Ableton Forum

I've created a midi step sequencer with racks in live 6.
By default, it has 8 tracks and 16 step pattern length but it is expandable to unlimited tracks and pattern length.

You can set the velocity for each step individually.
Best usage is with an external midi controller like monome or korg padkontrol.
Or build your own with encoders for each step, so you can control the velocity for each step and create eg. snarerolls in seconds.

Just assign 16 buttons to the 16 step encoders.
You can set the note value for the track by changing the "scale" item in the chain for each track.
In the example, they are mapped to trigger an impulse, but you can use them for anything you want.
Another trick is: use the step sequencer for jamming and then record the midi in impulse track. You can create unlimited patterns like this, but they are no longer editable by the step sequencer if you record them

Download:
http://www.frischglanz.com/step-sequencer.zip

the download is up for a limited time, feel free to mirror it if you want.

cool, thanks! this is the simplest/cleanest looking one i've seen yet. good job!

cool!

nice!

Awesome!
I stole your idea and made an eight note (though easily expandable) version for use with my BCR2000 and some soft synths! So much fun pretending I'm in Kraftwerk or some old synthpop band.
I just found out that Reaktor will send MIDI from one Live track to another. IT has all sorts of sequencers, but nothing as basic as I would like.

Now I just need to set up my BCR2000 properly.

Thanks!
-brad

@popsicko

please post your modified one if you like. i'm interested in how you've set it up

@kash

great job really. that's (almost) exactly what i am after. tried also
all the other step seq's posted on this forum, but all require 16 and
more tracks to have this working.

the only thing i am missing is, to have also mute buttons for the 16 steps,
not only velocity knobs. how could i implement those? i don't want to
configure the velocity to have notes playing, since i want to use it
as virtual drummachine.

thanks

I find this interesting but I'm probably being really dumb. Can someone explain to me what the difference is between having a step sequencer like this and just using the standard midi clip piano roll that is actually on the impulse channel.

Gtrance wrote:I find this interesting but I'm probably being really dumb. Can someone explain to me what the difference is between having a step sequencer like this and just using the standard midi clip piano roll that is actually on the impulse channel.

Having a step sequencer is more like playing a real instrument. it's just more
fun to create your beats by hitting 16 step buttons, like for example
on a vintage drumcomputer. kind of hard to explain. try it and feel yourself

Yeah, it's like a drumcomputer. Old 909, 808, OBX type stuff. I miss hardware, but it's hard to travel with.

I'd love to post my variation, but I don't have a place to post it from. I can send it to you. Just PM me your email.

Mine is more like an old analog sequencer. 8 knobs for pitch, and 8 for velocity, though this can easily be expanded.
Why have they (Ableton) not added something like this to version 7? They've done the the Drumrack, so let's keep our fingers crossed for something to slip in to 7 last minute.

-b

I think I can set mine up to work similar to a 303 sequencer by adding a velocity and note length plug to each step. Actually, I have a velocity plug in there, I'd just need to change how it works and assign it to buttons instead of knobs. Assign them to a button on my bcr2000 and use with the right plug-in synth. Could be fun. I'll try it when I get back to my set up.
Woo hoo! Fun with racks! Until now I've only used them to set-up for my live gigs.

Ok, i got the point. forget my post about the 16 steps. i just noticed
that i can assign a button to change between value 0 and 127, which
is equal to off/on.

i'm curious about another thing tho....

how could i assign the 8 different drums to receive data on 8 different midi
channels? otherwise i would need to have 8x16 CC numbers (8 drums and
16 different CC buttons for the steps)

nevermind. got it all working.

seems like i'm talking to myself here anyway...

I'ts been a while i was the last time in the forum.
nice to see my "old" thread was on the front page and someone is actually using it

This is great, Kash. I'm really enjoying this.

absolutely killer

great work, thanks!