I’m such a sucker for a grey and orange combo. That option for the SEQTRAK is giving me strong Space:1999 vibes. Resistance is painful. Great design here.
8 Likes
that mini speaker is literally just a design decision.
It’s long overdue and they came out swinging. This will generate a lot of buzz through NAMM. Rumors on the street is they have something else up their sleeve for NAMM and I’m wondering if it’ll be An1x.
The grey and black with the orange livery reminds me of a Boss MetalZone of all things. 
Looks cool and capable, and pretty surprising coming from Yamaha
3 Likes
But I do like the PO2 speaker, as thin sounding as it is, just for when I’m not in a headphones mood, so I don’t mind this one. Never can tell until you hear it in person. I was very surprised and impressed with the Live 2 speaker, doubt this will even remotely be in the same league.
3 Likes
The QY100 is still an unparallelled highly portable arranger, sequencer and multi track synth/vocal/guitar processor.
If this is their homage to the OPZ, can’t wait to see their OP1
Modernised QY100 with audio tracks please!
4 Likes
Its… so close to what i wanted, that its hard to say no. I already decided that EP-133, while a marvel in design, would not be for me, since im not a “beatmaker”, and the workflow seems more made for that type of work.
I havent found out how
a) big it really is compared to say an opz,
b) how long the battery holds
c) the real price in the € (like the EP-133 is 350 instead of 300)
d) if you can play samples chromatically
e) how well supported the android app will be
f) if you can chance the drum sounds with your own
g) how the project structure really is
h) if it supports audio over bluetooth -> working together with koala as a more full fledged sampler/daw, and having the option to connect bluetooth headphones or to a bluetooth speaker would both be great, even if it has latency (not as critical if youre note live parameter editing or recording your drumming/ playing)
Currently im trying to get a setup rinning with the model cycles and koala, but the audio implementation is slightly strugling.
This being fully battery powered is great. Having less options to edit on the tool itself but adding a ton with just a phone and bluetooth is huge:
while playing on the train, beach, park, forest i don’t need all the editing capability, but if i realize, o, i want to edit that part when the creativity struks, i usually have my phone with me and can do exactly that.
I know OP-Z is an option, but it seemed slightly more limited in regards to synth engines, AND it only has an IOS app, im not switching to IPhone (there is a OP-Z worth of price difference between my phones and an IPhone here, and while for tablets i prefer IOS for phones its Android for me).
I also see that this will have to have a tone of firmware updates because people will be furious because that or this doesn’t work the way they thought. But it has enough options (thx to the phone app) that it could be an evergreen product.
Limited project space: well, since you can backup your projects via bluetooth/usb to your phone, im 100% fine with that, i don’t think its meant to be the center of 2h live shows…and even if, then either have 2 for that price or have a 5 minute break to copy the other project onto it =P
Feature requests from me:
->bluetooth audio
->Rerouting Effect chains (does it do this?)
->Using own samples for drums
->chromatic sample playing
-> midi out over bluetooth (triggering koala for long form samples…)
->audio in through FX
And, i know it wont, but a dream would be CV out in some form, but its simply lacking the needed output for that. That would really just be a nice to have, at home i can use my microbrute as a midi > cv converter.
I kinda hoped that the model cycles would work for me like this does, but the way to input chromatically is just… not great (either you play it live (im not good at that at all), or you select noted by dialing them in which takes forever… it also definitely has a “sound” to it, something that i did not want to Believe to this extend at the start, but since the “1 knob per function” things is a lie (more menu diving then expected, managing projects is a chore in my eyes), and the 4 parameters are macros where i never really get how everything works, just don’t feel “intuitive” how they change the sound in some instances. Its also lacking some slightly more organic sounding drums for me. Also the lack of audio out routing from usb makes it problematic to be used with android where some apps just try to send the audio to it since its a “class compliant” interface… so they assume it has a stereo out.
Overall a great machine, for specific music types, sounds and if you LOVE the elektron workflow. But for me i sometimes wish back a screen with how its handling everything…which brings us back to this thing. =D (mind you, i would keep the model cycles, got it for 200€ used, and there are things its great at, but its not my portable “groovebox” as i hoped it would be).
Edit:
Ok, giving the app full sampler functionality in the future would maybe be my wish, since i assume the limiting factor is storage/processing power. I mean this + koala would already do that if it has audio in over usb.
And a pure “midi controller” mode would also be cool, where you can switch to it while everything else is playing as it is, and use alle the encoders and buttons to control something else (koala… for example =P or an external synth)
2 Likes
Did anyone got if you can specify the number of steps per pages ?
Or is it another 4/4 gadget ?
Each drum track can have individual length.
And you can do the multiplier thing like on the OPZ.
1 Like
Oh, now i see, on yamahas page it says 599$ msrp, so the 399$ we have seen flying arround are wrong.
Ok, for 599$ i will have to wait for reviews.
Do we know when its out?
3 Likes
I’m intrigued (but not yet impressed) by its MIDI data visualization capabilities. Seems like they followed suiteru on Instagram and baked some of that in. I’ve been thinking about a stand alone, easy to use MIDI visualization device (plug in the output of all your MIDI ports, out comes trippy, responsive visuals) and wonder if this can acts as a visualizer for external devices.
1 Like
Individual length for the whole loop, yep. But I’m talking about steps per page. It’s not clear in the video tutorial.
Thoman says 399 euros: Yamaha SEQTRAK Black – Thomann International
Sweetwater 399 USD: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SEQTRAKBlk--yamaha-seqtrak-mobile-music-ideastation-black-and-grey
3 Likes
You mean like the Digitakt tracks 
?
At 599 I was thinking too expensive but thomann saying £349 which is very tempting
2 Likes
This is really cool, i dont need it. but really cool!
The nod to OP-Z is obvious with the side and top buttons… gonna be interesting hearing what people do with this!
Edit: LOOOOL it even has a visualizer app !
Edit 2: only one midi socket? thats really strange! is it a dongle with trrs for i/o
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This is Yamaha copying Roland’s financially lucrative strategy of selling small tweak boxes with limited capabilities, app or cloud tethering and a limited lifespan.
This thing has no screen and is dependent on an app. Apis stop getting updated.
I’ve seen people even now getting good use out of Yamaha grooveboxes from the 1990s. Because they are fully functional and not dependent on software aka “apps”.
2 Likes
599 would be way too expensive. 399 looks more appealing, but it does not trigger my interest yet. I need some proper videos in action
TBF, i dont use the OP-Z app for use of my OP-Z at all (which this thing is heavily inspired by) i think it is probably the same with the SEQTRAK
1 Like
Yeah, the visuals are nothing to special, there are better tools for that, but the benefit is that its easy immediately and you can essentially stream them from your device to a screen, so perfect for impromptu performances at a house party, but not for a real venue or release.
Found more technical specification from their side:
“Number of tracks: 11” yeah, the 7 drum tracks cound as their own… and that makes me thing, if we can load samples into that, and chromatically tune them per step, that would be huge.
“[Sampling Frequency = 44.1 kHz (quantization bit depth: 24-bit)] Input: 2 channels (stereo 1 channel), Output: 2 channels (stereo 1 channel)”
so it can work as a sound interface on the go, it does have audio out. Thats great news to me.
Bluetooth only midi. thats kind of a bummer, but i expected that. so no listening with bluetooth headsets, still the need for extra headphones.
Battery life: 3-4 hours, not high, but with usb power delivery and my charger that i always have with me / some power banks that’s not to much of a problem for me.
Dimensions: 343 x 97 x 38
I would have hoped for < 25cm in length ( i know, optimism) and maybe adding the missing area on top (more portable form factor in my case), but i get why from an UX perspective this was not an priority.
Its just that 13" notebooks are like 30cm long, and ipads are 25, so a lot more bag options would be available, and i have a daily bag thats 25 in length, si it wont fit there sadly. It should still fit with most backpacks and, an making a bag for it wont be a problem. I think my ideal size for something like this would be a nintendo switch (~24x10x2cm, guessed)
I more and more get the feeling its their OP1, understanding that phones are way better for proper recording, arranging and sampling, and focusing on the more composing and jamming aspect with the hardware itself.
4 Likes