave, and a duration running from a single tick up to 256 bars.
Scale degree	Where a chord sits relative to the key, written as a Roman numeral - `I` is home, `V` pulls back to it, lower case means minor and a leading `b` means flattened out of the scale (`bVII`). The chord chain shows it beside the chord you are hearing. (Chapter 8)
Progression	A chord chain's shape with the key left out - a list of scale degrees and durations. UNA ships thirty; applying one to a root is what makes an actual chain, so the same progression serves all twelve keys. (Chapter 8)
Declared key	A key you pinned yourself - on the Scale Options screen, or by turning the chord chain's KEY knob - as opposed to one UNA inferred from the chords. The chord chain draws a declared key in colour and an inferred one in grey. (Chapter 8)
Stepper	The Melody Track's per-step editing surface - one 32-step lane per primary parameter, each with its own independent length. (Chapter 10)
Lane	A single parameter's row of per-step values inside the Stepper - the Pitch lane, the Gate lane, and so on.
Improv	The Bass Track's variability-driven variation system: you set the odds, UNA improvises within them. (Chapter 11)
Modulator	A source that moves a parameter over time. Eight slots, each with a source, a target and an amount. (Chapter 12)
Morph	The Stepper's three-stage transformation pipeline (MORPH, SHAPE, FILTER) - reshapes a lane's values without editing individual steps, leaving the original intact underneath. (Chapter 10)
Lock	One of three overrides (LOCK NOTE, LOCK OCTAVE, LOCK CHORD) that pin a track's voicing against the live chord. All default to OFF. (Chapter 7)

Controls and gestures¶

Term	Meaning
Primary parameter	The parameter a PARAMETER Knob adjusts when you simply rotate it. Primaries affect individual notes and steps. (Chapter 7)
Secondary parameter	The parameter reached by press-and-rotate on the same knob. Secondaries affect the sequence as a whole.
Mixer	The screen MIXER (button 3 on Home) opens: a fader for each track's velocity and MIDI channel, and the THRU strip for your own playing. Its Advanced Mode holds KEYSPLIT, METRO, QUANTIZE and LISTEN. (Chapter 6)
Temporary edit	Hold CONTROL and rotate a PARAMETER Knob: the value moves while you hold and snaps back when you let go. Shown in yellow; nothing is saved. Tempo is the exception - it always sticks.
Staged edit	Hold a PARAMETER Knob and rotate CONTROL: the value is dialled in, shown in purple, and commits when you release the knob.
Live Play	Holding a note or chord on a connected keyboard starts UNA, even from stopped; releasing stops it again. A sustain pedal (CC64) latches it. (Chapter 5)
Listen	The toggle (button 4 wherever it appears) that decides whether your keyboard steers the harmony. On, the chord under your fingers overrides the chord chain and every track shifts to fit it; off, UNA keeps playing the captured chain. (Chapter 5)
BIOS	The low-level system screen, opened from the Menu (button 4), or by holding the CONTROL Knob while powering on. (Chapter 17)

Appendix F - Per-mode control reference¶

The six CONTROL buttons are numbered 1-6, left to right, top row then bottom. A blank cell means the button does nothing in that mode.

PLAY / STOP moves. It normally sits on button 5, but on screens where button 5 is APPLY, the transport moves to button 4. The label on screen is always right.

A few screens have no transport at all. On the Modulator Stepper, button 5 is that mode's own ON / OFF toggle and there is no PLAY / STOP anywhere on the screen - press BACK to reach the transport. Chord Chain, Patch Chain and the Metronome page have ON / OFF on button 2 and the transport on button 5.

The Advanced Mode keeps the transport. Button 5 is PLAY / STOP and button 6 is BACK on every ADVANCED row, so only buttons 1-4 change with the layer and a BACK that lands you on ADVANCED still has a transport under your thumb. LISTEN, where a screen has it, is button 4 - Chord, Tracks, Mixer, Performance Mode and the Metronome page. Patches is the one exception to the button-5 rule: its transport, APPLY and BACK sit in the same places on both layers, so its tap changes only buttons 1-3.

Home¶

	1	2	3	4	5	6
EASY	CHORD	TRACKS	MIXER	PATCHES	PLAY / STOP	UNA

Every button is a single press. Track select is a CONTROL rotate, and MENU and TUTORIAL are on the COMMON row (buttons 4 and 1), along with NAV and HELP.
CONTROL Knob: quick press → open Performance Mode · rotate → select the active track.

Performance Mode¶

	1	2	3	4	5	6
EASY	MODE	(open row)	UNDO	LISTEN	PLAY / STOP	BACK
COMMON	-	-	REDO	MENU	NAV	HELP

Opened by a CONTROL tap on Home; the same tap, or BACK, leaves. MODE steps the open row (PATCH, CHORD, TRACKS, MIXER, MODS); hold it and rotate CONTROL to sweep. Button 2 names the open row and opens its screen.
CONTROL Knob: rotate → select a track (TRACKS or MIXER) or a modulator (MODS) · press + rotate → the open row's own edit (browse patches / walk the chord's degrees / select the track / level / amount).
The eight PARAMETER Knobs are labelled on screen per row; see Chapter 6.
UNDO and REDO are reserved and not yet active.

Tracks¶

	1	2	3	4	5	6
EASY	RHYTHM	MELODY	BASS	MODS	PLAY / STOP	BACK
ADVANCED	RHYTHM	MELODY	BASS	LISTEN	PLAY / STOP	BACK
COMMON	-	-	-	MENU	NAV	HELP

Buttons 1-4 open their screen on a single press, on either layer - ADVANCED repeats the three tracks so a latched layer does not have to be dropped to reach one. Opening a track leaves the layer up, so BACK puts you back on ADVANCED.

To select a track without opening it, rotate the CONTROL Knob to walk RHYTHM → MELODY → BASS. It works on either layer, and the selection sticks; it is still in force back on Home.

Hold CONTROL and press 1, 2 or 3 to mute the chord, melody or bass track. The button lights while that track is muted, and the row stays up while you hold, so you can mute all three without letting go. Same switch as the knob bar and the Mixer.

The knob bars: RHYM / MLDY / BASS (Knobs 1-3) mute their track · VIEW (Knob 8) cycles the display through Notes → Notes + Info → Notes + Info Extra (Chapter 6) · RESET (Knob 5) puts all three tracks back to their defaults - press once for the confirm, then either press the same knob again or press YES (button 4) to go through with it. CANCEL is button 6, and anything else cancels too.
ADVANCED 4, 6 and 7 are empty.
CONTROL Knob: quick press → toggle Advanced Mode · rotate → select the active track (both layers).

Mixer¶

	1	2	3	4	5	6
EASY	RHYTHM	MELODY	BASS	KEYS	PLAY / STOP	BACK
ADVANCED	KEYSPLIT	METRO	QUANTIZE	LISTEN	PLAY / STOP	BACK
COMMON	SOLO	SOLO	SOLO	MENU	NAV	HELP

EASY: buttons 1-4 select a strip (KEYS = the THRU strip); tap the selected one again to mute it (THRU: step OFF → AUTO → ON). Hold a strip's button and use CONTROL to mix it without selecting it.
CONTROL Knob on EASY: rotate → the selected track's velocity · press + rotate → the selected strip's MIDI channel · quick press → toggle Advanced Mode.
PARAMETER Knobs on EASY: the selected track's parameters, as on every track screen.
ADVANCED knobs: 1, 2, 3 = RHYTHM, MELODY, BASS and 5 (KBD) = THRU. Rotate → level (THRU: mode) · press → mute (THRU: next mode) · press + rotate → channel. Knobs 4, 6, 7 and 8 are empty.
QUANTIZE: tap to step the Thru Track Quantize, or hold it and rotate CONTROL to sweep.
COMMON: SOLO on 1, 2 and 3 solos RHYTHM, MELODY or BASS; press again to un-solo.

Metronome¶

1	2	3	4	5	6
TIME SIG	ON / OFF	-	LISTEN	PLAY / STOP	BACK

Press TIME SIG to arm it, then rotate the CONTROL Knob. ON / OFF toggles the click and lights while it's on.

Chord Mode¶

	1	2	3	4	5	6
EASY	SUGGEST	CHAIN	SCALE	SELECT	PLAY / STOP	BACK
ADVANCED	FOLLOW	CHAIN	SCALE	LISTEN	PLAY / STOP	BACK

The eight PARAMETER Knob presses take the eight suggested chords, on both layers.

Chord Rhythm¶

	1	2	3	4	5	6
EASY	SUGGEST	-	UNDO	CAPTURE	PLAY / STOP	BACK
ADVANCED	GRID	-	PARAMS	SAVE	PLAY / STOP	BACK

Tap the CONTROL Knob to bring up Advanced Mode; tap again to put it away. Holding the knob does not show it - hold-and-turn is the trigger move. UNDO is EASY B3; REDO is COMMON B3 (hold CONTROL).

PARAMETER Knob presses act on Advanced Mode only, and are labelled there:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
mute	add	del	drone	reset	-	-	clear

EASY B1 SUGGEST opens the rhythm browser. ADVANCED B1 GRID steps the grid on a tap, or hold it and turn CONTROL to sweep.

reset and clear are different acts, which is why both keep a knob: clear empties the pattern to a single downbeat trigger and leaves the parameters alone, while reset puts every parameter back and returns the rhythm to the first factory pattern. reset asks first - press it once for the confirm, then either press the same knob again or press YES (button 4) to commit. CANCEL is button 6, and anything else cancels too.

CONTROL turn selects a trigger; CONTROL press+turn moves it. Dragging the loop end sets the length - whole bars on EASY, every 1/16 on ADVANCED - and past four bars the track goes to drone.

Chord Chain¶

1	2	3	4	5	6
SUGGEST	ON / OFF	UNDO	CAPTURE	PLAY / STOP	BACK

Advanced Mode (tap CONTROL):

1	2	3	4	5	6
REPLACE	TIME	UNDO	SAVE	PLAY / STOP	BACK

Knobs in Easy Mode: the chord track's parameters, as on every other track screen. Knobs on the advanced layer: INS · ADD · DEL · MULTI / MOVE · POS · KEY · CLEAR.

MOVE shifts a link along the chain and only rotates - its press does nothing. KEY is the odd one out on this row: it is the patch's key rather than anything belonging to the link under the cursor, so it never greys out. One detent moves the key and transposes the whole chain to match, which is what keeps the degree standing still; turning it while Key is on Auto declares one. It has no press either.

The body is three views of the chain, stacked: a fixed strip of the whole thing (where), a conveyor along time - wider tile = longer link (when), and a row of even cells that follows the cursor (which). Nothing freezes on Advanced Mode; the belt keeps following the music while you edit in the row below it.

The last cell of that row is a + while the chain is under 32 links: press and rotate the CONTROL Knob right on it to add links, one per detent. The footer reads TURN TO ADD while the cursor is there. INS / ADD grey out at 32 links and DEL at one, and MOVE / POS grey on the +. CLEAR resets the chain to a single C major link and leaves it in the music.

On Easy Mode the last link can be removed the same way: press and rotate left past the chord you started from. The first detent that has nowhere to go marks the link as going - it greys and the footer reads TURN TO DELETE - and the next one removes it. Any other move calls it off. A chain of one link can't be removed this way.

ON / OFF engages the chain; the button lights when on, and so does the strip along the top. Rotate the CONTROL Knob to walk the links on either layer; press and rotate on the + to grow the chain, or on a link to walk that link's scale degrees.

The tiles and the selector cells name chords. The head band names the chord you are hearing, its scale degree beside it, and the key that degree is counted from - in colour when you declared the key, in grey when UNA inferred it.

Appendix G - Gesture cheat sheet¶

UNA's controls carry more than one meaning each. There are only six gestures to learn.

Gesture	What it generally means
Press a button	Do the thing named on screen.
Hold a button	A second, related action - e.g. hold PLAY / STOP for a Panic Stop.
Hold a button, rotate CONTROL	A sweep. Where a button steps through a list one press at a time, holding it and turning CONTROL runs through the same list, hearing each as it passes. The whole sweep counts as one press of UNDO.
Tap the CONTROL Knob	On Home it opens Performance Mode, and the same tap there comes back. On a screen with an Advanced Mode (Chords, Tracks, Chord Rhythm, Melody, Bass, Mixer) it switches layer. A screen with no Advanced Mode ignores the tap.
Rotate a knob	Change a value; on the CONTROL Knob, move a selection.
Press and rotate a knob	A PARAMETER Knob's secondary parameter (9-16). On the CONTROL Knob, a mode-specific alternate - for example a step's value in Stepper Edit.
Hold CONTROL, rotate a PARAMETER Knob	A temporary edit. The value moves while you hold and snaps back when you let go. Shown in yellow. Nothing is saved.
Hold a PARAMETER Knob, rotate CONTROL	A staged edit. The value is dialled in, shown in purple, and commits when you release the knob.

Two more worth knowing:

Hold CONTROL on the Mixer and press SOLO (buttons 1-3) to solo that track.
Press a PARAMETER Knob on a track screen for its default press action - see Appendix H below.

Tempo is the exception to the temporary-edit rule: it's a device-wide value, not part of a patch, so a change to it always sticks.

Appendix H - What the knob presses do¶

Each PARAMETER Knob carries three things:

channel	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
rotate	OCT	CHN	DLY	LAY	PIT	GAT	VEL	SLC
press and rotate	TMP	STP	ROT	JMP	DIR	TIM	MUT	ACC
press	OCT LOCK	CHN LOCK	DLY TYPE	-	-	VOICE	-	SLICE TYPE

On any screen where the knobs are running the track parameter maps - Chord, Chord Rhythm, Melody, Bass and Tracks - a press does the job in the bottom row, acting on that screen's track:

Knob	Press does
1 - OCT LOCK	Toggles the track's LOCK OCTAVE parameter, pinning it to its own OCTAVE instead of following the chord. This changes what you hear.
2 - CHN LOCK	Toggles the edit lock on CHANNEL - the padlock that stops the knob, and MIDI CC, from moving the value. This changes what you can edit.
3 - DLY TYPE	Cycles DELAY TYPE: ALL ⇄ SWING.
6 - VOICE	Cycles VOICE MODE: POLY ⇄ MONO.
8 - SLICE TYPE	Cycles the ornament SLICE TYPE through its list.
4, 5, 7	Nothing. Deliberately unassigned.

Two things called LOCK. Knob 1's LOCK OCTAVE is a musical parameter - it pins the track's octave. Knob 2's CHN LOCK is the edit padlock. They share a word and do completely different jobs.

Every press pops the parameter header with the new value, so you always see what you changed. A press that does nothing - knobs 4, 5 and 7, or a parameter that doesn't apply to that track - shows nothing at all rather than a misleading value.

Where the presses mean something else. A screen that already gives knob press a job keeps it: the Mixer's Advanced Mode (mute), Modulate (toggle a modulator), Track Params (jump to that parameter), Patch Load (select a cell, on both layers), Chord Select and Chord Suggest (the keyboard and the pick list), the Modulator Stepper (lane select), and every save / rename / options screen. Home is also excluded - its knobs are the chord keyboard, not the parameter maps.

Chord Mode is not one of those exceptions on its Easy Mode, though its advanced layer is: there the eight cells are the eight chord suggestions and a press takes one. In Easy Mode, where nothing labels them as a pick list, a press does the default job in the table above.

And on an Advanced Mode, knob press belongs to the layer instead. The two red bars on screen label the eight actions - each cell numbered for its knob - so you never have to remember them.

Two of those layer cells answer the rotate alone, and both are deliberate rather than unfinished:

Chord Chain, knob 5 (MOVE) - a move has no obvious single direction, so a press would reorder your progression the wrong way half the time.
Chord Chain, knob 7 (KEY) - once the knob is the key, there is nothing left for a press to mean.