The 2step interface§
If you don't need a run-down of the interface parts and names, skip ahead to the section "Decoding the interface" which covers some crucial basic rules for understanding the user interface.
Inputs & Outputs§
2step features 4 analog inputs and 4 analog outputs. Each can range from -8 to +8 volts.
The input jacks are arranged in a 2x2 square on the left half of the device. The primary input jacks are x and y. Input w also doubles as the external clock input if you'd like to provide one, and input z also doubles as the external reset if you want one of those. Notice how the buttons x and y are arranged just below the input jacks x and y.
The output jacks are also arranged in a 2x2 square, on the right half of the device. They are labeled a, b, c, and d.
Interface layout§
Moving onto the user interface section of the device, you will see buttons and lights arranged into three primary sections.
In the middle are four LEDs: the pagelights, which tell you what you're looking at. These are also arranged in a 2x2 square, and are often used to indicate one of the four inputs or outputs in the corresponding 2x2 square above. They are also used to indicate the current page or parameter.
Below the pagelights is the button, which has various purposes but on the home screen provides important access to the tempo, play/pause controls, and the many available settings. Below that are the and buttons, which again serve different contextual purposes but always indicate a left or a right.
At the top we find two rows of buttons. These provide access to all the different screens and functions of 2step. The first three buttons of the top row provide access to the CV inputs, including the built-in sample & hold source. The next two buttons, and , control the sequence length and page navigation, and the memory functions of the device respectively. Sometimes, is used to access additional features.
The second row of buttons all provide access to the parameters of 2step. They can also be split into 3 and 2, with the first three buttons controlling shape parameters and the final two controlling sequencer flow parameters.
Along the sides are the step buttons and lights, in two columns. Sometimes, these display and control the steps themselves, allowing you to toggle steps or select them for per-step parameter customization. Other times, they show assigned values in a VU-meter style display.
How can you tell the difference?
Decoding the interface§
2step is color coded. Orange lights always indicate steps. Green lights always indicate values. Everything else (cv inputs, settings toggles, tempo indicators, etc) is shown in yellow. This is true of both the two main columns of lights as well as the pagelights. Remembering this will get you very far.
Sometimes you will see in the background of a column of lights a shaded area that fades in and out. This indicates that you are only seeing part of the value range in that column. When looking at a tempo, for example, the tens digit is highlighted in the foreground, but the hundreds digit is displayed as a shaded background range indicator. In these cases, you can always use the knob to scrub through the entire value range, or if you are using the buttons you can double-tap a button to toggle through the available ranges.
Navigating the interface§
Opening and closing screens§
By default, 2step supports two ways to open any screen.
If you tap the button that opens the screen, it will stay open until you open some other screen, or you tap the same button again to leave the screen. This is perfect for composition and relaxed play.
If you hold the button instead, the screen only stays open for as long as you hold that button down. This is true of any screen anywhere, and is great for making quick changes in the middle of a live performance.
Maybe surprisingly, we encourage you when first starting out to favor holding rather than tapping, because it becomes more or less impossible to get lost in the interface—just let go and you'll be looking at the home page again. If you have trouble with the holding approach though, there's another way to get unlost.
There is a system setting available to restrict the screen behavior from this hybrid approach to press-to-latch only, or to hold only.
Getting home§
At any time if you are lost in 2step, just remember what they told Dorothy: click your heels three times and you'll be taken home. Except in this case, you want to press the shift button three times in a row.
Any time you do arrive on the home screen by any method, a short animation plays in the pagelights. This animation signals that you are looking at the home screen, and also indicates the current channel, sequence length, and which subpage within that sequence you are looking at.