MOTM

Actually, it's been more than a year since my last sequencer rant - 
and this isn't really going to be a rant. We finally have an 
announced MOTM sequencer to talk about! I was one of those privileged 
to view in advance the preliminary spec for the MOTM-600, and to 
offer feedback. Now that the veil of secrecy has been lifted, I can 
say a few things...

<FishingForCompliments>
Before I get started, don't you think that my MOTM-600 panel mockup 
is just the prettiest thing? I tweaked on that thing for 8 hours 
yesterday! I worked my fingers to the bone for you people! ;>)
</FishingForCompliments>

I had been concerned that people would be disappointed when it was 
announced that the MOTM-600 was not a traditional 8 or 16 pot by 2 
row sequencer. I'm encouraged that the actual initial reaction has 
been very positive. That's because, even though I have devoted 
countless hours to sequencer design myself, I view the release of the 
MOTM-600 as A GREAT THING, and something we all should embrace. 
Here's why:

Those who have read my previous rants know that I view sequencers as 
belonging to one of two types: pattern sequencers and step 
sequencers. I've never seen a successful hybrid that was able to do 
both jobs well, so I'll ignore that possibility in my discussion.

A step sequencer (typified by the 'row of pots' approach popularized 
by Moog) sacrifices flexibility for 'in your face' tweakability. 
Interestingly, almost every hardware step sequencer made today has 
fewer features than the original Moog 960! You get 8 or 16 steps, 
little or no control over stage selection, and little or no 
expandability. An instrument like this is fun initially, but you run 
out of creative things to do. The second common use of step 
sequencers is clocking them at high speeds for flexible waveform 
generation. That requires a high speed clock capable of precise 
1V/Oct tracking for any accurate melodic work.

IMO, a step sequencer only gets interesting when you add more stages, 
more rows, controllable stage selection, expandability, and plenty of 
control inputs and outputs. However, this becomes so unwieldy that 
the only solution is to go modular with the sequencer. That is why I 
designed and am building SuperMoe, which will be as ultimate a step 
sequencer as I can build. The only current commercial venture that I 
know about which attempts to provide a flexible step sequencer is 
some of Doepfer's new stuff. Given that we are interested in MOTM 
format and quality, however, the cost associated with lots of high 
quality panel hardware is very steep. A design of this nature would 
also take up a LARGE amount of panel space in MOTM format. High cost 
and lots of real estate requirements don't bode well for a successful 
commercial product. 

A pattern sequencer is fundamentally a different instrument. You are 
interacting at the pattern level more than the single note level. One 
can patch up a pattern sequencer from a pile of step sequencers, but 
they are going to be hard to interactively switch in and out. A 
pattern sequencer is optimized for this type of interactivity.

My point is that the two types of sequencers coexist well, and I 
intend to have both in the Synth of Doom. I'm still going to build 
SuperMoe, but I'll be the first in line for the MOTM micro sequencer 
too. Which brings us to:

What the MOTM micro sequencer ISN'T:

It isn't DOMOAS, and it isn't MOAS. Paul originally envisioned MOAS 
(Mother of All Sequencers) as a modular backplane with pluggable 
cards filled with who knows what. Oh yeah, and it was going to cost 
$20k. Hmmm, maybe not practical to pursue. A couple of years ago, we 
had great fun on this mailing list proposing kitchen sinks and every 
other feature we could envision for DOMOAS (Daughter of Mother of All 
Sequencers). DOMOAS as envisioned by Paul is more of a ~ $1000 
sequencer with more hardware than the MOTM-600, (rows of pots or 
encoders), more advanced pattern chaining, and the ability to record 
external CVs.

What the MOTM micro sequencer IS: (for those too lazy to read the 
design doc)

It's a way cool box! You can program CVs manually or enter from 
equivalent MIDI note events. Two CV and 2 gate outputs per step. Nine 
sequences of 99 steps. Internal, external, or sync to MIDI clock. 
Integrated clock divider. Nine play cycle modes. Expansion thru 
chaining to other units. Quantize to downloadable MIDI tuning tables 
or output raw voltage data.

Things you can tweak using input CVs or knobs while the sequencer is 
running: tempo, gate time, cycle mode, sequence length, sequence 
step, sequence number, tuning table, etc.

I'm excited that Paul is bringing out a high performance, small 
format, AFFORDABLE pattern sequencer module. Finally!

Moe
http://www.hotrodmotm.com