Rare Notron Midi Step Sequencer Mark 2

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Note that's a reflection and not discoloration. You can see the shadow of the person taking the picture.

If you are not familiar with these. Check out the Notron label below.

Rare Latronic Notron MK2 Midi Sequencer

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From Wikipedia:

"The Notron is a British-designed MIDI step sequencer used by Björk, Howie B etc. Produced in two models, the Mark 1 was available between 1996 and May 1998. The Mark 2 was a slim blue box produced until about 2001. About 100 Mark 1 units were sold and a similar number of Mark 2s. The Notron is no longer produced.

It was designed by and developed by Gerard Campbell and the software was written by Dave Spowage of Concourse Systems (UK). The original model bodywork was designed by Martyn Seiles. It was sold under the company name Latronic.

In 1999 it won a Millennium Award from the Design Council and was exhibited at the Millennium Dome during 2000. For some time the Notron was on display in the London Science Museum.

Only about 150 Notrons were made, and production on them has been discontinued. So, already, it is a collectible instrument and will surely increase in value as time passes...

It does different reset points for each sequence, can output 4 different sequences, It does LFO shapes, weird stuttering things, step length stuff, pitch bend and mod wheel macros, chords on steps, some time-stretching emulation sort of tricks, delays, strums and reversals. Some of the other neat stuff was being able to group changes across multiple steps, and all of it in real time. A very cool machine!"

Hurrah for Notron!

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Latronic Notron plus Streichfett & Roland Jupiter 8

Published on Mar 22, 2015 oldgearguy

"Latronic Notron sequencer driving a Waldorf StreichFett. Mostly showing the Notron basics. I'll try to upload some more targeted videos of the Notron doing the special things that it can do."

Latronic Notron plus Roland Jupiter 8 (w. Encore MIDI)

Published on Mar 24, 2015

"I was going to create a more detailed video showing some of the advanced/less well known Notron features. So I hooked it up to the JP-8, created a simple patch and began recording. I never got around to the advanced features. I loved the tones so much I just mostly let it roll.

Slight apologies for the sudden filter jumps - I forgot that I had the LFO set to sawtooth instead of a smoother sine."

Latronic Notron Mk2 Sequencer SN 2-000019

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"This box is remarkably inspirational and creative. It’s hard to say how, but the midi (I find, anyway) can be a dry, calculus-like thing to work with. The Notron takes it and makes it feel organic, exciting, evolving and new.

My favourite features include:

- The scale presets where you can impose a scale over the sequence you tapped in and it will play it in that scale. Very musical.

- The way the elements can be different lengths, rebound, skip, stutter, etc. leads to some crazy patterns.

- The way individual steps can become way more using the stutter and enveloping. Hard to explain but a brilliant feature, it’s great to write a drum line with melody like step shapes and then drop it into a drum track. It will surprise you every time!

Maybe other step sequencers do all that too, but they sure don’t do it in the same elegant and seriously intuitive way as the Notron 2. I beta tested the Genoqs Octopus and it was amazing in different ways, the huge matrix of switches was lovely, a real joy to use but somehow (for me) it lacked the “musicalness” of the notron.

It’s also beautiful to behold with its lovely shiny deep iridescent blue finish. The Notron is a truly inspirational piece of musical gear.

I know the whole “did you know Aphex Twin used this one time!” comparisons are a lame so I won’t do that. I do just want to say that Bjork helped make this box famous when her and Howie B picked a few up each. I heard Howie did a live show with just two of these and a linndrum or something. Nice. It’s magical on drums, all the single hit weirdness you can get going on is simply brilliant..."

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Notron Latronic MIDI Sequencer

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The Notron and Studio 440

flickr by judah42
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notron

flickr by citizenmori

full size

"gerard may not be the most nimble businessman... but his inventions in the music instrument space certainly are something special. wish i'd gotten me grubbin' mits wrapped solidly about one of those grex controllers before that venture went under..."

Latronic Notron Mk1 version 2.0 (upgraded firmware)

This Notron is now up for auction.

"This is the original, ultra-rare version 1. There are only about 100 of these in existence, many in the hands of famous musicians. If you are looking at this auction you probably already know what this is!

Despite being produced int he late 90's there are still unique features on this sequencer not found anywhere else (not even on the Genoqs Octopus). My favorites are the cumulative transpose and supersteps.

from Sound on Sound:

"Its moulded plastic case has no fewer than 87 tri-colour LEDs, 10 stylish knobs, four equally stylish control wheels and 103 switches that rattle like marbles on a solitaire board. The Notron is a step-time MIDI sequencer with four rows of up to 16 steps. Each of these is capable of sending note information, MIDI controllers, chords and arpeggios on separate (or, indeed, the same) MIDI channels. Unlike older analogue sequencers, it doesn't have a separate pitch knob for each step; instead a switch toggles notes on or off.

Designed for lap-top operation, the Notron feels comfortable and is light enough (at 2.2kg) to leave propped against a convenient wall when not in use. Or to wear as an impressive codpiece, come to think of it. (Dimensions are approximately 14 inches by 18 inches by 2.5 inches high.) Let's complete the obligatory tour quickly so we can get to the interesting stuff: the Notron has a MIDI In and Out, two auxiliary inputs (for future developments such as controller devices) and an input for the external power supply. Construction is to a high standard, so there's no doubt that you're dealing with a serious piece of kit."
I bought this a few months ago from a guy in England (who was friends with David Spowage one of the creators) for research purposes only (I am an engineer and I am designing a sequencer). It has served it's function so now it is time to pass it on to someone who will get some use out of it! The original owner had this unit upgraded to the much improved version 2.0 software. Unfortunately to do this with the Mk1 (the enclosure is made from sealed plastic) they had to cut the edges of the Notron to open it up. This is the same way all Mk1's have been upgraded. The result is that there was a rubber edging glued on afterwards. It looks totally pro from the top but in the underside you can see he was a bit sloppy with the rubber cement. The upside is that the glue is easily scraped away (rubber) if you are neat freak. There is also a tiny 1" long hairline crack in the bottom right side (underneath), it is almost invisible but I feel it is important to disclose all details! Those are the downsides to the upgrade, the upside is that they replaced many switches and pots and the new firmware functions fantastically and includes many improved features detailed in the V 2.0 manual.

It is well used but everything functions perfectly. Included is the the old firmware rare, extra memory chip and extra switches. I also have a UK and US power supply and all the manuals.

See why Bjork, Howie B, Richie Hawtin, The Orb, Jeff Mills, The Advent, Claude Young, Girogio Moroder and many others love theirs."

Latronic Notron Sequencer

click here for more shots of the Latronic Notron via Danjel.

Latronic Notron

Image via SubtleNoiseMaker. Note it is currently up for sale. If you are interested, click through to SubtleNoiseMaker. You can find more info on the Notron in general at Information from TechnoMage.

Latronic Notron

Title link takes you to shots via this auction.

Details:
"In the words of Paul Nagle from his Sound On Sound (June 1997) review: "Is it a hi-tech bathroom scale? Is it a 21st-century computer game? Is it Darth Vader's toilet seat? No, it's an innovative LED-laden MIDI step sequencer, with the power to wring new life from your old synths".

via Johan.

Sneak-Thief Notron and DIY Modular

Michel Morin (seak-thief / polygamy boys), sent in a couple of shots of his Latronic Notron and DIY modular. The following are his thoughts on the Notron.

"I bought the Notron new back in 1998 and manually upgraded it to the Mk2 ROM a year later. Cutting the rubber rim around the base was extremely difficult, not to mention carefully separating the two halves which were hot-glued together. I haven't replaced the rubber trim yet even though Latronic sent me a replacement piece along with the Mk2 ROM.

Notron's have generally had issues with static electricity and will sometimes reboot as a result. I think this might be solved if a proper star-grounding topology is used on the inside board along with a decent 5V DC power supply. I don't perform with it live anymore so fixing this is no longer a pressing issue for me.

I don't ever plan to sell my Notron, despite it currently being worth almost 3 times as much as I paid for it. Besides, how many sequencers do you know that can run at 1500bpm? When I first got it, I remember simultaneously crashing an SC-55, Juno 106, AN1x and TX81z due to some kind of insane midi stream that the Notron was spitting out. Most impressive!

What really stands out about this sequencer are the compelling ergonomics - it feels so damn good to use."

"p.s. It's crazy to think that I bought the Notron in 1998 for the equivalent of $950 USD and it's recently sold for over $3000 USD!"

DIY Modular from top to bottom:

1. 22-channel diy-passive mixer with FETBoy preamps
2. CGS + Oakley
3. Blacet
4 & 5. ASM-2 + Tonepad FX
6. Midibox CV + CGS
7. Henry/Stites + CGS + Papareil

Previous Notron posts

DSPaudio Nortron

Soft synth version of the Latronic Notron. Note the extra "r."
Mac only.

"A software sequencer inspired by classic hardware, Nortron goes further into new sequencing dimensions while retaining tight timing, quick navigation, and instrument like playability. Through IAC and CoreMIDI, Nortron controls Softsynths and standard MIDI devices. Nortron breathes new life into old instruments and otherwise dull synthesizers by playing them in ways not previously possible."

Title link takes you to more info and samples. Seen on Music Thing.

Tom Moravansky's Sequencing Powerhouse

Check this wall out. Going from left to right then top down: Two Oberheim Cyclones, JL Cooper Synapse MIDI patchbay (16 in, 20 out), Grex MXF8 ("the
almost vaporware product from the Notron guy (Gerard Campbell)"), a GenoQs Octopus, Oberheim DMX, two Sequentix P3s. a LinnDrum, two Notron sequencers and a Linn LM-1. Here's one more shot.

So of course I had to ask how the sequencers compared. Tom had the following to say:

"Octopus, P3, Notron are all different. I've only had the Octopus for a day, so what you're reading is initial impressions.

The Notron is still the only hardware sequencer I know of that decouples the note on time from the length of a step. Everyone else forces a note on to be less than or equal to a step size or else used some type of tied note notation to extend it.

Why do I care? Well, it's easy on the Notron to set one element to play 2 notes with long overlapping times and then to have the pitch or sustain modulated over the course of a sequence. Ideal for slow spacey things like old FSOL or Orb stuff or for NWW/Coil drone things.

The Notron is also one of the few (only?) hw sequencers to send out MIDI CC messages 'between the notes'. Everyone else spits out a MIDI CC value at each step. Notron sends out a seemingly continuous stream so that modulations really do sound and feel smooth and flowing. So you can have a track running at a slow tempo and still apply a smooth modulation with it. Other hw seqs would have a large, grainy steppiness to them at slow tempos.

The Octopus has a very easy interface for zooming into the step level and back out to the track view (10 tracks at once) or grid view (multiple pages of tracks). It's also very easy to check and change things like MIDI channel for each track (one button press and one knob turn). Still in development so the modulations and 'extras' are not as fleshed out yet as the Notron or P3. It does have some nice touches already and the UI really does make it fast to use.

The P3 reminds me of the Oberheim Cyclone with access to it's programming guts. :-) It's easy w. the P3 to create those self-modifying sequences that morph over time and change and shift with each pass. It's a very inward looking sequencer - it's focussed on modifying it's internal patterns and play structure.

The Notron is an outward sequencer - it is designed to spit out as much different MIDI info as possible and let the source deal with it as best as it can.

The Octopus is inbetween. Lots of parallel tracks possible (90 max), with some internal modification possible, not much extra MIDI spit out (other than the standard MIDI cc info per step)."

Via Tom of Synth Services. Thanks Tom!

Grey Latronic Notron Mk1

Title link takes you to more shots pulled from this auction. Via trobly1000. Thanks trobly1000!

Two Latronic Notron Sites

Title link takes you to the TecnoMage Latronic Notron Site. Note this is the same host for LIFE. Just like the way that sounds. ; ) The Latronic Notron is a rare and somewhat exotic step sequencer. You can find an overview of the Notron on SOS.



The second site worth checking out is the synthservices page, which has manuals for download and upgrade information if you were lucky enough to score one of these before they disappeared.

GenoQs - OCTOPUS

Interesting new sequencer coming out. Click here for more info.

It reminds me of a mix between the Latronic Notron Sequencer and Buchla's 250e pictured below.