Variation Switch Points

As we've already discussed, a new variation is chosen for each part whenever that part's Segment starts playing or loops. But what if we want variations to be chosen more frequently? In particular, the audio producer might create small fragments of melodic or rhythmic lines that he wants to be able to switch between in the midst of a Segment. Variation switch points provide the audio producer with a solution to this — namely, the ability to determine if and when a part can change variations in the middle of playback.

Variation switch points are displayed in DirectMusic Producer in a separate strip for each Pattern Track part (they are not supported by Wave Track parts). The two types of switch points are enter switch points and exit switch points. Enter switch points tell DirectMusic where it is legal to "jump into" this particular variation. Exit switch points tell DirectMusic where it is legal to try to find another variation to change over to. If no variation has an enter switch point corresponding to this exit switch point, the currently playing variation will continue to play.

Figure 3-13: A variation using variation switch points. This variation can jump to any other variation at the position of the exit switch point (red blocks), shown as the dark blocks in the Var Switch Points line. Similarly, this variation can start playing mid-Segment if any other variation has an exit switch point corresponding to this variation's enter switch point (green blocks), the lighter blocks in the Var Switch Points line.

While opening many possibilities for potential variation mixing and matching combinations, variation switch points can make composition much more challenging. Rather than only having to worry about how different variations meld at Segment loop points, variation switch points open up the possibility of playback jumping between variations right in the middle of playback, at whatever boundaries they wish. Often it is easiest to limit variation switch points to measure boundaries, although they do support down to grid resolution if you need it.