Linear Sequencing

Could someone please explain Linear Sequencing to me as opposed to Pattern Sequencing?Include pictures if you can.I used to do pattern sequencing on an Alesis MMT-8 and I always thought that was the way to go,but a certain keyboard company put linear sequencing as the only option on one of their latest rigs.

I understand that Sonar operates on LS.

Is linear sequencing any better or faster than pattern sequencing? And would linear sequencing be any more difficult on a workstation keyboard?

Thanks!

Ah you just took me on a good trip down memory lane when you mentioned the Alesis MMT8.

I used my Alesis up until just a very few years ago. I loved how fast and easy it was to work with. I was stubbornly staying away from Computer sequencers, and even after I was GIven a Cakewalk program, I sneered at it and kept making more music with my MMT8.

But, then I finally, begrudgingly gave it a try. It was a big mess at first. My results were Much sloppier, it seemed so "fiddley" working with a mouse and staring at the screen etc etc.

Well but then the light slowly dawned. It was the pattern based sequencing which I loved and had gotten so used to--like what you're saying. But there always was that issue of when you're putting two patterns up against each other, and sometimes you had to do a lot of editing with that tiny window on the Alesis, moving notes so the rhythm would flow--maybe that didn't happen with you, but it did with me since I rarely would quantize.

Anyway, it's all subjective, and you'd get different feedback from each person you ask. But at this point there is no Way I would want to go back to the MMT8 and all the limitations of pattern sequencing. You can actually adapt to the "new" way of working with linear sequencing in a way that isn't terribly different from what you're used to. Nobody says you have to record MIDI in huge chunks at a time. You can still record a lot of short bits--I often record just two measures at a time. But it's all there on that one track, when I'm working on one instrument's patterns--and you can weld them together in one solid track if you feel better. And you can cut and paste--you can overlap--Basically, your possibilities are WIde open instead of locked into patterns that can't overlap, which in the MMT8 you had to make multiple copies of.

I could go on. There's no way to explain why it's "better"--I think it is Way better, but the main point is, your creativity doesn't have the severe limitations you've been working under.

I've tried to be honest. It Was more difficult for me at first--that big learning curve which you gotta expect when learning software. But there is Zero doubt in my mind that it time Very well spent, getting this way of working at my command.

Sold? I hope so.

Randy
rbowser