What kills me about Elektron Midi sequencing is that all four notes in the track are tied with start time and length. That sounds pretty unnatural to my ears. I like to play chords a bit more ragged than that.
I’m loathe to say anything nice about Roland, but the MC707 has good sequencing capabilities when it comes to editing velocity, length, etc for multiple notes in a single step. It may be better suited for you, depending on your exact needs.
H A P A X
or if you have money and time burning a hole in your pocket
C I R K L O N
then be done with it and spend the rest of the time making music and look forward to much more immediate and community focused firmware updates
As a proud owner of the Hapax, I echo the suggestions of previous commentors that you’re better off buying a Hapax. It has some of the same features as the Elektron sequencer (conditional triggers and Song Mode, for example) as well as a more flexible and creative arpeggiator once you combine it with the ever growing library of MIDI effects. One of the newest MIDI effects is Arpology, an arpeggiator that can run each voice at different rates and different “sequences”. Add that to a harmonizer/transpose track (which the Elektron sequencer doesn’t have) and you’re already miles ahead of the Octatrack sequencer, considering that’s the only function you would use it for.
Another sequencer to consider is the Oxi One. I have both and I vibe more with the Hapax than the Oxi One, but YMMV.
what about DN2 with its fancy new note edit thingy? I figure at least the synth tracks can mirror those midi notes out if the midi machine can’t do it too. i don’t know if it can but there’s a dedicated button for it
Oh wow, I’m behind the times. I’ve got the first gen Elektron machines. Upgrading to DT/DN 2 isn’t really a possibility for me, so I haven’t kept up with the new features. Yeah, that looks much more flexible than the sequencer on the OT
for programming notes most def. but sequencer still no slides, no swing per track, no plays free, no parts, no plocking arp params. OT got tricks. but 16 mfin voices with key tracking and page loop ftw! they really like to keep the functional load-out well distributed across the whole lineup
Rrooooh, i did miss that, is it possible… i do miss it, gonna take a look to TFM
Thank you !
I used an MPC 2000 XL for ages, but swapped it out for a 1000 a decade and a half back. Much smaller, and rock solid timing.
If you can get a good deal on an Mk1, maybe. But I’d say it depends if you generally like the way sequencing on the OT works. It can be quite inspirational. The lfo designer sets it apart from the alternatives and if you develop the muscle memory it’s an incredibly fast workflow (if you don’t, it’s tedious and probably frustrating) and if you don’t make heavy use of cc sequencing and maybe stuff like generative sequencing (=the lfos to generate note sequences you record and then tweak further), there’s not much that it has to offer.
I have used it for a year or so almost exclusively as a midi sequencer, it’s certainly capable and fun to get some ideas going, but also limited in many ways.
The way note lengths is scaled, it’s more suited for shorter note lengths, polyphony is limited, you can of course use two or more midi tracks to stack up polyphony, but especially in this regard, there are more capable alternatives.
Midi cc sequencing is its strengths imho. You can for example set a one shot (1st condition) trig that resets software sequencers, very useful when working with software modulars like VCV Rack and it’s super interesting to unleash several tracks of midi lfos and manually started/stopped cc sequences that modulate macros and whatnot.
