Electronic Music 411 - hardware sequencers whats good?

03/26/08 + Horizons

I am not really interested in yamaha, roland, akai stuff etc . . .

can anyone tell me about experiences with:

the future retro mobius
the spectral audio cyclus 3
the mfb step 64

anyother hardware sequencer i might not be aware of that is of a reasonable price.

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03/27/08 + license

jarvis, when you talk about the sound of the elektrons do you mean specifically the monomachine? I think I've heard you say this about the machinedrum before but a lot of people seem to dig the sound of the MM but not the MD.

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03/27/08 + jarvis

i like the sound of the MM better than the MD, but I still don't like the overall sound. funny enough, i actually like the way the drums on the MM sound more than on the MD. i think the elekrons have a really recognizable sound and I don't like to spend my time masking the tone of a synth, especially if it's a main component. The best way I can describe it is 'grainy'. No matter what kind of sound you make with it there's this tone to it that sounds like you are throwing a pinch of really fine grain sand on the speaker cone.

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03/27/08 + PYVND

Does MM sound "sizzly" at all? Because if so I like the sizzle.

03/27/08 + jarvis

yeah i guess you could say it has some sizzle to it. it sounds really... i dunno... it just has this airy/grainy/sizzly sound in the higher frequencies (at least this is what my ears hear) like there's lots of energy in the higher end of the harmonics.

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03/27/08 + PYVND

I really want a MM. I can't deny it. I want one. Just plain WANT ONE NOW

03/27/08 + djugel

I totally agree with jarvis about the "sizzle" .. it's annoying on the MD... but great on the MnM. I still remember though when my friend got a Pro-One and did this track with this slow filter sweep.. very smooth over a ruff sound... and I just thought "fuck.. I can't do that on the MnM"

MnM still rules.. I just had both as the core of my setup.. and I realized they should be more of a compliment than the heart... and I just ain't that rich.. yet!

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03/27/08 + sup909

EMU Command Station?

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03/28/08 + jsrockit

I always think it is funny when people talk about the Elektron machines recognizable sound... I always thought that was a good thing. I mean, it is one thing to not like the sound of a synth, but it is another to diss it for being unique (ie having its own sound). I always that thought it was good for a machine to have its own sound...unless you are building a clone.

03/28/08 + ignatius

jsrockit said: "I always think it is funny when people talk about the Elektron machines recognizable sound... I always thought that was a good thing. I mean, it is one thing to not like the sound of a synth, but it is another to diss it for being unique (ie having its own sound). I always that thought it was good for a machine to have its own sound...unless you are building a clone."

i more or less agree w/you but i think there are a lot of lazy people out there who don't spend enough time making a synth or whatever sound like their own. they go for the obvious easy things an MD can do and it's totally recognizable and boring once you've heard it. so, like any synth people who buy it need to spend some time putting some thought into sound design and get away from the usual stale things everyone's heard before. plus, w/the ability to load your own samples i nit.. there's no reason any 2 MD's should sound the same.

that being said. i like the sound of the elektrons and think the MnM in particular is fucking great.

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03/28/08 + jarvis

oh yeah, i'm just lazy

everything has a 'sound'. every single piece of gear out there has a sound to it, regardless of how you program it. maybe extra processing can mask it, but everything has a fingerprint. i just don't happen to like the elektron fingerprint and i don't care to process it enough externally to mask it to my liking. that's not being lazy, that's having a preference.

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edited: Mar 28 2008 + ignatius

jarvis said: "oh yeah, i'm just lazy

everything has a 'sound'. every single piece of gear out there has a sound to it, regardless of how you program it. maybe extra processing can mask it, but everything has a fingerprint. i just don't happen to like the elektron fingerprint and i don't care to process it enough externally to mask it to my liking. that's not being lazy, that's having a preference."

lol. i meant.. even people who DO like the elektron sound seem to run it into the ground by doing the same shit over and over. i guess i worded all that wrong. it's like a plug in that gets used the same way by a group of artists.

i agree the elektrons, like any synth, have a finger print. i think w/programing (in the machine.. not external processing) you can make anything sound at least a little different so people who are familiar w/the sound have to second guess themselves as to what they are hearing. if they even care.

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03/28/08 + quip

i thought we were talking sequencers?

get a dopefer or this bad boy that was once made in bradford:

link

thems the days....

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03/28/08 + ignatius

quip said: "i thought we were talking sequencers?

get a dopefer or this bad boy that was once made in bradford:

link

thems the days...."

notrons go for $1700+ and maybe one shows up every year on ebay.

after reading some other posts by people on teh intertoobs it seems i don't know what i'm talking about when it comes to the maq 16/3. it ahs its quirks but is more or less finished as far as the OS goes and otherwise quite capable and fun to jam with.

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03/28/08 + jarvis

biggest con for doepfer sequencers: no swing (unless they've added this into whatever OS upgrades they did)

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03/28/08 + korgborglar

same goes for future retro, no swing on the mobius or 777

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