#12
Sequencer, pt 2
Modular masterclass with Scot Solida
After last month’s sequencing intros, it’s time to go beyond the basics
In our last instalment, we saw how modular step sequencers might be used to create multipart musical passages. This month we’ll unravel some of the more advanced possibilities offered by step sequencer modules. Importantly, we’ll discuss how to break free of the metronomic march with which they are associated.
Step sequencers are associated with – and criticised for – robotic, lock-step monotony. It’s easy to simply dial in an eight-note pattern and press Start, jamming over the top of a relentless and unchanging clockwork rhythm. Such unimaginative usage has provided grist for those who call electronic music emotionless.
There is indeed quite a lot of electronic music that deserves the criticism, yet the tools are rarely to blame. In the hands of a clever synthesist, an analogue-style step sequencer need not stick to the steady tick-tock of the eight-note loop. Modular masters such as Chris Franke (ex-Tangerine Dream) and Klaus Schulze played their sequencers, tweaking pattern length, note order, and gate value in real time. Their sequencer performances were – and are – ever-changing excursions that helped to carve out the Berlin School with which the analogue sequencer is often identified.