Stepping out
The true star of the Zone show is the 32-step Sequencer Grid. Almost every one of Zone’s controls can have its own independent Lane (alas, only one parameter per lane), created and assigned via drag and drop. An unlimited number of lanes can be created, each with its own independent loop range for polyrhythmic action.
First, deploy either Parameters, Note data (semitone-locked Pitch, Velocity and Gate), or both for sequencing; sync to host, or set an unsynced tempo value; and customise playback with controls for Rate division (128th-note to 8 bars), Swing and Chance, the latter setting the probability of a step playing. Steps can be deactivated or randomised, and step range can be looped globally, too.
Editing a sequence is, mostly, fun and intuitive. Click the columns to set step values, or right-click and drag to draw linear fades. One of 100 preset patterns can be loaded for each Lane.
Alongside each Lane is a set of tools for expanding the editing view, and locking/clearing/muting/deleting lane data. The Options menu also handles parameter assignment, lane-to-lane copy/paste, value flip/nudge, and value scaling. Frustratingly, the latter is the only way to scale mod amounts – there’s no ‘mod depth’ control on hand.