Could a 40 year-old creative tool find new life today?
Before the computer, hardware MIDI sequencers, with their tiny screens and dedicated buttons and dials, are what allowed electronic musicians to record, edit, and playback multitrack music performance information. With the hardware sequencer, previously impossible (or near impossible) tasks such as changing the sound of a performance, slowing down or speeding up the tempo, copy and paste editing, and even microscopic corrections to individual notes were now just keystrokes away.
While personal computers started making their way into music production in the mid 1980’s, in my mind, the arrival of Steinberg Cubase in 1989 dramatically accelerated the shift away from hardware sequencers to computer-based software. Cubase pioneered visual object-oriented arranging and editing of MIDI data using drag and drop “Clips”, and like many others, when I saw this I immediately thought “YES! That’s exactly how I imagine arranging music visually should look!”- and I was all in.
35 years later, the software DAW (digital audio workstation) is often held up as the pinnacle of what is creatively possible with computers. Visually, while applications like Apple Logic Pro continue to draw inspiration from the traditional recording studio, others lead by Ableton Live have leaned fully into clip-based music composition production and performance with its often-mimic’d “Session View”. Plugins have also become visual feasts, with interface design ranging from skeuomorphic (mimicking the real world) to fantastic (as in “where do I click?”).
But like any trend, a response (I’m stopping short of calling it a backlash) has emerged, known in this case as DAWless music creation. Like the name suggests, DAWless is about breaking free of visual distraction (and endless possibilities) in favor of a more simple, focused, and tactile experience as offered by hardware synths, loopers, effects, and SEQUENCERS.
Yes, some have found their way back to the hardware sequencer, whose functional and workflow limitations are almost comical in the shadow of the mighty DAW. But while I will never give up my software, I have to say that I understand this counter-trend and have even started to play in it.
Truth be told, I was most musically prolific during the height of the hardware sequencer’s popularity. My weapon of choice during this era, the iconic Roland MC-500 Microcomposer, felt like a direct extension of my creative brain. That it had such a small 24 character LCD screen did not really matter; I was imagining music in my mind, performing it on my keyboard, and capturing and shaping it with the MC-500. I did not even use my eyes to interact with the MC-500 very much- the buttons, keys, and alpha dial never moved around or changed shape after an update, and muscle memory allowed me to “play” it like an instrument.
<sigh> I long for those days of incredible personal music productivity, and I wonder if the combination of creative limitations, an interface you can learn to “play”, and an overall workflow that demands you use your ears, hands, and imagination to create music could find more than a niche audience today.
What do you think?
Thanks for the thoughtful contribution, Justin. I think yours is an increasingly common workflow- jamming ideas out on the hardware then bringing across to the DAW for refinement and publishing.
Good to hear from you, Jacob, and I do respect that view. Perhaps because I was using the MC both for my music and with Roland every day, I was able to break through many of the UI/workflow inherent limitations, and it truly became an instrument I would play. Could you envision a more modern rendition of this that is intended as a companion to a DAW, which would allow you to play the sequencer like an instrument? I suppose Ableton fans would say that live is this, and I do agree, but at a higher level of music. I am thinking about the creation of basic parts, not just arrangements.
Hi Yuvi, and thank you. Yes, I imagine Push, Move, and to a degree even our own instruments like FANTOM can help push the DAW UI to the background, at least for a while. As I mentioned in a reply to Jacob on this thread, I wonder if there is opportunity to take this concept even further (and I know there are those that would claim they have, or are doing this that I have not had the chance to try). Thanks for sharing the video of your concept- I am going to watch it today!
Link is not working for me, BTW…
Joe Bjornson interesting idea, Joe. I’ll need to reconnect with the MC-707’s UI (I have the smaller 101 at home) to see if I can imagine a more linear workflow through that lens. Thank you.
Thank you- I look forward to that!