Midiphy SEQ 4+

https://www.midiphy.com/en/mbseq-v4-/

Hi folks! This sequencer seems pretty amazing. Anyone have any experience of any of its iterations?
Might Sell my pyramid and build this instead.
What are the pros and cons?

The V4+ is mostly just a front panel revision of the MIDIBox SEQ V4. It has some different ways (potentially improved) ways of navigating the device vs the older “Wilba panel”.

Documentation is still very hard to navigate IMO. You’ll get a better idea of the functionality by reading the beginners guide vs the manual. The manual is more for referencing but doesn’t explain functionality like the beginners guide.

Underlying functionality is the same minus the front panel operation:

http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=mididocs:seq:beginners_guide:start

To add to this,
You have almost all of the same Elektron sequencer functionalities including probabilities, playing steps only on certain iterations of the loop, ratcheting, mute trigs etc, just named differently. Like Roll, Nth1 & 2, probability, gates, etc…

Plocking is built in, with each knob representing a step under the displays.

Copy and pasting of steps, sections, or whole tracks is possible.

Slide automation between steps with Ramps

Projects can be loaded on the fly without stopping the sequencer.

Mutes and patterns can be triggered quantized.

And much much more…

The firmware is EXTREMELY mature and isn’t lacking for features.
It’s also being actively developed and TK is open to new ideas if you have a real improvement to add.

All open source obviously too

Don’t let the 90’s looking nostalgic website and horrible aesthetics and mess of the digital documents throw you off.

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A fantastic reply thank you. I was thinking that long term it would be a great investment as every couple of years I could upgrade it. The massive amount of cv options and very close to cirklon without the wait length and ÂŁÂŁ. It also has 128 add on grid extension which I am 3/4 building in eagle for another project so that would be amazing.

The biggest question I have if anyone has experience operating it for a while. How is it ergonomics? Is it easy to navigate ? The website manual seems easy to understand within a good few sit downs albeit a tad dated.

Thanks again for your informative reply!

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Best Seq. ever.
This is my project:
http://massenvernichtungswaffe.de/2020/10/midibox-sequenzer-v4/

If you miss a function, then ask.
Most of the time it’s already implemented …
Otherwise it will be added.
If it makes sense.
Or you will be told how you can achieve your goal differently.

My sequencer has 16 buttons for selecting the tracks.
And a multi-colored beat LED

midiphy has a lot of smd… difficult to solder.
The “old” pcb’s are practically the same. The result is then just a little bigger.

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Very cool. I am an experienced DIYer so SMD is okay with me. Could you talk me through your particular build? What extras did you add?

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Hi there! :slight_smile:

The SMT components are 1206, these are really big parts with solder pads bigger than most THT pads… As it is also not necessary to turn over the boards after each soldering step and as it is also not necessary to snip the THT pins on the backside, this makes it imho a lot easier and especially quicker to solder than the THT counterpart, but of course the mileage and viewpoints will vary :).

The boards were designed for hand soldering - SMT often implies super-miniature parts, but this is not the case.

There’s also a “trusted builder service”, if soldering is too difficult… and here’s a look at the newest version incl. high-quality mechanical keys, custom designed keycaps, custom designed light shielding technology (to protect from neighboring keys light spillover), two 40x2 white OLEDs, an integrated TPD/activity matrix and the optionally mounted 19" rack kit:

There are also three full video build tutorials (around 5h in total) on youtube explaining the build process in every step, including the build of the optional eurorack extension modules.

Enjoy and best regards!
Peter from MIDIbox and midiphy

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I wanted 16 buttons for direct selection of the tracks.
(Usually it’s 4 + 4 and you have to pick a row and then a column.)
At first I planned my own circuit with diodes. Then I asked in the forum.
It turned out that my idea was already implemented in the code and only had to be activated.
(This happens very often…)

The second idea was to change the color of the beat LED on step 1.
That was then programmed. I think all newer boxes have that.

I have 16 gate-OUTs directly on the front panel.
For syncronizing drum computers/volcas.
That’s a lot, but why not … there was space…
The other gate and CV outs are via the line driver in the Eurorack.
This is the usual practice.

Edit: I have a lot of buttons.
To keep menu diving low.
At least 16 are redudant because the potentiometers also contain buttons.
The menu structure is very flat. A few buttons are actually enough…

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sorry mfk im getting a

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Wow thanks Peter. That was quick! Thanks for joining elektronauts to answer my question. Very informative again! I think I am going to sell my squarp pyramid and go for this option. This is a fantastic design. You really must be active! I will see you over at the forum shortly :slight_smile:

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Everything is a button press or two away. As with anything, there is a learning curve, but it can become very “muscle memory” after a while.

You also have the option of setting shortcuts or bookmarks on certain buttons to take you to your favorite pages quickly. There is a fair amount of personalization that can be done to fit your needs.

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Sticker machine at the ready! Noice

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Peter since I have you here. Just one question. Do you tend to use the 128 grid? How useful do you find it? I have 3/4 of eagle files done for one and I was wondering if it might work for this project too !

sorry, spam protection. some countries are blocked. I’m fixing that now.

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This thing looks interesting though I have little idea how it works :slight_smile:

Are there any US builders? Didn’t see any on the site and I don’t DIY

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Well, there is already a BLM extension for the SEQ v4(+), and we’re rereleasing it as a new version called midiphy MatriX shortly :slight_smile:

I don’t know the 128 grid, but i would think it is similar, but has been optimized for the SEQ v4+ usecase.

Here’s a demo of the old version, check out this jam by TK.:

The new version hardware is also made by latigid on and is based on his earlier design made - but it is more modern and is adjusted to fit perfectly with the SEQ v4+, with about 300 mechanical keys that are fully RGB-backlit, an OLED, more sliders and a joystick - we’re aiming for a launch date of xmas 2020, but it will be a close call! :slight_smile:

It’s really fun to enter drum patterns oder force-to-scale melody lines with it - see demo above! :slight_smile:

Best regards and enjoy!
Peter

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If you’re interested, please contact George from Canada, he’s a great builder and can ship to you quite quickly! :slight_smile:

Best regards,
Peter

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Awesome to hear you guys are working on a new BLM!

Is it going to connect through the old BLM style port or something different?

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Seems brilliant! Mine is originally a diy grid for monome Norns. However your idea sound phenomenal for your sequencer, so I excitedly await your version!

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It’s the same BLM port and is therefore compatible with the older V4s - but it now has two of them, allowing to interface with two sequencers (e.g. one V4/V4+ and one LoopA) at the same time with a dedicated “switcher-button”.

Enjoy and many greets!
Peter

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