Control & Sequence

The lines between MIDI controllers, hardware sequencers and expressive instruments are increasingly blurring. Let’s look at some creative ways to get handson with gear in and out of the box

We spend a lot of time within these pages discussing the specific technology behind how we create sounds, whether that’s the capabilities of certain synth engines, the applications of assorted effect processors or the way we can shape samples or recorded material. But as much as these techniques are important, the way we physically interact with our technology is equally as influential in shaping how we create music.

Try, for example, making beats with an XOX-style step sequencer, MPC-style bank of playable pads and using a laptop’s mouse and keyboard. Even if you use the same source sounds and aim for similar stylistic results, chances are the ideas you come up with are likely to vary somewhat. While each of these techniques can, in theory, create broadly the same results, the expressiveness of finger-drumming on the MPC’s pads is likely to result in an altogether looser-feeling groove compared to the mechanised rhythms created by the step sequencer or precise edits shaped with a mouse and keyboard.

Even if we’re not always conscious of it, the manner in which we interact with our electronic instruments plays a major role in determining the type of sounds we create. Altering, subverting and advancing these techniques can be a great way to inspire fresh ideas.

CV, MIDI and much more

In the early days of electronic music making, there were effectively only two methods of controlling electronic instruments: via their inbuilt controls – usually an assortment of keyboards, pads, rotaries and sliders – or via an external control signal. With those earliest instruments, control signals would take the form of control voltage and gate signals. These electronic signals use voltage values to transmit pitch and parameter information as well as on/off gate triggers, which could be used to trigger envelopes, sync internal clocks and more.