Editing Music sequencer (section)

== Overview ==

=== Modern sequencers ===
{{multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | width = 220
| image1   = Atari ST + TerraTec-Profimedia Midi Smart TMS3.jpg
| caption1 = 1980s typical software sequencer platform, using [[Atari ST|Atari Mega ST]] computer
| image2   = Cubase 6 feature collage.png
| caption2 = Today's typical software sequencer, supporting [[multitrack audio]] and [[audio plug-in|plug-ins]] ([[Steinberg Cubase|Steinberg Cubase 6]]<ref>
  {{cite web
 |title        = Cubase 6 screenshot licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0
 |url          = https://www.steinberg.net/en/landing_pages/c6_creative_commons
 |publisher    = Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH
 |url-status   = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20111109011956/http://www.steinberg.net/en/landing_pages/c6_creative_commons
 |archive-date = 2011-11-09
}}</ref>)
| image3   = Cubase look and feel.jpg
| caption3 = User interface on Steinberg Cubase 6, a [[digital audio workstation]] with an integrated software sequencer
}}
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2011}}

The advent of [[Musical Instrument Digital Interface]] (MIDI) in the 1980s gave programmers the opportunity to design software that could more easily record and play back sequences of notes played or programmed by a musician. As the technology matured, sequencers gained more features, such as the ability to record [[multitrack audio]]. Sequencers used for audio recording are called [[digital audio workstation]]s (DAWs).

Many modern sequencers can be used to control [[Software synthesizer|virtual instruments]] implemented as software [[Audio plug-in|plug-ins]]. This allows musicians to replace expensive and cumbersome standalone synthesizers with their software equivalents.

Today the term ''sequencer'' is often used to describe software. However, hardware sequencers still exist. [[Music workstation|Workstation keyboards]] have their own proprietary built-in MIDI sequencers. [[Drum machine]]s and some older synthesizers have their own step sequencer built in.  The market demand for [[List of music sequencers#Standalone MIDI sequencers|standalone hardware MIDI sequencers]] has diminished greatly due to the greater feature set of their software counterparts.<!--[[User:Kvng/RTH]]-->