step sequencer vs daw

[GuyaGuy]

I use both piano roll and step, the latter in both soft- and hardware. It’s hard to do polyrhythms in many piano roll setups, which is one draw of step sequencers with dividers and multipliers for me. But using step seq as modulation source, as mentioned already, is important to me too.

[neverbefore]

my go to step sequencer is Riffer but Stepic is also good as are the HY-seqs. Stochas is another with a different approach, Seqund is also worth a try

For sending modulation Stepic and Hy are fine but I often use Gatekeeper as well

[neverbefore]

FYI: You can still get the B-step sequencer from monoplugs for free. Tho its no longer developed. Its a nice sequencer, that i liked enough to buy when it was still new.

thanks for the reminder- downloaded and reinstalled. I also bought this and was disappointed when the dev moved on to other things.
And just noticed that the B-Step has been given to the Surge team so they are now developing Stochas and B-step as open source

[pdxindy]

my go to step sequencer is Riffer

I'm also a fan of Riffer...

[milesdeem]

Riffer looks cool and is currently on sale at pluginbotique... I guess I will need to check this one out also. Any particular advantages to Riffer versus Stepic?

At initial glance, I think I like the interface for Riffer better with its more classical step view

[neverbefore]

Riffer looks cool and is currently on sale at pluginbotique... I guess I will need to check this one out also. Any particular advantages to Riffer versus Stepic?

At initial glance, I think I like the interface for Riffer better with its more classical step view

Stepic is good for sequencing cc automation which Riffer pretty much lacks but Stepic has its own note sequencing approach too which also good.
Riffer is much quicker and easier for note sequencing - is a lot more flexible than people often think - you can use it as a standard step sequencer, you can randomise all or just some notes, you can automate almost everything useful so you can jump around a sequence repeating sections various amounts.

[milesdeem]

Riffer looks cool and is currently on sale at pluginbotique... I guess I will need to check this one out also. Any particular advantages to Riffer versus Stepic?

At initial glance, I think I like the interface for Riffer better with its more classical step view

Stepic is good for sequencing cc automation which Riffer pretty much lacks but Stepic has its own note sequencing approach too which also good.
Riffer is much quicker and easier for note sequencing - is a lot more flexible than people often think - you can use it as a standard step sequencer, you can randomise all or just some notes, you can automate almost everything useful so you can jump around a sequence repeating sections various amounts.

Thanks. I did look over the features and Riffer looks excellent. It definitely looks like its a lot quicker to work with. I'll probably grab it while its on sale

As for the original topic question - it just seems there are certain kinds of sequences that are almost impossible to generate in a piano roll (at least for me)

[pdxindy]

Riffer is much quicker and easier for note sequencing - is a lot more flexible than people often think - you can use it as a standard step sequencer, you can randomise all or just some notes, you can automate almost everything useful so you can jump around a sequence repeating sections various amounts.

Riffer is easy to control and make different but related sequences and then simple drag-n-drop to the DAW.

I also like Beat Scholar which is more of a Drum Sequencer but which can do melodies too...

[neverbefore]

Riffer is much quicker and easier for note sequencing - is a lot more flexible than people often think - you can use it as a standard step sequencer, you can randomise all or just some notes, you can automate almost everything useful so you can jump around a sequence repeating sections various amounts.

Riffer is easy to control and make different but related sequences and then simple drag-n-drop to the DAW.

I also like Beat Scholar which is more of a Drum Sequencer but which can do melodies too...

I have not tried beat scholar for melodies - thanks for mentioning it

[pdxindy]

Riffer is much quicker and easier for note sequencing - is a lot more flexible than people often think - you can use it as a standard step sequencer, you can randomise all or just some notes, you can automate almost everything useful so you can jump around a sequence repeating sections various amounts.

Riffer is easy to control and make different but related sequences and then simple drag-n-drop to the DAW.

I also like Beat Scholar which is more of a Drum Sequencer but which can do melodies too...

I have not tried beat scholar for melodies - thanks for mentioning it

Setting the pitch for each pad is clumsy, but once done, it's an enjoyable sequencer for melodies. Very easy to set triplets or odd patterns and note lengths. It's pretty fast to work with as far as key commands and I have come to like the pizza pie concept.

[milesdeem]

Well, I hadn't yet bought Riffer and was thinking more about Stepic. Although I was initially more drawn to the interface for Riffer, after watching some more demos of Stepic, I actually quite like how all parameters are shown on screen simultaneously without having to select buttons like in Riffer.

And today, Stepic has released a new update which adds some nice features including chord mode, an arpeggiator and the ability to transpose/trigger patterns via midi notes. I think I'm actually going to change my mind and pick up Stepic instead of Riffer.

[pdxindy]

Stepic has way more capability than Riffer. For making melodies quickly, I like Riffer more. But it's not an arpeggiator, pattern sequencer and so on. I find Stepic a bit complicated, but powerful. Riffer is easier and more fun (IMO). At those prices, why not?

I was testing a new synth today and was using Riffer to generate random melodies.

https://dandelionaudio.com/sound/F-VA-21.mp3