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Hi guys! Crazy first post ahead, so please be polite 
I've been getting into making and performing electronic music lately. It's real fun to do something different (coming from a rock background), but I've been having a hard time approaching live performances. Heres what my rig consists of:
Roland TR-505
Korg Volca Bass
Korg Volca Keys
Yamaha MG82CX mixer
As you can tell, all of my sounds are sourced from outside the computer (as well as sound processing). At first I thought I would be able to use the synths' internal sequencers for performing live, but it turned out to be quite limited so I soon purchased a 4in-4out MIDI-interface and brought my laptop into the equation.
While looking for the right software solutions I was amazed to see how hard it was to find something that would fit my needs. What I wanted was a simple pattern based MIDI-only sequencer, really just an "ableton without audio-DAW". However, a feature that I really wanted it to have was the ability to trigger patterns via buttons on the computer keyboard. I mean, who needs a launchpad if you've already got 50-something keyboard keys right in front of you?
After a while I found SEQ24 which seemed to be the shit at first. Simple, inituitive and powerful enough for the things that I wanted to do. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I feel it's got some major problems that makes me want to move on. I know it's not right to whine about free software not doing it for you, but here are some of the things I can't stand.
1. MIDI editing is awkward. You can't edit the velocity level of more than one note if you've got polyphony going on in a pattern. And how convenient is it to have to use all three mouse buttons for basic midi writing? Should I really have to connect a mouse to a laptop just to be able to change the note length, because it requires pressing the middle mouse button?
2. The playback always runs freely, all you really do is unmute and mute midi output. What if I want a two bar break in between two melody lines which are both 8 bars long? Can't do it because I'm stuck with this one playback mode!
3. The main interface doesn't scale to full screen. What if I wanted to scale things up in order to get a better view of my current set of patterns? I can't.
4. No MIDI file import or export.
5. No way to play multiple patterns in one click.
These are the things on the top of my head that turns me off of SEQ24 (http://www.filter24.org/seq24/ (http://www.filter24.org/seq24/)). All in all, it just seems to be a mid-00's software that stopped getting updated half a decade ago, which I guess is what it actually is. So here's why I started the thread.
1. Could anybody point me at a software which has the features that I've mentioned? Free or commercial, preferably cheap.
2. Are there any programmers around here that would be willing to put some effort into making such a software become reality?
Let me put it straight; I know nothing about making software, I really don't. But I know that there are a lot of clever people around these boards. I also have a hard time believing that I'm the only one who wants a software sequencer like this, especially with the current outside the box/analogue trend going on. I bet there are lots of Monotribe/Volca/MS20 Mini/Aira-owners that would love having access to such software. There would also probably be some way to rout the midi output of the sequencer into another DAW as well, which could make it really useful for the ITB-guys too. And what if we could make it a collaborative effort, put a small price tag on it (say 20$ or something) and let the project fund itself that way?
All input welcome. Just tell me what you think/what the realities of my ideas are.
/Halkbi, Sweden
