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Played a friend's ARP 2600 way back in the 70s. First purchase was a Chroma Polaris in the 80s. Been through Roland D110, TX7, K2000, Kronos, Electribe and various others along the way, with several diversions into guitar land.... Only now, after recent purchases of a System 1m (that's why it's in this rack, at least at the start) and a 0-Coast (wish it fit!) have I been bitten by the modular bug, and I'm finding all that history isn't quite enough. Thank providence for YouTube, Muffwiggler and this forum.
I'd appreciate it greatly if a few of you folks could have a look at this system and alert me to any mistakes or oversights you might see. I'd like a versatile system, but my primary interests will probably be about evenly divided between noodling with interesting (to me anyway) evolving soundscapes, and rhythmic integration in live-jam-type situations with my other equipment -- Midi sync will be important, but I think I can get that via one of my Arturia keysteps? I also have an SQ1 and the Electribe and a bunch of other potential controllers out of rack...
Expert Sleepers disting mk4
Intellijel Dixie II
Mutable instruments Braids
Maths v2
Intellijel Buff Mult
Intellijel Polaris
Intellijel Dubmix
Mutable instruments Clouds
Roland SYSTEM-1m
Thanks very much for any help or insight you might offer!
No comments on the rack at this moment. However, I have a Dave Smith Pro-2 which works very well with modular. Kinda was built that way. Have you considered looking at the Pro-2 with a 0-Coast? Or Pro-2 with a Mother-32? Also, Erica Synths (one of my favorites) has some great system options including DIY. I love the Mutable Instruments stuff. MATHS just kinda needs to be there. I recently turned a corner with MATHS and it has become so much more useful to me. It's a lot to absorb and I have a small head :-)
ditch the toy system 1m. it looks purdy, but it doesn't fare well in youtube reviews. the knobs are loose, if i remember right, it sounds digital. if you want to get a nice starter, moog mother 32 is in the same price range and is way more popular here, but i'd get an intellijel atlantis instead myself. it has some nice "hidden features" according to the sonic state, i believe, youtube review. and sounds really nice. try checking for demo videos for ANYTHING you put in your rack. if you REALLY want roland tone, get the more expensive 500 series.
while both are space hogs, i just love the tonal insanity of intellijel's shapeshifter wavetable (and so much more!) VCO and rossum's z-plane filter. i'd drop clouds to make room for shapeshifter myself, but from what i recall, clouds tones weren't my cup of tea so it's possible shapeshifter's aren't yours, BUT there's so much variety in what it can do. there's a funny youtube demo for it where the reviewer is freaked out and can't stop laughing & at one point, has a brief conversation with it as it self modulates "meows". it does nice vocoding too.
intellijel polaris filter? CHECK! great little filter that does more variety of tones than almost anything else. a moog filter MIGHT sound chunkier, a SEM, jucier, or a WASP, grungier, but the polaris does all those kinds of tones PLUS even "rare" vocal sounding tones. it's THE filter for a small system. i agree with that.
dixie II+? i know it's popular and there's supposed to be some kind of magic with triangle core VCOs, but i just didn't hear anything special about it in demos. if you didn't want to put a big old shapeshifter in your rack as you #2 VCO, there are smaller wavetable VCOs like erica's black that can do a lot more than dixie and both the mother 32 & atlantis have nice analogue VCOs. it comes down to personal choice, but i just don't get dixie II+ and am looking for an excuse to kick it out of my 4x104 tone bender (arp 2600 with an attitude) play rack.
as to MIDI, expert sleepers' ES3 Mk3 seems to be the most popular MIDI interface, but if you already have clack sources and don't plan on playing your rack via MIDI, then you might want to think about "pamela's new workout". i just learned about it tonight, and it sounds like a programmable, 8 out, clock/LFO monster. i dropped batumi & quad clock from my play rack because new workout sounds like it does more than both units combined including adding swing to your clocks with 256, i think, memory points! that should offer your little rack plenty of "pseudo sequencing"
you MIGHT want to consider makenoise's popular 2 channel optomix VCA whose vactrols are supposed to be good for making percussive noises, but from what i've seen, RYO's aparture VCA is even better as it adds VCF & distortion giving you more tone, especially warming clouds and any other digital oscillators you might use. me? i'd even add a metasonix tube VCA for even chunkier grunge. tonal variety is my priority. noodling? never! LOL
back to analogue filters, i'd get a tiptop Z3000 smart VCO MkII before the dixie because it adds sync for other filers and a waveshaper for more tone, though it eats more space up.
seriously though... if you want to really noodle... here's a steaming bowl of pastabilities for ya...
The System 1m is in there because I already own it. Have for a while. It will probably get bumped from the rack when I get to the point where I need the space. It works well as a non-eurorack unit where I can take advantage of its (somewhat limited) polyphony for chords. (And a light show when it goes to sleep.)
Pamelas New Workout and the Shapeshifter both look really interesting. I'm bookmarking those for the future. The information I've gotten here, YouTube and the modular subreddit have been very helpful. I've settled on this as the beginnings of my setup.
The Distings and the Polaris are on backorder, but I started playing with the rest of it for the first time last night. I have got a lot to learn!
well... if you already have the 1M, is it capable of producing thick analogue tones out of curiosity? it sounded really digital in the demos i watched. it would at least be a great module to learn on as i forgot just how many features it has. if you already have it... then keep it. it has stuff you can use, like effects, slider envelope generators are the best as far as i'm concerned, and there might be times when you want brighter tones too. besides, it also gives you MIDI too. as toy as it was, i wish i still had my casio SK-1 "sampler". it just had a funky bitcrush tone you can't get out out of 16bit+ pro gear. i lost it after all of the keys started falling out.
one benefit of having a normaled synth voice is that you can work a lot faster on it. one big rack owner was loving his atlantis because he could get stuff done on it faster. there's nothing worse than regretting getting rid of something because what you replaced it with can't do what it could. bright digital tones abound in techno and dubstep.
True, I wouldn't characterize it as 'thick' sounding, but it is pretty versatile, the easy normalled operation is a plus and it's not hard to find a place for it in a mix. I like having the polyphony too, because I like nothing more than nice harmonies and complex chords, but if I understand things correctly the 1m only operates this way with midi - when using the cv jacks I think it's monophonic. Not sure about that yet as I haven't had time to explore the things that Boulanger talks about in his excellent YouTube series on the 1m and using it in cv mode.
I like having the 1m in the rack now because it fits there and saves space on my work surface, at least until I start adding more modules, which I am already itching to do. But I do have a little bit of a problem: when it's in my Tiptop Mantis rack I don't have room to attach any of the midi cables that I have tried to either of the two sets of DINs on the back. No MIDI no poly? So I either have to hack custom cables to break out the midi, use it in mono mode where it should behave like a set of hopefully useful modules, or bounce it from the rack (or get a deeper one) - in which case I'll be looking at a void that's constantly tempting me to fill it with more, expensive modules. Sooner or later the 1M probably won't be in the rack, but I will most likely keep it in the mix. I tend not get rid of gear. It's an adventure.
there's a module specific case for it that you can mount it in as an external stand alone voice i believe. it would have openings that don't block the midi. otherwise, you'll have to top mount it and hack your case.
yeah... there's the case in that video. you should be able to order it separate though you'll probably have to pay more than its worth.
