SEQUENCER

noun (Music) (Science and Technology) A programmable electronic instrument which can store sequences of musical notes, chords, or other signals and reproduce them when required, usually as part of a musical composition. Etymology: A specialized sense of sequencer, which had been used since the fifties for a number of electronic devices that put information in sequence. History and Usage: Sequencers first became available in the mid seventies, but it was not until the early eighties and the development of MIDI that they started to be widely used. The sequencer proved an essential piece of equipment, both as an element of electronic instruments such as the keyboard and for the electronic music styles of the eighties, with their patchwork or collage-like quality; house music, in particular, relied heavily on this technology. The Synclavier also has a 'sequencer', which is like a word processor for music: you can use it to program the machine to play 'Chopsticks' for you. Listener 24 Oct. 1985, p. 43 Musicians create their rhythm patterns in the sequencer rather than on the drum machine. Rhythm Mar. 1989, p. 30