Step Sequencers

BirdFLU · Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 184 Location: PDX, OR

Hey everyone, my name is Robert and I live in Portland, OR. I've been waiting for something like the Zeit since the dawn of the MIDI era. Unfortunately, as a youth I was spoiled by having exposure to some old Arp and Moog step sequencers. I've owned several more modern sequencers but they never captured the immediacy of the old Moog and Arp types.

I don't have any recent recordings available online but I'll post when I do. I'm trying to assemble a home studio at present. It's slow going because I get sidetracked in synth programming land, which you all can probably relate to.

I'm looking forward to using the Zeit with modern synths as well as my old analog CV stuff.

Vietgrove · New Member Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 4

Hello! I live in the North-East of England, about 20 miles away from David himself.

* We wanna know all about the sequencers you use and how many you have.

I mainly use Cubase, and play stuff in via MIDI, generally speaking, if I have a repetitive step-sequencer-ish part, I'll play it all the way through by hand, rather than cut & pasting for somereason, probably bloody-mindedness. A couple of years ago, I bought a Wiard Synthesiser co "sequantiser" module, an 8-step analog sequencer. Obviously I now have a Zeit unit as well.

* We wanna know about the music you make and where we can hear it.

I make instrumental electronic music/progressive rock with a guitarist friend. Some samples are on our myspace page http://www.myspace.com/vietgrove

* We wanna know how long you've been making tunes and why you started making tunes in the first place.

I've been playing & making music since the mid-eighties. I do it because it's fun and it makes me feel good.

mch · Novice Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 15

Hi guys

my names matt and i make music under various guises and names since 1994 or around that time.I work with various sequencers including Ableton and Cubase Sx , Octopus and Zyklus.

I make various electronic / electro acoustic music with a few beats and sometimes let my hair down with some hairaising trance but often drift along in a beatless fashion musically.

I'm here as i am booked up for a zeit desktop for my spacestation at home so i can explore its unique style and flow / features.

Musically i like anything creative . psychedelic , inventive and explorational.

best wishes

Matt

ps Based in cornwall st ives .

BirdFLU · Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 184 Location: PDX, OR

BirdFLU · Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 184 Location: PDX, OR

[quote="mch"]Hi guys

my names matt and i make music under various guises and names since 1994 or around that time.I work with various sequencers including Ableton and Cubase Sx , Octopus and Zyklus.

Matt, how do you like that Zyklus? Those are pretty darn rare. Do you know how many were made? Could you e-mail me a photo of the Zyklus? I've only read about them.

mch · Novice Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 15

Hi guys

i'll post an image sometime.Like david said the interface is best described as pretty poor verging on a disaster if you want to grab and tweak, the zyklus isnt a spontaneous tweakable sequencing device in the normal way , its kind of like a phrase sequencer ? has a memory of 99 sequences.It has 12 selectable per 'configuration ' ( like a setup or group of 12 sequences ) and these map across 12 buttons / .The user selects how these 12 sequences are mapped to both midi out channels ( upto 64) and also how the 12 sequences are triggered ( via midi note data coming in / a certain note in athe scale or the 12 can share the whole scale in groups ) .You can for instance just highlight 1 sequence , select external trigger and what you have is a sequence which you trigger via a midi note message ( via a keyboard or other sequencer )It means you can simply play a sequence and transpose if via the keyboard .You can ' build ' which is when you trigger a sequence , then when you play another key it plays the sequence in that key also . . .great for polyphonic / poly rhyhmic experimentations.A novel feature it has is ' cycle ' where any sequences selected or highlighted to play will 'cycle ' first note you play triggers sequence 1 note one , note 2 plays sequence to note 1 etc . . . means you can do some very odd experimentation 'cross ' working sequences . . .It can transpose at the same time so the mathamatics become mind boggling . . . and results quite weird and wonderfull though with any device its the results vs hassle to use it.With the Zyklus its very powerfull but the last thing you go for ' in ' as session . . . its a sit down for 2 hours , build some ideas and record the results to another sequencer sequencer Smile

, i use as a simple sequence
bank myself with 99 weird and wonderfull sequences i took a good while to build . .. some from fractal tune smithy and some numerological sequences which i could never remeber how to write twice . . i use these as templates and often fire the Zyklus into another sequencer and then 'play ' . . .. I also use the Zyklus for doing ;'cascade ' like arp fx . . . the zyklus really is more about triggering sequences externally using midi note messages and tranposing and shifting the sequences in the same way . . its a novel approach .You can sequence it of course with another hardware step sequencer also and the deeper useage includes mapping the 12 sequences per configuration to 12 midi notes and then to 12 midi channels but also shifting configurations in real time ( each configuration can be totally unique in every way ) so it can jump from 1 cascade of sequences to another . . .But . .. you talking days of work to program these results . . . map instruments and setup , write in sequences and adjust stuff.

it is very cool . . .time consuming and quite unspontaneous in the classic ' tweak and go wow way' but can do stuff i cant elsewhere

There were 50/75 ,made i think ? it is i heard being developed into a hardware synth controller right now by a company who are using the original design ? and a leading software company are also using the features in some future project so its likely the technology will be available on a large scale .

One of the creators page with manual.

http://www.vyla.co.uk/

regards

matt

Ps

any step sequencer could do zyklus tricks if it would allow

Midi external trigger ( and stopping of the sequence with note off message)

Cycling of the selected sequences via external midi note data

Tranposition of the sequences and ability to select groups of notes off an external controller to trigger the selected sequences and transpose them

(Basically the sequencer becomes a externall triggered device . . . and more a pattern player . . . mutator . . )

I still feel its a feature set dieing to go on ALL step sequencers . . Smile

i can then sell mine !

bionaut · Novice Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Posts: 37

hello everybody,

guess the forum started up while i was snoozing away. i am chris green, and i have been using a zeit for over a month. i love it! i mostly make music in the context of a group called bionaut. here is a link to our website...

http://www.tinybubblesmusic.com

mch · Novice Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 15

Hi david

I've added the ability to trigger sequences from an external keyboard to the Suggestions and Enhancements section. I tinkered with this facility a few years ago and will try to add it to the next revision.

thats really cool .I'll add a few ideas just as thoughts . . .,maybe shifts the zeit in a different direct and more as a triggerable sequence / rps device aswell as traditional sequencer. Would make for anice subset of features for composers who may like to bounce ideas from Zeit into cubase etc or even back into the Zeit.

matt

mch · Novice Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 15

Nice one david

>>>>>
I've added the basics of triggering sequences from a MIDI keyboard. With luck, it should go in the next software revision, 01-14.
Before anyone asks, there was no version 01-13. Yes, we're superstitious. Smile

<<<<<

bronswerk · New Member Joined: 02 Jun 2007 Posts: 4

Hello sequencer enthousiasts!

time to introduce myself. The name is Bert and I live in the Netherlands.
A few years ago sequencers got my interest, especially the Zyklus (again).
This was a rare sequencer and had nothing in common with the more traditional stepsequencer or tracksequencer. The possibilities were unique and even now some functions are still only found on the Zyklus. There wasn't much development in sequencerworld after that. Recently things are getting better like Zeit, Octopus, P3 etc. But software evolves to and programs arrived at the market where you can create your own sequencer. And that's what I did...

I wanted to create a stepsequencer that suited my needs as much as possible. There were specific things I wanted like:

1. Modular approach. Sequences in my sequencer are not strictly patterns where you can set the note, velocity, gate time etc per step. All these things are seperated. There is a pool of note arrays, velocity arrays, gate arrays, midichannel arrays etc. You can combine several arrays what eventually becomes a sequence.

2. Variations with clocks. A sequence can be driven by multiple clocks at the same time for rhythmic variations. If clocks have different speeds and different gate times, nice things can happen when driving the same sequence.

3. Modifiers and shifters. Their purpose is to alter a sequence array for eg.
automated transpose facilities or shifting note data inside a sequence. In fact they are sequences by themselves.

4. Chord recognition incoming keyboard events. I'm tired to listen to the same sequence over and over again. So to alter a sequence for example from major to minor, in real time, and all other chord variations was a goal for me. It works...kind of.

5. Automatic latch. Sometimes you just want to hold a chord or a single note.

6. Some sort of filtering notes. Now what's that? Well if many sequences are playing, unwanted "clashing" of notes like a C, D and a E playing at the same time clutters things up. A dynamic filter or mask is introduced where in these situations notes are filtered out or redirected to a more appropiate one.

7. Per step the ability to set another midichannel. Very useful I found out.

8. Arpeggiators. I like the idea that a stepsequence can be altered into an arpeggiator or a mixed version of both types.

The reason I post this is that I'm always looking for a HARDWARE sequencer who has an original appraoch to sequencing. Where you can experiment and getting unforseen but interesting results.

bionaut · Novice Joined: 08 Jan 2007 Posts: 37

welcome! how are the netherlands these days?

bronswerk · New Member Joined: 02 Jun 2007 Posts: 4

disorderly · New Member Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 6

hey-
I'm duncan. some of you know me from other lists or my band.

I have quite a few h/w sequencers here- 3 maqs, schaltwerk, mk1 notron, mobius, sq16, mc202, system 100/104, arp 1613, two p3s, octopus & now finally a zeit. I'm sure I've forgotten one somewhere too. qy70. XL-7....

(the computers- PC & mac- are used for editing & s/w upgrades. besides this latter bit of sys-ex occasionally, my computers don't do midi.)

synth-wise, there are moogs, yamahas, SCI, rolands... there's a mellotron here, & a hammond L100... lots of modules (emu, novation, cheetah & so on), samplers (emu, SCI).
looping things- jam-man, 2 repeaters, headrush, various line-6 things.

loads of basses & guitars. a pile of vintage walkthings, & a lot of 1/4" decks.
so.
I'm an engineer; I fix & customise stuff a lot too.

so- when I start poking around in the power-user section, you can be reasonably sure I've tried whatever it is I might be banging on about.
Smile

d.

Shagghie · New Member Joined: 10 Jan 2009 Posts: 2

Hello everyone... I'm the proud owner of a 'new' second - hand ZEIT desktop SN#6.
I produce house, acid house, tech house, etc. and perform live PA's with the MachineDrum, 303, KP3, and, perchance, if I do a big enough gig, the ZEIT sequencing the MD's internal FX parameters and/or the sunsyn, technox, or whatever else..

I'm a long time synth guy, hang out on AH and VSE, and I'm sure I already know a good % of you...

Some of my music and vids:
www.myspace.com/shagghie
www.youtube.com/shagghie

So... in the true spirit of things...i successfully updated to the latest firmware just now... my first night with the ZEIT. however, I also want to restore the factory settings with the syx on the website.. but strangely, in the new firmware, i'm 'missing' the MIDI menu for RECEIVE. It just goes from MIDI Setup 04 to Sequence: Transmit and SKIPS the documented 'RECEIVE page in the menus...
Am I doing something wrong or silly? I've only had one Guiness at the moment, but I desperately want to get my SunSyn lit up tonight!

All the best, and many thanks for your welcome,
Shagghie
San Diego CA

EDIT: PS....I'm also missing the ability to SYNC to EXTERNAL by the looks of it... I *know* i saw these features before I upgraded from 11 beta firmware to the latest just now... so i'm perplexed... the sequencer seems to be performing wonderfully though!
_________________
www.myspace.com/shagghie

BirdFLU · Newbie Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 184 Location: PDX, OR