User Posts

Hi Gabor,

Nice to see and hear a video from you again with your OP-1, it will be for me always a kind of nice little miracle-device :-)

He, he, those sounds in the last half minute or so, are cool, especially when it get distorted :-)

The device in the right bottom corner of your rack, is that the Make Noise René? Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Ryanthegecko,

Nice to hear from you again and to see you at work here in your video! Good stuff, though I wouldn't mind to hear a bit more of dub in your work that you had in your previous work :-)

Why less than 5 minutes? I don't mind if you make it (much) longer. Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Thank you Wishbonebrewery :-)

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

I am not sure if this is just me, the first 6 or 7 minutes I almost don't hear anything, as from 7 minutes one can hear a bit and as from 8 minutes it get's better. Still I have to put the gain pretty high to hear something. Might you have some gain issue here or is it indeed at my side (but what could that be because anything else I can hear at a normal volume?).

The end sounds quite interesting but if you could re-issue this with a higher gain that would be great. Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Great rack

Hi Asleepwheel,

Doepfer has a rackmount case (A-100 G6) that doesn't require any power HP consuming module ;-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi All,

Or instead of the Doepfer A-160-2 clock divider, one could consider to take an audio divider (hence frequency divider) the Doepfer A-115 for example and it's cheaper than the A-160-2 :-)

https://schneidersladen.de/en/doepfer-a-115-audio-divider?number=120090

You can hear an example of that in my still to release review report of the Doepfer A-106-5 SEM filter, "The crazy bit" part 2 of the demo I made for the A-106-5 SEM filter on Soundcloud:

The small part from about 0:43 till about 1:30, I am using there the A-115 audio divider. Before and after that section I am using the Doepfer A-116 Waveform processor instead. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi JimHowell1970,

I think we need to have a serious talk with Broken-Form...

He left his studio again!!!

;-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi ThiccMomSwag,

I visited last week the Superbooth and there I heard someone "fiddling" with a set of SoundForce modules, oh my goodness, what a serious good sound came out of those modules! Beside the modules themselves delivering a good sound another reason why it sounded so good was the fact that they had each four of it: four DCOs, four filters and four VCAs but a hell of a good sound!

I don't have any SoundForce modules myself yet but after this demo I am seriously thinking about it. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Broken-Form,

The ES-9 from Expert Sleepers is still on my wish list however I also can't comment on it since I don't have it.

If you want to start easy and small then the Befaco Out v3 is nice for starters. You can use it either as input or as output but not simultaneous, the price is reasonable though.

If your budget is a slightly bit better then go for the Intellijel Audio I/O module, it has two inputs and two outputs, it has a great LED meter (as a bonus) and this is my favourite Audio Interface module for jack connections. You also can check out my review report about it on my website (read only chapter 2 (Summarise) if you don't have much time):

https://garfieldmodular.net/index.php/intellijel/intellijel-audio-i-o/

It almost can do everything you need and it's reasonably priced. Only if you wish to have a phones output then this module is not what you need. The Befaco Out v3 has a headphones output though.

If you prefer to have XLR connections then consider the Vermona - Tai4, a great and good module, semi-affordable and good sound quality. If you need more functionality then go for the more expensive ACL - Audio Interface module that one is XLR as well and has headphones output too and has a good sound quality as well. Most expensive of the four here though.

I can all four recommend them, depending on your requirements. For something simple the Befaco Out v3 is sufficient otherwise for jack connections go for the Intellijel Audio I/O module. If it must be XLR then Vermona - Tai4 is good enough unless you really need XLR + phones then take the ACL one.

Good luck with the choice of audio interface module and kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: Removed typo.

EDITED Sep 22nd 2021, 23:46

Hi Chinpira,

Yes indeed, the Befaco - Litch looks from a functionality point of view a bit like the Polygogo or at least they certainly have some similarities. Obviously the screen is missing with the Litch. The Litch, at least in that demo you provided here, it is MIDI driven, which is not my preference, I rather have direct controls. On the other hand the Litch can produce some real crazy sounds too! :-) I guess for someone who doesn't mind to use MIDI, the Litch is indeed an alternative to consider.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Farkas,

Yeah crazy module it is ;-) It had been announced early 2019 and since early 2020 it's available, at least here in Germany, I got mine from Schneidersladen. Here is a link from a demo, introduction & explanation of the Polygogo by the creator of this module from E-RM in Schneidersladen on YouTube in English:

Now I need to somehow nicely ingrate it within an interesting patch ;-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: Removed typo.

EDITED Sep 22nd 2021, 23:28

Hi Bleepadelic,

He, he, a "Mumble Drone", nice name! Indeed it's a lovely little mumble drone you created there. Perhaps next time an extended version of that? ;-) Thanks a lot for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Tunç,

He, he, great high energy small track, must have been lots of fun for you to play that jam! It was very enjoyable watching you at work in this video too! :-)

Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Igor,

Great, thanks for letting us know. I will keep an eye on juno.co.uk currently not on stock. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi All,

Here a small demo of the Polygogo module from E-RM.

Nothing fancy really, just a little demo to discover a bit the weird sounds from Polygogo :-)

Modulation done by Vermona - fourMulator (quad LFO), "filtered" by Instruo - Tràigh and internal Eurorack effect by ACL - VC Dual Delay (just a bit) and added a little touch of external reverb and delay to it as well. That's practically it. Thank you very much for listening and kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: Forgotten to mention the filter that had been mildly used.

EDITED Sep 22nd 2021, 00:49

Hi Charles,

You are welcome!

I only have seen the Eurorack version of this Portal Drum module, no stand-alone version or something like that, at least not seen at the Superbooth. Yes, take it easy with an expensive decision like this. Once the module gets released and you have an opportunity to test it locally at your local dealer then try to do that first before you decide.

Sounds like they indeed still have this chip shortage issue, that I managed about, since the release is still in the distant future.

Please let us know if you decide to buy it or better make a demo jam out of it if you got that module. I am curious how you will use it :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

you leave the studio????

-- JimHowell1970

Hi Broken-Form,

How about using an Audio Interface module to "solve" the problem or at least to make your audio output life easier?

I am using a PreSonus StudioLive Series III mixer and I have no issues, great sound.

Let's hope this is not the case but check it: In case you provided a far too "hot" signal to your mixer, worst case your input channels might have been burned up into smoke, try another input channel (not used for Eurorack before yet) and make sure you start with a very low output signal (start with zero) and then increase it slowly to something reasonable. Please do keep in mind that Eurorack signal -10 V to +10 V is too hot for audio/external mixers (max about -2 V to +2 V). One would expect that input channels have some kind of overload protection but don't count too much on it either.

Please let us know once you get something out of your external mixer.

Hence my advice to go for an audio interface module, less worries about DC components in your signal too! :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Gworn,

The usage of the dictaphone gives it somehow very authentic feel and touch to the track, nicely done!

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Baltergeist,

I like your never ending creativity and this track is yet again one of your creativity-production-results ;-) A really nice, to me, relaxing track, lovely to listen at. I wouldn't mind you would make more tracks like this one!

Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Fantastic, yet another video & jam from you :-) That's very nice! I like your videos and jams because you cover quite a few modules that I don't have yet and I am (partly) considering, so beside the great jams and videos you do, they give me usually a good impression on the modules I might consider as well, being a nice buying help/guard to me :-)

Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

Great website! Thanks a lot for that service manual. Kind regards, Garfield.

It's not really a Behringer issue, unless you consider copying the original design TOO exactly to be an issue.
-- Lugia

Hi Lugia,

Thank you very much for your extensive reply and the provided information! :-) Regarding Behringer... well... if I am not mistaken they did with some of the copy/paste stuff they did some improvements, can't remember which device that was, so why not with the B.2600? ;-) But yeah, that might have been a bit too complicated to just solve like that and then definitely the price wouldn't be any more the same.

Okay, I will try what you mentioned with the envelope input once I am getting the 2600 Blue Marvin.

Regarding the number of patch inputs/outputs on the 2600, well till just the Superbooth I wouldn't be able to answer that question. However if you have some ridiculous amount of money left over (5000+ bucks I think it was) then you could consider the TINRS - Fenix IV modular synthesizer with, if I remember well, well over 300 patch inputs/outputs; that would be "a slightly bit more" than the 2600 ;-)

Stupid question perhaps but why not skipping the B. 2600 VCA and put it through an Eurorack VCA? Of course that's not as comfy as using the entire 2600 and it's kind of irritating to take all the 2600 outputs to an Eurorack VCA but would that solve the issue? Most probably there will be a bit of a lost of typical 2600 sound to it as well...

I am planning to use, on your advice, anyway the Lehle 7013 DC Filter in conjunction with the B. 2600 to avoid any DC signals going to my mixer and/or monitors; if I would not make use of an external Eurorack VCA (instead of the B. 2600's VCA).

As always, thanks a lot for your input/feedback/help and kind regards, Garfield.

Don't forget to consider the Make Noise - STO module, great little VCO that's easily to be under estimated and it's affordable.

Hi Sacguy71,

Is that just me or do have others the same problem? If I click on this post of yours, it doesn't display the video and I have to open it in YouTube itself, not here; like the previous post you did today.

Great part 2 movie! Ha, ha, it might not be on purpose but in the beginning of your movie when you move with your hand the "curtain of cables" away that blocked the Beads module, it's pretty nice way of introducing Beads :-)

Great sounds you are creating here! It's a good video showing some of the important modules of Mutable Instruments, it regenerates my appetite for some more Mutable Instruments modules :-) Thanks a lot for the demo and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Steve,

Thank you very much for the information regarding the Polaris, it's good to hear it's super solid, I like that from modules. I will move the Polaris higher up on my wish list :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Oh yes, finally a video from you again! :-) I like your new style of video, did you get some new tools to make videos?

By the way, your video link here in modulargrid.net didn't seem to work, I managed to watch it on YouTube though. Hmm, and around 4:30 I am getting an error from YouTube saying: An error occurred. Please try again later.

He, he, the musical change around 1+ minute is fun. Thanks a lot for demoing the Beads module, hopefully the issues with YouTube will be solved and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Cmb_,

I just returned from Superbooth and promised you to report about it, especially Rabid Elephant. I had been in the main building, i.e. the FEZ Building and arrived at the second last booth and I was getting worried that perhaps Rabid Elephant wouldn't be at the Superbooth, perhaps because Covid? You wouldn't know, right?

That second last booth was Rabid Elephant though :-) The good news, on the stand of Rabid Elephant the Portal Drum module was part of the rack that was on display at Superbooth, so lucky :-)

I will be honest with you, till the moment I met the guy from Rabid Elephant (my apologises to this person, I forgot his name :-( ), I was for myself not too much interested in Rabid Elephant modules however after this very friendly guy explained in a detailed and nice way his modules, I am getting some serious appetite for his modules :-) I still feel they are somewhat expensive however at least I do understand now why you are interested in modules of this brand.

The fellow is pretty young, at least compared to myself however his explanation was clear, good and understandable. Our main focus was, on your request, the Drum Portal module, which he had there on display. I can talk most probably for hours about this module however to summarise this a little bit: It's amazing how much functionality has been packed into this module without being over-complicated and though the module isn't small (sorry I forgot the HP size definitely more than 10 HP, towards 20 HP? Not sure about its size, sorry) it's a hell of a drum module! Besides the "usual drum possibilities", like tone, attack and that kind of stuff there are seriously many (but can't remember them all by heart) extra functions possible with either knobs or the many small switches that have been provided with this module. The knobs are... how to call them? Double knobs? So one knob exists of two elements that can be turned, so per double-knob you can adjust already 2 parameters, that seems a bit odd, the knobs are quite tall, he said he wants to look for a bit smaller versions of that, but after a short while you really get used to it and at least to me it didn't really disturb me from a user interface point of view. For myself I felt the switches were a little too small however his argument was that he didn't want to make them too tall since that would cause the chance of accidentally switch them over while turning for example a knob. That might be indeed a good point (though I never had that with any of my modules ever, so far), so if you don't mind those quite tiny small switches, I guess the user interface is just good, nothing really wrong with it.

The price, he wasn't sure yet, for the North America market he guessed it would be in the 700 - 800+ category somewhere, for Europe he doesn't know yet, because of import taxes, likely higher though. So for me, living in Europe, I feel that's a steep price on the other hand I have to be honest here that looking at what this module can do, that's seriously amazing! So for people who are looking for a serious good drum module that has tons of functionality (no menu diving at all, just knobs and switches) perhaps indeed this is worth it.

I also asked about the availability, that was the question where he had most difficulty to answer that. Not because he didn't want to however because he is missing an IC chip that has a shortage on the current market situation. He told me that in fact the module is ready, just except the IC that's missing. So he couldn't give a clear answer to that, just because he wouldn't really know when he would be able to get that chip on stock.

I have to admit that it is pretty difficult to check out a module for someone because there is the difference in how we each of us are looking at things and how to judge certain experiences. I hope I could be of some help here to you and that at least some of the information is kind of helpful to you.

To summarise this: this drum module is certainly for people who really want a serious drum module that is way beyond the average drum module. This module is able to handle so much, can do so many things, yet it is still very easy to handle its functionalities with a good user interface experience.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Sorry to hear that you have allergic reactions regarding vaccines :-( Glad to hear though that you still enjoy modular :-)

Having said that... haven't heard from you much lately, any nice video for us to share? :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Manbearpignick,

Great track this is! Do I understand you correctly that you have here a hybrid system, one part is your (physical) Eurorack system and the part is your (virtual) VCV system? Interesting and nicely done! :-) Thank you very much for sharing this with us, congratulations on your 2nd price and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Yes indeed, I can imagine that you feel that's too troublesome. I just came back tonight from the Superbooth. One had to show at the entrance the QR code for the vaccination and indoors as well as during the concerts/shows one had to wear a masks to cover mouth/nose but other than that it was pretty relaxed regarding Covid.

Superbooth was for me this year the first time, I had already hotel & tickets booked for last year but as we all known for the same reason it had been postponed to this week/weekend and this year instead. I enjoyed it very much, there was a great relaxed atmosphere, tons of time to talk to the manufacturers. Everybody, at least to those I spoke, seem to be in a good mood, friendly and willing to share tons of information, making the Superbooth a great event. At least that is my impression.

Due to Covid situation, less manufacturers were participating, logically of course. Due to that fact, I was missing some of the major North American brands like Make Noise, Intellijel & Co however totally understandable.

Let's see if next year things are getting easier regarding travel and meeting at events, would be nice to meet you at one of the future Superbooths :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

Thanks a lot for the tons of information, very interesting! You mentioned the 2500 modules from B., those I just discovered that they exist :-) Are those any good?

Regarding the ARP 2600 Synthposium, beside your remarks, I can't say the planned date was very carefully chosen on one of the Superbooth days...

Do you have already the B. 2600 Grey Meanie? If yes, are you able to confirm that there seems to be issues with the B. 2600 that the triggers aren't fully open at the Eurorack 10 V triggers/EGs? I just arrived back this evening from Berlin (Germany), Superbooth and I heard there that the B. 2600 needs a 14 V trigger to be fully open... Do you have any experience with this? If this is correct, I feel this is pretty disappointing :-( From the source I received this information I actually fully trust and believe this person, it's just so ridiculous that I almost can't believe this to be true :-)

A workaround seems that you can use MIDI but that's something I actually would like to avoid. I would liked to have a possible future B. 2600 (I am looking/considering for the Blue Marvin) integrated into my Eurorack system.

Any info regarding this matter, please do let me know and thank you very much in advance for that. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Steve,

Nice to hear you did a collaboration with TumeniKnobs! The first 1+ minute of this above track, that filter sound of the... I assume Polaris sounds quite nice! I am considering the Polaris too, are you happy with it any pros & cons you would like to share?

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Ryanthegecko,

Yeah, keep it coming! :-) Nice and funny video, I love that kind of underwater effect unless you managed to develop a waterproof system? ;-) Thank you very much for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Cmb_,

Nicely done video, especially the "integration" of the walking steps, nice touch! :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi M01C,

As you and many might know, I am not really a fan of techno, though if this is going to be the new techno style then I will be a new techno fan :-) This is just cool. You got a nice relaxed rhythm there and this could go on and on for me. Pity this is only a bit over 7 minutes, why not 17+ minutes?!

I don't mind to hear more of this style of dub or "techno" ;-) Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Gabor,

Oh wow, a complete album! That's fantastic. I just start listening but I am already very impressed with the first song. That kind of tip-tapping sound that kicks in around 03:00+ is just fantastic! Nicely done :-)

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us, and I will continue listen with the next tracks, can't wait what other surprises you have up your sleeves for us, the listener ;-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Zuggamasta,

Nice to hear some music from you again! Nice rhythm you start with and in the very beginning the sound goes pretty low :-)

If you are looking for a small yet playful sequencer then have a look at Xaoc Devices - Tirana II, a lovely small sequencer at a foot print of 6 HP, only 4 steps but tons of fun and you can daisy chain it into 8 steps, 12 steps, 16 steps, etcetera.

Good luck with the search for a good sequencer and kind regards, Garfield.

Expander module to make it even more silence? ;-)

Hi Ryanthegecko,

Oh yes, nice dub track you got there :-) Between all the techno and other stuff that goes around here, I don't mind some more of your dub stuff :-)

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Klodifokan,

Thanks a lot for the updates and extra info. Indeed, let's hope next year the modular meet and Superbooth are a bit further away from each other from a timing point of view. For me Brussels is not so far (few hours drive), much closer than Berlin (Superbooth), so I don't mind to come next year to Brussels and have a look :-) Thank you and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi M01C,

This is a great little demo track. Lovely sounds you manage to get out of the Alkemie's Taiko.

Nice work and thanks a lot for demoing this to us, kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Klodifokan,

Okay fair enough and thanks a lot for the additional information! I just subscribed to the newsletter. I hope I can make it for next year's event :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Klodifokan,

Thanks for the info, that's quite interesting, pity though that you inform us one day before only. I just made my planning already for this Saturday. Will this be a yearly event? If yes, would be nice to visit it next year, if possible please let us know (much) earlier.

Thank you, have fun at the event and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Cmb_,

Pity you can't make it for the Superbooth. Okay, if I don't forget (but I just wrote it down) and have time, I will checkout the Portal Drum module of Rabid Elephant, if that one is on display.

Will let you know once I am back from Superbooth. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Shanewave,

Nice to see you at work again in this video. Interesting track this is. I have the feeling you are taking us here on a sonic journey or rather sonic adventure and the listener is being fed with great sounds and interesting melodies! :-)

Just one little thing... could you do much more of music like this please? ;-)

Thank you very much for this piece of music-art and kind regards, Garfield.