'serial sequencer' ???

[Greg_KPX]

Ableton Live. You can assign note numbers to midi clips (or audio clips)... Download the demo and give it a test run.

Edit: I just re-read your post and you will have to give more info such as:

1. how many "patterns" do you need to store at a time
2. does it have to be a dedicated sequencer that only does this function or can you use a work around on an existing bit of kit that is capable of far more than what you want to do?
3. is it something that you want to use live and does it need to be very portable?
4. what do you need this function for specifically?

[nofi]

DSI evolver has MIDI note controlled sequencer stepping, just like you asked for....

[joeq]

thanks guys - these are great leads!

it's not for me, it's for a student, so some of the details I have might be a little vague:

I know he wants to use it live, but he's young and has already stated that he is not averse to lugging his laptop to the gig. His enthusiasm for the project would probably overcome any hassles of transportation and setup -at least for now.

plus, I am pretty sure he would gravitate towards a cheap clumsy solution vs an expensive elegant solution.

he is a drummer and he wants to have a pad set up to play the melody (or maybe it was a bass line?) at a tempo of his choosing rather than having it loop on a clock. He wants to have another pad set up for program change messages.

[esaias]

Roland SH-101's sequecer!

-Tomi

[ignatius]

i think the newer MPC's (1000,2500) can do something like this perhaps you need the JJOS though. i recall seeing a video on youtube where the guy did exactly what you are describing.

[Greg_KPX]

Hmm.. ok this is what I have thought up and its pretty crude but it could work, and I'm still drunk from last night:

Basically in Ableton Live he could set up a whole lot of midi clips with one note in each clip and use "follow actions" to play the next clip. If he keeps the clips as one shots (unsynced to the master tempo) then in theory (haven't tried this yet), it should advance to, and play the next note every time he hits the drum trigger and then go back to the start when he reaches the last clip (follow actions again).

The cool thing is, he could set up around 16 separate midi channels with different sets of clips in each one.

Another cool thing is he could also chop up an audio loop of a bass line and use that instead of triggering midi clips.

This could also apply to drums and whatever audio he chooses to dump into Ableton.

The only thing now is to test this theory but I'll do it after breakfast.

[Greg_KPX]

Ok, just set the Ableton idea up, tested it and the "follow actions" are 100% useless for this and it doesn't work as I had imagined. Basically i can keep it from being synced but once you hit the first clip, it just runs through all of them automatically, so its not possible to do with one trigger alone.

The other thing I tried was using one shot clips, un-synced and just hitting one note every time to advance the "scene". It worked exactly as you describe but it won't loop!

So basically you can cross Ableton Live off the list

p.s. remind me not to have any stupid ideas after a big night

[joeq]

Originally Posted by Greg_KPX

The other thing I tried was using one shot clips, un-synced and just hitting one note every time to advance the "scene". It worked exactly as you describe but it won't loop!

Is it possible to paste a couple hundred together? that way the song would be over before he ran out.

[Greg_KPX]

Originally Posted by joeq

Is it possible to paste a couple hundred together? that way the song would be over before he ran out.

Yes you can... but its kind of a clumsy workaround as he'd be doing a lot of cutting and pasting

He would also have to load a new file each time he wants to change the melody! But maybe thats not a problem?

[Hint]

Originally Posted by ignatius

i recall seeing a video on youtube where the guy did exactly what you are describing.

Check out Duracell:
YouTube - Duracell (Andre Diamant) Live @ Ground Zero
YouTube - André Duracell - Turrican


He uses triggers on his drum kit to play synth sequences from a Nord Modular in time with his drumming.

[ignatius]

Originally Posted by Hint

Check out Duracell:
YouTube - Duracell (Andre Diamant) Live @ Ground Zero
YouTube - André Duracell - Turrican


He uses triggers on his drum kit to play synth sequences from a Nord Modular in time with his drumming.

people do like to stand around him and drink beer. 2nd vid has much better audio.

[ersheff]

Max/Msp.
Pretty complicated program overall, but easy to make it do things like you're asking.