cheap, not too crappy hardware sequencers

[Guest analogue wings]

maybe i can trade my modded hr-16 for one (it's modified to have 4x the pattern/song memory).

 

Did you do the mod yourself?

 

I'm about to attempt the 16x memory mod (probably the same mod but with newer RAM chips)

[Brandi_B]

rs7000 looks interesting, but it's a little big. and re: mpc, i don't really like the feel of them. didn't really grab me when i tried them out in a music store. plus they're too expensive - i'm looking for stuff that's pretty old but still useful. so i might try to find an mmt-8. maybe i can trade my modded hr-16 for one (it's modified to have 4x the pattern/song memory).

 

you could likely get two mmt's for 200 bucks or so and that would be gravy time :) Great machines. It has lots of notes and instructions under the pull up "hood".

[modey]

an mc303 can loop midi while recording, changing tracks, add/remove notes - but lots of 'buts'

the rm1x cant change tracks while recording

 

not sure what you mean by resolution?

i mean, i don't want to be restricted to a 16/32 note step sequencer. i guess with the electribe i could potentially double the tempo and use twice the amount of steps, but i want to be able to place notes anywhere and make really 'sloppy' stuff.

 

maybe i can trade my modded hr-16 for one (it's modified to have 4x the pattern/song memory).

 

Did you do the mod yourself?

 

I'm about to attempt the 16x memory mod (probably the same mod but with newer RAM chips)

my dad did the mod about 15 years ago or so, maybe more. he's basically split it into 4 banks that can be selected with buttons, not sure if that's the same as the 16x memory mod.

 

rs7000 looks interesting, but it's a little big. and re: mpc, i don't really like the feel of them. didn't really grab me when i tried them out in a music store. plus they're too expensive - i'm looking for stuff that's pretty old but still useful. so i might try to find an mmt-8. maybe i can trade my modded hr-16 for one (it's modified to have 4x the pattern/song memory).

 

you could likely get two mmt's for 200 bucks or so and that would be gravy time :) Great machines. It has lots of notes and instructions under the pull up "hood".

hmm, would i need two? i just kinda want to do simple stuff at first. a simple setup like electribe + mmt-8 + small midi keyboard/synth + effects. and eventually expand on that if i like the feel of it.

[Guest volg4]

ah, i dont know the electribe too well

can you record in real time on the electribe with quantize switched off?

 

on the mc303 you can record in real time without quantization to get a more 'sloppy' feel

if you use step time it will only put notes in on 16/32 but it has a micro edit function which will let you place notes on midi ticks, i think 96 per quarter note...

 

the rm1x will let you shift 16th notes back and forward in time, up and down in velocity and adjust gate times on the fly, then beat stretch specific tracks to 1/2 or 1/3 or double length etc, it can also have odd length tracks in a pattern, e.g a 1 bar loop with a five bar loop and an eleven bar loop

[Guest analogue wings]

maybe i can trade my modded hr-16 for one (it's modified to have 4x the pattern/song memory).

 

Did you do the mod yourself?

 

I'm about to attempt the 16x memory mod (probably the same mod but with newer RAM chips)

my dad did the mod about 15 years ago or so, maybe more. he's basically split it into 4 banks that can be selected with buttons, not sure if that's the same as the 16x memory mod.

 

Yeah it's a switch between 16 memories each of which is a whole "MMT8" - you have to restart it after you switch. You just replace the memory chip with a pinout comatible one that has 16x the capacity. When I googled it it came up as a "4x" mod, and then when I followed the link it had been updated

[modey]

ah, i dont know the electribe too well

can you record in real time on the electribe with quantize switched off?

 

on the mc303 you can record in real time without quantization to get a more 'sloppy' feel

if you use step time it will only put notes in on 16/32 but it has a micro edit function which will let you place notes on midi ticks, i think 96 per quarter note...

 

the rm1x will let you shift 16th notes back and forward in time, up and down in velocity and adjust gate times on the fly, then beat stretch specific tracks to 1/2 or 1/3 or double length etc, it can also have odd length tracks in a pattern, e.g a 1 bar loop with a five bar loop and an eleven bar loop

interesting, yeah part of the reason i want something other than electribe is for odd time signatures, as far as i know the electribes can't do anything except 4/4 or 6/8.

 

 

maybe i can trade my modded hr-16 for one (it's modified to have 4x the pattern/song memory).

 

Did you do the mod yourself?

 

I'm about to attempt the 16x memory mod (probably the same mod but with newer RAM chips)

my dad did the mod about 15 years ago or so, maybe more. he's basically split it into 4 banks that can be selected with buttons, not sure if that's the same as the 16x memory mod.

 

Yeah it's a switch between 16 memories each of which is a whole "MMT8" - you have to restart it after you switch. You just replace the memory chip with a pinout comatible one that has 16x the capacity. When I googled it it came up as a "4x" mod, and then when I followed the link it had been updated

hmm, my dad's mod doesn't require a restart to switch banks. maybe i'll see if he can send me the circuit diagram? i think he pretty much designed it himself (he had no internet back then).

[Guest analogue wings]

well the instructions tell you you have to restart, but in practice you might be able to get away with it. i'd ask for the circuit but i'm probably not smart enough to adapt it to the different chip

 

your dad would get a lot of analogue love if he posted it somewhere like Analogue Heaven though

[Brandi_B]

rs7000 looks interesting, but it's a little big. and re: mpc, i don't really like the feel of them. didn't really grab me when i tried them out in a music store. plus they're too expensive - i'm looking for stuff that's pretty old but still useful. so i might try to find an mmt-8. maybe i can trade my modded hr-16 for one (it's modified to have 4x the pattern/song memory).

 

 

No you wouldn't really need two. I was more or less just stating that they are quite affordable should you want to expand.

 

In all seriousness consider an EMX or ESX. With the EMX you would get your 5 mono synth parts, the ESX only has two. However with midi and note assignment you can do a lot more. For example, if you got the esx you could use it as a drum machine and synth (which i recommend more since it is more flexible allowing you your own samples and it is geared towards processing and such). The drums in the EMX or OKAY but you are stuck with just those sounds and they are quite stale and boring after a while. Anyway here's what you can do -

 

All the drum parts are on the same midi channel, which sucks. BUT you can assign each part to a specific note, ie part one to C1, part to to C#1, part 3 to D, etc etc, and control either synth hits, or drums, or software. Then you have your 2 synth parts which can be on different midi channels and you have the awesome ARP. Then you can use the external input (stereo) and run it thru any of the fx, flters, etc and sample that and re-use or just use it like that. You also have you slice and stretch which can be on different midi channels and you can use that for more synth parts.

 

One thing to note with the single note stuff is that you could have part one going to a synth with an arp, then part two to the same synth, different key, arped and get your fun times on that way.

THen i'd add the mmt-8 to that for your more complex midi and you'd be pretty set.

 

If you wanted the emx for more synth parts and the synth engine (which IS great btw, based on the ms2000/radias) there is a new program out that lets you use the 5 parts together to send out a 5 note polyphonic midi sequence, which is pretty nifty, but that's something the mmt8 could do pretty easy too.

 

But I still recommend the ESX over that as it doesn't have the synth engine exactly, but using the sampled wave forms that come with if you get pretty awesome options and can make pretty much any sound you want (plus i love the filters and the delay in that thing). The only real bad fx, are the distortion and compressor. The distortion turns whatever is running thru it to mono which is kinda lame.

 

Check out the tracks on my album (serenity, and arabesque). Both of those i made entirely on my ESX (before i sold it like a moron). I post processed it to mix it and make ti sound fuller/better, but the foundation and all the sounds are entirely ESX/Samples I made/RE sampling on the ESX.

 

It's pretty small and light weight and built pretty well. So it's quite easy to travel with. Also note you can play a poly synth into the esx (or into your comp turning it into a wav file) and sample it and blam, poly synths galore.

 

Edit: There isn't a whole lot of memory in the ESX but there are easy ways of working around it and the best way is to just use like 3-4 songs only per smart media card. They take a minute to switch out but if you do that you have more than enough memory at your disposal. A lot of people don't realize how easy it is to do that and try and make all their songs in just one bank on one card, and of course if you are trying to make complex songs you are going to run out of memory.

 

All that said the mmt8 is only about 100 bucks so there's nothing wrong with using that until you decide you want more.

[kakapo]

I still really want an analogue style hardware sequencer though

 

 

http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2010/01/namm-doepfer-dark-time-sequencer.html