cheap, not too crappy hardware sequencers

i'm looking for something to sequence an electribe es-1, and possibly a synth/sound module of some sort. something gritty and 90s, i guess.. but with decent resolution and the ability to edit/record/overdub while looping a pattern. i was thinking of an alesis mmt-8 because i have a hr-16 and it's got great resolution.. but i can't find any on ebay aargh.

i was also toying with the idea of using keykit or reaktor on my netbook, but i want to see what i can do without a laptop.

so.. any suggestions?

er, the electribe es-1 is a sequencer...

but if you really want to re-sequence your sequences I'd recommend looking at the yamaha QY series - I've owned a QY70 and a QY10 which I have recently sold. they have powerful sequencing, chord correction, accompaniment etc capabilities. I sold mine because I found them a bit too fiddly and not really the best option for the type of music I make. still, they're cheap, well made and have loads of features so worth looking into.

you could look at the MFB Step64 which is an analogue style midi step sequencer - hahathat has one and probably has more info on how it bears up in day to day use.

the only other things I'd recommend for cheap sequencing are Korg Electribes, Roland Grooveboxes or Yamaha Grooveboxes.

i got an mmt-8 i really hate it, its great but i dont use and i couldnt even sell the thing for 80 NZ dollars.fuck.

it can do all that stuff really well though.itd be the cheapest and would look cool next to the hr16

  On 12/23/2009 at 11:04 AM, BCM said:

er, the electribe es-1 is a sequencer...

 

but if you really want to re-sequence your sequences I'd recommend looking at the yamaha QY series - I've owned a QY70 and a QY10 which I have recently sold. they have powerful sequencing, chord correction, accompaniment etc capabilities. I sold mine because I found them a bit too fiddly and not really the best option for the type of music I make. still, they're cheap, well made and have loads of features so worth looking into.

 

you could look at the MFB Step64 which is an analogue style midi step sequencer - hahathat has one and probably has more info on how it bears up in day to day use.

 

the only other things I'd recommend for cheap sequencing are Korg Electribes, Roland Grooveboxes or Yamaha Grooveboxes.

the electribe doesn't have the resolution that i'm looking for, it's a nice tb style sequencer but i'd love to be able to make some really unquantised stuff if need be.

  On 12/23/2009 at 11:15 AM, elliot said:

i got an mmt-8 i really hate it, its great but i dont use and i couldnt even sell the thing for 80 NZ dollars.fuck.

it can do all that stuff really well though.itd be the cheapest and would look cool next to the hr16

i'll buy it off you!

if it's resolution you're after you're much better off using your computer and cubase or something....

maybe, but i want to see what i can do with hardware. that said, i'll probably cave and eventually build a nice experimental sequencer in reaktor or something.

i just don't really want to take a laptop to gigs. sounds silly i know but i've always had trouble when taking a pc/laptop to a gig.

i dont understand why people want hardware sequencers.

edit: nevermind, carry on...

yeah, i know it's silly, but one of the main reasons (besides not wanting to take a laptop to gigs) is because i want to check out the hardware side of things at least semi-seriously. after spending the last few weeks playing with my small collection of sound generators and effects, i've found it really awesome and inspiring to have a keyboard/tone generator/sampler on my lap and a bunch of guitar pedals at my feet. i figured i'd extend that to having a hardware sequencer to control it all, and also get hold of some kind of cheap synth or sound module.. and try my hand at really gritty, dirty electronic music composed of mangled found percussion samples and odd synth burbles.

I've spent the past few years strictly using hardware sequencers (and also multi tracks) for no reason other than I didn't want to use a computer for sequencing. I've just recently started using cubase to sequence (and record) all my hardware and am most pleased with the results. I still really want an analogue style hardware sequencer though (Doepfer MAQ 16/3 for example)....but until I can justify laying out £500 + for something I don't strictly need, I guess I'll never get one...

Check out the Yamaha an200 and dx200 as cheap sound modules.

yeah, DX200 is awesome - 6 operatpor FM synthesis with on board multi track sequencer! looks like a cheap groovebox, but is actually a bloody good piece of kit. cheap too...

I had one, it was good but not for me, beware of the fact that you cannot edit lots of parameters without the software and a pc

yeah, I'm not planning on getting one personally....good bit of kit for the money though - especially if you're after the classic FM "sound"...

the only hardware sequencers that I know of where you can record and overdub separate parts on the fly without stopping are the MPC's and Elektrons

althought I've never tried the E-mu PX/MP/XL-7's

and the Quasimidi Raven could also be worth a look

buy elliot's mmt8.

if you dont want to pay shipping, i will buy elliot's mmt8 so i can have 2 like orbital and autechre

i tried the emu sequencers and i couldn't wrap my head around them. rm1x is fun but a bit limiting, the rs7k is a step in the right direction for yamaha but quite pricey....the only "sequencer" that i know of that every one can agree on is the mpc

  On 12/23/2009 at 10:06 PM, ieafs said:

  On 12/23/2009 at 11:04 AM, BCM said:

er, the electribe es-1 is a sequencer...

 

but if you really want to re-sequence your sequences I'd recommend looking at the yamaha QY series - I've owned a QY70 and a QY10 which I have recently sold. they have powerful sequencing, chord correction, accompaniment etc capabilities. I sold mine because I found them a bit too fiddly and not really the best option for the type of music I make. still, they're cheap, well made and have loads of features so worth looking into.

 

you could look at the MFB Step64 which is an analogue style midi step sequencer - hahathat has one and probably has more info on how it bears up in day to day use.

 

the only other things I'd recommend for cheap sequencing are Korg Electribes, Roland Grooveboxes or Yamaha Grooveboxes.

just out of interest - what didn't you like about it?

 

i got recently and i've found it pretty good. the step sequencing is kind of hard to use cause you can only see if there's a note at any point - even if there's 4 notes happening then. a bit annoying when programming reasonably complicated drums cause you just end up with 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 and no idea what each one is until you actually trigger it. so i generally just play everything in by hand and then clean up with the edit function afterwards.

 

other than that it's the battery life isn't so good if you're interested in portabilty (maybe a couple of hours depending on the batteries) and it would fills up really quick if you have loads of midi commands. generally i just have it triggering stuff without any extra programmed information like long filter sweeps or anything and i can get maybe 7 or 8 full tracks on there. if you had loads of extra midi information it would probably be like 2 or 3 tracks.

 

but yeah, other than that they're really good and and you can get them for cheap too... i think i got mine for just over a hundred US.

mainly i just didn't like the fact that they were small and fiddly and not really "hands on". lots of menus to flip through etc... don't get me wrong - i used them for years and sequenced loads of tracks with them, but in the end I felt I needed something with more knobs and less tiny little buttons.

Yamaha RS-7000

Fast forward to about 1:00 in the one below, not very good music, but gives you a general idea of performance etc:

I've been wanting to get one of these since I sold my electribe last year. They are amazing. Played with one in a used gear shop for about an hour. It's much much more flexible than the electribes as far as sequencing external gear goes. Also has the x0x style grid which is a must for me. You can use it as an all in one box (has on board sampler etc) but it's a very very powerful sequencer. A completed items search on ebay is giving me about $330-420 USD for these. And of course, you can use it to control software too :)

Edit: also recommend

Alesis: MMT-8 used to use one, still great.

Korg: ESX, though a bit limited in some ways, still a badass box. Brings much much more to the table than the es1.

Or bare bones the mfb seems pretty nice. I see a lot of synth demos on youtube, or hear them off mailing lists and ppl seem to be quite fond of it as just a simple mono sequencer.

I still have my QY70 but I mainly use it as a really tiny controller keyboard for when my Master KB is tied up elsewhere.

Like BCM I found it not immediate enough to support really "organic" music making, even though the power is definitely there.

I think sequencers are a personal thing - everyone's going to prefer a different interface and you have to try them all out and see what's right for you. I've used MPCs and I'd still prefer the "lesser" MMT8

Yeah I don't like mpc's one bit. I always mess with them in stores hoping to be impressed and always shake my head in a disappointed fashion. Which is sad becuase I used to love akai samplers before the mpc's <3...(and also before kontakt/battery/guru)

random edit: apparently my moms caek she was baking just fell apart :(

I have a kawai q8o I kind of like it, but maybe I should try the Alesis mmt8 as well

lol when he calls the lfo a sawtooth. Granted it has that waveform, it is still funny.

Go for a RM1X or a RS7000 if you can afford one.

Cheers

rs7000 looks interesting, but it's a little big. and re: mpc, i don't really like the feel of them. didn't really grab me when i tried them out in a music store. plus they're too expensive - i'm looking for stuff that's pretty old but still useful. so i might try to find an mmt-8. maybe i can trade my modded hr-16 for one (it's modified to have 4x the pattern/song memory).

an mc303 can loop midi while recording, changing tracks, add/remove notes - but lots of 'buts'

the rm1x cant change tracks while recording

not sure what you mean by resolution?

im still using an mc303, had it for years, i love it but it's pretty limited

also got an rm1x, it.s a really powerful midi editing and sequencing box, i dont use it enough

i've tried using a tr505, you can set each drum sound to trigger on a separate midi channel and note number

same with a cheetah md16 drum box, all sorts of humanisation quantitisation

i've got all of these going into a pc then out into some other midi bits an bobs

using the hardware i get a .hands on. experience and using the pc i can manipulate and record

i tried building a midi sequencer in synthedit but its not too good, does pretty cool stuff but im not adept enough with the software to make anything really usable

not tried reaktor in ages but since i recently got a cheap touchscreen i might have to dust it off again