Pulse in a performance
Pulse provides BPM and click, pads and Sounds, and live performance audio controls. It is for live-triggered performance audio, not a sample sequencer.
User Sounds, Takes, audio files and sample folders belong to your personal Profile, not to a Band. Switching Working Band does not replace the sample library. Song-specific pad settings follow the Song, not its title or Band name.
With Flow Mode off, Pulse uses its standalone setup. In Flow Mode, it recalls the current Song’s Pulse configuration. Global output, device, and master settings remain device-wide. Use Save Tempo to Song only when you deliberately want the live BPM written back to the Flow Song.
The floating Flow Mode Transport uses Previous, Play/Stop, and Next. It moves through the exact shared live sequence rather than a Song-only list. A derived or explicit Set Break is therefore a real stop: from the last Song of one Set, Next moves to Set Break; from Set Break, Next moves to the first Song of the next Set. Set Break cannot play a click because it is structural, not a Song.
Pads, sounds, and the Mixer
Tap a pad for a performance hit. Hold a pad to edit it. Pads can be One Shots or Loops, and external MIDI can trigger the same logical pads. The factory percussion library includes Cowbell, Hand Claps, Tambourine, Shaker, and Sleigh Bells. Factory and imported multisample Sounds respond to strike velocity and rotate alternate takes where the Sound provides them.
A fresh or reset setup assigns Cowbell and Hand Claps as One Shots on Pads 1 and 2. Pad 3 is an eighth-note Sleigh Bells Loop, and Pad 4 is a sixteenth-note Tambourine Loop. Both default Loops play beats 1, 2, 3, and 4 with accents on 2 and 4. Your saved pad assignments remain in place until you change or reset them.
In Pulse Settings → Loop Trigger, Next Bar queues Loop start and stop for the next bar. Immediate applies them at once. In either mode, the strength of the pad strike sets the launched Loop level; a queued start retains that original strength. Loop Velocity and Accent Strength continue to shape the Loop’s hits.
In Samples / Sounds, create User folders, import audio, audition Sounds, and use separate Sounds or one multisample Sound with velocity ranges and alternate takes.
Pad controls include Sound assignment, One Shot/Loop, division, accent/variation and pitch variation. Deleting a folder keeps its Sounds in User / Unfiled. Normal Band invitations establish membership and do not transfer samples or Pulse configurations. Band Sync supplies shared Band Flow data; your Sounds stay personal. Explicit manual content sharing, where offered, is a separate action.
The floating Pulse Mixer can be moved, resized, closed, and reopened. Click Master and Samples Master are global trims. Per-Song pad volume and pitch changes are saved deliberately with Mix Save.
Pulse’s current-Song pad runtime remains active while Sheets is visible. The Sheets toolbar can present the independent floating BopPad overlay beside Flow Mode Transport without moving pad assignments, MIDI listening, samples, or audio ownership into Sheets. Its Transparency and Brightness are saved device-local appearance choices and do not change pad activity feedback.
BopPad Mini: presets and context saves
The Mini shows a configuration name and the current Chart/Song title separately. Tap a pad to trigger it; long-press to open Pad Configuration. A loop symbol marks Loop pads. Changes are heard immediately while a Loop is running. Save commits the edited setup; Cancel or closing without saving restores the previously saved setup.
Choose Factory Default or a named preset from the menu. Save Current as Preset asks for a reusable name; Rename/Delete manage custom presets. Factory Default is not overwritten. Preset selection changes the live setup, not a saved Chart or Song.
A dirty + asks before saving to the current Chart in Sheets-driven use or the current Song in Flow Mode. Cancel leaves live changes unsaved. Reverting to the saved setup clears the indicator. Chart setups and presets are device-local; Song musical settings use normal Pulse Song storage. Hardware settings remain local.
In Flow Mode, Import from Chart offers linked Charts with saved BopPad setups. One source appears directly; several sources use a title/version chooser. Confirm Import or Replace to copy into the current Song. The Chart is unchanged. Later Chart and Song changes do not synchronize; importing again is an explicit overwrite.
In independent Sheets use, the Mini Metronome can follow the current Chart’s saved Tempo. Its + offers a separate, confirmed tempo save to that Chart. Live BPM changes do not silently rewrite Sheet Tempo. Flow Mode remains authoritative while active; exit it to perform an independent Sheets Setlist.
Audio and MIDI
Connect a class-compliant USB audio interface, then choose Samples / Pads and Click output destinations. Pulse uses available hardware capabilities for mono or stereo routing. Universal Audio Volt 476P has been verified at 48 kHz.
In MIDI Settings, select a detected device or None, map notes to the logical pads, and optionally use MIDI Velocity or MIDI Clock. Existing mappings remain available when a device reconnects.
Live Show Setlist
Live Show Setlist displays the exact current and queued live entries, including automatic derived Set Breaks and explicit Set Breaks saved in the Show. When editing is allowed, use Add Song, remove or skip, reorder, and Undo without leaving Pulse. Tracks is Coming Soon and remains separate from pad-triggered Sounds.
On an ECHOSystem Follower, setlist editing, Loop triggering, and Flow Mode Transport control are three separate Host permissions. A permitted follower action is sent to the Host; the Host validates and performs it, then publishes the resulting live state. A follower does not optimistically change its own Show position or play a remote Loop locally.
Pulse can continue audio playback in the background when your device and output configuration allow it. Keep the active performance device awake and connected for a live show.
Backup and recovery
ShowGen Backup includes personal User Sounds/Takes/audio, portable standalone and Song settings, and the saved BopPad default, named presets, Chart overrides and Flow Song context. This includes pad assignments, One Shot/Loop, divisions, accents, variations and mix. Unresolved references remain preserved for later diagnosis rather than being removed from the archive. Learned pad mappings travel without physical endpoint identifiers. Hardware audio routes and MIDI device selection must be checked on the receiving device. See Backup and Restore.