Here’s something I’d very much like to see: a hackable, kit step sequencer.
nostromo tips us off to a blog item on his site on the project. The creation of Monowave maker Paul Maddox, the 8-step sequencer is based on an Atmel Mega16 micro chip. The whole thing is looking very compact, which could make a nice little unit or might integrate well with other projects (like a synth).
The other good news to me: new DIY hardware could be a great way to run clock into software. Previously, that job has fallen to somewhat dull consumer drum machines. With DIY projects, even software lovers may soon be hacking new features into hardware and manipulating software sequences with that.
Planned features include “rock-solid timing” (sounds good), plus:
- 4 sequences with parameters
- Steps with pitch, velocity, gate on/off, and two Control Change messages (CC1/CC2) on a selectable channel
- Adjust tempo, base note (including via MIDI), sequence and step length
- Legato mode
- Send MIDI clock out, MIDI sync in (currently input isn’t done – input is usually trickier than output, but output may actually be more interesting to people)
nostromo already has some ideas for how to make this interesting when combined with chip trackers like LSDJ and LPGT, so worth reading his original post (thanks!):
Meet Gorf [mustakl]
GorF Project Page at Paul’s site Vaco Loco
Anyone out there worked on a similar project? (I’d sure love to have a DIY sequencer or two at our Handmade Music events in NYC!)