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Amazingly enough, Drexciya (and some other Detroit producers from the same general period of time; Derrick May comes to mind immediately) actually used a good chunk of DIGITAL synths. One ubiquitous one would have to be the 4-op Yamaha FM synths, with the DX100 being popular there due to the ease of transport. The Korg M1 is also in there, too, as well as Casio's CZ-101.
When putting together Detroit-style tracks, it's important to remember that that scene utilized loads of "we pay you"-grade pawnshop and used gear due to the cheapness and ease of obtainability up into the mid-1990s. You see a similar situation in the Chicago scene as well, which is how the TB-303 wound up being a desirable track. When Larry Heard cooked up "Washing Machine" in 1987 with that little box, it succeeded because he used it "wrong"...not as a bass source, but for all of that squelching and weirdness, and this was still during the tail-end of the period where the TB-303 was considered to be Roland's most massive mistake up to that point.
That's a lovely video, it's a nice "by night" to watch video while listening to your live jam. Almost 21 minutes of sonic pleasure to close this weekend. I was worried that my Sunday would be yet another boring one, you prevented that of happening. This is what we need to finish off the weekend with :-)
I really enjoyed it and like to thank you for that! Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Quite amazing to get results like this with synths synthing themselves, he he, funny phrase too :-) Pitty that Ableton broke off your recording, would have been interesting to see (hear) how that would have continued.
Thanks a lot for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Enjoy your spare HP, don't rush to fill every last space, this is not like filling sticker books. Resist the urge to 'complete' your rack, its never complete so just relax.
That MSCL compressor looks pretty cool. Also, the Erica Drum Mixer has a nice sounding compressor too. That's on my list for mixing my modular drums.
I had initially tried to do everything in the rack too, but found that there were a lot of sounds I was going for that I just couldn't pull off effectively without expanding into some external hardware (and guitars, but that's another story).
Take care, and let us know if you crack the code of the Drexciya sound. :)
I ran into a problem rendering with Ableton for a bit where it would cut off the track before the end, so this has an abrupt ending. As usual for me it is all synths synthing themselves, no touch while recording, no post production.
Actually i got a few roland boutique (jp, juno, sh) but i feel like i want to keep all mysetup in modules. I am actually selling them and replace with modules. For the juno i will try the soundforce whereas for the sh, i am not sure yet. I own few system500 modules and i can use it for now.
For the FM, humble audio quad operator is on my list at the moment.
I am not really interested in play poly chords on keyboard. I play the piano and i can have fun with them on my digital piano.
Modular poly are fine, as long as i get get the typical drexciya (rolandish) sounds. I will keep expoloring and see if somethgnice will came.
I am actually also thinking at what effects/compressori i could get for the drums (808). Typical drexcyia's 808 is very effcted/compressed. I am using a pico dsp at the moment. Thinking to go for happy nerding aid fax and a wmd mscl compressor.
Thanks,
Ciao!
Hi Garfield, ha ha. Sorry, didn't get the Latin Quarter reference at all. Funnily enough, the bass player to that band lives very close to where I do. I used to see him quite a lot at jam nights... he's a brilliant bassist.
Ha, ha, yeah, this sounds like you had a lot of fun! :-) Nice interesting track from you. After this message, I am going to listen at it again, so much (sonic fun) to discover!
I think this is one of those tracks, the more you listen at them, the more you are going to appreciate it and after a while, you just can't let them go, you must hear it otherwise you are missing something :-) I love that!
Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Oh wow! This is some interesting stuff :-) To me it sounds like experimental, kind of (almost) orchestral and modern classical music. Nicely done!
I only listened to the first track. I will be honest with you, I am not very comfortable with downloading files (regarding possible security aspect), so I haven't listened to the other files. Not sure if I stand here alone in this matter, however for myself, I would appreciate if you can release your music on well-known sites so (from a security point of view) I would feel a bit more comfortable. Examples (but not exhaustive) are: soundcloud.com, bandcamp.com and youtube.com, naturally there are many more however these three are the ones you see most here I think.
Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Curious as to why the variety of VCAs…why wouldn’t you just use one type of VCA multiple times? For example, you have the 3X VCA and then also the Veils quad VCA in the top row…why not just two of the Veils? Is it for different functionality that some have vs others? Different sonics? Looks like the Tallin is also a VCA?
Well, I just love VCAs, and each one has a different quality. The HN VCA has attenuverters so they can be used for inverting envelopes and even AM synthesis, the Tallin has 3 kinds of distortion to choose from, and Veils has offset and linear/exponential controls. Besides audio, I also like to use them for control voltages and as switches in logic patches. You can never have too many VCAs!
I do have the Arturia mini brute 2 which I was thinking to mount to the 6U…second guessing myself as to whether I maybe should have gotten the 2S instead for the sequencing
If it's any consolidation, I had the MiniBrute 2S before I got my second Rackbrute, and I was always second guessing myself on whether I should have gotten the one with the keyboard :-D
To add to @JimHowell1970's excellent answer: I designed to top two rows to be completely usable as a synth on its own - VCOs into VCF into VCAs with lots of modulation capabilities. The Grids can be used as the clock source and the Pico DSP can be considered its "output module". I have a Twisted Electrons Crazy8 laying around that I can use as the sequencer.
Curious as to why the variety of VCAs…why wouldn’t you just use one type of VCA multiple times? For example, you have the 3X VCA and then also the Veils quad VCA in the top row…why not just two of the Veils? Is it for different functionality that some have vs others? Different sonics? Looks like the Tallin is also a VCA?
Another interesting tidbit about combining 2 Rackbrutes is that, by default, the lower half mounts "upside down", as can be seen in this video by BoBeats. This means the power supply of the lower Rackbrute will be in the bottom right, which disturbed me. However, by unscrewing the wooden side panels it's possible to "flip" the internal assembly so that the hinge can be mounted on the other side, making the two Rackbrutes in the same orientation again. Definitely something you'll want to do when getting your second Rackbrute!
-- splendor
That is a great tip to know, thanks! I’m probably a good couple years away from that :) I do have the Arturia mini brute 2 which I was thinking to mount to the 6U…second guessing myself as to whether I maybe should have gotten the 2S instead for the sequencing
Hi abstractrhythms. I'm a huge Drexciya fan too.
I really like the organ mode in Rings. You can get really close to the sound of "A Forest" by The Cure and that early post-punk vibe. You may be able to pull off some of the Drexciya polyphonic chord sounds with Plaits in chord mode or the Music Thing Modular Chord Organ firmware on their Radio Music module, but really it would probably be a good idea to invest in an external polyphonic synth to get better control over chords. If I remember correctly, Drexciya supposedly used a lot of Roland and Yamaha FM synths. You might be able to get close with something inexpensive like a Roland JV1010 and midi controller...
Mylarmelodies had a cool video about using sample and hold modules combined with chord modules to get "chords" that follow the melody of your song in a sort of Drexciya-inspired way. Take a look on YouTube for that.
I have really enjoyed using the Behringer RD8 for my 808 sequencing and sounds (all due criticism of Behringer aside).
Have fun and good luck!
Im ready for another round of feedback, so here is a little pre-info
Goals with modular:
-im after generes like techno, but also ambient and experimental noises. Flirting with more drones, but not sure im ready to commit to one genre..
-Im becoming increasingly aware of how much I like to play live, so ideally I would chose modules that are good for playing live... I have to do more research on this, any leads and tips for chosing modules are deeply appreciated.
Final mixing done outside the rack; using a DFAM and analog rytm for drums. Im ready to expand my case with more HP but I absolutely need a solid setup in 208 Hp so I can travel with it.
Does this make sense? I find it difficult to decide what I need before I have actually used modules.. so any experienced feedback if this would make sense would be great.
More oscillators? More utilities? I dont have a lot of filters.. but I find the odessa can easily go without a filter. Let me know if u think I have enough mixing/attenuation, i fear im short of attenuators...?
sequencer tips for live? metropolis..or any replacement for that? I have to say for now the pico seq is great and I havent started using the ladik but if uve got a better idea, let me know.
To add to @JimHowell1970's excellent answer: I designed to top two rows to be completely usable as a synth on its own - VCOs into VCF into VCAs with lots of modulation capabilities. The Grids can be used as the clock source and the Pico DSP can be considered its "output module". I have a Twisted Electrons Crazy8 laying around that I can use as the sequencer.
When paired with the lower half, the Clock 'O Pawn becomes the clock source and the Manther Growl and the A-110-2 become the main sound sources, or an added bassline to the sound of Plaits and tELHARMONIC, or just a mayhem of distorted sounds alltogether 😁
Another interesting tidbit about combining 2 Rackbrutes is that, by default, the lower half mounts "upside down", as can be seen in this video by BoBeats. This means the power supply of the lower Rackbrute will be in the bottom right, which disturbed me. However, by unscrewing the wooden side panels it's possible to "flip" the internal assembly so that the hinge can be mounted on the other side, making the two Rackbrutes in the same orientation again. Definitely something you'll want to do when getting your second Rackbrute!
As a big fan of Drexciya i've always been looking after their sounds. Back in the days, i had tr808, sh101, various other sh*, system 100, junos and jx3p which i think was a good setup to get a kind of their typical sounds.
Now that i moved into eurorack i am traying to build a setup which would allow me to stay on the same line.
For the tr808, i am using the tiptop modules, for same baselines i am using the system500. I am still missing their "string" sounds which at the moment i can only get close to with MI Rings in 'organ' mode.
Altought the sh101 is technically derived by the system100 one, i still don't have any filter like it in my case. I am thinking also to get the soundforce juno DCO e VCF for some of the junos sounds.
Also thinking to give a try to the g-force sh2/101 vcf along with the jp6 vcf.
Anyone has some suggeations on some modules which would help here? Any Drexciya fan?
Thanks,
Ciao
BTW what about using a standard sequencer but routing the results through scaling and transposition?
Modules: vermona Amplinuator would give you scaling including over 1x, "AJH synth precision voltages" would give transposition.
From the Ideas described in video above I think this might give you a solution in modular. Might be a pain to calibrate or dial in initially. But IMO this could work!? This is a potential solution only for the tuning side of the problem; what remains is the OSC to get a suitable timbre. That said, I would think the complex OSCs with FM (or any good FM implementation) would give you good options for getting inharmonic yet tracking partials.
I've been thinking about how to use my sequencers for stuff other than pitch control; routing them through attenuverter with offset is a good option for me to try. Made me think again of this thread.
Please let us know if you have progress on your effort. Good luck!
I can name that flaw in two words: "envelope generators". Maths can do that, but using Maths as an EG is sort of like having a Bugatti Veyron...but only using it to go thru the McDonalds drive-thru. Same goes for the Stages. These are 100% part of the basics of synthesis, and you can't really get the best results out of this without several EGs. So, I'd suggest filling 18 of those 20 hp with a Quadrax and its Qx expander. This gives you four two/three stage EGs which can also be looped as LFOs, plus the Qx allows a lot of triggers you don't normally find on the panel to be used...and not just with the Quadrax, but those "End of..." pulses can fire plenty of other events.
Plus, Maths + Quadrax/Qx = MAD modulation capabilities when tandemmed.
You could also get this done with a switching mult...something like the Doepfer A-182-1 comes to mind. This gives you two passive mult busses as well as a center "disconnected" position. EMW also makes a switch matrix along these same lines, albeit in a 4 x 4 matrix (plus a couple of regular passives).
Ha, ha, I thought already I recognised the voice of Kim Jung Johnson ;-) As well as that you meant it sarcastically, hence my reference to the UK band Latin Quarter :-)
Anyway, better not getting too political, that's not wanted on this forum. I look forward to your next new album or another nice video jam? :-) Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Oh yes, a complete album made by you! I am struggling with writing yet another review report however by listening at your album suddenly this work becomes more pleasantly. Once and a while I can't work on the review report because your music needs my attention :-)
Which module did you use for that robot voice?
In a few tracks I recognise here and there bits of Latin Quarter ;-) I love that kind of yelling sound in "I Struggle To See", nicely done!
Great album and I continue to listen at it, I want to hear all of it! Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular
Hey Garfield! Thanks. Glad to think of accompanying you in your report writing. I used Plaits for the robot voice. There are also some additional voices from the UK's current prime minister (I'm not a fan of his although many people love him).
Wow, this is/was live? Where was this concert? I need to move to that place I guess ;-)
That's a great almost one hour of music, I am very impressed since this is live, great show! Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
It's almost like you didn't even see the asterisk, or even anything past the first line space... My goodness! What a lot of nothing! Preaching to the converted, sister!
You've given me some great tips there, a few things I wouldn't have even thought about!
@Cangore I'll have to look into Kinks ...a little bit of random on noise sounds right up my alley. Mutable Links is something else I'll need to look into....so many options it's easy to get over whelmed!
it can be easy to get overwhelmed, that's why we often say replace this module with this one - because mostly we will recommend modules that we have and have had good experience with - I just had to have a button replaced on my Marbles and DHL and Emilie had it back to me in perfect working order in 6 days!
Blades is pretty much only there as a placeholder. I know I'll want a filter and I was impressed with what I saw from MI
@JimHowell1970 I have Beads on preorder. I'm willing to wait for that one besides...it gives me time to figure out the other stuff. :D
I wasn't at all saying don't get either - I was saying there's going to be a long wait (at least for beads - blades seems to have been re-stocked) - seriously though get an fx aid xl in the meantime, you won't regret it!
RE: Veils & Maths Likes I said, I'm new. No idea really which versions are the newest. When it comes shopping time I'll p[probably grab which ever ones my local retailers have (unless I find a good deal used)
dealers will only have veils 2020 by now and the white knob, aluminium panel maths (if you can find one) - you might be able to find other versions used - but then a mk1 maths is quite different than a new one - I would get a newer one at least (blue knobs, white knobs, black panel not red lightening panel) - the same goes for veils - you can filter by module/brand and order by newest if that helps
I was planning on running the output through the Minibrute to start with then expand with mixer and a seq on the next round of impulse shopping.
sounds like a plan - remember to get something at least a bit bigger than you think you need - you probably will in the future - I like the tesseract tex-mix for this reason - it's expandable and inexpensive - even if you buy built modules - need another 4 mono or stereo channels that'll be 12hp and 70€ - it does mean you spend elsewhere though - but for example - I don't need lots of auto panning - probably only 1 channel and I can use 2 vcas, an lfo and an offset, which I have anyway to do that if I need it - or just do it it in the DAW (if I'm recording)
attenuation/attenuversion a is somerthing I hadn't even considered.
nor offset I expect!
As for planned music? something between old school industrial and early periods of Aphex Twin with a dash of 80's New Wave...I think...we'll see what it morphs into :D
-- legion
good luck!!
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
no, just € & $, but there is a feature request thread somewhere
I don't think it's done by exchange rate more expected selling price - which is often why you find non-eu manufacturers prices about 20% lower than actual shop prices - no VAT added
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
Hope you are all well and enjoying your modular. This is my current set up and I need some suggestions on what would be good candidates for 1U modules for my Intellijel case which would add more functionality to my system. I have 3 slots left on the Intellijel case and plan to buy the 1u dual vca modules for definite. Other than that I am open to other options. I don't think I need a big mixer as I find that I prefer tracking everything to Ableton. I don't plan on gigging with my set up. I just enjoy making music and so using the dsp from my UAD Apollo twin and satellite, helps with processing the sound to achieve less muddy mixes and side chain to my kick drum which I can save and hopefully release one day.
I really can't help that much here - the noise tools module always struck me as useful, as does the attenuator and the vcas - anmd midi an i/o if you want that sort of thing (I guess you do as you bought cases that have it (semi-) built in
Oh and maybe some tips for people starting out and head scratching about how all this stuff works. I send clock from a digitakt via midi into the hermod and then distribute clock all over the system from the gate 8 output. Its rock solid.
good
I invested in a small erm midi clock which also takes care of any clock jitter from Ableton, which ensures that if I use internal software based vst's, these also play in time with the hardware set up. It works really well but I remember at the start, I remember thinking that I had wasted money on my hardware set up as I couldn't get anything to play in time with each other. Don't let this get you down as it's all part of your learning process. When you come from just the software world all this side is taken care of for you and you don't have to think about it :)
erm yes... I guess
The other thing I would say is that there are some brilliant contributors to this forum, Lugia, Jim, Garfield modular, farkas and others. I often go back to old threads and read their very detailed replies and this really helped investigate and research some of the modules they suggest which if you watch YouTube you will miss, as reviewers will only tend to review what's sometimes referred to as the 'sexy' modules in this forum.
thank you!
Ok , back to my post, over the last few months I have really been impressed with Steevio's music and want to incorporate more of his ideas into my system. I particularly like how he takes odd length patterns and hives triggers off to other voices. In fact, I love the rhythms he is able to generate and they way he seamlessly transitions to song after song without stuff going all over the place. How does he do that? I am hoping that I can replicate some of this idea with my varigate + and precision adder, which I bought specifically for this purpose.
have you seen his rig run down on youtube - I would watch it repeatedly and take copious notes - then try to figure out wtf the notes mean - from what I can remember there's a lot of logic involved
one thing to note is that Steevio's rack is almost all if not all doepfer - buy a switched multiple now - abuse it as a gate/trigger combiner, just like Steevio 'it's not broken 'out yet'
Are there other things that I need to incorporate his tricks into my set up. I have watched some of mylarmelodies take on this and also Omri Cohen's video ( although as much as I adore Omri), he sometimes replicates modules to develop his patches which due to cost I am unable to do.
having started in modular a bit before the rise of the influencers, hopefully the fall will be soon, not that I don't think that they do a good job - they do - just explain why you are using the beauty case - it's shitty to start - and they are always swapping modules in and out of larger cases - I saw one of them admit it once
Also I have just placed modules in my racks so they fit (top 2 rows are Intellijel 84hp), bottom row is nifty case (84hp) and the other case is a 241hp custom built wheedy whizz cab.
@Lugia, not sure if you have the time available, but would love one of your reconfigs for a more efficient patching workflow, if you have time??? :)
nothing wrong with that approach - group functionally go from left to right in terms of signal path, modulation below voices and control below that - or something similar - whatever works for you is best - but won't necessarily be best for me or Lugia or anyone else for that matter
Also, I know it seems like I have amassed a lot, and indeed I have but 90% of my modules are second hand and I have really waited a long time to buy at lower prices - for instance I bought my two Doepfer VCA's for £35 each, the Wheedy whizz cab with about 6 modules (braids, korgasmatron ver1, jp8 filter and a few more) for around £750. I recently picked up the excellent ACL delay for £158 and this unit would be over £350 brand new. It's the old brand AQA but sounds wicked and was in perfect condition. There are many bargains to be had for people particularly looking to exit from their eurorack addiction , find that the patching workflow isn't really to their liking or simply just collected the modules at new prices without spending time learning how to use them, for instance I still see online people using plaits and they have the pitch all the way to the left so that they can get the tone in a lower octave, which could very easily be sorted out if they read the manual or read a forum post where people explained how to use the buttons at the top of the unit :)
Hahahaha - really no one cares - it's your money to do with as you please - good that you got a few 'bargains' though!
There's nothing wrong with using the frequency knob of plaits like that - but I agree RTFM, RTFM, RTFM and forums
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
as is often the case - not enough utility modules - submixers, things for modifying cv etc - the erica sequenctial switch is massive - do you really need an 8 channel sequential switch in a case this size? I wouldn't - I'd be pushed to use 8 channels in my 1500hp case - I'd rather have a second 4 channel one
redundancy is not really an issue in modular - and it really depends how you patch, how many voices you have etc
I'd ditch the cells and chips modules - not heard good things about them at all
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
@jb61264 - if you right click on the rack in this thread you can open the link as another tab and then get infomatics and click through to read what every module does (how do you think we manage to give rack advice - there are over 7k eurorack modules!!)
but in broad strokes (the rack seems to me to be)
the top 2 rows are mostly vcos, modulation and effects (plus grids - which is a trigger sequencer)
the middle row is more utilities and effects = plus vc-t-networks which is 4 percussion voices (or you can use it as filters) and a basic vco
bottom row is mostly things that you'd want in easiest reach - control modules, favourite filter, voice etc
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
Hope you are all well and enjoying your modular. This is my current set up and I need some suggestions on what would be good candidates for 1U modules for my Intellijel case which would add more functionality to my system. I have 3 slots left on the Intellijel case and plan to buy the 1u dual vca modules for definite. Other than that I am open to other options. I don't think I need a big mixer as I find that I prefer tracking everything to Ableton. I don't plan on gigging with my set up. I just enjoy making music and so using the dsp from my UAD Apollo twin and satellite, helps with processing the sound to achieve less muddy mixes and side chain to my kick drum which I can save and hopefully release one day.
Oh and maybe some tips for people starting out and head scratching about how all this stuff works. I send clock from a digitakt via midi into the hermod and then distribute clock all over the system from the gate 8 output. Its rock solid.
I invested in a small erm midi clock which also takes care of any clock jitter from Ableton, which ensures that if I use internal software based vst's, these also play in time with the hardware set up. It works really well but I remember at the start, I remember thinking that I had wasted money on my hardware set up as I couldn't get anything to play in time with each other. Don't let this get you down as it's all part of your learning process. When you come from just the software world all this side is taken care of for you and you don't have to think about it :)
The other thing I would say is that there are some brilliant contributors to this forum, Lugia, Jim, Garfield modular, farkas and others. I often go back to old threads and read their very detailed replies and this really helped investigate and research some of the modules they suggest which if you watch YouTube you will miss, as reviewers will only tend to review what's sometimes referred to as the 'sexy' modules in this forum.
Ok , back to my post, over the last few months I have really been impressed with Steevio's music and want to incorporate more of his ideas into my system. I particularly like how he takes odd length patterns and hives triggers off to other voices. In fact, I love the rhythms he is able to generate and they way he seamlessly transitions to song after song without stuff going all over the place. How does he do that? I am hoping that I can replicate some of this idea with my varigate + and precision adder, which I bought specifically for this purpose.
Are there other things that I need to incorporate his tricks into my set up. I have watched some of mylarmelodies take on this and also Omri Cohen's video ( although as much as I adore Omri), he sometimes replicates modules to develop his patches which due to cost I am unable to do.
Also I have just placed modules in my racks so they fit (top 2 rows are Intellijel 84hp), bottom row is nifty case (84hp) and the other case is a 241hp custom built wheedy whizz cab.
@Lugia, not sure if you have the time available, but would love one of your reconfigs for a more efficient patching workflow, if you have time??? :)
Also, I know it seems like I have amassed a lot, and indeed I have but 90% of my modules are second hand and I have really waited a long time to buy at lower prices - for instance I bought my two Doepfer VCA's for £35 each, the Wheedy whizz cab with about 6 modules (braids, korgasmatron ver1, jp8 filter and a few more) for around £750. I recently picked up the excellent ACL delay for £158 and this unit would be over £350 brand new. It's the old brand AQA but sounds wicked and was in perfect condition. There are many bargains to be had for people particularly looking to exit from their eurorack addiction , find that the patching workflow isn't really to their liking or simply just collected the modules at new prices without spending time learning how to use them, for instance I still see online people using plaits and they have the pitch all the way to the left so that they can get the tone in a lower octave, which could very easily be sorted out if they read the manual or read a forum post where people explained how to use the buttons at the top of the unit :)
You've given me some great tips there, a few things I wouldn't have even thought about!
@Cangore I'll have to look into Kinks ...a little bit of random on noise sounds right up my alley. Mutable Links is something else I'll need to look into....so many options it's easy to get over whelmed!
Blades is pretty much only there as a placeholder. I know I'll want a filter and I was impressed with what I saw from MI
@JimHowell1970 I have Beads on preorder. I'm willing to wait for that one besides...it gives me time to figure out the other stuff. :D
RE: Veils & Maths Likes I said, I'm new. No idea really which versions are the newest. When it comes shopping time I'll p[probably grab which ever ones my local retailers have (unless I find a good deal used)
I was planning on running the output through the Minibrute to start with then expand with mixer and a seq on the next round of impulse shopping.
attenuation/attenuversion a is somerthing I hadn't even considered.
As for planned music? something between old school industrial and early periods of Aphex Twin with a dash of 80's New Wave...I think...we'll see what it morphs into :D
blades and beads are kind of difficult at the moment - I don't think the next batches are due until next year - so maybe go for something else to start with - you can't go far wrong with a happy nerding fx aid xl - plaits doesn't need a filter - there is one built in
but I would suggest some (used) doepfer filters - there is a huge selection and they are relatively inexpensive
as is a black face maths - only in the B&G shared system iirc
there's nothing wrong with the old veils - I have 3 - but if I was buying today I would buy the newer one - 2 less hp
I too dislike the rackbrutes - they do seem a little expensive, I don't like the aesthetics, and worst of all they waste hp with the rack wart - but you do have the only reasonable excuse for getting one - a minibrute 2(s)
the links and kinks tips are correct
I would also add something like shades - or the happy nerding mia - you need attenuation/attenuversion and offsets a lot
personally I'd also want a matrix mixer of some sort - predominantly for mixing modulation sources
how are you intending to final mix/record the output of this and the minibrute?
what sort of music are you intending to make?
you may well want to add a second sequencer - to enable you to transpose the sequence - for separate sections and/or chord/key changes - for this you would also need a precision adder - shades and links both include these
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
Please help fill my last 20 HP, im out of ideas and I would love to hear some of your thoughts, I do all my sequencing with octatrack so thats covered.
Hey Legion,
I‘m also fairly new to this and I guess it won‘t take long before someone experienced will chime in, but there‘s a few things I‘m noticing you might want to check.
First of all I think the Rackbrute is rather expensive for what it is, but if you want to join it with the Brute I guess it makes sense.
Veils is probably a good choice for a VCA but this Version is discontinued and there’s a smaller version now (which is a good thing imo). You also probably won’t need the mult and and passive mixer, Mutable Links has both of those functions plus a precision adder which is very handy, and is likely cheaper than buying those two while retaining the same size.
Also Jim would probably recommend buying Kinks while you can (which is something that I did), great module and it adds some Noise and random to your build for modulation.
I personally would substitute Blades for something smaller and cheaper filterwise, it seems a little overkill to me (tho it looks like a rather awesome module) and add a good lfo module for modulating the brute and the other modules with, but you might be fine with maths.
Yes Makrow is worth a serious look for this application! Doing more internet search on this topic, Addac306 looks very similar to FSS Makrow. Tiptop Z8000 might be a fit from a sequencing perspective. Are there other good candidates / techniques to consider here?
Of course the span between sweet spots is sometimes nice sounding, sometimes terrible, depending on the patch. So sometimes I want to sweep the control value, whereas other times I would need to step it.... All this also makes me wonder if there are quantizers that can be set to arbitrary (non scalar) values without a tuning input file; basically a quantizer with knobs that lets you set any step values? With one of those, I could feed any CV input (say a lfo) and custom tune the output to 2 or more "sweet spot" values (which would then feed DPO FM timbre controls).
I do own attenuverters with offset (SISM etc.), so I do have existing options for timbre control with standard CV and/or sequencing. Just trying to go further and have a good scheme for controlling / switching / sequencing a patch's timbre sweet spots, including FM patching.
Thanks for the tip. This is can help, yes. I guess i can use this in combination with some passive multiple to build the final solution i am looking after. Thanks. Matteo
