Advice on tweaked Shared System

Hi folks,
I have a tweaked Shared System that I am finding it difficult to gel with. Main problems, for me are:

1. Not sure about the best way to route signals for a coherent stereo out.
2. Finding it hard to make any music with it that I like.

I have quite a few other modules that I could swap into it, including a Tempi, Plaits, Erbeverb, Ripples, ALM MFX, Telharmonic, ALM Tangle Quartet.

Another route I've considered is to strip it back a bit and just go for a basic Shared System. Could even sell a module or two and get an Echopon.

Or do you think this set up is actually okay and I should just work at it to get the best from it?

Don't know. I'm a bit stuck at the moment, so any advice would be gratefully recieved. Thanks.

What type of music/sound do you wish to create? Tough to say if this is capable or not, without knowing...

Hi, I don't have a strong leaning to any particular genre. But definitely not techno or any kind of dance music. I've been listening to early electronic albums, Laurie Spiegel, Gil Melle, Else Marie Pade, Morton Subotnick... that sort of thing. I've also been enjoying albums by Benge and Caterina Barbieri. So in that sort of ball park I guess. I'd like to record some live sounds into the Morphagene then have them warble away against an atmospheric synth bed I guess. If that makes sense? I've just today removed the Brains module and replaced it with the ALM S.B.G. as I'd like to incorporate external effects. I think my real problem is figuring out how to route the sound so that it all comes together in a clean stereo signal. I'm not sure how to incorporate the Mimeophon without drenching everything in delay. Ideally, I'd have some kind of send and return but I'm not sure how to do that with the modules I have, or whether it is even possible.

Just looking at your mixing options, you could really use a more fully featured mixer so, as you say, you can deal with the stereo and mono signals in one place. Somwething like a Happy Nerding 4xstereo Mix would work. You could also use an external mixer as you can get them pretty cheap on eBay etc.

Would a Mutable Marbles or a Turing machine be something you'd be interested in to compliment the Rene & Pressure Points?
Or do it externally with a Beatstep Pro etc?

EDITED Sunday April 27, 21:08

Just looking at your mixing options, you could really use a more fully featured mixer so, as you say, you can deal with the stereo and mono signals in one place. Somwething like a Happy Nerding 4xstereo Mix would work. You could also use an external mixer as you can get them pretty cheap on eBay etc.

Would a Mutable Marbles or a Turing machine be something you'd be interested in to compliment the Rene & Pressure Points?
Or do it externally with a Beatstep Pro etc?
-- wishbonebrewery

Hi, thanks for your reply. I think you're right that mixing is the main thing I'm struggling with. I've just created another little case with all my extras, which includes an ALM Tangle Quartet and I fed three voices into that, and also multed them, so I could have a rudimentary send and return into the stereo input at the bottom of the XPan. That left me four more inputs on the XPan for the dry signal and even then I still didn't have an input for the Morphagene. I've been toying with the idea of getting an ADAT, such as the OPTX or something from Expert Sleepers and then feeding separate signals out to my computer and mixing in the box. I'm sure this would sound a lot better but I don't know if it would end up adding yet more complexity when what I'd really like is something simple. As you say, a small mixer might be a more straightforward option and it would have the benefit of some EQ and an easy way to pipe in FX. I'll check out the Happy Nerding 4xstereo mix, although I'm a bit wary of that company. I tried the 6 channel Panmix and it had very little headroom. Wasn't a fan of the FX Aid either. Modular is SO COMPLICATED!

I was suggesting a small well-priced mixer to help bring things together.
I have a bunch of mixers, more than VCAs
Got the Happy Nerding, PanMix Jr, 4x Stereo Mix
Then I've got the DPW Design M1 mixer and a SSF Vortices with Mutes Expander, both great mixers with the ability to colour the sound and bring a mix together well.
I also have the Befaco Output Bus which in my opinion gave my system more charity in mixing.

:)

EDITED Monday April 28, 07:02

Hi - I think you're right. Probably can't have too many mixers. When I tried the Panmix I found I lost some clarity and punch but I have checked out some of your YouTube vids and they sound clear and punchy as hell. Nice work. I'm going to look at what mixers are available from my local modular dealership. cheers, and thanks again.

Hi - I think you're right. Probably can't have too many mixers. When I tried the Panmix I found I lost some clarity and punch but I have checked out some of your YouTube vids and they sound clear and punchy as hell. Nice work. I'm going to look at what mixers are available from my local modular dealership. cheers, and thanks again.

Did not see it mentioned here, so this is my minimal solution to getting a stereo image from anything:
Nearness and
Pico Out .
Gives you 7 in stereo out mixing, earphone monitoring and line-out in 6hp.
Can't be beat for space effectiveness.

Did not see it mentioned here, so this is my minimal solution to getting a stereo image from anything:
Nearness and
Pico Out .
Gives you 7 in stereo out mixing, earphone monitoring and line-out in 6hp.
Can't be beat for space effectiveness.
-- wiggler55550

the Nearness at just 2hp looks amazing. I wonder what it does to the sound? XPan reduces the volume, I'm guessing for headroom, but it is still clear.

It does nothing to the sound. As far as my experience, it sounds rather transparent. If you drive it hard it will distort, though. It basically arranges 7 signals in a fixed stereo panorama. Nothing can be changed, not the pan position, not even volume, it's strictly minimal. I was not sure about it being any use when I first got one. I now have at least one in every rack. It needs no learning, no thinking, just use it and you know what it will do. It makes you concentrate on your patch rather than fiddeling with your mixer. A very elegant design.

Back to your initial question: A stereo mixer that is more full featured with mutes, FX send, an EQ that is as simple as it is efficient and a low pass gate in every input, is

().

Performance oriented and a good fit for a shared system I think.

I have a very similar system--Rubicon/Dixie II+/Ultrafold rather than DPO, I don't have the Verbos oscillator, and I got rid of Pressure Points. I find a wealth of wonderful sounds on a regular basis. The lack of Echophon is not limiting your sound. I often start out with the oscillator (DPO in your case, Rubicon/Dixie II+ for me) and work with it and the AD envelope until I get a sound I like. If the original voice from the oscillator is not interesting, then the patch will not work for me. Then I run it thru Optomix, Mimeophon and QPAS, and start playing with modulation. I use various references for patch ideas. There are many patch ideas on the Shared System on YouTube. I use those videos for ideas even tho I don't have Echophon. Let's swap some ideas, if you like!

EDITED Yesterday, 21:00

Also, a bigger and fancier mixer will not make your patches sound better. I use mostly Mixup and 3xMIA for mixing. Mixers to not make my patches sound better, but they help make them more complex--add more voices.

I have had another think about my case and come up with this.

My thinking with the S.B.G. is it gives me amplification into the Morphagene if I want to plug a microphone in. Plus it doubles as a distortion unit and external FX send. I'm thinking stereo from MG into XPan plus up to four mono pannable inputs. Or I go Mimeophon into XPan? Still can't quite decide. Of course, the big losses are Pams and Gliss but I have created a second smaller case that could be used alongside this but also function as a little machine in its own right. And I still have 2hp in the SS case for a Nearness which could definitely come in handy.

Here's my little machine. It's in the Nifty Case so I also get some DAW integration if I want it. I'm thinking this might actually work, with each case independently valid but also complementary. Any feedback would be great.

Let's swap some ideas, if you like!
-- Zeta_fxn

That's a lovely idea.