Analogue-sequencer

That was a fun read.

On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 1:48 PM, duncan <ferrograph@aol.com> wrote:

>
>
> >>Duncan had/has one.
> >
> > C'mon Dunc, spill the beans. ;)<<
>
> it'll be a cold day in the underworld when my mk1 notron is finally prised
> out of my possession. to be honest, I did sort of semi-abandon it for a few
> years (actually from about april 2003 until april 2008) when, after a lot of
> travelling & perhaps one gig too many, it started acting mysteriously. I was
> prompted to revive it by a resurgence of my mend-stuff instincts & the need
> to compare it with my octopus for another discussion such as this.
>
> so guess which won? answer c) both. but see elsewhere for my views on the
> octopus....
> (briefly, then- it's slightly intimidating but enormous fun.)
>
> I have, as some of you may know, a number of other hardware sequencers with
> nicely tactile interfaces, & there are one or two I wish I'd never seen or
> bought. the schaltwerk springs to mind.
>
> but back to the bionic bog-seat.
>
> the case is it's weakest point, in both incarnations.
>
> the "award winning" plastic blob of the original is unquestionably
> distinctive, but offers no reasonable means of supporting the "instrument"
> (we'll come back to that in a moment) other than as one might an
> old-fashioned artist's pallette, or perhaps one of those proto-tablet-PC
> things from "star trek T.O.S."
>
> I needed to have the thing perched somehow so that I could fend off
> groupies & wrestle with bass/keyboards, & also so that it could be
> photographed (like the rest of our stuff) by people who regard live
> electronica as an extension of the arms race, & need to document every new
> blinkenlicht on show. I mean no disrespect. just sayin'.
>
> I tried a snare stand for a while (too horizontal, since you ask, & not
> actually all that secure), then adapted the rear face of the notron to take
> a tripod mount, which eventually tore a big hole in the casing after that
> one gig too many.
> this is still to be repaired.
> I think you were supposed to sit with it, sort of like a techno-autoharp,
> which is how I described it to bemused workmates the day it arrived at mtv
> in camden.
> later that summer I demo'd it at the expo in islington, to some kiddies who
> really wanted roland to hurry up & re-release the tb303. assholes.
> I had bought mine direct from spowage & co, minutes after reading mr
> nagle's review, so once again it's his fault.
> (he reviewed the p3 right into my face after a gig somewhere & bade me
> order it right away so I did. leicester, was it?)
>
> ahem.
>
> the biscuit tin mk2 was prone, I'm told, to electrocuting it's contents
> into non-func. tom m knows more.
>
> but you want to hear about what it's like to use, not the build quality.
> actually it's quite good, with one or two weak areas besides the case- the
> chromed-steel switch tops have gone a bit rusty here & there (they're NOT
> ball-bearings all the way through like the ones on the genoqs), & my mk1's
> mysterious behaviour was due to a stiff-wire multiway assembly 'twixt top &
> bottom PCBs, causing an entire row (note, not column) of switches to fail.
> on-stage, as it happens.
> in leicester. maybe the same night even.
>
> but you want to hear what it's like to use, not the still-unique & quite
> idiosyncratic feature-set which I'm afraid I have ignored rather a lot of.
> supersteps.... tom can tell you about those too.
>
> colin's right to mention that note-ons & note-offs are handled in such a
> way that you can easily trash your speakers, & they warn you about that in
> one of the cutesy little books, which will be worth millions one day, along
> with the BC8 & BC16.... but I digress, as lemmy would say.
>
> all I'm going to say is that I stand by my earlier remark- this thing is an
> instrument.
> in the way that the octopus isn't, because it's too big to fit in your lap.
>
> in the way that the nemo isn't because it's a daft shape.
> in the way that the p3 isn't because however cool & deep it is, you still
> know you're *programming* something.
>
> ymmv, of course.
> but for me, the notron is still as exciting to use as the day it was new,
> over 12 years ago.
>
> now, as to "blows the p3 away".... how, exactly? this is like saying that
> my 1974 rickenbacker 4001 (a bass guitar) is blown away by my 1973 m400 (a
> mellotron).
> fatuous.
> the sort of meaningless guff one sees on ebay where- frankly- sellers will
> say almost anything within the elastic bounds of legality in order to part
> the unwary from their hard-earned, & where- frankly- one would hope that
> transactions of an item of this sort would involve a higher calibre of both
> seller & buyer. as the recent near-victim of a phishing exercise (as I
> believe they're called) involving a pristine AKS offered very credibly on
> craigslist, I am sad to note the increasing incidence of more specialised
> baiting within online markets. caveat emptor. if you can't go & see it for
> yourself, & you don't know the seller, try to get a third-party involved.
>
> d.
>
>  
>


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