MIDIBOX SEQ - Some Possible ideas for feature enhancement.

[Artesia]

In the time i have built & been using the already quite impressive MIOS MidiBox Sequencer. Afew things came to mind with regards to possible feature enhancements...

I will cover some ideas which frequently appear on other 'common' midi sequencing/manipulation devices & some possibly new ideas to suggest...

A Random Related Deviation:

Probably the best creatively equipped, commercially produced sequencer, was the  short lived Latronic Notron. It was produced on a small scale & dispite its quite amazing feature set, it did not last too long :(

I've recently located some detailed documentation for the notron & will study it in more detail soon (see links below). I expect the documentation will be a really interesting read for anyone working with, or developing midi sequencers. I'll add anything interesting i read to this post later on...

Some pictures of the two revisions, of the sexy beast ;)

New Version & original:

 

A sound on sound review:

www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/jun97/latronicnorton.html

Official Documentation:

http://www.synthservices.com/notron/notron_v2.pdf

Other Documentation:

http://www.technomage.freeserve.co.uk/notron.htm

#1 Some Simple'ish ideas which should be acheiveable with the exhisting hardware:

* 'Musical' Fast data scrolling function:

The following would be useful for acheiving good results quickly; whilst leaving the option to fine tune later to users preference...

Jump between number based data values according to 'golden ratio'/'fraction' rules. ie: number deviders of 0.25, 0.33, 0.50, 0.66, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.33, etc...

When note scrolling - Jump by octave / or through notes of various scales.

Jump Along Note Table by 1/2 (1/4) or full bars.

* Variable Portamento & Slide.

Pitch slides up & down rather than jumps from note to note. Also option to bridge/slide one 'note' to the next.

Note: for synths which do not accept portamento; sending pitch bend signals could get close.. if not in itself provide an interesting accidental effect, where a full slide range is not possible.

* Basic Accenting

Automatically Slide notes up/down at end of note.

Modes to slide up/slide down/Random/Relative to next.

* Note 'Echo' roll off, with variable fade off over given step lengths. also variable pitch slide up/down.

(maybe even echo out into sucessive cord progressions - will eat resources, i figure tho)

* A 'scroll through' cord function on each note.

The ability to select one note (or several in a sequence) and scroll through 'cords' to apply to each note.

(saving this as a memory patch might be 'interesting' however)

* A curve table to (destructively) apply an adustable ammount of increasing values to a modifier (ie: velocity) between two pre selected beat steps.

This tool would allow rapid creation of 'snare rolls' & many other things which depend on such patterns of progression. without all the tedious tweaking from one knob to the next, to get it sounding right. ..would just be a case of tweaking 5 knobs  start/end level, 'curve hump', curve hump centerpoint & curve centerpoint level.

* Basic Gating

Gating acheived by muting with a 'square wave' whereby negative number values invert the muting behavior. Adjustable 'puse width'. Possibly allow the application of a timing curve against the 'square wave' which decreases on/off value incrementally over a defined period of time.

Maybe allow Gater values to be modulated by a Curve Table - ie a 'groove/swing' type pattern.

* 'infinate' scrolling:

When scrolling through data values/notes; allow an option, which can be turned on&off, for wrapping back to the lowest value available when the highest is reached.

*  Copy / Clone Function:

Select beginning & end points for copying (as done with editing selections). Press paste button once to place copy immediately after 'copy end point'. Press again to paste after first paste. Manually select different paste start point.

Additional useful feature would be to have button combinations to paste inverted data/reversed  data/add to exhisting data/subtract from exhisting data being pasted over...

Re-selecting pasted data set to quickly fill a section with the same pattern. is useful for taking a basic key pattern; then applying a series of modifyers over entire length of pattern.

Thanks to the mbseq :), the last bits on an idea i have been working on for the last 4-5 years; to further the potential for computers/techology to be a creative tool have fallen into place. I am really not sure to do with it now.. Though im determined to make it happen somehow...

More to come sometime soon..

thanks for reading :)

[sneakthief]

The Notron's "superstep" feature (which you referred to as a "curve table") is fantastic to use, as well as the "force-to-scale" option.  There are 40 built-in scales on the Notron, quite a few of which are a lot of fun to use.

I think the closest sequencer to the Notron is the Colin Fraser's P3 - http://p3sequencer.com ...although I'm not found of the physical user interface. I've had a Notron MkI since 1998 - the biggest pro for me is the amazing physical ergonomics. The software user interface is quite straightforward with most features only a few button-pushes away.

The biggest pain in the ass is that it will randomly reset due to static eletricity. Argghhhh! That why I don't use it for live performances anymore.

Cheers,

michel

[Artesia]

cool :)

notrons are a nice bit of kit.. once got to play with a ver 1 ...fun :) if i ever happened across one of the ver 2's for a price i could afford ..i got admit ..i'd be tempted.

Yes.. now you mention it ...i can see the similariys on the feature ..probably where my idea bubbled up from digesting allsorts of random things over the years. ....mind it would seem that the modulation possibilitys are fixed to the available waveforms ...can you program your own out of curiousity ?