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Hi Troux,

No, it was just me going wild ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

That's very interesting indeed, thank you very much for that! They even got a German website for their items, great! :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

I have a varigate 4+ and it is just ok not precise enough and probably not great for what Garfield wants. I recommend the Winter Eloquencer or 512 Vector those are superb sequencers that have all kinds of great options.

I'm a big fan of the Malekko Varigate 4+. It's one of the few modules I've held onto in my purge. The sliders aren't the best for performative use, but I don't do a lot of wiggling in my patches so that's not a concern for me. Might be worth your while to look into.

@Garfield, the eloquencer is nice! I met a guy who had not one but FOUR in his setup.

@GarfieldModular TBH I thought you'd been hacked at first 🤣🤣🤣

You've got the uModII already? Well, don't let it go! I've thought for a while that that was a superior piece of gear, especially due to the separate "SUM" and "DIFF" functions. Most ring mods don't let you go there, and if you can find a quadrature VCO to pair with it, you can get fairly close in behavior to a Bode Frequency Shifter. Not spot-on, but pretty close.
-- Lugia

Thank you @Lugia for your insights. Excited to try it. Trapezoid Thru Zero Quadrature VCO by Doepfer as a pair to uModII?

OK...we all know that Eurorack enclosures are expensive AF, as a rule. But do they HAVE to be?

See here: https://www.newark.com/schroff/24563-191/19-inch-subrack-europacpro-kit/dp/59M5127

Looks familiar, donnit? Yep, it's a "Europac" enclosure, the thing that Dieter Doepfer based the whole standard around.

Now look at the price tag: $70-ish for just one, and bulk discounts for more than one.

But it doesn't have a backplane! Well, it doesn't in THAT state, no, but Newark carries those as well...in fact, they appear to carry much of the Schroff Europac hardware, so a little more searching and some time with a drill with a carbide bit to put your busboard mounting holes in, and there you go!

It's not got tops or bottoms, you say? Sure...many Eurorack systems don't, either. But the perfect solution would be to mount three of these into a road case...maybe 10U so you can add a power conditioner and lights via a Furman M-8lx. Road cases too expensive? Naaaaaah...Newark's got those, too, WITH rear rails if needed, and for buttloads less than SKB or Gator. See here: https://www.newark.com/mcm-custom-audio/555-15637/stackable-abs-19-rack-flight-case/dp/48Y8196 for a whopping $117. Cheapest thing you're gonna find like this via Sweetwater is Gator's G-Pro 10U...at $260.

The other nice thing about using an ABS case like this is that you can easily mount a better (linear, if you can swing it) power supply in the case itself. So instead of using things like uZeuses and flying busses, you could put in a substantial tripolar supply, switch it via the M-8lx, and then distro the ONE power supply for the entire rig. This has the benefit of putting ALL modules on the same source, which eliminates the potential of groundlooping behavior between power supplies.

Anyway, hopefully those of you who're locked-in on assembling larger and/or expandable systems will have a look at the above and related things, as these really do fix the cost issue of housing/powering a system when they get beyond the size of off-the-shelf cabs.

Hi Sacguy71 and Defragmenteur,

Sacguy71: The Eloquencer might be indeed another interesting candidate. The Hermod... I am not sure, not too much of menu diving?

Defragmenteur: Thanks a lot for that list, I think a long time ago I have seen that before but it's good to be reminded of, I will check the entire list once again once I have a quiet moment!

Thank you both very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Guys,

Ha, ha, please refer to the Racks section of this forum where I "explain" this rack a little further.

Hint: It's a modular acrostic.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Oh, I sure as HELL hope he does. Some of those Moffenzeefs are ones I pointed new builders at when they'd say they wanted some "interesting" percussion. And that stuff was nothing if not INTERESTING.

You DID get the special expander for the ORBIT, right? The one with the half-kilogram of plutonium that sits behind the panel...the tone quality definitely makes up for the impending death from cancer!

You've got the uModII already? Well, don't let it go! I've thought for a while that that was a superior piece of gear, especially due to the separate "SUM" and "DIFF" functions. Most ring mods don't let you go there, and if you can find a quadrature VCO to pair with it, you can get fairly close in behavior to a Bode Frequency Shifter. Not spot-on, but pretty close.

I think he's done. His website says, "All manufacturing has permanently stopped." A few months back I hashtagged Moffenzeef on Instagram and he just responded with "Moffenzeef is dead."
Hopefully he'll pop back up with a new project eventually.

+1 for the VC8. Not only is it a one-stop for linear VCAs, you can break out the mixing capability in a number of different ways for routings and CV/mod mixing.

Hi Sacguy71,

Ha, ha, sorry, I have to apologise to you and thank you at the same time for your kind help (thanks a lot for hinting Chris Meyer, I didn't know him yet, will check out his stuff). However please do notice this was not real seriously meant by me. By writing that I like all those flashing lights and that after seeing one Eurorack two weeks ago from a friend of mine and that I directly want one because it's just cool...

Should have perhaps been an indication to you and other regular readers that this wouldn't be me because I am member for more than a year and after that one should have more experience than just looking for "nice flashing lights modules" (aka sexy modules syndrome). My above rack and the "hidden" message behind it was meant as a kind of parody ;-)

Check out JimHowel1970's above message, he hits the nail on its head, this "designed" rack is a modular acrostic. Hence, read my P.S. and P.S.2 and then you should be able to solve the "puzzle".

Kind regards and I hope you are not angry at me? Garfield.

I'm going to miss Moffenzeef.... He had a very unique vision that will be sorely missed.
-- farkas

Yep...but is he really done, or is his store just going online only? Losing someone with that warped a vision of electronic percussion is going to hurt if he's out of the game.

Eurorack Pitch + Gate Sequencer Module Comparison

Hi Defragmenteur and Kalu_Bandali,

Yeah nice puzzle right ;-) ?

Oh no Defragmenteur, more abbreviations, UCA? I am so new within modular, all these abbreviations, how am I ever able to produce sounds from my Eurorack? ;-) I just wanted to have a Eurorack for all those nice flashing lights

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi JimHowell1970,

Ha, ha, I am glad you recognised it as a modular acrostic :-)

Yes, for the moment it's good that you have removed the solution, let members give it a try first themselves ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

My pleasure Garfield,

Really fun sharing and sad to see so many dislikes by many unknown or mean spirited visitors to my channel who cannot appreciate modular sound creation and experimentation.

Thanks Garfield!

I was really just messing around trying patch combos and settings while reading the manuals and watching video tutorials on the new modules. Man, the Kermit, Bionic Lester and Quadrax are super DEEP powerful modules that can do what would normally take a dozen individual modules to achieve! Some menu diving and learning hidden combos but worth it for small setup to play full tracks.

Hi Sacguy71,

You got some very interesting sounds there! Oh, and thank you for mentioning the Intellijel - Quadrax, I totally overlooked this module, wasn't aware of it, great hint :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Interesting Saturday evenings you have! :-) Partly it reminds me of a steam locomotive somewhere in a far away galaxy ;-)

Nice video and thanks a lot for sharing this. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Garfield,

In that case take a look at the Hermod, Eloquencer and 512 vector sequencers. Those seem to offer the features you want in a sequencer for modular stuff.

Hi Defragmenteur and Sacguy71,

Thanks a lot for your ideas and provided links. The WMD - Metron looks quite interesting but is mainly focussing on percussion & drums. I am looking for a mixture of both percussion/drums with 3 or if possible at least 4 sequencer channels beside that. Something like the Arturia - Keystep Pro but then in Eurorack format and without a large keyboard ;-) The only two sequencers I found so far are the non-released ones yet of: Endorphin.es - Ground Control and Erica Synths - Black Sequencer.

If you know of similar (or better) sequencers, especially of those that are currently already available, then please let me know :-)

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Yes i tried this, same issue without Gate. i also tried with an lfo to v/oct ... It's seems better but I don't know what to think about it (im a noob) : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NdgfzD0TuWfGqAxWikqJnADsC-Wbyt1J/view?usp=drivesdk

Im in contact with the builder of the module. If he cant help me... i will try the tech forum.

Thank you so much for your help.

I already have :
-the MB2S
-Plaits
-Rings
-Veils
-Doepfer quad ADSR
-a passive 2hp multi from Doepfer (i know.... but i'm not fond of stackcables )
-Erica Synths Black Stereo Delay
- and a Ripples which will be probably useless (not visible on the screenshot.)

What do you think about the other, possible, modules ?

Clouds, Erbe Verb ... or Maths ?

The ZPO seems to be a very rich analog vco. That's what i'm looking for. But do you think the others modules are enough for taking advantage of it ?

Musical styles inspiration : Depeche Mode, John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, Perturbator, ....
This kind of think :
Link
Link
Link

EDITED Sep 30th 2020, 07:11

get a quad cascading vca - such as veils or intellijel - either will be able to be 4 vcas, 4 external input amplifiers, a 2-4 channel voltage controlled mixer

Maths is a great module - but it is more than the sum of its parts - google the unofficial "maths illustrated manual"

kinks is another great module that will add a lot of functionality in a small space = including logic!
-- JimHowell1970

Thank you @JimHowell1970 just followed you on instagram

With your suggestions, updated rack looks like this. Appreciate the direction from both @Lugia and you

EDITED Sep 27th 2020, 17:26

get a quad cascading vca - such as veils or intellijel - either will be able to be 4 vcas, 4 external input amplifiers, a 2-4 channel voltage controlled mixer

Maths is a great module - but it is more than the sum of its parts - google the unofficial "maths illustrated manual"

kinks is another great module that will add a lot of functionality in a small space = including logic!

EDITED Sep 27th 2020, 17:07

well it seems your English is good enough!!

have you tried without the gate patched to strum, a change in note should trigger rings

the transpose function is on the keyboard - so it is just general playing etc and not the frequency cv input

it certainly does not seem to be correct

I suspect you might be right about the quality of the build - was the vendor a known builder - ie have they built and sold a lot of these or was it just some bloke and a soldering iron?

I would initially try to contact the person you bought it off, describe the problem and see if they will fix it or refund - if you bought it with that possibility

if this doesn't work out then you might try the muffwiggler music tech diy subforum - there is a sticky list of reliable builders there - and of people looking for them - and there's also a mega - unsuccessful mutable diy builds thread - you may be able to find better help there!

Thank you for your message. My english is quite limited ... i will do my best. in fact it is not only a question of transposition. Basically, when I connect a controller (bsp or keystep) cv gate to rings (cv to v / oct and gate to strum), I can only play the notes on a very limited part of the keyboard. Afterwards, no matter which note I ask it to play, it remains stuck on the same note (the last lowest note or the last highest note). We can hear it in the video. I can't go down or up in octaves, can't use the transpose function. No problem with my controllers and other VCOs. This is a DIY module that I bought used and I'm starting to think whoever sold it to me wasn't being honest.

Ask me if you need more details.

Thanks !

Cool a Puzzle lol

Thank you for the sanity check! that's why this site is so good!

To many UCA!

I'm going to miss Moffenzeef. I use the Mito and Deviant in every patch. Unfortunately, I could never get the Muskrat to sit well in any of my music (which is weird because I do a bunch of glitchy stuff) so I sold it. He had a very unique vision that will be sorely missed.

Thank you @Lugia for detailed feedback.

It would be foolish not to listen to experienced users as a beginner. Understood on the size of the rack. Expanding it will be wise and pair down from there.

I already own uModII but as this is my first move into the rack I'm not completely set on the set up and believe that it's better to take suggestions of more experienced users then try to learn through errors. I'm sure there will be plenty down the road anyway.

If I understand correctly it would be beneficial:
1. loose pico drum
2. no Circadian Rhythms (use stand alone machine)
3. need to add VCA (Erica synth is V2 is a good option here?), attenuators (something like Maths?) and logic (can Maths serve dual purpose for logic and attenuator)
4. Boolean logic by Adventure Audio?

Thank you again for the guidance.

Thanks Jim and Sacguy, kinks is on my list, and I will DIY another frequency central VCAs. That Logica XT looks amazing. Decent price too! Good call. Thanks again.

hahaha - a modular acrostic!!!

edited to remove the solution

this should be stickied

EDITED Sep 27th 2020, 10:31

i don't remember there being any latching in Rings...

does this only happen with rings? - have you tried the same sequencers with other sound sources and get the same or different results?

please describe exactly what you are doing - by transpose do you mean send a sequence to rings v/oct in and transpose the sequence on the way in or do you mean send a sequence to rings v/oct in and use the frequency cv input to transpose?

is it an original, a clone, a diy module you built yourself?

The System M0ffenzeef looks hella fun

Looks like the last stock is in the stores for Moffenzeef, always liked his selling tactics on Instagram :) Blunt and Honest.

I used my Make Noise 0-coast as a background drone noise to thicken up the sound and had fun tonite again. Ran out of patch cables. So time to order more as well as stackables.

One thing is certain: the IME Kermit MK3, Bionic Lester and Intellijel Quadrax are super complex deep modulation tools that are simply incredible amounts of features and functionality in small package! For a small setup, they can do quite a bit!

Nah one can never have too many VCAs :-)
I want the VC8 by Erogeneous tones that way never run out.

Hi Garfield,

Nice! I thought that you already had a setup? Anyways, I am new and well and learning with my new setups. Ok let me take a stab at it!

To help:

"By the way, what does LFO, VCO, VCF, ADSR, EG and VCA stands for?"

LFO= Low Frequency Oscillator
the slow moving oscillator that modulates other things like VCOs and can have different rates of control.

VCO= Voltage Controlled Oscillator
The main sound sources of a modular system. They oscillate as sound waves back and forth nonstop. I use a scope to view them for example there are various wave types of VCOs- square, triangle, sine and so forth.

ADSR= Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release
Often part of an envelope generator. Helps manage how long a note lasts and things like that.

EG= Envelope Generator

VCA= Voltage controlled Amplifier
Lets you do all kinds of useful things for managing volume and voltage stuff with sound and modulation sources. More is better :-)
My two setups have 12 VCA total and I only have 2 VCOs and 2 drum type modules so have it ok for now.

I highly recommend the book Patch & Tweak and the Youtube channel and website by Chris Meyer he is a master teacher of modular synthesis.

https://learningmodular.com/

If I am wrong here feel free to correct my oversight as I am just a humble beginner to modular as well.

Had fun tweaking and patching tonite and experiment with LFOs and Noise Engineering modules. Here is my jam:

To much vca...

Hello Everyone,

I am so happy with this forum, so useful, everybody is so nice. I am new into synthesizers and modular synthesizers I only have heard about two weeks ago when a friend of mine showed me his Eurorack. That looks so cool, all these modules, those flashing lights, I straight away thought I must have one as well. Way cool to do some electronic music, right?! :-)

Below you will find my first rack design:

I would appreciate your help and advice so I can have a good start into modular, you know, it's so cool, all these flashing lights, I just love it.

By the way, what does LFO, VCO, VCF, ADSR, EG and VCA stands for? You know I just start looking around and have difficulties understanding all these abbreviations.

Anyway, I look forward for your kind help and thank you so much, this is such a cool forum you know!

P.S.: Oh yes, if you wonder how I came up to this rack, please take of every module the first letter of the manufacturer name, that provides the first sentence. You could take of every module the first letter of the module name as well and that will be the second sentence, defining the rack and me as being such an enthusiastic beginner, again, thank you so much! :-)

P.S.2: No manufacturers with nice flashing light modules starting with the letter U, so I took V instead, so if you see a V make that a U in the sentences.

Another maker to look at if you're shooting for percussives would be Moffenzeef, hands down. NONE of their modules does anything...ah..."sensible" with the sound, but what they DO do is just off the chain.