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There is still time to learn :-)

Hi all,

Bought my first modular system a new Doepfer A100 Basic system and look forward to patching and tweaking it with my Make Noise 0-coast and Elektron gear. I have 84HP row free for expansion so been toying with the modules to add once I know the Doepfer modules inside and out this year. I like ambient, techno, and industrial music. So adding unique modules like a fun waveshaper would be fantastic to fill out my first case and to avoid duplicating what my Elektron gear can do. I already have tons of drum samples on my Elektron gear so no need to buy these drum modules. I really enjoy cool light shows and knobs and switches without menu diving and tiny screens. The 4ms Spherical Wavetable Navigator and Spectral Multiband Resonator modules look like endless fun to add to the empty row of space as well as more VCAs and EGs.

My beef with all these YT celebrities who have millions of dollars of free modular gear that is gifted to them by sponsors and never admit they are paid to push product with the freebies. We know who these kids are that own thousands of modulars and have done hundreds of videos but never bother to explain how a basic patch works and assume we know it already.

I'm no flute player :)

Cheers :)

Several years ago I heard a strange musical illusion. I think it was on Jean-Claude Elloy's album Shanti.
It sounded like the tone was constantly rising in pitch without stopping.
Now I know that it is called the Shepard tone which can even decrease in a similar way.

Is there any one who knows how to recreate this in a modular patch?

Here are two Youtube examples:

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Nniiiiiiccccccceee!!! Wow yes, the first half minute I thought I was listening at the new Kitaro (I am quite a Kitaro fan).

Overal a very nice track. You made my weekend worthwhile! While I wrote this message I was listening for the fourth time at your track. Once submitting, I will continue listening, really nicely done!

Kind regards, Garfield.

Really pleasent transaction buying the uScale v2 from @cityz3n . Highly recommend this guy to buy from. Wish there was a better feedback system on here for stuff like this. Thanks! :)

Thanks for listening :)

This: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/4ms-company-quad-pingable-lfo

Four LFOs in that thing, with periods ranging from 500 Hz down to a ridiculous .0002 Hz (ie: 70+ minutes). And another module in a similar timebase vein that you might find useful is: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/nonlinearcircuits-triple-sloths-v2
-- Lugia

Very nice! Thank you!!

Has anyone tried or has one of these for sale?
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/serpens-modular-antares-dual-analog-modulator

Yeah...G-Storm also nailed the sound of the ARP 4012 VCF, too. Dude's got it goin' on!

This: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/4ms-company-quad-pingable-lfo

Four LFOs in that thing, with periods ranging from 500 Hz down to a ridiculous .0002 Hz (ie: 70+ minutes). And another module in a similar timebase vein that you might find useful is: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/nonlinearcircuits-triple-sloths-v2

Hi Rijn,

Yes, great and clear again, like your part one. Well done again and thank you very much for sharing!

Kind regards, Garfield.

i

Hi there!

I don't want to clutter up the forum with new posts, but wanted to share the full three part series here. So today we hit part two: Drums and Sample Playback!

My goodness, the Double Helix is quite a monster oscillator, heheh. Can't find the range in hz in the manual though...

I'd also like to toss in Pittsburgh Modular's Double Helix dual oscillator. The frequency ranges for both oscillators are absurd, from well below 1 Hz to nearly supersonic, and there's no range selection, it's all there on the same knob sweep. This makes dialing in a specific frequency a little trickier, but you'll definitely be able to cover a wider range than most modules.
-- dinorrific

Haven't checked this one... going to give it a look! Thanks!!!

Hi Pricto,

Here a few frequency ranges of a few modules, at the end it's a matter of checking all the manuals of those modules you might be interested in :-)

Erica Synths - Black LFO - 0.1 Hz - 60 Hz
ACL - QLFO - "a fraction of a" 1 Hz - 20 kHz (I am just phrasing what has been mentioned in the manual)
AJH Synth - Dual LFO & VCA - in slow mode it's 0.01 Hz - 2 Hz
Doepfer - A-145 - Standard LFO but I love this thing and have a look at this copy/paste from Doepfer's website:
H: about 10Hz - 4.5kHz
M: about 0.1Hz (10 seconds period) - 50Hz
L: about 0.005 Hz (3.5 minutes period) - 5Hz

How slow do you want to go? :-)

Instruo - Ochd - 25 minute cycle till 160 Hz (even slower than the above Doepfer)

IO Instruments - Themisto VCO but can go from 0.5 Hz - 6 kHz or from 10 Hz - 130 kHz
Joranalogue - Generate 3 - VCLFO mode 0.0028 Hz - 180 Hz
Make Noise - Maths - from 25 minutes up till 1 kHz

Well that's what I could come up with in checking about a half hour the manuals from several manufacturers. Perhaps there are already one or two modules that might interest you otherwise just keep checking all the manufacturers and their manuals :-)

Good luck in finding the right LFO and kind regards, Garfield Modular.
-- GarfieldModular

Wow! Thank You!! Yes, that's what I've being doing, checking the specifications of all the modules but none would have this really wide register that the Neutron has... 0.01 hz to 10 khz and with one knob sweep. I think the Maths has the widest range of all of the modules I've been checking, but still doesn't go as high. Curious, it seems Behringer has gone pretty extreme on this feature.

I'd also like to toss in Pittsburgh Modular's Double Helix dual oscillator. The frequency ranges for both oscillators are absurd, from well below 1 Hz to nearly supersonic, and there's no range selection, it's all there on the same knob sweep. This makes dialing in a specific frequency a little trickier, but you'll definitely be able to cover a wider range than most modules.

You mention about predominantly using cv/gate and not midi, can I ask for curiosity sake when would the use of midi be required as opposed to cv/gate?

a lot of people use midi to sequence (mostly from computers or - and maybe you could from the matriarch, but not much piint as you can use cv/gate from the matriarch - if you are not going to use midi then in buying the palette you already paid for 1/2 a midi converter - buying a mantis you pay nothing for midi converter unless you want/need one

In regards to listening to the Matriarch, my current setup is directly from the main outputs into a Saffire pro 40 interface. This shouldn't be affected by the use of Eurorack as long as I patch everything back into the Matriarch mixer right?

you can patch straight from the rack into the interface - no need to go via the matriarch unless you want to - just make sure your gain staging is ok - possibly attenuate signals from the rack (some passive attenuators will do the job)

Hi Garfield,

Thanks for taking the time to explain this to me. It's very generous of you :)

Hi Padmasan,

Sorry, I forgot to tell, check out the Behringer 961 Interface module, that should be a kind of indicator of the above ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Padmasan,

The Behringer 900 series are based on the Moog's System-55 and if I am not mistaken, since it's a, and I am quoting here Behringer.com website:

Authentic reproduction of the circuitry from the "Modular 55, 35 & 15" Series

You might have it so authentic that you need to work with s-triggers. But I am not too deep into that kind of "old" stuff. There are similar discussions already, please refer here within this forum to:

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/8645
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/8162

But at those times the Behringer modules weren't there yet. I am not 100% sure but I would be careful with those 900 series. At least check it out in more details (sorry I didn't had the time to 100% check this out yet).

Behringer also has the 100 series modules these are Roland 100m based modules, if I am not mistaken those are okay but better have those double checked too.

So generally, you are right with Eurorack, as long as it is a Eurorack module it should be compatible with the rest of the Eurorack modules unless it's a replica of some (old) sort (and that's here the case), then you better be careful and have this checked out very well.

Best is still to go to your local dealer and test a few of those 900 modules in combination with classic stuff like Doepfer, Intellijel, Erica Synths, etcetera.

Or perhaps one of the more "compatibility experts" can tell with 100% certainly if those 100 & 900 series of Behringer can be used 100% compatibly?

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi GM and thanks for the reply.

I must be missing something. All of these modules are described as Eurorack. What must they be compatible with exactly?

Is it a voltage spec or firmware?

I was under the impression these modules were universal

School me please :)

Hi Padmasan,

Are you sure that all those Behringer modules are nicely Eurorack compatible? Yes they fit into a Eurorack but how about the compatibility? I am not so sure and would check that first.

Behringer - Neutron is a great device but for other modules I would check other brands if I would be you, at least to start with. Consider a mixture of different brands to give you a few different ideas of what is possible.

If you insist on using Behringer modules then go to your local dealer and have it tested there first.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Pricto,

Here a few frequency ranges of a few modules, at the end it's a matter of checking all the manuals of those modules you might be interested in :-)

Erica Synths - Black LFO - 0.1 Hz - 60 Hz
ACL - QLFO - "a fraction of a" 1 Hz - 20 kHz (I am just phrasing what has been mentioned in the manual)
AJH Synth - Dual LFO & VCA - in slow mode it's 0.01 Hz - 2 Hz
Doepfer - A-145 - Standard LFO but I love this thing and have a look at this copy/paste from Doepfer's website:
H: about 10Hz - 4.5kHz
M: about 0.1Hz (10 seconds period) - 50Hz
L: about 0.005 Hz (3.5 minutes period) - 5Hz

How slow do you want to go? :-)

Instruo - Ochd - 25 minute cycle till 160 Hz (even slower than the above Doepfer)
IO Instruments - Themisto VCO but can go from 0.5 Hz - 6 kHz or from 10 Hz - 130 kHz
Joranalogue - Generate 3 - VCLFO mode 0.0028 Hz - 180 Hz
Make Noise - Maths - from 25 minutes up till 1 kHz

Well that's what I could come up with in checking about a half hour the manuals from several manufacturers. Perhaps there are already one or two modules that might interest you otherwise just keep checking all the manufacturers and their manuals :-)

Good luck in finding the right LFO and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Odd. Never heard of that issue. Behringer synths have a 3 year warranty so you might want to contact them. And if they ever decide to release the Neutron VCO as its own module I would gladly buy one! Hopefully they would add a 'fine tune' control though.

So yeah - it isn't your average modular noodling deck because I'm not a modular noodler.

This one sits at the heart of my studio and is used for processing stuff from DAW or live analog synths. Also use the oscillators on the right hand side for instrumental parts for the track, controlled using the excellent CV-OCD

Also kicking around is a DFAM, Dreadbox Erebus v3, Epsilon and Komorebi as well as a Roland Aira Bitraizer I can never seem to sell ;)

EDITED Aug 29th 2020, 16:22

Yes, that's a very good point with the case, I had thought about how they draw you in with the fitted stuff, and likewise I agree that something as simple as a metal plate to fill a gap can keep your wallet happy lol.

You mention about predominantly using cv/gate and not midi, can I ask for curiosity sake when would the use of midi be required as opposed to cv/gate?

As is clear, Maths is an extremely useful module, I probably need to dig into it a bit more to understand it's full capability (if that is ever possible :P) so I'll look more into that. Thanks for all the other tips, it is really about establishing that starting point and building from there, and it's just those starting points that I need the ideas/suggestions for.

In regards to listening to the Matriarch, my current setup is directly from the main outputs into a Saffire pro 40 interface. This shouldn't be affected by the use of Eurorack as long as I patch everything back into the Matriarch mixer right?

Thanks again, already helping me get to grips more bit by bit!

Man, I LOVE the Neutron's 3340 VCOs! haha The blending and cv mod of the waves... Magnificent! My favorite part of the synth actually. Was sad to see them go once I sold it but felt the Dreadbox Hysteria was a better replacement. The morphing LFO was very cool too.

By the way, the Neutron's LFO is digital so you might want to keep that in mind when shopping around.
-- catwavez

Have to agree, the wave blending and cv mod of these 3340 is really nice, haven't seen anything like it either... What I don't like is the stability of the knobs, I'm avoiding keyboards and other non-knob controllers, just fell in love with knobs I guess. My experience is that in my Neutron one of the VCO's jumps and wiggles at some area of the range when I tweak it. The same with the freq knob of the filter. Maybe is that I have to clean it or something, but is a weird wiggle, and Behringer its so cheap that who knows... but the other one is fine. All in all, I'll never sell my Neutron, I would even buy another one if I could.

Didn't know the LFO of the Neutron was digital... I'll keep this in mind! Many Thanks!!!

EDITED Aug 20th 2020, 20:02

I don't know any.

But many LFOs accept a wide range of control voltages, so you could patch a +/-10v CV source in the form of a big knob or a fader into one and get the result you're looking for.

There are many such CV sources, and they're usually cheap. My favorite one is the Antumbra Fade. (It also doubles as an attenuverter.)
-- fredeke

Oh... This could be a really nice way to solve this single knob problem, Antumbra Fades are quite cool... THANKS!

NP

In regards to the case, in reality it is something I'm not completely married to, I guess it's the minimal size which is more the point - I'm not looking to expand and expand so alternative small cases like you mention are welcome :)

I think it comes down to what you want - there are pros and cons for all case sizes and manufacturers of cases

My view is that even if the goal is a small case (under 6u and under 84hp) - then it is often better to start with a bigger case - most people seem to swap modules quite a bit before they settle on what they need - as this process will be significantly easier with a slightly larger case

the price differential - not taking into account the preinstalled 1/2u row - which I see as worth maybe 50 - is negligible - and they kind of tie you into buying extra modules to get a lot of those components to work

but - matriarch is already eurorack audio level and you are predominantly going to use cv/gate not midi - so you don't really need either of these - the other 1u modules, there are similarly priced alternatives in 3u

if you feel that a big hole in a case will inspire GAS then get/make some blank panels (this is a good idea anyway)

go slowly buy an interesting modulation source - Maths is really popular for a reason ("maths illustrated manual" via google) - maybe add a disting (mk4/ex) as a versatile module, maybe a quad cascading vca (veils would be my 1st choice then intellijel) and an interesting effect and start patching it with the matriarch

you don't mention how you are listening to your matriarch - via a mixer?

As I say, I am new to eurorack and seems I have mistaken the interaction between it and the matriarch? My initial thoughts were to clock from the matriarch to pams and use the eurorack modulation to affect the matriarchs features, using the cases trs as a line in for other potential sources.
It's ok if I've got it all wrong though lol, that's why I'm here! :)

Great attitude!!!!

Man, I LOVE the Neutron's 3340 VCOs! haha The blending and cv mod of the waves... Magnificent! My favorite part of the synth actually. Was sad to see them go once I sold it but felt the Dreadbox Hysteria was a better replacement. The morphing LFO was very cool too.

By the way, the Neutron's LFO is digital so you might want to keep that in mind when shopping around.

I don't know any.

But many LFOs accept a wide range of control voltages, so you could patch a +/-10v CV source in the form of a big knob or a fader into one and get the result you're looking for.

There are many such CV sources, and they're usually cheap. My favorite one is the Antumbra Fade. (It also doubles as an attenuverter.)

I don't know any.

But many LFOs accept a wide range of control voltages, so you could patch a +/-10v CV source in the form of a big knob or a fader into one and get the result you're looking for.

There are many such CV sources, and they're usually cheap. My favorite one is the Antumbra Fade. (It also doubles as an attenuverter.)

Intellijel Dixie II+ is a pretty solid VCO/LFO and only 40mm.
-- troux

Yes I saw this one, this is the closest option, but it has the switch that cuts the range in half, making it imposible to make a full frequency sweep across the whole register... Thanks for the recommendation anyway!

Intellijel Dixie II+ is a pretty solid VCO/LFO and only 40mm.

I think you might be best off with a VCO that has LFO mode - or just goes deep down. Doepfers A143-9 might be a good contender as well, and it’s really cheap! But it only does sine waves and its derrivates.
If that’s what you need - recommended! It’s very modulatable, I use mine as FM modulator with v/oct into cv1 and a nice slider into the cv2 for playability :)
-- LYFoulidis
That's a cool modulator, 4 sines at different phase is very nice... But I have a problem, I've got a skiff case at the moment. Hope I'll get another one in the near future for Doepfer only, aaaargh! At the moment I would be blessed if I had at least one 0.01 to 10 hz LFO with just one knob for the whole frequency range. Thanks for the recommendation!

I think you might be best off with a VCO that has LFO mode - or just goes deep down. Doepfers A143-9 might be a good contender as well, and it’s really cheap! But it only does sine waves and its derrivates.
If that’s what you need - recommended! It’s very modulatable, I use mine as FM modulator with v/oct into cv1 and a nice slider into the cv2 for playability :)

EDITED Aug 20th 2020, 13:33

Hello all,

I guess this is the usual newcomer request for helpful advice thread.
I am a complete amateur with a developing passion for synths. I have recently ordered the Neutron and look forward to cutting my teeth with it when it arrives.
While I anxiously await its arrival I discovered this site and thought I'd have a play and hopefully learn a bit along the way. I have the Moog model 15 app and thought I'd have a crack at replicating what I could using the Behringer system 55 range of modules.

There seems to be a few gaps with what Behringer has on offer and what is on the IOS app so I'm unsure how practical this set up would be.
I'm definitely interested in putting something like this together once I know how it will all work and the price being as attractive as it is for the Behringer modules should allow me to just get away with it without the Wife getting too angry with me ;)

Thanks all and I look forward to hearing some thoughts :)

Hello everyone,

I'm just starting my modular delirium, I've always used conventional synths, but after purchasing a pair of Bastl Kastle and a Neutron from Behringer I went down into the rabbit (or pork) hole and decided I wanted something similar but with more and better oscillators and filters, and more LFO's (yeh, and VCA's, FX, ADSR's, etc... WTF).
While getting my setup I've come across the fact that I can't find an LFO module with a range as big as the Neutron's, which is about 0.01 hz to 10 khz, and in which you can do the full sweep with one knob, no extra "range" knobs (Neutron's LFO is very nice by the way, don't like the oscillators and filter that much though).
I need an LFO module with these characteristics -wide range and complete sweep with one knob- but can't find any, does anyone know of one? Or should I just forget about it and use wide range VCO's as LFO's? (Neutron's VCO's go from 0.7 hz to 55 khz... awesome, but not slow enough).

BTW, I am a knob enthusiast, so I really like good knobs and I like them large for wide modulation.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers!

Pricto.

EDITED Aug 20th 2020, 07:25

I appreciate your "I'm married to the case statement" - but seriously get a divorce and get a mantis - much better value. in the long term and easily portable unless you are a small child and the 'included' modules don't really save any money and tie you into buying 1u modules to use them

BUT

how are you planning on sequencing v/oct for rings/uBurst? I think you may need the 1u midi module - the case provides only the usb or din via trrs inputs - NOT the cv/gate that you need to sequence a modular

you probably want to get the 1u line out module - so you can use the case outputs

I don't see the need for steppy at all - it seems completely irrelevant - there is nothing here that begs to be trigger sequenced

I would dump 2 of - pams, batumi and sloths - probably keep batumi and add a 1u sloth - maybe swap batumi for zadar? - you simply have too much modulation in too small a rack with not enough to actually modulate!!!

I would get rid of both of the vcas and the stereo line in - and replace with a good quad cascading vca - veils or intellijel - they are pretty much the only ones that amplify and will function perfectly as line ins (appropriate cable required)

I would add kinks - incredibly useful set of tools in a small space

this may leave you enough space to add a stereo mixer and maybe a second filter

-- JimHowell1970

Thanks a lot for the feedback and suggestion, it's exactly what I need!

In regards to the case, in reality it is something I'm not completely married to, I guess it's the minimal size which is more the point - I'm not looking to expand and expand so alternative small cases like you mention are welcome :)

As I say, I am new to eurorack and seems I have mistaken the interaction between it and the matriarch? My initial thoughts were to clock from the matriarch to pams and use the eurorack modulation to affect the matriarchs features, using the cases trs as a line in for other potential sources.

It's ok if I've got it all wrong though lol, that's why I'm here! :)

The G-Storm OBxa filter clone sounds outstanding in the demos I've seen. I'll definitely look into this one.

I appreciate your "I'm married to the case statement" - but seriously get a divorce and get a mantis - much better value. in the long term and easily portable unless you are a small child and the 'included' modules don't really save any money and tie you into buying 1u modules to use them

BUT

how are you planning on sequencing v/oct for rings/uBurst? I think you may need the 1u midi module - the case provides only the usb or din via trrs inputs - NOT the cv/gate that you need to sequence a modular

you probably want to get the 1u line out module - so you can use the case outputs

I don't see the need for steppy at all - it seems completely irrelevant - there is nothing here that begs to be trigger sequenced

I would dump 2 of - pams, batumi and sloths - probably keep batumi and add a 1u sloth - maybe swap batumi for zadar? - you simply have too much modulation in too small a rack with not enough to actually modulate!!!

I would get rid of both of the vcas and the stereo line in - and replace with a good quad cascading vca - veils or intellijel - they are pretty much the only ones that amplify and will function perfectly as line ins (appropriate cable required)

I would add kinks - incredibly useful set of tools in a small space

this may leave you enough space to add a stereo mixer and maybe a second filter

swap typhoon in instead of pams (and move this to last in order) - in the 4 starter modules

next module after those should be a quad cascading vca - I prefer veils (more gain), but the intellijel is also a good choice - as both of these amplify (most vcas are actually attenuators) - and you can use one of the channels to amplify the sub37 - not that you should need to - clouds has loads of input gain - typhoon should be the same - so try it first (you need a 1/4"->1/8" cable)

I'd probably choose between o&c and pams - and use the money saved to get some simple utility modules - logic, mixers, sequential switches etc

Hey guys/modular world,

I'm new here so go easy on me please? But also as critical as possible to help me out? ;)

I have a Matriarch which I'm in love with! My intention has always been to develop it further through eurorack and I think I'm ready

As I know is needed, I have an idea what I want to do with it, and as more of an ambient styled creator I simply want a small rig primarily focused on extra modulation capabilties more so than voices which I'm happy (at least for now) are covered by the Matriarch, and FX which I have covered with external pedals (H9 x2)...

In terms of the case type/size, that isn't something I am looking to change, so only swaps if there's something you'd change?

Take a look, and with my goals in mind, praise/criticise/suggest changes etc all as nicely as possible... Please?

If you have any ideas how this rig may interact well with he Matriarch as well and you care to share your two cents, feel free, I'd love to get input!

Nah, you're 100% spot on, 55550. I've said numerous times that I don't tend to recommend YT vids for learning about modular...and those examples you give are a huge reason why! I don't know how many "module demos" I've seen where there's no real demonstration of how the MODULE ITSELF sounds/functions, and I feel that a lot of these deceptive "demos" are leaving prospective synthesists with the wrong idea about what results they can achieve with the device(s) in question. And also, trying to demo something in ones' own huge rig just gets confusing once all of the wires and doodads are in place; if you're dedicated to BEING a modular demo Tuber, GET A PALETTE and use that for your demos. Stop burying the module(s) in the demo patches! And don't try and make some whiz-bang patch with the demo...at best, just hook the module in question into the simplest patch conceivable that'll show off what it does. For example, if demoing a VCF, just send a basic ol' square wave into it and sweep, because it would be nice to hear how it picks off the harmonics in the waveform. I can figure out what to do at that point.

Hi all,

Looking for some advice on my first four chosen modules. These occupy the first row of my rack (excluding the 1u) and are as follows; Pam's, Maths, Rings, Varigate 4+. I would then, at a later stage, want to add the remaining Typhoon, uO_C and Quad VCA once I get a better idea of what I'm interested in. The aim is to make ambient textures with some more melodic patches as well to complement my drum and bass tracks. Thus, the aim is not to produce full modular tracks (hence no Hermod or comprehensive sequencer for example).

Further, I want to interface my Modular with Ableton and be able to run my Moog Sub37 through Typhoon etc at a later date, hopefully this explains the upper 1u tiles better!

Keen to hear your thoughts / any suggestions that could improve the rack!

EDITED Aug 19th 2020, 21:45

Is this the expander for Dylan's 1000 VCO monstrosity? ;-)
-- Lugia

don't you mean Sam Battle (Look Mum No Computer)?
-- JimHowell1970

Duh...you're right. I think the part of my brain that deals with names and faces was sacrificed during my music theory studies...probably while trying to deal with the confusionality of secondary dominants!

I enjoy most demo videos whether I end up buying anything or not. There is a proliferation of knobs-esque demos which I find kind of irritating, but right now what quibbles I may have with demo videos of any kind are what I would charitably term first world problems.

Is this the expander for Dylan's 1000 VCO monstrosity? ;-)
-- Lugia

don't you mean Sam Battle (Look Mum No Computer)?