TRANSPOSE & CLOCK DIVIDE YOUR "DOORSTOP" SEQUENCER
// Well would ya look at that?
Ok, I understand the question about “what’s the point of this?” Especially since I’ve got a keystep right there, and that clock divides and it also transposes and sequences, so what the heck?
True enough. But I have been giving this Roland MSQ-100 “doorstop” style sequencer a lot of thought lately. Ultimately I’d like to collaborate and rewrite the hitachi cpu and give it quantize, clock division, reverse direction, and add an arpeggiator and track mutes, but this is an interesting (to me) experiment in repurposing long abandoned instruments for practical purposes.
What’s wrong with the MSQ-100?
It sequences 16 midi channels in real time or step write mode.
It converts din sync to midi clock (and in reverse too.)
It’s essentially a little apology for not including the arpeggiator in the Juno 106. At the time is was a minor miracle, but soon it was a doorstop.
I have found the MSQ-100 to be endlessly fun to enter arpeggios, and simple phrases and use it as a sub sequencer for synths which don’t have these features on board.
These patterns can be saved as audio from the tape interface and sent in and out from my phone.
The missing links have been transposition (shifting the pitch of the pattern) and clock division (changing the time of the pattern.)
Using the Midisizer midi GAL, clock dividing is possible.
Using the Tubbutec sumtiple transposing is possible.
Now these aspects of composition are free, and broken out knew their own space.
It’s not exactly what I’d hoped to do (emulate 1 pulse per step behavior in a basic midi sequencer) but its very close.
With thoughtful programming and some practice, interesting things can come from this simple and playful relationship between a few devices and a doorstop sequencer that’s been unloved for much too long.