CYCLUS 3 Sequencer; What do you think of it?

animehair · Post by **animehair** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:45 pm

I'm looking at this CYCLUS 3 http://www.spectralaudio.ch/cyclus3.htm sequencer, and it looks very nice and the price is good too. Does anyone have this sequencer and would give me some insight and maybe post some sample sequences up?

Also what does it mean when it says its an 8track sequencer? Are they referring to the simultaneous midi instruments it can control or simultaneous parameters per step? I would like to use this as a master sequencer to control a drum machine, and 4-5 separate simultaneous synth parts (multitimberal).[/url]

JSRockit · Post by **JSRockit** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:26 pm

This thing seems to be brand new...so you may not find anyone that has one.

Here's the manual::

http://www.spectralaudio.ch/support/Cyclus_3_Manual.pdf

droolmaster0 · Post by **droolmaster0** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:01 am

animehair wrote:I'm looking at this CYCLUS 3 http://www.spectralaudio.ch/cyclus3.htm sequencer, and it looks very nice and the price is good too. Does anyone have this sequencer and would give me some insight and maybe post some sample sequences up?

Also what does it mean when it says its an 8track sequencer? Are they referring to the simultaneous midi instruments it can control or simultaneous parameters per step? I would like to use this as a master sequencer to control a drum machine, and 4-5 separate simultaneous synth parts (multitimberal).[/url]

Hi. I bought one. I'm somewhat of a sequencer fanatic, currently owning an Octopus and p3, and my old Schrittmacher is going to be coming back to me in a month or so.

What do they mean by 8 tracks? On the Cyclus, 1 track consists of up to 16 noteon/noteoffs, with velocity, and a controller, as well as step lengths and note lengths. You can also choose between having a controller and a second note line - I didn't have enough time with the machine to figure out exactly what that means. You have 8 of these tracks, so you can set up 8 different independent note sequences.

I sent mine back today to exchange it for another one. Some of the midi functions weren't working - the midi thru, and the record functions just didn't work. Markus from Spectral Audio theorized that it had something to do with the battery, and rather than attempt a diy repair, I decided to exchange it for another one.

Why did I buy a Cyclus, though owning probably the best analog style step sequencers made? Well, other than being crazy, I just find that they all lead you down different paths. I just don't come up with the same kind of sequences working on the Octopus, for instance, as the p3. They all have areas in which they excel, and interfaces that allow you to do some stuff easily, while other stuff not so easily. It's the strenghts combined with the weaknesses in the context of the workflow/interfaces that make them all so different.

I used it for about a day before determining that there was something wrong, so my opinions are preliminary. I liked it quite a bit! Definitely a bargain. I love the fact that for each track, each type of event can have a different # of steps. So, the velocities can loop around 9 steps, say, while you have 16 notes. And the note lengths can have a different length loops. Even the p3 forces you to go through some contortions to accomplish this! It's somewhat simplistic to say that the Cyclus is the only sequencer to allow this, since structurally some of the others are different (the schrittmacher track, for instance, consists of only 1 kind of event), and all of these allow you to have tracks of different lengths. But the cyclus has a very nice implementation.

I didn't get to try song mode - the manual says that you can record individual sequences into the song mode by twiddling the knobs, and each sequence will retain its original tempo.

The Cyclus does allow intertrack modulation, but only for pitches at the present point. I am not sure whether the machine permits a sysex upgrade (trying to find out). From my discussions with the developer of the sequencer it is probably possible to extend the modulation capabilities - the other sequencers I mentioned do go far beyond it in this area.

That's all I can think of right now. Feel free to shoot me an email if you want ([email protected]).

To some degree the jury is still out. I'm hoping that I can get the record features to work properly with the replacement, but I probably won't receive it until possibly the week after next.

bw - the inventor of the cyclus is here http://menneske.dk/gotharman/ . I've talked a bunch with him - very nice fellow, and seems to develop some very quirky interesting devices.

animehair · Post by **animehair** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:28 am

that was a very nice and informative response. Thank you. The cyclus sequencer intrigues me even more....i think I may soon buy it, I cant see how midi problems would be a regular issue with this product being that it is a midi sequencer...

btw did you buy the spectral audio or the gothar version...they appear to be different looking (same inside im sure).

droolmaster0 · Post by **droolmaster0** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:52 am

animehair wrote:that was a very nice and informative response. Thank you. The cyclus sequencer intrigues me even more....i think I may soon buy it, I cant see how midi problems would be a regular issue with this product being that it is a midi sequencer...

btw did you buy the spectral audio or the gothar version...they appear to be different looking (same inside im sure).

Well, I was having problems with recording note values into it - both live and in step mode. So, I'm not sure what you mean - this is a midi feature. If these don't work all of the values must be entered manually. (which may not be a problem for you, but I wanted to make sure you knew what I meant).

I bought the Spectral Audio. I don't think that the Gothar version will continue to be available. There was a miscommunication between him and Spectral Audio that now seems resolved.

whiteyhouston · Post by **whiteyhouston** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 4:53 pm

droolmaster0 wrote: Hi. I bought one. I'm somewhat of a sequencer fanatic, currently owning an Octopus and p3, and my old Schrittmacher is going to be coming back to me in a month or so.

uhhh.. yeah, I'd say 'fanatic' is an understatement...
an octopus?.. that thing actually kind of scares..

that is some insane gear... I like your reasoning though as it applies to pretty much all gear.. drum machines and synths too

droolmaster0 · Post by **droolmaster0** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:47 pm

whiteyhouston wrote:
droolmaster0 wrote: Hi. I bought one. I'm somewhat of a sequencer fanatic, currently owning an Octopus and p3, and my old Schrittmacher is going to be coming back to me in a month or so.
uhhh.. yeah, I'd say 'fanatic' is an understatement...
an octopus?.. that thing actually kind of scares..

that is some insane gear... I like your reasoning though as it applies to pretty much all gear.. drum machines and synths too

The Octopus isn't really that scary. You just have to wear the special glasses.

animehair · Post by **animehair** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:35 pm

droolmaster0 wrote:
animehair wrote:that was a very nice and informative response. Thank you. The cyclus sequencer intrigues me even more....i think I may soon buy it, I cant see how midi problems would be a regular issue with this product being that it is a midi sequencer...

btw did you buy the spectral audio or the gothar version...they appear to be different looking (same inside im sure).
Well, I was having problems with recording note values into it - both live and in step mode. So, I'm not sure what you mean - this is a midi feature. If these don't work all of the values must be entered manually. (which may not be a problem for you, but I wanted to make sure you knew what I meant).

what i meant was that im willing to take a chance on buying one even though your first one was defective because I cant see the defect being a common quality issue with the unit (at least I would hope). thanks.

droolmaster0 · Post by **droolmaster0** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:49 pm

animehair wrote:
droolmaster0 wrote:
animehair wrote:that was a very nice and informative response. Thank you. The cyclus sequencer intrigues me even more....i think I may soon buy it, I cant see how midi problems would be a regular issue with this product being that it is a midi sequencer...

btw did you buy the spectral audio or the gothar version...they appear to be different looking (same inside im sure).
Well, I was having problems with recording note values into it - both live and in step mode. So, I'm not sure what you mean - this is a midi feature. If these don't work all of the values must be entered manually. (which may not be a problem for you, but I wanted to make sure you knew what I meant).
what i meant was that im willing to take a chance on buying one even though your first one was defective because I cant see the defect being a common quality issue with the unit (at least I would hope). thanks.

Alternatively, if you're not in a rush, shoot me an email in about a week to remind me and I'll verify for you whether those features work.

j3rk · Post by **j3rk** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 7:32 am

Just decided to grab one of these.

Should be here in a couple of days.

droolmaster0 · Post by **droolmaster0** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:06 am

Damn - it looks like the problem that I had affects much of the current shipment. Analogue Haven checked the others and they have the same issue (midi in functions - thru and record) are unusable. The results are sporadic at best). Markus emailed Shawn at AH:
>We do have one here
> with
> the same effect and know what it is. It's a hardware issue and a matter of
> soldering one resistor in parallel to an existing resistor. Do you have
> the
> possibility to do this at your place or would you like to send it back to
> us?
>
> Of course, further Cyclus 3 won't have this problem.
>
> My best regards,
>
> Markus Meier

animehair · Post by **animehair** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:05 pm

so did your new one have the problem then? It sounds like it could be a DIY fix, although it shouldnt be that way...

j3rk · Post by **j3rk** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:50 am

Just got mine. I haven't tried the MIDI input yet to see if it exhibits this issue. I haven't spent much time with it yet, but I love it. In the first five minutes I had a nice pattern going through my expressionist. I had a standard CV and Gate sequence, and then additional gate sequences to control EGs. This sequencer is incredibly easy to get around on, and it's a lot of fun. I've only spent about 30 minutes total with it now, (don't have tons of free time at the moment,) but with the amount I've done with it in such a short time, I can tell it's going to be a lot more fun when I can dig more. I think I may want two of them.

animehair · Post by **animehair** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:18 pm

well keep us posted on how it works for you....im still interested in this sequencer, but I dont want to sink money down on something that isnt going to work right.

j3rk · Post by **j3rk** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 1:45 am

It's been a while, but I just now got around to testing mine out (which was purchased at the time of my first post in this thread. It works fine. It takes step input from a keyboard, it records in real-time, etc. Just thought I'd post a quick update. I got mine from NovaMusik.

CYCLUS 3 Sequencer; What do you think of it?

CYCLUS 3 Sequencer; What do you think of it?

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Re: CYCLUS 3 Sequencer; What do you think of it?

Re: CYCLUS 3 Sequencer; What do you think of it?