SilverTape user manual.

Quick reference

Tape: waveforms and waypoints

Reading the tape

Press Tape to see the revised layout. Waveforms appear inside the clips automatically; there is no waveform mode to enable. Normal recording, splitting, moving and joining remain available.

Waveform detail is built from audio as the tape system reads or writes it. Existing recordings can appear quickly when their audio is loaded, but a region that has not been read yet can be blank. Play through that region to let it fill in. A blank waveform alone does not mean the recording has been erased.

Set and recall a waypoint

1. Open Tape and move the head to the desired position.
2. Hold Shift and click one of the four encoders. Its colour identifies the waypoint.
3. Move elsewhere, then click the same encoder without Shift. The head jumps to that position and playback starts, or continues if already playing.

Repeat Shift + click to replace a waypoint. Clicking an unset waypoint does nothing. Recall is disabled while recording or scrubbing. Waypoints belong to the tape timeline, rather than to individual clips; moving a clip does not move its waypoint.

Waypoints are temporary: they are kept in memory and disappear when the OP-1 restarts.

Useful stock tape controls

Finger: preview, step editing and chords

Choose Synth or Drum, open the sequencer and select Finger using the normal Shift + Seq browser. SilverTape's Finger controls apply while the Finger screen is open.

Preview a sound

Click the green encoder to enter preview. Musical keys now play the sound instead of choosing patterns. The ear/preview indicator shows the mode, and held notes are highlighted. Click green again to return to normal pattern control.

Edit a step

1. In normal Finger mode, select the pattern you want to edit.
2. Click blue to enter step edit. A pencil indicator and the edit box identify the mode.
3. Turn blue to select a step.
4. Tap a musical key to add its note. Tap a note already on that step to remove it when you release the key.
5. Click blue again to return to normal Finger control.

Edits can be made while playing. The edit box stays on the step you choose. Shift + turn blue erases the edited step as you move, including its extra chord notes and nudges.

Preview and step edit are mutually exclusive: enabling one turns the other off. Leaving the Finger screen returns the keys to normal use. With no musical keys held, < and > retain their octave function; Shift + < / > moves the step cursor.

The other Finger encoders keep their usual roles: green sets swing, white sets pattern length, orange sets hold, and Shift + orange selects the play mode.

Add chords

In step edit, add several different notes to the same step. The limit is six notes per synth step and eight notes per drum step. Use a polyphonic synth play mode to hear a chord. A full step ignores an additional note; to replace one, remove an existing note first.

Stock Shift + musical-key step recording also supports these larger chords. Finger's Lift/Drop pattern copying carries the added notes and their nudges.

Nudge notes and make strums

1. Enter step edit and select a step containing notes.
2. Hold the musical key for a note on that step.
3. Press < to move its onset earlier, or > to move it later.
4. Release the musical key. Because you used an arrow, its note stays on the step.

Each press changes the offset by one sequencer tick: 1/96 of a beat. The range is eight ticks early to eight ticks late. Hold several keys to move their notes together, or move chord notes separately to create a strum. Timing follows the sequencer tempo.

The nudge slider appears in step edit; its dot shows the selected held note's offset. To return a note to the grid, move its dot to the centre. An early offset on the first step immediately after starting playback sounds on the step, since there is no preceding playback time to place it in.

Remember: tapping an existing note without using an arrow removes it. Use preview when you only want to audition sounds.

Read the Finger display

Keyboard marks show the notes at the selected step when stopped and the notes sounding during playback. In step edit, they identify the keys for the edited notes. A separate marker identifies the selected pattern. The playback step box follows the sounding step.

Drum sampler: an envelope for each key

Select a drum sampler kit and press T2. The ADSR view is the default after startup. Press T2 again while already on that page to switch to the stock dynamic envelope view; press it again to return. Switching views changes which controls you see; it does not turn off or reset the per-key envelope. This addition applies to sampled drum kits; D-box retains its stock controls.

1. Play the drum key you want to shape.
2. Open the ADSR view on T2.
3. Turn the four encoders to shape that key's envelope.
4. Play another key to edit its envelope independently.

Attack and decay are times, sustain is a level, and release is a time or off. With attack at 0, sustain at 100% and release off, the envelope preserves the stock behaviour: a one-shot plays out, while a gated key stops on release.

The selected key is the last played key, including notes triggered by the sequencer. Stop the sequence before editing a particular drum if the selection keeps moving. The envelope shapes the available sample; it does not extend a sample beyond its end.

ADSR settings are saved with the kit and included when its snapshot is saved. There is no separate ADSR save button.

Saving and backups

Allow a few seconds after Finger edits for background saving before switching off. Saving can be delayed if internal storage is nearly full or a write fails; elapsed time alone is not a guarantee that everything was saved.

A DISK copy is not a complete backup of SilverTape's extra Finger state. Record important sequences to tape if you also need an audio copy you can export. Back up tape, album, synth and drum files before installing firmware, and eject the OP-1 correctly before disconnecting.

Troubleshooting

A waypoint click does nothing.

Make sure Tape is on screen, the waypoint has been set since startup, and you are not recording or scrubbing.

Finger's keyboard plays notes instead of patterns.

Turn off preview with a green click. If the pencil is shown, turn off step edit with a blue click.

A note disappeared after I held it.

In step edit, releasing an existing note removes it unless you used an arrow while holding it. Use preview to audition without editing.

My drum envelope controls changed.

T2 toggles between the per-key ADSR view and the stock dynamic envelope page. Press T2 again.

DISK takes a long time to mount.

Nearly full internal storage can make mounting slow. Back up your files and free space by removing only material you have safely copied. A few megabytes remaining can be problematic.

When reporting a problem, include “SilverTape beta 1”, the exact keys and steps used, what you expected, what happened, and whether it happens again after restarting. A screen photo can help.