In the market for a sketchpad for melodies

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

I’m looking hard at the Yammy Seqtrak to use for sketching patterns for bass, pads, leads, chords, harmonies, counter melodies, etc. I’d then run those patterns through external fx recording directly into Renoise for arrangement and mix. The only thing that is holding me back from buying the Seqtrak is the fact that only 3 of the 11 tracks are dedicated to melodic instruments. I don’t really need all the drum tracks since I do all my drum programming in Renoise. So it just seems like a good portion of its functionality will go unused.

In a perfect world, I’d have a single drum track to load a kit for “dummy” drums, then have as many tracks as possible for melodic stuff. I’m actually considering an MC-101 which I can use 1 of its four tracks for a drum kit, but that only leaves me three tracks for melodic stuff.

Seqtrak and the MC-101 each tick these boxes for my melodic sketchpad use case:

Around $500
Portable
Battery powered
Portamento/Glide
Scales
Chords
Arp
At least four note poly track for chords
Option to record unquantized
Chromatic pads/keys

Icing on the cake would be the ability to sample straight into the synth tracks when needed, with access to the scale/chord/arp functionality.

What are my other options? Thanks!

**The Electribes fit the bill, except the arp is pretty bad. The touch arp thing.

1 Like
Yamaha SEQTRAK
#2

Dont overlook the Roland JDXi which is both analogue and digital and is a superb sketchpad for coming out with new ideas very quickly. Fits your budget and has all the classic Roland drums and synths,

3 Likes
#3

There are no other options in this price class.

I have both, the MC-101 and the Seqtrak. At the moment I would prefer the Seqtrak, if I had to choose only one of these two. Maybe because of the honeymoon phase, maybe I’m a little tired regarding the MC-101s sounds.

However, you can’t go wrong with any of these both machines.

2 Likes
#4

This is true.

I’m in the same boat. The Seqtrak is easier to use as a sampler but the MC-101 is a beast in every other regard.

Both of these devices give you the polyphony you’re looking for. The MC-101 also gives you audio streaming of all tracks to your DAW while the Seqtrak streams a stereo track.

This is also true :rofl:

3 Likes
#5

Op-Z is a bit of a leftfield option but it should tick most of those boxes. The sequencer is more advanced than either Seqtrak or MC.
No scale mode per se but the master track can suggest a master transposition according to key and scale.
Main note is there’s only one poly track as far as I know.

7 Likes
#6

Roland MV1 - 2nd hand if needs be.

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#7

Technically a lot of tracks are poly.

I think all drum tracks have 2 voice. I think the lead track is 3 voice and the Chord track is 4 (but can be six if you change it in the settings, but you can only sequence 4 notes, it just enables 6 voice polyphony when played in real time, and helps avoid note dropouts)

I think the OP-Z is a great option for this primarily because of the versatility of the sequencer (you can live record unquantized so it’s a very easy little midi looper. And the master track chord transposition is an insanely underrated song writing tool.

6 Likes
#8

Exactly, the master track is a killer feature, and even without it the sequencer on this little TV remote would still be extremely powerful.

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#9

You mention Renoise.

You might want to check out the original Polyend Tracker. I find the pads especially nice for melodic stuff, with some good scale modes etc.

Double check this, but at one point, you could export and import .mod files on the PET. Meaning you could directly export a song you worked into from the PET into Renoise to finalize. I thought I read somewhere that they removed that, but that seems silly to me. But do check.

2 Likes
#10

The woovebox maybe an option. It only has one track poly (4voices) and 15x poly paraphonic (4voices), tracks can also be a sampler.
It can follow a chord progression and set in a certain scale.
There are just to many features to summarize it, go check it out.
It has been my go-to sketchpad since it released.

3 Likes
#11

I can understand struggling to find an all-in-one solution for live performance or recording perhaps; but, as a “sketchpad” for melodies, just use your phone, iPad, or laptop.

Otherwise, if you play an instrument (which is always ideal if one aspires to make music), just play. Historically speaking, that’s how every song has been written, composed, and arranged for thousands of years, and it still remains the best way to do it.

I think the pursuit of tech is often just a way to procrastinate.

To that end, any one of the devices we walk around with daily might be considered a modern miracle in this regard, and they empower everyone to create, compose, arrange, and archive ideas to their heart’s content.

About the only aspects they can’t help with are initiative and follow-through.

Cheers!

15 Likes
#12

Just a note about Seqtrak, you can load melodic samples into drum tracks and play or record into sequencer melodies via midi, only monophonic and best suited to bass, plucks or other sounds which decay (no sustain) etc, but it can be done.

2 Likes
#13

I got my M8 for $500 and it’s an absolute banger of a sketchpad.

8 Likes
#14

Thanks everyone for the recommendations!

Woovebox and OPZ are just too small for me.

JDXI looks pretty cool, but with a 4 track count, it’s essentially the same as Seqtrak and MC-101, but a lot less portable, and no battery.

I’ve owned both the PE Tracker and M8, and they’re great, but I need unquantized recording (sorry I forgot to mention it earlier) on the PET, and I didn’t really like programming melodies on the M8, I need some sort of chromatic keys/pads for note entry.

I’ll give MV-1 a look.

Can’t do phone or ipad.

Good to know about the loading melodic samples into the drum tracks on Seqtrak.

Still leaning towards the Seqtrak or MC-101.

I could be open to more expensive options. What is everyone thinking in that case?

#15

Well in that case the 101 is a whole lot of options in a small space. I have the 707 and the amount of versatility within are a bit staggering.

#16

Yamaha QY70 or QY100 if you can get your arp somewhere else (like from a JD-Xi, heh, or Keystep 37).

#17

No battery.

#18

The mv-1 can be powered through usb with a powerbank. I got a little one stuck to it with Velcro.

2 Likes
#19

Agree you can come up with some unique chord progressions by putting in a couple of simple chords and transposing them over multiple bars - while all your other tracks fit neatly along side. You can also easily record all the midi to your DAW - so it work’s really well as a sketch pad.

1 Like
#20

Polyend Play+

1 Like