Direct Jump for Elektron Octatrack

Hold [PTN] and press [YES] to turn Direct Jump on: a pattern you cue takes over on the next step, where it would be had it played since START.

Module version 0.1.0-experimental. Base firmware: 1.40C.

About this module

On the stock OS a cued pattern waits for the playing one to reach its end. With Direct Jump on, it takes over on the next step instead, locked to the master clock: it starts at the step it would be on had it been playing since you pressed PLAY, whatever its length, scale or per-track settings. The Part, START SILENT and trig conditions change as on a stock pattern change. It is off at every power-on, so the stock behaviour stays the default.

• OS 1.40C. Zac Kyoti tested the clock-locked timing, the Part change and the toggle on his MKI; Modwerk's USB package ran on an MKII.
• Off at every power-on: until you turn it on, pattern changes are the stock ones.
• The new pattern lands where it would be had it played since START, also with differing track lengths and scales (PER TRACK mode), so tracks stay in phase with the master clock.
• The Part, START SILENT and trig conditions change as on a stock pattern change; the last MIDI Program Change names the pattern that plays; no MIDI START is sent on a jump.
• The arranger and pattern chains are left alone: while either runs, pattern changes are stock.

How to use it

1. Hold [PTN] and press [YES]: DIRECT JUMP ON appears. Release [PTN]; the pattern chooser stays shut.
2. Press [PLAY]. Hold [PTN] and press a trig key to cue that pattern: it takes over on the next step, at the step it would be on had it played since START.
3. Hold [PTN] and press [YES] again for DIRECT JUMP OFF: cued patterns wait for the end of the playing one again, as on the stock OS.

Controls

DIRECT JUMP

Toggled with [PTN] + [YES]; a toast shows the new state. OFF at every power-on and not saved with the project. ON: a cued pattern takes over on the next step, clock-locked. OFF: stock pattern changes.

Compatibility notes

• OS 1.40C. The author tested the timing, the Part change and the toggle on an MKI. Modwerk's USB package ran on an MKII (toggle, jumps between a 64- and a 16-step pattern, a power cycle, removal); a jump into another Part, per-track scales and external MIDI were not tried on it, and the card build has not run on a unit.
• OFF at every power-on and not stored in the project: turn it on again after a restart.
• While the arranger or a pattern chain runs, pattern changes stay stock.
• With differing track scales or lengths in PER TRACK mode, the jump waits for the next tick where every track is at a step boundary, at most one common step of all tracks' scales (24 clock ticks for 1x, 3/4x and 1/2x together).
• [PTN] + [YES] no longer opens the pattern chooser on releasing [PTN]; [YES] alone and [PTN] with a trig key are unchanged.
• A jump changes the Part through stock's own Part-change path, so stock's known Part-change carryover issues (a track going from PICKUP to FLEX can keep the old Part's pickup loop) happen on a jump as on a stock pattern change.
• With Play Modes, each jump counts as a transport start for Play Modes, which restarts its own per-track state.

Test evidence

On the owner's MKII over USB (24 Oct 2026): installed, kept, self-tested, restored after a power cycle and removed on the flashed beta base; on a RAM-booted development twin the agent drove the toggle and read the sequencer: jumps from a 64-step to a 16-step pattern and back landed on the next step at the position each would hold had it played since START, three cues in one gesture landed the last, and with the toggle off a cue waited for the pattern end as on stock. Under the ColdFire port (verify.py, 32 checks): OFF identical to the original OS through a pattern change, and three jumps (16 steps; 7 steps on Part 2; PER TRACK lengths and scales) whose sequencer state equals a reference run of the incoming pattern since START on every tick after the landing.