Checking the MOTU site to see if the highly anticipated (at least by me and, I’m sure, a number of other composers who rely heavily on MIDI) release of Digital Performer 8 for Windows is ready for prime time got me thinking. Dangerous, right, I understand! Still, there’s a question. What is your sequencer of choice? Furthermore, how well do you know the feature sets of the sequencers you’ve passed on?

Not long ago studio musicians, particularly those writing for film and television, used Pro Tools as a recorder with Logic or another sequencer functioning on the front end. Of course, Digidesign understood that it was limiting its market share and eventually integrated a well designed MIDI sequencer into Pro Tools. Steinberg, Apple (post their purchase of Logic), Ableton-you get the idea-have continued to release periodic updates of their sequencers, though some feel that MIDI architecture has been fully maxed out.

What sequencer do you use? Do you feel that any one of them yields a better (read: warmer, more analog) sound? Do you use any of the analog tape modeling plug-ins? When was the last time you visited a colleague’s studio, stopped into a music store, or tapped into YouTube to check out the competition’s feature sets?

I’d be quite interested to hear from you on this topic. Whenever you get a chance, please drop me a line.