Here’s my current favourite sequencing technique.
The biggest revelation I had was understanding that the gate, pitch and any other controlling information don’t need to come from the same sequencer.
I use a combination of a Mystic Circuits VERT and a TipTop z8000 matrix sequencer into a quantiser with shifting capabilities. The Vert takes one input voltage and outputs 8 gates that kinda represent the value in 8 bits. This representation is entirely dependant on scaling the input. The Vert can be clocked for steady and repeatable streams of 8 gates. Predictable input shapes, like a synced LFO give predictable outputs. Slight attenuation, or a change of input shape can generate variations.
One row on the Z8000 can do V/Oct, the next shifting or transposition, yet another some parameters under CV. The gates coming out of the Vert can trigger envelopes, sync LFO’s, change direction or reset rows on the Z8000, etc.
I find it really fun to navigate this ‘state space’, because I can both be very deliberate as well as explore vast possibilities.
Here’s a technique I only know ‘on paper’:
A strategy I haven’t tried yet (because I lack some basic modules for it) is the one demonstrated in a recent Mylar Melodies YT video. The idea is to have a small sequencer of maybe 5 values, combine it with a trigger source and a (v/oct true) Sample & Hold. The trick is then to advance the CV sequence with something steady like 16ths, but to only open the VCA on steps chosen with the trigger source. These four functions together make for a surprisingly lively playing experience it seems. Each activated step will sound a certain note from the small CV seq, but it will be hard to predict which (esp when playing live. But since there aren’t many options to sound out and the fact you can change and even quantise them live makes it ‘club safe’.
And again the core idea is that what advances the V/Oct doesn’t have to be the same as what triggers the Gate, nor any other CV.
One last thought before I post this. If you think about Elementary Cellular Automata, consider that even in 2^3 options there are structures so unwieldy that mathematicians to this day still aren’t sure to what family a certain ECA rule belongs. There are four of these families: uniform, repetitive, random, and complexity. Even at 8 bit they’re still uncertain to which some rules belongs.
So I’m happy to wager that what we can get out of both sequencing techniques described above is equally uniform, repetitive, random, or complex. It’s just up to us to navigate these state spaces and nudge our listeners and ourselves to pay attention to these structures.
