STEPS carves notes out of a scale in order of least-used first, so one knob thins harmonic density

STEPS quantizes the X voltages to a stored scale and then, turning clockwise from 12 o’clock, progressively removes notes — but not in pitch order. When the scale was programmed from a played jam, the module counted how often each note occurred, so the least frequently played notes are eliminated first and the single most frequent note is the last to remain at 5 o’clock. The effect is nested subsets: full scale, then a smaller salient set, down to the root. This gives a single performance macro that moves from harmonically rich to harmonically sparse, ideal as an automation or modulation target for building and releasing tension.

Examples

Programming C D E F G A B C D F G A C F G C G C yields, as STEPS turns CW: the full scale, then C D F G A (E, B gone), then C F G, then C G, then just C.

Assessment

Explain why STEPS behaves differently after programming a long melody versus after playing the scale once in order, and describe the musical effect of sweeping STEPS from 12 to 5 o’clock.