I think it may be advertised as having an onboard sequencer...... but all it has is the ability to play midi files from an external sequencer..... you CANNOT record midi's or play midi's with the XV-88 alone. A sampler basically records a short "snippet" of an instruments sound, and then maps it to the keyboard...... so in other words... you can record an acoustic guitar with a sampler and then get that same sound from your synth (99.9% sure... someone correct me if I'm wrong) also you can put drum loops on the sampler and trigger them from the keyboard as well. I don't think you really need a sampler for the sounds themselves if you get the XV..... the XV has an awesome bank of preset sounds and tons of expansion boards if you just can't find the one you need. As for the drum loops.... if you are looking to add some percussion you will need a drum machine or sampler or whatever to do that. The XV really can't do this to well, unless you have a sequenced drum part playing via midi from an external sequencer.

As for the computer program...... almost any midi sequencing program will do this..... some of these include: Cakewalk Home Studio (I just got HS 8.0.... looks pretty cool... although I haven't really messed around with it yet) Cubase VST(is that right?), Logic........ Sibelius might even do it... although I don't know. Just look for a program that says it can record midi..... some audio tracks would be good too, if you have a line in on your computer. Oh well... hope this helps.

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