ep-133-project-export/docs/research/ep133-musician-audit/IMAGINARY_PROJECT_NEON_LAUNDROMAT.md

Imaginary EP-133 project: Neon Laundromat

Neon Laundromat is a dusty broken-beat/dub track made from drum-machine hits, Rhodes, bass, a spoken phrase and field recordings from a laundromat. It is meant to feel like a musician's project first and a coverage fixture second.

The four-group split—drums, bass, harmony and vocals/textures—is conventional enough to remain playable on the hardware. The unusual details are things an adventurous KO II user could plausibly accumulate while finishing the track.

Identity

Setting	Value	Musical reason
Firmware assumption	EP-133 OS 2.5.1	Current behavior, including project key/scale and resampling improvements
Tempo	112.50 BPM	Broken-beat pace with space for swung percussion
Key	D	Tonal center for bass and Rhodes
Scale	Dorian	Minor color with a brighter sixth
Swing	57% at the 1/16 interval	Hats lean without making the kick unstable
Default meter	4/4	Main groove
Approximate song length	216 quarter notes, or 1:55.2	Derived from the song-position list, including meter changes

Pad IDs such as A1 and A12 below are human-facing logical pad numbers for this design document. They are not claims about pads/a/pNN, SysEx pad IDs or the printed keypad glyph order. A real hardware fixture must record the physical-pad-to-TAR mapping explicitly.

Saved mix and output concept

Current selected send FX

The final saved project has one selected Delay:

• X / length: about 35%;
• Y / feedback: about 52%;
• Group A static send: 10%;
• Group B static send: 4%;
• Group C static send: 28%;
• Group D static send: 38%.

Several group patterns contain recorded FX fader motion for delay throws. Earlier Filter and punch-in performances were resampled into D11, so they are not competing “second master effects” in the final saved project.

Output dynamics

• Output compressor DRIVE: about 68%;
• Output compressor SPEED: about 32%.

Note-triggered sidechain

• Source pads: audible kick A1 and silent trigger A12;
• Destination groups: B, C and D;
• LENGTH: about 42%;
• SHAPE: about 65%.

A12 must duck the destinations even though it produces no source audio.

Runtime-only group project volume

During the final live performance the musician sets the separate held-group project volumes to A 100%, B 90%, C 82%, D 88%.

This is intentionally not part of the archived sonic oracle. The official 1.1.2 release notes say group project volume resets when a project loads. A backup-based exporter cannot infer the temporary values at which the musician most recently listened or performed.

Sound and sample provenance

Slots	Origin	Important property
041–370	imported and factory drum/percussion samples	mono one-shots plus a lower-rate shaker and a two-bar break
412–430	imported bass recordings	long tonal notes, a loop and one-bar sub drop
501–570	Rhodes, guitar, tape pad and organ recordings	mono/stereo, KEY chords, BAR/BPM stretch and a live-chopped phrase
601–608	spoken vocal and laundromat field recordings	one source phrase reused as several trims
620	internal stereo resample	punch-in/filter performance and live Delay X/Y movement baked into audio
621	resampled external polysynth	external MIDI result made self-contained as audio
699	imported zero-PCM utility sample	lets C12 sequence external MIDI without adding local audio

Chopping is non-destructive in this project: several pads point to one source slot with different trim regions. Slot 620 and 621 are different: they are newly rendered samples whose creation history is no longer editable.

Group A — drums and sidechain triggers

Pad	Sample/slot	Musical use and pad-specific state
A1	041 kick_tape.wav	Main kick; ONE; AMP 100/200; pitch 0; centered; short trim; audible sidechain source.
A2	same slot 041	Accent/click from the same kick; ONE; AMP 150; pitch +12; only the first ~95 ms. This is the clearest same-WAV/different-AMP case.
A3	118 snare_room.wav	Main snare; ONE; AMP 108; full body and room tail.
A4	same slot 118	Reverse snare suction; REV; AMP 72; pitch -3; pan L15; tail-only trim.
A5	205 hat_closed.wav	Closed hat; ONE; AMP 74; pan L12; shared mute/choke group.
A6	213 hat_open.wav	Open hat; ONE; AMP 88; pan R12; long release; same mute/choke group as A5.
A7	145 clap_short.wav	Clap layer; ONE; AMP 82; deliberately late/free-timed.
A8	309 shaker_soft_22050.wav	22.05 kHz mono shaker; ONE; AMP 66; pan R28; recorded with pressure-sensitive note repeat.
A9	335 conga_low.wav	Low percussion; ONE; AMP 85; pitch -5.
A10	370 garage_break_2bar.wav	Two-bar mono break; BPM mode from source 89.6 BPM; AMP 48; retriggered before the tail finishes in one fill.
A11	236 crash_dirty.wav	Crash; ONE; AMP 70; long tail.
A12	same slot 041	Silent sidechain trigger; ONE; AMP 0; sequenced notes still drive the note-triggered sidechain.

Audible requirements:

• A6 must be cut when A5 arrives.
• A2 must remain independent even though it references A1's WAV.
• A12 must duck B/C/D while remaining silent.
• A10 must retrigger according to EP ONE behavior rather than looping a Simpler region.

Group B — bass

Pad	Sample/slot	Musical use and pad-specific state
B1	412 moog_D2_long.wav	Principal bass; LEG; root D2; AMP 100; very short attack; release about 180; played chromatically with overlapping notes.
B2	same slot 412	Pluck variant; KEY; AMP 64; pitch +12; first ~220 ms only; short release.
B3	414 sub_D2.wav	Clean sub; KEY; root D2; AMP 92; long release.
B4	420 reese_loop_90.wav	Reese phrase; BPM stretch from 90 BPM; AMP 78.
B5	421 bass_fret.wav	Fret/noise accent; ONE; AMP 55; pan R18.
B6	422 bass_fall.wav	Reversed bass fall; REV; AMP 80.
B7	309 shaker_soft_22050.wav	Reuses A8's global slot, but trims one low transient, pitches it -12 and treats it as bass percussion.
B8	430 sub_drop.wav	One-bar drop; BAR 1; AMP 75.
B9	412 moog_D2_long.wav	Soft-attack double of B1; KEY; AMP 128; slower attack and shorter release.

B1 contains the LEG test: a D2 note remains held when an A2 note begins, so the pitch changes while playback continues from the existing sample position. B2/B3 contain overlapping KEY notes.

Group C — harmony and chops

Pad	Sample/slot	Musical use and pad-specific state
C1	501 rhodes_Dm9.wav	KEY; root D4; AMP 100; simultaneous multi-note chords from one pad source.
C2	same slot 501	Soft double; ONE; AMP 61; fractional pitch -0.09 semitone; pan L24; trim begins slightly later.
C3	502 rhodes_G13.wav	ONE; AMP 92; pan R8.
C4	503 rhodes_Am7.wav	ONE; AMP 88; pan L8.
C5	504 guitar_harmonic.wav	REV; AMP 73; pitch +7; pan R30.
C6	550 tape_pad_stereo_32000.wav	Four-bar 32 kHz stereo ambience; BAR 4; slow attack and long release.
C7	551 toy_arp_85bpm.wav	BPM stretch from 85 BPM; AMP 64.
C8	560 organ_stab_D.wav	KEY; root D4; AMP 84; short release.
C9	570 rhodes_phrase.wav	First live-chopped slice; trim 0–0.48 s; pan L30.
C10	same slot 570	Second slice; trim 0.48–1.02 s; AMP 76; centered.
C11	same slot 570	Third slice; trim 1.02–1.63 s; AMP 69; pitch +5; pan R30.
C12	699 midi_silence.wav, MIDI channel 3	Zero-PCM external-synth pad, AMP 0, root D3. Pattern C90 drives a polysynth but is not used in the song list.

C1 contains a single-pad polyphony test: notes D, F, A and C overlap. C2 exercises the known negative fractional-pitch edge case. C9–C11 require separate playable instances of one WAV.

Group D — vocals, field recordings and printed performances

Pad	Sample/slot	Musical use and pad-specific state
D1	601 stay_for_the_wash.wav	Full spoken phrase; ONE; AMP 98; centered.
D2	same slot 601	“stay” chop; ONE; AMP 138; pitch -5; pan L28.
D3	same slot 601	“wash” chop; ONE; AMP 72; pitch +7; pan R28.
D4	602 breath.wav	REV; AMP 58; slow attack.
D5	603 laundromat_crowd.wav	Two-bar stereo ambience; BAR 2; AMP 44.
D6	604 washer_cycle_83bpm.wav	Rhythmic field recording; BPM stretch from 83 BPM; AMP 52.
D7	605 riser.wav	ONE; AMP 75; long trim.
D8	606 metal_door_impact.wav	ONE; AMP 110; pitch -7.
D9	607 water_drip.wav	ONE; AMP 68; pan L35.
D10	608 phone_beep.wav	KEY; root A4; AMP 54; pitch -0.09; pan R35.
D11	620 printed_punchin_hook.wav	Stereo two-bar resample of the hook while beat-repeat/filter punch-ins and live Delay X/Y changes were performed; BAR 2.
D12	621 printed_external_chord.wav	Resampled external polysynth chord originally played from C12/C90; KEY; root D3.

D11 and D12 are provenance tests: Live should reproduce their rendered audio, but should not pretend to recover the gestures or external synthesizer that created them.

Pattern performance

The project contains quantized notes, free timing, tick nudges, varied velocity and meaningful durations:

• A03 has broken kicks both on and off the quarter-note grid, snares at beats 2 and 4 with different velocities, 1/16 hats with alternating velocities and several -3/+5 tick nudges.
• A08's pressure-recorded note repeat becomes a shaker velocity ramp. The intended artifact is the resulting notes, not the player's finger-pressure history.
• A04 begins A6 before A5 arrives; the open hat must be choked by the later closed hat.
• A04 places A2 immediately before the final snare, followed by a short group FX-send throw.
• B03 overlaps B1 LEG notes: D2 remains held as A2 begins. Durations and velocities vary.
• C02/C04 use C1 for overlapping chord tones and layer independent C2 underneath.
• C05 contains a D-Dorian arpeggio originally performed with note-repeat/arpeggio; the resulting note sequence is what matters.
• D03 alternates D2 and D3 with different velocities and throws only the final word into Delay.
• D08 triggers D11 as a rendered two-bar fill while the other groups become sparse.

Every playback mode has a meaningful test:

• ONE: complete sample playback plus retrigger before the preceding hit ends;
• KEY: overlapping notes/polyphony from one pad source;
• LEG: held-playhead pitch changes.

Scenes and independent pattern lengths

Human labels below are documentation annotations; numeric scene IDs are the project structure.

Scene	Label	Meter	A	B	C	D	Duration
01	Spin-up	4/4	A01, 4 bars	B01, 2	C01, 4	D01, 4	4 bars
02	Door shuts	4/4	A02, 2	B02, 4	C02, 4	D02, 1	4 bars
03	Verse	4/4	A03, 2	B03, 4	C03, 4	D03, 1	4 bars
04	Hook	4/4	A04, 4	B04, 4	C04, 4	D04, 4	4 bars
05	Three-beat rinse	3/4	A05, 2	B05, 1	C05, 2	D05, 2	2 bars
06	Dirtier verse	4/4	A06, 4	B03, 4	C03, 4	D06, 2	4 bars
07	Missing-beat cut	2/4	A07, 1	B07, 1	C07, 1	D07, 1	1 bar
08	Final spin	4/4	A08, 4	B08, 8	C08, 4	D08, 2	8 bars
09	Power down	4/4	A09, 4	B09, 4	C09, 4	D09, 4	4 bars
10	Dub lab	4/4	A10, 4	B10, 4	C10, 4	D10, 4	4 bars; not in song list

Shorter group patterns repeat until the longest pattern in the scene ends. D03 therefore loops four times in Scene 03, while C08 loops twice in Scene 08.

Song positions

01 → Scene 01
02 → Scene 02
03 → Scene 03
04 → Scene 03
05 → Scene 04
06 → Scene 05
07 → Scene 06
08 → Scene 03
09 → Scene 07
10 → Scene 04
11 → Scene 08
12 → Scene 08
13 → Scene 09

The song deliberately reuses scenes. Session View should expose reusable Scenes 01–10 once each. Arrangement View should follow all thirteen positions, including repeated Scenes 03, 04 and 08.

The duration calculation is:

4/4 sections: 52 bars × 4 quarter notes = 208 quarter notes
Scene 05:      2 bars × 3 quarter notes =   6 quarter notes
Scene 07:      1 bar  × 2 quarter notes =   2 quarter notes
total                                      216 quarter notes

Fader automation in the main song

• A01: HPF opens the intro from thin to full.
• A04: FX-send throw on the final snare.
• A06: VEL rises into the fill while preserving the differences among original note velocities.
• A08: LVL build plus final FX throw.
• A09: HPF and LVL close down the outro.
• B03: LPF opens gradually and settles.
• B05: PTC bends down into the 3/4 breakdown.
• B08: subtle TUNE drift over eight bars.
• C01: ATK falls from a soft swell to a clearer entrance.
• C04: FX-send accents chord endings.
• C05: REL grows through the breakdown.
• C08: HPF and FX move over the final hook.
• D03: short FX throws on vocal endings.
• D04: PTC tape-down gesture.
• D08: PAN moves the printed fill across the stereo field.

These lanes belong to group patterns and repeat whenever those patterns repeat.

Scene 10: the retained Dub Lab experiment

Scene 10 is a plausible musician's scratch/jam scene left outside the song list. It exercises all fader assignments without making the main arrangement absurd:

Group	Lanes
A10	PAN, TUNE, VEL
B10	PTC, TIM, MOD
C10	ATK, REL, FX
D10	LVL, LPF, HPF

Musician-facing envelope anchors over four bars:

A PAN:  0.25 → 0.75 → 0.25 → 0.50
A TUNE: 0.50 → 0.58 → 0.42 → 0.50
A VEL:  1.00 → 0.60 → 1.00

B PTC:  0.50 → 0.75 → 0.50
B TIM:  0.50 → 0.80 → 0.50
B MOD:  0.00 → 1.00 → 0.00

C ATK:  0.05 → 0.75
C REL:  0.80 → 0.10
C FX:   0.10 → 0.75 → 0.10

D LVL:  0.80 → 0.00 → 0.80
D LPF:  0.20 → 0.90
D HPF:  0.00 → 0.70 → 0.00

These values are normalized musical intentions, not claims about exact acoustic transfer curves. A real capture should preserve the recorded raw points rather than regenerate only these anchors.

External MIDI sketch

C90 is a four-bar D-Dorian polysynth sketch using zero-PCM pad C12 on MIDI channel 3. It contains:

• notes and varied velocities/durations;
• pitch bend into the final chord;
• mod-wheel movement;
• channel pressure after the chord attack;
• one program-change event at the start, recorded/relayed even though current firmware no longer maps it internally.

C90 is not in the song list but should remain available as a Session clip. The main song uses D12, a resample of its best chord, so sonic playback of the arranged song does not depend on external hardware. A project-aware export should still expose C90's MIDI dependency rather than inventing the missing synthesizer patch.

Creation journal: what the musician actually did

1. Imported drums, bass and Rhodes; recorded the voice and laundromat ambience from line/mic.
2. Assigned groups by role and made several pad variants from the same global slots.
3. Live-chopped the Rhodes phrase across C9–C11, then refined trims without cropping the source.
4. Programmed the core beat with a mix of live recording, step entry, note repeat, free timing and tick nudges.
5. Played B1 and C1 in KEYS mode, using LEG for the bass and KEY for polyphonic Rhodes.
6. Recorded multiple fader assignments into group patterns.
7. Built sections by Commit, then edited the A/B/C/D pattern selection and lengths in each scene.
8. Temporarily selected Filter and performed punch-ins while resampling a two-bar hook. This became slot 620/D11.
9. Sequenced the external polysynth from C12/C90, then resampled the useful chord to slot 621/D12.
10. Selected Delay as the project's final send effect, set output compression and configured note sidechain.
11. Constructed the thirteen-position song list, deliberately repeating and returning to scenes.
12. Kept Scene 10 and C90 as useful experiments even though neither appears in the final song.

Live-only performance score

The musician may perform these gestures while recording a stereo master, but they are not assumed to be part of the project archive:

• Position 2: momentarily solo Groups A and D.
• Position 5: apply pressure-sensitive beat-repeat punch-in to the final half-bar.
• Position 6: engage the output LOOP buffer, shorten it, slide it backward, then exit on the bar.
• Position 9: combine a tape-stop-style punch-in with a group solo.
• Position 12: manually increase Delay feedback X/Y and release it before the outro.
• Throughout: temporary held-group project-volume changes for performance balance.

Only the earlier resampled D11 performance is durable. A backup-only export should not fabricate Arrangement automation for this live score.

Source gesture versus recoverable result

Action	What should survive	What should not be invented
Live/step pad recording	final source pad, note, velocity, duration and tick	whether it was finger-drummed, step-entered, quantized or nudged
Note repeat/arpeggio	resulting note events	original pressure/gesture history unless separately encoded
Chopping	per-pad assignment and trim	AUTO/equal/attack/LIVE method
Fader recording	raw automation records	a smoothed lane that loses the captured points
Scene Commit	resulting scene/pattern references	commit and undo history
Song editing	ordered positions including repeats	one-scene-equals-one-position simplification
Punch-in FX	nothing assumed as normal pattern automation	imagined punch-in event lanes
Resampled punch-in performance	D11 audio and pad state	editable punch-in history
Resampled external synth	D12 audio	external patch and oscillator state
Live Delay X/Y during resampling	result inside D11 and perhaps final static X/Y	X/Y automation unless real records prove it exists
LOOP, FX+Group solo, live scene choices	performance cue only	Arrangement automation unless explicitly stored
Silent sidechain trigger	A12 notes and saved routing	audible trigger audio
External MIDI sketch	C90 events/channel/root	sound of disconnected hardware

Ableton Live 10 acceptance questions

1. Does Live open with A–D Group Tracks and separate children for independent pad instances?
2. Does Session View contain Scenes 01–10, including out-of-song Dub Lab?
3. Does Arrangement follow all thirteen song positions rather than unique numeric scenes?
4. Is Arrangement exactly 216 quarter notes long?
5. Do meter markers change 4/4 → 3/4 → 4/4 → 2/4 → 4/4 without shifting later clips?
6. Do short group patterns loop until the longest pattern in their scene finishes?
7. Are repeated song positions identical, including pattern automation?
8. Do A1/A2, C1/C2 and C9–C11 share WAV files while retaining independent pad settings?
9. Does C2 sound -0.09 semitone detuned rather than roughly -1.9?
10. Do all EP pads use non-looping transport, with KEY/LEG behavior represented without Simpler Classic loops?
11. Does A5 choke A6 across separate child tracks?
12. Does B1 continue its playhead through LEG pitch changes?
13. Can C1 play overlapping chord voices from one pad source?
14. Are note velocity, duration, microtiming and pitch variations intact?
15. Are BPM stretch, BAR stretch and reverse distinct, including BAR in the 3/4 scene?
16. Do lower-rate and stereo sources retain intended pitch, length and channels?
17. Is pad AMP independent from group LVL and the runtime-only project volume?
18. Is every fader lane visible, including TIM/MOD when its acoustic mapping is unresolved?
19. Does the selected Delay exist once, with A–D sends and recorded send motion?
20. Are static Delay X/Y distinguished from the baked X/Y performance inside D11?
21. Is output compression after dry groups plus Delay return?
22. Do audible A1 and silent A12 both trigger ducking of B/C/D?
23. Do D11/D12 play as literal rendered audio without invented source automation?
24. Does C90 export as a MIDI-only Session clip with channel/expression and remain out of Arrangement?
25. Is the musician warned about live-only performance cues that no backup can reconstruct?

Listening oracle

• Mute A2, then A1: their roles must differ strongly despite sharing a file.
• Solo A5/A6: closed hat must terminate the open hat.
• Solo B1: the LEG phrase should change pitch without restarting its attack.
• Solo C1: its chord must remain polyphonic.
• Solo C1+C2: C2 should create subtle detuning, not a large downward transpose.
• Mute A1 audio but keep A12 notes: bass, harmony and vocal groups must still duck.
• Compare Scene 03 at positions 3, 4 and 8: it should be identical each time.
• Listen across Scenes 05 and 07: meter changes must not displace later clips.
• Solo D11: the performed effect is already in the WAV and should need no generated punch-in automation.
• Disable the Live master dynamics counterpart: the difference should demonstrate why AMP cannot be judged without output-stage context.

Explicit uncertainties

• The exact acoustic laws for AMP, every fader function, output compressor and sidechain remain measurement questions.
• TIM, TUNE and MOD are legitimate musician controls, but their best Live counterparts are not established.
• Master FX X/Y should not be considered recorded automation without an identified event stream.
• The exact meaning of MIDI-looking project records must be captured before assigning all C90 expression events to binary kinds.
• Per-scene meter is structurally evidenced, but a real mixed-meter project should verify all proposed transitions.
• Human scene/pattern names here are annotations, not assumed archive fields.

Sources: official workflow, sound and song modes, recording and fader automation, sampling/resampling/timing, effects/output/sidechain, and current firmware features.