hardware sequencers

I'm considering the hardware sequencing route as I'm sick of being glued to a computer fer EVERYTHING I do...

What are your recommendations?

I've been drooling over MPC1000s for a while, but is it really the best option?

I was looking at the roland mv-8000 today and it also seems pretty legit. Even has a hard disk recorder which could be rad/useful.

What about yamaha qy700?

I also like the XoXoX style of sequencing, so then I looked into the MC-808.

I would like to have something that has decent tweakable drums, or sampling built in...

Any enlightening experience from you d00ds?

p.s. are there actually any girls at all in here? :(

  On 4/25/2011 at 9:57 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

I've been drooling over MPC1000s for a while, but is it really the best option?

Probably.

  On 4/25/2011 at 9:57 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

I also like the XoXoX style of sequencing, so then I looked into the MC-808.

Look into the JJ OS for the MPC-1000 - I think it has some nice xox style sequencing options.

  On 4/25/2011 at 9:57 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

p.s. are there actually any girls at all in here? :(

There are a few who are quite knowledgeable.

also CC automation is a requirement, is that a normally supported feature in most sequencers? I'd assume so. Most of the specs and info about most was very clearly written by some marketing cunt who knows nothing about what people might actually use it for.

Anyone have any exp with QY70? It's mad cheap...?

Monomachine all the way, the CC midi sequencing on it is so intuitive i've never used anything more immediate for sequencing external gear, not to mention how easy the slides work

edit: this is only if you don't mind being confined to 16th /32nd notes grid space, if you want to do 'off the grid' or 'quantization is for pussies' style music get an MPC

  On 4/25/2011 at 10:39 PM, Awepittance said:

Monomachine all the way, the CC midi sequencing on it is so intuitive i've never used anything more immediate for sequencing external gear, not to mention how easy the slides work

And as a side note, the MIDI sequencing on a MachineDrum is extremely usable, as well.

  On 4/25/2011 at 9:57 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

I also like the XoXoX style of sequencing, so then I looked into the MC-808.

i think this is key. the MPC just lets you drop whatever, quantized or not, over a loop. if you want 303/606 step seq, you'll probably hate it.

but if you want to do six overdubs of funked-out keys, you'll love the MPC and hate 303/606.

the Tenori is basic in many ways but also very immediate and spontaneous, not the 'end all be all' by any stretch but a good performance controller and ideas generator to use with other stuff

other than that the Monomachine kicks ass for on the fly work flow and the MPC 1000/2500 with JJOSXL is great for a more comprehensive workstaion 'phrase' approach

  On 4/25/2011 at 10:39 PM, Awepittance said:

Monomachine all the way, the CC midi sequencing on it is so intuitive i've never used anything more immediate for sequencing external gear, not to mention how easy the slides work

 

edit: this is only if you don't mind being confined to 16th /32nd notes grid space, if you want to do 'off the grid' or 'quantization is for pussies' style music get an MPC

shit, i might have to get a monomachine or a machinedrum then. I love the fuck out of quantization.

Does it have a "swing" feature though? I like to use a little bit of that now and then.

Machinedrum swings 50-80% and you can choose the steps that swing per pattern if you are into wonking things up.

I assume monomachine is the same?

One limitation of the machinedrum is that each track in a pattern is the same length, eg 16 steps - 64 steps. So no 16 step bassline with a 7 step hihat and 12 step melody, but that shouldn't be a problem for mooost people.

  On 4/26/2011 at 1:38 AM, Food said:

Machinedrum swings 50-80% and you can choose the steps that swing per pattern if you are into wonking things up.

 

I assume monomachine is the same?

 

One limitation of the machinedrum is that each track in a pattern is the same length, eg 16 steps - 64 steps. So no 16 step bassline with a 7 step hihat and 12 step melody, but that shouldn't be a problem for mooost people.

you can kinda work around this by being clever with the arpeggiator lengths which are almost a mini sequencer in itself

bear in mind you only really get six tracks external MIDI with the Monomachine although they can all be on the same MIDI channel for cross muting effects

fuckin' a. I'll definitely start saving up. sounds like my dream sequencer.

  On 4/26/2011 at 2:19 AM, soundwave said:

 

you can kinda work around this by being clever with the arpeggiator lengths which are almost a mini sequencer in itself

 

bear in mind you only really get six tracks external MIDI with the Monomachine although they can all be on the same MIDI channel for cross muting effects

Just to be clear - arp work around is for the mono only. no arp on the machinedrum.

You can have 16 tracks of midi on machinedrum and multiple tracks on the same midi channel as you say above. but that leaves no tracks for drums or ram machines, it's a bit of a trade off.

oh my I never thought of multiple midi tracks on the same channel and muting em in and out (I assume that is what you mean by cross muting?) it sounds great jammin away and triggering an arpy synth.

also the mono has trigless trigs for midi sequencing whereas the machinedrum doesn't:

"1. Normal trig:

This is when you play MnM normally. It trigs the note-on and amp, filter-env, lfos. The normal behaviour.

2. Specific trig:

You can choose to trig just amp, filter-env or lfos, any of them and any couple of them. Use ‘trigger button’ on the UI and manual.

3. Trigless trig:

Doesnt trig any of those above, just changes the whatever parameter you want. You can change any parameter, even notes with this. Very handy for soundcreation. Also people would love to see this on the MD also."

I think people like mono more for sequencing midi, I only have used machinedrum tho so I can't really compare. 6 channels could be an issue tho..

As a sorta response to the above, if you get the Machinedrum you can use 12 machines for drum hits leaving 4 MIDI machine slots were are plenty for complex chords on a polysynth.

hmmmmm. interesting. I really never considered the MD or MM. Expeeeeeeensive. lol.

So let me get this straight. A "track" would also be considered a single parameter of automation? Could I have notes + automation in the same "track"? If not it makes sense why a lot of sequencers have like 64 tracks...

  On 4/26/2011 at 10:17 AM, slightlydrybeans said:

hmmmmm. interesting. I really never considered the MD or MM. Expeeeeeeensive. lol.

 

So let me get this straight. A "track" would also be considered a single parameter of automation? Could I have notes + automation in the same "track"? If not it makes sense why a lot of sequencers have like 64 tracks...

each monomachine track can do single\chords notes, note length, x4 cc, program change, velocity, pitch, force to scale and has its own programmable arppegiator on EACH of the six MIDI tracks

all parameters can be edited by simply holding down the step on the grid and adjusting the relevent knob (parameter locking) on the fly

ah ok that sounds cool... I wish I knew someone here with one I could play around on... still expensive. :D

Just did some reading and it sounds really interesting. I don't know why I had always

put them off so easily.

Still I'm leaning towards the MPC... What's the CC recording/editing like with it? Seems more overdub oriented? Can you enter values manually for a value-step style sequence?

  On 4/26/2011 at 8:03 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

Just did some reading and it sounds really interesting. I don't know why I had always

put them off so easily.

 

Still I'm leaning towards the MPC... What's the CC recording/editing like with it? Seems more overdub oriented? Can you enter values manually for a value-step style sequence?

- yeah, def. more overdub oriented

- you can send it CCs/etc. from an external knob box and it'll re-transmit/record them just fine

- it has two data sliders which can be assigned to CC

- you can go back and manually edit anything you record, add in values manually, but this is the point where you start to miss a keyboard/mouse

- it does have good copy/replicate/clone facilities, so if you're smart you can program 4 CC changes manually and then copy/paste it etc.

I've got an mmt8. It doesn't have any sampling capability, and it's a rather limited sequencer, but it was super cheap ($40), dead simple to use, and lots of fun. There's nothing else quite like it.

  On 4/26/2011 at 8:03 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

Can you enter values manually for a value-step style sequence?

Looks like the JJ OS has some grid sequencing.

i never use that grid view much..... maybe it's time i stopped ignoring it

It's kinda got a TR-505/626/707 vibe.

whoa that's cool. I also don't know why more sampler/sequencers don't have multiple outs.

Time to set up a MPC fund me thinks. Off-shore so the girlfriend can't see it :D

machinedrum sounds papery to me. No thump!!