Maybe one of the most beautiful music hardware ever build. Perfect design in all point. Msq 700 is a piece of art.

@christdolphin69

Ай бұрын

yeah roland might have the best audio gear design ever

I can't imagine wanting to work on this machine. I'm retired now but made my sole living for 47 years in a production studio. For a few years, this was the only sequencer we had. When the MC500 came out...seems like only two or three years later(??? )...I bet Howard Jones, along with me and everyone else that had an MSQ.... made pinata's out of them. If wanting to sequence 80's style, I can't imagine anyone in 2023 preferring to use one over the MC500..

@EspenKraft

8 ай бұрын

It's because of the tactile experience, no menu diving and of course the quirky quantization. Some of us prefer a 69 Ford Mustang over a 81 model as well. ;-)

Like the TB 303 sequencer. You never know what you get but often it's surprisingly groovy.

I recorded my first album using the MSQ-700 back in 1987. My keyboard did not have a built-in MIDI sequencer and, I was not the best player, so I used to use each track (16 MIDI Ch) as my intro/verse/chorus/bridge, etc., and reuse each track for verse 2 and chorus 2 by just pressing the relevant track. It was fun and helped me progress faster in making music. It was like copying and pasting each song section. Loved it. Thanks for the video.

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

I used the MSQ-700 a lot when I worked for Roland in the 80s. I never experienced any quircks, but that might be because it was the very first sequencer I used - nothing to compare to 🙂 I used it extensively on the album "BANG '85", syncing to a SBX-80 and a 24 track tape recorder. That made it possible to stack and copy stuff. But when Voyetra came with Sequencer Plus, and C-Lab and Steinberg came on the scene - it was Game Over for the hardware sequencers at the time.

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

I remember well when I completely abandoned hardware sequencers for a computer with software. I'm happy I went back to hardware sequencers too. ;-)

@marcom.

Жыл бұрын

The Voyetra on DOS Was also my first real sequencer. Great minimalistic program.

@basehead617

Жыл бұрын

I have one I haven't used much but.. in my understanding you can either have 8 different patterns or one instrument, otherwise a 'multi-track' pattern but only 1 pattern (for e.g. 8 instruments/channels)? very strange..

@poofygoof

Жыл бұрын

​@@basehead617 My MSQ-700 was stolen in the early 2000s, and I used it mostly for MIDI to DIN sync, so I don't recall a lot of the operational details. I guess you could run a workflow where you multitrack a single pattern of individual instruments, bounce it down to a single track, save the data off to (cassette) tape, then write the next pattern, up to 8 times, load each pattern into a different track (now being used as a pattern) and do the final arrangement.

@arnekohlscheen6596

Жыл бұрын

Brynjulf Blix? Man, I am big fan of Odyssey by Terje Rypdal. I love your Organ playing on that!

It's amazing that those "imperfect" machine lead to more creativity !

Thanks so much for this Espen. I bought a MSQ-700 and noticed this quirk, and wondered if there was something wrong with it! Ha ha! As always, great content. Oh, and thanks for the link to the Howard Jones article. That whole website is a treasure trove of 80's synth glory!

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

Nice to see this old beast again, blast from the past ..! It's possible that the MSQ-700 is quantizing the note *off* as well as the note on.. it would be nice to hear the two sequences played back on the same instrument but each panned hard left and right.

Never saw this before or even knew of its existence. Thanks for sharing! It's funny how some responded to the quirks with anger and derision, and Howard Jones responded by seeing the creative advantages in forced limitations and constraints. Sign of a true artist, not unlike yourself buddy! I see it's in the 70s Fahrenheit in your region currently. Happy spring and summer!

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Starting to heat up nicely. :) I've used the MSQ-700 in several videos ever since 2018 and I have a full detailed tutorial on it as well. ;-)

@cortical1

Жыл бұрын

@@EspenKraft Cool, I'll check that out. ☀️

Quirky, easy to use, and beige. What more could anyone ask? I have one of these, and the MSQ-100, but haven't explored that one yet. I do use the CSQ-100 and 600 often though, they're also very immediate and inspiring.

The MSQ700 sits proudly beside my MC4 in the studio. The pair together is pure bliss.

Love quirky stuff like this , i used to have a korg es-1 and the way it sampled, stetched and chopped was a complete gamble but sometimes it created pure art

At 1/16th note quantization, that MSQ is magic. Great demonstration ! By the way, if you want the track sheet for "Things Can Only Get Better," it's on page 61 of International Musician and Recording World's "NAMM Special" 1985 Volume 7 Number 7. Sting is on the cover holding a yellow Fender Telecaster.

@EspenKraft

4 ай бұрын

I have the complete "Dream Into Action" sheet music book from 1985/86 when I bought it new. Learned a lot from it back then. Cheers

@JacumbaSound

4 ай бұрын

That's so cool ! I have just a few sheet music books from way back: an early Jimmy Webb sheet music book might be my coolest one. Besides his music, a lot of his lyrics are deep/emotional/meaningful. I have all those old Keyboard and other magazines like you have, as well. They are cool and inspirational to go back through now and then.@@EspenKraft

Amazing video!

The MSQ-700 was for the old school producers, and it did have limited memory to write music on. We have certainly come a long way from that era to todays DAW. Certainly a beast in the 80’s era🤔

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Today we can do it all, but that's also all we can do.

Beautiful !!

Oh wow! I just thought I was doing something wrong on mine. Very interesting 🤔

I used this sequencer back a lot in the 90's. Backing up the data was fun and games.

Super interesting! Thank you for this!

@EspenKraft

6 ай бұрын

Cheers!

That MSQ is a thing of beauty... mint condition too! I like the quirkiness demonstrated here... cheers!

This is a great "Feature". I think Roland w30 has something similar where it shortens the notes u record in (the bouncy short travel keyboard also helps a lot). If u record at slow tempo and then speed up the sequence later those short quantised notes sound very bouncy, much more interesting and musical then what was played. Thanx, cheers

Used right changing the quantization to a lower resolution can give you melodies a switch up. Or even layer that with a different sound. Thanks. Great video

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

nice and very interesting video. Enjoyed it very much.

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

I love stuff like this, look how well it is laid out, so easy to see too. No ugly colors, man oh man if they only made things like this now, rather than the rainbow vomited color schemes they use.

You got yourself another I see ;). I remember the last video you made on the MSQ-700 back in 2018, you mentioned letting that one go.

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

In the world of gear there's always trades where additional gear is added to sweeten deals. ;-)

Thanks for dedicating a video on this early midi sequencer. It was also used by the Dutch synth band Peru in the eighties. Maybe you know their music. If I recall correctly the MSQ-700 has a 24 ticks per beat resolution. That is the midi standard. Sync pulses are transmitted and received with this resolation. The Ensoniq SQ-80 sequencer has the same resolution. It outputs recordings differently from what you played but that hasn't stopped me from using it since 1989.

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

I also worked quite closely with this sequencer. It's a real midi channel thing too where you are communicating to multiple synths via midi channels and all over the one midi port. It does have its own quirky timing feel too. As does Page R on the Fairlight Series III sampler. The MC500 Mk II was the next sequencer for me. And then onto the Yamaha QX1 with all its midi outs! All this before the Atari 1040ST with the software that started to run on them. Steinberg Pro 24 being the first for me on that platform

I used to have one of these that I used strictly to sync my 606 to my DAW, back before everything got so expensive. Never even tried using the sequencer but I do like the sound it imparts here.

What a quirky beast

Wow, how curious! I wonder how many people were driven nuts by this back in the 80s when it was the only sequencer they had, haha

It's interesting that it isn't super precise, or at least doesn't capture as you might expect because the earlier Roland sequencers (pre-midi) are famous for being mega-tight to the point that MIDI can't ever be quite as consistent due to the way the data travels. I wonder if that's what carries over into the quantise behaviour too, as well as general step inputting?

@Noise-Conductor

Жыл бұрын

It would be really cool if you made a video trying to emulate it quirky sequencer. I know you're a busy dude, but can you add it to your "cool video to make later list" ?😎

@countachqv

Жыл бұрын

Better idea: make a video with Espen!

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

I don't think I've ever step programmed the MSQ-700 one single time. I generally dislike step sequencing and I will have nothing of it. ;-) I might show it in a video though, if I'm not getting too sick during the process.

@Noise-Conductor

Жыл бұрын

@Espen Kraft Well, then it's up to you Alex. In the meantime, if I can find the time, I'll replay the melody from the video & try to edit it so that it emulates the quirky version.

very funny and strange behavior:) never experienced that in that manner with my msq 100. Slightly changing note lengths here and there but mostly quite accurate. The msq 700 design is epic though! Yours looks like new! And as always nice video.

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

MSQ-700 was my fav Seq in the 80's

I have one and love it too, I only wish you could do quantized mpc-style 'pattern' recording in real time mode, but thats okay. mostly use the step mode, the way it plays back more robotic patterns is fantastic. A bit like a midi version of an MC4

It's funny how these old and quirky sequencers are evaluated so extremely differently. Something as old as the MSQ-700 is considered a valuable colkector's item which I can totally relate to but at the same time something equally interesting, quirky and charming like the MC-303 receives tons of hate. I made a whole series of videos on the MC-303 to help it regain some long overdue respect in the synth community. Please let me invite you and your viewers to stop by my channel if you're interested.

Great comparison! I wish the Retrokits came in a MSQ-700 body with those chunky buttons and switches!

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Cheers!

The vivid 80s 🖤

A little man in the box

Would like to see a sister video from Audiopilz.

It sounds like the MSQ-700 applies some kind of swing to the notes! You play straight notes, and it makes them sound like reggae O_o (May be a good thing, but the user should be able to turn it off.)

Cool

Omg sick no. Daw can do this as good as this

I sold this years ago. Been regretting it ever since😅

3:12: Its really if something "alive" or "human" would analyse and playback. Its somehow...much warmer and friendlier. Don't know other terms to discribe it, my friend.

For some reason i have a lot of one of the spare switches of this msq-700, the one for 3 positions

Question about the RK-008: when you quantize note lengths, does it actually quantize to the *nearest* note value of what you put in, or does it just change the note lengths to a uniform tick length? Sounds if it is the latter, the MMT-8 didn’t do this and that’s disappointing to see in the retrokits unit

@RetrokitsDev

Жыл бұрын

The rk008 has the note length, note quantize and swing parameters in real time so you can experiment/combine with these three separately to get what you want before downmixing it to the track. You can also leave it active as a real-time modifier and change these while playing. You can choose to do fixed length quantize but also a percentage of it’s original value.

SOunds ♥☺love

Looks a perfect match for the 909. Has it shuffle?

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

No.

@falangistavaleroso9689

Жыл бұрын

@@EspenKraft ohhh

Okay, so unlike the Retrokits thing, the Roland has The Funk? It was my criticism of most modern sequencers post Atari, Logic in particular, they lack The Funk. Is it really too difficult for a developer to make another sequencer which has THAT funk? (The Studio 440 also had it, as did the MPC3000).

I sold my MSQ700 for 300€ not long ago, now I need it back 😢

👍

So this thing DOES quantize note lengths! Someone told me the opposite years ago

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

It sure does, but it sometimes feel like it's doing it in a quite random way.

@Ancaja123

Жыл бұрын

@@EspenKraft I love the MMT-8 when it quantizes note lengths, truly feels like it has a mind of its own!

I find the rk-008 more interesting 🤔 I've never seen one before. 😂

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Check my video review of it to learn more. ;-)

It doesnt do punch ins. Maybe I need two of them?

Can the quirkiness be emulated on other hardware sequencers?

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

No.

@poofygoof

Жыл бұрын

Looking at a copy of the service notes, it has a Z-80 CPU, 16k of ROM, 2k of RAM, and 32k of battery-backed RAM, so it should be possible to copy or reverse-engineer the quantize functionality. Heck, the whole thing might be clonable although I suspect Roland would seek legal action if the ROMs were copied.

@Noise-Conductor

Жыл бұрын

@poofygoof This was the first time I've heard of this machine & will have to do more research, but if it's just a Midi sequencer playing those notes back in a quirky way it should be reproducible by editing the notes on another sequencer in quirky ways. Though I'm sure many others thought the same, so we'll see 👀

whats that Yamaha mixer you got hiding there ?

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

I've shown that in many videos, it's the DMP7.

@simonburns1055

Жыл бұрын

@@EspenKraft i have never seen it sorry its a digital mixer yes

@EspenKraft

Жыл бұрын

Correct. it's a digital mixer from 1987. I love it. Check out some of my Yamaha videos to hear it in action.

Ai 😂 it’s the best

Sounds like plain bad math on the MSQ-700

@Noise-Conductor

Жыл бұрын

That's somehow always adds up to the right answer 🤓

My God. I used own the MSQ700. It was a beast. A limited beast. But a beast all the same.