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Interesting about the ADDAC filter, that's another company that seems like they have really useful and nicely made modules that I don't see a lot of chit-chat about, really. I was briefly considering their Stinggy Filter, but sort of put that low on the considerations list ... I forget why, maybe not enough CV options or maybe something about the demo that left me a bit meh. But I had their Sum & Difference mixer for a few weeks and it was pretty cool, really solidly made and interesting -- but again, very little CV control over anything as I recall.
Still something about ADDAC appeals to me, though, but they tend to be a little pricey for me at the moment. I did actually recently order their 4-Voice Cluster and their expression pedal adapter, but I don't have them yet. Curious how that will go. The 4-Voice Cluster doesn't seem hugely popular, and I could see from the demo how it could be a bit one-note as a sound source, but there's something about the character of its sound that really appealed to me and feel I'd like to work with, and the price was right at the time I ordered.
looks almost too good to be true... but they've got great reviews. what's the difference between the bezel ac inlet and the 4hp dc inlet?
-- anonemoose
The 4HP goes into your rack, the bezel one needs to be mounted to/through the side/back in some way.
I rarely see them mentioned in the modular discussions and channels I've followed so far.
-- eexee
Similar to many modular "companies," "they" are just probably just one person, Flavio Mireles. (Similarly, Audio Damage was only two people.) So it could be a lack of marketing, which may be on purpose if he's already at capacity of how many modules he can produce/supply to dealers, etc.
When I interviewed him in 2016 he seemed like a decent guy. (6:16 in)
Marbles in control of 2hp Bell into Mimeophon into Monsoon Clouds, bit of LFO hitting the Clouds and Random gates from the 2hp RND hitting the Clouds Freeze and Mimeophon Flip.
Bass drone from STO Sub into Rebach VCF-AB which is getting a Full-wave rectified LFO from Ochd.
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.
Trogotronic has this for around $200, with three busboards, brick, cabling, and a 4 hp inlet. These can be modified in various ways, so what I would suggest is getting in touch with them directly and seeing what a "zero busboard" version of this would run you.
And yes, it's wise to have at least a 1/4th of your current in reserve for typical "startup inrush" issues...but with something like this, you could slam a few smallish cabs together on the one P/S. Plus, if 10A doesn't cut it, this can be scaled up to FORTY AMPS if necessary!
-- Lugia
looks almost too good to be true... but they've got great reviews. what's the difference between the bezel ac inlet and the 4hp dc inlet?
Wow thanks a lot to both of you for your answers, I can't stress enough how useful it is to me.
Ronin, I usually simply plug the mono out of a mixer (here the Joranalogue Mix 3 and a Quad VCA in y usual rack) straight into to a speaker. Far from being optimal but I usually don't have access to more than one speaker and I never use my computer to record or anything. That's probably something that I should have mentioned as it probably has a bigger impact on the skiff than what I thought.
Lugia, this is fantastic, really. I took quite some time to understand how you proceeded and it's extremely enlightening. And I'm 100% convinced that the palette is a far better choice, the Godfred + peaks combo is an excellent replacer of 90% of what I do with the JF and after taking a third look at the SCLPL I think I will be able to say goodbye to the RE.
The part that I have some issues understanding is the replacement is regarding VCAs and the absence of a mixer. I chose the Joranalogue because it acts both as a VCA and a mixer and although not having individual outputs is really limiting, I don't get how my different sound sources will be mixed at the end. Also, the 3x VCA is unfortunately not available anywhere at the time of writing. Yesterday I tried to reproduce the features of this skiff on my current system and I had to use my quad VCA as a final mixer.
Another thing I consider is the final (far higher) price of this new setup, which I'm fine with but will force me to split the bill on several months. I've updated the skiff with what I can afford now (and what's available): palette + 1Us + o&c + C4rbn + some sort of VCA, and I've created a small patch to see if that works for me:
I've kept the JF and RE for the moment as their size will only be an issue when I'll be able to afford their replacements. I've switched the IU VCO for a Duatt as I was desperately in need of a pre-mixer. I replaced the 3xVCA with a Tallin: it's only 2 VCAs but you get some extra features and it leaves room for the 2HP loop (not ideal but I really don't want to take external devices with me for the moment). Once the first part is bought, I'll get rid of the RE in profit of Sclpl and the stereo effect (if I'm able to find it).
~ Patch notes:
2 JF outputs (LPG mode) directly to RE. Pass comb2 to the Duatt and mix it with white noise then pass the mix to C4rbn and LPF out to stereo VCA (IRL I'd pass the HPF out to a VCA and treat it separately for pseudo hi-hats). Pass comb1 of RE to to stereo VCA. Then scan between the 2 sound sources using the stereo VCA, like you mentioned above, and pass them to the stereo output.
I haven't patched the rest for more clarity but not sure if that's an easy read haha. Now my issue is that the other sound sources (Mangrove and Loop) would need to be mixed and passed to both right inputs of the stereo output so that they're always present in the final mix. How would you achieve that with the system you designed? I'm probably missing something in the exact flow that you designed, with the mono to stereo transition around the stasis leak and the Sclpl!
Edit: ok, so the 3xVCA lets you cascade the outputs so that you actually end up with mixed sources! So I guess it's a Mix 3 with a tad bit more flexibility around individual outs. I wish it was available somewhere around EU...
Anyway, thanks A TON for your input, it helped me a lot although I haven't fully digested everything yet. At this point, my post probably looks more like personal raving and ranting, but I'd be happy to read more from you if you have comments on my answer!
I was too was aiming to get Tiptop's Forbidden Planet filter but then I spotted the Omsonic limited run of their (FLF) Funky Ladder Filter which is like the Steiner Parker filter but with extra control, its a very nice sounding filter and very usable. You can mult your signal and feed all inputs then tweak the levels for each HP/BP/LP, you could do this with a simple attenuator and the Forbidden Planet filter too. https://omsonic.co.uk/product/omsonic-funky-ladder-filter-le-8hp-edition-fire-sale/
The other thing which I think should be a personal toolbox item is the Rebach VCF-AB, its very affordable and if you like the occasional dirty 303-style acid line then this ticks the box cos it will squeal like a distorted 303 because of its internal feedback path. https://rebach.eu/catch-series/
I'm very tempted by a Stereo Ripples filter and a Patching Panda Moonphase.
Kinda tempted by the ADDAC604 as its double the same filter that they made for their ADDAC105 4-Voice Cluster, which I found more useful than the 4-voice cluster with the ability to feed it external signals, it was simple and workhorse-like, kind of set-and-forget or just throw a little modulation at it for a background element. So with the ADDAC604 being able to be used as a Dual Mono or Stereo filter its quite a good price to keep the Stereo path from other modules, it won't be too crazy but it will be very usable. https://www.addacsystem.com/en/products/modules/addac600-series/addac604
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.
I put this case together for my Techno live show and I wonder what other people think about it, what they would change/ improve and I just want to hear a second opinion about it.
The style of Music I love is from Artist like Oscar Mulero, Stef Mendisidis, Sleeparchive ....
Its a 104hp, 4u palette case from Intellijel.
The plan is to use the the 1u Midi to control 2 synths, and use the CVx to send Trigger and Accent to the Drum Modules.
Has anyone used Patching Pandas filters? I enjoyed the demos for Vibrazum and Moon Phase, so those have made my "maybe" list. I've noted a few of the recommendations here, and there's a few more Doepfers I have to look up demos for, too -- they have a wider variety than I realized!
Sort of curious about Blue Lantern's as well ... people warned me off BL on another thread a bit, but a few of them look interesting and on the budget-friendly side, but they seem a little harder to find good demos for. Anyone used the Hermippe, Millipede, Lunar, Cydonia, or any other BLs VCFs?
A few others I'm vaguely eyeing are the Tiptop Z2040, Electro-Acoustic Research Model 41, Studio Electronics 8106, and Intellijel Morgasmatron. It's going to be difficult to choose just one for the immediate future. Fun, but difficult.
Damn, wish I'd known about Trogotronic when I was shopping for a PSU, for the price those specs seem terrific. I also spent too much on a so-so custom case with a shitty PSU when I got into modular earlier this year... there's a chunk of cash I really wish I had back. :( I ended up eventually replacing the included PSU with a 4MS Row Power 45 and a pair of Synthrotek's busboards, which has worked out great, but wasn't the cheapest solution. It cost more altogether than what Lugia linked, with only 2000/1400/1500 capacity. It's worked out just dandy for my purposes, but when I expand the build beyond what that PSU can handle, it's good to know about Trogotronic's offerings.
DHL is downright annoying. Fortunately, I only have to screw around with them when I order anything from Tangible Waves, but you HAVE TO be around to see what they're up to, as they'll just bolt if you're not there within, oh, 60 seconds. Makes signing for their shipments annoying as hell, but they do have a good track record on not smashing your shipment all to f**k.
And I can't say that about UPS at all! I still have very hideous and rattled memories of purchasing a Bruel & Kjaer Model 123 "Spectrum Shaper"...basically, think Stockhausen's Albiswerk filter banks at WDR, then shrink that down to a rackmountable form factor. This was shipped UPS, and it DID arrive on time...with one corner of the padded double-box job smashed in completely! After pushing the hell out of the UPS Field Inspector, they admitted that packages at the local depot tend to get "thrown around too often".
Who are they hiring? Gorillas? That filterbank weighs about 35 pounds minus the doublepacking! And the momentum + mass not only fubarred the boxes, it smashed in a corner of the unit itself, with the impact knocking components loose inside it, destroying soldered connections, and so on. Had it not been for my ultra-amazing tech, who has repair-fu that's WAAAAAAAY beyond my pay grade and his ability to figure everything out WITHOUT SCHEMATICS, I could've wound up throwing that poor filterbank in the trash. UPS doesn't have to care, though, once they paid out on this fairly-unobtainable thing. Rat-bastards...
Amazon does great on delivery...as long as your shipment isn't clearly expensive AF. A few pedals I got thru them, well, I didn't get them on the first try. Apparently when things go through their SW Chicago facility, they sometimes get subjected to five-finger discounts. So I quit using them except for boring stuff that people won't want to steal.
This problem also crops up with the USPS...same area, too. But the USPS actually has SERIOUS consequences waiting for anyone who gets caught (screwing with the US Mail is a bigtime felony!), so it's not as often nor are expensive things typically stolen, as those clowns tend to look for pocketable packages. HOWEVER...and shockingly enough...ONLY the USPS can consistently hit delivery times around here. UPS can be a day late at times, FedEx...who knows, and Amazon can hit the delivery times as long as one of their terminal crew doesn't steal your shit. And nothing domestic comes here via DHL, so it sees very little action. Even with DeJoy (appropriate name, that!) still trying to wreck the USPS, they can manage pretty well.
Solution? Talk to your shippers, explain that you want NO FEDEX (or whichever carrier is screwing up for you) on your shipments after the first time you get screwed, and also make a lot of bad noise at the higher-ups at the carrier in question about your concerns about their "clearly untrustworthy" shipping security. And while this might sound like a rather Karen-esque way of going about this, the fact is that the upper management of these companies are pretty bent out of shape about this for the same reasons YOU are, and they'd like nothing more to root out the pilferage and get those responsible locked up. ALWAYS report shipment screwery. Always. If more people hold these carriers' feet to the fire on these sloppy operations, maybe they'll finally start doing things like, oh, paying their employees something more than McDonalds slave wages and treating them like human beings so that they have LESS impetus to pull stunts like this.
Trogotronic has this for around $200, with three busboards, brick, cabling, and a 4 hp inlet. These can be modified in various ways, so what I would suggest is getting in touch with them directly and seeing what a "zero busboard" version of this would run you.
And yes, it's wise to have at least a 1/4th of your current in reserve for typical "startup inrush" issues...but with something like this, you could slam a few smallish cabs together on the one P/S. Plus, if 10A doesn't cut it, this can be scaled up to FORTY AMPS if necessary!
Normally, no. But when you grow up in/around the music industry in Nashville, you eventually learn that dumpsters in that alley between 16th and 17th Av. S. on Music Row tend to wind up with some interesting "garbage".
So I bought a used DIY case with a sketchy synthrotek power supply off craigslist - a terribly thought out move that I will certainly not do again. I'm trying to find a new one, but I need it to fit these criteria:
Needs to be able to power a rack with 2470 mA on the +12, 1102 mA on the -12, nothing on the 5 (for now)
Needs to be able to power a 9U 104Hp case
I've been having trouble finding something that seems like it'll work. I'm under the impression that you're supposed to leave about 20% of the mA for headroom, but doesn't that mean I would need to have something with more than 3000 mA? Does such a thing even exist? Do I just do multiple supplies at that point? I'm honestly thinking about just getting another case, might even move up to a 3x126 if that ends up happening
I forgot a useful module to convert cv to midi.
The Tesseract Modular Sweet Sixteen (mk1 or mk2).
With it you can send 16 cv to midi.
Midi channel freely assignable with the web based editor.
You can't do midi to cv with it.
MOTU drivers? Yeah, they're out there...check here: https://motu.com/download and you'll see the 8pre under "Audio". Win10 drivers, even!
What I like about them is that, by putting these "obsolete" interfaces back to work, we're working to keep e-waste out of landfills. You'd be shocked at what major studios toss out sometimes; nothing is as satisfying as pulling a few Altec/WE "birdcages" out of a Music Row dumpster!
-- Lugia
Yeah I know, but they stopped supporting/providing drivers for 828mk2 FW back in 2017 up to OSX 10.13 and I'm running 10.15 Catalina, it's all good, don't need the drivers, just use it as another set of in/outs :)
I never realised you could go dumpster diving for old studio gear, awesome haha
I’m going to get Expert Sleepers ES-3&6 as that will give me I/O via ADAT all run through my RME interface. So that saves me the “2 interface” issue which I don’t want to t try to deal with on my PC based setup. As I have ADAT lanes to spare this is IMO the simplest and tightest solution for my setup. If I needed more I/O there are add ons like ES-5 etc that can be added.
BTW stepping up to a good interface such as those from RME or UA etc is a big step up for your studio.
I ordered the 4MS Listen IO from Perfect Circuit. However my head is starting to hurt thinking about how I should connect the OctaTrack to my WMD Performance Mixer via the Listen IO. Ideally you should be able to route signals to and from the Octatrack at will between PM channels, so you can make full use of the OT effects. There is also the matter of using the second pair of Octatrack inputs. So my current setup using the stereo effects loop is probably the wrong choice, since it's all or nothing. The trouble is that most of my gear is stereo, and I mix it through the Befaco ST Mix before the PM. So like I said it's making my head hurt ;-)
My suggestion would be to have a look at Ladik's A-5xx series. There's several possible solutions in there, some of which also include line-level input to modular level out capabilities. The fixed-level ones are especially cheap and don't require much in the way of fiddling around.
It's also worth noting that the vaunted Maths is also based around slope gens, which are more or less slew limiters with CV over rise/fall in Make Noise's design. Plus, anything else based in the Serge "Universal Slope Generator" family fits this definition, too.
Actually, I think the 4ms 64X is a rather poor choice here, given that only a couple more inches 'vertically' gets you an Intellijel Palette 62. Sure, 2 hp shorter, but you also get 62 hp of tiles AND the utility bar with two buffered mults, USB MIDI I/O, and your 1/4" audio outs.
Plus, this fixes one of Ronin's questions. The tile row has the ability to house Intellijel's Stereo Out tile (which directly connects to those 1/4" jacks). And as for his second, instead of the Serge version of this sort of thing, have a look at WMD's SCLPL. Also a resonant EQ albeit more limited in bands than the Serge, it DOES feature this "morph between settings" capability. Sequencer friendly, to be sure...and VERY capable while occupying 450% LESS space!
I'll bang on this when I get a little more nicotine in my system...just started this cigar, and the "brain food" hasn't kicked in yet!
EDIT: OK, here we go....
First up, this is in the 62 hp Palette, as mentioned above. The utility module gives you a pair of buffered mults and your 1/4" outs, plus the potential to add one of Intellijel's MIDI interfaces later on. I omitted that here because your description of the rig is less something MIDI-controlled and much more of a portable, manual tweakfest. And of course, your power connection is here.
TILES: First up, there the Intellijel Noise Tools gives you a master clock, sample and hold, noise source, and slew gen. Then there's your other VCO which can also be switched to LFO mode. After this, I put in another two VCAs which can be used in stereo. Then last in line is the Stereo Output Mixer, which can sum down two stereo paths to a single output. This connects directly to the 1/4" jacks on the utility bar, but you also have a direct stereo out so that you can take that summed stereo signal and mess with it elsewhere in the build.
MODULES: OK...the O&c is still there, but the little screened thing next to it is a multichannel sequencer, with five gate/trigs and one CV/gate channel with quantizing. The Paratek CV Peaks is an upgraded variation on Mutable's Peaks, albeit with full CV control over the stages in both EG channels. Your Mangrove is after that, followed by a Happy Nerding 3X VCA for controlling all three of the VCO levels pre-VCF.
And as for that VCF...I went with something like the Just Friends, but even crazier! The Limaflo Motomouth is a digital VCF that's also capable of operating as a formant filter; you can see the dial with the IPA phonetics vowel annotation in the middle left. So if you want a normal VCF, you've got that...along with the formant-based filtering the larger Mannequins module does. But the Just Friends doesn't have a morph control to shift from one vowel to the next, while this thing CAN do that. The C4RBN is also there if you need "conventional" filtering.
Then there's the FX module, where I opted for Frequency Central's Stasis Leak, giving you a choice of stereo reverb, tap delay, or chorusing. This also takes your mono "voice" signal and stereoizes it so it's ready for the WMD SCLPL...which is where that Stereo Output Mixer comes in. By having that in the tiles, you can use an out from the Stasis Leak AND from the SCLPL and then use that dual VCA to let one fade in/out against the other. And as for the SCLPL, no, it's not as complex as the Resonant EQ...really, it's more like a single resonant EQ band, albeit with a set of user-definable presets which can be morphed between, resulting in something even more filter-like and bonkers than the Serge clone. Hooking that preset "stepper" to a t/g channel from the Godfried will then result in sequenced TIMBRAL mayhem!
But yeah...this is what I was talking about above. Building these little portable systems is NOT easy...I actually revised bits of this several times for the optimal results...but by getting more functional density, adding some additional capabilities, and having that tile row, you wind up with a similarly-sized but WAY more powerful result!
Now, one notable omission here is the looper. It simply would NOT fit, and I wasn't going to stick you with that 2hp one because that's simply trying to cram too much behind 2 hp of panel space. But my idea here is that you actually might benefit more from a outboard looper for maximum sonic mayhem. Plus, the size works if you're going to jam it, the skiff, and the necessary power bricks, patch cables, and such into a nice gigbag (such as this: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SubPhattyBag--moog-sub-phatty-gig-bag). And for that, I suggest the similarly-sized Boss RC-202, which gives you dual loop engines, onboard processing, live dub/delete, a "post-processing" headphone preamp, and a bunch of other stuff. Harness THIS (https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RC202--boss-rc-202-loop-station) to the build above, and you've got a rig that fits in that gigbag for maximum mobility. All DC-powered, too...so if you wind up in some odd place with odd voltages, you can at least try looking for a suitable pair of wallwarts at some bigbox.
Well, how about the Happy Nerding Isolator? 4 hp, plus it DOES have transformer isolation and a ganged stereo level control. As for the Befaco, I even looked over the PCB diagrams and saw nothing resembling a transformer on them. If you go with the Isolator, you won't have a headphone jack there...but at the same time, the WMD mixer does, plus that same headphone output is where you'd be able to check things (like tuning!) on a CUE bus via the CUE/MIX crossfader. Using a headphone pre on a different module, like an output, won't give you that functionality.
What do we think of the 4MS Listen IO? Also, I could use the ES-9 1/4 inch outputs via the ES-9 mixer. Then I would just need an input level shifter. Like the Erica Pico Input?
-- mntbighker
What do we think of the 4MS Listen IO? Also, I could use the ES-9 1/4 inch outputs via the ES-9 mixer. Then I would just need an input level shifter. Like the Erica Pico Input?
-- mntbighker
I’m sure the 4ms would work.
Yes. That could work, although I don’t know if the Pico is stereo in or not.
With a DC coupled audio interface with MULTIPLE OUTPUTS, you can use spare outputs to drive your modular synth gear and use the others for normal audio. The issue you'll run into with the audio interface is the range of voltages that it can reproduce.
-- Ronin1973
I was a bit suspicious about this but RME states this about the Fireface UCX II:
Voltage Ranges
Line Out 1-6, unbalanced (mono jack), unloaded:
+19 dBu: +9.5 V, +13 dBu: +4.75 V, +4 dBu: +1.7 V
What do we think of the 4MS Listen IO? Also, I could use the ES-9 1/4 inch outputs via the ES-9 mixer. Then I would just need an input level shifter. Like the Erica Pico Input?
Can I use this as a level shifter for an Octatrack?
-- mntbighker
Don’t know. Does the Octatrack take instrument level?
I’d think it takes line level.
-- clwilla
Yeah, so the Strymon says it does 18db drop/boost. By the looks of the levels I'd say 12db would be better. 5 volts is obviously way too hot, but 18db down is a bit too low. If line level is 2 volts I wonder what 18db gets you down to.
-- mntbighker
What you want is something like the Intellijel Audio Interface II. Stereo line in and out. You can use it as a send return for line level gear, or to use your synth as an effect for something in your DAW. That’s a 10hp module.
You can also use the Joranalogue Receive 2 and Transmit 2, which will get you studio quality I/O that can handle anything from mic level to line level in and out.
Can I use this as a level shifter for an Octatrack?
-- mntbighker
Don’t know. Does the Octatrack take instrument level?
I’d think it takes line level.
-- clwilla
Yeah, so the Strymon says it does 18db drop/boost. By the looks of the levels I'd say 12db would be better. 5 volts is obviously way too hot, but 18db down is a bit too low. If line level is 2 volts I wonder what 18db gets you down to.
Two things for me:
1. How do you plan on monitoring the outputs of this skiff? Maybe you're using an audio interface or something?
2. The Resonant Equalizer is huge at 18HP. You could add other modules that might be more useful in its place: an effects processor, a dedicated sequencer, a multifunction module like a Disting, etc.
If you're using a Mac you can aggregate audio interfaces. Simply put, you can connect multiple audio interfaces to your Mac.
On PC, Windows only likes to have ONE audio interface. There are workarounds here and there. But this is it.
The ES-8 acts as an audio interface. So if you're using your actual audio interface to control your monitors or service other gear, you're now out of luck unless you can connect everything up to your ES-8.
With a DC coupled audio interface with MULTIPLE OUTPUTS, you can use spare outputs to drive your modular synth gear and use the others for normal audio. The issue you'll run into with the audio interface is the range of voltages that it can reproduce.
Another option is to use a MIDI to CV interface like an FH2 that acts as a MIDI interface. Or a MIDI to CV converter which simply takes 5pin or TRS MIDI and converts that to CV.
A slew limiter takes an input signal and follows it, but at a delayed rate.
Square waves are excellent for showing what a slew limiter does. Visualize a really slow square wave that's two seconds long and 8volts... at the beginning it begins its positive cycle to +8volts and in the middle it dips down to -8volts. It's a nice long square wave.
Now for whatever reason, you don't want an actual square wave. Maybe its abrupt nature doesn't work for your needs. You need something that slopes. Enter slew limiter.
You can set the slew limiter to follow the square wave, but take time to get to the +8volt peak than its natural instant peak. The same can be said for the negative cycle. So the output looks more like a trapezoid than a square.
Slew generators tend to fall into two major categories. You have slew limiters that apply the same slope to both the positive and negative slope. You also have slew limiter that can act independently on the positive and negative slope.
Maths is a popular module that can be used as a dual slew limiter. It has many other functions. Plugging a signal into the input rather than trigger will get Maths to act as a slew limiter.
As far as usage. They can be applied anywhere you want to take a source signal and smooth out any changes in the signal. There's some blur between envelope generator and slew limiters. But an envelope generator is designed take a trigger (square wave) and act in accordance to its duration. If you're dealing with ONE trigger than the functionality will probably overlap. If you're dealing with a series of changes that never return to zero volts. The EG won't track properly.
I'm leaving my home town for a (hopefully long) trip across Europe. As I was saying good bye to my modular system, the idea of putting up a small system to take away started to grow in me and I came up with something I would like to show you.
I have 3 constraints that guided my choice:
- Use a 4Ms Pod 64X cause it looks small enough and sturdy
- Try to use modules you have already (JF, Mangrove and Resonant Equalizer)
- Only add modules that are easy to find (I'm leaving in a month)
I'm not good at patching mentally (which makes planning a rack super hard haha) but the idea is to use Just Friends as a clock + source of modulation (ASR envelopes to VCA, LFOs to O&C quantiser, etc.) and O&C as a melodic sequencer and quantiser. I would use the 2HP loop to pre-record drones and multiple layers (I was going for the W/ initially but it's not available anywhere and I've never been fully convinced of the module). I chose 2 oscillators that should work great in pair: the mangrove is my favourite oscillator and I felt like almost any 6HP secondary oscillator would do it. But more on that second osc later.
I'm curious what you guys think of putting a REQ there. Obviously it's really big but it may be my favourite module and I don't know how to make music without it. I think it would be super helpful to create drones and I really need a sort of mixer. If you think of an alternative, what would it be?
Later on, I've found this video online: and it should give you a good idea of what I'm trying to achieve. But what really bugs me is how central the filter is in his piece and I don't thin the EQ would be as effective there. From this came a questioning on wether I should keep the second oscillator (currently an Instruo Ts-L although it's super expensive and I don't "love" it, but it could be Godspeed+ or a Dixie II or an MCO) or replace it with a filter (I was thinking of a µVCF because of its sine wave).
Of course, I truly want both and I've started to look at 80HP skiffs, but this is not the answer I'm looking for.
Anyway, feedback greatly appreciated.
I have actually the Befaco Out v3 but could not find anything about it being isolated. But maybe the reason is also that I am not very well read when it comes such things. Would be great if someone could confirm. Because that would save me another 2hp vs. the WMD Pro Output.
Again big thanks to everyone for all the great content and feedback.
Three very simple use cases off the top of my head:
1) Sample and hold => slew => control CV
Rather than have an immediate jump when the sample and hold is triggered you will get a descent or ascent to the new value over your specified duration.
The slew generator here will function as an "envelope follower" for the bass drum. When you invert that and pipe it into your compressor's sidechain input the compressor will make everything running through it quieter allowing your bassdrum (mixed elsewhere I think?) to boom in the mix.
3) Sequencer 1v/oct => slew => oscillator
You can use a slew generator here to create a portamento affect. Some slew generators have different values for up vs down, so you could have your portamento only appear as notes go up or alternatively if they go down, you could have different slew lengths up vs down, or you could dynamically gate and vary the slew length over time to have your portamento constantly changing.
There's way more possibilities than these three, but they're some simple examples I could think of.
I don't have one at this time, but I'd like to know about their applications and uses. Where is a slew generator more useful than an envelope generator? How do people use them in ways that are useful and non-replicable via other ADSR/LFO/EG type modules? Thanks.
FedEx is the worst (UPS close behind). They lie about delivery times, they don't provide notifications as requested half the time, they don't honour the signature requirement. I pretty much have to spend two days sitting within sight of the front window to spot them. (Packages have been known to disappear in my nabe.)
I have a splitting headache because I ordered some gear from the retailing juggernaut that is Sweetwater, and since it qualified for overnight via FedEx Ground, I went for that, then sat back the next day for this to show up.
Did it? No. Instead, what happened to mine and probably a bunch of others' orders is that they went to a suburb of Indianapolis...and stopped there for about 18 hours for what I was told was a snag due to "staffing issues". OK...fine, I've done this dance with FedEx's clown show before, so sit back, wait, and then tomorrow (ie: today)...
Nothing. Again. OK, check the app on the phone...and it arrived in Champaign, left Champaign, went to Champaign again, all early in the AM...and as of right now, this "overnight" shipment is coming up on Day #4.
Oh, HELL no! OK, so call FedEx AGAIN, punch through their customer deflection phone system AGAIN, and let's see what's causing this. The answers were appalling...apparently this was the package moving from the terminal to the local office, but this massive distance was simply a move from one part of their terminal to another part of that same terminal. Yes, scanning the package this way might make it appear that the package was on its way...save that that 'way' is about 150 yards.
I demanded answers at this point. S**t ain't funny. So I got connected to a higher-up in their customer mollification department, and they promised to "get this sorted out", and they'd call back in a half-hour.
Two hours later...the phone rings. And it's not the previous person, but someone at the Champaign terminal who was VERY hostile and combative, to say nothing of being a helluva insult-slinger. They suggested I come over and get the box. I suggested that maybe you need to do your effin' job and bring the box over like you're supposed to. Call ended shortly after that in an avalanche of four-letter words on BOTH ends! Call FedEx AGAIN, navigate the customer-deflector AGAIN...then I get told that "that package wasn't an overnight". Oh? Hmmm...Sweetwater.com, check this, that...nope, that assertion is 100% BS. Either that, or you need to see what THEIR website says about this "free overnight" shipping gobbledygook.
So...call Sweetwater, where this all started. They wanted me to, actually, as they were watching how this got dealt with by FedEx (which goes quite a way to my deduction that there were A LOT of Sweetwater shipments in that trailer that got stuck in Indy) because THEY have been pissed at FedEx since FedEx dropped their delivery guarantees which apparently has led to a bunch of lackadaisical behavior at that "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight" carrier.
I should note that I had Sweetwater change my shipment info around this point, leaving a note on my account that Sweetwater "absolutely, positively" NEVER ship me anything via FedEx Ground ever again, period.
Now, for those of you reading this who don't know the geography here, Champaign and Ft. Wayne, Indiana are only about 3-4 hours apart. By car. At this point, I could've gone over to Sweetwater several times, gotten a bit of the gear each time, and then by the time I'd reassembled it all we would be at...well, about NOW, actually.
So the lesson is: if you're ordering from Sweetwater and you're in the geographic range for FedEx Ground "overnight"...well, don't. Have them ship your stuff via UPS, USPS, ANYthing but FedEx Ground if you need it ASAP. Or if you need it at all, for that matter, if you value your gear AND your sanity!
Stereo resonant EQ, sort of akin to the one you find in many Serge builds, but with the additional insanity of having morphing capabilities from setting to setting. Small and dangerous!
-- Lugia
Stereo resonant EQ, sort of akin to the one you find in many Serge builds, but with the additional insanity of having morphing capabilities from setting to setting. Small and dangerous!
EDIT: They're proving difficult to find. If someone was committed to avoid putting an output module in their main case, I suppose they could bring along a tiny separate case with an isolated output module and maybe a few other utilities.
-- CardiacTasty
Directly from Sweetwater's listing for this:
"Note: The Morley Hum Eliminator isn’t intended for use with mic- and instrument-level signals or powered speaker lines."
So, no, it won't work unless you stepped the levels down to line-level before hitting it. Given that, I'd say just go with a stereo balanced-out module in the cab, because a stereo attenuator module would take up about the same space.
@Ronin1973 Do you have any output modules you would suggest that have a pair of built in isolation transformers?
EDIT: I see three at the moment that seem to qualify and also have a small profile:
- Happy Nerding's Isolater
- Joranalogue Audio Design's Transmit 2
- WMD's Pro Output
-- CardiacTasty
A couple of others that work nicely AND which have parallel stereo mixing capability (great for FX returns) would be Bastl's Ciao! (5 hp) and Happy Nerding's awesome OUT (6 hp). Both of these have some interesting routing capabilities that allow you to do a few more things there than just level step-down and isolation, and both also give you an extra headphone pre.
My fave? Tiptop's Forbidden Planet, but that's because I owned an actual Steiner-Parker Synthacon for a number of years and came to LOVE that yowling, cutting filter. Nothing exactly like that weird topology for generating leads that literally RIP their way through your mix!
MOTU drivers? Yeah, they're out there...check here: https://motu.com/download and you'll see the 8pre under "Audio". Win10 drivers, even!
What I like about them is that, by putting these "obsolete" interfaces back to work, we're working to keep e-waste out of landfills. You'd be shocked at what major studios toss out sometimes; nothing is as satisfying as pulling a few Altec/WE "birdcages" out of a Music Row dumpster!
