Ton "O" Questions...!
Man - There are a ton of questions in your posts!
First - I am assuming that all your questions are stemming around the use of the Electribe MX...
Second - Understand - I DON'T have one - A friend of mine has two of the smaller units Korg makes...
Third - What the MX says is "Sequencing" is not sequencing as you would typically find using standard software packages...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I don't think you want to do step recording with the MX...
The MX is based around "patterns" which make up "songs" or "Sequences"...
Then you chain the patterns together to make a song...
When I watched my friend, he would set a pattern of a specific length / then he would start the 'sequencer' in the Korg... Nothing would come out mind you... Then he would select a sound and start pushing buttons along the keys on the bottom... the keys on the bottom corresponded to a specific beat in the pattern... As the Korg played through this pattern and repeated, his instrument would start to play on the beats that he 'turned on' for that instrument...
He would build each track this way until all of his instruments and sounds were playing the way he expected... This would be "synced" with Cubase which is the sequencer he uses in order to compose his song...
Differences...
Step Recording vs. Realtime Sequencing
Step recording is exactly what you get when using any of the Korg Electribes... Essentially Step Recording 'could be' considered sort of a limited type of sequencer... These are pattern based and thus are very rigid in how they play back the information... A sequencer on the other hand is a wide open / real time / digital style recorder that records all nuances of a MIDI performance in real time...
Just entering the notes in a sequencer along the staff doesn't mean anything unless you know the timeline for which you are programming... The notes have to be 'spread out' graphically so the performance will sound right... When entering notes in step recording / The Korg assumes you know that the notes will come out at a certain time... That is why the performance sounds more structured...
USB Step recording entry...
You'll have to look this one up...
Unless the Korg MX's manual SPECIFICALLY says that you can send external commands to it - you may NOT be able to get an external controller to enter the information remotely... If you can - then each knob may have to be programmed to control a specific parameter... This can be a nightmare.... I use Logic Pro with a Pro88 Keyboard from M-Audio / It took me nearly two weeks to get all the knobs programmed the way I wanted so that it would control Logic as I expected... / You need to read up on it and figure it out...
MIDI output of Arpeggios vs. sequencing...
When using an apeggiator / it is set to output ANY NOTE YOU HOLD DOWN at a certain speed... EXAMPLE: The arpeggiator is set to 16th notes at a tempo of 120... When you press a key the arpeggiator will start pumping out that one note 16 times per measure at the tempo of 120... When you hold down multiple notes, the arpeggiator will begin to spit out the notes you hold down 16 times per measure at the tempo of 120 and will not stop until you let the keys up / Further / You can tell the arpeggiator to run the notes you play up, or down, or in random order...
In sequencing, again / it is real time... You play the notes according to a specific tempo and they go in exactly as you play them...
Many times an arpeggiator is used to play notes in a specific pattern faster than a normal person can play - that's why they sound so interesting... And those arpeggios can be used In tempo with a sequencer in order to give a more interesting performance / song...
TIPS:
In the Electribe you can use the "pattern sequencer" to make interesting performances that you wouldn't normally think of... These patterns can be played into your computer sequencer and played as part of a larger performance where you would record the rest of the performance in realtime... For example the arpeggiator in the MX can be used to make interesting patterns for specific sounds and then played into your standard sequencer...
I hope this answers some of your questions...
Try and be a little more specific the next time you post so people can focus more on individual questions you may have...
Just be aware that the MX has a "simple" sequencer that allows you to be more creative with the sounds on the MX... This - I don't believe - is something that you want to replace a computer sequencer with... It should be considered and 'augment' to your current computer setup....
Hope this helps...
And good luck...
