my sound sources are
-Make noise XPO with QPAS, morphagene, mimeophon and effect
-befaco oneiroi, ochd
-bitbox micro
- endorphin.es queen of pentacles for drums
i have a pam's new workout
would you go with the endorphines ground control for sequencing all? pro: keybed for playing and 1 melodic cv/gate more
or would you go with make noise rene mk2 ? pro: less space, total different and more experimentive (but not the best for the drums?)
which one would you take and why? or would you go with total different?
Personally, for all of that plus the modules to sustain it, I would recommend a sequencer with more outputs and tracks, like a Hermod or Hermod+, Nerdseq+trigger expander, Per4mer, Eloquencer, etc. Plug a cheap MIDI keyboard in there for note entry in there and suddenly you've got a lot more going on for almost the same price.
You could get by with the Ground Control, I suppose, particularly if you find a good deal on it and have looked into the workflow to confirm you'll like it. The Pam's will be really important alongside that as well. I don't think Rene 2 can handle the job alone, though it may complement another sequencer very well. A Rene 1 can be found quite cheap to achieve something like this, or you can try the Hemispheres app that roughly emulates it.
Are you planning for this case to be at home or more of a live thing? Do the sounds need to be fairly melodic and gridded, or are you looking for things to be looser and more chaotic? You also have the option of getting MIDI to CV converters and just running this from your computer or other more traditional midi sequencer.
Overall, my personal opinion is that CV/Gate sequencing is better off having a free track or two that can be used to sequence weird stuff to see what happens, as opposed to having not quite enough when you want to do something full and alive with all those sound sources, samples, and triggered drums. If you decide less sequencing and more creative stretching of other modulation for musical results works better for you, that's fair, but it's worth considering - especially when a Ground Control is pretty expensive.
Wow, thank you so much for your very detailed help… that’s a really good idea — a sequencer like the Hermod+ and then maybe a Keystep 32 or something like that. I really want to make music completely independent of a computer, so software and such aren’t an option for me. I’ll only be using this setup at home — no live performances. I’m still relatively new to the Eurorack world; I’ve had a lot of synths before, but now I want to try something new and go fully into Eurorack.
Here’s my setup that I’m slowly putting together… of course, some things might still change, but overall this should roughly be what my setup will look like.
What I’m still unsure about is whether I’ve included enough utility modules like attenuators, VCAs, multiples, and so on — or if I’m missing something or completely forgot something.
So, when you look at it, would you personally recommend going for the Hermod+?
With the Hermod+, I do have 8 tracks — but if I really want to make full use of the drums on the sequencer, wouldn’t that already take up all the tracks just for the drums? The nice thing about the Ground Control is that it has an 8-track drum sequencer plus three additional tracks for melodies. Or am I misunderstanding how that works on the Hermod?
For all the things in that setup, you could probably justify not only the Hermod+ but also its expander, which would give you 32 assignable outputs for gates/triggers or pitch or whatever. This might be more costly than anticipated, but this is a big system with a lot of voices or voicelike elements. Before going that route, you could also use the 8 MIDI tracks, completely separate from the 8 CV/Gate tracks, to sequence the Bitbox (and anything else in the rack via MIDI to CV conversion such as what can be done in o_C.). o_C and Pam's can also fill in some of the drum duties, since they have a variety of sequencing options.
This is a thirsty system, and it will absorb most of what you throw at it. Sequencing for eurorack helps not only with placing drums and melodies, but:
sequencing modulation parameters
changing the state of an effect at a crucial time
sequencing switches/crossfaders/mixers/logic/etc. to switch elements of your patch on the fly
using the more predictable sequencer tracks to clock, manage, and tame other, more boutique sequencer concepts
...and anything else in your system that takes voltage. Plus it spits out LFOs and envelopes, which you will definitely want more of. Overall, I don't think you could overdo the sequencing in there even if you cut out a voice/effect or two to add in some stuff for signal flow and routing. Just be sure to buy things carefully over an extended period and make sure you use the system frequently as it comes together to troubleshoot problems and get the best sense of what is or isn't missing. You never really know what you can and can't do until you sit down with what you have so far, and you only have two hands.
