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Using a nldr noodler via midi and a Eric synth pico 3 for out puts.(also have a Roland looper I plan to bring in ).Most of what I do is happy accidents and really enjoying it planing on getting a peak clone soon. Huge fan of work by aphex twin broadcast boards of Canada uzig prefuse odd nosdam Marc rebiller surgeon.Following dreams just to plonk away.

https://cdn.modulargrid.net/img/racks/modulargrid_1777370.

EDITED Dec 16th 2021, 13:37

Smart contact and fine transaction with @yrn1
Thank You Jeroen !

Hi,
Just got a Livestock Electronics Maze and i must say its pretty amazing what you can do with it
Matrix mix for audio but also work as attenueverter to mangle waves
You can morph between different matrix patch points you've saved , or trigger to go to the next matrix .
Check it out .

I noticed that there were some awesome stereo waveforms being generated by the ultrasound transducer's interactions with various body bits..
-- Lugia

Have a look at this:
https://www.eegsynth.org/?page_id=522

@ROSELJR just wants views on her poorly written and outdated article and has no idea what a modular synth could possibly be - as indicated by the absence of any build on her profile. She may one day realize that spending time on getting a few views on a blog article isn't worth anything especially when manual work is involved to get those views, don't pay attention ;-)
-- toodee

Perhaps so...but it did inspire me to debunk the PoE primacy for this purpose as well as to toss out a couple of new ideas for Eurorack power systems. Going with a BIG unipolar DC supply to an internal voltage regular/splitter with NO current limits would fix tons of power system confusionalities.

Besides, it's sort of fun to smack the crap out of some spammer, if only verbally. @ROSELJR needs to learn to not mess around with the STEM department!

-- Lugia

Oh yeah, very interesting discussions can stem from even the most uninteresting starter input :-)
Your answer reminded me of the long and interesting power distribution discussion that happened in the 1st episode of Feed The Monster with Kim Bjorg and Ben Divkid where Chris Meyer explained issues and solutions for his big case (the whole series is pretty cool IMO). As a pre-made "humble" case, I didn't really have to consider the power issues, but feel for the people who do...

Hi,

Anyone knows how to contact @medicineman? - We had a bit of chat last week and agreed for an Akemie's Castle. Payment sent but i've not received any messages in the last 8 days (sent him 2/3 messages, no luck).
He has very good feedbacks but i am wondering what's going on.
If someone knows him personally and/or knows how to reach him out, could you please send me a DM?

Thanks,
Ciao,
Mat

At this moment I see that the Noise Engineering Loquelic Iteritas Percido is available at Modular Freq, on their website and their Reverb store... It's an incredibly powerful module: a wide range of sounds (from percussion to drone), very fat with a lot of dynamics. Do not procrastinate... :)

Hey everyone, I've gravitated towards these nastier sounding voices since I recently got into modular but noticed Industrial Music Engineering products are very hard to come by. I understand a lot of these companies can really boil down to a very small team so I'm not blaming anyone for the shortage... Really I just wanted to ask what are y'alls opinion on other options regarding raunchier sound design.

I really like some of the sounds I've heard out of Erica Synths and Noise Engineering, really gritty and fat. But I'm torn between multiple voices and slick patching and those impressive FM modules like Piston Honda or Akemie's Castle (price would be similar, right).

"Maths will cost you $290 new, Rampage $330. TipTop's prices tend to be lower, and while things can happen with the current shortages and supply-chain issues, I wouldn't doubt their sincerity in trying to achieve that goal."

i'm talking canadian funds, the rampage is $436 plus taxes (incredibly high in quebec, comes to $501 cdn total!) at the local store and maths has dropped to $376 plus taxes. and the U.S. to Cdn funds conversion is awful for us, $200 U.S. today is $256 cdn! but i hope you're right, i just can't see how they can manage it at their prices. i'd have to think that would be the deal of the decade if the quality is there.

PoE? @ROSELJR, who were you on on old site coward?

Hmmm...a modulation-only skiff? That's actually quite doable, and it's exactly what we're talking about when we mention "mission-specific" builds. Vide:

TILES: I went with a Temps Utile with the four-input CV control expander as your master clock + random sequencing weirdness source. Then there's a quantizer, as the T_u can output CV over output 4. The QuadrATT is next, then a tile version of Mutable's Peaks.

3U: Just wait for it...it IS the ultimate in random signal generation and manipulation, a total gamechanger when it came out in the 1970s...and that's the Buchla Source of Uncertainty. It'll hit the market in a few months (I'm betting it'll be post-NAMM) and is 100% worth the wait. Then there's a quad LFO for four free-running sources. Maths follows, then a Tiptop MISO for tampering (a lot!) with modulation signals. This is paired with a Zlob Vnicvrsal VCA, which gives you six "breakout-able" linear VCAs along with the capability of mixing VCA outputs. The 4ms PEG is for generating VERY long-period modulation curves of up to 30 minutes from start of rise to end of fall, all under CV control or with lengths set by "pinging" the module by either a clocked signal OR manual tap-buttons. And last, for more conventional envelopes, there's the Quadrax plus the Qx expander, which gives you EOR and EOF signals that can be routed all over the place, or used with the Quadrax to generate "cascading" modulation curves.

As for mounting this somewhere accessible, I'd suggest grabbing one of these: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GFWMUS0500--gator-frameworks-gfw-mus-0500-lightweight-sheet-music-stand. Put this stand behind the Matriarch, put the Palette on it at a desirable angle, then you'll have excellent access to it AND the Matriarch while playing. The stand's even fully foldable for gigs.

The overall build is a good bit more than $1k...but it's a great deal more capable than a Palette 62 could possibly house!

@ROSELJR just wants views on her poorly written and outdated article and has no idea what a modular synth could possibly be - as indicated by the absence of any build on her profile. She may one day realize that spending time on getting a few views on a blog article isn't worth anything especially when manual work is involved to get those views, don't pay attention ;-)
-- toodee

Perhaps so...but it did inspire me to debunk the PoE primacy for this purpose as well as to toss out a couple of new ideas for Eurorack power systems. Going with a BIG unipolar DC supply to an internal voltage regular/splitter with NO current limits would fix tons of power system confusionalities.

Besides, it's sort of fun to smack the crap out of some spammer, if only verbally. @ROSELJR needs to learn to not mess around with the STEM department!

And I think that their goal here might partly be to cut the HELL out of Uli's market share by reissuing Eurorack versions of some of the most coveted (and now, cheap to make) modules in electronic music history. I'll also note that Tiptop mentioned that they also want to reissue certain 100 series modules, but they're working out a source for the proper-looking knobs for those as well as trying to locate those schematics if needed. And hybrid 100/200 systems are just...wow.

Hi Lugia,

Sorry to hear about your cardiac symptoms. Glad to hear or rather glad to see your messaging rate is increasing again ;-) I guess that's a good sign :-)

Get better soon, take it easy and kind regards, Garfield.

(calculating an average price of $350/module, i still don't believe the $200 U.S. price tags, quad function generator $170-210!? - maths and rampage are dual generators, granted with more functionality going for something like $500/$600).
-- FatBerg

Maths will cost you $290 new, Rampage $330. TipTop's prices tend to be lower, and while things can happen with the current shortages and supply-chain issues, I wouldn't doubt their sincerity in trying to achieve that goal.

thanks for the feedback. i think i've seen every tiptop/buchla video out there. i'm making do with the arturia buchla easel software and some euro modules, doepfer LPG x 2, A-149-1/2, rampage, uFold, lifeforms micro sequence, and springray right now to get my fix of buchla. unfortunately, i don't have infinite resources so i'm talking about doing this on a budget, therefore tiptop! i debated buying a buchla easel command but ultimately couldn't justify the price for someone in my pay grade (poor). i estimate a case with all 6 tiptop modules will come in around $3000 cdn and i can acquire them gradually (calculating an average price of $350/module, i still don't believe the $200 U.S. price tags, quad function generator $170-210!? - maths and rampage are dual generators, granted with more functionality going for something like $500/$600). i'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised though and hope to see the first 2 modules released for x-mas 2021. here's hoping ...

Building your first build in a small case always leads to these kind of headaches. I'm not singling you out. But if you look at a lot of submissions, you'll see that people often fall into this trap on their first builds with a small palette or "skiff" type build. You're building a battleship in a bathtub.

-- Ronin1973

Its difficult to allocate $8000 to build something larger when you have no idea what you want or what you're doing. Hindsight is always 20/20 and this perspective is something that can only be gained by personal experience. The palette is designed to be accessible and lots of people employ them successfully.
-- drfear

A Mantis case is around $335. A Palette is $299 to $400. No one is saying to drop $8000 on equipment. What I'm saying is that you bought too small of a case for your first build. There's no flexibility in a space that small. But people keep wanting to buy super small cases and then paint themselves into a corner on the first build.

There's nothing wrong with your selections. There's nothing wrong with the amount you're spending. But you're going to have a hell-of-a-time getting a reasonable amount of features into such a small case, learn more about modular, then tweak your case to work better for you. You have no room for expansion.

-- Ronin1973

I built my case by hand. If i need to expand in the future I can spend an afternoon in my garage and build another one. Its part of the reason why I didn't buy a palette. A small case is attractive to people because looking at a large case is daunting to new people. I spent over a year hmming and hawing about whether or not to do this because I really don't know what I want. I know what people say I should want. I then realized that I just have to try it and figure it out as I go. I'm appreciative to anyone who is willing to give me advice, but ultimately my mental capacity and space requirements are limited to 84HP at least for now.

Building your first build in a small case always leads to these kind of headaches. I'm not singling you out. But if you look at a lot of submissions, you'll see that people often fall into this trap on their first builds with a small palette or "skiff" type build. You're building a battleship in a bathtub.

-- Ronin1973

Its difficult to allocate $8000 to build something larger when you have no idea what you want or what you're doing. Hindsight is always 20/20 and this perspective is something that can only be gained by personal experience. The palette is designed to be accessible and lots of people employ them successfully.
-- drfear

A Mantis case is around $335. A Palette is $299 to $400. No one is saying to drop $8000 on equipment. What I'm saying is that you bought too small of a case for your first build. There's no flexibility in a space that small. But people keep wanting to buy super small cases and then paint themselves into a corner on the first build.

There's nothing wrong with your selections. There's nothing wrong with the amount you're spending. But you're going to have a hell-of-a-time getting a reasonable amount of features into such a small case, learn more about modular, then tweak your case to work better for you. You have no room for expansion.

Released my Christmas album moments ago! Chose to do an EP this time. It's certainly not your grandmother's Christmas album: https://blackwarriorlures.bandcamp.com/album/bells-a-christmas-ep

My first consideration would be ergonomics. Where will the case physically live in relation to the Matriarch? You will be patching between the two quite a bit. So I would get that worked out. It also needs to be secure. That's a lot of money in delicate electronics hitting the floor if it falls. Have a plan.

I would start with a Pam's New Workout (8HP), Disting EX (8HP), and an Ornament & Crime micro (8HP). Between those three modules you should have an excellent playground of possibilities to add to the Matriarch. They are also offer a great sampling of features you may (or may not) want to add to your system as dedicated modules like quantizers, additional LFOs, sequencers, etc. Apart from the case, you're looking way under a $1000US for all three modules and only 24HP of room.

That's how I would start exploring as an adjunct to my main axe.

Building your first build in a small case always leads to these kind of headaches. I'm not singling you out. But if you look at a lot of submissions, you'll see that people often fall into this trap on their first builds with a small palette or "skiff" type build. You're building a battleship in a bathtub.

-- Ronin1973

Its difficult to allocate $8000 to build something larger when you have no idea what you want or what you're doing. Hindsight is always 20/20 and this perspective is something that can only be gained by personal experience. The palette is designed to be accessible and lots of people employ them successfully.

Building your first build in a small case always leads to these kind of headaches. I'm not singling you out. But if you look at a lot of submissions, you'll see that people often fall into this trap on their first builds with a small palette or "skiff" type build. You're building a battleship in a bathtub.

@Lugia, agree well gives me reason to buy another Doepfer monster case setup eventually for the Buchla tiptop and Serge modules if all works out and they do a great job.

As usual, smart communication and fine transaction with @Slim
Merci Quentin !

I think I've come up with a better tile row configuration:

Lots of changes. First up, there's a 4-channel CV expander for the Temps Utile next to the...well, Temps Utile. The expander gives you four CV inputs to control the six channel sequencer which does...

"7 modes, selectable per channel:
- trigger sequencer/sequence editor
- clock division/multiplication
- LFSR
- random w/ threshold
- euclidian
- logic (AND, OR, XOR, NAND, NOR, XNOR)
- burst
- DAC (channel #4 only): random, binary, "Turing", logistic, sequencer/arpeggiator"

...which is a helluva lot more than the Steppy! Kicked that shiznit right OPEN! Then I swapped the Duatt for the triple attenuverter by Transient...same architecture, but MORE. ADSR EG is still there, swapped out the Mosaic VCA with Intellijel's, and then the Mosaic stereo out.

The addition of the T_u really opens up the timing and sequencing capabilities. Implement this row plan, and the build's game gets upped significantly.
-- Lugia

Soooo... unfortunately I bought a lot of stuff last night (and already had orders for maths and a couple others). My owned list has updated because some of the stuff I had previously ordered was out of stock and I made some changes. Also, a few of the modules you mentioned I couldn't find at any of the sites I have been shopping at which means I'll need to import them.

Some additional info... I plan to use my Elektron Analog Four to fill in some gaps (CV sequencing, gate, clock) while I build this thing. I also have CV capabilities with my OP-Z.

Heres the current list. I wish there was a way to say what I owned vs whats in flux on MG.

Maths (I know its big but I already ordered it and I built my case so if I need to make a bigger one in the future so be it), Disting, Row Power, Dual Linear VCA, Forbidden Planet, Surface, Duatt, Line output. Everything outside the skiff is currently out of stock and I was unable to order it. Feel free to make comments on those as well. I appreciate the help.

EDITED Dec 15th 2021, 13:18

@ROSELJR just wants views on her poorly written and outdated article and has no idea what a modular synth could possibly be - as indicated by the absence of any build on her profile. She may one day realize that spending time on getting a few views on a blog article isn't worth anything especially when manual work is involved to get those views, don't pay attention ;-)

I'm on an Apple device and haven't used the MS stuff for a while but from memory, ASIO4All allows the use of more than 1 audio interface on Windows, not sure if it's still the case...

The power consumption specs regarding the modules is crucial. When submitting a module, mandatory fields on this point would be useful.

I would love to have a way to assemble a case made out of several cases, so it really resembles the real-world situation.

For now I've simply created a huge case, but in real life, my case is made of a 3x3U 168hp + 2x1U 168hp base and then two 4x3U 84hp suitcases on top. Would be great if you could add multiple cases to one view, and drag them to a more or less real-life position.

(Also, with this, I'd solve my "wishlist" problem. For now I simply use the bottom rows of the huge case as a sort of wishlist, dragging the stuff to the top that's more on top of my wishlist and gradually dragging stuff down that's not entirely off my wishlist, bus has lower priority. With this, I could simply add a wishlist-case, or, as someone suggest, a case containing modules that are not in your real case anymore.)

Oh yeah I have the Angle Grinder and 100 Grit are pure mad fun and quite versatile as well. Schlappi is on par with Harvestman modules for industrial mayhem in modular.

I think I've come up with a better tile row configuration:

Lots of changes. First up, there's a 4-channel CV expander for the Temps Utile next to the...well, Temps Utile. The expander gives you four CV inputs to control the six channel sequencer which does...

"7 modes, selectable per channel:
- trigger sequencer/sequence editor
- clock division/multiplication
- LFSR
- random w/ threshold
- euclidian
- logic (AND, OR, XOR, NAND, NOR, XNOR)
- burst
- DAC (channel #4 only): random, binary, "Turing", logistic, sequencer/arpeggiator"

...which is a helluva lot more than the Steppy! Kicked that shiznit right OPEN! Then I swapped the Duatt for the triple attenuverter by Transient...same architecture, but MORE. ADSR EG is still there, swapped out the Mosaic VCA with Intellijel's, and then the Mosaic stereo out.

The addition of the T_u really opens up the timing and sequencing capabilities. Implement this row plan, and the build's game gets upped significantly.

All the best Lugia - and remember - no more high stress posts for you! Doctor's orders!

Sounds like a software issue, actually. If you've got some signal routing software (it should be SOMEwhere in Live), you should be able to override what the computer's insisting on. Might also be worth poking around KVR (https://www.kvraudio.com/) to see if they've got a solution there as well.

It's an interesting concept, but it's got issues where powering synths is concerned. The docs note the power in watts, from which I did some calculation, and all but the stronger (and more exotic) PoE versions would only be able to power more than a basic skiff. Also, whatever case would be connected would need power for the +12, -12, and 5V rails, which means there would be some loss due to the DC conversions necessary...on top of some inherent issues in some of the PoE formats where they also involve some current loss...such as 90 watts in the "supply" end, which equals a drop over the system of around 20 watts, leaving only 70-ish watts at the "business" end. And while 71 watts does equal 5196 mA (@ 12v), that would still have to be split by the synth's P/S into the three different DC rails, which equals further losses due to both conversion and thermal issues. In the end, those loss factors don't bode well.

Now, what I would much rather see is a DC supply that ties in with the synth's DC rails via Anderson PowerPole connectors, only utilizing a voltage converter in the cab for the voltage changes. ADDAC does something like this for their huge 1 meter cabs, although some of their designs still utilize a single DC input for the power supply to split, and Konstant Labs has a similar P/S chaining protocol (with Molex connectors). But if we can go to something like, say, THIS: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/asr-rs-35a-ap ...well, given that it's a linear supply, it would be DEAD-quiet on the DC rails even with the necessary voltage conversion done inside the cab. And at 35 AMPS, loss factors stop being a problem. If we had something along THOSE lines serving as a single DC source, and the voltage conversion wasn't current-limited at a low level, that's where we should go, I think. Plus, with the right voltage conversion, the external P/S could be the determinant on maximum deliverable current, and NOT an internal supply. This would also reduce in-case heat factors, too.

EDITED Dec 15th 2021, 03:27

See Tiptop's Superbooth video here: It's a quick overview of the upcoming six modules with some very convincing Buchla sounds in effect.

According to someone I checked with at Tiptop, these won't be the only ones. Their mission is to bring as many of the 200 series (the original, not the updated 200e modules) into production as possible and/or practical. But they also noted that neither they nor Buchla USA has all of Don's schematics, and sometimes he'd whip stuff together off the top of his head back in the Berkeley days. So some of these first version 200 modules are actually lost, unless they can reverse-engineer them from the devices themselves. Also, it's worth noting that NONE of these will have banana jacks, so the best substitute there would be stackcables, plus it's probably worthwhile to add a buffered mult or two for the 258ts.

The ones I'm jonesin' for are these: the 291 dual BPF, the 285 frequency shifter, the 227 delay, the 248 MARF, the 227 system interface (it's huge...but as synth mixers go, it's effin' amazing), the 281 Quad FG, the 206 submixer, and the 275 EQ/reverb. If we can get all or most of those...then Tiptop and Buchla have done their job right.

EDIT: And yeah, sacguy...that's one point I think people are missing here. The current situation has NUMEROUS West Coast modules, and these Tiptop ones, tossed together with some Random*Source and/or Elby Serge clones, some of Make Noise's modules, Mark Verbos' Buchla clone/upgrades, etc etc...these give us ALL of the artillery to create a rip-yer-brain-out-level West Coast system. Also, you couldn't really put these into the same cab...the Serge stuff was/is on multimodule panels, for example. Personally, this exact situation is one I've hoped for for many years!

EDITED Dec 15th 2021, 03:00

Hard to find details but these look promising as my dream of next case would be a mix of these affordable Buchla modules with Serge Random source ones.

hello,
i'm looking to get some feedback on the soon-to-be-released(?) tiptop buchla modules. i'm ready to make a significant investment on these modules, i.e. doepfer LCB100 case, and i'm wondering if they will be released on time - winter 2021 is already upon us, and if you believe the entire group of 6 modules will be released by 2022 at the prices indicated by TipTop? (i can't see some of these modules going for $200 u.s. or less!) i would also like to have some better audio/video/youtube samples to base my decision on. any thoughts would be appreciated before i invest in that doepfer case ($659 cdn these days!) thanks.

EDITED Dec 15th 2021, 04:27

The ES compatibility list shows the 2i4 as being suitable, and since the preamp topology is the same across that series, the 8i6 should be fine. However, I wouldn't use the SPDIF I/O. Instead, see if your DAW can recognize both interfaces, with the 828 on FW400 and the 8i6 via USB. Most present-day DAWs should be able to cope.
-- Lugia

Unfortunately, on Ableton/Windows I think it can only see one interface. I was using the Focusrite just for MIDI for a while but whenever I turn on the Focusrite, it takes control of my audio like a beotch. Interestingly, my TR-8S shows up as audio interface option as well...

EDITED Dec 15th 2021, 01:43

The ES compatibility list shows the 2i4 as being suitable, and since the preamp topology is the same across that series, the 8i6 should be fine. However, I wouldn't use the SPDIF I/O. Instead, see if your DAW can recognize both interfaces, with the 828 on FW400 and the 8i6 via USB. Most present-day DAWs should be able to cope.

Glad to hear that you're ok! Lots of potential song titles in your last post: technetium-99, radioactive needle juice to name a couple...maybe with some cardiac ultrasound waveforms through Morphagene or Arbhar? ;)
-- jb61264

Actually, when they did the ultrasound, I noticed that there were some awesome stereo waveforms being generated by the ultrasound transducer's interactions with various body bits...and I checked and I think I can get those on a records disc from Carle Hospital's records department. I'll check on it in a few weeks...

Between them, TouellSkouarn, Moffenzeef, and one or two others...those all do wonderfully hideous-sounding stuff that SCREAMS "industrial" and/or "power electronics". And yeah, Schlappi's modules do "ear-wrenching" like a BOSS!

Not that mammoth, tbh. In actuality, you've actually started with the sort of case size many of us would recommend as a starter. The only thing I would point out is that when you start filling the case out, you need to watch your current draws, as you can quickly exceed that "3/4ths of the max" rule to prevent current inrush problems. Also, if you don't have a case yet, you could jettison the Row Power in favor of the built-in power on this: https://reverb.com/item/38606093-6u-eurorack-case-powered-120-or-126-hp-modular-synthesizer-patched-resealable Big, beefy Meanwells in these. Plus, many options AND portability, too!

Anybody much more well versed with audio interfaces than I am know if its possible for me to connect my MOTU 828 to my Focusrite 8i6 using SPDIF? I currently use my MOTU with Ableton Live (Windows) so I can use the DC Coupled ins/outs with my modular setup...been wondering if its possible to use my Focusrite as an 'extension' to it if I just want to have audio coming in say from an external synth (my now vintage Novation x-station..lol). I'm guessing not, but throwing it out to any experts who can confirm or deny :)

good news Lugia!!!

Coincidentally read that on her site earlier today. They do pop up now and then, I sometimes regret selling it.

Shame it can't record external CV/envelope/follow, or it would be smaller HP competition for Ephemere.
-- mntbighker

SDS Rit_M?

-- -TB-

Discontinued... maybe used

Had it installed 10 minutes, have not read the manual, LOVE this thing already. It's filthy ;-)

Glad to hear that you're ok! Lots of potential song titles in your last post: technetium-99, radioactive needle juice to name a couple...maybe with some cardiac ultrasound waveforms through Morphagene or Arbhar? ;)

I saw your updated skiff. I don't think MG has updated the JPG yet... but it has changed since your original post.

I own Maths. I like Maths. But at 20HP, that's a lot of space for this skiff. Also, as Luiga mentioned, that buffered mult is a nice-to-have. But it really won't make a difference for the size of this skiff. For this size of a rack, every HP is important. So how are you justifying the Maths and the buffered mults?

I also noticed the Duatt. Good choice. If you get rid of the buffered mult, you'd have room to add back in your Mosiac ADSR.

As always, just suggestions.

EDITED Dec 14th 2021, 18:02

Really dig it! Has a Danny Elfman feel to it.
-- Vow3ll

As soon as I read that, I was like totally. That sort of “kitchen sink” thing, if that’s what you mean. Glad you enjoyed it.