Music sequencer
In the 9th century, a Persian engineer named Banū Mūsā created an automatic flute-playing machine powered by steam. This device used exchangeable cylinders with pins to control the flow of air and produce music without human hands. The brothers described their invention in a text called Book of Ingenious Devices. It stands as the first known programmable music sequencer in history.
A hundred years later, an Arab engineer named Al-Jazari built a robot band that performed over fifty facial and body actions during each musical selection. Two drummers within this mechanical ensemble played different rhythms based on movable pegs. These pegs bumped into levers to operate percussion instruments. The machine could change its patterns simply by moving the physical components around.
By the late-18th century, barrel organs appeared across the Netherlands and Flanders. These instruments used rotating cylinders with pins or punched holes to play melodies automatically. Music boxes and player pianos followed suit, using piano rolls prepared by technicians for mass duplication. Consumers purchased these rolls to play back music on their own machines until the mid-20th century.
Raymond Scott constructed a massive electro-mechanical sequencer inside his New York studio during the 1940s. He called it the Wall of Sound because it covered an entire wall of his workspace. The device utilized stepping relays from telephone exchanges alongside solenoids and tone circuits. Sixteen individual oscillators generated rhythmic patterns through this complex arrangement.
Robert Moog later described the experience as the whole room going clack while sounds emerged from all directions. Scott developed another invention in 1959 known as the Circle Machine. This system featured incandescent bulbs each connected to its own rheostat arranged in a ring. A rotating arm scanned over the ring with a photocell to generate arbitrary waveforms.
Clavivox arrived in 1952 as a keyboard synthesizer containing a built-in sequencer. Early prototypes used a theremin manufactured by Robert Moog to enable portamento across three octaves. Later versions replaced the electronic instrument with photographic film and photocells to control pitch via voltage. Ralph Lundsten and Leo Nilsson commissioned Erkki Kurenniemi to build Andromatic, a polyphonic synthesizer with sequencer capabilities, in 1968.
Australia's first digital computer played Colonel Bogey music in June 1951 on CSIRAC. Lejaren Hiller wrote one of the earliest programs for computer music composition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1956. He collaborated on the Illiac Suite for String Quartet with Leonard Issaction. Max Mathews created MUSIC, the first widely used program for sound generation, at Bell Labs in 1957.
A seventeen-second composition performed by an IBM 704 computer brought Mathews work to life. Graphic 1 emerged in 1965 as an interactive graphical sound system developed by Max Mathews and L. Rosler. Users drew figures using a light-pen that converted directly into sound. The system utilized a PDP-5 minicomputer for data input and an IBM 7094 mainframe for rendering audio.
Electronic Music Studios released one of the first digital sequencer products in 1971 as part of the Synthi 100 module. Oberheim followed with the DS-2 Digital Sequencer in 1974. Sequential Circuits introduced Model 800 in 1977. Roland Corporation released the MC-8 MicroComposer in 1977 as an early stand-alone microprocessor-based digital CV/gate sequencer.
Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi proposed standardization between different manufacturers instruments in June 1981. He discussed the concept with Tom Oberheim from Oberheim Electronics and Dave Smith from Sequential Circuits. Representatives from Yamaha, Korg, and Kawai joined these discussions in October 1981. The MIDI standard was unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith in 1983.
The Roland MSQ-700 became the first MIDI sequencer when it hit the market in 1983. General-purpose computers began playing a role as sequencers only after this advent. MIDI-to-CV/gate converters enabled analog synthesizers to be controlled by MIDI sequencers. Roland sold MPU sound chips to other manufacturers to establish a universal standard MIDI-to-PC interface.
NEC personal computers added support for MIDI sequencing with MML programming in 1982. Yamaha modules for the MSX featured music production capabilities including real-time FM synthesis and MIDI sequencing. Roland CMU-800 introduced music synthesis and sequencing to Apple II and Commodore 64 computers. The spread of MIDI on personal computers accelerated through Roland's MPU-401 released in 1984.
Software sequencers called trackers developed in 1987 to realize low-cost integration of sampling sound. These programs became popular in the 1980s and 1990s for creating computer game music. They remain popular today within the demoscene and chiptune music communities. Hitachi Basic Master equipped Japanese personal computers with low-bit D/A converters in 1978 to generate sequenced sound using Music Macro Language.
Fairlight CMI Series II added new sequencer software Page R in 1982 which combined step sequencing with sample playback. Synclavier I released in September 1977 served as one of the earliest digital music workstation products with multitrack sequencer. Direct-to-Disk options arrived in 1984 followed by Tapeless Studio systems later in the decade.
Modern computer digital audio software after the 2000s incorporates aspects of sequencers among many other features. Ableton Live stands as a prominent example of this evolution. Workstation keyboards now contain proprietary built-in MIDI sequencers while drum machines feature their own step sequencers. The market demand for standalone hardware MIDI sequencers has diminished greatly due to greater feature sets found in software counterparts.
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Common questions
Who created the first known programmable music sequencer in history?
Banū Mūsā, a Persian engineer from the 9th century, created the first known programmable music sequencer. This device was an automatic flute-playing machine powered by steam that used exchangeable cylinders with pins to control air flow.
When did Roland release the first MIDI sequencer on the market?
Roland released the MSQ-700 as the first MIDI sequencer when it hit the market in 1983. General-purpose computers began playing a role as sequencers only after this advent of the standard.
What year did Max Mathews create MUSIC at Bell Labs?
Max Mathews created MUSIC, the first widely used program for sound generation, at Bell Labs in 1957. A seventeen-second composition performed by an IBM 704 computer brought his work to life shortly thereafter.
Which company introduced the Synthi 100 module containing one of the first digital sequencer products?
Electronic Music Studios released one of the first digital sequencer products in 1971 as part of the Synthi 100 module. Oberheim followed with the DS-2 Digital Sequencer in 1974 and Sequential Circuits introduced Model 800 in 1977.
Who proposed the MIDI standardization between different manufacturers instruments in June 1981?
Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi proposed standardization between different manufacturers instruments in June 1981. He discussed the concept with Tom Oberheim from Oberheim Electronics and Dave Smith from Sequential Circits before unveiling the MIDI standard in 1983.