Max for Live device
v1.0 · free

TGB-420

Sequencer

A classic stage sequencer, rebuilt for hypnotic techno.

Zip with the device (.amxd) and the full manual (PDF).
Ableton Live 11+ · Suite, or Standard with Max for Live.

8 stages  ✦  3 play modes  ✦  note pools  ✦  pattern bank

Get

started
Eight stages. Each one holds a note and decides how long it lasts and how often it plays. Short stages, long stages, rests and repeats make the groove; a few notes make the riff.
01

Drop it in

Put TGB-420 Sequencer on a MIDI track, in front of an instrument.
02

Press play

The sequence runs in time with your set. The playing stage lights up and its dial glows on every note.
03

Roll the dice

Set Pool to Tension or Hypnotic and Notes to 2 or 3 for a focused riff. Don’t like it? Hit ◂ to go back.
04

Shape the rhythm

Click a stage’s mode (– I II I–) and its pulse cells to make it shorter or longer.
05

Save it

Open the Patterns · Evolve tab at the right edge and shift-click a slot. It’s stored in your Live Set.

Three ways to

play
Same stages, same rhythm. Switch the play mode and the sequencer becomes a bassline or an arpeggiator.

SEQ

01
Every stage plays its own note. The sequencer as you know it.

BASS

02
One note, pure groove. Stages jump octaves (−2 to +2). Play a key to move it.

ARP

03
Hold a chord and the stages play it in their rhythm. 17 arp styles, 1–4 octaves, and Latch.
✦ Retrigger: in Bass and Arp, a new key press restarts the pattern from stage 1.
Roll

the dice

Random, but musical. Pick a note pool, cap how many different notes appear, and roll until it locks in.
Note pools
CLASSICONE NOTEPOWERTENSIONHYPNOTICDARKSCALECUSTOM

✦  Notes 1–8 caps a roll to 2 or 3 pitches, the hypnotic way.

✦  Octave jumps add movement without new notes.

✦  Roll a layer, the rhythm or everything. Pitch, velocity, gate, chance or aux.

◂ Back undoes a bad roll

16 steps of history

Patterns that

evolve
01

8 pattern slots

Saved with your Live Set. Recall waits for the end of the cycle, so switches always land on the one.
02

Evolve

One small change every 8, 16, 32 or 64 bars. The riff drifts, the groove holds.
03

Step nudge

Shift the whole sequence one step left or right. Every setting moves with it.

More

control

Gate + chance layers

Note length and probability, per stage.

Follows Live's scale

Live 12 scale awareness, a custom scale, or none.

MIDI clip export

Drop the sequence into a clip, chance included.

Aux CC + glide

Any CC, pitch bend or aftertouch, stepped or sliding. Or map it straight to any control in Live.

Out now. Free.

Version 1.0, free for everyone. The zip includes the device and the full user manual.

Install: unzip, then drag TGB-420 Sequencer v1.0.amxd onto a MIDI track in Live, or into your User Library to keep it handy.

Feedback: email feedback@greatbeyond.us with bugs, ideas or sets you made with it.

Max for Live · Ableton Live 11+ · Suite, or Standard with the Max for Live add-on · following Live’s scale needs Live 12
TGB-420 Sequencer · The Great Beyond · @greatbeyondmn
Inspired by RYK’s M-185 and Nico Starke’s ML-185.
Beyond space and time, beyond what we perceive to be real, there is only The Great Beyond.