Message 2/7
Date: 07-Apr-02 @ 10:31 AM -
RE: Analog Sequencers
yeah, I've used it a little bit. The Notron is a really slick piece. It basicly combines a step sequencer and slick bunch of MIDI macros. So that any step can throw any or several MIDI macros at once, like a pitch bend for X number of steps along with the note number, duration, and velocity. It's a bit cumbersome to program until you get the hang of where everything is because it's really cryptic, but you can do all kinds of neat things like chaining sequences, running the different sequence chains in diffierent tempo ratios to one another, chord voicings from each step if you want it, I mean really extensive stuff. It's always in record mode, and it really is meant for jamming on. You can go into it with a specific idea, but the real beauty is just getting lost as it makes your synths and samplers do things that you would never have dreamed of coming up with. It's the only sequencer that can do what it does the way it does it. Con-wise? It's not easy to learn. It's really cryptic if you don't take the time to learn the architecture, where everything is hiding, and read the manual a BUNCH. However if you take the time, it pays off. I still want one. Serious tool, not a toy for beginners, but it just makes your other gear do the most perverse things. Just that, a laptop running reaktor, a little drum machine, a chaos pad, midi fader box, and mixer is all my buddy uses and it just comes out SOOOOOO sick. Even if you substituted a TX81Z for the laptop, you'd put people on another planet. The thing is that unless you're really tight on the unit, you'll go there way too fast, and it helps to have somebody else as co-pilot holding folks somewhere not too far from reality. Once you've got a good grasp on it, things get to be a little more coherent, but for quite a while it will be VERY experimental. Good luck. I'd love to see more friends with that kind of weaponry around, and out in the trenches.
Ape