Just passing by in 2021 but what you could use is the Triatt from Intellijel. Versatile module which will send out a constant CV signal when there's no input. I use it specifically for this combined with the Mutable Links mix/sum tool.
The downside of 2hp DC is that you can only add, so you can't subtract, which you can do with Triatt.
Very cool, thanks! That module could do several utilities.
Yes, @mosorensen, the 2HP DC looks like it was made for this. Thanks.
I would think a digital sample and hold module would be the ticket for this. You need a sample and hold circuit that will stay accurate for a long time.
With that, your panning position should hold until you choose to update it. Trigger the sample and hold circuit again to update the signal to whatever your current incoming value is.
-- Ronin1973
That's a great idea, thanks.
On YouTube, DivKid shows how to use the Tiptop Audio Fold Processor on LFO CV to input 2 after sixteen minutes into the video. So yes, it can fold CV.
I like the Tiptop Audio Fold Processor eurorack module. I know it folds audio.
What about CV? When researching the different wave folders, I learned that some can, e.g., turn a slow triangle from and LFO into a complex CV waveshape. Now I can’t remember which can do that, and the manual for the Tiptop folder only talks about audio, I think.
Anyone know? Thanks.
@Fastus, this is a great way to showcase the module, and I enjoyed the track by itself, as well as the deconstructions on your other account! I am surprised I don't see the E330 mentioned more often in the forums, and I'm surprised its cloud mode doesn't get more attention---I think it's just so fun to use its FM capabilities.
I always loved the sound of the Access Virus Rack, which I cannot afford (space and dollars), and I've been looking out for something that could be used instead. The E330's cloud mode sounds so good that I think I can use it instead, because I want the sound for leads (and maybe bass) but not chords. (Bonus: At max spread, the E330 can make chords.)
I have a Behringer Neutron, and I don't like the sound of its oscillators when synced, so I've been looking at for a VCO that can sync. That's another thing that the YouTube demos don't really dwell on: E330 hard [I assume] sync sounds. Because it's a digital VCO, though, I guess the probably didn't mess up sync.
Let me know if any of your tracks have sections that show off the stacked saws of cloud mode or the hard sync of the VCO. Thanks for the great sounds.
Not too bad...just be careful to use only one VCO in square wave (that was what the TB-303 had) and only the lowpass setting on the VCF. Granted, the Neutron's VCF is 2-pole, not Roland's weird 3-pole LPF, but in the right parts of the range and with perhaps a tad of overdriving the filter, you should be right in the ballpark. Again, the sequencer is the key here...that odd non-linear glide that the original 303 has is another great example of a "wrong" design doing something "right", sort of like Moog's CP3 mixer.
-- Lugia
Thanks!
Although I think I have a solution, I'm still interested to know how experienced patchers would activate the CV control for the glide of the x0x heart module. For me, with the DAW doing the sequencing via MIDI, I would reach for a second MIDI channel just for the glide control, switching the glide on and off via "note on" and "note off" messages from the DAW that produce a gate output from a MIDI-to-CV module. (Another MIDI channel and MIDI-to-CV would handle the real notes.)
But I intuit that my first idea probably isn't the best one.
Yeah, I guess the Neutron can be acid enough anyway. This track is me trying to use it to sound 303-ish. Close enough for me, I suppose.
Hi!
The Stepper Acid sequencer is great, but I already have a tracker that I like to use for sequencing, and I think it requires external filters and oscillators. So I'm looking at the x0x heart module.
For doing acid basslines, the tricky part is the TB-303 note-assignable slide. I think there are MIDI messages for portamento that are relevant (e.g., MIDI CC 5 and 84), but I bet they're ignored by a lot of simple eurorack modules. Right now I'm thinking it would be better to use a gate triggered on another MIDI channel to control the slide CV in the x0x heart module of a rack like the one below.
This rack has some other stuff I'd be interested in using, too, but I'd start with the modules that drive the x0x heart.
Does anyone have any comments about this approach?
Wow. The Neutron has a tune-pot-bypass feature that allows me to use the oscillator tuning knob for other stuff while using MIDI to control the oscillator in tune. (So it's even less of a sacrifice than I thought.)
OK, so it turns out the keyword I needed was "offset." I think I searched for voltage offset and found nothing. Just the word offset, all by itself, finds modules that emit a constant CV. Here's a small one with a couple other handy features.
I think that if I configure the Behringer Neutron's assignable output to the oscillator 2 control voltage, I can turn the oscillator 2 tuning knob and emit from the Neutron's patch bay a constant, manually controlled CV. (Page 13 in the manual.) This seems like a straightforward way to control something in a modular system that has a CV control but no knob.
(By the way, this isn't a great sacrifice, because I often don't like the sound of the Neutron's two oscillators working together in sync, and I think it's because of the issue described in this YouTube video of a modification performed to correct the issue: )
OK, I'll leave this thread here for future searching newbies like me, and for educational replies, but here's at least one answer found on another forum:
https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43964
Oscillators send a signal even with no input. even if there's nothing saying what pitch to play or when to start/stop - that is done by other modules such as sequencers, VCAs etc. This is true for VCOs - they'll make a constant tone and LFOs - they'll make a constant CV (dependent on settings)
Apparently, oscillators don't always oscillate, and perhaps they're the conventional way to get a constant CV, e.g., for a static setting on a CV-controlled pan: oscillator -> attenuvertor -> pan.
Hi! Consider, for example, the CV-controlled panning on this stereo mixer:
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/erica-synths-black-stereo-mixer-v2
If I want to hold the mono audio at a constant place in the stereo image, say slightly to the left, during part of the song, what module emits that constant voltage? I expect a VCA with bias turned up to amplify zero if there's no input, resulting in zero output. Oscillators oscillate, but I want it to stay constant, so that the panning stays put, like a manual knob that I've left in place for now.
Things that send out voltages for pitch must emit constant voltage, but I only know about MIDI-to-CV modules and sequencers for that. These modules seem overly complex for driving a constant pan.
This is a pretty serious gap in my knowledge of how modular systems are working, but the odd thing is that I can't find any results when searching for "constant voltage" in the forums here, so I'm ignorant in a special way! Any help would be most appreciated.
You're right, @Ronin1973, that the Neutron has a single VCA.
@Lugia, do you have a specific module in mind? I tried to search on modulargrid for "quad VCA exponential" and got no hits.
Actually, Streams from Mutable Instruments looks really fun, although it has two channels, not four. Should be plenty for starting out!
...
I think you might want a much stronger mixer for blending ambiances as well. That'll chew up more HP than what you have... but might be worth it. Roland makes a six channel mixer with pans and mutes that's in my "must buy" list. It's a lot bigger. But being able to mix/pan up to six sound sources as well as mute them might be pretty handy for ambient mixes.
Hi, @Ronin1973. What's the model of that Roland mixer? Is it this SYSTEM-500 530 dual-VCA with six input sliders?
Get the micro-versions of the Mutable stuff and buy a Eurorack module capable of mixing your signals.
What's the relationship between those vendors and Mutable Instruments? I like Olivier Gillet's work and I like the idea of my dollars supporting MI.
But you'll want an envelope generator and a VCA to go with it.
If I am accumulating gear gradually, I can start out with overdubbing and use the Neutron's VCA and envelopes, I think.
Thanks again for your helpful responses.
After realizing that my Arturia DRUMBRUTE responds fine (on channel 10) to MIDI note messages, and after being advised by @Ronin1973 to keep my Behringer Neutron in its original case to save "expensive HP," I got to thinking about what I would use that HP for. Dreaming big, I'd like to have a system that supports other ways of synthesizing (granualar, additive, harmonic, digital). Here's the kind of thing I have in mind.
The thing is, I'm not going to just go out and spend that kind of money. It will take years to get the gear, and I will certainly learn and change my mind along the way. I would probably start with the Qu-bit Nebulae v2 and patch it with the Beheringer Neutron. Then maybe Mutable Instruments Rings. Anyway, in that scenario, I have the huge up-front cost of the case to contend with. To get a nice one will cost a lot more than my first module! ... unless ...
I have a bunch of high-quality particle board in the garage, a saw, a carpenter's square, a drill, wood screws, some experience---I can build a box. I know folks have done this before. I will Google for their stories, but I wanted to ask here, too: What HOWTOs and online guides have you all found most useful when building your own cases? What pitfalls are essential knowledge?
Thanks!
Thanks. I didn't know the history on channel ten. Interesting!
It's true that Mac and Windows are very popular, and the points you make follow from that.
But for out-of-the-box thinking and doing, Linux is often nice, and individuals (not companies) sometimes respond to that. For example, Olivier Gillet of Mutable Instruments has Linux-based development kits on github to allow folks to customize the firmware on their modules. (He made it virtualized, so that people using Windows and Mac can run the Linux virtual machine he configured.)
https://github.com/pichenettes/mutable-dev-environment
I'm doing this in my free time the way I want to, and I don't want to use Mac or Windows, so it's part of the challenge figuring out how I can best accomplish my goals without those systems. I don't feel constrained at all today, in contrast to year 2000, when it was way harder to use Linux for digital audio in a full-experience kind of way.
Thanks for the advice. I was looking for powered cases today and had some sticker shock, so I think you're right about keeping the Neutron in it's stock case.
Erica Synths has a drum mixer with compression that caught my eye.
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/erica-synths-drum-stereo-mixer
I might not want to mix entirely in the DAW after all.
Expert Sleepers has me scratching my head. It looks like they are using ADAT lightpipe as a way to multiplex several signals onto one cable, but I haven't figured that out yet. They have some non-Linux software, Silent Way, but I think it isn't necessary for most use cases?
OH MY GAWD. Arturia DRUMBRUTE came listening to MIDI channel 10 for note messages.
I read in one part of the documentation that it only listens to start/stop messages, but in other parts it says it sends note MIDI info if you set it up in the (Windows and Mac only) MIDI control center software. That implies it listens to note messages. More burrowing in sparse documentation on MIDI suggested that's true. Playing a pattern that sweeps all the notes in Renoise while changing the channel found joy on the tenth try. Your mileage may vary.
This message posted for posterity.
I'd still like to hear comments about the original question, even though no way am I getting rid of this DRUMBRUTE now that it's exactly what I want. :)
Hi! I have a nice Arturia DRUMBRUTE that I love for the sounds, but I thought it would be playable from Renoise (my Linux DAW) via MIDI Note and velocity messages. It's not---It just responds to the clock sync and transport messages.
I have a new Behringer Neutron semi-modular that I could use to transition into eurorack gear. I could sell the DRUMBRUTE and base off an endorphin.es BLCK_NOIR to replace it in the eurorack system.
I have "My Useful 2x104 Rack" shown above. It's got two goals:
I plan to mix inside Renoise (the DAW) after upgrading my soundcard.
That means I'm missing a MIDI-to-CV module that can send note and velocity information via CV, right? The modules I see are either experts-only DIY or really expensive modules for just a few voices. To control the drums I have in mind, even before extras like clav and tambourine, I need 9 voices. I could sample some drum sounds and sequence them in Renoise to reduce drum voices in the eurorack system, at the cost of dynamism and flexibility.
It's entirely possible that I'm totally missing something! Advice or comments would be most helpful.
