INTRODUCTION TO SYNTHESIZERS - hol.gr

If you have read these chapters in a succession, you should already have a fairly good picture of what MIDI
sequencers really are. But let us now look at these things in a little more detail!
The idea of automated music is not a new one - self-playing pianos were for instance quite popular at the
beginning of the century. But when we speak about sequencers, we are usually referring to electronic devices
used to trigger automated notes on a synthesizer.
The first simple sequencers could trigger eight or
sixteen notes in succession.
The programming was done with switches and buttons,
and the data was stored as electric signals. These
signals could then be fed into a synthesizer - which then
played back the corresponding tones.
Click on the icon to listen to a typical sequencerpattern!
(106 kB)
(The synthesizer you hear is an RB-338.)
Korg SQ-10 Analog Sequencer
Sequencers were most often used to create very precise, repeating eight- or sixteen-note bassline patterns, just
as can be heard in the example above. Several new-age groups, such as Tangerine Dream used these simple,
yet hypnotic patterns as a foundation on which their compositions were based.
Some years later the first microprocessor-controlled sequencers were manufactured. These could store several
hundred notes - actually whole musical pieces.
When MIDI soon thereafter became the worldwide standard for communication between electronic musical
instruments, a whole new world of possibilities opened up. The new MIDI-sequencers could store and handle an
almost unlimited amount of MIDI data.
We have already stated that a MIDI sequence is in fact a chronological list of MIDI events. It is all the different
Note On and Note Off commands that make up a part in a musical piece.
It is very important to keep in mind that a MIDI sequencer does not record the actual sounds, but only the MIDI
events, such as Note On and Note Off commands. You will need to have a synthesizer connected to the
sequencer to hear the result.
It's worth noting that some synthesizers are also equipped with built-in sequencers. Some of these are rather
crude composition tools, capable of storing a hundred notes, while some others feature full multitrack recording
and editing of a hundred thousand notes and MIDI events.
Modern sequencers, such as the Roland MC-80 in the picture below, are in fact nothing less than dedicated
music computers.
If you wish, you can still enter the individual
notes and rests using the same, somewhat
rigid "step-mode" as in the first analog
sequencers.
While this mode may be very useful for
entering mechanical sounding or very strict
rhythmic musical patterns, a far more
common approach is to use modern
sequencers as real-time multi-track MIDIrecorders.
Roland MC-80 MicroComposer
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