As I wait again for a Cirklon, I’m dreaming of the one ring to rule them all sequencer to tie all my hardware together for fast fun workflow between modular and my hardware synths to record tracks into my DAW as painless as possible. Looking at things like
Cirklon- expensive and another long 3 year wait
Oxi One- battery powered nice playable chord mode with midi and lots of cv control of modular gear
Squarp Hapax- looks great but expensive
Right now, I have a BSP, Octatrack and modular sequencers in my studio.
My keys skills are weak, but I’m enjoying my SL61 Mk3 in addition to my other sequencers (SQ64, Keystep 37 and the various Elektrons and other things with built in sequencers)
Things I enjoy:
- 61 keys with action that reminds me of the Virus 61. I have not had the two at the same time, and suspect that the Virus keyboard is noticeably better, but I don’t mind the SL61 after having the Virus for around a decade, so that’s something.
- Arpeggiator - The arp is comparable to the better Elektron arps (MnM / OT / A4) but slightly easier to program because of the keys. Best features of the AK (nice big keys) and MnM arp. It is nice to be able to arp arps, and also to have a primary arp that stays the same regardless of which synth I’m driving.
- Sequencer - I have not gone deep yet. The sequencer is basic but with Elektrons and other step sequencers I don’t (yet) miss more sophistication in the master keyboard.
- Dual MIDI outs - I haven’t actually used this yet, but if it is implemented so that you get twice the bandwidth of a single MIDI out then that will be nice.
Obvious-but-not-useful answer: A Macbook Air with a Launchpad Pro or one of the other Novation sequencers/controllers and Ableton or Bitwig. This is the direction I’m moving, and I recently added a big MIDI hub and a long USB cable so that I can run most of my gear via MIDI over USB.
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I like everything about the Oxi except the arranger mode. I don’t even have any ideas how to improve it, I just don’t gel with it at all.
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Hapax is looking good if I don’t go with a Cirklon. For now, I need to get back into using the OT to MIDI sequence multiple tracks on the Virus. That will let me build complete songs using the OT sequencer and samples and Virus for bass, leads and pads and drums even but Rytm or OT can handle those easy.
I always thought the Social Entropy Engine looked cool. the dude I bought my Cirklon off of said he was selling it in favor of the Engine, because I guess it’s less programmy and more live-interactive feeling. they may be discontinued now, but you can find them on Reverb and such pretty often.
that said… I loved sequencing with my OT before I got a Cirklon. I didn’t like the arsenal of Kenton midi-cv boxes I had to run though, and constantly looking up what midi channels to use, to switch between which synths I was sequencing. I loved the workflow though, and found it very productive.
i found an ultimate sequencer for me, it’s 2-component:
- any hardware sequencer or groovebox that i like
- iPad with Mozaic, where i implement the features that particular hardware sequencer lacks.
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