VCAs. The thing that new builders neglect...until they discover just how much their build SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS without them!

VCAs have so many uses, it's nuts. But then, you have to remember that the initial idea for modular synthesis partly came from analog COMPUTERS, which are very dependent on voltage relationships with/between op-amps. Since all the analog computer voodoo lies in how you use those, it makes perfect sense that we have a similar circuit in modular synths.

Anything that needs level control for which you don't happen to have several extra arms and hands, that's where VCAs go. Audio and CV/mod levels are the basics, though. You can also use them as amplitude modulators, by feeding an audio signal to both the signal AND CV inputs. Lots of clangers and yowls! A couple of them make up the guts of stereo autopanners. And performance mixers are usually jam-packed with VCAs to control levels, panning, AUX send/returns, and so forth. And if you want to scan/xfade through a VCO's waveforms, a quad VCA + a quadrature LFO are a must. And that list goes on...

I think some of the problem with them lies not just with the "boring factor", but the term "amplifier". People look and think "well...I've GOT an amplifier and it's hooked up to my speakers already, so I don't need all of these amplifiers...right?" Wrong. Whatever the cause of this, it's a HUGE trap and part of the "boring module" issues that people run across...which I've termed "sexy module syndrome". These modules don't come with a plethora of knobs and lights and so forth, so people load up on the "better" modules that DO have all of that...then wonder why their $7k+ box sounds like total ass, give up on modular, and yet another cab gets consigned to the closet. It's not necessary...people just need to do their homework about these instruments BEFORE grabbing the Magic Plastic and burning yet another expensive hole in it.

Yeaaahhh...computers have never been something I'm 100% confident with in music. Yes, things are WAY better than a decade or two ago, and I'm not even going to go into the strides made since things like Dyaxis were the only way to go. At this point, I've gotten past being jinky about them in the studio, but using one live still gives me pause. And HELL yes, there's a huge difference between a "virtual" device and actual hardware...which is one of the things that makes me chuckle when I see people blathering on about the virtues of "DAWless" work; c'mon gang, I was doing that sort of thing as far back as 1979, and you're just NOW telling me how cool it is? Ha!

As for VCV...I look at it both as a useful tool AND a teaching device. However, when a VCV patch starts getting into the turf where you find big Monster Case builds, VCV tends to overtax its host machine. But it IS useful as a sequencing environment, since my experiences with it have taught me that it's the sonic aspects that really suck down the cycles, and I've done a few tests of routing from VCV -> Ableton CV Tools -> MOTU 828 mkii with pretty good results.

I've used MD as my field 2-track of choice for decades now. Very small, inobtrusive, but solid performance. At present, both the portable and the studio MD deck are both Sony units.

But that's not the whole deal there...the big performance kicker with my MD use are these fantastic, tiny omnis that I use as a binaural pair, clipping them to my glasses earpieces so that they have a proper "head" for spatialization. By doing that, you get a recording that PRECISELY gives you the directional cues as you heard them in the field on headphones, and with a little M/S tweaking, you can translate that nicely to normal stereo. https://www.microphonemadness.com/mm-bsm-6-micro-binaural-stereo-microphones-w-shure-premium-holding-clips.html are the very model...I got mine in 2005, and the design works so well it's still unchanged 15+ years later! Even if you get a different field recorder, I'd still look into those mics if I were you...

Very cool sounds here!

Looks like a great start to me I li

USTA is another I've considered. Looks very good! Also out of stock at my vendors : (

As I continue to try to wrap my head around the possibilities of multiple sequencers + downstream logic & utilities, it occurred to me "I could model a lot of that in Excel." A lot of 1s and 0s, small integers representing quantized pitch CV, AND, OR, XOR, etc., yes that would work fine in Excel. The main problem is !!!BORING!!!... but I'm imagining a few hours with a spreadsheet would go a long way in helping me understand this -- as I'm still trying to wrap my head around "if I take XYZ basic sequences and push them through ABC units downstream, what outputs do I get?" AND if I get a better grip on that, it tells me better what (if any) additional sequencing capabilities would be useful. I'll post more if I have any interesting findings on this.

In the meantime, I'm crossing my fingers Patchworks (Seattle) might find me an in stock unit I like!

EDITED Jul 28th 2021, 21:16

Mostly looking to build a DIY Rack to play mostly leads on from my keyboard controller via midi. Not looking to do ambient, sequencing or generative type stuff -- just more for playing leads. Mostly want to explore creating my own sounds [not so much interested in already made/sampled sounds...have enough of those] and play crunchy-ish leads. I'd like to eventually build up to a 9U rack but figured I'd take it 3U at a time. Some of the models [like the poly] are to support that eventual goal. The power and switch would be built into a DIY case so not including those as a front panel piece. Although I needed to fill 1u so threw in a power indicator led. I have quite a bit of experience in electronics so want to build most of the modules myself. Given all that -- any opinions on this rack? Anything fundamentally wrong here? Thanks!

Watch this and have your eyes opened to what your ears can hear :)

I can offer you two tips on VCA use. 1. Volume modulation 2. Pan modulation.
This video explains well, and I suggest you patch up something and try this approach. Its a good way to start learning about modulation via vca.
Also, CV is "control voltage" and is sent out in what ever way you command it to.

Also, a kind poster here has this in the tag, take it to heart: "Utility modules are the inexpensive, dull polish that makes the expensive, shiny modules actually shine!!!"

^@farkas
really good comment above! I also don't want to sit at my pc to make music. Very good point that VCV rack means doing that very thing lol I just wanted to mention VCV rack because it basically was my teacher, and after that experience, I feel like I earned my way into Euro rack. I started off as a simple guitar player, so, its be a LONG adventure. It takes time for a "normal" musician to grow tired of using a computer. Most go the path of the DAW.

@thelowerrhythm At this point, I choose my simple rack over VCV any day.

EDITED Jul 28th 2021, 15:21

So VCAs are somewhat of a cornerstone of modular as far as I understood. Getting some helped me to understand some basic as to why that is the case but how do these work? As I find a lot of info on this topic still confusing I would really want to talk about my specific case:

I have 2 Doepfer 130-2 VCAs ( I thought the switch thingy could let me dodge the linear vs. exponential topic for now).

First topic: Gain
For the sake of simplicity, I have a Signal with a Value of 10 coming in so the gain gives me an output of 1 at 1, an output of 2 at 2, and so on. First of all, is that how it works, or am I making things up beginning from this point?

Second topic: CV
This is where my headache begins. What does CV exactly do? The CV knob is doing the same for the CV value as the Gain for the Input value I assume (so again at a CV Signal 10 gives me a CV of 1 at 1, a CV of 2 at 2. So how do these values get merged? Will the CV value be added to the Input (after gain) or is it a multiplication? Am I right to assume that a CV of 2 and an Input of 3 will get me to an output of 5 (or is it a multiplication and gets me an output of 6?). Is the output capped? As most stuff in modular works in a certain range it should be but where is that cap and will it "distort" or anything if pushed past?

Thanks for anyone willing to teach me.

^Disagree with this (no disrespect). *edit: Disagree with Shadowsaun's recommendation.
Some electronic musicians want to get as far away as possible from the computer, get a more interactive and hands-on experience with electronic music. Modular provides that, VCV Rack does not.
I can definitely understand the argument that there are other hardware options for achieving this, whether vintage, Behringer, MPC, etc., but who cares? This instrument is fun and a completely different workflow than any other instrument. Period. I encourage anyone with any interest to try it out. There's a steep learning curve, it's expensive, and it's currently in fashion so lots of folks will disappear as soon as they enter the world. Just like every kid who wanted to be Eddie Van Halen and ultimately sold the guitar they got for Christmas. Some people will stick with it and others won't regardless of VCV Rack or the real-world version.
For any new person who has the Euro itch, have fun with it while your interest is high. If it's not for you, sell and move on.

EDITED Jul 28th 2021, 14:53

I would add, that if your not willing to spend at least 1 year with VCV rack, then you should not purchase anything in real life.

If you don't enjoy VCV rack, then you wont enjoy the real life version.

VCV rack is the way in.
-- Shadowsaun

For whatever it's worth, I hate working with VCV rack, but spend at least two to four hours a day on my modular. A lot of people gravitate to modular specifically because they're tiresd of computers.

I would add, that if your not willing to spend at least 1 year with VCV rack, then you should not purchase anything in real life.

If you don't enjoy VCV rack, then you wont enjoy the real life version.

VCV rack is the way in.

I am using a Olympus LS-P4. While it is not perfect it can go anywhere, has decent audio quality and supports FLAC. Got mine 2nd hand for like 75 EUR. While handling can be fiddly depending on what you do with it I would choose it again due to its miniature size.

Since I’m charmed by the works of Natlab, Radiophonic Workshop and Hainbach I’m considering to buy a fieldrecorder for use with my Eurorack (Make Noise Morphagene) and iOS apps. Recording “natural” sounds outside, homemade percussion etc. etc. My eye fell on the Tascam DR-40X which for the price seems to do what I want. Would this be a good choice or are there other/better options within this price category and if so then why?

Any updates on this rig and its usage? Love the concept.

5 seems to suffer from the appearance of creative tunnelvision. You can absolutely find your way through a tool, and should be encouraged to try as many as you can. The more useful lesson is to learn not to rely on it. You don't have to learn that lesson by pretending your relationship with your equipment isn't as big a factor as it is.

To note -- I really enjoyed the essay, and don't think the intention was to stifle anything, but instead to tell people exactly what I just wrote.. That's just the way I think it is being read into.

EDITED Jul 28th 2021, 04:51

Nice! Well done, Gworn.
-- farkas

Hi Gworn,

Nice track accomplished with a good video, it's nice to see you at work :-) He, he, nice cat at the end of the video! :-D

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

Thanks for listening! That's my cat Darnel : )

Thanks Garfield - glad you enjoyed it.

Even so...since we ARE talking about Chupa Chups, maybe some of Salvador Dali's mojo rubbed off on the module? He DID design that label, after all...

Well, it IS quite transparent, which I would expect out of Presonus's better stuff. Plus, I like having the wired remote, because I can drag that around on top of the FIVE and be able to switch monitoring chains super-easily from anywhere on that 54-frame mo'fo.

Extravagant for a smaller setup...maybe. But at the same time, having it "future-proofs" your rig, since you can move to a much wider spectrum of mixers by having the CS+ handle the monitoring "heavy lifting", and that would then let you put together a really smokin' monitor setup that you can keep intact across numerous desk swaps/upgrades.

EDITED Jul 28th 2021, 02:47

Thanks Lugia for link, i check subrack and I'll take that into consideration as alternative to wood-box.
-- Glitched0xff

Smart move. If you make sure to get the rack ears, you could then mount the subracks in a suitable road case, which not only makes the rig portable, it also gives it a somewhat smashproof housing to live in. Just remember, typical Eurorack is in 3U multiples, so you're looking at 6U, 9U, 10U (allows a power conditioner on top + 3 x 3U), 12U, or 16U (similar to the 10U but with five 3U subracks). And for futureproofing, having these in an easily-configurable road case means that you can cover up non-used sections of the case with some 3U blanks, then remove these as funding allows for the inevitable Eurocrack M0AR!!!

EDITED Jul 28th 2021, 02:41

Hi Ronin1973,

What exactly do you mean by what you just wrote? That the module is diode-protected against connecting the power cable the wrong way? I had played with the idea of that to add that indeed as one of the many parameters to the review report however not all manufacturers mention that in their manual and/or on their website, so would it be clever to add this parameter? Please do let me know and I will seriously consider this.

Or if you meant something else, please let me know in more details what exactly do you mean? Thank you very much in advance and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Plragde,

Thanks a lot for your feedback and ideas. Not all of them but quite a few of your ideas, I was playing around with that as well. Not so long ago, I also came to the idea of splitting the document into more parts, something similar you are suggesting. That has in a way certainly some pros... however...

I see some serious cons with that as well. I do for my profession quite some documentation as well and what I observe for large document-setup systems is that it can be come easily and fast quite non-logically, i.e. one might loose easily an overview of the entire structure. What might seems logic to you and me, perhaps because of our work or because the way we think, doesn't mean that it is easy to understand for others, or even if it would be, the danger is still there that people might be no longer interested in it, i.e. dis-encourage them and that's something I would like to avoid.

I do believe that if I would split it into more documents that it becomes for the majority of the readers even more difficult "to look through it" and to understand it. I take the feedback of Ronin1973 to my heart about 60+ pages is an overkill. Yes, he is most probably right, then by splitting this documents in several parts, I do think that makes things worse rather than better. I might be wrong of course and I am open for discussion if you like. Another important point is and must be that the amount of work should be decreasing or staying the same for me, it shouldn't become even more, this what I am doing now is already close to insane ;-)

Things from your feedback that I will take back and chew on it for a while is a change log, I was already playing with that idea but not so sure if I should do that, that would cause even more pages, and your feedback about the non-chapter number of an appendix. I only have Word as a tool and I hate it but since I have no other better tool available and I don't want to spend too much time in getting to know other tools that might be better, I need to somehow learn to live with the dreadful tool called... Word ;-) Anyway, it's the tool I usually use for my work too, so it's "easy" to stay with the same documentation tool. Once I am in a good mood (towards Word) then I will check out that chapter number regarding the appendix :-)

Thank you very much for your open feedback and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi ModLifeCrisis,

Yeah, a nice video from you again! :-) He, he, that kind of stamping sound just before 04:00 sounds very good, you later transform the sound a bit. Then around 4:20+ that sequence kick in there is nice too!

I enjoyed your video and listening to it very much, thank you and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

It was indeed inside the module original box but your suggestion that the retailer might have threw it in... yes that starts to sound more and more logical to me now... hmmm.... I guess that must have been the case indeed.

Thank you for this feedback/idea and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

Interesting that you mention the Central Station Plus from Presonus, that's the only rack mounted monitor controller that I could find so far. How happy are you with that device, is it worth it? How is the sound quality or perhaps I should ask it differently, does it has any influence on the sound quality?

Writing review reports (the way I do it) might seem like overkill too, but I get your point, sounds to me that it makes sense and therefore it doesn't sound like a large overkill to me; perhaps a small overkill ;-)

Hmm... you make me hesitating... Central Station+ or using a mixer for controlling the monitors...?

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Gworn,

Nice track accomplished with a good video, it's nice to see you at work :-) He, he, nice cat at the end of the video! :-D

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Nice! Well done, Gworn.

Nice, is the sample at the start played in with the micro cassette?
-- wishbonebrewery

Yep, its from the deleted scenes of the movie "Galaxy Quest" (RIP Alan Rickman, one of the greats)

Nice, is the sample at the start played in with the micro cassette?

I had seriously considered the Vector, but ended up going with the Frap Tools Usta. It fit my experimentation style. I also have an external box, the Akai MPC One which has midi and 8 CV outs, for when I want to do straight melodic stuff via a piano roll interface. I'll expand from there, eventually, once I've decided what direction I want to go.

SO, after some more thought, IMO the practical next steps for me are:

-- grab another sequencer when one I like is in stock. I generally don't like very menu divey modules or ones with huge instruction manuals; I prefer something that can be learned by working with front panel controls and modest manual/video reference. My current top picks for a next module are Rene2, Verbos Multistage CV, and as I'm interested in acid, the Stepper Acid. Those are all out of stock currently at my preferred vendors. Waiting would be okay. I'm also considering Mimetic Digitalis or Verbos Sequence Selector to give an ability to select sequence steps like @Ronin1973 was discussing; both of those modules remain somewhat baffling for me, the Verbos especially. WMD Metron is a top candidate for me for trigger / gate sequencing, though I'm feeling that as a lesser priority currently. And @Lugia and @eexee points about a smaller seqeucner being useful, I will keep in mind. Then of course I would need supporting modules (some of which I have on hand already), @farkas ideas of switch and bus would be great, as well as the variety of support modules mentioned by Lugia above. SO many possibilities!!!

-- all considered, more time on rig, more exploration using what I have, that should help me get a clearer sense of what will suit my tastes. But practicing is harder than fantasizing about new modules! ; )

Last, a couple random responses to above items:
-- @eexee, thanks for the post and video above, very cool! I also suffer from a lost post every now and then. Re: Nerdseq, it looks deep, powerful, and well respected (?), but IMO its not for me because of the interface. If it appeals to you, then it could be a good choice!? On scanning the Doudoroff list, I did not see a lot else that looks just like it, it seems pretty unique. I can recommend you check out Five12 Vector, it is very powerful, yet still very easy to use, which is great for me.
-- @farkas, I'll have to try the switch and bus setup you mentioned, that definitely appeals to me! BTW have you yet seen the additive sequencing post (#5 above)? I get a sense that that setup would be interesting for you.

Thanks everyone! Additional ideas / questions / comments would be welcomed.

EDITED Jul 27th 2021, 22:11

Looking at synth designers can be a great way of re-discovering or re-imagining your own system.

I've recently been learning about Serge modules and some of the ideas behind his designs. One of the most interesting things to me is the idea of patch programmability - which, so far as I understand it, is the idea that Serge modules can be many things depending on how you patch them.

This prompted me to look at my own little case and try and put some of my modules to different uses - I've had a go at turning DivKid's OCHD into a drum, my 2hp Rnd into an oscillator and using Make Noises Maths as a subharmonic divider.

The resultant short piece of 'music' is a little different to what I might normally have come up with.

I had that same moment re Modal, on my Braids. there is a similar function. I thought the module was broke !!!

In the summary, for the quick read, I'd like to know if the module conforms to the Eurorack power standards, or not, or if the power leads are agnostic to which direction the red stripe goes.

Hi there, I'm currently updating the manual for TexMix:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vae1EN4fMGtUhlCPmYTmMSbE-9Ip4i1NLRefINSQALA/edit?usp=sharing

a set up i will procure my self in the near future.
this is a patch o one narly square wave bass and an improvise subh made of sinewave.
the bass line vca is the clean out put of the crush delay and the subh is a full wet glichy output( aka send out)
if you have this set up, let me know how it sounds.

have a nice one

i Don't own this, yet.
I will slowly build it. till then the sound in my head are patched this way.
if you have a similar set up and patched to have nice pad for a lead, weird experimental stuf, a drum maschine, an improvised subh with some reverb and the posibility to mix in a bass guitar, let me now how it sounds.

have a nice one

It would be also very good to be able to search for power consumption. It could be very handy for small cases where where it's important to put an eye on the power consumption

Thanks Ronin, your advices give me a line to follow in evolution on my rack. I'm just thinking some effect and mixer module and a turing machine.
Thanks Lugia for link, i check subrack and I'll take that into consideration as alternative to wood-box.

Yep...I also use a combo of on-desk monitor switching AND an outboard (Presonus Central Station +). This lets me swap from a monitor bus to the actual stereo mixbus (or others) if something seems off, and then the Presonus handles the switching between the Altecs, the KRKs, and the TADs, plus it handles the "B-feed" to the tc Clarity-M. This might seem like overkill, but after 40+ years of playing with these toys, I'm a picky SOB.

Or why even bother with the usual racks? I was doing a bit of poking around on nVent/Schroff's website last night, and you can slap together a bespoke 84 hp rackmountable for next to dirt. Granted, this trick requires a little knowledge of how subrack assemblies are outfitted and assembled, but just look at that as "knowledge gained"...for a big discount, too!

https://schroff.nvent.com/solutions/schroff/applications/19-subracks-and-chassis

Note that you can go as basic...or complex...as you like. 3U or 6U, the ability to add tile rows (with a little ingenuity), bespoke depths, bespoke busboard placement, and so forth. No, not as easy as just snagging something like...hmm...this: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/doepfer-a-100g6-6u.html ...but at the same time, you should remember that what you're looking at there IS what's at Schroff's site also. But it doesn't cost $530.

Was it actually in the module box, or was it something the retailer threw in? Sweetwater has long had a tradition of enclosing penny candy with their orders, and an order I got from Perfect Circuit back in the days before the plague also had that.

A few suggestions for possible reorganization. You don't have to have everything in one massive document. You can have a short summary, a longer report, and technical appendices in separate documents. You can have a paragraph or two on the Web site to motivate the reader, or maintain all the short summaries of all modules in one document with version numbers and a changelog. You can take all the meta-information (explaining what the purpose is of each section and subsection) out into a "Overview of Report Structure" document so it appears only in one place. You can cross-reference all these with clickable links in the PDF. I don't work with MS Word unless forced to do so, but I'm sure it can handle appendices without giving them chapter numbers. Just a few suggestions. This is obviously a labour of love for you, so do what you think is best for your readers.

Hi Ronin1973,

Ha, ha, thank you very much for your honest opinion and feedback on this matter. This gives me valuable feedback, realising that my idea didn't work very well, since I thought when I explain in chapter 1 how to use the review report, readers don't have to read the entire review report...

The idea is, that if you don't have time, that you just check out chapter 2, which is a short summarise of the (entire) review report.

In case you have a bit more time, then you only need to read chapters 2 up till 6, which is less or just at 20 pages (without contents and the bla-bla stuff).

If you yet still have more time you can go through chapter 7 which explains every parameter or characteristic that has been used or indicated for in the review report, but you don't have to read chapter 7. If you read it once, it's valid for all the review reports. The version number of chapter 7 provides you an idea if you might want/need to reread chapter 7 in another year time if the version number is too far of from when you read it for the last time but even that isn't a must to understand the rest of the review report.

By the way, the review reports are not a replacement for a user manual, I refer explicitly in the review report to the manufacturer's manual (if one available).

To summarise: For those who really have less time only read chapter 2. For those who have a bit more time read chapter 2 up till chapter 6, around 20 or less pages.

I hope this explanation helps :-) Thanks a lot for your feedback and if you have suggestions for improvements, add-ons, or what-so-ever, please do let me know. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Ronin1973,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I like the idea of using a mixer as a gate-keeper of one's monitors. I will play around with this idea and see how that might fit in my situation, that indeed perhaps solves a few problems since I have perhaps a mixer left over in my new studio setup and that would save me getting a monitor controller. Interesting! :-)

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Bleepadelic,

Nice one! But so short... Hopefully your next track will be a bit longer? :-)

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

Blind Noise is classic black but the white model just doesn't look right