Every month, I’m going to pick a Eurorack Module I’m particularly excited by and attempt to share a few good reasons why I like it! Last month, I picked Noise Engineering’s fantastic little VCA & AR Envelope, Sinclastic Empulatrix. This month, I’m going to pick something I often use to trigger my SE: MFB’s SEQ-02 CV & Gate Sequencer.
MFB’s SEQ-02 is a 12 track sequencer that can be a 6CV 6 Gate sequencer, or a 12CV sequencer, or a 12 Gate sequencer with internal clock, swing, and 16 pattern storage, all in 20 hp. It’s also discontinued, and can be purchased second hand for relatively cheap. Their new SEQ-03 looks even better, but I’ve never played with one ;-(. Basically, like all MFB gear, this little sequencer gives you a lot of features at a decent price.
SEQ-02 is pretty straight forward to use– you can easily program 12 tracks of 32 step patterns and save and recall them in real time. It’s also fairly easy to edit, given the fact that it has one knob for CV data. CV entry for pitch is quantized to the semitone and entered in a sort of parameter lock style way — you hold a step down and turn the “data” knob to pick a voltage. Using a very similar method, gate voltage can be lowered from 9v on any trigger instance without an external attenuator– this is particularly useful if you are working with a module which will only trigger when it sees a specific voltage (in my case, Blue Lantern’s Simple Digital ADSR).
My favorite recent patch involves running CG1/CG7 to the Mutable Instruments Tides in Oscillator mode (enveloped by the Blue Latern Simple Digital ADSR, which is patched directly into the Level input on Tides). CG8 acts as a trigger for a Kick Drum module (in my case, Blue Lantern’s Asteroid Bassdrum v4). CG9 is a trigger for the Sinclastic Empulatrix with Expert Sleeper’s Disting as a noise source (HI-Hats), and running CG10 straight through a filter and into a delay, to make a clicky clap. This is a great little setup for funny techno, which is my favorite type of techno!
Here’s a visualization of the above patch, maybe this is easier to read?
SEQ-02
———–
CG1 Pitch CV ————–> Oscillator (Tides Pitch Input)
CG7 Gate ————–>Simple Digital ADSR —–> VCA (Tides Level Input)
CG8 Gate ————–>Bass Drum (Asteroid BD v4)
CG9 Gate ————–>AR Envelope and VCA (Sinclastic Empulatrix)
Noise (Disting)——————-^
CG10 Gate ————–>Resonant SVF (µVCF) —-> Delay (Pittsburgh Analog BBD)
Disclaimer: I know that MFB modules can get hate about build quality and often are peculiar, especially in the MIDI/CV sync department. My SEQ-02 behaves flawlessly, and once I got used to clearing steps by pressing down the control knob, I found it super quick and easy to write sequences on the fly.
This is a pretty cool video of the SEQ-02 in action: