Korg SQD-1 Hardware MIDI Sequencer

Memory relief

The trouble of saving your MIDI sequences onto a standard cassette tape and loading back again, was a real nightmare – especially in a live situation. WIth the MSQ-700 and MSQ-100 Sequencers from Roland there was an audio interface, to record digital information onto analog tape. And it actually worked – when the recorder, levels and tape were all in perfect order. Only that was not always the case…

Therefore I took notice when Korg launched a MIDI sequencer with built-in Floppy Disk drive. This made it a lot of easier to keep a library of tracks and to load them fairly quickly and reliably.

Plastic fantastic

The unit feels quite lightweight and has a plastic feeling to it, compared to e.g. Roland devices. But the functionality is smooth, with a button matrix to select the various functions. A large 6 chararacter LED display communicates values and functions, so the overall overview was better than on the Rolands.

Watch your ambitions

As with other single cable MIDI sequencers, all notes struggle for the same positions. This can lead to timing trouble.

Read this post for tips on this subject: Timing problems with dense MIDI arrangements