Korg SQ-1

I was a bit disappointed in this hardware, but it fundamentally does do what it's supposed to do. The hardware itself is well-built, maybe a bit too well-built, it's very bulky and heavy given what it does. The buttons are very satisfying and easy to press.

The only way to really get this thing working with a computer DAW is to set the SQ-1 as the MIDI clock leader and your DAW (like Ableton Live) to follow tempo sent by the SQ-1. Having Live send MIDI clock to the SQ-1 doesn't work and doesn't seem to be supported. Also, having the SQ-1 be the clock leader is very difficult, because the tempo knob goes from like 20-999, so even the smallest touch will result in big BPM shifts. That makes this kind of impractical to use, because let's be honest, most music is in the 80-160 range, not 20-80/160-999.

The good: It's nice to have a simple grab and go sequencer to quickly hook up to any synth that accepts CV or midi, and the enclosure is quite sturdily built.

The bad: Dialing in notes is fiddly. Tiny knob movements result in missing the note you're going for. The effective sweep range of the knobs seem to be between 7 and 3 o'clock. (Maybe the pots are exponential?) Also, you only get scales (major & minor) in the key of C, which is ok if you're using CV and tuning an oscillator to whatever (or controlling something other than pitch), but can be limiting when using MIDI. The buttons are also pretty smushy, making precision changes difficult, and they tend to bounce, meaning it's easy to accidentally press the button twice in rapid succession.

Even with the negative points, the simplicity, convenience, and low price make the SQ-1 worth picking up.

I had high expectations for the SQ1: a small, affordable and solid hardware sequencer is something I always wanted.
The SQ1 has almost all the features needed to be a useful sequence sketchpad, but a few issues makes it rather limited for serious production. Here are the most critical ones:

-There is no transpose and the root note is always C3. This is a very strange decision from Korg! You cannot go lower than C3 or use something else than CMajor or CMinor.
-You can change the pitch and gate (duty) of notes but not the intensity.
-There is no memory. Turn the unit and everything is gone. This is a shame.
-There is no MIDI in.

I really hope Korg will solve the first problem I mentioned with a software update, otherwise I won't be able to use this unit frequently.