Chapter 5 - Core Concepts¶

Three Tracks¶

UNA plays three musical tracks at the same time:

The Melody Track - a sequence of notes that follows the underlying chord progression.
The Chord Track - the chord progression itself, played out audibly as a rhythm or drone.
The Bass Track - an independent bass line that follows the same progression.

You don't switch between tracks, they all play together. What you switch between are modes - and modes are how you interact with each track.

The three tracks are musically independent: changing the Bass Track's parameters doesn't affect the Melody Track, and changing the melody doesn't perturb the bass. What the tracks do share is harmony. The played chord or chord progression you've captured creates a note pool - the set of pitches that make up the current chord - and every track draws its notes from that pool. When the chord changes, every track shifts to the new harmony together, keeping it coherent.

There's only one tempo for the whole unit, but each track has its own time parameter that decides how fast it advances against that tempo. Combined with optional dotted or triplet rhythms per track, this allows the Melody Track to run at one rate, the Bass Track at another, and watch polyrhythms emerge naturally over the same beat.

The Tracks can each be enabled or disabled at will, via the Mixer.

Modes are for editing.¶

When you power on, you land in Performance Mode - UNA's the home screen. From here, a single button press takes you into one of the four main modes:

Chord Mode - edit the Chord Chain (progression) and Chord Track.
Melody Mode - edit the Melody Track.
Bass Mode - edit the Bass Track.
Modulate Mode - set up the modulation that evolves your tracks over time.

In addition, a quick press of the CONTROL Knob opens the Control space (the Mixer, plus the Metronome, Listen toggle, and the Menu).

The crucial part: the music keeps playing regardless what mode you are in. Pressing the BACK button returns you to previous mode.

The Chord Chain vs. the Chord Track¶

Once you've recorded a chord progression in Chord Mode, UNA holds an internal chord chain (the sequence of chords you captured). The chord chain drives all Tracks: as the chord changes through the progression, the Melody, Bass, and Chord Track's notes adapt to stay in harmony.

Whether those chords come out as sound is a separate choice. Enable the Chord Track and UNA sends the chord notes out as MIDI to your synth. Disable the Chord Track and the chord chain still drives the melody - you just don't hear the chords directly.

This separation is the reason UNA suits very different setups. A solo synth player might enable all three tracks for a full-band sound. A live keyboardist soloing over the top might enable only the Melody Track and rely on UNA's chord-awareness to stay in key. UNA doesn't impose a workflow; it gives you the building blocks.

The LISTEN toggle¶

You can access the LISTEN toggle via the Mixer.

With LISTEN on, the notes you play on a connected keyboard override the captured chord chain. Every track shifts to fit the chord under your fingers. Use this when you're improvising harmony, exploring an arrangement, or playing UNA against a song where the chords change in ways you haven't pre-recorded.

With LISTEN off, UNA continues playing the current chord or the captured chord chain. The tracks play predictably - and you're free to solo on top.

A Menu option controls how MIDI Thru behaves while you're playing into UNA (whether your incoming notes are also routed straight through to your synth so you hear them as you play).

There are three choices:

Always OFF -UNA captures silently
When LISTEN is off - you hear yourself soloing, but the chords you set or capture don't pass through
Always ON - Everything is passed through

See Chapter 15 for the full reference.

You can toggle LISTEN constantly: on while you're searching for the chords, off once the part is set and you want UNA to drive itself.

Your playing takes two roads - LISTEN decides whether your hands steer the harmony, MIDI Thru decides whether you hear yourself

Play and Stop¶

UNA's sequencers are either running or stopped. Use the PLAY/ STOP control to switch between the two.

When playing, clock and note messages are sent via the MIDI Outs. When stopped, the music holds - you can wire things up, edit a track, or load a patch without any sound coming out. Importantly, you don't need to stop to make changes.

Live Play¶

There's a third way to make UNA run...

Even when stopped, hold a note or chord on a connected keyboard and UNA starts playing. Let go of the keys and it stops again. This is Live Play, and it's the fastest way to hear an idea: no transport, no arming, just play a chord and the whole three-track arrangement runs over it.

Holding a chord down to keep the music going is fine for an audition, but awkward if you want to change the chord. So using a sustain pedal solves it: press your pedal (CC64) and Live Play latches, staying alive while you lift your hands, change chord, and play again. Release the pedal and the keys and Live Play will end.

Both behaviours are on by default and can be turned off in the Menu - Live Play and Live Play Sustain (CC64) (Chapter 17). Chapter 16 covers how Live Play interacts with clock and transport.

Live Play states - hold a chord to run, release to stop, latch it with a sustain pedal, or use the transport; a second STOP is Panic

Deterministic Playback¶

Patch and parameter changes apply immediately, even mid-bar. Plus, UNA's deterministic nature ensures only smooth transitions. When you switch a parameter or load a new patch, the resulting pattern continues as if it had always been playing, picking up at the position UNA was already at. The transitions feel seamless because UNA never forgets where it is in the bar; it just resumes with the new settings.

What's underneath: the sequencer¶

The Melody Track is a step sequencer, up to 32 steps long - all visible on the display at once. The Tempo, along with each track's time parameter, controls how fast the sequencer advances; the time signature determines how steps fit into bars.

Internally, UNA runs at a high time-resolution - 384 ticks per bar - which gives precise control of swing and microtiming, without the music feeling locked to a stiff grid.

The Bass Track is also a sequencer, but with a different editing surface. While, the Melody Track exposes a per-step grid called the Stepper (Chapter 10), where each parameter is editable on every step, the Bass Track evolves through a probability-driven system called Improv (Chapter 11). The design intent: Melody is where you sculpt notes precisely; Bass is where you set up rules and let UNA generate variation.

The Chord Track is structured around chord chains rather than a step grid; it isn't sequenced the same way. Instead, it can play Chord rhythms or drones, that can pad out your sound. (See Chapter 8).

Track Parameters¶

The 8 PARAMETER Knobs control parameters on the currently selected track. There are two levels of parameters per knob:

Rotate a knob → adjust the primary parameter.
Press and rotate a knob → adjust the secondary parameter.

[DIAGRAM - Knobs and parameters] The two-layer model: rotate for parameters 1–8, press-and-rotate for 9–16; art pending.

That gives 16 parameters per track, all reachable from the same 8 physical knobs. The display always shows the parameter you're currently changing (name and value).

There's a loose but useful distinction between the two levels:

Primary parameters can affect individual steps
Secondary parameters affect the sequence as a whole

Pitch and gate length, for instance, live on the primary layer. You can give each step its own pitch, and its own gate. Parameters that apply to the whole sequence, e.g. number of steps, direction, patterns, etc. live on the secondary layer.

Note: only primary parameters can be step-sequenced, and step-sequencing only happens on the Melody Track (Chapter 10).

For a full reference to every parameter - what it controls, its range, and any track-specific quirks - see Chapter 7 - Track Parameters.

Temporary Changes¶

To temporarily change a value;

press and hold the CONTROL Knob while you turn a PARAMETER knob

...to nudge the associated parameter value (e.g. Velocity) for as long as you hold - it snaps back the moment you let go. It's a performance gesture for non-destructive, in-the-moment tweaks, and it leaves your patch untouched.

Targeted Changes¶

To jump to a specific parameter value, without invoking every value between the current and the desired value;

press and hold a PARAMETER knob while you turn the CONTROL knob

This sets the new value when you release both knobs. It's a gesture that prevents unwanted behaviour, such as cycling through (and hearing) every synth on every MIDI Channel between your current and targeted channel.

The Control Knob¶

The CONTROL Knob's role changes by mode.

In the main modes (Performance, Chord, Melody, Bass) a quick press opens the Control space.

Yet, for example, in Chord > Edit, it selects the current chord. In Modulate Mode, it selects the modulator. Appendix F has the complete per-mode reference.

Modulate - variation that evolves over time¶

Once a track is set up, a Modulator can evolve its parameters automatically, over bars or minutes. A Modulator changes how a parameter drifts over the next stretch of music - turning a static loop into something that moves.

Every Modulator has two ingredients: a source and a target.

The source is what generates the modulation value.
UNA offers: a Waveform (LFO-like time-based modulation), a Random value that re-rolls per step, Step Sequence and Time Sequence patterns , or user input from an external MIDI CC, mod wheel, aftertouch, or UNA's own knobs.
The target is what the Modulator moves.
It can be any track or sub-mode parameter (Pitch, Gate, Modulator Amount, and so on), or it can be a MIDI CC output - so a Modulator can drive an external synth's filter cutoff as easily as it can drive one of UNA's own parameters.

One Modulator has one source and one target. To modulate several parameters together, use several Modulators - they can share the same source, so a single "ramped" waveform can drive the Melody pitch, Chord Rhythm timing, and CC-mapped filter sweep on an outboard synth, all locked in phase.

Modulators can also target other Modulators - a slow wave can move a fast wave's Amount, letting a long swell shape the intensity of a fast tremolo. This is UNA's route to complex evolving motion, built from simple building blocks.

Each Modulator can run continuously or as a one-shot - a one-shot fires when triggered and runs for a time period you decide. Great for one-bar fills and live drama.

There are two kinds of Modulator, distinguished by scope.

Patch Modulators save with a patch, so they're song tools - the modulation belongs to this arrangement, and switching patches switches Modulators with it.
Global Modulators persist across every patch, so they're studio tools - a slow evolution that shapes a whole set, a live-controlled CC output that always drives your outboard reverb, a manual macro you keep on hand for the whole session.

Both kinds of Modulator behave identically; only their scope differs.

(See Chapter 12 for the full Modulator reference.)

Patches and banks¶

A patch is a complete snapshot of what you've built: chord chain, track parameters, steppers, modulators, and the state of every mode.

UNA stores 64 patches across 8 banks (A–H); 8 per bank.

Patches autosave whenever you edit - you don't have to think about saving.

A patch doesn't include device-wide settings: MIDI input channels, output routing, clock and sync, and so on. Those live as "Globals" in the Menu and persist as you switch between patches. (Chapter 14 covers the patch system in full; Chapter 17 covers global menu options.)

Performing with patches¶

In live performance, patches are the building blocks of a song. You might create a Verse patch, Chorus patch, Bridge patch, and so on.

Switching patches mid-performance happens seamlessly: UNA preserves the playback position deterministically, so the new patch picks up from wherever you were in the bar without a jump.

You can also create a fully automated song arrangement using Patch Chains, which are cover fully in Chapter 14.

Clock - internal or external¶

UNA can be the clock source, generating MIDI clock for synced gear, or it can follow an incoming clock from your DAW, drum machine, or modular system. The mode is set in Menu > Clock & Sync. (See Chapter 16).

Tempo can be set via the secondary function of PARAMETER knob 1; making it easily accessed in all Performance and Track modes.

Chapter 16 also covers transport messages - Start, Stop, Continue - and how UNA both responds to and emits them.