When Multivox released the SQ-01 in 1980, they were betting on a radical idea: what if a sequencer and synthesizer could be one affordable, portable unit? Only 200 were made, which means this hybrid machine arrived before the TB-303 became legendary, and it took a completely different sonic direction—deeper, fatter, and built for bass that sits in the mix like a physical presence.
The SQ-01 pairs a straightforward monophonic synthesizer with a 16-channel step sequencer that can hold up to 1024 events across four master channels. The synth engine uses a single voltage-controlled oscillator feeding into a 24dB-per-octave filter with resonance control, shaped by a simple ASR envelope. You've got five knobs handling the sound design: Cutoff Frequency, Resonance, Fine Tune, Oscillator Frequency, and Sustain. The sequencer side uses eight touch-pad controls to navigate your 16 subdivisions, with separate Tempo, Release, and Bar knobs to shape playback. A single-octave capacitive keyboard lets you input notes directly, and the whole thing runs on either AC power or six AA batteries, making it genuinely portable for 1980.
What really sets the SQ-01 apart is its connectivity. The back panel is loaded with CV in and out, Gate in and out, Clock in and out, plus a Synchro jack for linking multiple units together. This was serious integration thinking for a budget machine. The synthesizer voice itself is admittedly simple—one oscillator, no LFO, no modulation—but players consistently describe it as surprisingly fat and deep, especially in the low end. It won't give you the squidgy resonance sweep of a 303, but it delivers a dub-friendly thickness that some prefer. The sequencer interface is straightforward but requires patience to master, and the thin synth voice means it works best as a bass tool rather than a full sound source. Still, for a rare piece that predates the most famous bass synth ever made, the SQ-01 remains a genuinely useful tool in any CV-gate setup, and its deep analog character has earned respect from people who actually use them.
