All Posts

Awesome - thanks for the tips!

Thanks, I guess in an ideal world it needs some weird samples throwing in there.

Wow, this brings back memories of my first planned case. My first plan had many of these modules included. Let me just start by saying that you will almost certainly end up with a MUCH different collection and arrangement of modules than you have assembled here.
You are on the right track as far as case size if you really are committed long-term to putting a versatile rack together, but many of your modules have overlap (Shifty and uO_C, Branches and Marbles, for example), and some you have probably chosen because you see them in a lot of other racks. Maths is cool for its versatility and as a learning tool, but it's not always intuitive, and the same goes for Rampage. Could you get dedicated modules that achieve the specific functions you want? Or is the exploration more fun for you? You will probably want modules that have a wide range of patch points so you can modulate as many parameters as possible (i.e. "modulate the modulators").
You'll probably want to invest in Pamela's New Workout and the upcoming Clouds update instead of the older discontinued versions. Mults will be mega-useful, but try to keep them outside of the rack with those little in-line star-shaped splitter thingies so you don't take up limited rack space.
First and foremost, invest in a big case but only a few must-have modules. As soon as you start patching those first few modules, you will quickly realize what is missing for the sound you are trying to create. If you find yourself reaching for something that isn't there, that's the next module you should invest in. Do a LOT of research to avoid buying something that isn't going to do what you want. Wishful thinking will not make it fit into your sound and workflow. The more research you do, the fewer duds you will waste money and time on.
All of us here would likely recommend very different modules for generative patching, but the concepts of generative patching transcend specific modules or manufacturers. Check out mylarmelodies excellent video about generative patching ideas:

Go slow. This is a big investment, but above all, have fun!

Hi everyone

I'm new to modular and having a ton of fun playing around and learning on VCVrack. I also have a Microbrute and a Volca Modular. I'd like to get into generative patches but have very little knowledge so far – maybe a grasp of the most basic principles.

I’ve made a big rack in the hope of stimulating some guidance from some veterans here:
- What would you cut/replace to cut this down to two rows?
- What’s redundant and what's overlooked?
- Is it lacking in utilities?
- Does it help to think in groups of clocks/sequencers, voices, modulators, effects? I tried to organize the rows like a cascading workflow but I’ve probably gotten myself mixed up!
- What modules (in the rack or not) would you recommend getting started with, to maximize generative options and hands-on fun? - Would patching in the Microbrute help fill the gaps?

I’d like the eventual setup to be as hands-on as possible but totally fine with combining virtual and physical modules until I get there - and I expect this journey to last for years…

Thanks in advance!

EDITED Jan 24th 2021, 21:40

I'm enjoying this. It's sparse and quiet in the best possible way. Great job.

Cheers :)

Very layed back :) Nice.

semi.automatik dysfunktional techno \steuerungszysteme

embed fashionable pseudo.kode
 '#P hidden connect 233 145 384 196617
semi-automatik
_v3(struct
index 6c74ea6..69ed30c 100644 

nullspace property

・＿＿＿ ＳＹＳ.ＸＳＭ＼＼＼

EDITED Jan 24th 2021, 18:00

mega chilled, nice :)

Great feel here @wishbonebrewery, everything hangs together and I really appreciate the drums coming in and out. Well done.

Quite a bit of Clouds reverb then slowly blending in the Granular wetness and messing with reversed grains etc, I found the Erica Pico DSP feeds back on its self on the Green mode and goes a bit crazy so I'm making use of that with another kinda half-feedback loop around the Monsoon Clouds. There's a little blippy resonant filter pinging going in there too plus some more obvious percussion kept low down.
Oh, I'm enjoying the DannySound Timbre I built too so I get two parts out of the Sine wave of the Befaco Even VCO as one part goes via the Timbre into the PICO DSP and 2HP Verb, and the other part of more straight into Clouds

Cheers for listening :)

Thanks guys
Yeah, I'm not going to rush to part with anything too soon.
Marbles quantizes its own outputs, there is some sort of external CV processing you can do though that might get a bit techie for me. The Turing Machine needs the Tune to keep things musical. Maybe I should ditch the Euclid to start with.

I'll post today's Marbles patch over in the 'You' section.

Unlike @farkas I almost never sell anything (I probably should cause I'm actually running out of space) so take my perspective with a grain of salt, but given how complex your tunes often are, I say keep em all for awhile and see if they can complement each other. TM for sure can keep holding its own, not sure how many quantizers Marbles has but Tune could be used for key switching or things of that nature.

EDITED Jan 24th 2021, 15:30

I can hear that @farkas.

Glad you liked it both, and that's an interesting question @farkas. In that case I'm doing something similar but a bit different to No Highpass Acid: in both I'm running the Pulse out from an NTO into my NCOM to generate sub-harmonies, and that's where a lot of the harmonic movement comes in (in fact I'd like to understand exactly what's happening here theory wise, like what's the harmonic relation an octave and a half down [3 divisions on the NCOM]). There's a difference though, on No Highpass I mixed the output of the NTO and the NCOM in my Quad VCA and then put them through the VCFS, on #2 I put them through the VCFS first (it has two inputs and a crossfader) and then route that through one VCA... and for whatever reason that approach leads to some really interesting overdrive when you push it towards the NCOM's input (maybe @Lugia can explain it 👀).

EDITED Jan 24th 2021, 15:48

Marbles looks so fun. The ergonomics are much better than the 2hp stuff, I'm sure.
I tend to sell things off pretty quick when I'm not using them, or when I add a module that does a specific function "better". For the most part I don't have any regrets (though I kinda miss the Schlappi Interstellar Radio). I'm actually considering parting with Maths since I've added more specialized, though less flexible, modules.
Can't wait to hear your Marbles in action.

Opinions??

Now that I've added a Marbles to my rack, does this make the 2HP Modules; Turing Machine, Tune and Euclid spare parts?
I probably have a counter-argument for keeping the Tune, maybe the TM but the Euclid functions I can get from the DNiPro DOT.
The Marbles is exactly what my system needed.

Cheers

I was listening through headphones because my wife is sleeping, but found myself strangely compelled to crank up #3 on the stereo. I don't want to incur her wrath this early in the morning, so I will revisit that one later today. Haha. Sounds great, man.
Also, that overdrive on #2 is gnarly! I love the balance between the distorted line and the cleaner line. How did you achieve that?
Awesome work as always @troux.

Thank you Garfield. The AJH MiniMod has a little magic in it. :)

Thanks Garfield,

Yeah, the Eloquencer is a really powerful and easy to use sequencer! My 0-coast was first modular synth and good to use it with my modular gear now as extra voice or drone or background layer. Before I used my Doepfer basic VCO with the Eloquencer it sounded flat and dead. But the ability to shift scales in real time with ratcheting and probability and random modes really makes that simple Doepfer VCO quite melodic and beautiful. The Loquelic Iteritas Perdido and Anti-oscillator demand more finesse however.

Hi Troux,

He, he, nice music, I like to call this "happy music", makes me happy while listening at it. Kind of strong positive attitude to be heard here, I like that!

I will continue to listen at your album, great work and thank you very much for sharing this! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Farkas,

A very special sound this one. I like this, didn't expect with lo-fi to get such nice results! Beautiful :-)

Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

He, he, yes sounds like a lot of fun :-) Oh! You got the Mimeophon too, nice! How do you like it?

Thanks a lot for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Glennbech,

Great rack! :-) Now it becomes clear what you mean, except those screws (still ok) it actually looks quite nice, pity the height of Kallax isn't perfectly 9U ;-) So... you cleared your living room wall and put the entire wall full with Kallax and you are now busy with mounting all those rails in it :-) ?

By the way, how many HP is one row in your Kallax?

Have fun with your rack and kind regards, Garfield.

Sweet @farkas

Did a little screwing around with the last version, came up with this:

The big thing you'll notice is that everything's been reordered. I immediately moved to get audio sources away from the P/S module. So the MScale is next to that on the top row, followed by the MIDI interface. The top row was then swapped out so that all control voltage and modulation sources and manipulators are up there now.

After the MIDI interface, I swapped the divider for a more capable CVable divider/multiplier. The 2hp TM was switched out for a real Turing-style sequencer (Permutations) which also now has its own quantizer. Then Maths, and after that I swapped the expensive U-He CV manipulator with its memory and menu diving for a much cheaper and more playable MISO. A Doepfer Dual ADSR now provides proper envelope generation for VCAs and VCFs, then I switched the Zlob VCA module for a Codex Modulex clone of Veils, which loses two VCAs but gains the variable response curves on all VCAs.

Then the effects modules were switched out for various reasons (we'll get to an important one in a bit), giving you a stereo chorus/tap delay/reverb and a stereo delay in a tighter space...but not so tight that there'd be ergonomics issues.

Lower row: I put the o&C below the P/S for the same reasons as above. Then the Percussion Interface, which keeps it away from the P/S as well. Kinks is next, then we get into the actual audio path, starting with the Disting. Next is the Ensemble Oscillator, followed by a much better VCF pick, the G-Storm ARP 4012 module which replicates the Rev.1 ARP 2600 VCF, plus it provides a 2-in mixer to sum the Ensemble Oscillator's outputs down to mono. Then the Chimera and Font were paired up next.

Now, the mixer section. Another Veils clone for individual VCA level control to your mono mixer inputs. The mixer is now a Cosmotronic Cosmix, which gives you four PANNABLE mono ins, plus a mono AUX send and two stereo inputs with no AUX. Now, remember the bit with the effects? Both the Frequency Central AND Tiptop modules take a mono input and output stereo...which is perfect for feeding them BOTH with a split AUX cable, then you can parallel-mix them back in via the dual stereo ins. This is a MUCH better and more controllable method for treating effects, plus you now have a proper stereo output with the effects where they belong in the signal chain. And the HPO's at the end, and you can Y-split its inputs off of the Cosmix's stereo out.

Chucked out: the Bernoulli gate (didn't see the need for it), the Links (this build is too small for a dedicated mult; use inline passives instead when needed), and one or two other minor things, all of which got pulled to increase available panel space for superior functionality. Also, I made sure to keep suitable room throughout the build so that there weren't any space issues of consequence around the major "performance" controls. And for the cherry on the cake, I got it in for $400 less!

Awesome. Will check this out tomorrow morning.

Simplicity's easy to forget in Eurorack (witness my weird prog/kraut acid lol), so well done.

Thanks @troux. If I were to do it again, I would have spiced up the drums, but I was grooving on the simplicity at the time.

Some friends of friends run an internet radio station in Scotland (http://jnktn.tv) and asked me to do an Acid Hour. Check it out here:

https://stevehand.bandcamp.com/album/live-jams-for-scotland

No Highpass Acid makes a return but everything else was for this gig, some good variety I think, hope you all enjoy.

Sick bass line @farkas, really digging this one.

Here's a little live lo-fi trip-hop jam I put together this morning featuring some glitch vocals from my friend Elizabeth in Leipzig, Germany. I'm in the U.S., so this is as close as we could get to a trans-Atlantic partnership in the time of COVID.
AJH MiniMod - bass
Plaits - Chord stuff
Blck_Noir and Buck Modular DrumF*ck - drums
Sample Drum - glitchy vocals
As always, thank you for offering a few minutes of your time. Hope someone might enjoy.
https://ciernyvlk.bandcamp.com/track/presentation-3-invert

Lmao Lugia, thanks for the visuals. I see what you mean and I took those words to heart because you are totally right. All those tiny knobs too close together would chap my ass. Wound up ditching them entirely for the ensemble. In this layout I tried to focus on utility and modulation. I included the ensemble because the brute already has two VCO’s and like Jim said, I really don’t need that many for this setup so I thought that adding a digital monster would offer a nice way to get some complicated sounds from one place. I added some multi function modules and some random sources, I think between some of the multi function tools and the Chimera, Ensemble, and minibrute as the primary sound sources I cover a lot of bases utility wise. I imagine the randomness along with the quantizers and modulation functions here offer a lot roads to travel on. I’ve only dived into a few of the modules so far so I’m sure this layout will probably change again along the way. In any case I think I want to start with the initial list Jim mentioned and work from there. I looked up YouTubes of those and thought that yeah if I can learn those inside and out then I will venture further. That zverb though, might jump the gun on that one.

Thanks again for the wise words and guidance!!! Also, please let me know what looks stupid about this build if you feel like it. I think I have something miles ahead of what I started with though and a much better idea or mindset about what I want to do here.

Had fun experimenting with sequencer random patterns using Make Noise 0-coast and Mimeophon to my eloquencer

I ended up making a box with outer dimensions to fit the Kallax width, and order custom rails for the inner diameter of the box. But, as you might see from the picture, I failed to take into account that the screws would add width. I think this will barely work with "sink in screws".

I don't think I will bother to rack my Mother & Subharmonicon. But start from here for now. The main goal for this rack was to able to play around, tactically / hands-on / no computer. The Grandmother sits on top. Now all I have to do is actually make som music with it.

In this patch I run the Mother through the Spring reverb of the Grandmother and mixes it in. I feel that this is a bit lacking, and will probably add an fx module next. Possibly something simple like the Disting or PicoDSP. My guess is that this case is slightly "underpowered" I have to keep that in mind as well (6U/2000ma).

EDITED Jan 23rd 2021, 21:42

Send/return is too rare in modular, but this goes way beyond. I’ve moved most of my effects out of the rack, but this makes me start to rethink that.
-- subframe

The one really cool thing about adding an input attenuator to The Cursible... Makes it easy to use with pedals! I’ve got a batch of 1/4”-1/8” cables that I use for exactly that. Might not have to rethink too much!

Send/return is too rare in modular, but this goes way beyond. I’ve moved most of my effects out of the rack, but this makes me start to rethink that.

Hey guys! Thanks for the comments! If you want to subscribe over on YouTube I will be trying to upload regularly :)

The patch notes are also really interesting. I need to document my setups better, and your descriptions style should work quite well. I started actually documenting ins and outs of the modules but that's way to tedious.
-- zuggamasta

Yes, I was planning on documenting all the connections but my laziness won over me.. hehe I just thought that doing a quick rundown of what each module was doing would be enough.

Hi Brunomolteni,

Great track and nice video you got there! I loved that sudden change at 1:17, nice surprise :-)

Oh wow, that sound between 5:55 and 5:58, so fantastic sound, I love that! He, he, and the ending of your track is massive!!!
-- GarfieldModular

Thanks Garfield! Yes those sudden changes are hard to pull ( and a bit of a nerve wrack when recording) but when they work they really work hehe.

That moment at 5:55 is basically quickly muting the drums while at the same time triggering a fill on both the gates that trigger rings strum and the note changes on the XIIO arp, which is set to a c minor blues scale with up&down direction, basically results in quick melodic lines that contrast to the rest of the song where is mainly repeating the same note with slower triggers...

Hi Brunomolteni,

Great track and nice video you got there! I loved that sudden change at 1:17, nice surprise :-)

I know why your track sounds so fantastic... you got help from TinTin and Snowy! ;-)

Oh wow, that sound between 5:55 and 5:58, so fantastic sound, I love that! He, he, and the ending of your track is massive!!!

Enjoy your (sonic) adventures with TinTin and Snowy and kind regards, Garfield.

Thanks Lugia, I will keep this in mind since an Erica Synths case would fit my planned Erica mobile build goal. I do like the amalgamod and nono cases a lot of these have 300+HP of space in a small form format and are light. It would be great to put the two Erica Synths sequencers plus their modules and some more drum, utility and logic modules in it for crazy techno trance or ambient fun on the road. Probably won't buy until later this year. I've been having way too much fun dialing in my Angle Grinder and Hertz Donut with my Stillson Hammer/Metron as well as learning to create melodic songs on my Doepfer monster case with my Eloquencer sequencer.

I also had a look at this, and right off the bat, several problems were apparent. One that really typifies the issues here is the placement of those Erica PICO VCOs. OK...so, two 3 hp modules, itsy-bitsy knobs, very closely spaced and on the same "plane". So...let's say you're playing live, and the first VCO gets a bit out of tune. So you quickly grab that and try and adjust the tuning on the first one...but you snag the SECOND one with the topside of one of your fingers and knock THAT out of tune as well. Now BOTH VCOs are knocked out of whack, and things start to get...not good. But because of the tightness of the control surface here, frenetic attempts to correct matters results in even more ugliness, then someone in the crowd gets riled up and chucks a bottle at your head. You wake up in the ER a couple of hours later with a concussion, then a nurse brings in the remnants of your modular in a trashbag after the incensed crowd has exacted its revenge on the hapless machine.

OK, so that's a BIT of an extreme example...but it does point out that you not only need to be considering WHAT goes into a modular, but HOW it goes in as well. If you have controls that require careful adjustment, it's ALSO important that you include the right amount of hand clearance between everything. And this has a number of points where a slip of a finger can lead to pointless difficulties...all avoidable by just being careful about layout and ergonomics. This doesn't merely apply to synthesizers, but ALL musical instruments...and mistakes about the "playability factors" invariably leads to abandoned instruments.

Case in point - this is a picture of a trumpet: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2527/5506/products/1_0e2f3975-7e1c-4873-a1bd-fc164a08760d_1024x1024.jpg?v=1513160452

And this is ALSO a picture of a trumpet: https://benneill.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_6691-1024x669.jpg However, unless you happen to be Ben Neill, you're going to have a lot of trouble with the second trumpet if you're used to the FIRST one. The vast majority of trumpet players would find Neill's Mutantrumpet massively confusing...which is why you don't see very many trumpet players sporting horns with three bells, Rubik's-cube-style switches and knobs, and two-plus sets of valves.

Effects send MATRIX? You people are sick, sick, sick...and of course, I approve!
-- Lugia

Haha yep, and thanks!

Sequence/morph/switch your signal through your effects!!!

Sacramentmodular.com

Well, if the original choice was one of Intellijel's portables, the Erica seems like the closest match...you still get that "you-can-beat-the-hell-out-of-it" metal case, which if the objective is to safeguard the electronics inside, is definitely the right move.

Effects send MATRIX? You people are sick, sick, sick...and of course, I approve!

I really enjoyed this track and the view :)

The patch notes are also really interesting. I need to document my setups better, and your descriptions style should work quite well. I started actually documenting ins and outs of the modules but that's way to tedious.

Sorry, I wasn’t aware. I won’t do that again.

A bit of techno done with Rings ( Rangoon ) as the bassline, Ts-L as kick and Pico drums as Hats... Played around a bunch with LL8 performance view ( rolls and mutes ) and also used Dreadbox Splash frequently, making the bassline fully wet to create tension and release it by switching it to fully dry. Stages as a step sequencer moves Rings damping around to create the variation between long and short notes.

hope you guys enjoy!

Patch notes:
Instruo Ts-l as kickdrum
Calsynth Rangoon as main bassline
Erica Pico Drums as high hats
Dreadbox Splash as reverb
Mutable Instruments Stages as envelope generator and step sequencer
Doboz XIIO as arpeggiator and note controller.
Robaux LL8 as gate sequencer
Super Vcas as vca.
Synthrotek MIXIV as mixer
Music Thing Startup as mixer and clock generator.

EDITED Jan 22nd 2021, 13:14

re mixer (and vcas) always get more channels than you think you want right now - you will almost definitely need more in the future!

just looked at the revised rack - too many 'feature' modules not enough support modules (common noob mistake)

for a 6u rack maybe 2 or 3 voices at most - as you have other external voices - I would reduce this further (only 1 or 2) the interesting stuff most of the time is not the sound sources themselves, but but what you do with them

go and read a load of other noob needs help with 1st rack posts - you will see the same thing time and time again...

EDITED Jan 22nd 2021, 13:14

It's best to make things like this private...