The LinnSequencer is a rack-mount 32-track hardware

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...

sequencer manufactured by

Linn Electronics Roger Curtis Linn is an American designer of electronic musical instruments and equipment. He is the designer of the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and the MPC sampler, which had a major influence on the development of hip h ...

and released in 1985 at a list price of US $1,250. An optional Remote Control was available. Like the

LinnDrum Midistudio The LinnDrum Midistudio (also known as the Midistudio) was going to be an electronic musical instrument produced by Linn Electronics as the successor to the ill-fated Linn 9000, which was an integrated digital sampling drum machine and MIDI ...

, the LinnSequencer used the same flawed operating system used in the ill-fated

Linn 9000 The Linn 9000 is an electronic musical instrument manufactured by Linn Electronics as the successor to the LinnDrum. It was introduced in 1984 at a list price of $5,000, ($7,000 fully expanded) and about 1100 units were produced. It combined MID ...

, released in 1984. As a result, both machines earned a reputation for being notoriously unreliable. In addition, the optional LinnSequencer SMPTE feature could not be deployed due to flawed circuit design. The last LinnSequencer operating system released by

was version 5.17. When Linn went out of business in 1986,

Forat Electronics Bruce Forat is an electronics engineer, computer programmer, music producer, songwriter and co-founder and president of Forat Music and Electronics Corporation, founded in 1986. He is known for providing samples, service and upgrades for all L ...

purchased Linn's remaining assets and completely revamped the

and LinnSequencer operating system. They fixed all the bugs and added some new features to the LinnSequencer. The Forat LinnSequencer was released in 1987 by

at a list price of $1,000 (including all fixes and upgrades). The Forat LinnSequencer was manufactured and sold as a new complete unit. Forat also offered software and hardware upgrades to existing LinnSequencers. Forat discontinued manufacturing new complete Forat LinnSequencers in 1994. However, at the time of writing (2015), Forat still offers the LinnSequencer software and hardware upgrades to stock LinnSequencers.

Features

The LinnSequencer is a state-of-the-art composition and performance tool for the professional musician. It is extremely powerful, yet amazingly simple to learn and use. Features added by

include: * 40,000-note capacity (four times the original) * MIDI clock * MIDI song pointer Features of the original

LinnSequencer that are retained in the Forat LinnSequencer include: * Operation is similar to a multi-track tape recorder with PLAY, STOP, RECORD, FAST FORWARD, REWIND, and LOCATE controls * Each of the 100 sequences contains 32 simultaneous, polyphonic tracks. Each track may be assigned to one of 16 MIDI channels. Simultaneously plays up to 16 polyphonic synthesizers * Ultra-fast 3.5-inch floppy disk drive stores complex songs in seconds and holds over 110,000 notes per disk * One or all tracks may be TRANSPOSED at the touch of a key * Exclusive real-time ERASE function makes editing FAST * Exclusive REPEAT function automatically repeats any held notes at a pre-selected rhythmic value * TIMING CORRECTION works during playback and operates without "chopping" notes * Optional remote control

Features

Brochure (1985)

References

External links