When we equip ourselves with utilities and modulations (see the famous @JimHowell1970’s signature), we expand our possibilities.
-- Sweelinck
Thanks lots for all the helpful suggestions!!! All very helpful and will be considered seriously... I will think about how I can fit in more modules into this rack without spilling over into 15U! I make experimental music, industrial and ambient sounds, and I am enjoying this transition from semi-modular gear to modular! :D
-- Solar01
really just quoting to allow easy access to my famous signature file!!! see below...
the formula basically gives a hint towards most versatility for the least expense, but shouldn't be taken as strict or anything like that - often modules are in multiple categories and how you see them may be different to how I see them and may differ over time... examples are a lot of filters (primarily in the sound modifier camp) can also be used as sound sources, a sound sourcemay in fact be multiple oscillators and some utilities (wavefolders and mixers, for example), mutable rings is definitely both a sound source and a sound processor, lots of vcos can double as lfos, sequencers can be modulation sources etc etc
utilities are often 'hidden' in classical fixed synth architecture and their number is limited (usually by cost) - but this is modular and they are exposed and only limited by how many of them you have - multiples are really useful - so don't just get one and assume that you've ticked them off... you may want to put multiple ticks for each...
an example is the minimoog oscillator section, where there are iirc 3 oscillators and a mixer before the vca/vcf - let's ignore the fact that one of those is the lfo and imagine we have a dedicated lfo (or lfos) and that most similar vcos have multiple outputs for different waveforms rather than switchable output - firstly we'd want a mult to copy the pitch to each of the oscillators, and instead of the a single mixer- ideally we'd have 1 per oscillator to mix waveforms and then another to mix the outputs of those mixers to get a (more flexible) version of that archtecture - the AISynthesis Harmonic Mixer would be a good candidate as it's reasonably inexpensive, has decent control and (being based on the moog cp1) has the nice gain/grit of the original moog mixer - or you could patch in a vca for amplitude modulation, or a wavefolder to add some 'west coast' vibes or whatever
another example is a clock divider... great for triggers and gates, but send in audio and use an even division and out comes a square wave at a lower octave than the input (/2 = -1ve, /4 = -2ve, etc) - which is why I'd always recommend an extra basic clock diveider as well as whatever's being used for regular clock division!
Maths seems to be a great starter utility set - 2 envelope generators/slews/lfos, a mixer, 2 attenuverters/offsets and some basic logic.. but once its self-patched - it can be programmed to do all sorts of more interesting things - see the 'maths illustrated supplement' for more details - so it's a really good idea to have at least some of that functionality duplicated in other modules as well - so you can use it when you patch program maths... or of course multiple copies of Maths (or both!)
and a final example - the matrix mixer - possibly my favourite utility module - and really I'm just meaning basic mono versions, not VC ones or stereo ones or overly complicated ones that need special cables (although all these have their places, except maybe the special cables, which I'd lose) - not only can they be used for creating additional complex modulation from simpler sources, by mixing copies of those simpler modulation sources together in various amounts, but they can also be used as simple send/return routers for effects and for creating feedback loops (which can be done on other mixers too, btw) as well as many other applications I'm sure you can think of...
hope all this helps...
-- JimHowell1970
Thanks so much for your helpful advice and perspectives. Need to fully unleash the potential of each module. Still lots to learn less than 3 months into this modular quest. Lots to think about and re-consider!
