Hardware Sequencer

Accent · 2015-06-09T17:24:54.000Z

Good luck with the MPC! Some things to be aware of, that I am discovering:

It is easily as convoluted to learn as the Octatrack, imo. Fortunately, you should be able to figure out a majority by instinct, but it can be a very deep machine, especially once you install JJOS2XL. I think part of the problem is that you kind of have to learn the basics from the foundation of the Akai OS, and then try learning JJOSXL from online resources and the broken English in the manual. Be prepared to take some time to really just learn the machine.
Think about how you are going to fit it into your setup. I’ve got mine set up as a slave to my OT, but have had to spend the last couple of days just playing around with the routing so that I could still use the MPC sequencer without conflicting with the OT. Both sequencers want to be the star of the show, so it might take some effort to retrain one of them to play backup. For me, since I have kind of a convoluted setup, I decided to devote Midi Out B on the MPC to only my multitimbral gear, and set up my midi patchbays to only feed out accordingly. That also meant sorting out all sorts of other things so that the MPC and my Elektrons didn’t step on each other’s toes.
Get the fat pads. It’s so much more enjoyable of an instrument to play with them. If that means you have to do the pad upgrade, so be it-you’d have to do it eventually anyway.

Funny you mention smokes and drinks in this context as well, as I quit drinking and smoking (well, cigarettes anyhow ) about a month ago, and the money I’ve saved made it possible to get the MPC and all the upgrades. Not to mention that I physically feel so much better .

andreasroman · 2015-06-09T17:35:26.000Z

Now, look what you’ve done. Here you go all MPC:ing and whatnot, and boom there’s one for sale right around the corner where I live, where the guy’s practically throwing it after whoever wants it (it’s one of them MPC 1000s).

It is, actually, suspiciously cheap. Maybe it got one of them funky pad defects I’ve heard about.

Accent · 2015-06-09T17:44:34.000Z

If it’s a blue one, it almost certainly has the pad defect. If it is black…it still may. Mine was black, supposedly the correct build with the new pads, but it still had the old ones. Mine was pretty minty and all the original pads worked just fine, but I decided to replace them right away anyhow.

What is the seller asking, and does he mention any upgrades done to it?

djadonis206 · 2015-06-09T18:00:36.000Z

I’ve fallen pray to the lure of the MPC and ended up buying and eventually selling two of them!

My brain is too simple to go from the ease, comfort and speed of programming and manipulating beats and samples on the OT to the stop and go experience of the MPC.

In my experience, it took way too many steps to make simple things happen on the MPC. While the same can be said for someone in their first 30 days of using the OT; however, once you get the hang of using it, there’s no other sequencer/sampler that compares - IMO

Diapause · 2015-06-09T21:02:33.000Z

That’s why you should always buy your pre-Renaissance MPCs from MPCStuff.com . . .
They refurbish them and let you know if it has good pads or if they need a refurb.

FYI, for the MPC-1000, as serial numbers go:
Blue always equals bad pads unless they’re specifically stated to have been refurbished.
Black ones with serial numbers including BK may or may not have bad pads and one with serial numbers that have BK-N have good pads.

Flopass · 2015-06-09T23:43:18.000Z

Does the squarp sequencer do polyphonic sequencing? That would be awesome. The foreign menu system of of the MPC’s scare me away. I have an old Roland MSQ that I sequence my P12 with that doesn’t require thought or menus to use, but it is pretty limited since I can’t mute or change tracks on the fly. I’m still holding out for the perfect hardware sequencer (not cirklon), and this thread is water in a desert.

rex_mundii · 2015-06-09T23:47:48.000Z

Thanks for the tips. Tried reading the JJOS manual online and gave up, but it’ll no doubt make more sense with the unit in front of me. If not I’ve seen a few tutorials on setting up the MIDI.

I think it’ll be able to do what I want without too many dramas for starting off with scratch tracks & then I’ll be more than happy to get the DAW sequencer involved once I’ve got something concrete to work with. Gonna start with that single goal in mind. Exams will be over in 3 weeks so I’ll have all the time in the world…

Good work on the non-smoking!! The idea of becoming one of those sick old men with severe breathing problems is truly frightening…

zfigz · 2015-06-09T23:55:38.000Z

""Flopass"":

I’m still holding out for the perfect hardware sequencer (not cirklon), and this thread is water in a desert.

No one has mentioned the MonoMachine, though, not super advanced, it is quite the midi sequencer. I used one exclusively to sequence my gear until recently (now also using an AR for percussion/samps).

It’s super powerful if you dig deep to overcome its shortcomings (no microtiming, individual lengths etc). Song mode is incredibly powerful as well.

Flopass · 2015-06-10T00:24:39.000Z

Wow, I can’t believe the mono machine might be exactly what I’ve been looking for the whole time! whaaaaaaaaaaa!?! I only want to use it as an external synth sequencer though, is that crazy?

Diapause · 2015-06-10T00:33:06.000Z

I only want to use it as an external synth sequencer though, is that crazy?

Not once you’ve started using it; it sounds delicious.
It was one of my favorite pieces of gear before the A4 came along.
I would’ve bought another one, but the P12 filled the necessary void in my heart/soul.
The MnM sequencer is mono and only 64 bars?
Is that right?
The reasoning for the MPC-1000 with JJOS is the idea that you can hit record and go nuts as long as you want for 300,000 steps/control changes.
I need length.
I need to rephrase that last sentence.

As far as polyphonic sequencing on the Pyramid, yes, it can, but it’s still limited to a very short–IMO–bar count of 64.
When I saw it I was extremely happy, but then I read the specs in deeper detail and got extremely sad.

Now, I’m afraid it’s either MPC-1000 with JJOS or a Cirklon.
The MPC still wins for me because it does exactly what I want and gives me extra percussion options as well as the ability to play my OT like a Rytm.

zfigz · 2015-06-10T01:27:20.000Z

""Flopass"":

Wow, I can’t believe the mono machine might be exactly what I’ve been looking for the whole time! whaaaaaaaaaaa!?! I only want to use it as an external synth sequencer though, is that crazy?

That’s exactly what I use mine for, it controls everything that has to do with melodies/chords/etc…

I also used to use the MnM for drums, and that worked pretty well when you designate a track for each kind of hit (Track 3 for hihats, 4 for claps, 5 for snares, and 6 for kicks) so that you can mute your drums easily.

zfigz · 2015-06-10T01:40:39.000Z

""Diapause"":

The MnM sequencer is mono and only 64 bars?
Is that right?

The MnM midi sequencer has some crazy high limit of how many notes you can put on a single step (I think it combines all the steps that are currently playing).

As for only 64 bars, it is, just like any other recent elektron, but used in tandem with its song mode, you can do a lot of interesting things (change the offset or length of a pattern, transpose an entire pattern or transpose individual tracks, automate bpm etc).

vos · 2015-06-10T08:48:01.000Z

Whenever I need sequences longer than 64 bars i make a chain. So I can record a track in Live-mode that spans all the patterns of the chain. Ofcoarse there’s the limit of max. 64 trigs per pattern. The advantage is that the long sequence will be automaticly devided into seperate patterns, what makes it easy to for me to edit later-on.
128 patterns > 64 steps > makes a maximum record of 8192 steps tho, and it’s only intern or CV.
But if I understood you, that’s not what you’re looking for and you don’t want chaines. Maybe until you have what you need ?
Good luck !

Flopass · 2015-06-10T15:03:36.000Z

""Diapause"":

I only want to use MnM as an external synth sequencer though, is that crazy?

The MnM sequencer is mono and only 64 bars?

As far as polyphonic sequencing on the Pyramid, yes, it can, but it’s still limited to a very short–IMO–bar count of 64.
When I saw it I was extremely happy, but then I read the specs in deeper detail and got extremely sad.

If the limit to 64 steps was not an issue, which would be better for my needs? The Pyramid or the MnM? My intention is to sequence external gear with live polyphonic recording on multiple tracks that I can manipulate and mutate live. It’s near impossible to find anybody online using the MnM just to operate a bunch of analog gear and when I do -everything has already been programed into the machine so I can’t discern important things like whether or not I can play chords in real time to the sequencer like I can with the AK. I basically want to give my P12 the brain of my AK so they can better work in harmony. The Engine came so close, but isn’t polyphonic. I hear you on the MPC and that sounds like a great fit for you, but I’m a simpleton and I know myself enough that if it’s too much of a learning curve I just won’t use it.

I can always give up and get another multitrack looper that slaves to midi clock but hell, that’s TOO easy.

PeterHanes · 2015-06-10T15:56:13.000Z

""Flopass"":

…

whether or not I can play chords in real time to the sequencer [of the MM] like I can with the AK.

…

Yes.

Flopass · 2015-06-10T16:46:02.000Z

""PeterHanes"":

[quote=“Flopass”]…

whether or not I can play chords in real time to the sequencer [of the MM] like I can with the AK.

…

Yes.[/quote]
Thanks Peter!

Diapause · 2015-06-10T17:23:16.000Z

If the limit to 64 steps was not an issue, which would be better for my needs? The Pyramid or the MnM? My intention is sequence external gear with live polyphonic recording on multiple tracks that I can manipulate and mutate live.

I’d go for the MnM over the Pyramid, but I’m unsure if it can do polyphony in terms of you playing a chord on your keyboard and it recording it into the step=sequencer.
I would think it’s monophonic like the sound engine (well, until you go into 6-note polyphony mode).
I know step-wise it can do chords via programming.

In short, I’d grab another MnM in a heartbeat if I had the money; it really is a beautiful instrument.
I’m not sure how geared it is towards your needs, but someone should come along soon enough to say.

AdamJay · 2015-06-10T18:47:49.000Z

[quote=““Flopass””]

Diapause:

I only want to use MnM as an external synth sequencer though, is that crazy?

The MnM sequencer is mono and only 64 bars?

As far as polyphonic sequencing on the Pyramid, yes, it can, but it’s still limited to a very short–IMO–bar count of 64.
When I saw it I was extremely happy, but then I read the specs in deeper detail and got extremely sad.

If the limit to 64 steps was not an issue, which would be better for my needs? The Pyramid or the MnM? My intention is to sequence external gear with live polyphonic recording on multiple tracks that I can manipulate and mutate live. It’s near impossible to find anybody online using the MnM just to operate a bunch of analog gear and when I do -everything has already been programed into the machine so I can’t discern important things like whether or not I can play chords in real time to the sequencer like I can with the AK. I basically want to give my P12 the brain of my AK so they can better work in harmony. The Engine came so close, but isn’t polyphonic. I hear you on the MPC and that sounds like a great fit for you, but I’m a simpleton and I know myself enough that if it’s too much of a learning curve I just won’t use it.

I can always give up and get another multitrack looper that slaves to midi clock but hell, that’s TOO easy. [/quote]

seek out a mk1 MM if you only want to sequence midi with it. They go for $500-$650.
The mk1 MM had 64 steps, unlike the mk1 MD.

All the Mk2 upgrades won’t effect your midi purposes one bit.

djadonis206 · 2015-06-10T19:16:55.000Z

I’m going to throw a plug out there for the OT as a midi sequencer/controller.

It’s awesome when used in conjunction with other Elektron gear. Currently:

[ul]
[li]OT midi tracks 1 - 4 sequence and control various parameters of tracks 1 - 4 on the A4[/li]
[li]OT midi track 5 controls the A4 FX page[/li]
[li]OT midi track 6 controls the A4 Performance page[/li]
[li]OT midi track 7 controls the AR FX page[/li]
[li]OT midi track 8 controls the AR Performance page[/li]
[/ul]
This set-up basically allows me to control almost every aspect (except for mutes) of all three machines with one! And I’m managing pattern switching by staying on the Song Edit page where I trigger chains - dipping in and out of song mode.

Seriously fun and creative as the OT has a pretty powerful and P-lockable ARP. Multiple LFOs can be assigned to CCs. So, say you want to send an LFO to a Performance pad…whoa. AND you can design your own LFOs.

The OT is where it’s at right now - well worth the money because you can throw some samples in there for good measure.

Finally, the independent scales per track is great for longer sequences. Just 1/2 the speed.

And then there are the one-shot trigs - YES!

Oh and you can just sample or record up to about 6 minutes of your performance…I love the OT

hardwarecore · 2015-06-11T04:15:29.000Z

The MC-909 let’s you set the pattern length for a very long time. I don’t have mine anymore to check this but if I recall, it was 999 bars. In effect, allowing you to use it as basically a linear sequencer where you could lay down your whole song and not even have to use multiple patterns. 16 tracks of midi and also records knob movements.

Beyond that, it’s fairly vanilla but in some cases, vanilla is exactly what you need.

edit Of course, it is fairly large.