Probably a disaster waiting to happen, advice needed.

[iceberg]

I am looking into building a monster. Mostly Sequencer and partly controller.. Here is the basic idea:

I want to be able to sequence upto say 7 tracks of a Roland MC-303. (note on, glide, velocity /level etc). I also want ot have 7 sections with the realtime modifyable options (cutoff, level[this was mentioned in the seq part], resonance, pan, attack, decay, release, lfo rate, lfo modulation). I really dont want to have to switch parts to modify the sound of one I want to be able to tweak as much as I can with knobs right in front of me.

At this point I have not decided what I am going to do about the rest of the parts, I have an RS7000 and a Emu E5000 Ultra that are very capable of the drums. I say this because I dont like that the 303 doesnt have seperate outs for the drums, actualy I dont like that the mc-303 doesnt have seperate oute for each part, but I only paid 100 bux for it, and I cant build a TB3031 for that let alone 7 3031's. I'm also considering at some point adding a MS2000 and a Waldorf Microwave XT to the mix and would like to controle them as well.

Now I read the bit about why to use rotory encoders insted of pot sliders, but I'm doing all acid, trance, and acid trance tracks and being able to stee the pattern laid out the way the sliders are might be more advantages,  again Im asking for suggestions on this.. I am not sure how glide is achieved via midi or how that would work on a seq, I was thinking a button for note on/off and one for glide on/off so any fader/encoder with a note on starts a new note and any following with a glide button would be part of the glide with the next note on being the end of the glide. Again suggestions on this. Im just explaining whats going throug my mind so you can an idea of how I think and work.

For drums I want 16 step live sequencing on each drum inst. normaly 4-6 tracks for the stuff I do. I am very very very fond of the old TR-909 way of doing this so I dont know if it would be better to build a seperate seq for the drums or incorperate it into the same sequender. The reason I say that is it would be hard to tweak an acid beat with one hand and edit a drum pattern with the other if it's all on the same seq.

So with that I ask for everyone's thoughts and suggestions, and any questions you have about what is going on in my warped insane head.

Thanks

Bryan

[moxi]

want to be able to sequence upto say 7 tracks of a Roland MC-303. (note on, glide, velocity /level etc). I also want ot have 7 sections with the realtime modifyable options (cutoff, level[this was mentioned in the seq part], resonance, pan, attack, decay, release, lfo rate, lfo modulation). I really dont want to have to switch parts to modify the sound of one I want to be able to tweak as much as I can with knobs right in front of me.

hi,

first multiply the number of parameter by the number of track, then by the number of step...;)  but all is possible in the MB galaxy, maybe one day electricity will be missing, but we are now able to product Sofa energy  ;D

Now I read the bit about why to use rotory encoders insted of pot sliders, but I'm doing all acid, trance, and acid trance tracks and being able to stee the pattern laid out the way the sliders are might be more advantages

you won't get any advantage using analog knob, the data won't be more continuous (but the resolution of encoding is realy enough ) ,cause the analog value will be converted to digital before going thru the MIDI between your seq and your 303, you will just have an "analog" feeling , but the rezolution will be the same....and really , encoder are really more ergonomique to drive ALL the parameter of your seq...

I am not sure how glide is achieved via midi or how that would work on a seq, I was thinking a button for note on/off and one for glide on/off so any fader/encoder with a note on starts a new note and any following with a glide button would be part of the glide with the next note on being the end of the glide.

the glide is a kind of portamento, maybe it's an CC number that correspond to this parameter, not sure. If the glide accent is listed in the MIDI implementation of the 303 , you can use a track of your MBseq to drive it...

The reason I say that is it would be hard to tweak an acid beat with one hand and edit a drum pattern with the other if it's all on the same seq.

It's always better to be able to have physique control for each parameter ,but in all case ,you will be limited by the number of hands and finger that one god give you.... ;)

Maybe the better way is to build first a (full) SEQ, then ,try to do all IT can do, then build a classic MIDI controler, changes in your config will be easier to handle and the project easier to realize well.

[iceberg]

When I was talking about the analog pots I was meaining sliders for the seq part. so you see the flow of notes insted of an actual notaton on the lcd screen. When Im doing live stuff I dont think I have EVER looked at a lcd screen except to load in new banks of params. So what Im talking about is the old slider type 16 step sequencers, the rest of the controls can be rotory encoders, that is not an issue. Though if someone has a better ide that doesnt involve having to look at the lcd to see the note value Im listening.

Looking at the MC-303 it seems it ties one note to the next so it's using more portamento than anything else I would asum, or a combination of that and pitch bend..

If I wanted a standard controller, Id just use the RS7000, but I cant do the things I want to with it for the MC-303. So this is a custom controller mostly for the 303.

This is definatly still in the muddeling around with concepts stage so keep the ideas comming.

[dcer10]

Hi,

Im new to the whole MBHP and im waiting for the parts to build my midibox seq v2, so perhaps I am way off track, or maybe it has some features I dont know about, so maybe I am totally wrong but from my interpretation of your inital comment it sounds like you want to do something outside the realms of step sequencing, or at least a combination of step sequencing and somthing else?

It sounds like what you want to do is to send midi note messages to your synth and then also some other parameters like midi controlers to control things like your cutoff filter via another "layer" in the midibox seq? When you are doing this, you are working within 16steps (Or some amount of steps depending on the step sequencer and its settings) which is great for many things including that old analog ala TB-303 style of writing note patterns (and many other things) as each note activates on a step. However sending some kinds of midi controlers ie cutoff filter would not really suit this method of sequencing as a filter may need to be changed smoothly over time. When assigning a controler number to the filter from a step sequencer the filter will jump about on each step jaggedly changing the filter in a very un natural way, which couldn't really be done by hand. This is good for things that may need to be changed on a per note basis, but not for a smooth transition of midi sliders by hand as they need to actually travel a physical distance up or down (which creates some smoothness between moments in time).

In order to change the filter (or whatever it is you want to change) smoothly you need to use something with a slider (which you already identified) which you probably do from your MC-303 by using the pots on the front. These pots have no steps and can send a continual stream of data to a sequencer (either the internal one or an external one). If you wish to mimic this kind of behaviour I would suggest using both a midi controler like the midibox ones or a kenton control freak (please dont boo at me just yet, I bought it before seeing the MBHP!!!), which has an input merge built in which helps with this kind of situation (im very sure you could build a MBHP system to do the same from what I have read). You would plug your sequencer into the midi in on the control freak and the conrtol freak then into a sequencer like logic etc (one capable of recording lots of continual midi data without limiting it to fit into a "step") and play your notes from the midibox seq, and insert your favorite real time tweaks via the midi controler (kenton control freak or whatever) and have logic route this all into your synth. This will give you the best of both worlds, the "feel" of a step sequencer, and the smoothness and resolution of the sliders and the ability to record and play back the whole thing.

When you are making a step sequence it is much like a bar graph, it can jump in a "square wave" type fashion between event values, and it sounds like you want a smooth "sine wave" like behaviour which without increasing the resolution of the steps to a value which would not be practical you wont be able to program these smooth changes in the step sequencer. Perhaps the MBHP could be programmed with a feature to allow for extra data to be included between the steps for midi controllers to smooth the behaviour of the controller between steps, this way you could (over a whole pattern) modulate your controller in a smooth way, this effect would be even better if you slowed the controler layer to 1/32 of the tempo of the "Note" pattern layer as the newly inserted events between the controlers could be made to be very smooth (depending on the resolution that this could be done at). This would result in something between a step sequencer and dedicated control surface (but programmed rather than manipulated by hand).

I saw some information on a MBHP "LFO" board which would allow you to assign midi controllers to a smooth LFO which would self modulate (no doubt in some kind of programable way) which would be an excellent add on to the sequencer in my view. Im fact I would really like to see a large system including the MBHP seq v2, a couple of merge boxes to add the LFO board to self modulate some controllers, and a controller type surface so that you could route via the midi output a series of smooth controllers from the LFO and knobs/sliders, as well as step programmed notes and other cc's from the MBHP seq v2 which make sense ie envelope controls that change per note etc. Some kind of high resolution data recorder on the other end of the whole system which has a lot of memory and allows for record and playback (which could be a computer, but there too unreliable in my view) of all of this combined data for your final track.

I intend (once I get to a stage of being able to even physically build the sequencer) to adapt it to contain such a setup with the LFO generator, step sequencer, control surface, and appropriate midi mergers, im sure that will be in a long time though as I am a newbie to the electronics side of things.

Sorry if that was all a bit long winded or ff I was way off track or repeating whats already been said in another way....

You've gotta love midi.

[all_on_black]

Though if someone has a better ide that doesnt involve having to look at the lcd to see the note value Im listening

Im not very experienced with the whole analogue synth/sequencer thing (yet :P), but maybe you could use rotary encoders, and use a vertical LED "ring" so that you have an encoder to physically move, but its setting is shown on the LED meter. You might have to make some changes to be able to have more than 11 LED's though, but its just an idea.

Or i guess you could try using LED displays, like those of a digital clock, as they would be a lot clearer than LCD displays.