Each pattern can also be switched from regular 16th notes to triplet 16ths too. Patterns can also be solo’d or muted per instrument, and you can scrap a sequence by clicking the Trash can icon in each lane. Independently, each numbered beat can also be triggered to play both forwards and backwards, or to cycle if you prefer, which is where your sequences can become very sophisticated very quickly.ĭouble-clicking a note ‘emphasises’ it, giving it increased volume to accent that step in a pattern. However, if you’re working in 3/4, you can easily switch the patterns off for one beat. Sequences are created by adding data to the lanes for each instrument to the right, with four lots of 16th notes the default, meaning that each pattern lasts for all four beats of a 4/4 bar. Trills, hits, ricochets, echoes, soft mallets, plucks, brushes, falls, harmonics… We can easily exhaust this review’s entire word count by simply listing the options for each instrument group. Within each Instrument group, the list of articulations is comprehensive and inspiring. It’s followed by an extensive percussion selection – Steel Tongue Drums, Cajons, Low Tabla, High Tabla, Metal and Wood Percussion, Shakers and Hi Hats. Keyboard instruments are represented by Pianos and Marimbas. Strings are represented by Viola, Cello and Bass options, while Flutes, Bass Flutes and Contrabass Flutes comprise Woodwinds. Instrument-wise, you’ll find Nylon and Steel Guitars, as well as a Dobro and a Banjo.
These are organised into Instrument and Articulation categories and both columns of options are generous. A quick press of the Edit button will help you both understand this and then rapidly build your own sequences.įirstly, you can choose a sound for each of the four layers. Despite its complex sonic capabilities, at the heart of its library is an extremely straightforward approach. Sequis offers more than 400 presets but one its main strengths is its simplicity.
As you increase the Mod Wheel or play more notes, more rings light up. The interface is designed beautifully, as you can see all four ‘cells’ of a pattern which oscillate in a clockwise direction, as well as seeing the rings of the circle, which show how many of the sound layers are currently active. In Polynote Mode, each new layer is added with each key press, so the first note you play will trigger sound/pattern 1, the second sound/pattern 2 and so on.
When it’s at 0, only the first layer of sound plays.
In ‘Modwheel Mode’, volume is introduced to each layer as the Mod Wheel value is increased, so all four layers only play at full volume when the Mod wheel reaches 127. On the main page, under the ‘Perform label’, two modes dictate how the four layers of sound are added. The notes of this pattern are dictated by the notes you play on your keyboard, so the pattern is a rhythmic one in essence, which is translated to whichever notes you play to trigger it.
Is this novelty or a media composer’s new secret weapon?Įach Sequis patch is a combination of up to four instruments, each of which can play its own pattern. Offering an intuitive interface which lets you program steps for four instruments simultaneously and featuring a wide selection of samples across multiple instrumental and vocal groups, it aims to let you configure and rapidly build organic, orchestral sequences. Sequis is a Kontakt-hosted instrument made in partnership between Orchestral Tools and Native Instruments which celebrates exactly this approach to pattern sequencing.