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There is nothing "shitposting" about this. This thread is called "bad traders" not "people I don't like".

@farkas I took a look at your rig, and no joke about your wallet lol. Lots of great units in there though, I can see I want a lofi junky already! Take care yourself, and thank you again.

Always glad to help if I can. I have a similar background as you with many years of hardware synth and software experience, but I got a little disillusioned/uninspired with computer recording and stopped making music altogether quite a while back. More recently, I got super inspired by the possibilities of modular and dove back in headfirst. Best decision I ever made (though my wallet disagrees).
One of these days I'm going to have to get Akemie's Castle too. It sounds so good. My only connection to Max/MSP is I know that Autechre make some insane stuff with it. Maybe I'll find the beauty in software again someday.
Take care and have fun!

@farkas Thank you for a very thoughtful reply, and a nice looking, more focused rack, I think I learned a lot already! To the "taking it slow point," I'm not necessarily planning to buy everything in one go, but a few things are kind of early commits for me (e.g. I love FM synthesis and the Castle looks incredible) so I want to lean into them at the beginning and get some early bang for the buck as it were. Realistically, I think I'd probably buy about half of this upfront and go from there.

The only comment I have back on this build is that max has pretty incredible sequencing capabilities (not built in though, you have to build it all yourself) so I probably don't need the Varigate. That said, maybe it'd also be nice to just plug and play as it were and not worry about always needing a laptop for that piece of the puzzle. I'll reflect on that a bit and I'll dig in to the modules I'm less familiar with here as well.

Thank you again for your help!

I quickly put together a similar rack based on your ideas that makes a little more sense for me, personally. It's a bit more expensive, but it seems like it covers most of the bases you might want. The reason people will tell you to go slow is to make sure you get the best outcome for your money. I planned a rack that was extremely similar to yours for my first purchases, and I'm glad I slowed down a little because I only ended up buying one or two of my originally planned modules. My original plan would not have been very fun at all. At least spread out your purchases over a few months... You will start to realize what you really need as you add a few things to your case.
Pamela's New Workout will be the master clock for your rack. This is how you would sync everything together so everything is in time. I'm clueless about Max, but I'm guessing your master tempo would come from Max through the ES9 into the clock input on PNW so everything is linked together (the ES9 also has a headphone output, so the HPO would be redundant). I also have no idea about the sequencing capabilities of Max, so I threw a Varigate 4+ in there so you can do some sequencing standalone, away from the computer.
Batumi and Zadar give you a huge variety of modulation choices with the 3xMIA serving as attenverters. You will want some plumbing, so the Links and Kinks suit that purpose. The Dixie II+ is a more fully featured VCO, and the Polaris filter is more versatile than the Doepfer, giving you something smooth and something more aggressive/acid-y in a single filter. I rounded it out with a stereo effects processor and a Disting to give you a bunch of extra functions. Others will likely have some good recommendations, so think long and hard about their advice.
Have fun and good luck!

Quite frankly your incessant shit-posting is making you look like just as bad - please stop it!

Also I might add that Steve after fing up and ADMITTING fking up as stated above, still downvoted me... What a petty person. Would not recommend at all, even though he did send me what I bought. Seriously, if you cannot trade properly might as well just forget it.

I haven't done anything wrong here. I simply wanted clear communication, which is expected. Plus, its very shady looking you disappear one week exactly after people pay you. But before that you had no problem with communication. Naturally, this place is built mostly on trust. Do not f*ck with that trust.

@cowjj is an upstanding citizen and trusted seller! Buy things from them!

Hahaha, I modified the last patch and I'm still playing with it. STO as sound source instead. I've just ordered a couple of Z-Rails so I can add another row so its all going to come apart soon for a reorganise. I'm relatively confident I could recreate the patch even if the patch leads look a right mess which makes use of the Disting's Stereo Tape Delay.
I'm enjoying tapping off a couple of bands on the VCF too and patching to stereo then CV swings the Cut-off Frequency across the stereo field as it swings from BP to LP etc :)
Hopefully getting some money back from the Faulty Rackbrute case I returned so going to get a ADDAC 104 VC T-networks and a DNI Pro Dot drum sequencer for some light fluttery bleepy goodness to mingle with the ambient stuff.

To me this sounds like some serious A-class movie sound track music! I don't know how you do it... (please let me know how you recorded it, technical details, devices used, etcetera --> I am struggling to find a good way of recording, perhaps your way might give me ideas for my own recording)

Fantastic! Extremely well done, so subtle, so good, this is by far the best sound track I have heard here on Modular Grid so far. The harmony, how it all fits together... I am still not functioning well... difficulties to look at what I am writing with half wet-eyes... speechless...

I have to stop, sorry, you really got me there (in a good way), my most well-meant respect for this track!

Hi GarfieldModular

Oh my God. I wasn't expecting a feedback like yours for my Track. Thanks soooo much. I really appreciate it. You made my day!!

First let me tell you that I'm still just in my learning process in the Modular World. This Track is my second Patch with the Arbhar. It is quite simple. I recorded 4 different harmonically related Layers of Snippets from Songs of the Japanese Post-Rock Band Mono, pitched down with Arbhar. I recorded straight from my iPod. The Length Setting for the Grains is set Low. I used a very slow LFO (Ochd from Instruo/DivKid) to Scan back and forth through the Layer. For the Layer change between the 4 Layers I patched another slow LFO from Ochd into the Intellijel 1U Quadratt (Offset). Without the Offset Arbhar is changing through all the 6 Layers. With offsetting the LFO it changes slowly from Layer 1 to 4 and back. Maybe there's another Way to do this.

Arbhar is not boosting external Audio to Modular Level like the Morphagene does. I just ordered a Pico Input to boost external Audio :-)

The Russian Radio Chatter is taken from Youtube. It's real Chatter from Russian Troops Surrounded by Enemy Troops. That's why the Track is called Surrounded :-). I just sampled it into Morphagene.

Reverb for the Arbhar is from TipTop Audio ZDSP. Reverb for the Radio Chatter is from Happy Nerding FXAid.

Arbhar is such an amazing Module. The main reason I bought it is to mangle around with external Audio.

I recorded the Track with the 4ms WAV Recorder straight to SD Card. No external processing used.

Thanks again for your very kind words!!

Greetings from Switzerland :-)

Hello! I've been making music on and off for ~18 years, primarily with max/msp, but also with a few hardware synths, including a Korg MS-10, and I've decided recently to make the dive into Eurorack after wanting to for years. So, I've put together a first rack. It's a little intense and I'd love to get some feedback on the design and anything that might seem redundant or that might be missing. FWIW I've decided I'm on the Euro train, so while I understand the "go slow" advice, I will not be listening to it, warning in advance :p

I am primarily looking to make drone-y ambient-ish work (including microtonal if possible) and also dance, particularly acid/IDM, driven by my laptop running max, which I think I've prepped myself for with the rack in question. There are 3 synthesis techniques (pluck, akemie, Erica VCO => A-120) that I can leverage (ideally simultaneously with the ES-8), a ton of modulating capabilities with the LFOs and VCA matrix, some additional nice filtering with the Doepfer, and I've wanted a spring reverb for years so the A-199 rounds it out.

Having worked with max/msp for about 18 years now I mostly feel prepped with for a modular mindset, but there are a few points I'm unclear on, so questions:

1) I guess the biggest is, does the design broadly make sense? I feel like it does, but I'd love to hear from others.
2) I'm going to be honest, I'm not quite sure I 100% understand what the Pamela's New Workout does, but it seems critical for properly driving things from the ES-8. Am I understanding this properly? Are there better options that I'm missing?
3) Is a Stages and a Maths too much given that a Maths can also do envelope generation?
4) Is a stereo Mixer (the Erica V2) overkill in this setup? (this one is more subjective but I'm curious)
5) The HPO is added so I can listen in easily, but I think the ES-8 can route back into my laptop, so I'm wondering if maybe the HPO isn't really needed? (not that that's the real cost issue here, but still)
6) Just generally, any recommendations of modules that would fit here, things that are outright missing, or that might be superior to ones I've selected?

I know this is a pretty big rack for a starter and that I've got a lot to learn still, but I've worked with almost all these approaches in the past (just not in this format), and I'm really excited about the potential. Thank you for your help in finding the right answers here!

EDITED May 12th 2020, 05:14

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Ah, that's what you meant :-) Yeah I forgot sometimes the con of modular ;-)

Most of the times, even if I got a nice patch, after a while, I am okay to "pull the plugs" as you call it and start all over again with a plain rack without cables, ready for a new sonic experience!

However in your above case, it hurts, knowing that this wouldn't come back, because it's close to impossible to get all the same settings back, perhaps here and there a wrongly patch cable and it's just impossible to get an exact copy of that music back. So I hope you saved the sound file somewhere safely ;-) Or give me a copy of that last track and I will keep that for you safely, kind of backup ;-)

Have fun with modular, enjoy the unplugging of the cables for a next surprise!

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Quantum_Eraser,

I clicked your sound/track and still busy with reading E-mails, so my brain's task was focusing on something completely else, not really listening at your music, to be honest but I couldn't focus on that work any more that I had so urgently to do. Your music... I can't find the words, I was forced to walk to my listening chair, stuck there...

The sound, the music, so subtle, so gripping, my brain stopped working only focussing on listening... almost as being in a trance. My heart protested, not really wanting to beat any more, wanted to listen as well via my ears...
After a while, I don't know how long, I got a shortage of oxygen, not realising that I didn't breath any longer...

This is not happening to me very often, but this... this is something really serious...

To me this sounds like some serious A-class movie sound track music! I don't know how you do it... (please let me know how you recorded it, technical details, devices used, etcetera --> I am struggling to find a good way of recording, perhaps your way might give me ideas for my own recording)

Fantastic! Extremely well done, so subtle, so good, this is by far the best sound track I have heard here on Modular Grid so far. The harmony, how it all fits together... I am still not functioning well... difficulties to look at what I am writing with half wet-eyes... speechless...

I have to stop, sorry, you really got me there (in a good way), my most well-meant respect for this track!

Kind regards, Garfield.

P.S.: Going to listen at your track for the 4th time, I don't think I will stop listening tonight, let me know the link to your album where this track is part of. I hope there is an album of such good music?! :-)

Hi Klciuum,

Waiting for this module for ages... do you know when the real release date will be?

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

I succesfully avoided an scam attempt the past week from a guy living in Rotterdam, be aware of trading with whichever that uses

***@aoutlook.com as a paypal address

There are other users that were scammed for this pig

EDITED Sep 27th 2022, 15:16

Instruo Arbhar is fantastic for lush Soundscapes. But that won't fit in your Palette :-(

Here's a Track I made with the Arbhar (with a litte Help from Morphagene for the Radio Chatter)

Why not getting the 84HP Performance Case?

EDITED May 11th 2020, 17:53

Thanks both I appreciate the replies! I love the three module challenge videos and this youtube clip absolutely tells me I can go with a palette case

I also have a 0-Coast and ton of pedals... so I am not worried and just having the palette

Interesting question: how many users did you make to send me fake messages?

-- SteveLate

Enough to conclude that you are bullshitting us. I don't know how you see it in your head, but what you did is very wrong. Now acting like nothing big happened, and this is pissing me off to be honest

First this whole thing lasted 3 weeks. Maybe even more. Problem is, I got 3 messages from you for three weeks. You didn't say anything not being here for a WEEK after I sent you money. Then again it took another week to answer my message about the wrong tracking number. It's really important to communicate well if you sell anything. I have no other comment on this and no complains about what I got.

I have no stake in this - but come on guys - something has obviously gone a bit wrong or not been handled well and I understand the concern and worry misunderstandings can cause and how it is easy to miss messages on social media on a phone, but it all seems to have sorted itself out... so not sure what the problem is any more?

The chances are you are probably both really nice people who have just got your wires crossed, so perhaps it is time to forgive, forget and move on?

Let there be peace :)

300 mA (+12 V) / 0 mA (-12 V) / depth 28 mm

...and you really think what you did was OK. Good. Than everyone knows what to expect when they trade with you.

And as for @breakline who you successfully involved into your panic, I don't know why he downrated me since I sent his module 24hrs after payment and it arrived safely and fine. Even included a free 16GB SD Card... The only mistake I made is sending him a wrong tracking number and not replying for the same 4 days... I mean come on. Give me a break, line. ;)

About replying to others in the same time frame: it might or might not have happened.

Interesting question: how many users did you make to send me fake messages?

As I said: I had some things on my mind and made mistakes in those 4 days.

I stand by my mistakes and said sorry multiple times. In the end everyone got their modules for a fair price and I got more drama than ever expected in this beautiful platform where I used to love to sell on.

EDITED May 11th 2020, 08:20

Be aware that @breakline will call your muma, the forums admins, befriend you on 3 social networks and send threats on all of them plus to your friends (!!) on social networks if he won't get updated every second about his package.

OK I made 2 mistakes this time (did not answer right away since I had some unforeseeable things happening, sent wrong tracking number). Shit happens. I said I am sorry but the package arrived safely and was only delayed due to covid and I did go into details explaining to him what has kept me away from MG (because it was not enough for him that I quoted private issues) this guy does everything to destroy years of good reputation, downrates me too.

I wanted to react peacefully and did so far but just won't stop. Be aware. He seems to have much too much time on his hands and the nervousity of a frightened squirrel.

I feel sorry but it is starting to bug me.

Everyone else that thinks about not dealing with me because of this: My sales history is openly available here, you can be absolutely sure I will send you nothing but good, functioning devices as I always did. One time there was something wrong (DIY Clouds where a socket came loose) and I immediately returned the money, paid for sending back and that was it.

Yes, I was never the quickest to answer on MG and I will try to better that but for people expecting amazon service please understand that I am but a private person with family and a job.

But I will always do my absolute best to satisfy our contract.

Enough said. Love to all.

-- SteveLate

No, i was the one who reached up on other social networks. After you took our money and disappear for couple of days.
It is also funny how you couldn't find the time to answer us, but you did to other people. you are just very irresponsible, again something to be very aware

Be aware that @sdelimar will call your muma, the forums admins, befriend you on 3 social networks and send threats on all of them plus to your friends (!!) on social networks if he won't get updated every second about packages.

OK I made 2 mistakes this time (did not answer right away since I had some unforeseeable things happening, sent wrong tracking number). Shit happens. I said I am sorry but the package arrived safely and was only delayed due to covid and I did go into details explaining to him what has kept me away from MG (because it was not enough for him that I quoted private issues) this guy does everything to destroy years of good reputation, downrates me too.

I wanted to react peacefully and did so far but they just won't stop. Be aware. @sdelimar seems to have much too much time on his hands and the nervousity of a frightened squirrel.

I feel sorry but it is starting to bug me.

Everyone else that thinks about not dealing with me because of this: My sales history is openly available here, you can be absolutely sure I will send you nothing but good, functioning devices as I always did. One time there was something wrong (DIY Clouds where a socket came loose) and I immediately returned the money, paid for sending back and that was it.

Yes, I was never the quickest to answer on MG and I will try to better that but for people expecting amazon service please understand that I am but a private person with family and a job. (yes this time it was 4 days and that is too long, also for my standards)

But I will always do my absolute best to satisfy our contract.

Enough said. Love to all.

EDITED May 11th 2020, 08:07

heard good things about this module.it is on the list for things to check out,ust have a couple of modules to get first

thanks guys.defo makes sense to explore the module for some time

Very cool work-in-progress! I spent a good chunk of time on a similar-ish rack concept, though mine focuses more on sampling, because I wanted to replicate some of my favorite aspects of the Digitakt while adding some more front-panel control and a few bits of Octatrack functionality. I decided to keep it within 6U 104hp to fit into a Mantis, and it ended up being a really interesting challenge. If you're interested in seeing where that took me and what modules I ended up choosing, it's all here (still a bit of a work in progress, as all racks are):

Regarding the mixer part, I ended up going with a couple modules from Tesseract Modular's Tex Mix series, and I absolutely love them. As far as I can tell, it's a one-man shop in Spain, and the guy is super friendly and helpful, so I try to mention his stuff anytime mixers come up as a topic. You chain the modules to create the custom mixer of your dreams, and they're all very affordable. I went with the Slider Man module to get some fader controls into the mix, and it works like a charm. :)

PS: I didn't realize it would auto-embed. If that's messing up the conversational flow, let me know and I'll mangle the link to keep it from filling so much vertical space.

EDITED May 11th 2020, 02:39

I see lots of new modular folks posting Palette case builds, and I totally get it... the case looks cool (and I have one, it absolutely is cool!), and it seems like starting out with just 62 hp of modules plus a 1u row is going to be manageable. But I actually think the Palette case is much better for people with some experience... they will know what they want to achieve, and what they can include or leave out. I myself have a Palette case, plus a Pittsburgh 360 hp case... I use the Palette for when I want to noodle around in a different location, or for when I want to really spend time with a particular module or two. As your only case, you'll quickly outgrow the Palette... and worse, you'll probably get frustrated with the limitations it will inevitably have.

That said, for the same money as the Palette case, you could get a TipTop Mantis... or if you can spend just a little more, Eowave now has a 7u, 104 hp case that uses the Intellijel 1u standard... you can order it from Juno Records in the UK for just a little over $400, and that's a great bargain (the build quality isn't as good as Intellijel's, but unless you're taking it out to gigs all the time, that won't matter).

I'm enjoying the throw-away of Modular :)

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Pull the plugs and delete the files? Are you nuts? ;-) You have to save the files, all the tracks you have done previously, make an album out of it, so we can get a copy too... before you are deleting it... are you serious or was that a joke? :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Thanks for everything, Garfield. I will do some more searches on that topic (semi-mod).

Metal_Serra

Thanks again :)
I'm just about to pull the plugs and delete the files.

Hi Metal_Serra,

Take it easy here is my advice. Don't force yourself into something by getting a wrong start or something. Why not taking a bit more time into checking a few more modules that you might like. Indeed read into those semi-modulars a bit more as well. It's not a must but it's at least a cheap start to confirm you really going to like this and while you need more time to check, you can save more money.

If you can't start with 12 modules (that's just an example, it's not a must), perhaps you can start with 6 or 8 or whatever by that time you can effort. But as mentioned, this isn't going to be cheap, as long as you keep that in mind, you should be fine.

Take it easy, read and check a lot and then make up your mind :-) I know, it's easier said than done, but we all have gone through that "starting, learning & exploring" phase; a phase by the way that never really stops, there is always something more to explore and find in the modular world.

Naturally don't hesitate to drop here and there a question in the forum if you need more information on certain subjects.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: removed typo.

EDITED May 10th 2020, 17:36

Hi Spencerdeathwaltz,

Main advice: Look into a much bigger case, the one you showing here is far too small. Depending on what other gear you might have you might need a large or a medium size casing but I advise strongly against such small case.

Depending on how much synthesizer experience you have, you might need to read yourself into the basic principles of synthesizers and of modular in common.

A good start would be the post I just replied today to, which is here in this Forum as well, also in this Rack section and then look for the post that's called: "First modular rack build" from Metal_Serra. I explained there in many details about rack space, modular basic setup, etcetera. That should give you a good jump start then.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Thanks for the advice. I usually do the control+c trick but today, without any logic reason, I didn't xD
I do understand what you're saying and suggesting. Due to the fact that I already own some stuff, I thought I could go first with only a few modules and then add the rest slowly. Starting with 12 modules means waiting much more time (I wish I was born rich xD).
6 modules seems something I could possibly achieve in a relative short time, 12... well, that's another story ahahah

By the way, I'll make some more research on semi-modular synths, I might find something interesting...

Hi Heard,

You definitely need an audio (input/) output module. The audio levels of modular are not the same as audio line levels.

But if that solves the problem you described, I am not too sure. If you look for a small, reasonable audio output module, you might want to have a look at the Beface Out v3 module, that one is small in size, has a headphone option and gives you stereo output at the usual audio level.

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

no mimetic in this case, why?
-- chrisusu

That'll stay in the Palette case :) too useful in there haha.

For the top row, what do you have in mind for that empty space? I like the idea of adding a wavefolder. And with so many full voiced modules, I think I'd want a way to dial in either a level or a modulation into specific groups of voices. That still leaves space for another effect or dedicated CV mixing.
-- CaneMan

I was thinking the same, wavefolder or some other voice modulating type of deal. maybe even another Quad CVA to handle some CV things as well.. So much of this is trial and error and you won't know until you buy it patch it and love it or hate it haha.

May want to check out the Befaco Hexmix and Hexpander as an option for a mixer - it may save you some HP.

Just picked up a Metron myself to start my rack but not sure about the workflow of the Voltera - may at least get one. Per your vids definitely getting a Mimetic Digitalis and also a Arpitecht. As chrisusu asked why no Mimetic in your case?
-- sixdonuts

Damn i'll watch some more on the Hexmix, a lot of recommendations towards that one. I just looove the faders idea on the WMD. but i could be convinced.. haha

Thanks for the input everyone!

Hi Metal_Serra,

Yes please be aware that this forum has a kind of "bug" that if you write too long messages, I mean if you need long time to write a message, that there is likely to be a time-out and you loose everything you just wrote :-( It's pretty frustrating, I have mentioned this already to the owners of this website but not sure where exactly problem lays, it looks like it's not an easy problem to solve. To me it looks like a time-out timer issue for this website but that hint didn't seem to help ;-)

So the only thing what you can do, at least that's what I do, since I also lost a few times quite long texts I prepared to write to people, is... just before you click on the send/submit button is that you select the entire text you wrote (control-a) and do control-c (copy). So if the submit goes wrong because of the time-out, at least you can login again, reply to the message you were busy with, and control-p (paste) it back in there. Still not nice or perfect but at least a workable workaround.

All right, so you are going full for modular system then?! :-) Well, welcome here at modular grid and welcome into the financial black-hole :-) But you seem to be capable of keeping yourself under control if it comes to buying pedals, so let's hope you can do the same with the modules.

All right 2 * 104 HP doesn't sound too bad and since you got already here and there a few bits, to start with, let's hope that's enough for the moment. But then your next question is a difficult one... only 3 modules to start with? Let's have a look at a minimum classic setup:

2 VCOs, if you like a ring mod one of that too, 2 filters, 1 LFO (2 would be better), 2 EGs, 2 VCAs (one linear and one logarithmic), mixer and audio input/output module and then we are not talking yet about some utilisation modules, other kind of fun stuff, just the pure basic stuff. That are already 2+1 (ring mod)+2+1 LFO+2+2+1 mixer+1 audio = 12 modules, as a minimum...

Now I understand that you got here and there already a bit but how you want to reduce from 12 modules to 3 modules is not very clear to me. To me that sounds you want to do the impossible ;-) In my above example you can skip the ring modulator for the moment, that makes it 11 modules. Let's say you go first for just one filter and one EG as well and let's say you start with a logarithmic VCA only as well, then you still need as a minimum 8 modules... you could go down to 6 modules by only having one oscillator (then you might not need the mixer as well) but by reducing to so less modules there isn't much modular synth fun left if you would ask me...

So with reducing to 6 modules you are looking at this: 1 VCO, 1 filter (VCF), 1 LFO, 1 EG, 1 VCA (log) & 1 audio output module.

Yes, this is theoretically possible but I would strongly advise against it, keep my initial basic setup of 12 modules in mind, you can tweak there around with one or two modules but don't go down to only 3 or 6 modules, I don't think that makes sense.

So my offer still stands... try this out first with a Neutron :-) Even if you are deep into modular, the Neutron still can be used. I regularly still use the LFO of the Neutron, very useful one and the dual VCOs aren't too bad either.

Be careful with what you are planning, it sounds a bit scary to me, good luck with it and kind regards, Garfield.

Hello Garfield Modular and thanks for the exhaustive reply, I do appreciate :)

I've just written an answer to all your points but my browser decided to go nuts and I've lost it xD

So sorry if I'll be short :D

Coming off a pedal culture, where everyone wants to buy whatever stomp pedal "just because" (if you know what I mean), fortunately puts me in a comfortable situation. I've never been that kind of person, I know what I'm buying, I always do 100ths of searches and comparison before purchasing any of my music gear.

I'm aware this will surely be my most expensive journey but I do feel a connection...

I've always loved to add a pedal in my board, tweaking those knobs, find a "perfect" sound and balance, see what happens if I change something on my chain... all those things and feelings during the years made me realise how much I love sound design and, in general, creating sounds(capes). (by the way, I've never heard of that pedal, I'll check it later on, I used to be obsessed with delays and reverbs xDxD)

I've been suggested to have semi-modular phase let's say, have a taste and then see if jumping or not into full modular. However, I don't feel any kind of vibe towardas any semi-modular hardware. The only one who could partially be put on that category is Moog Grandmother, it's perfectly suited for my sound (not sure if I can link any of my music ideas, so I don't), it's on top of my wishlist.

So, I guess I'm inclined to skip semi-modular and go straight to modular :)

Case-wise: a guy on reddit suggested tiptop audio mantis, 2*104hp. At the moment I feel it's the best option for me: not big, not small, comes with a psu, plenty of space to expand considering I'm gonna buy 3 modules tops at first.

In that regard, I leave with a question: considered the modules I've picked, if I have to choose 2 or 3 of them, which ones should I pick first?

Thanks again,

Metal_Serra

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Ha, ha, someone only needs to give you the Pluck module and an effects module and you are happy and making fantastic music! :-)

Listening at your latest track, I can hear the happiness that you shine through out the music. If I may compare it with your previous, above track, this latest track is more balanced and in harmony. Don't get me wrong though, your previous track is a good one too, it has a lot of nice surprises on its sleeves for the listener. However if you would ask me to choose between the two, I would go for the latter one.

It's a good relaxing song (this latest one) with an almost kind of Buddha sound-touch to it, so peaceful, so nice to listen at. I don't think I over-exhilarate to say and claim here that this is so far your best track/song!

Very well done, this makes my Sunday a complete, back to earth, and so peaceful in mind experience. Thank you very much for that!

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hey ya'll

Looking to be making some Ambient/drones generative sounds and wanted to get your opinions on what is needed in this case?

Any and all thoughts appreciated!

Hey,

Here is the current rack I have built up over the last year or so. As far as power do I need another power source or is this sufficient for what I have. Additionally, I have always run audio out from the Quad VCA to my Computer Interface for recording, but I usually get some unwanted noise in the signal utilizing an 1/8 - 1/4in cord. Is this due to power problems, or am I in need of a utility module to help with outputing audio to my computer interface.

Thank you!

Hi Metal_Serra,

Where shall I start? ;-) Perhaps with a big welcome into modular synths? :-)

Fun putting aside, please be careful when you plan a modular system. May I ask why you "must have" a modular synth? What is your real reason to have one? If it would be anything into the direction of: "Because everyone has nowadays one" or "Because it looks cool" or something like that, you might wonder if you really should get one. No matter how carefully you plan, how much time you read in the evenings and nights about it, preparing yourself, etcetera, a modular synth, there is no way of getting around it, is bloody expensive. And once you are hooked into it, there are things going to happen to you, you start thinking of selling your car, house, partner, kids, whatever you can find to sell to get more gear, more modules and more rack space. Naturally I am kidding here about partner and kids but the thought of selling your car or house shouldn't surprise you once you are into this! :-)

Okay having said that, just as a warning, so you can't claim, I haven't warn you ;-) Having said this all, a modular synth is fantastic but you need to be willing to let it cost a fortune. Think in several thousands of dollars/Euros as a very minimum, likely a factor "X" of that.

That's one thing, the other thing is, that you might want to take this a bit slower first and get a better conceptual thinking of a synthesizer in common. My way of doing this was by getting a Behringer Neutron, it's reasonably priced, so if you discover after that exercise that modular is nothing for you, at least it didn't cost you an arm and a leg! The Neutron is nice to start with because you got all the basic components in one device with quite a few patching possibilities. Components like: 2 VCOs, LFO, filter, two EGs (envelopes or ADSRs), VCA and it even got: a delay, overdrive, sample & hold (S&H), slew rate limiter and two attenuators.

Don't think because of all that "basic" stuff there is no fun with the Neutron, no the opposite I would say. With the Neutron you can test basic functionality, get surprisingly quite some nice sound out of it, and it gives you a "pre-tasting" of modular synthesizers. It's a kind of test for yourself to see if you are really into modular synths or not and it's a cheap way to discover it. If you go directly into modular, it's very costly and if you don't do your homework right, it's going to be a frustrating and expensive experience that might go wrong :-( So I would like to avoid that, if I would be you.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't want you to think modular synths sucks, no it isn't but you have to be very well prepared, very sure about this. Once you are (and my advice is to have that tested with for example a Neutron), you can go all the way with modular synths :-)

Okay, let's put that all behind us, let's say you are very sure about this, checking your E-mail further:

It's good to see you got already a guitar with lots of pedals. I recently got the Source Audio - Ventris Dual Reverb pedal, what a fantastic pedal that is! I don't have a guitar but I am using this effect pedal/module for my modular synth and wow, what a beautiful sound you can get with that Ventris! So having a few pedals wouldn't harm to lift up your sound a bit :-)

The Digitakt and the Circuit Mono Stations are nice too, so that helps you and since you got those already, you might need indeed not straight away a full blown modular synth to get started.

Still, my advice would be to look into a bit bigger rack. You might not want to believe this at this stage but you can't have a big enough rack. Go for at least 3 * 84 HP or 2 * 104 HP as a real absolute minimum. Even that's too small but for your case, it might be a good start indeed.

What I like of your "design" is that you left a lot of space empty, that's good. Don't straight away fully plan it because you need space "to grow" with your experience and your changing needs within modular synthesizer. So in your above example that's enough reserved space or better if you would go for a 3 * 84 HP rack, leave at least one row empty to start with.

Going into your planned modules. STO and Plaits are good modules that also can give a good benefit to those who just starts in modular synth. However modules like Stages might be good but to start with? I would advise against that. Start easy and simple, grow in experience and then look more into those "fancy" (or a better word is perhaps "complex") modules.

Back to the roots: My question stands... are you sure you are ready for modular synth? You seriously might want to get started with for example a Neutron first to create an appetite for modular and test your likings.

If you are now already very sure that you want to go into modular then welcome to modular and enjoy :-)

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Harko93,

Difficult to advise on an already existing rack, since I don't know your (background) thinking of how you came to this rack, the ideas behind it, etcetera; but I will give it a try:

In my opinion you could do this two ways (or both, perhaps the best!). One way is, adding a nice basic LFO for some simple but good LFO modulation, nothing fancy, just a semi-plain LFO, that can provide you sometimes at least as much fun as a "fancy" LFO. For a good and basic LFO, I can recommend the Doepfer A-145-1 LFO, it's a basic but good LFO and it has parallel outputs for the different wave shapes: pulse, triangle, sine, saw and reverse-saw. It has a switch for speed ranges: low, medium and high that enables you to use this from being a slow LFO to a pretty fast one. This is a reliable LFO that I use in almost all of my patches and I am really happy with it. Naturally you can take any other "basic"/"plain" LFO you prefer, this is just an example.

The other way would be the opposite and get a wild or "fancy" LFO that might give you a lot of more modulation possibilities. If you really want something seriously crazy then I can recommend the Erica Synths - Black Octasource, I call this a psychopath of a module, which it really is :-) In a positive way that is. Because this module is so crazy, you need some time to understand it and tame this beast but once you get it under your control (can you ever have a psychopath under control...? ;-) ) you can really have joyful modules with your dullest modules and you get very interesting results.

Since a basic LFO doesn't need to be too expensive, I would actually advise to take two LFOs, a good basic one, and a "fancy" one, so you can do everything you want from basic stuff to crazy stuff.

Good luck with the choice(s) of LFOs and kind regards, Garfield.

As far as sequencing, I am a fan of the Malekko Voltage Block/Varigate 4+ combo in a smaller case. I recently picked up a WMD Arpitecht, and it's great for coming up with some melodic lines that can stay static or shift around. I'm having a lot of fun with it for straightforward leads/basslines, drifting ambient melodies (with random modulation), and chords using the Triad expander with an Acid Rain Chainsaw polyphonic oscillator.
VCOs are more a personal preference thing. I really like the sound of the Endorphin.es oscillators (Furthrrr Generator and Godspeed), but others would probably recommend something along the lines of the Intellijel Rubicon/Dixie combo, Verbos, or Make Noise DPO for a complex oscillator setup. The Synthesis Technology E352 is a super-killer versatile sound source for ambient stuff too (check out DivKid's video on YouTube). That might be worth a look for you.
For all of this stuff, I'm sure you would get a hundred different answers if you ask a hundred people, so your best bet is to check out a lot of demos to figure out your personal sound and workflow preferences.
Have fun and good luck!

Hello everyone! Hope you can give me some help...

As titled, I'd like to build my first modular rack. I've been thinking about it for around a year and by the end of 2020 my goal is having a small rack with a few modules to start make some noise, bleep and bloops.

I've watched many tutorial on youtube (andrew huang, noiretblancvie, bobeats etc.) and I've been trying to understand the basics with vcv rack software.

Cause it's really hard to choose modules, especially the must-have ones, I do really need a hand.

As far as I get it, most important thing is to know what you're gonna do with a modular system. I do like many things unfortunately and I'm trying to think constructively. So, how can I implement and mix my existing setup with a modular rack? I guess this is a good starting point. I'm a guitar player first then a composer. I've got my own project coming out very soon but I don't wanna think of a modular system only related to what I'm trying to do now with my music. However, first modules will be as close as possible as my current sound. In a few words, I'm thinking of a modular system (at least at first) as one new instrument to add to what I already have.

My current setup is:

Guitar and lots of pedals (which I use them even with other machines);

Elektron Digitakt

Novation Circuit Mono Station

Pocket Operator Arcade (barely used at the moment with the rest, still finding a way to add it permanently in the mix)

Arturia Keystep (don't have it actually, coming tomorrow)

Given that, I've tought: what can I get out of a modular rack which could be a step further in my music direction?

My answer, as of today, is melody and atmosphere. Recreating soundscapes and melodies It might be a logic starting point.

I like sequencing patterns (some tricky stuff like euclidean rhythms also), design my own pads, heavily using arpeggiators. I'm influenced by synthwave, mostly.

So to wrap everything up: buying a case with 100-120hp more or less would be more than good, considering I will expand the system slowly. As of what modules I'd get, still don't know. There's too many brands out there which I like (make noise, mutable instruments, just to name a couple) and, if I've got the meaning of modules right, some of them do much more stuff than you expect (maths is the first coming up in regards).

Sorry for the very long post, just trying to give an accurate idea so to get a better help off you.

Thanks guys!

P.S. this is the current state:
I've been helped on reddit. the bottom row is what I'll buy later on (expensive modules though xD), top row is the essentials.

EDITED May 10th 2020, 10:36

Hi GarfieldModular and thank you for the quick reply,
I'm already looking for another filter to replace Ripples on the future, as I don't think I could get away with the SMR4P alone :)
I'll try to look also into these other kinds of modules, I'm not feeling the "lack" of a proper VCO, but I do feel the few EGs and LFOs!
There is any "bread and butter" LFO you would recommend me for this rack?

Looks good and similar to what I am trying to build in a an Intellijel 104 HP case. May want to check out the Befaco Hexmix and Hexpander as an option for a mixer - it may save you some HP.

Just picked up a Metron myself to start my rack but not sure about the workflow of the Voltera - may at least get one. Per your vids definitely getting a Mimetic Digitalis and also a Arpitecht. As chrisusu asked why no Mimetic in your case?

Was also thinking about the WMD percussion modules but its just to much space and I really like The Division Department 01/IV and will just deal with it being outside the rack. BTW just picked up a Launchkey Mini and love the arp functions!