what is non linear sequencing?
what is non linear sequencing?
it's a term i've read around here sometimes but it isn't really making sense. i understand the term in cinema but can't translate it to sequencing music.
Re: what is non linear sequencing?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-linear_editing_systemtone-def wrote:it's a term i've read around here sometimes but it isn't really making sense. i understand the term in cinema but can't translate it to sequencing music.
whats not to understand?
I guess because of the time line its geared to create linear music. But once you are recording anyways and leaving it at that you would have a linear output i think...tone-def wrote:so all software DAWs are non-linear.
i really don't know what they were talking about now. they were saying software was linear because it used a timeline.
Unless you have some way to continually modify the output overtime then you might have something non-linear? i.e. ableton clip gid... but still you render the output again... you've got something linear lol. not gonna escape that unless you can time travel i guess.
Im not sure what that term really implies but maybe this track has something non-linear to it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukyRPpR8jg
I mean theres a quite dramatic mood change towards the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukyRPpR8jg
I mean theres a quite dramatic mood change towards the end.
i'm not sure how others are using the term, but from my own point of view, its the absence of a timeline, a better term may be fractal sequencing.
sorry to bring up modular again, but my sequencing methods changed completely when i started with my modular. my sequences now start with a very simple short sequence (maximum 8 x 16th note steps) which has no timeline, it may be going forward or backward or both, or jumping around, or stopping and starting, and all the music stems from that, and kind of grows out of it fractally.
each element in the sequence can affect each other, by using dividers, sequential switches, logic modules, adders, combiners, the very simple sequence turns complex very quickly, and the new complexity can be fed back into and affect the original sequence, one element may make it run backwards, another forwards, another stop it or start it etc etc... so there is no way to say where the sequence starts or ends or where it will go next.
its more like an organic process, than something linear and predictable.
there is a fine dividing line between it becoming chaos, rather than something beautiful. its your job as a musician to make it beautiful.
edit
i should say this doesnt mean that the music is necessarily hard to follow, or not quite quite normal sounding, infact most of the music ive made this way would probably considered normal minimal techno, you can shape it into whatever you want, or you can let it go off on its own if you want.
sorry to bring up modular again, but my sequencing methods changed completely when i started with my modular. my sequences now start with a very simple short sequence (maximum 8 x 16th note steps) which has no timeline, it may be going forward or backward or both, or jumping around, or stopping and starting, and all the music stems from that, and kind of grows out of it fractally.
each element in the sequence can affect each other, by using dividers, sequential switches, logic modules, adders, combiners, the very simple sequence turns complex very quickly, and the new complexity can be fed back into and affect the original sequence, one element may make it run backwards, another forwards, another stop it or start it etc etc... so there is no way to say where the sequence starts or ends or where it will go next.
its more like an organic process, than something linear and predictable.
there is a fine dividing line between it becoming chaos, rather than something beautiful. its your job as a musician to make it beautiful.
edit
i should say this doesnt mean that the music is necessarily hard to follow, or not quite quite normal sounding, infact most of the music ive made this way would probably considered normal minimal techno, you can shape it into whatever you want, or you can let it go off on its own if you want.
Last edited by steevio on Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Phase Ghost
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Steevio's description is what I think of. With a timeline, whether it's a electribe step sequencer or a whole track drawn out in a daw, it starts end ends at the same spot. You can turn notes off and on, but it's still a straight line from beginning to end.
When you add the things mentioned above by Steevio, it takes a simple 8 or 16 step sequence and makes it more dynamic, organic or non-linear. For instance, a clock divider takes the triggers from a sequencer and essentially makes 8 new sequences. 1/1 rate, 1/2 rate, 1/3 rate, 1/4 rate, etc. Then you could take a 1/2 and 1/4 into a switch and let the 1/3 control the rate in which it switches between those two (or any combination you want). Then you could take the output of that switch and feed it into a logic module with another division from the clock divider to make the sequence more unique.
At that point you would have a sequence that went from simple to complex with just 3 modules. Double that and.... well, you get the drift. So, instead of going from 1 to 16, you have many different sequences bouncing off each other.
I know that sounds kinda difficult to understand, but I could patch that up in a minute. And if someone did that once or twice, they would get the hang of it. It's much more difficult to explain than do.
Apologizes for the modular reference, but it's my only experience with this style of sequencing as well.
When you add the things mentioned above by Steevio, it takes a simple 8 or 16 step sequence and makes it more dynamic, organic or non-linear. For instance, a clock divider takes the triggers from a sequencer and essentially makes 8 new sequences. 1/1 rate, 1/2 rate, 1/3 rate, 1/4 rate, etc. Then you could take a 1/2 and 1/4 into a switch and let the 1/3 control the rate in which it switches between those two (or any combination you want). Then you could take the output of that switch and feed it into a logic module with another division from the clock divider to make the sequence more unique.
At that point you would have a sequence that went from simple to complex with just 3 modules. Double that and.... well, you get the drift. So, instead of going from 1 to 16, you have many different sequences bouncing off each other.
I know that sounds kinda difficult to understand, but I could patch that up in a minute. And if someone did that once or twice, they would get the hang of it. It's much more difficult to explain than do.
Apologizes for the modular reference, but it's my only experience with this style of sequencing as well.
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oblioblioblio
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I think the term non-linear sequencing is most valid in a modular system.
DAWs general encourage a certain mentality of composition. Nothing can really talk to anything else. It's little blocks that either stop or go, are muted or unmuted. That is all they can do.
With modular, certainly, you can build a track out of little machines which can all talk to each other. If you like it, you can have everyting talking to everything else. One machine can be connected to many others. Every machine has it's own timeline, for exmaple, an LFO is still a time based sequencer (each waveform is a timeline), and an 8 step sequencer is obviously a timeline. But becuase all these machines can talk to each other, you can configure a completely unique living seqeucning system based on all these little interactions.
MaxforLive also can be non-linear. Also Numerology. My favourite is modular.
DAWs general encourage a certain mentality of composition. Nothing can really talk to anything else. It's little blocks that either stop or go, are muted or unmuted. That is all they can do.
With modular, certainly, you can build a track out of little machines which can all talk to each other. If you like it, you can have everyting talking to everything else. One machine can be connected to many others. Every machine has it's own timeline, for exmaple, an LFO is still a time based sequencer (each waveform is a timeline), and an 8 step sequencer is obviously a timeline. But becuase all these machines can talk to each other, you can configure a completely unique living seqeucning system based on all these little interactions.
MaxforLive also can be non-linear. Also Numerology. My favourite is modular.