Step sequencing is one of the most famous composition and performance techniques, and it is nearly as old as electronic music itself. One might assume that everything has already been said about it. This Lemur interface aims at contradicting this statement by rejuvenating the step-sequencing concept.

This is basically a 16-step sequencer benefiting from the Lemur internal clock and from its powerful mathematical expressions parser in order to automatically generate sequences of Midi events. At first glance, it seems rather common and not really different from an old-style analog sequencer. The great characteristic of this interface is that it allows to sequence not only midi notes, but also continuous control change messages. The latters enable to create a wide range of evoluting sound textures. In this example, we chose Native Instrument Pro-53 analog-like synthetizer as the target application. Obviously, you can always control any other Midi instrument.

Master control

The first interface page will certainly look familiar to you. The upper part of the screen displays the sequencer remote. A switch object turns the sequencer on and off. Beside, as you might have guessed, the ‘tempo’ horizontal fader is supposed to change the sequencer cycle frequency, and another fader controls the master level of the synthesizer.

Midi note tracks

The interface also provides 4 sequencing ‘tracks’ made of on/off switches that produce note events. The note number of each sequencing track can be adjusted with the ‘pitch’ MultiSlider above.

Tune and preset selection

On the right side of the tracks switches, there is another MultiSlider object. It controls the global tune of the synthesizer. Since it has been set on ‘Gravity’, it actually works as a pitch bend controller: when you release the slider, it always comes back to its default value.

Filter Cutoff and resonance

The two yellow MultiSliders enable to change the synthesizer preset by sending ‘program change’ message. With the first one, you set the ‘default’ preset. The second one is another ‘spring-like’ slider that swaps to other presets when you move it and comes back to the default one when you release it. To end with this first interface, we have added two 16-bar MultiSliders in order to sequence the Pro-53’s filter frequency and resonance.

Reassignable control changes

The second interface features furthermore control change facilities. This page is comprised of three more MultiSliders. These ones are quite similar to the filter control objects we described above, except that they come with a set of switches which purpose is to change the control destination. Thus, the MultiSliders will control different parameters depending on the button you will have selected.

Another button called ‘interpolate’ will switch the MultiSlider sequencing into a ‘continuous’ mode which will smooth the trajectory between the steps.

2D envelope generators

The third interface provides a pair of quite unusual 2D controllers that combine a MultiBall object and SignalScope. By moving the balls, you create a trajectory pattern which is displayed by the SignalScope. The X/Y coordinates of the SignalScopes are affected to the filter’s envelope and keyboard amount.