Sequential TRGON-6 User manual

®
Operation Manual

THE SEQUENTIAL CREW
Dave Smith, Art Arellano, Gerry Bassermann, Gus Callahan, Fabien Cesari, Bob Coover,
Carson Day, Sally Decker, David Gibbons, Chris Hector, Tony Karavidas, Mark Kono,
Justin Labrecque, Andy Lambert, Karl Lee, Michelle Marshall, Andrew McGowan, Joanne
McGowan, Julio Ortiz, Steve Starkweather, Brian Tester, Tracy Wadley, Gabby Wen, and
Mark Wilcox
TRIGON-6 SOUND DESIGN
Gil Assayas, Rory Dow, Peter Dyer, Mike Hiegemann, Tim Koon, Kurt Kurasaki, Drew Neumann,
Bob Oxley, Julian Pollack, Francis Preve, Lorenz Rhode, Robert Rich, Paul Schilling, Huston Singletary,
Matia Simovich, James Terris, Mitch Thomas, Taiho Yamada

Operation Manual
Version 1.1
November, 2022
Sequential LLC
1527 Stockton Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94133
USA
2022 © Sequential LLC. All rights reserved
www.sequential.com

Tested to Comply
With FCC Standards
FOR OFFICE USE
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the
following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference and
(2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that
may cause undesired operation.
This Class A digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference-
Causing Equipment Regulations.
Cet appareil numerique de la classe A respecte toutes les exigences du Reglement sur
le materiel brouilleur du Canada.
For pluggable equipment, the socket-outlet must be installed near the equipment and must
be easily accessible.
For Technical Support, email: [email protected]
Trigon-6 is a registered trademark of Sequential Synths Limited in the UK and
other territories.
CALIFORNIA PROP 65 WARNING
This product may expose you to chemicals including BPA, which is known to the State of
California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Though inde-
pendent laboratory testing has certied that our products are several orders of magnitude
below safe limits, it is our responsibility to alert you to this fact and direct you to:
https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov for more information.

Table of Contents
Getting Started........................................1
Sound Banks ...........................................2
Selecting Programs ......................................2
Stepping Through Presets Using the Inc/Dec Buttons ............3
Editing Programs ........................................3
How to Check a Parameter Setting in a Preset .................4
Comparing an Edited Program to its Original State ..............4
Creating a Program from Scratch ............................5
Live Panel Mode .........................................5
Saving a Program ........................................6
Canceling Save..........................................7
Using Poly Chain ........................................8
Moving to the Next Level ..................................9
Connections.........................................10
Global Settings ......................................12
Globals - Top Row ......................................13
Oscillators ..........................................17
Oscillator Parameters ....................................18
Volume .............................................20
Feedback<>Drive.....................................20
Noise...............................................21
Filter ...............................................21
Filter Envelope.......................................22
Amplier Envelope ...................................25

Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Main Parameters .......................................29
Low Frequency Oscillator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Poly Mod............................................34
Poly Mod Parameters ....................................35
Arpeggiator .........................................36
Arpeggiator Beat Sync ...................................37
Arpeggiator Parameters ..................................37
Sequencer ..........................................38
Programming the Sequencer ..............................39
Correcting Notes When Recording a Sequence .........................40
MIDI Note Output from the Arpeggiator and Sequencer..........41
Sequencer Parameters...................................42
Clock...............................................42
Master Volume/Program Volume ........................43
Distortion ...........................................44
Vintage .............................................44
Pan Spread..........................................44
Pgm Volume .........................................44
P Whl Range ...........................................45
Key Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Transpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Hold................................................46
Glide ...............................................46

Unison .............................................47
Using Chord Memory ....................................48
Write ...............................................49
Canceling Save.........................................50
Comparing Before You Save ..............................51
Globals .............................................51
Preset ..............................................52
Pitch and Mod Wheels ................................53
Pitch Wheel............................................53
Modulation Wheel .......................................54
Aftertouch ..........................................54
Exporting Programs and Banks.........................57
Calibrating the Trigon-6 ...............................58
How and When to Calibrate the Oscillators and Filters ..........58
Calibrating the Pitch and Mod Wheels .......................59
Resetting the Global Parameters ...........................59
Using USB ..........................................60
Support.............................................61
Troubleshooting ........................................61
Recovering from a Failed OS Udate.........................62
Contacting Technical Support ..............................63
Warranty Repair ........................................63
Appendix A: Alternative Tunings ........................65
Appendix B: MIDI Implementation .......................95
MIDI Messages.........................................96
NRPN Messages ......................................100
Control NRPN Data ....................................104
Sysex Messages.......................................104
Packed Data Format ...................................107

1
Trigon-6 User’s Guide
Getting Started
Getting Started
The Trigon-6 is a six-voice, polyphonic analog synthesizer with discrete
voltage-controlled oscillators and lters, and voltage-controlled ampli-
ers. It was designed to provide all of the warmth and presence of a
vintage-era, ladder lter-equipped synth with the added convenience and
stability of a state-of-the-art, modern instrument.
The Trigon-6 is rst and foremost a performance instrument. All of its
sound-shaping controls are immediately accessible on its front panel,
packing a tremendous amount of power and versatility into a compact,
easy-to-use format.
You can nd in-depth information about each of the Trigon-6’s parame-
ters in later sections of this manual. But don’t hesitate to dive right in and
start turning knobs and pressing buttons before you begin reading. You
can always get back to where you started, even if you have no idea what
you’re doing. So start exploring and keep your ears and mind open!
Trigon-6 front panel

2Getting Started Sequential
Sound Banks
The Trigon-6 contains a total of 1000 programs. 500 are permanent and
500 can be overwritten. Banks 0-4 are User Banks that can be overwrit-
ten. Banks 5-9 are Factory Banks that are permanent. You can edit the
programs of either bank, but you can only save them to Banks 0-4. As
shipped from the factory, presets 000-499 are identical to 500-999.
Program bank, tens, and number selectors
Selecting Programs
Use the bank, tens, and program selector buttons to select and recall
programs.
To choose a program:
1. Hold down the bank button then press a program selector button (0-9)
to specify the “hundreds” bank of the program.
2. Hold down the tens button then press a program selector button (0-9)
to specify the “tens” digit of the program.
3. Press a program selector button (0-9) to specify the “ones” digit of the
program.
To choose program 123, for example:
1. Hold bank and press 1. Then release the bank button.
2. Hold tens and press 2. Then release the tens button.
3. Press program selector button 3.
It’s not always necessary to enter all 3 digits of a program number to
recall it.

3
Trigon-6 User’s Guide
Getting Started
For example:
• If the current program is 100 and you want to recall program 101,
simply press “1.”
• If the current program is 100 and you want to recall program 110, hold
down the tens button and press “1.”
• If the current program is 100 and you want to recall program 115, hold
down the tens button and press “1.” Then release the tens button and
press “5.”
Pressing the globals button three times in a row saves the current program as
the default program that appears when you turn on the Trigon-6.
Stepping Through Presets Using the Inc/Dec Buttons
Instead of having to manually enter the Banks, Tens, and Ones digits to
recall a preset, you can also use the Increment/Decrement buttons to step
through programs sequentially, one by one.
To do this:
1. Hold bank select/dec and press tens select/inc to increment by a
single program.
2. Hold tens select/inc and press bank select/dec to decrement by a
single program.
Editing Programs
Because all of the sound-shaping controls of the Trigon-6 appear on its front
panel, editing an existing program is simple: just turn a knob and listen to its
effect. Keep turning knobs and pressing buttons and if you like what you’ve
created, save the program. (See “” on page 5.)
The rotary controls on the front panel are a mixture of “endless” rotary encoders
and potentiometers or “pots.” You can choose between three different modes that
determine how the synth reacts when parameters are edited with a pot. For details,
see “Pot Mode” on page 15.

4Getting Started Sequential
How to Check a Parameter Setting in a Preset
When you’re editing a preset, the Trigon-6 has a convenient way of indicat-
ing the programmed (saved) value for any knob parameter: Whenever you
turn a knob and reach the saved value of a given parameter, an LED dot in
the main Trigon-6 display will illuminate.
BANK PROGRAM
This dot illuminates
The dot illuminates when a knob position matches a preset’s saved parameter value
Comparing an Edited Program to its Original State
When editing a program, it’s often useful to compare its edited state to
its original state to evaluate your edits. Alternatively, before saving a
program to a new location you may want to check the program in the
target location before you overwrite it.
To compare an edited program to a saved version:
1. Edit a program.
2. Press the write button. It starts ashing.
3. Press the global button. Both LEDs on the button light up, indicating
compare mode.
4. Play the keyboard to hear the saved version of the sound.
5. To disable the compare function and return to the edited sound, turn off
the global button. Programs can’t be written while in compare mode.
6. If you want to save the edited sound, the write button is still ash-
ing and ready to save, so enter a location with the program selector
buttons. The sound is saved.
7. Alternatively, if you want to cancel saving and continue editing, press
the write button. It stops ashing and saving is canceled.

5
Trigon-6 User’s Guide
Getting Started
Creating a Program from Scratch
An existing program can be very useful as a jumping off point for new
sounds. But it’s also useful (and educational) to create a new sound from
scratch. The Trigon-6 makes this easy by providing a “Basic Preset”
that you can quickly recall at any time. This preset is very simple, with a
single oscillator as its basis.
To recall the Basic Preset:
1. Hold down the preset button.
2. Press the write button.
Live Panel Mode
The Trigon-6 also features a “live panel” mode in which its sound
switches to the current settings of its knobs and switches. In other words,
the current preset is ignored and what you see on the front panel is what you
hear. This is a great mode for learning, experimentation, and instant gratication.
To enter live panel mode:
• Press the preset button to toggle it off. Note that you can’t change
programs or banks with Preset off.
To return to preset mode:
• Press the preset button again to toggle it on.
Toggling off the preset button enables “live panel” mode

6Getting Started Sequential
Saving a Program
If you’ve created a sound that you like, you’ll probably want to save it.
Saving a program overwrites a previously saved program. Sound design-
ers often save many incremental versions of a program as they continue
to rene it. These intermediate versions often make good jumping off
points for new sounds.
To save a program to the same preset location:
1. Press the write button. Its LED begins blinking.
2. Press a program selector button (0-9) to specify the “ones” digit of the
program.
3. The write button LED stops blinking and the program is saved.
Be careful when write is enabled. You can change banks and tens without
executing write, but once you press a program selector button (0-9) for the “ones”
digit, the write command is executed and the program at that location is overwritten.
To save a program to a different bank location:
1. Press the write button. Its LED begins blinking.
2. Hold down the bank button then press a program selector button to
specify the “hundreds” bank of the program. You can only save to
Banks 0-4.
3. Hold down the tens button then press a program selector button (0-9)
to specify the “tens” digit of the program.
4. Press a program selector button (0-9) to specify the “ones” digit of the
program.
5. The write button LED stops blinking and the program is saved.

7
Trigon-6 User’s Guide
Getting Started
Canceling Save
Sometimes you may want to cancel saving a program before you
commit.
To cancel the Save process before you commit:
• If the write button LED is ashing, press it again. The LED stops ash-
ing and saving is canceled. You can return to editing if you want.
Comparing Before You Save
Before saving a program to a new location, it’s a good idea to listen to the
program in the target location to make sure you really want to overwrite it.
To evaluate a program before you overwrite it:
1. Get ready to save by pressing the write button. It starts ashing.
2. Press the global button. Both LEDs on the button light up, indicating
compare mode.
3. Use the program buttons to navigate to the sound you want to compare
and play the keyboard to hear the sound.
4. To disable the compare function and go back to the edited sound, turn
off the global button. Programs can’t be written while in compare
mode.
5. If you want to save the edited sound, the write button is still ashing
and ready to save, so enter a location with the program buttons. The
sound is saved.
6. Alternatively, if you want to cancel saving and continue editing, press
the write button. It stops ashing and saving is canceled.

8Getting Started Sequential
Using Poly Chain
If you have two Trigon-6 synthesizers you can link them together with MIDI
to increase the total available polyphony to 12 voices. We call this poly
chaining. If you have a Trigon-6 keyboard and a Trigon-6 module, you will
most likely use the keyboard as the master and the module as the slave.
To poly chain two Trigon-6 synths:
1. With a MIDI cable, connect the rear-panel midi out of the rst Trigon-6
(the master) to the midi in of the second Trigon-6 (the slave).
2. On the master Trigon-6, press the globals button then press program selec-
tor button 9 (midi out).
3. Use the bank/decrement and tens/increment to select PLY (poly).
4. Press the globals button twice to exit globals mode.
The two synths are now poly chained. You can now play up to twelve
notes simultaneously. Another advantage of this arrangement is that
notes with long release times are less likely to be cut off as you play
additional notes.

9
Trigon-6 User’s Guide
Getting Started
Moving to the Next Level
The Trigon-6 is lled with possibilities for sound creation. Although
we realize that you’d rather spend your time exploring its capabilities,
we’d like to point you toward a few things that will help you tailor the
instrument to your needs.
First, check out the Global Settings section of this manual. Read about
Pot Modes and determine which works best for you when you’re editing
sounds. You’ll also nd information about MIDI setup. Read this to more
effectively integrate the Trigon-6 into your MIDI rig. To get the most
out of the Trigon-6’s live performance capabilities, read up on using a
footswitch or expression pedal.
And nally, be on the lookout for tips and notes scattered throughout this
manual to gain a better working knowledge of the Trigon-6. The better
you know your instrument, the more you’ll get out of it. We wish you
many hours of musical exploration!

10 Connections Sequential
Connections
1. On/Off Switch—Turns the synth on and off.
2. AC Power Connector—Accepts a standard, grounded IEC power
cord. Operates over a range of 100 to 240 volts and 50 to 60 Hz.
3. USB Connector—For bidirectional MIDI communication with a
computer. The Trigon-6 is a Class Compliant USB device and does not
require additional drivers when used with Mac OS or Windows. See
“Using USB” on page 60 for more information.
4.MIDI In, Out, and Thru—Standard 5-pin MIDI DIN connectors.
5. Footswitch-Sequence—Accepts a momentary, normally open or
normally closed footswitch to turn the sequencer or arpeggiator on and
off. Alternatively, an audio signal connected to this jack can be used to
either control sequencer/arpeggiator playback, or to gate the lter and
amplier envelopes while notes are held. See “Seq Jack” on page 15
for more information about choosing the appropriate mode for these
behaviors.
6. Footswitch-Sustain—Accepts a momentary, normally open or
normally closed footswitch to control sustain. See “3. Sustain +/- :
Nor, Rev, n-r, r-n (Normally Open, Normally Closed, Sustain Normally
Open/Sequencer Normally Closed, Sustain Normally Closed/Sequencer
Normally Open)—The Sustain pedal polarity parameter affects both
the sustain pedal and sequencer jack input ports. There are two types
of momentary footswitches, normally open and normally closed. Either
type can be used with the Trigon-6. Not sure which type you have? If
5 6 7 8 10
4
31 2 9

11
Trigon-6 User’s Guide
Connections
5 6 7 8 10
4
31 2 9
the behavior of the footswitch is the opposite of what is expected — that
is, down is off and up is on — changing this setting will correct that.” on
page 16 for more information.
7. Expression Pedal-Volume—Accepts a standard expression pedal
that has a variable resistor on a TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) ¼ inch phone plug.
Once connected, you can use the pedal to control volume to add expres-
siveness and dynamics to live performance.
8. Expression Pedal-LP Filter—Accepts a standard expression pedal
that has a variable resistor on a TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) ¼ inch phone plug.
Once connected, you can use the pedal to control the cutoff frequency of
the low-pass lter to add expressiveness to live performance.
9. Audio Outputs—Unbalanced, ¼ inch audio outputs. The Trigon-6
sounds great in stereo, but can be switched to mono if needed. See
“Mono/Stereo” in Global Settings on page 16.
10. Headphones—A ¼ inch stereo headphone jack. Headphone volume
is controlled by the master vol knob on the front panel.

12 Global Settings Sequential
Global Settings
Global settings are parameters that affect all programs. These include
settings such as Master Tune, MIDI Channel, MIDI Clock, and others.
Global parameters are printed above the numeric program selector
switches (0 - 9). Use the Globals switch to choose between the two sets.
The red LED indicates that the upper row is active. The yellow LED
indicates that the lower row is active
The Globals button
10 23456789BANKSELECT
BANK
SELECT
TENS
PROGRAM
Local Ctrl Seq Jack Pot Mode Sustain +/- Alt Tuning
Vel Response AT Response Stereo/Mono Pgm Dump Beat Sync
Transpose Master Tune MIDI Channel MIDI Clock Clock Port
Param Xmit Param Rcv MIDI Control MIDI SysEx MIDI Out
IncrementDecrement
Globals 0-4
10 2 3 4
56789
BANKSELECT
BANK
SELECT
TENS
PROGRAM
Local Ctrl Seq Jack Pot Mode Sustain +/- Alt Tuning
Vel Response AT Response Stereo/Mono Pgm Dump Beat Sync
Transpose Master Tune MIDI Channel MIDI Clock Clock Port
Param Xmit Param Rcv MIDI Control MIDI SysEx MIDI Out
IncrementDecrement
Globals 5-9
Use the Bank and Tens buttons to scroll forward and backward, respectively, through parameter settings

13
Trigon-6 User’s Guide
Global Settings
To set a Global parameter:
1. Press the globals button. Pressing it once activates the upper set of
parameters. Pressing it a second time enables the lower set of param-
eters.
2. Press the program selector button (0 - 9) that corresponds to the desired
parameter. The parameters are printed above each switch.
3. Use the bank and tens buttons as decrement and increment buttons to
step through available settings.
4. Once you’ve chosen the desired setting, press the globals button again
to exit.
Globals - Top Row
0. Transpose: -12…12—Master Transpose control, 0 is centered. Steps in
semitones up to one octave up (+12) or down (-12).
1. Master Tune: -50…50—Master Fine Tune control; 0 centered. Steps in
cents as much as a quarter-tone up (+50) or down (-50).
2. MIDI Channel: All, 1…16—Selects which MIDI channel to send and
receive data, 1 to 16. all receives on all 16 channels.
3. MIDI Clock: Sets the Trigon-6’s ability to send and receive MIDI clock
messages:
• O: MIDI Clock is neither sent nor received
• Out: MIDI Clock is sent, but not received
• In: MIDI Clock is received, but not sent
• In Thru (i-0): MIDI Clock is received and passed to MIDI Out
• In, No Start/Stop (nSS): Receives MIDI Clock but does not respond to
MIDI Start or Stop commands.
When set to in or in thru, if no MIDI clock is present at the selected input, the
arpeggiator and sequencer will not function.