The days of sequenced MIDI parts sounding robotic are over. (Unless you want your MIDI tracks to sound robotic, of course. There’s nothing wrong with that!) There are lots of parameters and features in most sequencers that allow you to adjust a MIDI sequence to have more human feel. But one of the more overlooked features of nearly every modern DAW is the ability to “borrow” or extract a groove from one part and apply it to another.
The mechanics vary depending on the specific DAW, but the basic process is the same. You select one track — usually it can be either audio or MIDI — and tell your DAW to analyze that part for timing information. Then another command applies that performance to another MIDI part of your choosing, adjusting the MIDI notes in your part by the performance data that was captured from the source track. This way, you can give the “groove” of one part to another part — for example, apply the feel of a drum track to a bass track — without having to painstakingly adjust parameters and note timing manually.
Applying groove templates like this isn’t always a “magic bullet,” but it’s definitely worth trying if you want to give your MIDI parts more human feel and deeper groove.