Grids of pads and buses

Amber and red

A list checks itself at two levels, so a half-used grid is never shouted at. Amber is a reminder; red is a row that can never play.

1Amber: pads not used yet

When a list has at least one row, the pads that arrive without one get a gentle note under the module's title: Chords 9–16 aren't used yet. One pad says isn't used yet; gaps are listed, as in Chords 2, 5 and 9–16.

Nothing turns red and the bus stays green. A module with no list at all plays its own setting for every pad, so it never gets a note.

The Chord's card with the amber note Chords 9–16 aren't used yet under its title. — The amber note under the title. Pads 9 to 16 are left without a chord on purpose, to show it.

2Red: a row that can never play

A row is red when the patch as it is can never play it:

The grid shrank below the pad: Chord is waiting for Chords 13–16, but the grid has 12 pads.
The grid is gone, deleted from the face: the card names the tags as the code writes them, … but there's no grid chordPads.chords any more.

The rows say why (no such pad, grid gone), a red strip at the bottom of the card says it in words, and in the Patch the module gets a red mark and the bus carrying the grid turns red. A grid that's gone has no wire, so there the mark is the sign.

The bus labelled Chords ×12 drawn red into the Chord, which has a red exclamation mark in its header. — A red mark. In SynthMaker, point at it to read why.

The bus, now red.

Rows Chords 13 to 16 in red, each saying no such pad with a delete button, and a red strip: Chord is waiting for Chords 13–16, but the grid has 12 pads, with the button Delete the rows that can't play. — The rows that can't play, and the way out.

3Tidy up in one step

Each red row has its own ✕. Delete the rows that can't play in the red strip takes them all away at once, as one undo step.

Try it

This grid went from 16 pads to 12 with rows 13 to 16 kept. Read the red strip, choose Delete the rows that can't play, and watch the bus turn green.

Open the example sound: Chord Pads: the grid shrank ↗ (opens in a new tab)

The red rows Chords 13 to 16, each with ✕, and the red strip with Delete the rows that can't play. — Each red row's ✕, and the strip's button for all of them.

Remember

Amber: pads arriving with no row yet. Only a note.
Red: a row past the grid's pads, or for a grid that's gone.
Grey rows are unwired on purpose, and never checked.