ADVENTURES IN SEQUENCING
Broadly, there are two ways to create patterns and melodies in electronic music: performing and capturing your ideas in real time, or programming ‘offline’ using a sequencer or DAW. There is, admittedly, middle ground – almost all modern software lets users quantise and edit their performances or add live overdubs to sequenced ideas – but when it comes to it, all electronic music can be broken down into parts that have been played and those that have been programmed.
Traditionalists will hold that one of these is nothing more than a workaround for the other; that sequencers and piano rolls are simply tools to aid those without the ability to play music for themselves. Historically, there’s a kernel of truth to this, in that early drum machines and sequencers were often envisioned as tools to backup ‘real’ players looking for a cheap alternative to hiring session musicians. However, an examination of the history of electronic music makes it immediately clear how fundamental the use (and often misuse) of sequencers has been to its development.
Untapped creativity
Take the TB-303 as an obvious example – it was originally pitched by Roland as a ready replacement for a real life bass guitarist, but misuse by Detroit techno pioneers resulted in the creation of the ‘acid’ sound it’s now most associated with. While the 303’s resonant filter is the obvious cornerstone of the acid bass sound, its somewhat fiddly sequencer is equally important, with its ability to program accents, slides and quick octave jumps.
It’s certainly not true then, to say that sequenced melodies and drum patterns are simply attempts to replicate live musicianship. From the X0X-driven grooves of house and techno to the pulsing basslines of electro-pop, triplet trills of trap or the glitchy grooves of IDM, the mechanised feel of sequenced music lies at the heart of many modern genres.
Working purely in the realm of sequencers brings its own unique challenges though. As much as the robotic nature of sequenced patterns can be appealing, to an extent, musical patterns devoid of variation or change will quickly sound boring. Most sequencers provide, at the very least, the ability to apply swing/shuffle and velocity changes, but even when making use of these, there’s only a certain amount of time you can get away with repeating a simple loop.
One way to add interest to a sequence is to develop the sound itself over time, using modulation or automation to alter sonic parameters or introduce and adjust effects.
What we’ll focus on here, however, are the sequences themselves. How can we program riffs, grooves and patterns with enough going on to keep listeners engaged? How can we create sequences that have variation baked-in? How can we overcome the limits of seemingly simplistic sequencers? Over the next pages we’ll explore a few creative tactics to achieve all this and more.
PATTERNS DEVOID OF VARIATION WILL QUICKLY SOUND BORING