After using this Quad CV/Gate sequencer module for the last few weeks I’ve found it to be a fun module in a great form factor with an intuitive UI that would benefit from some additional ‘jam-ability’.
For highly intentional pre-programmed sequences it does a great job but as soon as you want to mix things up and iterate live or play/jam around an idea it shows it’s limitations.
Observations/Suggestions:
1). When you begin with a cv & gate sequence it assigns a default ‘C’ to every step. This is pretty unintuitive and plays into other issues where elongating a sequence can add unwanted notes, or arming an unarmed step plays a default ‘C’ that you might not want. It would be better if steps were completely empty until the user intentionally assigned a note.
2). When playing a sequence - if you shorten the sequence, perhaps to build tension etc, then when you go back to your original sequence length the notes you intentionally programmed have all been erased and replaced by the default ‘C’ note.
3). Currently the only real way to jam on the sequencer is by changing the playback order, to reverse, ping-pong etc. It would be good to be able to quantise these so they switch between modes at the beginning of the next repetition of the sequence.
4). The randomise order feature is great but it would be much more playable if the user could ‘freeze’ it after randomising. Or perhaps an option that pressing the randomise button only randomises once and then keeps that new sequence playing until you press it again - which then re-randomises the sequence and repeats this new randomised sequence until the button is pressed again… Of course adhering to the length of the user’s sequence.
Also with the randomised order playback: because it randomises the playback of every step including un-armed ‘rest’ steps it loses the rhythm. This can work for certain sequences and when using it for mudulation (see below), particularly if every step is armed. However when randomising a Gate & CV track it would be prefereble for it’s randomise feature to keep the user sequenced rhythm and randomise the the notes - using the pool of user programmed notes in that sequence, so it stays in key. I hope that makes sense. For example, say you have a 16 step Gate & CV track and put a different note on the 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th step. This will have a certain rhythm. If you now go to random playback it will lose this rhythm because it keeps the notes and randomises the steps. It would be preferable if it kept the steps and randomised the notes so that the rhythm is maintained. The ‘random’ notes should be drawn from a pool of the the 4 notes (in this case) that have been user programmed so that the sequence stays musical and in key.
5). Also taking a page out of the Intellijel Steppy (and others) book where you can switch it into a ‘beat repeat’ (loopy) function so you can hold down 1 or more steps and have them repeat would be fantastic.
I’ve used this module for a number of things so far - triggering drum samples, playing bass lines, leads, pre-composed riffs etc. One of my favourite uses has been setting it to 8 steps and assigning each step a ‘C’ in a different octave, then multing the output and using these 1-8 volt CV steps as modulation for various cv inputs on other modules, e.g. the Basimilus Iteritas. Then using the different playback orders to create different modulation results - sounds great with the Basimilus.
I’m a big fan of this module. It’s a great form factor with an intuitive UI and flexible use cases. It’s a great platform and with a few ‘playability’ improvements would move from a ‘set and forget’ sequencer to a fun and powerful playable instrument, which I think most people really want out of a sequencer these days.
I’d love to know if these suggestions are possible/desirable and if there is a roadmap for firmware updates for this module in the future. I feel like this module has somewhat flown under the radar but with some playability improvements could be much more mainstream, especially for more compact/live set-ups. I think it’s closest competitor is the Intellijel Steppy 1U which has nice playability features but lacks CV as it is Gate only.