This video, via Daniel Troberg, captures a modular synthesizer jam with Sequencomat V3 – an 8 track 16 step MIDI sequencer in Max/MSP, with a touch control surface for the Jazzmutant Lemur.
Sequencomat is based on the idea of traditional hardware step sequencers, but with an touchscreen control surface.
Below, Troberg tests out Sequencomat v3, running its own clock and sequencing a Nord Modular G1 on the first 4 channels and the G2 on the 4 following.
Touch screen interfaces like the Lemur offer an interesting tactile control option for modular synthesis. This technology should be with reach of a lot of musicians as many musicians as apps and inexpensive interfaces are developed for platforms like the Apple iPad.
By combining tactile computer-based sequencers like Sequencomat with the hands-on immediacy of modular synthesizers, it seems like one should be able to get the best of both worlds.
What do you think? Is this the future of modular synthesis?
via erasemusic
hells yes. and considering devices/software like volta and silent way, i think the analog/modular "revival" is just getting started. touch technologies are gonna make get really exciting. i can't wait until we have screens that somehow grow knobs, buttons and faders, perhaps using some crazy transparent ferro-fluid alien tech. ok, now i'm really dreaming, but all this fun stuff started with crazy dreams, right?
What about the direct brain connection?
Interesting. Before I got Silent Way I also thought about building some tools for controlling analog synthesizers via a DC-coupled sound interface in Max/MSP. In theory the only "hard" problem should be the calibration of pitch CV. It's also a fun problem I guess, so I am now more tempted than before to try it out.
What I do not fully understand is the price tag of this product. Silent Way cost me less than a 1/4 of that. Is designing a set of Lemur screens really that hard and time consuming? Sometimes I think about getting one, but if it is so much pain to create your own screens that people conceivably pay so much money (granted, for someone who buys a lemur, big audio interface, and analog modular synth, this is more like peanuts) for cutom interfaces? For me, this beats the whole idea I got from the Lemur (apart from the fact, that I also do not fully understand how someone can buy a software like Max/MSP, and then for a sizeable fraction of that price purchase something which is made with it — to me this is a bit like buying a C compiler (for example the excellent Intel one which has quite a hefty price tag) and then also buying all the programs one could have build with it; not exactly, but similar). Yes, I'm odd, maybe …
I can see some advantage to having a shared platform that many people use. This seems to have worked out well with the monome world.
Your probably right about money not being a big deal for people that a big modular and a Lemur, too. Must be nice!
yup. been dreaming of a FW port in my forehead for a long time too.
"Is This The Future Of Modular Synthesis?".
No
Hey Random Chance, I am Mat (the creator of sequencomat)
"Is designing a set of Lemur screens really that hard and time consuming?"
No.
I did a lot of modules and shared for free.
The time-consuming thing was the maxpatch….and it is the support….
You also do not need to buy max, it works with free runtime.
So you get a sequencer with functions like hardware-sequencers for a price much less, working out of the box…. thats what the price is for, and it is worth it, as all my customers say.
Anyway….there is also a free sequencomatV1!
see video below
[youtube 1gNp7u3TlRw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gNp7u3TlRw youtube]
And there are many many more templates….
It are the details that make V3 different….stepvalues instead of trackvalues…., octave, note, velocity, length, delay for each STEP of each track, all saveable in 100patterns (with 1000values each pattern) and handled in realtime….you can imagine….it was a hard and long time to build it…… and you will not find such a detailed midi-sequencer on monome, launchpad or Ipad.
I understand your point….hopefully you got mine 😉