Chapter 6

P-locks and step logic

Change any parameter on any step, lock values to clips, and give steps rules of their own.

Written in our own words from the Drambo docs’ parameter locks, step components, launcher and recipes pages. Read the Drambo docs

0/6

In this chapter · 6

6.1Parameter locks
6.2Clip locks
6.3Step components
6.4The components
6.5Conditional steps in practice
6.6Jumps and retriggers

6.1Basics

Parameter locks

A parameter lock gives any knob a different value on a chosen step. It is the fastest way to make a loop move: a filter that opens on one hit, a pitch that jumps on the last step of the bar, a sample that plays backwards once in a while.

Hold a step.
While holding it, turn a knob — the filter’s Cutoff, say.
Let go and play the sequence. The parameter takes the locked value on that step.
Hold the same step and turn more knobs to lock several parameters on it.

Gestures & keys

Hold STEP + KNOB: Locks that parameter’s value to the step.
Hold STEP and double-tap KNOB: Removes that parameter’s lock from the step.

How locks behave

A lock lasts until the next step with a note. There the parameter goes back to its normal value.
Locks work on empty steps too. Lock a parameter on a step with no note and the change starts there, part-way through whatever is sounding.
Locks are copied with their steps when you copy and paste.
With SELECT on, steps stay selected, so you can set locks one-handed and remove every lock in a selected area at once. See Selection mode.

From the community

Drambo 2.0 walkthrough
Ben Richards
Ben Richards’ 55-minute tour of Drambo 2.0, linked from BeepStreet’s own Drambo page, with a chapter for almost everything: modules, auto-advance step entry, the clip launcher, piano roll, automation, p-locks, clip locks and morphs. Filmed in May 2022, before time signatures and MIDI profiles (2.40) and additive step entry (2.51).

Drambo V2 Tutorial - Super Easy Guide To Parameter Locking Step Effects - For Beginners
The Sound Test Room
A seven-minute beginner’s guide to locking effect settings to single steps. From May 2022.

Drambo by BeepStreet - Parameter Locks / P-Locks
Ben Richards
P-locks in depth, including triggerless steps, locking a sampler’s offset and conditional modulation. Filmed on 1.x in April 2020, so the screen differs, but holding a step and turning a knob works the same way.

Note Locks - Playable P-Locks in Drambo
Ben Richards
A community rack that turns MIDI notes into playable parameter locks. From March 2025; the Morph Switch added in 2.57 now has note modes built for the same job.

6.2Intermediate

Clip locks

A clip lock is a parameter lock for a whole clip. It is how one track can sound different in different patterns: a darker filter in the verse clip, a longer decay in the breakdown, a different oscillator shape in the drop.

Gestures & keys

Hold CLIP + KNOB: Locks that parameter’s value to the clip.In the launcher

Clip locking stays active while SELECT is on, so you can set several in a row without holding the clip.

From the community

Drambo 2.0 tutorial #2 - Clip Mode (deep dive edition)
The Man Who Shouldn't Speak
A deep dive into launching clips from different patterns together, recording new clips and clip locks, with a master-effects clip-lock trick. From May 2022.

Drambo Modular Groovebox Gets Free Major Update To Version 2.0Synthtopia — The 2.0 feature list as it launched: the song arranger and clip launcher, automation recording, the piano roll and step editors, auto-advance entry with rest and tie, clip locks and stems.

6.3Intermediate

Step components

A step in Drambo is more than a note. It holds a list of components — notes, parameter locks, MIDI CC actions and conditions — and when the playhead reaches the step, it runs them in order from left to right. Adding components is how you build variation, randomness and structure into a single clip.

Open the component editor

Tap STEP VALUES and choose the COMP tab — or swipe up on a step and choose COMPONENTS from its menu.
Select the step you want to edit.
Tap + to add a component. You add, move and remove components the same way as modules in a rack.

From the community

Drambo 2.0 tutorial #5: Step Sequencer Values Editor
The Man Who Shouldn't Speak
A 45-minute dig into the step editors – velocity, gate, offset, probability, retrig and cycle – then step components such as Jump, Once, scene conditions and Transpose. From May 2022.

6.4Intermediate

The components

There are two kinds of component: actions that do something, and conditions that decide whether the actions after them run.

Actions

Note: A MIDI note, with its own velocity, gate and offset. To change its pitch, hold the note symbol and tap a key.
Retrig: Repeats every Note component that comes before it in the list.
Jump: Sends the playhead to another step, which shortens the sequence. See Jumps and retriggers.
Param locks: A placeholder for all of the step’s parameter locks, which Drambo inserts by itself. Put a condition before it to make the locks conditional.
One of many: Picks one note at random from a chord on the step.

Conditions

Cycle condition: Runs what follows only on chosen passes through a cycle of a set length — the second of every four, say.
Once condition: Runs what follows only the first time through the sequence.
Random condition: Runs what follows with the probability you set.
Scene condition: Runs what follows only while a chosen morph is active. See Morphs.

From the community

6.5Advanced

Conditional steps in practice

A condition only affects the components after it, up to the next condition. That makes a step’s list read like a set of small rules, and lets one clip produce changes that would otherwise need several.

Ideas to try

An occasional ghost note — a Random condition, then a quiet Note.
A fill on the last pass — a Cycle condition set to the last pass of four, then a Retrig.
An intro hit — a Once condition before a crash note, so it only plays the first time round.
Locks that come and go — a Random condition before Param locks, so the filter only opens sometimes.
Variations per morph — a Scene condition, so a part only appears while a chosen morph is active.
A shorter loop now and then — a Random condition before a Jump.

From the community

Drambo by BeepStreet - Morphs/Scenes
Ben Richards
What morphs are, how to edit, copy and clear them, scene step conditions and punch-in effects. Filmed on 1.x in April 2020, when morphs were also called scenes.

6.6Advanced

Jumps and retriggers

Two components bend the timing of a clip from inside a step.

Jump sends the playhead to another step. Jumping back from step 6 to step 1 turns a 16-step clip into a 6-step loop, which drifts against the other tracks — an easy polyrhythm. Put a condition before the Jump to make it happen only some of the time.
Retrig repeats the notes listed before it on the step, for rolls and ratchets.

For bigger rolls inside a patch, the Retrigger module turns one gate into a train of triggers, with duration, density and controls that speed up or slow down the pulses and shape their velocity. See Sequencing, clocks and time.

From the community