Its an amazing midi programme ... it is a blindingly fast operating system actually. Also an audio-harddisk recording system runs under a later version of VRX. Some amazingly fast picture processing has also been demonstrated to me with VRX. I have not seen anything like it on any pentium machine since, and the demo was on a 486dx33! But anyway... getting carried away here...

RSEQ is a dated but still amazing piece of software, written by Ralf Feiland ... a genius programmer.

More a demonstration of a GUI (graphical user interface), really – but it also works a Midi Sequencer, where it records MIDI events extremely faithfully, thanks to its processing speed. Download the demo here.

Sadly, it only accepts a MPU MIDI card on IRQ 2. If you want this changed (as I do) please email your vote ....

This is the quasi- documentation for RSEQ, a 99 track midi sequenzer.

It is a sequencer which records your midi data directly to hard-disk, allowing the recording of extremely long music pieces.

Hardware needed is very minimal: AT with VGA and a MPU Standard Midi Card (IRQ 2) and a mouse. Although it works fine with just a floppy, a harddrive is recommended.

If you have a mpu-card on IRQ 2 (unlikely!), then simply start the sequencer with  rseqdemo  (4 tracks only, no other limitations ) email norb@kcbbs.gen.nz for a free(?) 99 track version.

If your screen stays with the rotating white thing, your MIDI interface is not recognized. Either it's not a MPU standard or more likely it is not configured to IRQ 2. RSEQ can not be reconfigured to another IRQ.

OTHERWISE START THE PROGRAMME WITH  rseqdemo /mpu    or your computer will freeze. It won't run the record or playback functions. However you can play with the GUI, load files, open windows and have a snoop around.

If you have a mpu-card on IRQ2, you should open the file window and the tape machine (real time sequencer) window and drag a demo reel from the file window into the sequencer window. You have loaded a song which you can play now.

Edit a few notes by opening a track editor window and select track 1 by clicking onto the track number itself (Track No: -). Simply play the note highlighted by pressing a mouse button. You can cut and paste here and change values by double clicking with the left or right mouse button. You can mark a range of events by holding down the mouse button and draging.

A short description of the windows:

The top right corner button closes the window. If there are two, one of them switches to a full size window and back.

In every window doubleclick the top left corner to quit the sequencer entirely or press ALT+F4 to do the same. Your windows setup will be saved automatically.

The Control Panel Window: (The Clock)

Allows changing of screen colours. Seconds: enables/disables the second-hand in the clock face. Power GUI: move window content/ window frame Screensaver: 3 minutes Background: switches the Background Farbverlauf on/off. Time/Date: Just showing it, no setting. Last 3 menue items are text colours, foreground via clicking the colour field.

The Sequencer Tracks Window: ( The Tape Machine )

Filename: Load by draging from file window Title: Enter your title Time: 4/4, 6/8, 3/4 etc. (from 1/32 til 32/2) Tempo: Click onto quarter note, quarters per second Clipboard: Quantity of events during record / in clipboard Instruments: Instrument name from MIDI control map. Trk: Selected track number for record or erase for instance. Quan: Quantization during playback. Master: assigns that track to be a copy of another track. Events: Number of events on the track. Active: switch on/off track, incl harddisk access. You can activate only if track not empty. Switched to active after each recording automatically. Midi File: Function is not yet available, placebo. Metro: Metronome on/off, dynamics fader. Free: Free events on disk. Pulldown menu (Edit): Erase: Puts track data into clipboard, recall with undo. Undo: undoes the LAST alteration, erase, functions of the event editor, new recording on track.

The File Window:

Drag reels from the realtime sequenzer window into this window in order to save your file (song). Open both file windows and drag files from one into the other to move locations of files.

Timecode Window:

Start, stop, rewind, fast forward, record like on every normal tape recorder, stop resets timecode, pause saves it. When the metronome is clicked on, the sequencer starts always on the beginning of the bar. "Control"-button disables control data filter, click on to record pitchbends etc. "repeat"-button repeats entire song after it has reached the end.

Velocity Mixer Window:

From the top down (same for each of the 99 tracks) Oct: Transpose track by specified amount of octaves & semitones. Semi: Same with halftones Delay: On/off -9.99 to +9.99 seconds. Can be used as echo in connection with master parameter in sequencer. Keyvel: Disable/enable original velocity sensing Solo: Play that track only On/off: Track on/off (mute) Fader: Overall velocity for that track

The Midi Control Map Window:

Define a new voice in a free slot by giving it a name. If you have already given it a track, the name change will take place there as well. Assign midi channel etc. by clicking on the numberspace. Click onto any keyboard symbol to hear its sound. To define a track voice take a keyboard into the realtime sequenzer window and drop it into your desired track. Useful for percussion settings is the note function: You can select a single note value to be played only (displayed by the drum symbol). Save a complete MIDI control map by giving it a name (next to the midi plug symbol) and then drag the midi plug into the file window. Load a midi control map (*.mcf file) by draging a midi plug from the file window into the midi control map window. Midi thru simply switches midi data thru the MPU card, without changing the channel etc. Prog: Programme change number ( 1 ... 128) Oct/Semi: transpose Chan: MIDI channel (1 ... 16) Note: fix pitch onto one value, assign each drum computer instrument to it's own track (incl. mixer channel) !!! Metronome: MIDI channel and pitch of the metronome. Keep your alterations by saving as MCF File. You can change settings during playback. All alterations affect all sequencer tracks which use that instrument.

Keyboard Window:

Sorry but there is no split, yet. You can only play notes here. You can take notes from here with the left mouse button and enter them into the event editor and into the note parameter in the midi control window. Maybe not yet, check the update. The "Schlüssel-C" is marked by a dot.

Track Editor Window:

Parameter Track Nr.: Select the track to be edited and appear in the window. There are two editors of this kind which can work simultaneously on two different tracks. There are some clever functions to enable you to edit events in a comfortable manner, the "Editor Parameters Window" defines how they change. Bar.Beat.1/1920: Timecode of each event. Ch.: MIDI channel during recording, can be made invalid by classing Event: Name of the event. Values: up to two parameter of the event (e.g. pitch & velocity) A white bar highlightes a event, whose number is listed below. This cursor can be moved by the keyboard too (up, down, PgUp, PgDn, Ctrl-PgUp, Ctrl-PgDn) or selected by the mouse. All events can be edited with a double mouse click and holding the mouse button afterwards. Left mouse button counting up, right button down. Select a block with the mouse, or keyboard (F7,F8), the events in the block appear highlighted. The block is independent fron the cursor position. You will find other programmes will have these features too, soon. Menu Functions of the Event Editor: Goto: similar event goes to the fitting note off, note on. Marks the old position as a block, so it can be jumped upon with Ctrl-F7. A wrong note (F instead of Fis) can be corrected easily that way. Block: Mark (F6): erases block marking, if no block was selected, the whole track will be. F7/F8: Fixes the block end/beginning onto the cursor position. Erase: Erases marked block, a gap is created. Insert: Inserts a block from the OTHER editor, multiple times depending on "counter" in the editor parameter window. Can be used for punch in/out. Edit: Modify: Changes events according to the settings in the editor parameters window.

Editor Parameters Window:

Quantize: Timecode values are quantized, depth selectable. Additional random function for dequantization. Key Velocity: Raise or lower key velocity. Additional possibility to keep the velocity values in the selected block (depth=0%), to ignore (100%), to invert (200%) and to strech (-100%). Loop/Copy: Inserts a block at cursor position one or more times. Counter parameter adjusts how often. Loop/Copy copies a block inside a track, whereas insert takes a block from a different track (second editor window). Cut: Cuts a block. The events in the block are erased, but there is NO time-gap, the parts above and below of the block are joined timewise. Swap Tracks: You can swap tracks between the two editor windows. Offset: changes all Time-Codes from the cursor position onwards. You can insert a gap (pos. values) or cut out (neg. values). The Value is shown in the parameter window (in bar, beat and 1/1920), where you'll find the buttons for positive and negative as well. Undo: Undoes changes of track data and is identical with the undo function of the sequencer. Filter: was supposed to filter events from a block, but isn't implemented as yet.

CPU Statistics Window:

Shows how busy your computer is handling your data. It lists the timeslice frequency of the three multitasking priorities.

General Information:

Windows can also be swapped via the keyboard: Alt-Esc & Alt-Tab. Keyboard LED's are recognized seperately for each window, that means that you can have NUMLOCK on in one window and off in another. When changing windows the LED's are changing too (sic).

The different parts of the programme are connected via a elaborate messaging system. Lot's of parameters change simultaneously in more than one window. For instance try changing measure (4/4 to 6/8), all timecode values in the start/stop panel, parameter window and in event editors are changing.

Sorry, but that's all.

If you want to offer the programmer of RSEQ a position, please email Norbert under norb@kcbbs.gen.nz to track down Ralf.