A General-Purpose Sequencer for MIDI Synthesizers

Abstract

During the past year, most synthesizer manufacturers have adopted the MIDI specification for communication between computers and synthesizers, and a variety of MIDI-equipped synthesizers in the $500-$2000 price range have appeared on the market. This makes computer control of electronic musical instruments potentially accessible to a broad group of musicians. The utility of computer control depends primarily on the quality of the available software. The most fundamental software tool for control of synthesizers is the sequencer. There are sequencers on the market, using computers such as the Apple II and the Commodore 64. These sequencers are useful, but they do not supply the general tools for musical manipulation that even a small computer such as the Commodore 64 is capable of. I suggest that there are three basic properties that a computer-based sequencer should have. It should allow the use of the computer keyboard and other data-entry devices as instruments of real-time control of the musical structure, just as a synthesizer's keyboard and wheel controls provide real-time control of individual musical notes. It should also allow the user to build a musical structure out of