This video, via SynthManiaDotCom, takes a look at sequencing synths, 80’s style – before computers took over.
Technical details:
Jamming with the Roland MSQ-700, a simple but effective hardware sequencer from 1984. A (Crumar) Bit 99 offers the synth sounds, and a Roland TR-505 provides the beat.
In the days before DAWs, hardware sequencers were often used to build the structure of synth-based songs of the ’80s.
This dude is playing some straight up jams!
Loved it!
It’s better sequencing this way and more inspiring than sitting in front of a screen programming. No software or OS upgrades, crashes and my hardware STILL works 25+ years later. Who can say that about any DAW from 5 years ago.
I can. I’ve been using Acid Pro 7 for almost 5 years. I could still be using Acid Pro 6, or 5, on the same PC I had back then. I upgraded because I wanted too, it was easy and cheap, and I keep getting more functionality for my setup. Try that with a hardware box.
Take it from the guy that uses Acid.
And MSQ prices just went up 🙂
this is really cool!
Hardware generally trumps software because it doesn’t come with a guaranteed expiration date. I spent some time laboring over an MC-500 and it was far better than struggling with cassettes. You tend to live in a world of punch-ins and outs with hardware sequencers. It keeps the work a bit more immediate and in your hands. Still, I have no regrets in trading that for being able to address single notes visually and that goes double for no longer having to fight with MIDI Spaghetti. No one says you can’t mix methods, either, but my DAW lets me benefit from that time in the trenches without the draining aspects. I’ll tolerate the drawback of software for the immediacy and transparency of using it. The 80s were often cute and exploratory, but in 2013, its just another style option. The tools don’t force your hands anymore.
Awesome!! I want to try that 🙂
There’s an MSQ-700 NIB $400 on eBay right now. Wish I had the money.
I still use an Alesis MMT8, love it….
I really enjoy this video! I use to work in a Yamaha QX1 in the 90s.. the best MIDI clock and playback I’ve every feel …
Now I use Logic but I always feel that the MIDI playback is wrong and from time to time I return to record some ideas in hardware sequencers and enjoy again the real quality of stable MIDI timming and hardware groove.
Cool though this is (no really, I enjoyed the video a whole lot), I wouldn’t want to use a hardware sequencer any more for two reasons: They’re usually HUGE if you want one with a good interface, and they rely on awkward backup media / techniques. Floppy disks or MIDI dumps, or old SmartMedia cards. (I’ve previously owned an RM1x.)
I’ll get downvotes from the anti-PC crowd, but an iPad with a basic USB MIDI interface and Genome can get you similar results with visual pattern sequencing, easy loop recording, and song-building. And backing up the MIDI is trivial.
Don’t get me wrong, people can and are still making music with these old hardware sequencers – and that’s fine – but I do think that sequencing using a tablet provides the immediacy of the old hardware seqs (iOS is lightweight compared to Windows bloat, though 8 is fast), but also DAW-style editing and much, much more storage.
I have tried using an iPad and about the only thing I use it for today in the studio is as a remote control for Logic. That’s very handy, but I wouldn’t want to use it as my main sequencer. Just doesn’t float my boat, I prefer buttons and sliders when possible.
About those old devices with floppy disks: In most cases you can exchange those drives with an emulator that uses an SD-card for instance. It’s a really great way of keeping your machines running and having peace of mind with regard to backups and data safety.
I used a Brother PDC-100 32 track sequencer for a lot of years. Made some great tunes on it also. I can’t say I miss it that much though. I enjoy the plug ins too much these days.
I had a 505 for a while and got a ton of mileage out of it. But I wouldn’t go back to hardware sequencers for anything. Once I broke the barrier of linear there was no going back. With Ableton I can move around song chunks and try different arrangements on the fly, which I could only dream of before. But I do benefit from the old days where you had to just commit to something and move on. Too much fiddling can completely stop you from accomplishing anything of value.
After 20 years of non-linear midi editing, it’s refreshing to return to the old ways of doing things, analog tape, traditional step sequencing, etc. . . I admit I also enjoy making music in iOS, but the attitude I have now is, if I never use a computer to make music again, I won’t miss it. The qwerty keyboard and a mouse/trackpad does not inspire the best musical output, IMO.
One of the greatest things about making music the old way is mistakes. They’re almost unavoidable. In a non-linear setting mistakes can easily be erased. While in linear land, one is more inclined to either make use of them or start the track over from scratch. I prefer the former and my music is better for it. It’s like the mutation in the gene that make evolution possible. If the mutation is fatal the organism doesn’t reproduce (and the track must be re-recorded), but if the mutation can be coped with, you get something interesting and unexpected. With a little finesse, it can even start to sound like it was planned. One of my music teachers said that Jazz was the art of making ones mistakes sound intentional. Whether you are making Jazz or not, it’s good advice.
So use use both. A computer for detailed visual edits and old school Seq for when you want to creatively jam. They both have their place and fit well with the other. ….. Ipads also have there place but I always find myself wishing for real knobs and buttons. Ipads also don’t have enough cpu to run my studio so they cannot replace a PC.
Synthhead, great job! Is it possible that you have the patches for the Bit99 available?`
There are very few patches out there for this great synth.
I am about to compile patches for the Bit99 on a webpage.
The battery in my MSQ 700 died… after thirty years, so I got a new battery fitted 🙂 sadly the time correct function doesn’t to seem to work any more.