RX-5 as a Sequencer

[Walter Ego]

So...I have an RX-5 and I'm about to sell it. But it looks like the MIDI implementation is fairly robust, so much so that it can act as a musical sequencer, assigning voices to separate MIDI channels and so on, with a gate length setting for each voice and note values assigned to each button. It seems fairly practical as a percussion sequencer, but what about as a musical sequencer?

Has anyone used it as a sequencer for controlling external synths and modules? Any pitfalls/problems to avoid? Too fiddly?

[stf-ran]

It should work that way. I used to create complete songs with my TR505 before I got a proper sequencer. Each instrument assigned to different note on a different midi channel. Then just turn down that instrument. I wouldn't want to work that way now. It takes forever to put something together. I did it because I was 18 and didn't have any other gear and lots of time. I paid full price for a MC-500 in 1987 and it was worth every penny. Now they are, what, $100?

[desmond]

I don't have my RX5 anymore, and didn't use it for that purpose, but before that I used to have a Kawai R-50 (great little drum machine for it's time) which could also do the same kind of thing, and I did indeed use it for some rudimentary sequencing of other MIDI gear.

It was limited, of course, and you could only use MIDI notes you assigned (so you couldn't play a part into it from a keyboard and have it record like a MIDI sequencer) but it does make you work a different way and so colour your results - and for that reason alone, these things are worth playing with.

[gcoudert]

I remember doing that with my TR505 too back in the day. It's fiddly but it does work. You couldn't set a gate time though and forget about sequencing more than 16 steps or more than 16 different notes for that matter!

[ninja6485]

I've used it as a sequencer: it works well. Pretty much exactly like using it as a drum machine. If you hook it up to a sampler, you can sequence loops and one shots, and take full advantage of song mode. And you have different accent levels by holding those buttons and entering the note, which could act like shift buttons to access new sounds programed to trigger samples set for those specific velocities. So 3 banks of all of the pads with a very jam-able UI, and song mode. Hold accent one, you've got your loops. Hold accent two, your one shots. No accent, individual drum samples.

[gcoudert]

This velocity thing is very clever!

[Vxster]

I used to use my TR-626 as a bassline sequencer ages ago and I have an RX5...never tried using it but I think I might give it a try. It really does more than meets the eye, initially.

[ninja6485]

This velocity thing is very clever!

Thanks! I've been inspired to sit down and play with this idea a little bit. It's not perfect, as the Rx5 will only play one of those sounds at a time for each pad. So it works for choke groups, or if you want to use different sounds in different parts of your song that will never play simultaneously.

What you can do as a workaround is have the normal samples as pattern group 1, accent one as PG2, and accent 2 as both sounds together. What's nice is you can adjust all of the levels and notes for each of the 24 pads individually, so half the machine can be setup one way, and half the other way. You can even reduce this affect by assigning say 3 notes of a melody to one pad and having that be a "monophonic" pad so to speak. And I mean you can get creative with it.

[ninja6485]

Ok, new limitation I've discovered: unless there's a setting I'm not aware of, a pad on the top layer and the corresponding pad on the bottom layer (i.e. A and M) will not play simultaneously. So you get 12 choke groups, with 6 possible sounds per group.