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Hello everybody my latest video is online. Main voice is Just Friends controlled with Ansible running Earthsea on I2C.

one of mine used to have - "this half-assed excuse for a case contains electronics designed to destroy elitist control mechanisms" written on it in sharpie! it was a piece of skirting board sawn into 4 and held together by modules and blind panels (hence the half-assed) - the wood has been recycled into one of my current cases, cut down to size and the text on the inside... now only 3/4-assed as it has proper rails and a back, but is still pretty much unfinished skirting board at heart!

great - have fun!!!

get a mantis (6u/104hp) if you can, or a doepfer lc9 - these are the best bang for buck cases (hp/cost) that you can get and both have decent power supplies that have been around for quite a while

vcas are incredibly useful for both audio and modulation purposes - I think it's a great idea to have a play with them in vcvrack

I'd take veils over the intellijel quad - slightly smaller for starters

personally I'd recommend a Make Noise Maths over the b-company dual envelope/lfo - especially to a newbie - as it has possoibly the greatest modular learning resource - the 'maths illustrated supplement' dedicated to it - download the pdf and read through it a few times, ven if you don't buy the module, but it might inspire you to get the module, if you know what I mean...

good luck and have fun!

Very good points made yep, thanks for the insight!

The LFO thing I had to read a few times haha and I kind of get it, but I think I'll need to play around setting up something like that in VCV before maybe I truly "get it", though the point is well noted! Does make me feel like getting a 6U (2x84) style rack is probably the better option and worth the up front investment. I might outgrow that too but I think it'll take a little longer at least.

https://blackwarriorlures.bandcamp.com/album/major-blues

EDITED Oct 7th 2021, 18:34

Thanks guys, the chain seems to work great...I stack two from Hydrasynth clock out (one to Maths, one to O_C). Stack the one plugged into Maths to go to Quadrax, and stack the one in Quadrax to go to Disting EX and everything is in sync. I'm sure there are tons of other/better uses for stacking but thats what I've used if for so far

Hey @GarfieldModular
All is fine - I'll send you a PM so this thread can remain about funbun's amazing music ;-)

Speaking of which, if people do some clicks on his Youtube, they may end up watching interesting videos with a super cool music background and a real talent for photography, like this one:

EDITED Oct 7th 2021, 09:45

This is the obligatory request for patch notes

I want to know how you got so close to actual thunder sounds - pretty neat !

EDITED Oct 7th 2021, 09:29

remember - Woody Guthrie's guitar "This Machine Kills Fascists"

& I've seen that slogan (or very similar) stuck to many, many modular synthesizers over the years
-- JimHowell1970

I note that I've been tempted to put "This Machine Confuses Fascists" on the back of the Digisound 80 for live gigs as of late.

-- Lugia

I think my statement of choice would be something like "This Machine Confuses The Hell Out Of Everyone I Know, Myself Included - Always RTFM Or We Are Doomed" but that's too long for a 2HP blank and I don't do live gigs so writing anything on the back of my rack will only address my walls (who I am very sad to report are not very talkative or appreciative of my musical efforts they witness on a regular basis).

@Lugia About that Digisound 80, did you build the whole thing ? From EMM articles ? I've only heard rumors and short videos, but I hear the filter on it is extra creamy...

@GarfieldModular I don't think I'll ever invite a stranger I disagree with on the Internet to play with my modular synth lol - but more seriously you are the example I'm trying to follow, this forums owes you quite a bit of its positivity so thanks ;-)

Banged on it. Now, if you've got enough external devices, this should work quite well.

This is sort of upside-down from how I normally set things up, but I also know that the Arturia P/S likes to be in that upper-left corner. So the top row is the "control/modulation" row and the bottom is the voicing. Also, the width was wrong; Arturia's user notes state that the Rackbrutes are 88 hp, and that also opened up a couple of neat possibilities.

Top row: P/S, then this is where the Pam's modules wound up. To up your "variable module" game, the Disting went away, to be replaced by an Ornament&crime, which can serve as loads of different things...especially for that top row. After that is a dual window comparator...this is a generative MUST, as comparators allow you to pick off gates from LFOs and the like. And with this being a window comparator, you'll get more than just a single threshold-crossing for each incoming signal. After this is yet another useful thing, Tesseract's VC Logic...which sounds pretty much like what it is: two logic gates with CVable mode selection. Then there's a quad LFO for free-running LFO signals x 4, followed by an interesting Ladik LFO which has CV over rate AND wavefolding...yeah, you can screw with the LFO waveform! Maths is next, then you have a Frap 321 and a 3xVCA for modulation manipulation. Last, for envelopes, there's a Zadar with a Nin expander.

Bottom row: Big changes here. First off, the Doepfer A-119 allows a mono signal into the system AND extracts the envelope, sending that CV to a separate jack. You also get a gate when the level crosses your set threshold, which also can serve as a third comparator in a pinch. The single Plaits is now replaced with a Doepfer A-111-4 Quad VCO, giving you much more than you could get from a single VCO, it being Plaits notwithstanding. A Veils follows this to give you CV over amplitude plus VCO mixing. I swapped the Doepfer LPF for something MUCH more nifty, G-Storm's clone of the Korg Delta/Poly-61 VCF...which offers both LP and BP modes in your choice of 2- or 4-pole topology. The Polaris is next, with a PanMix jr. following that to serve as a manual mixer for your filter outs as well as providing stereo panning over those. The PanMix feeds a dual VCA for stereo mix level control, then it's on to the Beads, then an FX Aid XL takes that output and applies FX before the signal path hits the Isolator, which gives you transformer isolation on your outputs to help with noise/crud issues AND to give you a pair of transformers which you can "hit" a little hard to get some nice, euphonious saturation.

The big problem here is that, if this is supposed to be a generative system, it's a little "tight". I was able to add enough modulators and pick-offs to help with that, though. But this would really turn out better if I didn't have the Rackbrute constraint to work against. That's really the big stumbling block here; even putting the build into something slightly larger, like a Mantis, would give more working room to go with some larger/more ergonomic modules plus offer more room in general for additional functions. But for now, this is pretty serviceable.

remember - Woody Guthrie's guitar "This Machine Kills Fascists"

& I've seen that slogan (or very similar) stuck to many, many modular synthesizers over the years
-- JimHowell1970

I note that I've been tempted to put "This Machine Confuses Fascists" on the back of the Digisound 80 for live gigs as of late.

EDITED Oct 7th 2021, 03:40

I'll echo Jim's advice here: don't build this out of a pile of 2-4 hp modules. The result will be a total mess when patching, and then you've got to be able to easily/intuitively get at the controls...which will be a bitch with all of the wires everywhere. Especially if this is an FX device, and your attention is divided between the instrument feeding this and working the Euro build itself. One of those proverbial "recipes for disaster", although not quite that dire...just sufficient to drive you up the wall!

Now, as for VCAs...have a look here: https://www.discogs.com/release/50203-Kraftwerk-Kraftwerk Note the cover art (this is on the British release of both of their first albums) and what that scope pattern is doing.

There's two ways to accomplish that. One is to manually increase an attenuator that's fed by an LFO, but this can have some human "slop". The other is to feed the LFO into a VCA, then feed that VCA with an envelope with a slow rise. Now, consider if that scope pattern was of a pitch modulation signal. What you would have if you fed that to, say, a VCO's FM input, would be a gradually-increasing up and down pitch-waver in the VCO's output. This is why VCAs are important for things that DON'T emit sound...they have the capacity for loads of control signal variation, with this being just a sample.

Most of the issues I ran into were simply organizational. Only two modules got pulled out altogether, the Links (use inline mults and/or stackcables instead) and the Endorphin multi-FX. Some others were swapped for better options. So...

It's a little different. For one thing, I moved the Veils to the post-VCO position so that you can put their levels under CV control, and this allows for the Veils' "breakable" architecture to be more useful here. Filters and VCOs were grouped for organization, and post-VCF, you've got a Frequency Central Volts Platz...a four-channel mixer with waveshaping/distortion. Next are your FX, then I swapped the original Erica mixer for their Drum Stereo Mixer...which is mostly the same as the other, but this offers some autopanning capabilities and a limiter. Then this outputs to the Happy Nerding Isolator, to give you some protection against ground loops and noise while adding some saturatable "iron" in the output courtesy of the module's transformers.

Bottom row was mainly reorganized along the lines above, to group various modules according to function. The center "manipulation" section also now has your modulation VCAs grouped with the attenuverter so that if you need some inversion, you've got that there, and the offsets can also be sent to the two VCA modules as bias voltages. Other than that, nothing new there.

Overall, it's a damn solid build. There was very little to do here other than to suggest the module swaps indicated and to get the signal flow to be less convoluted. Nice!

Verbos Electronics Random Sampling is very close to Buchla Model 266 SOU yes? I nearly got the Verbos a few times but decided to wait. Partly I was waiting because that's a spendy unit; partly I was waiting because to my mentality, "chaos" seems a bit more musically useful than random. Am I off base here?

When the Tiptop/Buchla stuff appears, I'm likely going to want a fair bit of it! Yes that historical brand/tech appeals to me a lot.

Yeah Lugia I think they're pretty much identical although not bananas... most advice I've seen for them though is to only stack 2 high - a chain works just as well as a star, but less mechanical strain on the sockets and on the stackcables... I don't think it hurts to stack 3, but I wouldn't want to go further...

Waaaaait for iiiiiiit...Tiptop should have the Euro Buchla 200's version of the Model 266 SOU in a matter of months, for a reasonable price that's rather non-Buchla-ish. Given that the Source of Uncertainty is something of the "gold standard" for random signals, having that for randomness seems to me to be a real opportunity to experience something historical AND useful, to say nothing of it being built to Buchla standards.

Jim, I'm presuming that the stackcable stuff would be the right way to go if you built up a Euro Buchla 200. If Tiptop's making them to Don's original spec, the outputs should be good for star networking. Since Don was more than familiar with test equipment's musical uses, he tended to use reverse voltage protection, so "starring out" something probably won't have the same results with those modules as it would with the majority of others.

Check out the Frequency Central Stasis Leak, also...fits the slot for the Endorphin, and saves you $30. Yeah, it only does delay, reverb, and chorus, but if you want to use the Stasis Leak AND get a delay line, swap the 3hp blank for an Erica PICO BBD.

Otherwise, this is brilliant. Seeing how the B. modules can be configured like the original Moog systems will hopefully make more people curious about how all of that works.

Interesting you mention how it makes you "think". I've found modular a bit analogous to film photography in a way. I got back into film a few years back when I, on a whim, bought a film SLR to bring with my DSLR on a trip to Alaska. Turns out my favorite photos were essentially all on film, but I digress. Point is, I was hooked, and one thing it does is make you think differently and more into concepts. Partly because you can't see the immediate results, partly the real per shot cost of film, partly the look, etc. etc.

Full disclosure, I don't have a modular rig yet but even with doing research, reading manuals, watching videos, listening to samples, playing with VCVRack, etc., I'm starting to understand and appreciate more of what goes into integrated synths. It's already made me more creative and focused and has led to some really creative "AHA!" moments. A silly example, I've always been frustrated with doing automation of the volume/pan of channels in Ableton. You can't offset these easily so when I'm doing mixing/mastering work, it's always been a frustration. I mean since I started using Ableton. Well, getting into modular got my out of my rut here and the answer has been in front of me the whole time. Just add a Utility module to the channel and automate THAT. Then the global channel volume/pan I can freely adjust without worry. So simple! I feel silly I hadn't figured it out but honestly if I wasn't thinking more about modular, I might've never connected those dots.

Another example is I realized I could stack CC effects in Renoise (that's what I'm currently using to run my MIDI synths - a sort of experiment over using Ableton). So if I want to control a filter manually, I can do that. But literally yesterday I realized, "oh! I can add an LFO and mix it in to my automation! Oh and I can then modulate the LFO speed!". Then just making patches on the synths themselves - I dunno I just am starting to think a little differently now that I sort of know a bit more about how these all can fit together (and how I can fit them together differently).

It's all been very enlightening and I don't even yet have a eurorack yet! I'm working on that. I'll start simple, perhaps even just the bare minimum to do some effect routing (I really want to use some SSM2044 modules, long story that and I've already rambled on enough). Excited to see how I, hopefully, break out of my creative shell even more once I can mess about with the real thing.

Does the Minibrute 2s have a clock out? Assuming you'll be using that with your rack? You might get recommendations to use smaller modules, like maybe FX Aid XL instead of Beads, maybe Bastl Ciao! instead of the Audio Interface II and ALM headphone output...the idea being to free up some HP to add some additional VCAs or utility modules.

Yeah, the MB2s has a clock in/out, but I was thinking of having the PNW as the master clock. I'll look into the Bastl Ciao. Thanks for the suggestions!

-- HGsynth

Sounds good, i just mentioned the clock on the Minibrute because one of my goals was to conserve as much HP as possible for utilities, etc. Give yourself some options on your build page...for generative I think you probably want more LFO power? I have ornament and crime which I think can be useful for generative and also looked at Permutation (Grayscale) but ended up wanting to get Disting EX instead.

EDITED Oct 7th 2021, 01:17

What do people do when they can't discuss what they disagree on ?

-- toodee

Play modular synths? ;-)

Just kidding, I agree here with you Diego! More positive attitude, with or without discussions, is always welcome :-) I also agree with another earlier post from Jim (-Howell1970) that some people extremely overreact, that not only kills the discussion but also the good mood, that (the good mood) in my opinion should be kept in a forum like this. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Fred,

A lovely start of the track, nice happy music indeed :-) Not sure where the tough part is for listening, everything I enjoyed! You got a nice interlude around 9:30+ with some funny sounds. Just before 14:00 you pickup speed and rhythm again, ha, ha, around there you are using tons of effects, pretty funny and wild!

Thanks a lot for the detailed notes about the setup for this too, interesting to read as well as a big thank you for sharing this with us. Kind regards, Garfield.

Does the Minibrute 2s have a clock out? Assuming you'll be using that with your rack? You might get recommendations to use smaller modules, like maybe FX Aid XL instead of Beads, maybe Bastl Ciao! instead of the Audio Interface II and ALM headphone output...the idea being to free up some HP to add some additional VCAs or utility modules.

Yeah, the MB2s has a clock in/out, but I was thinking of having the PNW as the master clock. I'll look into the Bastl Ciao. Thanks for the suggestions!

nothing about this screams generative to me - how are you expecting to generate random sequences? and modify them over time?
-- JimHowell1970

Thanks. Between the external gear I have 5 sequencers and 3 LFOs... I was thinking that these could be used with the PNW, Maths, and Logic to add randomness/change over time. Definitely seems like I've more research to do (no surprise there). Any suggestions of what type of modules I should be looking for?

Hi Diego,

Thank you! :-) By the way, long time haven't heard any demo or jam from you! I hope on a modular level all is fine? Kind regards, Garfield.

Thank you so much!!! I realize this was a newb question, so I do really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts! Very helpful, particularly because it can be daunting with so many options as a newcommer! Also sorry about the link - I didn't realize it'd break but I've been going a tad crazy with building various options - being a bit all over the map if I'm honest. The one I've been messing with the most if this one which, yeah, I went a tad nuts on (for trying to keep it somewhat simple anyway):

That includes delay and reverb also as well as 2 VCOs and VCAs and, to your point, still has a few tiny modules. The bare minimum goal is still getting an SSM2044 filter to start but the above is one route I was thinking of going. I also pondered what a Eurorack sort of channel strip might look like. Echo and Reverb can be done in my DAW too though I do tend to prefer offboard when I can (I have a Memory Man and find it's often, but not always, preferable to the options I have in Ableton and Renoise). But I also have been realizing, that does make for a mixing/mastering nightmare if there's just too much going on all at once on a channel.

Anyways back to the 2044's, good point about the differences in the chips being a benefit - I had pondered this as well and why I opted to mess around with the above setup as a concept. It just seems like it might require more utilities to do that, but yeah also gives me more options (particularly with the MBSID again since the real SIDs themselves aren't particularly well matched, and that is a good thing). I was indeed thinking of an LFO and a mixer so I can mix between MIDI CV, an env, and the LFO to modulate the cutoff. And perhaps ressonance and, if I opt to get them, modulating the echo rate and such. Multiple LFOs isn't something I was thinking about though, as well as VCAs if just doing effects and it sounds like I'm missing something there? I know the saying goes "you can't have too many VCAs" but I don't yet know quite why - at least for an effect-centric solution? I feel like I'm missing something important here, though I do see that Intelligel 4x VCA can work as a sort of mixer - that's neat!

I'm glad to hear about the MIDI bit as I spent time today looking at this very thing. I think I'm leaning towards the Mutant Brain as a good place to start. The Poly 2 caught my eye too (and like the fact they released a full on hardware tracker - I

Hi, folks.

I've been working on a smaller, more approachable (read: cheaper) rack design. I'm aiming for generative ambient this time. Here's what I came up with.

How can I improve this design?

Thanks,
Jack

Does the Minibrute 2s have a clock out? Assuming you'll be using that with your rack? You might get recommendations to use smaller modules, like maybe FX Aid XL instead of Beads, maybe Bastl Ciao! instead of the Audio Interface II and ALM headphone output...the idea being to free up some HP to add some additional VCAs or utility modules.

I have the Minibrute 2 (keyboard version) but I honestly haven't yet used it much and so am not sure if it has clock out capability. I have a Hydrasynth Desktop (which I use as a clock source for my Rackbrute 6U). I've read quite abit about trying to build drums into a smaller rack like this and to avoid it if possible (BIA)...do you really need that one since you have the Minibrute 2s? Just throwing things out there to consider...I'm farthest from being any sort of expert like others who will respond, but based on feedback I've gotten in the past, those are things I would look at initially.

Here's my Rackbrute 6U setup fyi if you're interested:

nothing about this screams generative to me - how are you expecting to generate random sequences? and modify them over time?

thumbnail and link don't match - you should try refreshing the rack and re-pasting the url

I'd question the number of 2hp modules when there is no need for such miniaturization!

even in a small case such as this (get a bigger one - you'll want/need it eventually - mantis/doepfer lc9 etc) there is so much space for these few modules - also in terms of midi interface - getting a bigger one, with more channels is a better way to go - as the modular grows it will stop you from buying another and another, if you plan ahead a bit - same with mixer

you might want to get some lfos - for modulation purposes - probably want vcas too (veils or intellijel quad or the happy nerding one are all good ideas)

is it really that big a deal if L & R are different sounding - to some extent it's a good idea - and it could become a sort of signature for your work - processing stereo through discrete but similar modules can be significantly more interesting than through a matched pair - will sum to mono better too...

this is how WE change the world... hopefully!! or at least make ourselves feel a little bit better...
-- JimHowell1970

Hahaha, I'm not sure I have such high hopes, my dude :-D For me it's only about raising awareness, no need to overdo it or insist on people changing their minds, I try to share what I consider is right (and whenever possible, positive), and hope to inspire others to do the same - which might end up disagreeing with me and that is fine. I do think however that an overly PC attitude wouldn't be positively contributing to any debate, because it essentially tries to remove the debate from discussion, whereas debate is for me an essential part of a good and sane society. What do people do when they can't discuss what they disagree on ?

exactly one small step at a time - and we can only hope that things move in the right direction

remember - Woody Guthrie's guitar "This Machine Kills Fascists"

& I've seen that slogan (or very similar) stuck to many, many modular synthesizers over the years

-- JimHowell1970

Yeah, I've seen it too - tbh, I don't think anyone should kill anyone because of their ideas but I have to admit I have very belligerent feeling for people with a severe lack of ideas, sometimes, so I guess I can't be throwing stones, right ? :)

-- toodee

well that's 99%* of the time why people do get killed... I doubt a guitar or a synthesizer ever killed anyone - unless it was dropped on them from a great height!!

*don't believe all statistics you read on the internet...

Hi all,

I'm looking to dive into the world of generative music, and would love some thoughts on this rack (my first). I've already got an Arturia Minibrute 2s (seriously, it's a beast!), a Behringer model D, and an Arturia Keystep 37 for some external oscillators, lfo's, and sequencers, and am looking to expand into proper modular with the Rackbrute 6u. I'm hoping the above has a lot of functionality to get some cool generative sounds and rhythms going.

Is there anything I'm missing?
Are there any major redundancies?
Do you have any suggestions for alternate modules to that will help lower the price?
Do you have any suggestions on the organization in how it might relate to workflow?

Thanks so much, I'm really excited to go down this road. This pricey, pricey road.

https://cdn.modulargrid.net/img/racks/modulargrid_1679044.jpg

Muff can also be a last name here in the UK.

...and then it was 20 at last :)

Long story short, I really want to have an SSM2044 filter setup. I come from the MidiBox world and the MBSID + 2044 is soooo good but I realized it might be better to go modular rather than using the more integrated approach with MidiBox.

My bare minimum plan was something like this:

A pre-amp / line-level in, out, a few mixers (for summing stereo to mono for the single 2044 and to blend an ENV and LFO), Env/LFO, and Fonitronik DIY 2044 module. I picked that one since, though it's not the most compact, I already have 2044 chips (somewhere around here) from looking at building the MidiBox stuff and can use those. I can forgo the mixers by running a mono signal to the rack via my sound cards as well to save a bit.

Am I missing anything?

I have a stereo build too but notice the word of caution on Modular Addict that 2044's aren't always well matched, but that might be something I expand to in the future, perhaps looking at a full channel strip of sorts. I'd also like to add a few VCOs and VCAs so I have an actual synth rather than just a fancy effect box but starting with the filter gives me options (notably combining it with my MB6582, GameBoy, etc.).

Some notes: The DR-670 drum machine is controlled by the BeatStep Pro (BSP), while the Mother 32 set the underlying song structure. I use the the Filter 8 again as a sub bass whose envelope is gated by the Rebel Technology Stoicheia Euclidean rhythm generator, which is given initial clock by the M32, which is synced to the BSP. I have used the Filter 8 for the bass notes twice now, and I really can't say enough about the clarity and variety of beat the Filter 8/Stoicheia combo provides. The backing key synth lines are of course the microKorg and the Little Phatty Stage II, looped with a Pigtronix Infinity Looper. The first sequencer of the BSP controls the trigger for the traditional bouncing ball patch that runs from the Make Noise Maths to Mutable Instruments Plaits, which is then made stereo, with the left channel going directly into the left channel of aMake Noise Mimeophon, while the right channel passes through a Doepfer Wasp before going into the right channel of the Mimeophon. The second sequencer of the BSP controls the Synthesis Technology's Circuit Bent VCO, which flows into a Mutable Instruments Clouds.

The track, while obviously cheerful in structure, upon closer inspection reveals that it is tough to keep it together. Things fall apart. I play a lot with hyper-melodic lines that overlay one another, like a stratification of melody that gives it depth. I find that this approach reveals the often melancholic qualities of otherwise happy sounds. It may be tough to hear it at first, but after a while, it is all I can hear.

Happy Birthday Earth Modular Society. Thanks for being there for me.

this is how WE change the world... hopefully!! or at least make ourselves feel a little bit better...
-- JimHowell1970

Hahaha, I'm not sure I have such high hopes, my dude :-D For me it's only about raising awareness, no need to overdo it or insist on people changing their minds, I try to share what I consider is right (and whenever possible, positive), and hope to inspire others to do the same - which might end up disagreeing with me and that is fine. I do think however that an overly PC attitude wouldn't be positively contributing to any debate, because it essentially tries to remove the debate from discussion, whereas debate is for me an essential part of a good and sane society. What do people do when they can't discuss what they disagree on ?

remember - Woody Guthrie's guitar "This Machine Kills Fascists"

& I've seen that slogan (or very similar) stuck to many, many modular synthesizers over the years

-- JimHowell1970

Yeah, I've seen it too - tbh, I don't think anyone should kill anyone because of their ideas but I have to admit I have very belligerent feeling for people with a severe lack of ideas, sometimes, so I guess I can't be throwing stones, right ? :)

Aaaaah ok.

It's extremely shocking indeed.
Thanks for your explanations.

Cheers

EDITED Oct 6th 2021, 13:10

it originally started as a concatenation of (big) muff (π) and wiggler - 2 electro-harmonix effects pedals

muff in English has multiple meanings:
the effects pedal;
a tube made of fur or other warm material into which the hands are placed for warmth;
and
slang for female genitalia/pubic hair

wiggler is more straight forward someone who wiggles

I don't see electro-harmonix changing the name of their effect pedal after 50 years or so...

it's just a bit of schoolboy humour - that really hurts no one and has no intention of offence - but remember in English you cannot give offence, you can only take it... some people are extremely over sensitive and those that are tend to shout the loudest!

EDITED Oct 6th 2021, 12:59

The "good" translation in french is "remue-méninges".
But I suppose "muffwiggler" or "muff wiggler" is a slang term for "godemichet", or by derivative definition "branlette".

EDITED Oct 6th 2021, 12:53

Hi,

Can someone explain me the harmless pun about muffwiggler name please?
As french my english is not good enough to understand this kind of joke
Google translate doesn't help ;)

Cheers

Hey @funbun,

Very interesting piece, thanks for the patch notes !

I'd say you could pat yourself on the back for this one, I feel like "electronic middle-eastern jazz" would be a good description of the vibes I got out of it so you scored very close to your original goal/influence. I have to say that in general, I like how you orchestrate your pieces, the interplay between the different voices is something you do really well.

Looking forward to more content from you !

Take care (@GarfieldModular too),
D.

Thanks! I forgot to add patch notes for this track. This is the kind of patch I've been building toward since I started with modular synths. Once I learn about generative music, I knew that I could make a single voice play a solo much like a jazz musician improvised over chord changes. I don't do chord changes, per se. I do modal music, using minimal composition methods developed by the likes of Steve Reich, Terry Riley. Miles Davis and John Coltrane cover the modal side of things.

For this track I had been listening to Turkish bagpipe music, the tulum. Phrygia being a region of ancient Turkey/Asia Minor. Smidgeon meaning small. Smidgen Phrygian means small, Turkish bagpiper. It's also played in Phrygian mode. Unfortunately I'm stuck with the western-tempered scale until Ornament and Crime are ported to AE Modular. Than I can play the proper temperaments and scales.

It's has taken all this time to acquire all the modules needed to play in this style. For the longest time the AE Modular didn't even have a quantizer, switches, trigger delay, Turing machine, etc.

Vital to this patch is the rbss-random bit shift sequencer. A sort of digital rendition of the Turing machine. Those random control voltages are attenuated, then quantized. That makes for the solo voice.

The "under structure," the minimalist texture supporting the solo voice, is handled by basic 16 and 8 step linear sequencers.

Accents and harmonics are handled by beat dividers and the trigger processor called TRIP.

@toodee +1000000000

this is how WE change the world... hopefully!! or at least make ourselves feel a little bit better...

remember - Woody Guthrie's guitar "This Machine Kills Fascists"

& I've seen that slogan (or very similar) stuck to many, many modular synthesizers over the years

Please don't let this site become like modwiggler, where in trying to be 'politically correct' they've changed their name, from a double-entendre (a harmless pun), and remove all mention of the b-company's poor ethics from module discussion into a separate thread... where newbies looking for inexpensive ways into modular don't get directed - they just get hammered by the marketing might of the b-company - when there are plenty of other options, which support small businesses with (near-) zero marketing budgets!

EDITED Oct 6th 2021, 10:14

Hi!
I like this forum a lot, and I am learning about "euro-rack modules". It is so awesome!
But, what is all this thing about politics statements on an electronic modules platform.
Everybody can think and express whatever they want, if it doesn't affect the products they make, who care?, if the quality is involved, of course, it is related to this forum; everything else is out the place.
If people IRL commit "real" crimes, let the law do its things; please, don't let the keyboard's double-moralistic warriors invade this place. Everything has its right place, and I am not here to read about the fashion politics tendencies.
I don't think this nice and beautiful place was made for that illness to spread around.
Thank you.
-- Hikove

That's like... your opinion, man. Just like Jim's statements or mine, it's all opinions, which I thought was what forums were about. If some opinions annoy you deeply, I would advise to simply disregard them, just like I disregard opinions of people about modules when they admittedly never read the manual and don't understand 70% of what the circuits do.
Here's some perspective: I do care - deeply. In fact, I am convinced that to fight for the world each of us wants to live in, the weapon we have is our wallet, believing that the law alone will solve all issues is way too naïve, there are many examples of people making a difference by changing their purchase habits collectively. Yet, to make informed decisions we need information, so people in communities talking about what they see as issues - regardless of whether I agree or not about it being an issue.
By the way, calling social justice "fashion politics tendencies" is very much a political view in itself...

About Synthrotek, my take:
A bunch of internet keyboard warriors, who probably have never seen 'South Park', freaked out that he posted a picture of Harvey Weinstein and made a bad joke they probably didn't understand. Then attacked him and were surprised that a person like him would react in the way he did. . . It takes more than that to offend me. He did not rape or kill anyone, so I don't care.

Since they all most likely wear and buy things that are made by slave and child labor, which should be common knowledge by now; and the destruction that mining rare minerals for electronics cause. . . Its most likely people annoyed by Synthrotek just disagree with his different political view. I am the complete opposite of a bigot. Most people if their circumstances were slightly different could easily have been the opposite, what they disagree with, of what they are now. The left and right, most people, essentially function on the same logic. I cannot wait till humans evolve past politics.

-- vansting

Again, a lot of shortcuts here, saying that people are annoyed by Synthrotek solely because of Steve's political views is intellectually lazy. So is saying that people offended by his posts simply "did not understand" - that's assuming that he was right and that there is not other view possible of the situation. I have NO IDEA what his political views are (and I don't care), in fact I'm not really offended by his bad jokes, but I would defend the right for other people to talk about it here. After all, it was his choice to make those jokes and subsequent aggressive defense on his business page, not his personal page...

EDITED Oct 6th 2021, 10:02

The Joranalogue Orbit 3 is a variation of the NLC Hypster with the same controls with different names (the switch Tame/Wild is identical).
Maybe the Orbit 3 is more stable (but who need stability with a chaos module ;) ).
And yes, with the Hypster you can have stable out.
Anyway, Joranalogue make good modules.

@Exiannyc thanks for your post and videos, very interesting! And a very good point about feedback loops. I've been cautious about patching feedback loops in my setup... maybe its time to get on that!

A couple adds from my side:
-- my order from NLC showed up. Very cool stuff. I've spent most time so far with Hypster. Yes it is a chaos module but not what I was expecting. With stable settings, the output is very stable and repetitive. It is with changed settings (manually or CV) that the output varies, and in a very nonlinear way. So for example 1 or 2 LFO inputs to Hypster and the output will be pushed through a very dynamic and only partly controlled wavespace. That's my take on it so far, and I'm pleased to have added it to my setup!

-- also in my NLC order were TripleSloths, Neuron and Squid Axon. I have yet to really dig into these but am looking forward to.

-- I see Joranalogue has Orbit3 upcoming. This is also a chaos module. I LOVE the Joranalogue stuff I have so far, so I have to imagine Orbit3 is a capable offering as well. But I don't plan on getting this any time soon as my NLC stuff just recently arrived and should give me lots to play with and scratch my head over.

Thanks everyone for your ideas and comments!

Thank you, Garfield! Your always kind words are much appreciated!