Being that most of us here love the Elektron sequencers, p-locks, and smooth workflow, I’m curious about what your oldest/most archaic sequencer experiences are. Stories, videos? Let’s share.
Mine was doing a 40min gig with the Casio CZ5000’s 8 track sequencer. I programmed chords with four tracks, and FX one hit, two alternate basslines, and one track left for live play. Everything sequenced in rhythmic notation on the CZ.
I made this album
Using only an SH101, MS20, and Mono/Poly.
Everything clocked by the SH101. Sequencesand arps native to each synth. Every track recorded live into a stereo recorder through my analogue mixer.
Loved the experience and plan to do more one day.
Can’t wait to check it out. Thanks.
audio/music for an 8-channel system that ran in a big public art gallery (AGNSW) for about a month in 1991. We were loaned the sound system plus a Roland MC50 & S770 sampler which ran continuously unless the power tripped or they fell over - in which case I had to catch a bus into the city.
The amps were fed from the main & individual outs of the sampler.
The sequencer was programmed partly by hand, partly by dumping MIDI out of my Atari. The audio in the sampler was sampled from existing magnetic tape and freshly-sampled sources. Editing was very judicious to stay within 16MB RAM 
Grand days.
Got any snippets of that? Sounds like an awesome project.
Right?! But, even then, the CZ was more than just a step sequencer.
The CZ was weird because if you counted the notation wrong you could end up with wonky loops. But, sometimes it was preferable for “random” arps.
It would also do one hits if the track wasn’t looped. And, the CZ series is known for it’s complex ENVs.
I bought an alesis MMT8 around 91, used it for years until eventually the rubber buttons failed. Amazing sequencer to quickly build tracks. 8 track buttons on on the top however the best trick was you could record 8 sequences on different midi channels or 8 sequences on one midi channel if you wanted and bring them in and out or merge all 8 tracks to one track to free up 7, brilliant design, and I liked the lift up lid with the instructions on. No wonder Orbital used multiple MMT8’s for their live shows for many years.
As a side note, me and a mate did a live gig at a local festival late 90’s using the mmt8 and mc303 for sequencing, we were due on stage and had to set up off stage while the previous act was finishing. So we had various stands with synths etc ready to haul on stage, was a beautiful sunny day. Out of nowhere a freak thunder storm came and all the gear was out in the rain , we grabbed it and chucked it in the back of the car frantically trying to dry it with towels, I thought the whole lot was ruined, about 20 mins later we were due on so got everything out again and set up, amazingly everything worked !!!
Ah, man! You’re bringing back. I actually totally forgot about my HR16 days! I wish that line’s hardware was more reliable, because the software and layout was something special.
I think that’s why I like the Digitakt so much, quick workflow, capturing ideas, punch in and out, on the other hand I look at it and think have we actually moved on much in the last 25 years with hardware sequencing ? In some ways things are better but in others some of the old kit did things modern sequencers can’t, I look at a piece of gear and think why can’t it do that, I could do that with the … 20 years ago !
Roland MC-4b is pretty archaic but also quite sophisticated, separate entry of pitch, gate, timing, mpx and aux CV events. You specify a time base and enter events via the keypad, it does also have realtime record but no quantise - aside from manually correcting 
I came up with a bunch of tips and tricks that I have mostly forgotten now to workaround certain things, the most obvious being adding swing/shuffle by editing every event a few clock pulses alternating -/+ (can do this on the MC-202 as well BTW) I made a basic video showing it here:
Malekko Varigate 4+, 2019. 
Curious what points you’re talking about.
Here’s my oldest, a Sequential Circuits Model-800. Quirky and cool and, alas, currently in need of a bit of repair.
One of my favorite old sequencers, the Oberheim DSX, not least because it can sequence eight external analogue synths as well as any OB synth that might be connected to it.
The mighty QX1, one of the best hardware MIDI sequencers of its day, this behemoth sports a whopping eight sets of MIDI outputs around back. I wish I’d been able to afford one when I was struggling to enter notes step-by-step into a QX21 back in 1987. The QX1 still works, too… assuming there’s a 5 1/4" floppy disk in the drive.
Damn, these really are some old ones! Always wondered what it would be like to have these back in the day. The DT was really me realizing that old dream.
The Casio CZ101 - cabled up to my Atari ST.
I had a great program on the ST that generated random sounds on the CZ101. I used to spend hours just seeing what it would come up with next. Then there was another program where I could store the settings. Of course, this means nothing to anyone who uses a modern device with Ngigs of memory!
Respect to those who pushed the boat out and bought the CZ5000.
Those were the days… I used CZ Android to patch it up and that may or may not have had the random patch generator - I had something that did. There was also a keen program designed for the CZ-101 that would spit out generative sequences in a pre-determined key. I used to plumb my CZ through a little delay and use it to generate background music…
“ST Android” sounds familiar. I was a member of the “ST club” and got a lot of my software from them. I was sorry to see them go West.
There were a few “Android” titles for the ST, most famously “DX Android” which was used to patch the Yamaha DX series. They were made by a company called Hybrid Arts. The late, great Tim Conrardy’s page dedicated to Hybrid Arts still exists and is but one of many nifty things on his Atari-based pages: http://tamw.exxoshost.co.uk/hyart.htm
Just had a look at that page. Amazing. I wonder how many people are still using Atari after all these years? It was THE computer for the musician, after all!
