Hi,
Im new to the whole MBHP and im waiting for the parts to build my midibox seq v2, so perhaps I am way off track, or maybe it has some features I dont know about, so maybe I am totally wrong but from my interpretation of your inital comment it sounds like you want to do something outside the realms of step sequencing, or at least a combination of step sequencing and somthing else?
It sounds like what you want to do is to send midi note messages to your synth and then also some other parameters like midi controlers to control things like your cutoff filter via another “layer” in the midibox seq? When you are doing this, you are working within 16steps (Or some amount of steps depending on the step sequencer and its settings) which is great for many things including that old analog ala TB-303 style of writing note patterns (and many other things) as each note activates on a step. However sending some kinds of midi controlers ie cutoff filter would not really suit this method of sequencing as a filter may need to be changed smoothly over time. When assigning a controler number to the filter from a step sequencer the filter will jump about on each step jaggedly changing the filter in a very un natural way, which couldn’t really be done by hand. This is good for things that may need to be changed on a per note basis, but not for a smooth transition of midi sliders by hand as they need to actually travel a physical distance up or down (which creates some smoothness between moments in time).
In order to change the filter (or whatever it is you want to change) smoothly you need to use something with a slider (which you already identified) which you probably do from your MC-303 by using the pots on the front. These pots have no steps and can send a continual stream of data to a sequencer (either the internal one or an external one). If you wish to mimic this kind of behaviour I would suggest using both a midi controler like the midibox ones or a kenton control freak (please dont boo at me just yet, I bought it before seeing the MBHP!!!), which has an input merge built in which helps with this kind of situation (im very sure you could build a MBHP system to do the same from what I have read). You would plug your sequencer into the midi in on the control freak and the conrtol freak then into a sequencer like logic etc (one capable of recording lots of continual midi data without limiting it to fit into a “step”) and play your notes from the midibox seq, and insert your favorite real time tweaks via the midi controler (kenton control freak or whatever) and have logic route this all into your synth. This will give you the best of both worlds, the “feel” of a step sequencer, and the smoothness and resolution of the sliders and the ability to record and play back the whole thing.
When you are making a step sequence it is much like a bar graph, it can jump in a “square wave” type fashion between event values, and it sounds like you want a smooth “sine wave” like behaviour which without increasing the resolution of the steps to a value which would not be practical you wont be able to program these smooth changes in the step sequencer. Perhaps the MBHP could be programmed with a feature to allow for extra data to be included between the steps for midi controllers to smooth the behaviour of the controller between steps, this way you could (over a whole pattern) modulate your controller in a smooth way, this effect would be even better if you slowed the controler layer to 1/32 of the tempo of the “Note” pattern layer as the newly inserted events between the controlers could be made to be very smooth (depending on the resolution that this could be done at). This would result in something between a step sequencer and dedicated control surface (but programmed rather than manipulated by hand).
I saw some information on a MBHP “LFO” board which would allow you to assign midi controllers to a smooth LFO which would self modulate (no doubt in some kind of programable way) which would be an excellent add on to the sequencer in my view. Im fact I would really like to see a large system including the MBHP seq v2, a couple of merge boxes to add the LFO board to self modulate some controllers, and a controller type surface so that you could route via the midi output a series of smooth controllers from the LFO and knobs/sliders, as well as step programmed notes and other cc’s from the MBHP seq v2 which make sense ie envelope controls that change per note etc. Some kind of high resolution data recorder on the other end of the whole system which has a lot of memory and allows for record and playback (which could be a computer, but there too unreliable in my view) of all of this combined data for your final track.
I intend (once I get to a stage of being able to even physically build the sequencer) to adapt it to contain such a setup with the LFO generator, step sequencer, control surface, and appropriate midi mergers, im sure that will be in a long time though as I am a newbie to the electronics side of things.
Sorry if that was all a bit long winded or ff I was way off track or repeating whats already been said in another way…
You’ve gotta love midi.
