[aleph at aleph-null.net: [AH] Review: Manikin Schrittmacher {long}]

[Niall Munnelly]

I picked up a Schrittmacher over the summer, but real life
kept me from exploring it until I settled into Ireland.
Here's a review of my new toy.


Abstract: The Schrittmacher is an analogue-style MIDI step-sequencer.  It's great.

====================
Manufacturer: Manikin Electronic, GMBH
Website: http://www.manikin-electronic.com
OS : 1.0d
====================


Setup
=====
You have a choice between a desktop and 19" rack build, and
the rackmount version, reviewed here, is a sturdy aluminum
and steel affair.  The front is dominated by sixteen rotary
encoders and about two dozen buttons.  Visual feedback is
provided by 16 tri-color LEDs above the encoders, several
LEDs embedded in buttons and a massive LCD.  The
software-controlled power button is located on the front
panel and requires a good five seconds' hold time to turn
off, ensuring there'll be no accidents when you're in the
swing of things.  On the other side, we find two MIDI outs,
one MIDI in, a jack for the external 9v power supply and a
knob to adjust the display's contrast, which is a nice
touch.  These are oriented very low on the rear panel,
making table or lap operation difficult.  If you were to
make your own end-cheeks for a low-rent desktop version,
you'd have to add a couple of inches' height for cable
clearance.  Bummer.

Global
======
The Schrittmacher preset is comprised of four sequences of
eight tracks {lines, in Schrittmacher-speak} that are freely
assigned one of the following types: 

+ off
+ note
+ drum grid
+ velocity
+ gate
+ note length
+ MIDI channel
+ add
+ control
+ playback mode

A track can modulate other tracks in the same sequence - use
an add track for random octave jumps, a velocity line to
make the note lines more dynamic, and a MIDI line for cool
hocketing tricks.  Furthermore, tracks can have independent
lengths, playback modes and gate values, which define track
resolution.  Up to eight MIDI controller assignments for
external gear and tempo round out the preset.  The
Schrittmacher can store thirty presets, which are easily
backed up and reloaded via system exclusive messages.


Press Play
==========
Powered on, the Schrittmacher loads an initial preset with a
single note track of sixteen steps, all set to C3.  The LEDs
over the encoders indicate steps' status.  Steps are muted
by pressing the corresponding encoder or, by toggling the
stepmode button, skipped, turning a sixteen-step sequence
into a six-step one without truncation.  I first encountered
this on an ARP sequencer, and later the Signal Arts MAPS,
and it's a very cool effect.  Skips and mutes can be mixed
freely per track, so an eight-track sequence might have a
bewildering combination of skipped, muted and active steps,
running in different directions and at different rates.

When it's time to expand the sequence by adding more tracks
- more notes for polyphonic sequencing, a drum track for the
  essential beat, or any of the modulating tracks enumerated
earlier, we encounter my first operational gripe: you have
to stop the sequencer in order to define a track type.  It's
a fast and easy operation that is unlikely to disrupt the
creative flow in the studio, but that's a lot of stopping
and starting when each sequence has eight tracks, and it
would be frustrating to build a sequence from scratch in a
live setting without considerable preparation, and sometimes
compromise.

Once you've selected a type, you can tie other tracks to it
with a few button pushes, and start modulating them by
editing the new track's sequence.  The first thing I wrote
was a simple, cyclical, Autechresque bassline  - additional
tracks, sequencing velocity and adding a single octave jump
every ten steps, made the bassline breathe and dance nicely.
Then, I added a MIDI track, duplicating the add track's
ten-step sequence, so every octave jump would trigger a
second patch that had a reverb send, instead of the first
patch.  This only took seconds to effect, and sounded great.
That's four tracks in the sequence used, leaving four more
to sequence note length, track time signature via a gate
track, CC values and, in admirable attention to detail,
playback mode.  You can even force time-based
resynchronizations globally or per-track. It's easy to
overdo the modulations and turn your long-awaited "Mass
after Palestrina" into a sample and hold serenade if you're
not careful, so a little trial, error and judgment are key
to realizing your musical ideas.

The drum matrix track, added with OS 1.0d, complements the
note track.  You pick a static note value {say, C3 for kick
drum} and sequence velocities.  All other modulating tracks
and sequence parameters still apply, so you're only a minute
from composing inscrutable polyrhythms for people to scratch
their heads over online.

Less glamorous than the sequencer, but equally necessary,
are the modal operations.  The "enter" button toggles
between track sequence and parameter view, where you would
define track type, playback mode, MIDI channel, sequence
length, and so on.  You can also statically transpose and
rotate the track's events in this menu.  The "loop" button
toggles between the sequence and a start+end view, which
allows you to change the sequence endpoints quickly.  Use
the "global" view to activate or deactivate tracks and
quickly edit the values of the eight MIDI controllers you
have defined in the "setup" view.  On paper, this may seem
like so many words, but Manikin deserve extra credit for
keeping their modal operations accessible, logical and
consistent; many crucial functions are just a single press
of a button away.

Skipped Steps
=============
There are a improvements I'd like to see in the
Schrittmacher.  Some parameters yield undesired output when
edited live.  If you want to change the MIDI channel from,
say, one to four, there's a good chance you'll fire off
notes on channels two and three while you're turning the
encoder.  Similarly, changing the playback mode from forward
to pendulum might cause repeated notes or zipper noises.  It
would be ideal either to wait until the sequence restarts or
for the user to push the encoder to effect the change.  The
global menu does behave as expected.  When I mute a
modulating track, I expect my note track to play back
exactly as it's sequenced, with no changes effected by the
vel, gate, add or whatever tracks I have muted.  In use, the
first step of the muted modulating track affects the target
track - you might muting that muting an add track transposes
the entire note sequence by a fourth!  The only way to
disassociate a track and a modulating track completely is to
disable the routing, but that's a lot slower than using the
global view, which ostensibly designed for operations like
this.  The repeatable behavior when there's a "first step"
suggests that this is a programming oversight, but I sent an
email requesting clarification to Manikin.  I'd like to see
add tracks accept modulation from other add tracks, feeding
the jones for aleatory.  Page copy and paste functions would
be useful.  Assigning track types without stopping the
sequencer tops my list of feature requests, but the manual
says that you have to stop it in bold letters, so I guess
that's not going to change any time soon.

Endpoints
=========
None of the behaviors described above are dealbreakers.  On
the whole, the Schrittmacher's capabilities and runtime use
betray the significant thought and experience called upon to
design an instrument that can perform remarkable operations
typically unavailable to its less specialized competitors,
yet remain instantly grokked and fun to use, unlike the P3
and MAPS, which are extremely powerful, but have steep
learning curves and deeply modal interfaces - in short, the
ideal step-sequencer.  In comparisons, I keep returning to
an effects unit, Eventide's Eclipse, which may seem
spurious, but beyond their generous displays and quality
builds, you'll find a limited, but flexible architecture and
a robust user interface that may encourage more use and
experimentation than their more modular, and theoretically
more liberating, counterparts.  Whether you consider it a
Polymorph for the 21st century or a P3 for the rest of us,
the Schrittmacher promises to take your MIDI-based
composition to exciting, often fruitful, directions.

This document is fairly high-level, but I'm bored of writing
this.  I'll happily answer any detailed questions about the
Schrittmacher in subsequent emails.

-- 
Yours,
Niall.
.. .  .   .    .     .       .           .             .                 .
Aleph Null.                             A Simple Insinuation Around Silence.
http://aleph-null.net
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