A music sequencer (or audio sequencer<ref name=Pejrolo>Template:Cite book</ref> or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> or Open Sound Control, and possibly audio and automation data for digital audio workstations (DAWs) and plug-ins.
OverviewEdit
Modern sequencersEdit
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The advent of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) in the 1980s gave programmers the opportunity to design software that could more easily record and play back sequences of notes played or programmed by a musician. As the technology matured, sequencers gained more features, such as the ability to record multitrack audio. Sequencers used for audio recording are called digital audio workstations (DAWs).
Many modern sequencers can be used to control virtual instruments implemented as software plug-ins. This allows musicians to replace expensive and cumbersome standalone synthesizers with their software equivalents.
Today the term sequencer is often used to describe software. However, hardware sequencers still exist. Workstation keyboards have their own proprietary built-in MIDI sequencers. Drum machines and some older synthesizers have their own step sequencer built in. The market demand for standalone hardware MIDI sequencers has diminished greatly due to the greater feature set of their software counterparts.
Types of music sequencerEdit
Music sequencers can be categorized by handling data types, such as:
Template:Cite book</ref>
- CV/Gate data for analog sequencers<ref name=Pinch2009>
Note: for a sequencer using a light source, see "Circle Machine" on #Analog sequencers and Raymond Scott#Electronics and research.</ref> and possibly others (via CV/Gate interfaces)
- Automation data for mixing-automation in DAWs,<ref group=note>
Automation parameters in DAWs are often interoperable with MIDI messages, i.e. Control Changes (CC) or System Exclusive (SysEx); in that case, it can be controlled in real-time via pre-assigned MIDI messages generated by MIDI controllers or MIDI sequencers, etc. And even more so, in several DAWs, automation parameters are explicitly recorded as MIDI messages on their embedded MIDI sequencers. (See Template:Harvnb) </ref><ref>
"Recording Mixer Automation / As automation in Reason is MIDI CC data, it must be recorded on a sequencer track."
</ref> and software effect / instrument plug-ins for DAWs with sequencing features
- Audio data in audio sequencers<ref name=Pejrolo2011>
Template:Cite book (sub-section title contains the expression "Audio Sequencer") </ref><ref group=note name="audio sequencer"> The term audio sequencer seems to be relatively new expression and seems to be not clearly defined, yet. For example, "DAW integrated with MIDI sequencer" is often referred as "Audio and MIDI sequencer". However, in this usage, the term "audio sequencer" is just a synonym for the "DAW", and beyond the scope of this article. In that case, please check Digital audio workstation. </ref> including DAWs, loop-based music software, etc.; or phrase samplers including grooveboxs, etc.
Also, a music sequencer can be categorized by its construction and supported modes.
Analog sequencerEdit
Analog sequencers are typically implemented with analog electronics, and play the musical notes designated by a series of knobs or sliders corresponding to each musical note (step). It is designed for both composition and live performance; users can change the musical notes at any time without regard to recording mode. The time interval between each musical note (length of each step) may be independently adjustable. Typically, analog sequencers are used to generate repeated minimalistic phrases which may be reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, Giorgio Moroder or trance music.
Template:Vanchor (step recording mode)Edit
On step sequencers, musical notes are rounded into steps of equal time intervals, and users can enter each musical note without exact timing; Instead, the timing and duration of each step can be designated in several different ways:
- On the drum machines: select a trigger timing from a row of step-buttons.
- On the bass machines: select a step note (or rest) from a chromatic keypad, then select a step duration (or tie) from a group of length-buttons, sequentially.
- On the several home keyboards: in addition to the real-time sequencer, a pair of step trigger buttons is provided; using it, notes on the pre-recorded sequence can be triggered in arbitrary timings for the timing dedicated recordings or performances. (See Template:Slink).
In general, step mode, along with roughly quantized semi-realtime mode, is often supported on the drum machines, bass machines and several groove machines.
Realtime sequencer (realtime recording mode)Edit
Realtime sequencers record the musical notes in real-time as on audio recorders, and play back musical notes with designated tempo, quantizations, and pitch. For editing, usually "punch in/punch out" features originated in the tape recording are provided, although it requires sufficient skills to obtain the desired result. For detailed editing, possibly another visual editing mode under graphical user interface may be more suitable. Anyway, this mode provides usability similar to audio recorders already familiar to musicians, and it is widely supported on software sequencers, DAWs, and built-in hardware sequencers.
Software sequencerEdit
A software sequencer is a class of application software providing a functionality of music sequencer, and often provided as one feature of the DAW or the integrated music authoring environments. The features provided as sequencers vary widely depending on the software; even an analog sequencer can be simulated. The user may control the software sequencer either by using the graphical user interfaces or a specialized input devices, such as a MIDI controller.
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Audio sequencerEdit
Alternative subsets of audio sequencers include:
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HistoryEdit
Early sequencersEdit
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The early music sequencers were sound-producing devices such as automatic musical instruments, music boxes, mechanical organs, player pianos, and Orchestrions. Player pianos, for example, had much in common with contemporary sequencers. Composers or arrangers transmitted music to piano rolls which were subsequently edited by technicians who prepared the rolls for mass duplication. Eventually consumers were able to purchase these rolls and play them back on their own player pianos.
The origin of automatic musical instruments seems remarkably old. As early as the 9th century, the Persian (Iranian) Banū Mūsā brothers invented a hydropowered organ using exchangeable cylinders with pins,<ref> Template:Cite journal </ref> and also an automatic flute-playing machine using steam power,<ref name=Koetsier> Template:Cite journal </ref><ref> Template:Cite book </ref> as described in their Book of Ingenious Devices. The Banu Musa brothers' automatic flute player was the first programmable music sequencer device,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the first example of repetitive music technology, powered by hydraulics.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In 1206, Al-Jazari, an Arab engineer, invented programmable musical automata,<ref name="Fowler 45–49">Template:Cite journal</ref> a "robot band" which performed "more than fifty facial and body actions during each musical selection."<ref>Template:Citation</ref> It was notably the first programmable drum machine. Among the four automaton musicians were two drummers. It was a drum machine where pegs (cams) bump into little levers that operated the percussion. The drummers could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns if the pegs were moved around.<ref name=Sharkey>Noel Sharkey, A 13th Century Programmable Robot (Archive), University of Sheffield.</ref>
In the 14th century, rotating cylinders with pins were used to play a carillon (steam organ) in Flanders,Template:Citation needed and at least in the 15th century, barrel organs were seen in the Netherlands.<ref> Template:Cite EB1911</ref>
Template:Multiple image In the late-18th or early-19th century, with technological advances of the Industrial Revolution various automatic musical instruments were invented. Some examples: music boxes, barrel organs and barrel pianos consisting of a barrel or cylinder with pins or a flat metal disc with punched holes; or mechanical organs, player pianos and orchestrions using book music / music rolls (piano rolls) with punched holes, etc. These instruments were disseminated widely as popular entertainment devices prior to the inventions of phonographs, radios, and sound films which eventually eclipsed all such home music production devices. Of them all, punched-paper-tape media had been used until the mid-20th century. The earliest programmable music synthesizers including the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer in 1957, and the Siemens Synthesizer in 1959, were also controlled via punch tapes similar to piano rolls.<ref name=rcamark2> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}—(PDF version Template:Webarchive is available) </ref><ref name=siemens> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref><ref name=holmes2012> Template:Cite book See also excerpt from pp. 157-160 in Chapter 6 of Early Synthesizers and Experimenters.</ref>
Additional inventions grew out of sound film audio technology. The drawn sound technique which appeared in the late 1920s, is notable as a precursor of today's intuitive graphical user interfaces. In this technique, notes and various sound parameters are triggered by hand-drawn black ink waveforms directly upon the film substrate, hence they resemble piano rolls (or the 'strip charts' of the modern sequencers/DAWs). Drawn soundtrack was often used in early experimental electronic music, including the Variophone developed by Yevgeny Sholpo in 1930, and the Oramics designed by Daphne Oram in 1957, and so forth.
Analog sequencersEdit
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During the 1940s–1960s, Raymond Scott, an American composer of electronic music, invented various kind of music sequencers for his electric compositions. The "Wall of Sound", once covered on the wall of his studio in New York during the 1940s–1950s, was an electro-mechanical sequencer to produce rhythmic patterns, consisting of stepping relays (used on dial pulse telephone exchange), solenoids, control switches, and tone circuits with 16 individual oscillators.<ref name=wallofsound> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref> Later, Robert Moog would explain it in such terms as "the whole room would go 'clack – clack – clack', and the sounds would come out all over the place".<ref name=memories/> The Circle Machine, developed in 1959, had incandescent bulbs each with its own rheostat, arranged in a ring, and a rotating arm with photocell scanning over the ring, to generate an arbitrary waveform. Also, the rotating speed of the arm was controlled via the brightness of lights, and as a result, arbitrary rhythms were generated.<ref name=circlemachine> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}—includes 2 sound files: Raymond Scott's demonstration, and commercial soundtrack for new batteries of Ford Motors. </ref> The first electronic sequencer was invented by Raymond Scott, using thyratrons and relays.<ref>Raymond Scott Artifacts, p. 13</ref>
Clavivox, developed since 1952, was a kind of keyboard synthesizer with sequencer.Template:Verify source On its prototype, a theremin manufactured by young Robert Moog was utilized to enable portamento over 3-octave range, and on later version, it was replaced by a pair of photographic film and photocell for controlling the pitch by voltage.<ref name=memories> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1968, Ralph Lundsten and Leo Nilsson had a polyphonic synthesizer with sequencer called Andromatic built for them by Erkki Kurenniemi.<ref> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Step sequencersEdit
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The step sequencers played rigid patterns of notes using a grid of (usually) 16 buttons, or steps, each step being 1/16 of a measure. These patterns of notes were then chained together to form longer compositions. Sequencers of this kind are still in use, mostly built into drum machines and grooveboxes. They are monophonic by nature, although some are multi-timbral, meaning that they can control several different sounds but only play one note on each of those sounds.Template:Clarify
Early computersEdit
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On the other hand, software sequencers were continuously utilized since the 1950s in the context of computer music, including computer-played music (software sequencer), computer-composed music (music synthesis), and computer sound generation (sound synthesis). In June 1951, the first computer music Colonel Bogey was played on CSIRAC, Australia's first digital computer.<ref name=csirac>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref><ref name="bbc2008">Template:Cite news—another oldest known recording of computer realized music played by the Ferranti Mark 1, captured by BBC in Autumn, 1951; the songs Baa Baa Black Sheep and In the Mood.</ref> In 1956, Lejaren Hiller at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign wrote one of the earliest programs for computer music composition on ILLIAC, and collaborated on the first piece, Illiac Suite for String Quartet, with Leonard Issaction.<ref name=hiller1981>Template:Cite journal
also available in
Template:Cite book</ref> In 1957 Max Mathews at Bell Labs wrote MUSIC, the first widely used program for sound generation, and a 17-second composition was performed by the IBM 704 computer. Subsequently, computer music was mainly researched on the expensive mainframe computers in computer centers, until the 1970s when minicomputers and then microcomputers became available in this field.
In JapanEdit
In Japan, experiments in computer music date back to 1962, when Keio University professor Sekine and Toshiba engineer Hayashi experimented with the TOSBAC computer. This resulted in a piece entitled TOSBAC Suite.<ref name="shimazu104">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Early computer music hardwareEdit
Template:Multiple image In 1965,<ref name=Ninke1965>Template:Citation</ref> Max Mathews and L. Rosler developed Graphic 1, an interactive graphical sound system (that implies sequencer) on which one could draw figures using a light-pen that would be converted into sound, simplifying the process of composing computer-generated music.<ref name=holmes2008b>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=roads1980 /> It used PDP-5 minicomputer for data input, and IBM 7094 mainframe computer for rendering sound.
Also in 1970, Mathews and F. R. Moore developed the GROOVE (Generated Real-time Output Operations on Voltage-controlled Equipment) system,<ref name=groove>Template:Cite journal</ref> a first fully developed music synthesis system for interactive composition (that implies sequencer) and realtime performance, using 3C/Honeywell DDP-24<ref name=vercoe>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}</ref> (or DDP-224<ref name=bogdanov2001 />) minicomputers. It used a CRT display to simplify the management of music synthesis in realtime, 12-bit D/A converter for realtime sound playback, an interface for CV/gate analog devices, and even several controllers including a musical keyboard, knobs, and rotating joysticks to capture realtime performance.<ref name=holmes2008b /><ref name=bogdanov2001>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=roads1980>Template:Cite journal
in
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Digital sequencersEdit
In 1971, Electronic Music Studios (EMS) released one of the first digital sequencer products as a module of Synthi 100, and its derivation, Synthi Sequencer series.<ref name=synthi100> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref><ref name=seq256> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After then, Oberheim released the DS-2 Digital Sequencer in 1974,<ref name=ds2> Template:Cite book </ref> and Sequential Circuits released Model 800 in 1977 <ref name=model800> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In JapanEdit
Template:Multiple image In 1977, Roland Corporation released the MC-8 MicroComposer, also called computer music composer by Roland. It was an early stand-alone, microprocessor-based, digital CV/gate sequencer,<ref name="russ">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="russ2012">Template:Cite book</ref> and an early polyphonic sequencer.<ref>Paul Théberge (1997), Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology, page 223, Wesleyan University Press</ref><ref>Herbert A. Deutsch (1985), Synthesis: an introduction to the history, theory & practice of electronic music, page 96, Alfred Music</ref> It equipped a keypad to enter notes as numeric codes, 16 KB of RAM for a maximum of 5200 notes (large for the time), and a polyphony function which allocated multiple pitch CVs to a single Gate.<ref name="SOS Nov. 2004"> Template:Cite journal </ref> It was capable of eight-channel polyphony, allowing the creation of polyrhythmic sequences.<ref name="sos">Chris Carter, ROLAND MC8 MICROCOMPOSER Template:Webarchive, Sound on Sound, vol.12, no.5, March 1997</ref><ref name="russ"/><ref name="russ2012"/> The MC-8 had a significant impact on popular electronic music, with the MC-8 and its descendants (such as the Roland MC-4 Microcomposer) impacting popular electronic music production in the 1970s and 1980s more than any other family of sequencers.<ref name="sos"/> The MC-8's earliest known users were Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978.<ref name="discogs_ymo_lp">Template:Discogs release</ref>
Music workstationsEdit
In 1975, New England Digital (NED) released ABLE computer (microcomputer)<ref name=NEDhistory> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref> as a dedicated data processing unit for Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer (1973), and based on it, later Synclavier series were developed.
The Synclavier I, released in September 1977,<ref name=chadabe2001> Template:Cite journal </ref> was one of the earliest digital music workstation product with multitrack sequencer. Synclavier series evolved throughout the late-1970s to the mid-1980s, and they also established integration of digital-audio and music-sequencer, on their Direct-to-Disk option in 1984, and later Tapeless Studio system.
In 1982, renewed the Fairlight CMI Series II and added new sequencer software "Page R", which combined step sequencing with sample playback.<ref name=AudioMedia1996> Template:Cite magazine </ref>
While there were earlier microprocessor-based sequencers for digital polyphonic synthesizers,<ref group=note name=Microprocessor_based_sequencer_in_mid1970s>
In 1974–1975, Australian computer music engineer Tony Furse developed the MC6800-based Qasar M8 with a software sequencer MUSEQ 8, with a minimum price of $8,000. In 1976, it was licensed to Fairlight Instruments Pty Ltd., and eventually Fairlight CMI was released in 1979 (for details, see Fairlight CMI).
Also in 1975, New England Digital released original microprocessor-based ABLE computer (utilizing mini-computer architecture) as a future migration target of Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer. Their commercial version of digital synthesizer, Synclavier I was first shipped in 1977 (for details, see Synclavier).
</ref> their early products tended to prefer the newer internal digital buses than the old-style analogue CV/gate interface once used on their prototype system. Then in the early-1980s, they also re-recognized the needs of CV/gate interface, and supported it along with MIDI as options.
In JapanEdit
Yamaha's GS-1, their first FM digital synthesizer, was released in 1980.<ref> Template:Cite book</ref> To program the synthesizer, Yamaha built a custom computer workstation Template:Citation needed spanTemplate:Failed verification. It was only available at Yamaha's headquarters in Japan (Hamamatsu) and the United States (Buena Park, California).Template:Citation needed
MIDI sequencersEdit
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In June 1981, Roland Corporation founder Ikutaro Kakehashi proposed the concept of standardization between different manufacturers' instruments as well as computers, to Oberheim Electronics founder Tom Oberheim and Sequential Circuits president Dave Smith. In October 1981, Kakehashi, Oberheim and Smith discussed the concept with representatives from Yamaha, Korg and Kawai.<ref name="chadab5100">Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1983, the MIDI standard was unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The first MIDI sequencer was the Roland MSQ-700, released in 1983.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
It was not until the advent of MIDI that general-purpose computers started to play a role as sequencers. Following the widespread adoption of MIDI, computer-based MIDI sequencers were developed. MIDI-to-CV/gate converters were then used to enable analogue synthesizers to be controlled by a MIDI sequencer.<ref name="russ2012"/> Since its introduction, MIDI has remained the musical instrument industry standard interface through to the present day.<ref name="fact">The life and times of Ikutaro Kakehashi, the Roland pioneer modern music owes everything to Template:Webarchive, Fact</ref>
Personal computersEdit
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In 1987, software sequencers called trackers were developed to realize the low-cost integration of sampling sound and interactive digital sequencer as seen on Fairlight CMI II "Page R". They became popular in the 1980s and 1990s as simple sequencers for creating computer game music, and remain popular in the demoscene and chiptune music.
Modern computer digital audio software after the 2000s, such as Ableton Live, incorporates aspects of sequencers among many other features.Template:Clarify
In JapanEdit
In 1978, Japanese personal computers such as the Hitachi Basic Master equipped the low-bit D/A converter to generate sound which can be sequenced using Music Macro Language (MML).<ref name="BASIC MASTER">
{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web
}}
Published on: Template:Cite journal</ref> This was used to produce chiptune video game music.<ref name="shimazu104"/>
It was not until the advent of MIDI, introduced to the public in 1983, that general-purpose computers really started to play a role as software sequencers.<ref name="russ2012"/> NEC's personal computers, the PC-88 and PC-98, added support for MIDI sequencing with MML programming in 1982.<ref name="shimazu104"/> In 1983, Yamaha modules for the MSX featured music production capabilities,<ref>Martin Russ, Sound Synthesis and Sampling, page 84, CRC Press</ref><ref name="ellis"/> real-time FM synthesis with sequencing, MIDI sequencing,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ellis">David Ellis, Yamaha CX5M Template:Webarchive, Electronics & Music Maker, October 1984</ref> and a graphical user interface for the software sequencer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ellis"/> Also in 1983, Roland Corporation's CMU-800 sound module introduced music synthesis and sequencing to the PC, Apple II,<ref>Roland CMU-800 Template:Webarchive, Vintage Synth Explorer</ref> and Commodore 64.<ref>Happy birthday MIDI 1.0: Slave to the rhythm Template:Webarchive, The Register</ref>
The spread of MIDI on personal computers was facilitated by Roland's MPU-401, released in 1984. It was the first MIDI-equipped PC sound card, capable of MIDI sound processing<ref name="emusician-mpu"/> and sequencing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>MIDI PROCESSING UNIT MPU-401 TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL, Roland Corporation</ref> After Roland sold MPU sound chips to other sound card manufacturers,<ref name="emusician-mpu">MIDI INTERFACES FOR THE IBM PC Template:Webarchive, Electronic Musician, September 1990</ref> it established a universal standard MIDI-to-PC interface.<ref>Peter Manning (2013), Electronic and Computer Music, page 319, Oxford University Press</ref> Following the widespread adoption of MIDI, computer-based MIDI software sequencers were developed.<ref name="russ2012"/>
Visual timeline of rhythm sequencersEdit
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See alsoEdit
- Template:Slink (for organs)
- Groovebox
- List of music sequencers
- List of music software
- Music tracker
- Music workstation
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
List of papers sharing a similar perspective with this Wikipedia article:
- Template:Cite journal
Note: although this conference paper emphasized the "Ace Tone FR-1 Rhythm Ace", it is not the music sequencer nor the first drum machine product.
External linksEdit
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- Template:Cite news (1974 newspaper article about digital sequencer)
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