M.I.T.S. Music Interface for Touch Screen
Digital music sequencers traditionally loop in a linear pattern. Why canʼt the loop follow a more natural circular orbit and resemble its function more closely?
As with most musical forms, electronic music often uses rhythm patterns to establish the timing of the music. The instrument which is used most often to provide this structural backbone is known as a drum machine. Within the drum machine is a device known as a sequencer which is a series of 16 virtual slots into which sounds can be arranged to form a pattern.
Sequencers can be found in hardware and software modules alike, and are almost exclusively limited to a linear format for the 16 positions. Time progresses from left to right until reaching the last position at which point it returns to its beginning. The repetition of this process is referred to as a loop and makes up an enormous part of electronic music. However this linear representation of time strays from the circular manners evident in nature such as planetary orbits which create years and the revolution of a planet on its own axis which create days and hours. Why canʼt the loop follow the natural order and resemble its function more closely?
