A³ Motion

At a glance

A³ Motion moves up to four mixer channels through the room, in time with the music. Each channel’s sound travels along a shape — a circle, a rose, a zigzag, a jump on every beat. A³ Motion makes no sound itself: it tells A³ Core where each channel should be, and Core moves the sound.

Think of each channel as a deck. It has one clip loaded (a shape, plus how fast, wide and high it runs) and six action pads for accents you play by hand. A set loads all four channels at once. Everything counts in bars off the beat clock, so a four-bar shape stays four bars when the tempo changes.

A panel of encoders, pots and pads beside a 7” multi-touch screen; it talks OSC only. Source: a3-motion.

Words you will meet

Word	Meaning
channel	one of the four mixer channels; channel 1 is leftmost on screen and panel, each in its own colour
selected channel	the one the bar shows; tap its field in the channel row
shape	the path the sound traces; labelled SVG
clip	a shape plus speed, height, width, spin, direction; one per channel
pass	one time through the shape
action	a short script on pads A1–A6 that changes the clip while held (or once)
set	clip and six actions for each channel, plus 3d, freq and Q
take	a new shape drawn with your finger
lane	a knob movement recorded in a take
downbeat	beat one of a bar; Play waits for it
3d	how much of a channel is in the room: down is plain stereo
bar, global strip	the bottom of the screen: five tabs and their page (left), a column of keys (right)
LENGTH	beats per pass: 16 is four bars
FULL, FPV	the two views: FULL edits, FPV is for playing the floor
ORBIT	in FPV, a channel flying the big path round the room instead of its clip
game, pilot	in FPV, a figure the ships fly against the guests, timed to the music; PILOTS says how much the pilots start on their own
PLAY all, SHIFT	the panel’s end keys; see the end columns

Get started: your first ten minutes

You need A³ Motion, A³ Core and the A³ Mixer on the A³ switch, and music on a mixer channel.

1. Plug in to the A³ switch (power comes over the cable). Ready when the sphere and four channel fields show; the meters move with the music (else Troubleshooting).

2. Check the clock (top left): tap to PIO for CDJs on Pro DJ Link, EXT for the beat analyser, INT to tap yourself. The BPM should match.

3. Load a set: FILES › SETS › Warmup › Load; FILES closes.

4. Turn 3d up on your track’s channel (its pot, or 3D in the channel row). At 3d = 0 you hear no movement.

5. Press Play|Pause (top left of its pads): it blinks, then starts on the downbeat.

6. Hold A1: the movement changes, and returns when you let go. Left pads push energy up, right pads down; top row gentle, middle row strong.

7. Press Play|Pause again: it pauses on the downbeat; the sound stays. Press it once more and it goes on from there.

That’s the whole loop. Before your first gig, read On stage.

Where next

Page	What is in it
How to …	every task, one at a time, each with a GIF
FPV: play the floor	the second view: ships, guest groups, ORBIT, the breath, pilots and games
On stage	stopping everything now, what not to do mid-set, the pre-gig check, troubleshooting
Screen and panel	every window, field, pad and key
Menu, skins and keyboard	the menu and its pages, skins, the on-screen keyboard
How it thinks	the clock, start-up, how a shape sits on the sphere, rec modes, how actions play
Library and scripting	the shipped sets, shapes, clips and actions, and how to script your own