+1 for Synthesis Technology E330.. tried to make some kickdrum sound with it, after watching (Must watch on youtube : Tobi Neumann “how to make analog kick drum”).. and damnn!!, it can sculpt so many punchy sounds that make my beloved BIA sounds like cheap toy in comparison..

So get it and upgrade to E352 later on.

Hi Ronin,

No problem, good advice comes never too late :-)

Hmm... interesting... I had already a look at the Intellijel's Dixie II+ and I heard about the Rubicon II but haven't really check it out yet, I guess its price was stopping me from doing so :-) Do I see this correctly that the Dixie II+ is actually a small version of the Rubicon II or are there some significant differences between them that I should be aware off?

Thank you very much for pointing out that one and I will check at my dealer if they have the Rubicon II for testing it, best would be if they got the Dixie II+ for testing too, so I can compare them.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hello Elodin,

If LED sliders make you happy then consider the Triple AD module from Hikari Instruments. I got that module and indeed it makes me really happy to use it. The module consists of 3 AD envelopes and is quite flexible in usage.

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi guys, i am searching this aluminium panel for my plancks build. Drop me a line if you got a spare lying around ^-^

EDITED Feb 1st 2020, 20:51

yep, each 'String' on a guitar (for instance) keeps resonating after being plucked, so one String can be played at a time but the decay of that string rings on into the others.

The 2hp Bell works in a similar way but has 6 voice polyphony, though each bell-strike can have quite a bit of a different resonance to the last, kinda de-tuned.

EDITED Nov 10th 2019, 09:21

See my initial comments in this thread: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/8207

I've not read the manual nor do I own it, but I suspect it works similarly to rings - pluck and/or change note quickly and the last 4 notes will overlap - giving you 4 notes playing at once - 4 note-polyphony

I have read the manual, searched forums, seen Divkids video but I still don’t understand how the Four voice polyphony in 2 hp Pluck works.
Very glad if someone could explain.

EDITED Nov 9th 2019, 15:02

Recenty bought from these sellers and had a very good experience :

@hussein / Shakmat Modular knight's gallop
= perfect !

@damir501 / Erica Synths Dual FX
= He had to send it twice because of the fact i forgot a number in the postal code.
= Thank you twice
= Thumbs down for PostNL : they had the correct city and street-adress, my phone and e-mail and they didn't even bother to contact me. Just returned it to sender.

@pawal / Intellijel Dubmix
= perfect !

this is not how you sell things on here.

Hi to All !

Please give me some suggestions to my rack. Which modules are obsolete and should be exchanged ?
I like to go deeper in the generative direction. I have a Behringer Crave on preorder,
that would expand my possibilities in the near future. Beside that i have an SQ1, a Volca Beats for drums and
a Zoom MS-70. A Takaab Dual LPG is on the way.

Best regards,
Frank

EDITED Nov 8th 2019, 21:44

I'm late. But I have an Intellijel Rubicon II. You can get into some seriously gnarly tones with some creative patching including self-patching. There are a lot of built in attenuators and attenuverters.

It's not cheap. But it's a great first choice for an analog VCO.

No probs

btw I think that befaco updated the instrument interface quite recently so maybe they fixed the issues, i don't know

good luck with the hunt for a batumi-alike diy module!!!

perhaps the befaco instrument interface?
-- JimHowell1970

I have read some mixed reviews about the befaco. Maybe I should just try it. Befaco kits are very fun/relaxing to build, and I'm sure I could sell it if I don't like it.

maybe this: https://pushermanproductions.com/product/void-modular-dual-adsr-12hp-pcb-black-gold-aluminium-panel/ for the adsr???
-- JimHowell1970

This looks awesome. Compared to the intellijel, I may miss the end of decay trigger a bit. I use it as a trigger delay. I would also miss the cycle switch (though not so much if I had dedicated LFOs). On the other hand, the built in attenuverters look very useful! And, well, LED sliders make me happy.

Thanks for your reply!

perhaps the befaco instrument interface?

not seen any diy modules like batumi to be honest

maybe this: https://pushermanproductions.com/product/void-modular-dual-adsr-12hp-pcb-black-gold-aluminium-panel/ for the adsr???

I use the 2HP TM for pitch, and it doesn't need a quantizer if you don't mind that it misses 'true notes' and comes out really random. Good for non-pitch things too of course.

Problem I'm seeing is it likes to start off at super high notes, like when blank it boots up to all max voltage, has anyone else experienced this behavior?
-- elahrairah

Yes, when it happen I turn the steps knob full counter clockwise for a few seconds then increase it.

Hello Babel,

Feedback: Are you nuts? ;-) I mean regarding your comment to get rid of your Octatrack. Keep your Octatrack! That's a fantastic device and that can do so many things so easily (if you know how to use it, which I don't, but I know somebody who does) that if you want to get that kind of functionality in modular, I guess you need to reserve a pretty big part of your wall to make that full with modular then...

You could use the MIDI output on the Octatrack to a MIDI-in module in modular (unless your case got already a MIDI-in of course) and extract from that one the clock to keep everything in sync. The output of the modular back into the Octatrack and your Octatrack has such fantastic sample possibilities, I would use the Octatrack for sampling and not kind of in a forced way looking for a sample module in modular unless you really found the sample module that all does what the Octatrack can and more (and I doubt if it exists).

Other than that I think you are good on your way into modular and with keeping the advice of Ronin in mind, I think you should be all right.

Enjoy your system setup and don't you dare to sell that Octatrack ;-) Kind regards,

Garfield Modular.

-- GarfieldModular

Hi Garfield, don't worry I don't want to sell the Octatrack, for my one live act I will of course still keep and use it.

I have the hermod and I also have the shuttle control from endorphines, which I sometimes trigger from OT over a MIDI USB cable, but in general I can trigger everything from hermod, so shuttle control is soon getting out of my case.

I think for this case I could imagine that the ER-301 would be a nice fit but also like what Ronin suggested! So will have a deeper thought.

I'm not familiar with the Octatrack capabilities. When it comes to sample playback and looping, the majority of in-rack sampling modules do not offer time compression/expansion of samples.

So if you have a drum beat at 120BPM and want to use it in your 125BPM session then you're probably going to have to take it to some software like Ableton to get it to time expand correctly. A lot of Eurorack modules support slicing. But that might make your loop feel janky.

It probably would be a lot cheaper to keep her. If the Octatrack supports sequencing as well, then you might find a MIDI to Eurorack interface and a line to Eurorack level converter (for audio) to be more to your liking. Depending on your interface you could also convert MIDI CC to Eurorack CV and MIDI clock to Eurorack clocks (short gates). MIDI to Eurorack interfaces come in a broad range of capabilities. They can be brutally simple to having a boatload of features and outputs.

But if you want to keep everything in the rack (your decision) then one of the above mentioned Eurorack solutions would work albeit not as well as stand-alone sampler workstation.

Hello Babel,

Feedback: Are you nuts? ;-) I mean regarding your comment to get rid of your Octatrack. Keep your Octatrack! That's a fantastic device and that can do so many things so easily (if you know how to use it, which I don't, but I know somebody who does) that if you want to get that kind of functionality in modular, I guess you need to reserve a pretty big part of your wall to make that full with modular then...

You could use the MIDI output on the Octatrack to a MIDI-in module in modular (unless your case got already a MIDI-in of course) and extract from that one the clock to keep everything in sync. The output of the modular back into the Octatrack and your Octatrack has such fantastic sample possibilities, I would use the Octatrack for sampling and not kind of in a forced way looking for a sample module in modular unless you really found the sample module that all does what the Octatrack can and more (and I doubt if it exists).

Other than that I think you are good on your way into modular and with keeping the advice of Ronin in mind, I think you should be all right.

Enjoy your system setup and don't you dare to sell that Octatrack ;-) Kind regards,

Garfield Modular.

Hi Antti,

That sounds good! :-) I wish you much fun with your modular synth!

Kind regards, Garfield.

I have the BitBox. I also like that it has two alternative firmwares that allow it to be a wavetable synth or a multi-effects box.

The ER-301 and Assimil8or are good choices if price and rackspace aren't an issue.

How fast do the LFOs on the Hermod go and can they be reset or sync'ed?

A second case seems more logical as this rack is pretty much full. I'd find a big-o-rack and keep the Intellijel as maybe a core rack or your performance rack aka the rack where you sequence and control the rest of your system.
-- Ronin1973

Bitbox sounds quiet interesting will definitely check some videos!

You can sync but don't need to the lfo has SINE TRIANGLE RAMP SQUARE S AND H so its pretty nice, it can go quiet fast in sync 128/1 and without sync from 0-200% about reset I am not 100% sure but I think you can do it.

Second case could be an option but I have a wooden case but for live I would prefer that it all kind of stays in one box, so I have to adjust a little bit.

Thanks for your feedback!

I have the BitBox. I also like that it has two alternative firmwares that allow it to be a wavetable synth or a multi-effects box.

The ER-301 and Assimil8or are good choices if price and rackspace aren't an issue.

How fast do the LFOs on the Hermod go and can they be reset or sync'ed?

A second case seems more logical as this rack is pretty much full. I'd find a big-o-rack and keep the Intellijel as maybe a core rack or your performance rack aka the rack where you sequence and control the rest of your system.

@Ronin1973
Thanks for your feedback. The Bitbox sounds quiet interesting will definitely have a look at it. There is also the ASSIMIL8OR and the ER-301: Sound Computer, which are quiet tempting and also have a sample option. Do you have any experience with it?

"Also, I only see one VCA. That's going to bite you. It's a combo ADSR and VCA, so that's really going to bite you."

I use for one VCA the level input of my WMD PM, this somehow works, but its not the cleanest, when I trigger it straight from the hermod so another ADSR would be good. I agree with you.

LFO I send at the moment from Hermod, which can be quiet nice. I still have two doepfer lfos in my other rack but the case is too thin so they don't fit :).

"If you pull the Metropolis, I'm not sure that you'd have enough space for all of that. Perhaps a smaller main mixer?"

I will have a thought but this sounds kind of logical, the other option would be a second case :)

Thanks for the input! Really appreciate the Zadar tip, I wasn't aware of that module at all. I swapped out the Dual EG for that one + expander. I went ahead and swapped the Dixie with an Erica PicoDSP and a Befaco out3, for a couple of reasons.

You were absolutely right that I wanted to get an audio processor in there. But I also realized earlier today that the Cre8 case sums it's input 1+2 to a mono output, and I thought it might be worth my time to consider what the case might look like with a stereo output module.

So this version includes that, and the picoDSP to give some reverb and delay where there were none before. All within the form factor and exactly 10 power connections. I might consider just living with mono output from the case and try to fit another 4hp module in there instead. Not sure. Thanks again for your suggestions.

I built an AT AT AT from Thonk, got two channels for Audio and one for tweaking pitch CV.

Actually, this is pretty well thought-out. Given that it's in Cre8's new skiff, that deals with your MIDI, power, and audio outs right off the bat. But with the Chipz + the Klavis, is the DixieII+ really all that necessary? My instinct would be to remove that and put in a potent 8 hp audio processor...such as the several 8 hp clones of Mutable's Clouds.

You don't need that mult, btw. This build is too small for it; try using inline mults or stackcables instead. Plus, you can pull it and put in a Circuit Abbey Twiggy...which gives you a pair of ring mods. With two VCOs in the Klavis and two in the Chipz, this would make loads of sense.

The last swap I'd make would be to pull the Dual EG/LFO, which only has two loopable EGs...and substitute in a Xaoc Zadar, which gives you four EGs with an awful lot of additional control, looping, etc. It would be nice to cram in its expander, too...but that woud require repurposing the mult with that and finding one more hp to fit the 3 hp Nin module. However, if you went with Michigan's Twist (Mutable Warps clone) in the slot currently occupied by the DixieII+, you'd then get some interesting processing, plus ring mod capability, plus two more hp that would then allow you to drop the Nin in with the Zadar. Jam a Konstant Labs power monitor 1 hp module in the gap, and there you go!

I use the 2HP TM for pitch, and it doesn't need a quantizer if you don't mind that it misses 'true notes' and comes out really random. Good for non-pitch things too of course.

Problem I'm seeing is it likes to start off at super high notes, like when blank it boots up to all max voltage, has anyone else experienced this behavior?

You can build a floating passive atten with two jacks and a knob. Cost about $2 if you've got a soldering iron already. See the original instructions over there http://www.doepfer.de/DIY/a100_diy.htm . of course it assumes some electrical know-how, and mine looks like a ball of duct tape. Still super handy to have a one-off inline 0HP solution for things that CAN be passive like attenuation or low-pass filtering.

So as may be the case in the coming weeks, I'm a long-time drooler and VCV rack convert. Thanks to the serendipitous convergence of my birthday, the holidays, and some extra cash, my wife has given me the OK to put together a skiff (it ain't much, but it's a start). To attempt to keep costs down, I'm assuming I'll start with the Cre8audio NiftyBundle which will cover a good number of essentials and allow me to put that money towards other modules.

Nevertheless, 1 row of 84hp (60hp after the Chipz and Cellz modules from the NiftyBundle) ain't much to work with and I'm looking for any advice for packing as much functionality into the space as possible. Here's my first go:

The blanks on the left are placeholders for the Chipz and Cellz modules.
The Vult Freak, while digital, offers a whopping 10 filters +1 distortion unit.
Quad VCA was virtually a no-brainer to me.
Erika Dual EG/LFO (plus the QuadVCA as needed) gives an already good amount of modulation for such a small unit.
Kinks I figured would add S&H and some basic logic.
Dixie II+ would add some more basic waveforms not provided by the Chipz osc.
Twin Waves offers so many functions and I only had 8hp left when I picked it, so it just seemed like the right move. More osc, more lfo, a trig output for kinks S&H, and whatnot...
Then, of course, Disting. I mean... it's Disting.

So, did I screw it all up? Am I overdoing the modulation and forgetting some basic utilities?

Plaits and the Basimilus have their own envelopes. But they are very basic. Your synth voice has its own envelope generator as well. If you're using the O_C as a sequencer, it can output its own envelopes rather than just gates.

I'd put the Pico FX back in else you have a very dry rack. Personally, I'd rather have at least one FX unit rather an extra ADSR in this set-up.

As far as VCOs... or at least oscillators, the rack has a A116, Basimilus, and a Plaits module. The KickAll can also be used as a pitched oscillator in certain circumstances.

For its size. You might be a little heavy on oscillators. But I wouldn't worry too much about that. You can always remove one or more of them and place in other modules that'll fit in the same space. If you don't mind reconfiguring your rack the times you're looking for more functionality and less voices. Just don't do it with the power on and connected.

If the O_C is not getting the job done for your sequencing needs, you can always add an external sequencer.

Just wanted to share this with you guys: my first build is ready! I just finished my first jam with the upper 2x84hp rack and built a simple (but beautiful, methinks) patch with Batumi, Telharmonic, Morphing Terrarium, Dual ADSR and Serge VCF. The journey has just begun but I’m super excited with the paths this opens up for me. Once again, thanks GarfieldModular and Ronin1973 for your invaluable help!

Well, you have two sequencers. Were it me, I'd get rid of the Metropolis and buy a 1010 Music BitBox. That will give you your drums... up to 16 samples of playback and any loops you might want. The BitBox has four outputs. So you can have a stereo mix, four individual outs, two stereo outs, or whatever you like (such as kick on 1, snare on 2, everything else on 3-4).

The BitBox will also sync to your master clock. So you could sample a loop... like a kick from the Basimilus and then reuse that module for something else.

Also, I only see one VCA. That's going to bite you. It's a combo ADSR and VCA, so that's really going to bite you.

I'd want at least two dedicated ADSRs (like an Intellijel dual ADSR), an LFO module (like a Batumi with Poti expander), as well as at least one Befaco attenuverter, and one 3-4 channel sub-mixer that's DC compatible. If you pull the Metropolis, I'm not sure that you'd have enough space for all of that. Perhaps a smaller main mixer?

Do you mean that you want to make modules that have already been created (ordering components, soldering, troubleshooting), or that you want to learn enough electronics to build from scratch (PCB design)?

I bought a Braids an Inteligel ADSR and a 2 HP VCA a couple years ago on kijiji, made myself an 84 hp cardboard case, and have expanded somewhat from there. Here is an approximation of my current rack/plan (modules are about 80% complete):

I am currently in an overflowing Mantis, and I'm building a 124 HP 13U case (let this be a good example of why you should get more case than you think you need).

I think I get about as much joy out of the building as I do from messing around with the completed modules. I currently use the rack to make interesting sounds for sampling. I also like to make 303 sounding acid lines.
I am currently sequencing with Reason, the Performer, Korg SQ1 and a Keystep.

I am looking for a way to directly plug in my guitar without an external preamp, and have a nice envelope follower. I am also looking for a Batumi-like module (but DIY) with syncable LFOs - this will hopefully free up my envelope generators for, well, envelope generation. On that subject, I would love to replace the Inteligel ADSR with something comparable in DIY.

Finally, I'm looking for general suggestions about the layout and and future DIY modules to add. I will have free space of about 100 HP in 3U and 120 HP in 1U (Pulp Logic).

Thanks!

EDITED Nov 6th 2019, 18:54

Great Great trader is RTFM ! And what a builder ! Nice person , efficient , reliable :)

I recently purchased a MN René 2 from @gesta. It was a very good transaction !

You are too kind, thanks

The Tendrils patch leads are doing a fine job of giving more room in this compact rack.

This is my live rack which I use in my current live setup, I have an Octatrack for drums and samples (audio goes into the wmd) which is sending a clock to the hermod, the hermod sends a clock to the metropolis. The metropolis goes into the hermod so I can record into the hermod CV/gate and send it to my different OSCs, through an octaver and a vc rotator, so that I can change the melody lines between the Oscillators but keep the gate the same, this can bring some variety especially for breaks or something.
The overseer is the master filter. What I kind of miss is another adsr/vca cause at the moment I just have one inside the rack the cloud generator goes straight into the wmd pm and the gate signal as well which can be quiet hard some times and a bit noisy..
The disting I use as a reverb, I have additionally an external delay (polymoon ) and a compressor to glue everything together.
I also connect a midi keyboard towards the hermod.

Of course I would love to also get rid of the octatrack and have everything inside my case, but I guess therefore I need another case for drums and probably a sampler which can play longer tracks.

So my question, how do you guys see I can improve the case. I would love to have another adsrvca inside, but also thinking about exchanging maybe the furtherr to two ajh vcos and a acidrainm chainsaw for chords and maybe take the bassilus out as I mainly use the sys.05

Feedback is welcome :)

Hi WishboneBrewery,

Is that just me or is this getting better and better?! Great sound, I am so jealous you can produce such nice sounds. The only thing I managed so far with my modular system are screaming VCOs and puking filters that don't know about cut-off frequencies ;-) Just joking of course, but yeah, great track!

Nice cable-spaghetti picture too! :-)

Again, can't wait for your next one! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi MikeNoFace,

I think you answered your own question :-)

Edit: I think what I'm missing is more envelope shaping for the drums. Sigh...can't have it all in 62hp.

If you haven't bought the case yet, you seriously might want to consider a larger case... I also see you are planning a Doepfer A-111-6, that has a VCO too, fair enough, though (unless I overlooked it) is that the only VCO planned in this rack? You might want to consider at least two VCOs though.

Please also refer to other postings in this forum section "Racks" for further ideas and advice you might find there.

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

I just changed my configuration

EDITED Nov 5th 2019, 15:34

rotate and delete modules on Android devices

You could not click the delete and rotate button on Android. This is fixed.

Industrial and techno, for exemple i like

I should note that buffered mults really only have a specific use, that being to maintain scaling-critical CV voltages when a single CV is being used to drive four or more (as a rule) VCOs, VCFs, etc. If you're splitting a CV between two or three of these, you can probably make do with passives. Also, if you're talking about multiples for a build that's 2 x 104hp or smaller, the better thing to do is to use no multiple modules and instead use inline mults or stackcables, since builds like that are so small that every bit of panel needs to be dedicated to functional modules. Three 2 hp mult modules could just as easily be one 6 hp multiple VCA module...and believe me, you'll make far better use of the VCAs!

Removed Pico FX, added 2hp ADSR for both Plaits and Basimilus.

EDITED Nov 4th 2019, 23:25

I think I've finally done it.

Ever since the Intellijel Palette cases came out, I've been trying to think of a small 'groovebox' style build that would contain some sequencing, an analog VCO, and a small drum box powered by Grids. I really like Grids.

Let me know what I'm missing or where I can improve this build. I'm relying on the built in mult which isn't the best but it's something. Thanks ~mikenoface

Edit: I think what I'm missing is more envelope shaping for the drums. Sigh...can't have it all in 62hp.

EDITED Nov 4th 2019, 23:15

Maybe they can pin this on top so people will read it and help other people avoiding problems what you had jayone23

Yes, buffered is active. Hope that clears things up.

-

EDITED Dec 3rd 2019, 04:00

I'm new to modular. Is an "active" mult the same as a "buffered" mult?