Awesome! Thanks! I guess I’ll populate the BLM section on my Quad IIC R2 PCB after all 
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I’m reading the specs and this hardware looks dope. A question I have would be are the tracks limited to 4? I’m confused because my squarp has 64 tracks that can be configured. Can I extend the amount of tracks? Am I not understanding the hardware?
Edit*
Okay, I had a moment of trash brain. That guide @Airyck posted cured my question.
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Thanks for your interest and good that all is clearer now!
To summarize, the MIDIbox SEQ v4/v4+ is a 16-track sequencer, but the tracks are organized in groups of four, these are called patterns. This makes on-the-fly swapping and hot-loading of new groups of tracks a lot easier. It has been like this since the very first MBSEQs - and once you get used to that behavior, there is a chance you will like it a lot. It allows to order tracks that “belong together” close to each other and then completely exchange them for a new (prepared) group of tracks - and you can do that either when playing live (pattern swapping) or when entering a complete song in song mode.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!
Best regards,
Peter
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The track grouping is the primary reason I personally never got along with the MIDIBox. It’s otherwise an amazing sequencer!
For my early songs, i was always super happy with “only” 16 tracks and very often for a DAWless song, just muting/unmuting the 16 of them was entierly sufficient. But, for more complex songs, where 16 tracks where not sufficient, if there was a “bigger change in the song”, i was always happy to be able to exchange a pattern of 4 tracks, or a “full segment” of that song all at once, e.g. replacing a melody track in conjunction with a bassline track.
But definitely, it all depends on what you want to do and how you’re structuring your songs and tracks.
Best regards and many greets!
Peter
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How painful is it to build one of these?
I’ve built quite a bit of stuff but I’m a surface mount soldering noob.
Hawkeye made a full part by part build guide here so you can check is its beyond your soldering skills!
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Yeah, I’ve watched that.
But watching those vids makes everything look easy.
Several people completed the SEQ even as their first DIY project. All SMT is wide-pitch and you don’t have to trim lots of leads or flip the board. After giving it a go, I think many people begin to prefer SMT over through hole.
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These devices look very nice.
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a little more expensive than using the launchpad solution, but nicely executed.
details are sketchy it seems for now. be nice if that matrix was bluetooth…
Hey all - hoping someone can recommend the best way to approach figuring out this beast.
I recently bought one used and I’ve having a pretty difficult time figuring out the basics to get started. I have a fair bit of experience learning different platforms, but this one’s - at least initially - pretty convoluted and I’m starting to cry “uncle!”
I’ve had a read through the user guide and manual (the latter only briefly), I’ve checked some forums, the one series of videos based on the previous version… nowhere so far am I finding a somewhat clear path to becoming competent with the midibox.
The forums I’ve checked out seem to be primarily focused on build-related issues, so I’ve not been able to find much in terms of newbie questions for example.
First project I’ve got is to use it to sequence my Vermona DRM. I’d like to be able to click some keys/buttons to hear each sound, then lay down some xoxo lines. But mama mia - is a no so easy!
Any tips to help a normally capable newb?
I don’t know midiphy but I do know drm has an unusual way of assigning midi notes to trigger sounds.
The midiphy boxes look interesting , I presume note trigger should be possible ?!?
Hi there,
Peter from midiphy here - congrats to the DRM1, it’s a fantastic drum synthesizer - i have one, too and next to the digital Machinedrum, it’s my major analog drum box - both driven by the SEQ v4+.
Quick steps to get your DRM1 rolling with your SEQ v4+:
a) Make sure you know which MIDI notes your DRM1 analog drum voices are mapped to. You can remap the analog drum voices at power-up time. You could map e.g. C2 to kick, then C#2 to drum 1, and so on.
b) Connect your DRM1 to one of the eight MIDI OUTs of your SEQ v4+ via a standard DIN MIDI cable. Also make sure you know the MIDI channel your DRM1 is set to (assuming Channel 1 for the following steps).
c) Power up your SEQ v4+ - if you have an empty/new session, you’ll start at the first track. Then push and hold the MENU button and select EVENT. This will allow to set up some general settings, including MIDI setup for the currently active track. Set it to Port: OUT1 and Chn: 1 to make sure this track is associated with your DRM1.
d) Push the EDIT button to jump back to the sequence editor.
e) Push the “Play” button (below to the Jogwheel) to start the sequencer.
f) Now you can use/turn the 16 encoders between the OLEDs to enter sequence notes (i.e. C2 for the kick drum, and so on). If you have set up unwanted notes on some steps, you can remove the triggers/mute them by pushing the mechanical keys below the steps.
The SEQ v4+ is of course much more complex - if you have further usecase questions, please feel free to visit us and ask questions at https://forum.midiphy.com for direct help from the community.
Best regards and enjoy,
Peter
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Hey Peter - Really nice of you to reply! Thanks so much for taking the time.
I followed your instructions and… sound! rhythm! mojo! all emanating from my Vermona being successfully sequenced by my SEQ4+!! Oh yeah!!
I mean, I barely know what I’m doing still, but at least this is allowing me to poke around and see what things like “pendulum” + “replay x 2” + “Itv. 4” do… good times ahead!
Cheers
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One day everyone will be as nice and awesome as hawkeye
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Awesome! You’re off for a good start! I had my first SEQ v4 back in 2010 and still discover new features from time to time - it’s all TK.'s brainchild and while it may take a while to learn, i am sure you will find creativity there - enjoy!
If you’re looking for a few more SEQ v4/v4+ tutorials, he has written a few (they come with sound and screenshots), here’s his first tutorial - and you’ve already completed the first part of it:
http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_seq_manual_tut1.html
Best regards,
Peter
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Another suggestion if you want to sequence drums:
As your track event Type, use Drum and define up to 16 drum instruments on the right-hand OLED according to their MIDI notes.
The maximum number of drum instruments you can define depends on the length of the track and number of parameter and trigger layers. So for simple sequences with a lot of possibilities for sounds, choose e.g., 64 steps and 16 drums, or you could give up a few drum instruments for more trigger layers (e.g., Roll, Prob(ability) etc.) or a longer pattern.
Now the magic starts and you can use the power of the SEQ v4+ as it was intended:
On the Selection switches (around the larger dial) choose Instr(ument). Your drum instruments map to the second row of Matias buttons and you can quickly build up a sequence by adding triggers on the top row.
Have fun!
Best,
Andy
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Hey there @Hawkeye, @latigidon and other Midiphyers
First, my apologies. I’ve tried signing up on the MIDIbox forum, but I keep getting an error at the reCAPTCHA step: “Cannot contact reCAPTCHA. Check your connection and try again”
With that said, I’m having trouble setting things up so that the SEQ4+ can sequence a VST/software synth (sequencing hardware synths has been fine so far).
I’m using Ableton and have the SEQ4+ connected via USB (to Mac/Ableton) and also have midi in coming from my audio interface (RME Fireface UFX).
I’m attaching a pic of my Ableton settings, as well as a pic of the settings on the SEQ4+. Hoping this might help in identifying where I’m going wrong…
Thanks in advance,
Stephane
