Oh, yeah...that little DIRT filter is a sneak weapon. I've actually encountered it in real life, but you managed to hit the most excellent 'sour spots' in its behavior and bring out the industrial/acid-type nastiness that it does sooooo well!
Except...while there's a lot of different drum voices, I get the feeling you're neglecting the timing aspects. For instance, I see nothing in the way of gate/trig dividers and/or multipliers, or other clock manipulators (pulse counters, stochastic skippers, clock delays). And with all of that, you'd also need a nice bit of logic to allow conditional gate/trigger variation. It's ok if you just want the output from the sequencers 'straight', but aside of the one Euclidean sequencer there, this is lacking in ways to 'humanize' the rhythm feel and/or create controllable variation. Take a long stroll through the 'clock modulators' section here and get a feel for what all of that category's about, and then do the same with the 'logic' section, then give it another try. You may find that the real trick here is less sound generation and more sequential/timing complexity.
Also, you'll want audio delays. I can't even count the times I've used different delay-based strategies to generate hocket-like behavior to make rhythm patterns more complex.
Pretty much! The only thing I'd move is the Erbe-verb, putting it between the Quad VCA and the outputs. That way, you can take the mix out of the Quad VCA and feed that directly to the Erbe-verb's mono in, and stereo out from that goes to the HN output. So you can use the Erbe-verb not only as a reverb, but as a 'stereoizing' module as well. Toss in a couple of multiples for the open space remaining, and that's got that build nailed.
Happy Nerding has a couple of nice ones, actually...their Isolator not only gives you a final stereo level trim plus transformer-balanced 1/4" outs, it has ground-lift switches per channel so that you can eliminate any sort of ground-loop hum with a switch-flip should that occur. That feature alone, especially if you play any live gigs and DI the modular into some random club PA, is very worthwhile!
Not bad...mind you, Clouds is discontinued, but third-party builds can still be had. I'd also swap the uVCA for a Quad VCA, because more VCAs are useful. And some sort of stereo mixer into a proper stereo output module, and that'd do it. Maybe a passive mult if there's room, but if not, just use some in-line mults.
One last riff on the Clouds: maybe this would be a good swap: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/mordax-gxn- ...2 hp more, but it samples and mangles too, but with a lot more interface capability.
Noise Reap's doing some really interesting, deviant design work. Not only is their stuff cheap, but it's quite weird as well. The uBermuda VCO's another bizarro device, with its internal self-regeneration behavior and so forth. They're doing things people need to pay attention to...
Another suggestion: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/emw-arcade-noise
Get yer Atari 2600 jones on!
That sounds like a ground loop, actually. Do you know if the powered speakers are on the same AC ground line as the synth, or whether they're grounded at all? If not, that would explain quite a bit.
Probably the best thing you can do is to take the time (and hookup wire) necessary to set up a star-ground to get all of the equipment on the same ground plane. It's time-consuming, but very worth it in terms of cleaning up noise and hum, and might only be necessary for a few pieces of your gear. Have a look at https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/star-ground/ for a very basic explanation of what needs doing...and as I noted, if you can do this only with certain offending devices to clear up the ground loop issues, that works just fine as well.
Yep, that's an excellent choice! Not only does that give you VCA audio level control, you also get the panning under CV and CV on your AUX send as well. With that 2hp Verb, that's perfect...just patch the AUX send on the Toppobrillo to the Verb's Left input, and you get one-point stereo out. Patch that to your AUX returns, and you've got full CV over the reverb! Note also that the CUE send can work here, too...for example, patch that to the frequency shifter, and return that via a strip on the mixer, and you can drop signals in a similar manual AUX path from your cue sends. Just be careful to NOT activate the cue on that one strip for the frequency shifter, or bad feedback happens (unless you think that might be fun! as in...cue out to delay, delay to frequency shifter, FS to strip one with cue on, and manually control the feedback of that loop to get stairstepping pitch-shifted echoes of your other thru-cue signals! nuts!).
The other changes are primo, too! I see you went with the VCA control over the Quad VCO trick...that'll be loads of fun. Plus the VCSs. Yeah, this is shaping up to be a killer rig...
That's odd, then...I would suggest contacting Expert Sleepers about this. Maybe they have some insight as to what the trouble might be. Annoying, I'm sure...because what it's capable of doing is quite nifty, but if the patchcords won't seat, well...
Nah, not 64 voices. Let's say you have an FH-2 plus a full compliment of seven expanders, so 64 outputs. That means you can break all of this out into, say, eight monophonic channels...with each channel having:
1) note CV
2) gate
3) velocity CV
4) aftertouch CV (poly-capable!)
5) assigned modulation controller CV
6) release velocity CV (yep!)
7 and 8) two more sets of eight for special modulation purposes, assigned as needed.
Now, for a live gig situation, this is a bit over the top, but you'd still want the first four. But when using the FH-2 via a MIDI interface, you can have your DAW send all of that stuff and the FH-2 will break it down as needed. And for complex generative work, having massive incoming control signals to up the complexity ante is always a plus. Plus, having the X and Y inputs in use as a pair of 'sense' circuits, able to send CV back to the DAW, means that you can continue the generative architecture on into the computer itself; something such as Ableton Live + MAX for Live would allow you to build up specific M4L objects to listen to and react to those return 'sense' lines for the M4L object(s) purposes. That would allow a generative process with full control feedback between modular and computer, and endless control-order possibilities!
You must be using 1/8" plugs. The vast majority of Eurorack makes use 3.5mm, which is a hair bigger (0.137", as opposed to 0.125") and while the difference usually doesn't matter, some jack manufacturers make products which are less forgiving of the mismatch.
Technically, they are VCAs...sort of. They're implemented in such a way that they have (as a rule) two VCAs with an inverter in the control line of one. Each VCA gets an equal input signal feed, and the control signal works so that if one VCA is opening, the other is closing. In that arrangement, though, they're a pain to use for amplitude control. Plus, panners tend to use linear VCAs which, because our hearing reacts to sound pressure as loudness in an exponential manner, don't really work well for controlling the amplitude in audio lines. Exponential VCAs work best for that, although you can use linear VCAs if you're controlling them with an exponentially-weighted control signal, like an exponential envelope.
Plus, consider going with a VCA arrangement upstream from your final mixer that allows you to CV manipulate individual VCO outputs. With that Quad VCO, you could pair up an Intellijel Quad VCA which also functions as a 4-1 mono CV mixer, and with the right VCA control inputs (maybe using Doepfer's A-144 Morph Controller?) and VCO tunings, you can do things like swept additive harmonics over fundamental-type combinations from the other VCOs. Or a lot of other things besides!
I note the absence of VCAs here...even with designs that replicate the old-school East Coast architecture, you're gonna want a few of those. My suggestion would be to yank the Chatterbox and panners, then put in a stereo VCA mixer that has the panning functions on CV, and use whatever space is left for a couple of linear, DC-coupled VCAs for CV amplitudes. Also, you might consider a bit of a nod to the West Coast (and adding some killer functionality) by pulling the A-145 and 146 and replacing them with Doepfer's A-171-2s. They're basically a rework of the Serge VCS via Ken Stone's redesign. I'm supposing you're planning on using in-line mults. Lastly, have a look at Expert Sleepers' FH-2 as a substitute for the Doepfer A-190-3...much more flexible, and expandable to boot.
And as for the second cab...what? You're considering stopping at TWO?
It might be the right place to start...but if you're doing more live gig work than studio, possibly not. My suggestion would be to come up with a rig that has a lot of these functions pre-wired, with the ability to drop certain specific modules into the architecture as needed. Have a look at Arturia's MiniBrute 2 or 2S, paired with a 3U RackBrute that contains a few 'extras' that're more processing-specific, and see if that sort of basic build seems workable to you.
Yep, that angular arrangement looks killer! Can't wait to see this completed...
My suggestion would be to look at an Expert Sleepers FH-1 instead of the Yarns. The programmability of the FH-1, plus the assignable CV outs and the ability to expand those up to 64 outputs would allow much more than 4 voices, plus it would let you output velocity, aftertouch CVs as well. And since it's a fully-compliant USB host, any controller with a USB connection will work just fine. It can even power USB-powered devices up to 100 mA.
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/02/625363659/moog-says-chinese-tariffs-may-force-a-move-overseas
Totally awful...not merely economically for their employees and for those of us who'd likely have to pay more for their products, but that the current bad ugliness over here is going to run a part of American musical history out of the country where it envisioned (along with Don, natch) all of this.
My suggestion, even though it requires a bit of space, would be the 4ms Quad Clock Divider plus the QCD Expander. Lots of functionality...for pretty much anything you need to do math-wise with timing, it's perfect. Sort of a misnomer, also, as it does both division and multiplication of incoming pulses.
As for clock generation, in theory you can use BOTH as long as you keep the timing chains separate. Or, for more fun, you can use a Boolean logic module to set the timing gate pulses against each other at different rates and have the logic generate a totally new timing/rhythmic structure based on the logic state plus timing between clocks. EMW makes a very comprehensive logic module with lots of different gates, inverters, plus a pulse divider all in 14 hp. They actually have a pretty good (and inexpensive!) line of clock modifiers, including trig-to-gate converters that allow adjusting the clock pulse duty cycle, trig/gate delays for shifting pulse coincidence, etc.
Clocking doesn't get enough respect...there's actually loads of possibilities for creating elaborate rhythmic structures just by tinkering with basic timing. You could theoretically get just as busy working your timing modifiers as any other part, going nuts on creating cross- and polyrhythms.
Still lots missing there...you'll want a couple more VCOs to build up initial textures, definitely a couple of filters, and VCAs for both audio (exponential) and CV (linear, DC-coupled) amplitude control are totally necessary. Decent start, but there's quite a way to go...
The key to getting decent brass-type pad sounds is in generating cutting-sounding sawtooth waves, adding a tiny bit of mistuning if you want an ensemble sound, and then not really filtering this much if at all. Amplitude envelopes are pretty much like gates: fast on, fast off, sustain at the desired level. It's pretty simple stuff; my Crumar starts with square waves and then reshapes those for the sawtooth...which also means it's not a 'clean' saw, which actually helps a bit since the wave is a bit non-linear and has a bit of a 'buzz' to it that adds brightness. Your build above seems to be going in a wholly different direction, actually...you need to think simpler to get brass sounds.
There's quite a few controller recorders on MG, and Flame not only makes that one, but a fader recorder/sequencer that seems quite interesting. KOMA's Komplex sequencer also includes a knob recorder section that's quite comprehensive.
Yeah, Clicks and Clocks has been around for a while...good DIY people. As for why there's almost no DIY for the Intellijel tile format, it's because Intellijel is pretty much the only user of that rail spacing. Everyone else uses the original, which was around for years prior to Intellijel's developments. The rationale, supposedly, is that Intellijel is using a 'true' 1U spacing, whereas the original format is actually derived from the FracRac standard and isn't exactly a 'proper' Rack Unit. Ultimately, I think that's some sort of excuse for something else, but whatever. If you use the C&C 1U endplates, I would suggest getting the 3U ones there as well to make sure your plate thicknesses line up.
And yeah, the mid-point tile row would look awesome at an intermediate angle. In fact, you could do two 1U rows there...and make one Intellijel and one the 'standard' spacing. Tiles are brilliant for sneaking in loads of utility-type functions cheaply.
It's July 2...you know what that means...
KICK ASS!!! June 2018.
...in which I have a look at the Eurorack deluge here on ModularGrid and sort out what looks the tastiest each prior month. Gonna be a shorter one, looks like, as the only major music trade event coming up is Summer NAMM, and that's called the 'guitar show' for a reason. Things should start to heat up again as we get closer to Knobcon in the Fall. So, let's hit it...
1) Recovery Effects Motormatic. Let's face it: sometimes you need out-and-out racket. Ring mods do that. So does bit crushing. So why not both? Well, $149 gets you this: a not-wholly-in-control clangorous crossmodulating mangler that doesn't seem at all capable of outputting 'nice' things. Instead, you get GRIT and SCREECH and all of those other oh-so-desirable Industrial-type noises and textures. If you like making music with a clear level of 'harm' to it, this module delivers. Check their website for a few examples...although, I'm sure that from those, most anyone here can extrapolate as to the abuse potential of this thing.
2) Happy Nerding 3x Stereo Mixer. This is so simple, it's stoopid! Three stereo ins, one stereo out. For summing down stereo effects, or stereo anything, that just got damn cheap ($100!) with this module's introduction. But the front panel doesn't tell the whole story, as this (and the PanMix Jr.) have backplane connections that allow a bunch of these to be stereo-bus-linked into a bigger mixer configuration. Smart! So you could take a few of these, a few of the PanMans, and whip up a bespoke performance mixer-type assemblage, or most any sort of special-purpose stereo configuration you need between those two modules.
3) Purrtronics Purrvrrb. Got a skiff and want a spring reverb? Not doable, really; where are you going to put the spring tank? So there's this, a digital spring emulator, full stereo, $130, solves that problem! Spring reverb, of course, is so nice with LPGs and the like to get that percussive 'splang' thing, ala the Buchla 100 series, just right. At 20mm depth, it'll fit any skiff, so now everyone can twannnng away without worrying about where the springs go or accidental spring-splats (if you don't like that sort of thing).
4) Takaab VC-EG. Done right, done cheaply! A CVable ADSR with LFO and Gate looping modes, plus the typical EG type operation, everything nicely controllable with input attenuators and all that good stuff. But Takaab tossed in a few extras, such as a 'Hard' mode that adds a very short top-of-envelope 'punch' stage when switched in, plus either linear or exponential modes, which means you can get a basic old linear VCA connected to this to respond either way with a switch-flip. A really intelligent ADSR design, and it deserves more than a cursory glance! $158, too...bang for the buck!
5) Ladik HAS BEEN BUSY!!! Last time out, I had a bunch of their toys to talk about, and here we are a month later with more surprises. First up are a pair of metered line input stages, the A-545 (stereo, $71-ish) and A-560 (mono, about $69) that are a nice change from the typical line-in modules, especially with multisegment LED metering to keep an eye on things, which is useful if you're inputting something that's level-critical. But wait...their M-17x mixer series ALSO now has input modules, the M-177, 178, and 179, each with different stereo configurations, and each costing a mere $86 or thereabouts. These are really neat...allowing you to, if you so choose, build a full-on stereo line mixer into your rig, allowing you to mix down EVERYTHING right there on the modular and with the modular! For those of you out there trying to get a higher level of gear integration between your modular and bunches of other boxes and bits, I think Ladik may have a solution for you.
6) Future Sound Systems FIL3 Spectral Devastator. I have to respect a module that has controls with erstwhile-irresponsible-usage indications, in this case two little switches marked 'Blast'. The FIL3 is the latest iteration of FSS's coupled dual-filter module. New surprises include a 'Colour' control in the resonance paths, attenuverters for negative modulation of the filter cutoffs, Drive and Output Level controls for more flexibility over levels and using the FIL3 in overdriven modes, and that pair of 'Blast' switches, which push each filter core into new levels of resonance, range, and drive. This thing, from the same people currently bringing us the sonic manglage that are the Gristleizer modules, promises lots and if the FIL2 and FSS's other efforts are indicative, it'll deliver. $230 or so.
7) LZX Escher Sketch. But wait...don't video modules run on a different voltage standard? Yeah, but there's converter step-down/up modules for audio level I/O, and this might be worth getting those extra for whatever use your fevered mind has planned! It's a stylus/touch pad, high-rez, 5.7” diagonal with X, Y and pressure modes, plus directional velocity sensing. And it has 'abuse potential' written all over it! This could have a lot of possible uses, especially in conjunction with a DC-coupled audio input interface so that it can 'talk' to a computer (for all sorts of things...think MAX here, folks) while at the same time doing its CV thang over the modular itself. Yeah, I'm talking recursory control here...and that's just ONE bad idea that comes to mind! I'm sure everyone can come up with more. $499-ish, which is a tad spendy but I think well-deserved for something of this sort.
8) Noise Reap Dub Delay. And in just under the wire is this: a nicely nasty little BBD-type delay for a stoopid-cheap $90. Supposedly clean up to about 300ms, past that point you get aliasing, muddy tone, lo-fi galore out to around 2000ms. Full CV control, too...time and feedback are both under CV here, and to avoid the feedback-loop overloads, Noise Reap even put a limiter circuit in the feedback path to clamp the level so the signals don't become super-hot, allowing you to jack the feedback into overload and still get a usable result. Very smart thinking there. But even neater...this device can do CV DELAY, as it's DC-coupled, so delaying (and mangling!) envelopes, LFO curves and so forth is right up this device's alley! Virtually anyone can make use of one of these for some nefarious purpose, and at only 8 hp it's an easy fit...plus, it's cheap!
And that's it this time around. Like I said, the crazy that precedes Knobcon should start before much longer, so stay tuned...the next few months look interesting!
So far, so good...just remember: the Intellijel tile format requires an odd sort of spacing between the row's rails. Using the endplates from Synthrotek, etc will give you the 'normal' spacing; I would suggest getting one of the longer Intellijel tiles (like the QuadrATT) first and using it as a template for that row to make sure you've got it nailed. I'm assuming that the tile row will be at an intermediate angle between those used for the upper and lower rows?
Of course, the easiest way around not having a 5V bus is something like a Doepfer A-100AD5, which also works solely from a 12V only supply. Only 100mA, but so few modules actually demand 5V (mainly digital-based ones) that the load amount isn't usually an issue.
It's really interesting how that came out...it shifts like weather changing, which I think Schoenberg really only pulled off once, in the "Farben" movement of the Five Orchestral Pieces. Webern sorta gets there as well, but with his work being more rapidly-shifting and pointillistic, "Euphony IV" is kinda like a Webern record pitched down to -80!
That's a brilliant little rig! I did a little more to it, assuming in the process that the cab is an Intellijel 4U x 104...
Damn near perfect, I think! Sequencer control under the left hand, Tetrapad under the right, generation down the middle where both hands can get at it easily. Tile row populated w/ Intellijel, which now gives you a clock, S&H, mixer/attenuator, stereo I/O, etc. And a couple of linear VCAs got tossed in for good measure. Nice!
Actually, 'cheating' on 12-tone is sort of 'canon'. Webern was the odd one of the original serialists in that he never did any fudging on rows/matrices, while both Berg and eventually Schoenberg himself were known to do so.
There's also another way to do this than the gridded-out matrix method, too. On "Euphony IV" (https://daccrowell.bandcamp.com/album/euphony-iv), I experimented with what I call a 'quantum matrix'. With this piece, there are several voices playing through individual tetrachords, two playing through hexachords, and a few more that were capable of playing all notes in the prime row, with all of the behavior being controlled through a generative system that still weighted the pitch classes equally, that being the key underlying criteria for the method. By doing this, in essence the generative process is accessing ALL points in a given matrix at once, but 'collapsing' the observation when the process sounds a note. The results were actually VERY satisfying; parts of it remind me in some ways of a 'switched-on' variant of the denser parts of Schoenberg's orchestral writing in "Moses und Aron".
While you've got the space, you might consider the Poti expander (3 hp) for controlling the Batumi's jumper settings. It opens up some fairly useful 'hidden' functions.
Bastl ABC: 5 hp, 3-in, 1-out mixer x2 for mixing three stereo pairs down to one. Perfect stereo summer for after the Morphagene and Clouds to allow them to be used in parallel....woooo!!!
Befaco Dual Atenuverter: 5 hp, dual...well, attenuverter. Perfect for rescaling and/or inverting CV signals such as envelopes, etc.
Neither are sexy, but function-wise, they're able to make the existing modules even more interesting!
My work with VCV Rack 0.6.1 has been a bit better than with 0.5.x, but it's still got some issues. Running it on multicore is pointless as it only deals with a single processor at a time. Because of this, it would seem that some howling-fast i7 or i9 (if you've got the buck$) would be the best pick to either drop the latency or allow it to run very large (50+ module) patches. I did notice, also, that 0.6.1 has a control up in the file menu that puts time utilized indicators on each module. See https://vcvrack.com/manual/Toolbar.html for more on this.
Yeah, you did that right. I'll second cg_funk on the Pamela's (kinda overkill here) but I say keep the o+C...it's way too useful. Instead, cg's idea on the more conventional clock + divider makes sense; my suggestion, fitting in the same 8 hp, would be Evaton's CLX dual clock/logic plus Zlob's clock divider. That way, you get some weird logic possibilities sneaked in. Then yank the 2hp Snare and Arp (the o+C can handle that function, more or less) and add an ALM PipSlope as sort of a teensy VCS-ish device to loop CVable attack/decay for those times when the Maths is too overtaxed. As for the rest...looks great!
The latter...one is just a VCO, the other is a synth voice. Apples and oranges. However...
You might want to consider if a modular makes sense at all in your situation. As you noticed, a full build is a spendy thing, and given that you're just starting (by your own admission), I don't see the sense in piling up cash for a complex modular (or even a not-quite-so-complex modular) system when you're at a stage where you're still wrapping your head around synthesis techniques in general. My suggestion would be something prebuilt; if you like the sound of the Moog VCOs and so on, get a Grandmother when they start shipping. It's patchable, it has the ACTUAL Moog VCO circuit rather than a clone, and it can easily be integrated into a modular build later on. It's also $900, which includes the keyboard controller, case and power, etc etc...which, of course, are extra expenditures in modular.
Modulars are sexy things. Modulars are also very expensive, a huge swamp of pitfalls and traps for beginning synthesists that can easily be avoided by learning the basic architecture of a proper synth before ever considering modular. Yeah, yeah, Deadmaus has a few...BFD. Deadmaus also makes more money than the gross national product of some third-world countries and can afford to make critical errors in purchasing judgement as long as people keep buying his tracks. And owning one will not make you Deadmaus (thank god...given that I own a few myself).
So...my advice: stop. Study the 'classics' and see how and why they work. Get something that moves you toward this zone, but where you don't wind up spending thousands on something you could easily get lost in. Then, once you've sorted out where to go and how to get there, then look into modular synthesizers. Otherwise, your experience in this sort of thing...and potentially music in general...could turn out being not as cool as you'd expected.
Well, I am...wish I was still in academia so I could drag this over to the composition dept at the U of I and put it on for the typical academic serialism wonks and say "YOU CLOWNS ARE DOING IT WRONG!!!" Nice job, sislte!
Just saw these. Uhm...yeah. Now, let me get this straight...
The 'low end' version is over US$500. When eBay shows the real thing hovering in the US$300-ish range. Sure, it's umpty-gazillion dollars over in the EU...but that was also where the concept of the $2000 TB-303 came from, and while I thought (and still think) that was insane, anyone paying more than about $350 for a minty-fresh NOS Minipops of any series needs to be fitted for a straight-jacket. Just because Aphex used one on "Syro" (somewhere) doesn't mean that possessing one makes you Aphex. And yes, this does take clock in/out...but Tubbutech has a MIDI mod that gives you MIDI control for EUR 140-ish of the actual thing.
But then, the 'high end' MP7 comes with a lot of silliness...mainly, the whole triggering scheme. In order to work with the triggering, you will need adapters to go to TRS 3.5mm plugs, because while the input triggering is between tip and sleeve, Nabla opted to put the trigger-out from the MP7's wired-pattern sequencer between the ring and sleeve. Why is this important? OK, follow me for a sec...
Let's say you're triggering the MP7's internal voices via the tip-sleeve connection. Which, of course, means that the entire patch-plane is the 'ground' and the actual trigger pulses are on the tip, and the outputs from the MP7's triggers (on the ring) are cold. What's wrong here? OK...if you are using (like everyone else in Eurorack) a TS 3.5mm patchcord, then there is a bit of a risk of sending backwards voltage into the MP7's sequencer, but that's only if things are a bit miswired coming from the external sequencer sending the pulses. No...the REAL, dead-on-certs danger is what can happen should you accidentally start the MP7's own sequencer and send ITS triggers back down your connection. Miswiring here now has the ability to reverse-voltage the external sequencer! And by 'miswiring', I mean something akin to pulling a patchcord while the MP7's sequencer is on, allowing the Ring terminal in the jack to momentarily contact the Tip of the cord's plug. Expensive external trigger sequencer module go BOOM if it doesn't have diode protection on its outputs!!! This is, in fact, the PRECISE reason why we don't use 3-conductor jacks/plugs in patchng architecture, Nabla!
While I can appreciate the effort from a startup company, guys, PLEASE try and understand why things work the way they do in the Eurorack standard! No one, for one thing, is going to be jazzed about the prewired patterns; they're going to want to do their own sequencing, otherwise they would've already gotten (such as I have) rhythm boxes for that sort of purpose. Secondly, if the sounds are the important thing, then why not just make a soundbank module such as so many other companies do? No sequencer, no reverse voltage hazard (other than the usual ones), just sounds. You could even stereo-bus this, add some pan-pots on bus side of the voice circuits, with the additional solo-out defeats. And THAT actually would be a welcome addition to the drum-module constellation. Not this...since it has "potential damage liability" wired into its design. C'mon...do this right, not like this.
Not sure why you'd think Plan #1 would be a 'waste' if you went further into modular. After all, the 0-Coast is patchable, works with the typical CV/gate standards so it can be integrated with a modular rig, and is pretty cheap + a good start-point for learning. I would strongly suggest you consider something along those lines, in fact, before plunging in over your head in the complexity and CO$T of modular synths. Otherwise, even if price isn't a problem, you run the risk of finding yourself in a position akin to taking Driver's Ed 101 behind the wheel of a Bentley Mulsanne. Not a good idea. Whereas an 0-Coast is more akin to doing the above with a used Lexus, by comparison. It does what you need, it's still really nice, and you can build on the experience gained from that if/when you want to step up to something super-expensive and ultra-powered.
Modular looks sexy. Yes. But many of us who're used to large-scale rigs started off on the equivalents of the 0-Coast, sometimes many years back, and got to this point...not started at it. It's very trendy right now...but for a lot of people who don't know the intricacies, it's trendy sort of like how pigs as pets got trendy after the movie "Babe" came out. Looks like a good idea, but the reality may include certain flaws that weren't on the big screen.
So, start with patchable prebuilds. While you learn to use them, study why the 'classic' synths (some which have been reissued, even) are exactly that: benchmarks by which synth gear is measured. Learn by doing FIRST...THEN take the full-on magic plastic-burning plunge!
A couple of others worth looking at along these same lines might be the Orthogonal ER-301 and the Mordax GXN (when it drops in a few months). Also, if going outboard for manipulation is possible, a Tasty Chips GR-1 might also fit the bill.
Actually, you might want to think ahead and look at Trogotronic's power supply system. Massive current capacity, and not expensive. Since Trogotronic has a lot of tube designs in the module lines, they should know a thing or two about supplying high current loads. Plus, something of that sort should be good to go for quite some time; all you'd need to do is to keep daisy-chaining passive power modules of some variety to deal with even a very large rig.
The Mix4 makes the most sense to me. You need some way to mix those VCOs, for starters, and the Mir is clearly going to be busy doing things later in the signal flow.
If you stick to things in the smaller range from companies like 2hp, Ladik, Erica, Zlob, etc, you can still jam a load of functionality into that third tier. Right now, you've got 24 hp to go after the Maths, Veils, and a uZeus go in, but with the very tiny stuff, you can do a lot. One thing to be careful of, however, is module depths; as I recall, the maximum depth on the Moog 60hp boats is not too generous, so you'll have to be very careful with that one limitation.
Clock and random are there up in the tile row. And while the Frames can work as an audio VCA, you really need a couple more linear, DC-coupled ones for controlling CV levels. The Quad VCA comes to mind mainly because you can also sum signals with it, but there's plenty of other options that can do much the same.
Well, what you should probably do is to start off by considering what the M32s don't have. And yes, they're missing a good bit. They have no ring modulators, for example. No sample & hold, either. The EGs are three-stage, so no release time constants on the envelopes. No separate VCAs. This is the 'bin' from which you need to calculate what should go in the 60 hp third cab.
Next, what DO the M32s have? VCF, check...and quite good ones, too. VCOs? Hmmm...just one each, actually. LFO, yep. Sequencer, yep. Slew limiter...mmm, kinda, as it's sort of hardwired. Mixing...eh, not multichannel. MIDI, yup. Output stage is there. OK...
Now, consider the first part above, and think about what you want to do. Is this rig for a specific sort of music? More of an open-ended idea? Your comments sort of indicate that the situation's more toward the latter, so...let's go from that. Gimme a bit...
OK...dig this:
Like you noted: nothing flashy. Instead, this is some extra control-type stuff that augments what the M32s do best, by filling in some of the gaps that the M32s have. The only audio thing in this is (technically, as the added mixer and VCAs are for control signals, optimally) the Intellijel uMod. This gets you a lot closer to the generative-type zone, also, since you have extra LFOs and EGs, S&H, a comparator, Doepfer's weird-but-neat Morph Controller, and a couple of VCSs, which are basically half of a Maths apiece. With the addition of all of this, you can push the M32s around in ways that the stock versions of these simply cannot do.
It sounds like you're not using the right software with it. Try the ES-8 with either Expert Sleepers' Silent Way (Windows) or MOTU's Volta (Mac) as a gateway/translator. The ES-8 is designed for that sort of software, something that can send a signal to a DC-coupled audio interface (which is what the ES-8 is) and the module converts that into the proper CV/gate/trig calls on its end. Even with a plugin like Reaktor, you're still going to need to use something of that sort that knows how to address the ES-8 properly.
Kinda difficult to do a Buchla-esque poly modular for $3k. Plus, what you have there isn't going to work because there's a lot of parts missing...no VCAs, the CV input section of the VC Mixer is missing, no output stage, etc. And since West Coast systems tend to use complex oscillators (pricey), just four single VCOs isn't going to get you there.
As for generative, that can get even spendier, since then you're in the realm of multiple modulation sources, random sources, sequencers, quantizers, logic, and so forth. In theory, you could fit it into 2x84 hp like the above, but you'd have to use a lot of very small-space modules, and it would wind up turning into a patchcord thicket. Put that together with the polyphony, and you've arrived at a system that's much larger than the cab above, and which costs quite a bit more than $3k CDN. You might want to scale this idea down somewhat...
An idea: if you're going to DIY a cab, you don't necessarily have to stick with 84 hp. Raw Vector rails can be had in up to 300 hp increments. Now, that would be utterly bonkers, but one format I've seen from Erica makes a lot of sense to me, and that's 126 hp. It's big, but not overly huge to the point of either being overwhelming or unportable. Check out Pulplogic's or Synthrotek's offerings for rails and mounting hardware. And yes, 1U makes perfect sense; if you can shunt off a lot of utility functions into the tile row(s), that makes more space for the big stuff.
Dixie II is a pretty good choice, given how variable it is plus how small a footprint it takes up. As for the Echophon, just wait and see...that plus the Batumi = serious sonic trouble (of the GOOD variety)! Other than that, I think you're good to go here.
