I am looking to enter the modular rabbit hole with the Minibrute 2s and Rackbrute 6u system.
I am looking for a versatile semi-mobile set up with the potential for live jamming with friends. Following feedback on previous racks, I have whittled it down to this set up.
Notes
• I already have a Neutron
• The sequencer on the Minibrute 2 s will be used for sequencing duties
• Feedback on previous rack posts mentioned the importance of utility modules. Would the 2 LFOs on the (Minibrute), patch bay on the Neutron and the Maths provide enough in this regard?
Here’s an improvisation to give an idea of the musical territory.
Any feedback would be welcome and much appreciated. Thanks for your time.
So far, I've populated a Happy ending skiff with a pre-amp, a sample player and the main workhorses which are an Instruo Lubadh and an Arbhar and wondering what the community would subtract/add? I know some of this is purely subjective, but I'm just trying to get the most bang for the buck
Love the direction you're going based on what you describe! I'm no expert, only a half-year into modular myself, but a couple things that popped into my head right off the top:
If you want the most bang for your buck, Instruo probably isn't the way to go. Granted, those modules seem really cool, I'd love a Lubadh myself, but I'm all but certain you can replicate what you want to do with those modules with much less expensive options, and probably save a little HP in the process.
Same kinda goes for WMD, though I can understand why SCLPL would have particular appeal for your purposes.
You're going to want some VCAs (at least something like a Doepfer A-135-2, or an A-130-8) and some mixers. And some multiples, preferably buffered multiples. I imagine the ES can do some of these things, but you'll want dedicated jacks/units too. It also wouldn't surprise me if you end up wanting more ADSRs.
I might try my hand at building a skiff I'd go with for what you describe just for fun!
One of the biggest issues I have with small skiff builds is that they require lots of compromises. So, I instead opted to show what you'd get if you started in a 7U Intellijel cab, with both granular and sample modules being WAY more beefy as well as easy to operate...especially live. There are compromises here, too...but far less, plus some interesting opportunities popped up.
Now, check THIS out! Same idea, but with a much better powered cab with more space for modulation schemes that the 84 hp skiff simply cannot accommodate.
Tiles: First up is a stereo input control. This gets signals from a pair of the four 1/4" jacks built into the cab. Then I added a Noise Tools tile to give you a clock source, sample and hold, slewing and noise. Next up is a mono-to-stereo effects processor that offers reverb, delay, and chorus. And then, a VCO...but we'll get to that in a bit. Then two stereo VCAs for level control over the input pairs to the stereo mix out...which is also connected to a 1/4" jack pair but ALSO, the on-panel L-R out remains hot. Something else we'll get to in a bit...
Top row: Disting. Then a stereo compressor, which you'll find useful for mildly squishing the audio TO the sampler so that your samples can maintain a degree of dynamic similarity. And as for the sampler, I swapped the Instruo one for a much easier to use (thanks to its touchscreen) Blackbox. Similarly, I swapped out the other Instruo granualizer for a Mordax GXN...for pretty much the same reasons. Whenever you're screwing around with samples, etc, it's SUPER useful to have modules with screens so that you can get a better editing and/or audio control going on than with ones that don't have that. After those, a Veils allows you to either mix the two sources together in stereo, or you can use them as a pair of stereo VCAs per each source.
Now...remember that VCO? The next thing here is a Make Noise modDemix, which is a dual balanced modulator, and that VCO is for splitting across the carrier (via a mult widget...there's no mults onboard, which is about right for something this small, plus you don't "rob space" for a mult or two) inputs so that you can ring modulate in stereo. Next, Intellijel's awesome and super-versatile stereo VCF, the Morgasmotron, and this is followed by the SCLPL for further timbral strangeness. Then, last up you've got an FX Aid XL for more "global" processing. Also, this could be implemented by sending its wet output to one dual VCA and then to one stereo pair on the Stereo Mixer, giving you a parallel processing possibility.
Bottom row: Yeah, this is the seriously new...and VERY needed...modulation row. On the left, the little white sliver is a Konstant Labs PWRchekr to keep an eye on your DC rail health. Then the Tubbutech gives you both a MIDI interface AND a microtonal-capable quantizer. And yeah, even with no sequencer, you can STILL do all sorts of pitch trickery by clocking the quantizer and then feeding it an LFO. Plus, the Tubbutech gives you MIDI over USB and the ability to store configurations via micro SD. Next is the Time Warp, made even more useful now thanks to that stereo input tile. After that is SSF's brilliant utility "one-stop", the Tool-box, giving you a bunch of needed functions that were missing before.
The Ochd got flipped for a QPLFO from 4ms. This has four independent LFOs that are tap-timeable but which ALSO have utterly insane frequency ranges...like, say, as slow as 70+ MINUTES per cycle! And they can go up into the lower audio range, too. Then for CVable rise/falls and also cascadeable looped envelope gens, I dropped in a Quadrax and its Qx expander, which allows the cascading thanks to its EOR/EOF trigger outs. But you can also tie them into the Maths, too, and make things REALLY over the top. And hey, lookit...there's a Maths! A 3xVCA gives you dedicated linear VCAs for modulation level control, and a Frap 321 next to it is there for even MORE modulation scrambling via offset generators and several other odd things.
Then for more complex envelopes, the Zadar and Nin give you four plus a little extra control via the Nin. But if you need to tweak envelopes on the fly, I put in a Paratek CVable Dual ADSR for a total of six (and actually ten if you count the Quadrax) full-on EGs. And...a headphone preamp; remember that "hot output" on the Stereo Mixer tile above? You can connect the tile's on-panel outs to the headphone preamp, and you'll STILL get your output pair on the cab's 1/4" jacks.
Now THIS is a hellacious sound manipulation machine! The control level over the upper audio row is pumped up to INSANE levels via the new modulation row, plus you get a few neat extras via the tile row. Lots of trickery going on in this now...
My favorite because its the one I have :) I got it to pair with my Void Modular Gravitational Waves dual VCO but I'm finding I like what it dose with my Arturia Minibrute 2 and Hydrasynth as well...very nice...but I don't have nearly the experience with the variety of those who have posted previously
Yeah, I'd REALLY love to get my hands on the Marble Physics module in particular. Their big Clock Source module also makes me salivate. I went through their website the other day and bookmarked about a dozen units that I'd really, really like to at least try, and maybe own long-term. But... yeah... they are also expensive, and I am poor. Or poor relative to the expense of this hobby at least.
Lol -- Noise Engineering modules seem very popular and as far as I've seen pretty reputable, but yeah, their designs put me off too. I hate the busy panels and I could do without the Latin names too, which just make them very confusing to keep straight or intuit what kind of general category each module fits in. So I haven't taken the dive on any NE yet. There are a few that interest me though.
Same goes for the vaunted Make Noise. The black ones have a sort of appeal I guess, but seem to always be absurdly more expensive just for that (?), and the silver ones are ugly AF imo. That being said, I got a good deal on an Echophon, and like it quite well all in all, slightly wonky UI aside... certainly enough to explore other MN modules going forward.
As for BL, I feel like I should hate their designs, but most of them I actually kinda like (though a few of them are a real eyesore). Couldn't say why exactly, ADDAC or Doepfer vintage or more conservative looking modules are usually more my speed, aesthetically speaking.
Weirdly, I don't really like Mutable Instruments aesthetic all that much. I can understand the appeal, but something about their particular brand of cleanly/pristine/Helvetica-level-perfectness somehow translates to "big gay knobs / digital toy" for me at a gut level. And like NE's latin names, their gimmick with the module names all being sort of the same and giving you only the faintest clue about what kind of module it is, isn't a huge turn on to me, being fairly new to modular. (Which one is Blinds again? Veils? Shades? I have to look them up every time). Not to mention that beyond that, so far, I've been only mildly impressed by the two I've tried -- an Elements clone and a Rings non-clone. Elements was ... okay ... interesting to experiment with for a weekend or so ... but not really my thing at the end of the day. Rings is cool enough, I suppose.
Well, Kinks is discontinued, for one thing...that could have something to do with it.
My suggestion would be to sub this for the Kinks: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/steady-state-fate-tool-box It's got everything save for the Kinks' S&H/noise...and the stuff it's got that the Kinks doesn't have compared to the Tool Box is pretty sizable. 6 hp only, too.
Sounds like a win to me! Erica's "zoned" approach to power is something others have latched onto as well, with Arturia's Rackbrutes being good example of that. But the Erica cab build quality is also a plus...the only thing about the 3 x 126 that you'll need to watch is module depth, as it's kinda shallow over the P/S itself.
-- Lugia
Yeah I was doing some googling about that, I've got 4 modules at 50mm deep (plasma drive, es-3, es-6, es-7), but I think the 7mm of clearance will be enough since I'm putting them in the corners
Sounds like a win to me! Erica's "zoned" approach to power is something others have latched onto as well, with Arturia's Rackbrutes being good example of that. But the Erica cab build quality is also a plus...the only thing about the 3 x 126 that you'll need to watch is module depth, as it's kinda shallow over the P/S itself.
Anyone else have this problem? All the time I'll be looking at a rack and think, "That's supposed to be a Links, how'd a Kinks get in there!" I used to think it was me, that I was picking the wrong one, but it keeps happening no matter how intentional I am about clicking on Links...so... I'm wondering... are there gremlins in the site swapping Links with Kinks... it's the only possibility that makes sense...
I really, really appreciate the advice, and if Trogtronics weren't backordered I'd get one today. However I found someone local to me selling a 9U 126HP Erica Synths case with 1.25Ma per row on the + and - 12. Seems like it'll do the trick, and it'll even have more room for extra modules! I won't need to sell a few that I don't have room for!
I'm centering my studio around sampling/field recordings. My main controller/composition tool is an Akai Force for ease of sampling, etc. along with a Microfreak for what it can do, a Zoia for effects and a Blackbox as a swiss army/portable device.
I decided to go modular instead of something like the Octatrack for mangling found sounds/field recordings and my questions center around that.
So far, I've populated a Happy ending skiff with a pre-amp, a sample player and the main workhorses which are an Instruo Lubadh and an Arbhar and wondering what the community would subtract/add? I know some of this is purely subjective, but I'm just trying to get the most bang for the buck
And it's crazy-land power because Trogotronics is very accustomed to building tube gear. Those require overspecced power like you wouldn't believe, and the inrush on tubes can be really extreme. My bet is that that's a "stingy" 10A, and the REAL capacity is above that...10A is just what Trogotronics would like you to run it at.
I don't like BL's stuff. Controversies aside, my sticky point with them is about their UIs. Some of the panel designs look like they were designed by accident, for example. Others have the "chopstick fingers required" problem, as they're too dense for the panel size used. There's several makers that I ding routinely due to their horrible panel designs and/or graphics (looking at YOU, Noise Engineering!), but BL goes so far that I can't even consider them seriously, especially not for starting modular users.
ADDAC's got some really wild modules, though...and not just these. They've got a T-network filter pair just for pinging, for old-school beatbox sounds. And the Marble Physics "LFO" is utterly bonkers. Plus, if you need a case that a small family could live in, they were pretty much first with the 197 hp (1 meter) widths.
There's a few things in this that I find confusing. For example, three Moddemixes? And where are the actual VCAs? The other envelope gens besides the one Function module? Why only one audio source, albeit a rather good one? Why no Brains with the Pressure Points, so that you can have something of a second sequencer? Attenuverters? Submixers? Other utilities?
You're only broke if you threw money at this build. And I do mean BROKE...as this build has some pretty serious issues that compromise its capabilities. It would probably be a good idea to explain what you're trying to build this FOR so that some of us can give you a hand with it, as it drastically needs some reworking.
The 3xVCA should actually be easier to get in the EU than elsewhere, given that they're in Germany. Bug Schneider's Laden in Berlin (here's the listing there: https://schneidersladen.de/en/happy-nerding-3x-vca) and see if/when they'll have them in again.
This is probably the fault of a few of us on here who've been giving advice. That triple VCA gives you so much modulation control capabilities in a skinny 6 hp that it's RIDICULOUS...for many of my builds, it's THE modulation row VCA.
Interesting, thx for sharing. I understand giving a company a berth if they're kinda generally shitty -- e.g. Behringer -- but yeah, he seems likable enough in the interview, and if the past controversy was resolved to all parties satisfaction...(shrug). And while some people don't like his designs, I kinda dig them, and some of his filters sound mean AF from the few demos I've found. I had a Mini Shimmery and it did feel on the cheaply made side -- mostly basic plastic parts, kinda loose pots, some questionable and haphazard decisions in terms of the UI arguably -- but that said, it worked perfectly fine, was interesting, did what it was supposed to do. Just wasn't really the sound I expected or was after at the time (again, scarcity of demos). I might give one of his filters a go in the near future.
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?
