Yamaha SEQTRAK Orange

the Yamaha SEQTRAK, seem a bit basic if you look at it at first hand but it's very powerfull when it's question to sequencing and syncing with any Daws with Ableton Link.

I have bought it first for his portability and to use it with his powerful iOS app on my iPad ... But i discovered that you can also assign all parts of his 10 channels (the drum kit and the sampler of synth) into different channels on Ableton without the need of my iPad and that is really a game changer as you can pilot your vst-plug-in on your canapé wirelessly to expand the songs you have created on the go with it. That is not all as there is also a very good song mode for chaining all your patterns that you can even exchange quickly by a simple knobs move. You are able to remove the parts you dont want very quickly too.

There is a good scale options, transpose and lots of effects you can assign o the samples of synths. For live little set on the go i can recommend it also because of his built in speaker (not the best one but decent for a small machine like this).

In conclusion : with the Yamaha SEQTRAK, you have all in one music production tool to use on the go and to pilot your daw wirelessly to finish it. With his built in battery that last 4 hours you create everywhere, i know nothing more complete than this Yamaha SEQTRAK. If i must do a critical for the black points, i will say that the pads for playing samples of synths are not super good for jamming on it no so sensitive and responsive for me it will need an external keyboard for it. The general material is a plastic that don't seem to be very resistant but time will tell it and finally the way to change the effects of know what you are applying is a bit tricky except if you got them in mind .


It's a good product if you got a medium budget and looking for the most versatile tool to create on the go so you can buy it with eyes closed that always will be a use in your studio set up too.

I put 4 stars because the built quality is not super strong and for me still need to be improved for the some randomisation and arpeggios functions that are limited. I was hoping a kind of Tosro T-1 euclidian generative functions that are unfortunately missing but that can i think be implemented in near future update i hope ...

Thanks for reading

I am a big fan of hardware grooveboxes and in the past I was acquiring many devices to find out what will work out the best for me.
Recently I was testing TE Ep133 and it wasn't intuitive enough to use. This device was quickly sold.

It is quite another story with Seqtrak. The device's workflow is very straight forward. I love the fact patterns can be changed by simple knob twisting. There are plenty of sounds on board. The device is packed with FX. Deep level configurations of FX and sound design is possible via a companion app (works well on iOS, a bit worse on android).

There is already a first firmware update that adds Elektron style temporary project save & recall (wow!).

The only drawbacks I have noticed so far is the fact there are no real faders but only touch strips. And their configuration is a bit surprising. In one mode they can be set to a fixed value, in another mode they reset as soon as the finger is lifted. Hopefully it will be improved in a firmware update.
Another drawback is build quality that is "ok-ish". Plastic is quite thin, light leaks from numerous LEDs quite noticeable and if you ask "Does it bend?", the answer is "Very much".

Regardless, I must say I love this device and am very happy to purchase it on Thomann (first purchase) who delivered it in light speed.