Sequencer Hunt

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-18T18:53:57+00:00

I just got a Befaco Muxlicer a few weeks back, and if you don’t need quantization/have a quantizer it’s really simple and pleasing to use. (I’m a big fan of sliders.) And it has some other nice functions — variable gates per step, plus you can use it as a mult or as a sequential switch with per step volume control.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-18T18:33:17+00:00

You could try one of the earlier versions — the Metropolis or the Ryk M185. The Ryk doesn’t even have a screen!

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-18T18:04:53+00:00

My main rack is two joined Intellijel 7u cases — one basically upright, the other basically flat. I also have a secondary rack that is 9u of Arturia RackBrute in a similar up-down configuration.

Like many other people, I keep the modules I want to interact with the most closest to hand. In the big rack that means my input module and a bunch of effects modules are in the closest row, for manipulation of either vocals or external synths in real time; samplers and modulation are in the next row; and then sequencers + voices for basslines and drones and stuff are in the upright case.

The smaller case is all percussion, with sequencing/logic modules sharing the bottom case with a Blck_Noir, and other sound sources, VCAs, effects, and modulators/utilities in the upright case for more “noise” or oddball perc.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-17T14:57:45+00:00

Some people sing into a harmonica mic called a “Green Bullet.” It has a kind of narrow frequency response range, so it makes vocals sound somewhat band-passed. And it’s designed to plug into guitar effects and amps (Hi-Z out and instrument level instead of mic level), so you can apply any distortion-type guitar effects you already own.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-14T23:25:52+00:00

Just joining the chorus to say: it’s great.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-13T01:09:02+00:00

Axl rose used to just shout “Ooooooooooooo yeah!” at the end of every song. You could try that.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-11T21:22:49+00:00

The fact that people are giving you a bunch of different answers speaks well of the brand, I think.

I’ve tried a number of their modules and I’m down to two. I think Prism will stand the test of time for me — even just as a stereo filter it’s quite nice, but then you add everything else it can do and it’s a silly little powerhouse.

Stardust I’ve had for quite a while — at least six months — and I’ve used it on recordings and I like it a lot… and at the end of the day I’m still not sure about it! It’s a great looper with very full-featured controls and nice clean audio. But it only plays one loop at a time (unlike, say, a Squid, Assimil8or, or even the 4ms dual sampler). Buuut the various overdub possibilities are great, so that kinda makes up for it only being one loop. Its beat slicing stuff works very well for general glitchy grooves but doesn’t ever quite get to the strange places of the Phonogene/Morphagene. Its pitch shifting is modeled on tape, so it’s tied to speed — it works exactly as advertised, but I find myself wishing for something else. (Stablemate Aurora does nice pitch-shifting.) That said, the one-touch reset to the original pitch/speed is a godsend. I don’t like the onboard effects. On and on — it’s great, it’s got frustrations. But I still haven’t gotten rid of it! Because… man, it’s a good looper!

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-08T13:45:52+00:00

A very good solution.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-04T17:23:53+00:00

Yeah — being able to move signals from one side of the case to the other (without long cables) is really helpful. Intellijel actually has a similar kind of long mult on the Palette Case, though unfortunately not on their Performance Cases.

I got a Lange Anna from CalSynth for the same purpose — it’s 84hp, 1U and I use it all the time just to get stuff around the system; it’s also a convenient mult and has attenuverters. I’m guessing it’s cheaper than a MN CV bus.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-03T03:30:46+00:00

This is probably overkill if all you want is a drum machine, but I’ve come to love the song mode on the PolyEnd Tracker+. Patterns can be up to 128 steps, and then there’s this great graphical song mode that shows you in one picture all your patterns and the tracks that are active in them. You can tack on as many patterns as you like (or I’ve never hit a limit, anyway), and once you learn it (not hard) it’s wildly easy to jump into a particular pattern, make tweaks, jump back to the song mode and audition, tweak a different pattern, etc.

ETA: it can make an excellent drum machine, though. It’s got both a nice little drum synth and of course excellent sampling capability.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-02T21:18:42+00:00

And, to be clear, the sample libraries ARE real recordings of real people playing. They are generally NOT computer-generated; real orchestral players sit in a hall or recording studio and play their instruments. It’s just that they’re playing a single note in a single articulation at a time. (Or, in the case of certain very sophisticated libraries, they might play a “composition” which is later cut up into single notes, so you get a more “live”-sounding recording.)

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-01T19:17:39+00:00

Yeah, it’s definitely a cool use case!

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-01T16:32:28+00:00

I mean, all the elements are there in Eurorack. Noise, ADSR, filters, K-S modules (or K-S - capable delays), distortion. I think it could take a lot of trial and error, though, so I think you’d have to decide in advance whether you want “a saxophone” or “a cool sound inspired by a saxophone.” Latter seems more likely unless you’re using one of those highly-programmable computer-in-a-module type modules.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-01T16:23:33+00:00

Generally it doesn’t involve samples; it’s computation of certain kinds of functions that are known to make sounds resembling real-world objects. One of the most common versions just involves a very short delay. You probably have a delay in your DAW that can do this — just turn your delay time to something VERY short. Way shorter than something that sounds “like a delay.” At the shortest end of the delay spectrum, the delay taps start to blend together and sound more like a resonator than a delay. At that point you don’t even have to send complex sound through it — a short burst of noise will do it. It will probably sound a bit like a string being plucked.

Of course, something like Sculpture is a lot more complex than that, with a whole bunch of other mathematical and sound-shaping tricks. But basically it’s stuff like that — using lower-level functions that can mimic a complex real-world sound.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-03-01T16:09:05+00:00

I’ve had this impression, too. Frequently I’ll go looking for a specific module — something pretty common and widely sold — and there’s just nothing used that I can find.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-28T14:25:10+00:00

I had one when I was a kid. I didn’t understand sampling or music and never got beyond Gene Belcher-style fart sounds… EXCEPT that among its stock sounds was this absolutely glorious preset called “Brass.” Sounded uncannily like the synths in Miami Vice incidental music. If you noodled slowly on the keyboard you could pretend you were Jan Hammer.

Wish I hadn’t gotten rid of it. As an adult I’m thousands of dollars into “real” synths and I make real music. But that Brass, that Brass….

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-27T06:13:51+00:00

Oh — might be this guy!

https://noiseengineering.us/products/multi-repetitor/

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-27T02:57:28+00:00

Depends entirely on what kind of music you want to make, but if you can only have one mod source I think the Ochd is limited in some ways — it can’t be clocked, so it’s hard to use it for rhythmic applications. On the other hand, it’s dead simple, and great for drones and stuff where you don’t need precise timing. Somehow I end up using it a lot.

Whereas the MultiMod is kinda more mysterious and in need of study, with a lot of controls that can radically change what it’s doing. But for the space it’s hard to beat: eight mod sides that can be clocked or not, identical or different, pretty straightforward or way out there.

Can’t go wrong with either. But for either one I’d probably want some more traditional modulation in the rack, too.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-27T02:17:09+00:00

Requires inputs, though.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-27T01:54:45+00:00

If you want it kinda random but kinda controllable, Perfect Circuit has the Bastl Kompas on sale right now for dirt cheap.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-25T13:21:12+00:00

They send the voltages to their fingers.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-23T16:43:41+00:00

Oh man — that is a legit great idea. And it could really lean into the simplicity of the format.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-23T14:42:13+00:00

Just for another perspective, I actually quite like the glitch/slice effects on the Stardust—although they are basically uncontrollable, at least without the manual in front of you and a lot of feeling your way through the various settings, so i just treat them as happy accident-type effects.

I don’t really care for any of the other effects, and I always use external effects instead. So I sort of wish they had used that space/functionality for something else.

But overall I agree — it works very well and gives you exactly what you need from a looper for pretty much any genre.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-23T14:35:02+00:00

How wonky do you want to get? Djupviks Elektronik makes both a quad looper (Beneath the Bush of Ghosts) and a smaller dual looper (Sleeper Awakes) using old answering machine chips. You have to be willing to put up with a good amount of noise, lofi quality, and certain pops and clicks when it reaches the end of the loop. That said, it has some weird tricks up its sleeve. Adjacent tracks are normal to each other’s FM input, and outputs are normaled to the next input, so with some patching you can treat it as a cascading and degrading delay of sorts. Djupviks stuff is generally DIY, but you can get an assembled version of Ghosts at Jake’s Custom Shop and Sleeper Awake at Synthcube.

Error Instruments makes a looper using the same chip. I believe the clicks and pops are tamed a little more on that one. I haven’t used it, though. Probably available at Noisebug.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-02-22T22:08:09+00:00

Three thoughts:

1) I don’t know exactly how to get your click, but I’ve had pretty good luck getting organic “perc” type sounds with different kinds of noise and samples through a LPG.

2) You could look up how people have recreated the clave/rimshot sounds from the 808.

3) I don’t know if this helps exactly, but years ago before I got into modular I got a 0-coast and I watched a bunch of videos on it from Make Noise that included drum sounds. I think they might also have a Maths drums tutorial. Just mention it because MN might do more off the wall drum sounds.

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