To save time, recreating it linearly in Song mode, I wanted to simply go back to my pattern, correct my mistakes in the phrase and patch it back into my song in place of the bad one. I found my way in PATTERN Mode to the place I can copy user phrases to song tracks, but it only asks me for the measure in the song where to insert the phrase. Does it only insert it once?

Thanks for the question... sorry for the delay, again trying to remember when we first added the “Put Phrase to Song” Job function. I was fairly confident it goes back as far as the ES (2003) but it’s the details that are a bit fuzzy (lots of products since then!)

“Put Phrase to Song” allows you to put data recorded to the Pattern into your linear Song structure. It was designed to do exactly what your doing... give you a way to go get data from the linear structure using “Get Phrase from Song”, work on it and then using “Put Phrase to Song” to replace or insert the corrected version.

To answer the question: Yes, it only places the Phrase once.

What you need to know:
In Pattern Mode each recording to a Track is called a “Phrase”. It is given a number (usr001~usr256)... you can even name each Phrase (although no one does).
You can review all of your User Phrases in Pattern Mode by pressing [F4] PATCH. This grid of 16 Tracks, show the Phrase recorded to it on a per Section basis, there are 16 Sections, A-P. When you highlight a Phrase on a Track the Phrase Length is shown in the upper right corner... for example, “M008” would indicate the selected Phrase is 8 Measures in Length. “M004” would indicate a 4 Measure Phrase...

If you are “PUTTING” Phrases into the target Song, this Length is important. You will need to know where (which measure to target.. if “putting a four measure Phrase to fill a area 16 measures starting at measure 17... you would repeat the process four times
at Measure 17, at measure 21, at measure 25, and at measure 29...

The “Put” Job will overwrite Data in the target Track.
Some times this is exactly what you want because you are ‘repairing’ data and you want to replace the old data.
However, you can INSERT the data, (Inserting requires you create blank measures in the target Song prior to using “Put Phrase to Song”.
Here’s how: in the Song, the JOB at [F4] is CREATE MEASURE... this inserts blank measures into the linear structure... thus making a place for your data... it moves data out of the way by creating new blank measures, older data is moved back.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD
You could “Put” the Phrase into the linear SONG structure once, then using one of the Song Jobs, you could Copy the Measure region. This Copy job allows you to specify the number of times you want to copy the designated region... thus making the repetitions unnecessary.
There are four different COPY Jobs as I remember... I think you want to use the SONG JOB found under [JOB] > [F3] EVENT > select “Copy Event”.

Remember: to set the four bar region starting at measure 17, for example, you would go from 017:1:000 ~ 021:1:000
From the top of the start measure to the top of target measure... then place the target measure = 021:1:000
And set the number of times = 03
Don’t overthink it... it works like a clock, you must include minute #59 to complete the hour.
The maximum number of copy times is 99... if you need more, rinse and repeat.

Hope that helps... I do not have an ES here so forgive me if I’ve forgotten any of the details.

That should do it. Thanks for the alternative to redo / edit all in Song. I think that will make it much easier than going back to Pattern mode.

As an aside, finally, I am graduating from Pattern Chain to Song...... So much smoother in Song vs Pattern Chain....I often got chops and stutters between linked sections running a Pattern Chain but now get none of that once I converted the chain to a Song.. Were all these hiccups due at least in part to Control Change messages that remain in Pattern Chain but are removed once I convert to a Song?. I was always curious why I could never make seamless transitions section to section in Pattern Chain. I always thought it must be a timing mistake, but no matter how carefully I quantized all phrases and double-checked lengths of sections and phrases, I.could never seem to get a seamless chain....Question- if I did everything right, is it possible for a Pattern Chain to play seamless / identical to the Song I convert from it?

Question- if I did everything right, is it possible for a Pattern Chain to play seamless / identical to the Song I convert from it?

Yes, it very much is... there is a reason, you must find it. It’s in the Event data. The thing about looping Sections... a timing glitch usually occurs at the very top... once the section starts to Loop you may not hear it again.

It’s extremely important to check your event list data. Clean starts, and having no data that hangs over the end of the Length, is critical.
All data contained in each Section must be within the lines... data that data is not, causes problems.

Avoid unnecessary Program Changes...

Understood, Can I ask one SEQ math problem before I let you go? If I create a 16 measure phrase inside an 8 measure pattern section, can I then create a Pattern Chain to only play measures 9-16 of my phrase when I link two of these 8 measure section back to back? I guess I am asking if the length of a pattern section creates a hard stop or end point for any phrase inside it....

A Phrase has a set Length.
A Pattern Section does not... it just continues to cycle until you tell it not to.

If you record a 16 Measure Phrase, but only use 8 measures, it will only play from the top (the first 8 measures).

What you can do if you want to start from Measure 9 thru 16, is find the Pattern Job called “Split Phrase”
Make sure you target an empty Section. The new Phrase plays from the top but will be your original measures 9-16.

See page 245 of the Owner’s Manual: picture is worth 1000 words...
This Job splits a selected phrase (A) into two separate phrases (A and B).
The data before the split point is stored to the original phrase A and the data after the split point is moved and stored to another phrase B.
note: When either Pattern or Phrase is set to “off,” the split Phrase B data is erased.
note: If this Job is applied to phrases which use Sample Voices, the Sample Voices will not be split.

Again, word of warning... make sure Measure 9 is a *clean* start. That is, not a chord on the “and of four” in the previous Measure. Measure 9 must make sense as a start point.