Dial in the crazy with Twisted Electron’s Crazy8 MIDI and CV sequencer
Twisted Electrons have pulled the sequencer out of their ACID8 and made it into something quite special. They are calling it Crazy8 and it has a “crazy” button that can introduce a whole bunch of “crazy” to your sequences. Although that’s just one feature of this comprehensive sequencing box.
Crazy8
It has 8 “Crazy” tracks of sequencing – ok, I think the “Crazy” is a little overplayed. I’ll come back to the “crazy” but here are some other facts. It has 4 tracks of polyphonic MIDI sequencing, and 4 tracks of CV/Gate. It has two MIDI output ports, the first for the MIDI sequencing and the second mirrors the CV/Gate output. There’s Sync in and out and a MIDI clock input. So it’s all going to connect up rather nicely to a hybrid MIDI and modular setup – that’s very cool.
In the pattern stakes, you have 16 steps per pattern and you can chain them up to make 128 steps if you wish. Each track is independent in terms of direction and can clock divide in terms of tempo. There are 8 levels of swing and 2 swing modes and the steps in each track can be offset. Transposing can be done on the fly.
So, what about the “crazy”? Well, the “Crazy” button lets you dial through probability and into improvisation. Values 1-8 introduce probability algorithms to affect whether a step is played or not. Pushing it from 10-16 adds in improvised notes based on the content of your pattern. This is probably excellent but at the moment the videos they’ve released about the Crazy8 are decided un-crazy. In fact, although very informative, they are pretty dull and uninspiring. Come on Twisted Electrons, let’s see some of your crazy! The animated GIF of the little lights moving is the craziest thing about this so far, and that’s just mildly entertaining.
Twisted Electrons Crazy8 with pretty lights · Source: Twisted Electrons
Potentially awesome product here. I’m trying hard to get excited by it, but I need a bleedin’ demo. Someone in marketing needs to make a video of the Crazy8 in action – that would help! Otherwise, please not to fall asleep during the presentation of the many fascinating features.
Twisted Electrons are taking preorders for €255 which is Arturia Beatstep Pro territory. More information on the Twisted Electrons website.
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