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anal-log sounds painful - I'd buy an analog mixer if I were you!!

sub-mixing and attenuation is really useful in the rack - so I'd get some if I were you!

stacked cables should always be kept to a minimum - by chaining them instead of stacking them!

whats the use case for the midi->cv module?
-- JimHowell1970

I am anal-log! :-D

To answer your question: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the Keystep Pro's knobs only output midi. The Keystep has a usb midi output and thus I thought the little 2HP midi module was a no-brainer. It's cheap and cheerful and better than nothing. If this is not the case then I can drop the midi module.

I have a more general question for peeps: Is there a way to make CV outputs on the Keystep Pro accessible via Ableton Live?

-- rextable

re:keystep knobs - I'd read the manual - I suspect you'd want both more channels, and a midi->cv converter that works with midi cc - I suspect that the 2hp midi module only works with a single channel of pitch/gate... maybe have a look at the befaco midi thing... but note that midi is stepped 0-127 - whereas a truly analog rotary controller will be continuous within the specified range

the cv outputs should be duplicated in midi - again read the manual

The SeM20 from Bubblesound, their interpretation of an Oberheim SEM filter combined with a MS20 filter.
This is an older module, from 2008, not their later one. Modular Addict still sells this one.
Great sounding unit. OK build, but getting the pots, jacks, and faceplate aligned was a big pain. Even though the soldering is easy, I would not recommend this as an early kit in your career.
But again, it sounds great.
SeM20 build

anal-log sounds painful - I'd buy an analog mixer if I were you!!

sub-mixing and attenuation is really useful in the rack - so I'd get some if I were you!

stacked cables should always be kept to a minimum - by chaining them instead of stacking them!

whats the use case for the midi->cv module?
-- JimHowell1970

I am anal-log! :-D

To answer your question: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the Keystep Pro's knobs only output midi. The Keystep has a usb midi output and thus I thought the little 2HP midi module was a no-brainer. It's cheap and cheerful and better than nothing. If this is not the case then I can drop the midi module.

I have a more general question for peeps: Is there a way to make CV outputs on the Keystep Pro accessible via Ableton Live?

anal-log sounds painful - I'd buy an analog mixer if I were you!!

sub-mixing and attenuation is really useful in the rack - so I'd get some if I were you!

stacked cables should always be kept to a minimum - by chaining them instead of stacking them!

whats the use case for the midi->cv module?

Behold!

Three stereo channels of line level IO to feed: a percussion/sample playback channel (top left corner), a monosynth channel (top-right corner) and an audio processing/FX chain (middle row). Of course, it's a modular system so it could be patched any-which-way.

Main sequencer = Arturia Keystep Pro.

All Line level IO to be connected either to a small anal-log mixer or directly to an PC audio interface. Because of this, I figured having level control on the IO modules themselves was pointless. I chose a Befaco output module for the monomyth because.... Why not?

I'd like to keep stacked cables to a minimum, hence the multiple multiple/attenuator modules.

Thoughts welcome

I’d recommend taking a look at the Noise Reap Anomaly filter for a low cost but unique addition to this rack.
Have fun and good luck!

I really like characterful filters, hence:

For context, I have a Mother-32 and an MS-20 mini so I can patch out/into them if need be.
Given that I have a Mother-32, is the Doepfer A-108 redundant?
Much appreciated!

Hello All!

Heads up: this is mostly me just wanting to share my creation with humans who care, with a few questions at the end. I've only had my wife to share my excitement with and I don't want to exhaust her anymore : )

I've been lurking for the last few months, pulled the trigger in March and started building my dream synth. I've been doing droning/ambient things with electric bass and an old Moog Taurus v2 for a long while, and previously played with some other friends, but COVID and life changes meant I was making a lot more music on my own. I did some research and thought that the modular route would open a lot of sonic capabilities to let me make more complete audio experiments by myself.

I've spent more money than I thought I would give myself permission to (oops!) but my oh my this is one of the best decisions I've made in quite a while : )

I mostly like to have slow moving drones, introducing some generative melodies here and there with some rhythmic pulses ebbing and flowing. I love harnessed randomness, and adapting to how things are moving on their own. I plan on eventually playing other instruments alongside evolving patches from the rack, mostly in droning/ambient/generative territories.

Inspired by Mylarmelodies' videos on small systems and generative strategies, I wanted the Turing machine as my main melody generator, running that through the uO_c for mainly quantizing duties. I have it running hemispheres so I can use half for quant and half for AD/burst/Bernoulli/extra sequencer/whatever else I'm in need of. I recently got the ALM O/A/x2 that I put before the quantizer to play around with scaling and transposing the Turing cv before the quantizer, makes for some fun sweeps and recontextualizing. I'm also using the Morcom (aka Pulses) to trigger the note holds in uO_c to make for a sort of sample and hold, making less parallel but still related note information to pass to the sound sources. My other main CV source for pitch is pressure points. Sometimes I'll run direct from the outs to muiltiple sound sources, sometimes I'll run the 3 outs to a the Pico SEQS to make a longer sequence. I just got Beast's Chalkboard to do octave switching out of the uO_c before sound sources, which has been a nice addition. My main voice usually comes out of Beehive, bass and some counterpoint out of the halves of Paradox (sometimes running them off the same CV), and nRings sometimes is a voice of its own but I've been exploring using the IN for the exciter a little more recently, avoiding the Insta-ambient tones when I can haha

Hexamix for some VCA/mixing duties, Doepfer Octal VCA for the rest. Ochd is my main modulation source, I love using the slowest LFOs and inverted copies of them to control the faster LFOs to make the timing a little less regular. Pam's is main clock as well as some extra modulation. Stages is my main envelope source, if I have extra channels there I'll use them for S&H or LFOs. 4tten and Shades for some hands-on fine tuning as well as offset/static CV generation, uBurst and Pico DSP for effects. I've mostly used the Clouds clone as reverb with a little of the Clouds flourish, and DSP for delay.

I have an outboard Mackie mixer that I send everything into that has Aux sends/returns for the effect modules.

So now for my questions:

1) Everything in the pic I have and have been using except for the Brains. I've mostly just been using Pico SEQS with some offset voltage to limit it to the first 3 channels to run through the Pressure Points channels, and then I manually pick which pad's CV is being sent, so I have 4 3-step sequences. I don't plan on expanding PP to have 8 steps, and I'm wondering if it's still worth it to add brains?

2) The other thing I feel like I'd like is something like the Malekko Invert Mix. I use shades to invert Ochd LFOs, and it seems like kind of a waste of a shades channel if I could invert it separately someplace else. Is that a good plan? I have a sneaking suspicion that between 4tten, Shades, and O/A/x2 I'm using more Attenuators/verters than I should, maybe a little high on VCA count too, but honestly I use them. Maybe that means I'm over-patching, I don't know

3) I had initially gotten the ADDAC T-Noiseworks, I like the rhythms you can get out of Pulses and Pam's with random skip, and I sort of miss it. Should I go down in VCAs/Attenuators to get that back in? or just get a small kick drum module and gate some noise in the VCAs?

Thanks for letting me rant, I've so appreciated the insights many of you have had on other racks, I really feel like it's helped me start off on the right foot and not make regrettable purchases. Good stuff : )

Edit: link to rack

EDITED Apr 25th 2022, 16:26

Understood. I´m currently fiddling around with excel sheets, listing the base data but most importantly keeping an inventory regarding number of balanced/unbalanced IO, impedances, digital interfaces etc. Much like the patches section, it would be awesome to have that in an easy to handle format.

My best bet at the moment is color coding the excel cells and the patchbay fields, so I´ll go with that for a while.

Thanks for the fast and clear answer!

Duplicate, already found here:

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/shakmat-modular-dual-dagger

It's not from the table but from the experience with the pedal section we are not sure if a planner for rack gear is really that necessary.

Just bought Soma's sensor adapter with the intent to control Lyra's envelope with an external trigger signal (preferably from Soma Pulsar 23 or Moog Mother 32)

The idea is to be able to have Lyra's voices decay when triggered like an ADSR would do when creating an envelope for a more conventional synthesizer.

I'm aware one is able to achieve this by playing the knobs on either Lyra or the adapter by hand, but my goal here is to be able to sequence it, and have Lyra's sound more staccato and less legato.

Anyone know how this is done?

Hi All,

Yeah that article on Synth Anatomy says it all :-( Thank you Jtunes_ia for sharing that with us.

Well of course for a few more years one can buy Mutable Instrument modules on the second hand market and some companies might even start to make some of MI-modules in their way (that already happens), since it's all open source but that doesn't really solve the issue here...

The fact is that if soon Mutable Instruments doesn't exist any more, is that we are going to miss that special way that Emilie had of thinking of new modules and how to use them. For me, Mutable Instruments, is one of those few interesting brands that have a slightly different approach. It's not really your daily common straight forward to use module, say like a Doepfer. With Doepfer, for example, an LFO is "just" an LFO. I am not saying that that's bad, no not at all, I actually like that, hence I am quite a Doepfer fan. However Mutable Instruments gives us that extra humph, those extra interesting "bits" to modules and that typical Mutable Instruments' way of approaching Eurorack modules that no other brand can or does like Mutable Instrument does.

Make Noise reminds me a bit of that but it's still different.

So, sure, for a while don't worry, on the 2nd hand market you still can buy Mutable Instruments modules but the saddest part of this news that Mutable Instruments will stop to exist is that there will be no longer new interesting modules coming on the market with that kind of "interesting way of creating a Eurorack module" like Mutable Instruments did.

I am not even saying that Mutable Instruments is the best Eurorack brand in the world, no I don't think so, but that funny and bit weird angle of looking at it and creating new modules, that's what I am going to miss if Emilie leaves us here in the dark ;-)

Mutable Instruments and Emilie will leave me with that as bitter-sweet memories.

A very big thank you to Emilie (if she's member here, I don't know) for those modules you have made so far and enlighten us with. Sorry to hear that you will leave our Eurorack synthesizer "world" but of course I wish you all the best in the future, whatever your plans will be.

In honour and with huge respect, Garfield Modular.

Edit: Removed typo.

EDITED Apr 24th 2022, 15:42

I really am sad bout that, I wish her a lot of happiness in her (new ?) adventure..

I found out about this on Synth Anatomy. Sigh.

I wonder if she will open-source any more of the designs. That and Reverb seem to be the only remaining options for new MI modules.

EDITED Apr 24th 2022, 12:57

Hey, thanks very much :)
There is definitely lots of scope for ambient sound, the little clicky static crackle stuff is great to add a decayed natural feel.

:)

Modulargrid became an essential part of my studio setup, I love the inclusion of pedals. But what about 19" rack gear? I´m sure someone thought about that already, so was there a decision not to? Or is this on the roadmap?

Not too shabby, nope. One recommendation I'd suggest for augmenting the CV/mod manipulation would be, when it finally hits the stores, the Tiptop/Buchla 257t. Loads of abuse potential for this...
-- Lugia

Thanks. At the moment I'm gravitating more towards a Maestro - I've got Sapel in my Frap case - and the new Constellation: that combo would replace some modules I've bought when I started building my system (Muxlicer, Rampage, EC etc). But: the TipTop 200 series are intriguing, to say the least...

Excellent dream-like landscape. I've enjoyed it all the way through.

Peter Blasser's Fourses and Sprott, your welcome.

EDITED Feb 27th 2023, 07:02

yeah... sigh...

Not too shabby, nope. One recommendation I'd suggest for augmenting the CV/mod manipulation would be, when it finally hits the stores, the Tiptop/Buchla 257t. Loads of abuse potential for this...

VCAs...well, if you want versatile, Veils has that. The ability to sweep between linear and logarithmic responses is a huge plus, and the design itself is so good that...well, lookit all the clones! But at 10 hp for a quad VCA mixer, how can you go wrong? But if we're talking about only linear VCAs, a big fave is Happy Nerding's 3XVCA. Unfortunately, some butthurt jackass decided it would be a good idea to start a war with Ukraine, so if/when we get more of HN's stuff is very up in the air.

If you have a cab or power supply that has no indicators for the DC rails, I STRONGLY recommend keeping 1 hp open for a KonstantLabs PWRchekr. It's small, it's cheap, and it lets you know if you're having DC rail issues.

Mixing utilities: there's two mixers that I like for altering/mangling modulation signals, depending on how much space I'm dealing with. And those are the Tiptop MISO and Frap's 321. These give the best ratio of usefulness to cost on something that many users unfortunately ignore, that being a way to get a lot more mod signals out of just a couple of modulation modules. Paired with a couple of linear VCAs, this is the quick and simple (and if you use a dual Veils clone VCA to pair with the 321, also very SMALL) way to get at that.

And of course, one of the best purveyors of useful utes has got to be Ladik. 4 (or multiples thereof) hp form factors, cheap prices...that's a win. Especially their voltage "reading" modules, which output a gate depending on the input and module behavior. If you're doing heavy sequencing, or especially generative, their stuff has plenty of the "tricks" needed.

That would be seriously bad news :-(
-- GarfieldModular

No joke. Losing Mutable would be just....AAAGHH! I can see a lot of the reasons, too. So it makes some sense on a basic level, but still...damn...

In my current rack, which is a half full Intellijel 7U, I have an enormous amount of VCAs and mixers. Take a look below. A summary:

• Veils. It's just a great and very flexible VCA. You get control over linear/exponential and the offset. In exponential mode, it can give you lots and lots of gain. It also acts as a mixer.
• Doepfer octuple VCA. Just linear, no relative volumes, but for sheer VCA per HP, it's unbeatable. Works great e.g. for stereo (same envelope via multiple to two channels) or beats made out of noise (summed into one).
• Quadratt. I sometimes feel like I need a second one of these. It can do bipolar, e.g. inverse an envelope for ducking, and it acts as a mixer.
• Ladik stereo mixer. I used to use this a lot before I got the ES-9. Output went to the Befaco out and then to my speakers. Nowadays, I mix in my iPad and the mix goes back to the ES-9, then out to the speakers. Still, I don’t regret having this extra mixer.

Other utilities? On my shortlist are the Divkid Rnd step, Intellijel Shifty, an FSR, Pamela's, Joranalogue's Select 2 and Compare 2, etc. Pamela+Rnd Step for S&H for randomisation, but also to reduce the sample rate of something. I'm actually also considering the Joranalogue Orbit 3 as a source of chaos. Even though it's not really a utility, it can serve as a many things: VCO, LFO or modulation source, …

veils for vcas - 4 vcas in 10hp - and actual amplifiers...

matrix mixers - Ive got a couple of DIY ones, but if I was going to get just one now I'd go for the doepfer due to ergonomics - if you want voltage control, then the 4ms VCAM

sequential switch - again the doepfer one is inexpensive and does what it says it does

logic - joranalogue compare2

also can't go wrong with happy nerding 3MIA (or their 3VCA), mutable kinks and links (or clones now they've been discontinued) or the WMD/SSF toolbox (if you can find one, again discontinued)

EDITED Apr 23rd 2022, 15:25

I love this community! - All great ideas/advice. One of the things I've been struggling with has been deciding to put the moogs into the eurorack or not. The thing is that I've been using these DFAM and Subharmonicon soooo much as starting points for music and sound design that I keep feeling that they are such a huge part of my process right now, why keep them separate? The other thing I just wanted to explain is that I'm working with a really limited amount of studio space and was putting the moogs into the rack in an effort to conserve all desk space and keep all Modules together in one rack. I'm going to keep thinking about if I should take them out or not, I really appreciate the advice. I have them both in a tiered rack right now and they're great of course I just thought if I need to conserve studio space why not put them all together into a larger Eurorack...

Thanks for the info about the 2hp modules, makes a lot of sense!

I'm also considering putting the Mutable Instruments modules into a separate rack which would live below the Eurorack on my desk (close by) - I know, I know, seems really weird but, I'm almost starting to think about the MI modules as their own set of utilities and functions.

Can anyone recommend their favorite VCA's and Utilities? Thanks again

Stereo channel 1 of SSF Vortices is the IRv4 with added Sine wave going through the DannySound Timbre and then into Mimeophon.
Stereo channel 2 of SSF Vortices is the IRv4 Drum-Output going into a bit of delay from the Erica PICO DSP.
Stereo channel 3 of SSF Vortices is the IRv4 with a nice wash of Monsoon Clouds Reverb.
DivKid / Istruo Ochd and 2hp RND are doing all the CV control of IRv4 along with swiping the Color control on Mimeophon.

EDITED Apr 24th 2022, 08:24

Hey everyone,

Here's my current system: 3 cases. I wanted to keep the Frap Tools together in one case, all mutable in one row and I also think the EC and BIA (Noise Engineering) combo works well together.

Upper 2 rows are my Frap Tools system. Middle 3 rows are for audio & CV procerssing. Bottom two rows are for my drums (midi out to Digitakt), bass and further processing.

As always this setup changes a lot, but the main concepts stay roughly the same.
I'm also adding the Oxi One when it arrives. Looking forward to integrate it with my setup.

Let me know what you think about the configuration, what could be better, wat you like or don't like.

EDITED Apr 23rd 2022, 12:15

Hello,

i tried to play a midi file in mode J3 from the sd card but unfortunately i don't hear any sounds. It can't be the SD card because the wav playback works. I exported the midi file via ableton live as usual. The files are on the SD card and not in a folder

Textfile Name: midi-playlist-free.txt

disting playlist v1
melody01.mid

can someone tell me what's wrong?

EDITED Apr 23rd 2022, 11:15

Sold all of my turntables, drum machines, records, samplers and synths in an effort to de clutter my house. I have always wanted to get into modular so this was the time. I would like your thoughts on my first rack. I am just fiddling around and wanted a rack that could be an all around style rack. I planned on ambient but I occasionally like to make some stuff with drums. I am enjoying the journey. My wife thinks it is less expensive to "Build your own synthesizer" than to have keyboards and things laying around so let's let her think that, :). Any thoughts are appreciated.

--The Tentacle Monster--

Thank you very much!

Personally I’d choose Microcell over Beads. Microcell is the compact version of Supercell, which is a better version of Clouds. Better because it breaks out all the blend controls, has built-in stereo VCAs, and an aux CV, so you could modulate everything from a single source (like smooth random from Marbles or a looping 'shape' from Zadar). Also has a bunch of other modes you can access thanks to the SuperParasites firmware. Very versatile module.

That would be seriously bad news :-(

Very doubtful...I would HOPE! Actually, this resembles what happened when Clouds got discontinued. A few years pass...and then we got the even more powerful Beads. Emilie's just trying to keep up with that good ol' Moore's Law, I'm betting.
-- Lugia

Nah - Emilie has been saying for a few years she's getting out of the business - to go and do something where no one knows her history... and that Beads would be the last module... so I think it's over, unfortunately...

See @Vow3ll above. I generally don't advocate putting devices in an Eurorack cab if they've already got a cab and power of their own. Plus, you're taking up a TON of space doing this...with three Moogs in there, you're using nearly half of the cabs' panel space for just those three. Save that space for devices that have NO cab and NO power of their own. Then, as @sacguy71 notes, the "helper" modules you need will have space in the build, which will then benefit both the Eurorack build AND the Moogs once they're out of there.

And that's without even going into the cost-per-hp thing.

Very doubtful...I would HOPE! Actually, this resembles what happened when Clouds got discontinued. A few years pass...and then we got the even more powerful Beads. Emilie's just trying to keep up with that good ol' Moore's Law, I'm betting.

+1 on this for great justice! Also, folks...keep in mind that we have some amazing module designers and firms in Ukraine, and those people need all the props we can give. Russia, as well...hopefully those developers were able to get out before everything started going to hell over there; I know Roman @ Sputnik/Black Corp. dipped outta there, for example, although that might've been a bit ago.

War is one of the most antithetical things to music that I can think of. Period. Nobody needs it. Especially a certain balding neo-dictator trying to up his cred...no matter which one of a specific two that we're talking about here.

Ladik just doesn't get enough love. No, they don't sell via stores. No, they're not super-fast. But if you need some really esoteric modules for a price that doesn't make your wallet spontaneously combust, they're those dudes. F'rinstance, this: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/ladik-c-015 Gateable slew limiter, selectable portamento direction, selectable linear/logarithmic slew curves, and so on...and it's only $80. For all that, $80 is stoopid-cheap.

Even moreso, they've got modules that just don't readily exist in Eurorack...this: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/ladik-j-110-derivator is a module that outputs a gate that's dependent on CV movement direction. Yeah, you could cobble up something that does this...but it won't do it in 4 hp, and it won't do it for $56. And for generative, this plus some Boolean logic would drop some serious power into a generative-style build. Ladik's no joke, folks.

Price-wise as well as width-wise there is this one too: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/bearmodules-matrix-mixer
Great value for the buck, practical, good feel, and the unipolar / bipolar switch is a great extra function.
B.
-- law-rah

Additional information reasonably fresh: BEAR actually created a stereo version too !!! It doesn't have the unipolar / bipolar switch any longer, but because it will 99,9% of the times it will be used for audio, it's not that much of a problem. Great use if your system has many stereo modules and you need to get organized :-)

Cheers, B.

edited to add linkielinkthing https://www.modulargrid.net/e/bearmodules-stereo-matrix

EDITED Apr 22nd 2022, 20:06

Here’s my participation to the modular world show. You can find it on the Modular World channel but also on my YT.

It’s a long piece but I tried to mix different ambiences into it.

I'll be the voice of dissent.
If you are going to use the Moogs more often or more effectively by incorporating them into your eurorack, then leave them there, regardless of the $$$-per-hp algebra.

Definitely take those Moogs out of the rack! You can put them together in separate Moog small rack and place next to larger case.

Also you need a lot more utility modules- besides VCAs, attenuator/attenueverters, cv matrix mixer, logic and sequential switch.

and damn it.... while i was thinking about it @Vow3ll beat me to it!

Roast: Its too Black!
Roast: And the usual, Put the Moogs back in their cases!

I agree about the 2hp modules, I leave 1hp between all 2hp modules if they are next to each other, or near a line of Befaco Hexmix inputs as they'll be almost unusable.

EDITED Feb 27th 2023, 07:03

I would lose one or two of the sound sources and opt for a powerful sequencer like metropolix or ornament & crime. And more VCAs.

https://www.signalsounds.com/error-instruments-indian-resonator-drum-oscillator-eurorack-module

I'll only mess something up if I try.

Yes, absolutely. You have a lot of sound sources but what are you going to do with them? I don't know what those Moogs are capable of, but vcas are always good. Mixers, lfos, envelopes,... And watch out with the 2hp modules - they are extremely small! I have one module with such a small knob and it's very difficult to use. And on mine, there's plenty of space around it! You have two next to each other...