Fordidden Planet is a very good filter module. I think I remember @Lugia using it and being happy with it. You have to ask him... :) For my part I use several filters including Overseer which would be perfect for a DJ / House work. Other comment: Plaits is a wonderful module to start a modular and will stay in your rack until the end of the road... So, have a good trip!
I really don't think you're ready for modular yet. The modules don't make a lot of sense for a useful system. What are you expecting to get out of this that you can't already do in your DAW?
I have both Pam and Tempi. Still learning Tempi. For precision and complex clock tasks, Pam wins easily but for quick and dirty clock tasks then Tempi is way easier for live performance since there is no menu diving and no need to turn the dial to set tempos just tap tempo and configure with a few button presses. I like them both. Tempi is more fun to use since it feels like playing an instrument. That said if I’m clocking a bunch of drum modules and need precision and features like Euclidean patterns without relying on a sequencer then Pam wins easily. I like them both for different reasons.
Almost a year later and the modular bug has returned. I've figured I can fit a Mantis on my desk, which allows for double the space I was initially counting on. I also followed Lugia's advice and played around with VCV Rack and can't wait to get on with the real deal. Please bear in mind that although I primarily make synth pop, I would also like to dabble with other more experimental genres inspired by Hiro Kone or Caterina Barbieri. This modular will mostly serve the purpose of creating textures and layering samples with synthesis, since I have most of the rhythmic and melodic areas and effects covered between my Analog Rytm, Digitone, and an Erica Synths DB-01 and H9 that I picked up since I last posted.
Here's the rack I would like to end up with:
I guess the main doubt is whether the Cloud Terrarium is too big a module for a build this size. I do like the sound of it a lot but I'm open to alternatives. I'm also very excited by the 258t coming out. Let me know anything you would change here, but no larger cases please.
And, since I can't splash out £4000 at once, here is what I think I could get started with:
lo-fi, experimental, distorted and glitchy is kind of what Paul specializes in... I'd comment on the youtube video rather than here if I were you maybe he'll come up with something!
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
I’m sure I could find some creative uses for Tempi, but I don’t know why anyone would choose it over Pamela’s New Workout with the Pexp-1 expander. I think ALM really nailed it with PNW. It’s an essential module for me.
Thanks for watching ryanthegecko. That's what I like about modular synth, the many evocative sounds that can be expressed in many different and intriguing ways. Of course, this is true with any instrument and with the modular synth you get a huge palette which can be designed in many ways.
Hello,
Has anyone bought this module of Error Instruments. How's the overall built quality and reliability? Also, on all the demos the guy posted on YT the sounds seems really low-quality and distorted. Can you record/playback some cleaner sounds?
Here's an interesting anecdote: I placed two orders with Perfect Circuit over the last two weeks, both of similar size and with the free shipping option from California to Ohio. One was shipped FedEx on October 29, the other was shipped USPS on November 3. Both are scheduled for delivery today (November 5).
I guess the moral of the story is that shipping is unpredictable at best since the pandemic began, and everything will eventually find its way to you regardless of the carrier.
I have been enjoying the saw coming from my Ts-L :)
One thing I wish modular builders would start doing is switching the dials they use for coarse vs fine adjustments. I think the fine adjustment should always use the bigger dial...IMHO
-- jb61264
So true, fine tuning should come with larger dials.
I am inspired by birth, death and the events inbetween.
MIDI was always the one thing that Dieter never quite got right. The other Doepfer gear...spot-effin'-ON. But not the A-100 MIDI interfaces. They always felt like something of an afterthought when compared to the rest of the line.
I can't see your rack, I am getting an error, is there something wrong with the rack link?
I think, but I can't see it clear because I can't go to your rack link, I miss VCAs
I know you might want exact copies but for the sake of at least some variation you might want to consider to take a few different VCFs instead of taking all the same. The Doepfer A-124 Wasp filter is a serious great one, another good one is A-106-5 SEM filter
The same you could consider to do for your oscillators, but up to you, perhaps I am going "too wild" here ;-)
You have a lot of redundant modules but I don't see a redundant mixer, check that out, I think if you go this road any way then two mixers is a must (since you do two Matriarchs and two SQ1s)
In that same context get at least one but perhaps even consider two audio interfaces, i.e. modules that take the Eurorack audio signals to your external mixer. Since money doesn't seem to be an issue, go for two audio interfaces then for each couple Matriarch/SQ1 you have one stereo output to your external mixer, great! :-)
I used myself for a very long time the Intellijel Audio I/O module in combination with my Doepfer stuff, great combination!
Other audio interfaces you might want to consider are XLR but great modules: Vermona - Tai-4 and the ACL - Audio Interface
Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
After experimenting with various ways to sample and record modular synths, I have to say that the new 1010 Music Bluebox has made recording all my synths and modular a game changer. Plug in and record individual modules or tracks quickly and dump the contents of the micro SD card to computer and DAW for processing. Really happy to finally found a fairly painless way to do this after suffering with the horrid Doepfer MIDI to CV module. That said, the other Doepfer modules are quite good like the filters, mixers, and oscillators.
I am having mixed feelings here. On one hand I admire your brave and interesting plan to simulate two Matriarchs and SQ-1s by using a Eurorack modular synth, on the other hand, I agree with Lugia, it's kind of expensive...
Let's put it like this, if for some good reason (for you that is) you still want to follow up on your idea and not going the road, for example Lugia advised you to take, then let's assume money isn't the biggest issue. So from that point, I then continue:
The most obvious thing that I noticed from your here above displayed rack is that you are having two MIDI interfaces A-190-5's here. I really think, and I usually like to have from good modules more than one if financially possible so I am not saying this easily but here I do, that you can get rid of one of those MIDI interfaces of A-190-5. One should be sufficient, use that in combination with for example a Kenton - MIDI Thru 12 then you have enough MIDI connectivity and possibilities from that point of view. Kenton has a few different MIDI Thru models, check the one that suits you most, the MIDI Thru 12 is just an example here.
Though I am usually certainly pro Doepfer, I have quite a few Doepfer modules, however there is just one Doepfer module that I seriously don't like and that's.... yep... that's the A-190-5 or rather the entire A-190-x series. That doesn't mean you wouldn't like it but check this module out if this is really what you want. I had this A-190-5 for a short while in use but it just didn't work out for me. For my understandings, it was not logically to use. So that's the only module so far that I had exchanged for another one, I took the Vermona - qMI2 instead. This module is straight forward in its usage, very logically, just easy to use. The A-190-5 is exactly the opposite of it... but up to you, just check if it's really what you want.
Is this for you a kind of side project? Meaning, do you have already one or more racks full with modules and this is an additional project? Or is this going to be your first Eurorack? In case you have already one or more racks, then go ahead as planned, perhaps fine tune it here and there and perhaps some other members have some more suggestions. I don't have myself the Matriarch neither I have the SQ1, so I can't really, at least from an experience point of view, take these two devices, to cross-check them for you if you have covered everything.
If this is however your first Eurorack, and again, if you don't mind to spend this kind of money, then I would advice you to go for the Doepfer A-100 PMS12 PSU3 rack, that one has one more row that you are going to need in the future for possible extensions, at least you don't need to straight away buy another rack again. The second reason to go for this rack instead of the PMS9 is that you have here 4 PSU3s, so you have on average per HP a bit more power supply (i.e. mA) available, so you don't need to worry too much about the power consumption of modules. The Doepfer A-100 PMS9 and Doepfer A-100 LMS9 are good deals if it comes to bucks per HP however because of that you have to be a bit careful regarding the power consumption with these two latter mentioned racks because they only have two PSU3 power supplies (PSU = Power Supply Unit). The PMS12 has sufficient power so you don't need to worry about that.
Either way, if this is your first rack or your x-th rack :-) My advice is to start not to buy everything in one go but start for example with simulating first one Matriarch. When that works, you are happy with it, fine tuned it, gained experience, etcetera, then add the SQ1 part to it. Then again, check that and if these Doepfer versions of Matriarch and SQ1 works out well only then buy the modules for the 2nd Matriarch and SQ1. In that way you spread the risk and taking it a bit easier on your finance, should something disappoint you somewhere down the road.
Again, please reread Lugia's post, he really got a good point there. Yes this is kind of interesting but is it worth it?
However if you set this for yourself as a kind of milestone you want to do just pure for the fun of it, why not? :-) Eurorack is all about experimenting and having fun :-) I wish you good luck in that case, please keep us updated about your progress and kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Thanks yeah it is crazy good fun. Messed about with Wogglebug and Maths last night and incredible what those two modules can achieve. I probably will use Morphagene to play back drum and voice samples and chop up for playback in different ways. Figure I can use this and my Bluebox mixer/recorder for most live events. I may add in an OP-1 and 1010 Blackbox or Digitakt in the future for a complete trio with live shows.
Since a friend of mine talked about Ornament and Crime, I wondered if it could be an alternative to Pam's, which when I looked >into it, it seemed a more interesting choice, with many more possibilities/uses - Robin Rimbaud called it a Swiss Army knife of >modular.
Yes and no about O_C. It's a great module, but its more about CV than gates/triggers. Temps Utile would be closer to Pam's New Workout. But not a 1:1 comparison. I'd hold out for a Pam's if you can but you can still keep the O_C. Your Pittsburgh has a clock-out. So that should be fine for driving
For a case of this size, why do you have a precision adder and a buffered mult? Also with the Quadrax and Falistri, you can probably ditch the A-145. The Frap Tools 333 summing mixer... that's not needed either. That's 18HP of stuff you probably don't need and a fair bit of money.
Go with a Disting EX at 8HP and you can replace most of that stuff.
That still leaves you with 10HP to play with once you get settled.
@gumbo23
1. open the two racks in two different browser windows.
2. be sure Keyboard Shortcuts are enabled
3. in the first window hover over a module and press c
4. in the second window hover over the rack (important) and press v
-- modulargrid
Wouldnt it make sense to be able to have two separate cases on the same page ? Of different height and length. Or is it too hard to code ?
I miss that
Very cool...look forward to seeing more videos from this setup! Excuse the drool, so many sweet modules in there...been looking at Morphagene pretty closely for a while, be interested to hear what you do with that
Exactly right Lugia and Rene feels more like an expressive touch controller inasmuch as programmable sequencer. My other modular sequencers feel like programming a computer except for Stillson Hammer that has live slider controls. Really a unique and fun approach. Make Noise is a very clever modular group of genius inventors.
The engineering behind the differences in the 4012 and 4072 is pretty interesting...
The 4012 is, of course, the "lawsuit filter". This was the amusing stand-off between Moog and ARP, when Moog accused ARP of stealing their transistor ladder concept (they did), only to have ARP whip back around and accuse Moog of lifting ARP's exponential CV converters (and they did, too). More or less ended in a "agree to disagree" state, but ARP did redesign that filter...and screwed it up.
The 4072 is the "post-lawsuit" filter, and its mellower, less edgy sound comes from a circuit design mistake that rolls the response off between 12 - 16 kHz. It was released anyway, as the voicing IS actually pretty neat if you're shooting for a mellower result. But until the recent releases and DIY clones, you never really had the two VCFs side by side unless you happened to have two different 2600s. To my ear, the 4012 is the go-to for bass and really cutting leads, while the 4072 works great on pads and countermelodies.
Still kinda wish they'd put in the HPF from the Odyssey, tho...
Thanks Garfield! I wanted this system three years ago when I had a 0-coast but it was sold out for long time and I started my modular journey with Doepfer modules. No regrets as Doepfer and other modules taught me a lot about eurorack world and I still use them. This Shared System from Make Noise is a work of art dead sexy and sounds incredible. I love the hands on approach to west coast synthesis that Make Noise is based on mostly. The touch controllers are a very fun way to create music.
Ryan: Thank you :-) Interesting that you like it around six minutes, somewhere as from that point starts my favourite part of that track too!
Lugia: I forgot to reply regarding your filter comment. The above track has been done entirely using the 4012 rev. 2 filter :-)
At first I didn't hear much difference between the 4072 and the 4012, then I played a bit more with it, till I discovered that the 4012 is my favourite. Can't really put it under words why, this might sounds a bit silly, but I have the feeling that when I use the 4012 the Blue Marvin is somehow more communicative towards me and I feel the sound is a slightly bit more lively too. No huge differences, at least not with my untrained ears, however there is a subtle difference I am able to notice.
Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Wow, you received already your Make Noise Shared System Plus, that was fast! Nice demo video, it looks like you are having a good time with your new system :-D
I wish you lots of fun with the new system, enjoy and thanks a lot for sharing this with us. Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Wow! What a vibe here. Very evocative with a lot of mystery and intrigue created by just the sounds, and with the visuals supporting. It's incredible what worlds can be expressed through the interplays between harmony, dissonance, rhythm and tension. Thanks for sharing, I think it's really skilful.
Nice little banger here. I very much appreciate the contrasts in sounds I've been hearing since I became interested in modular music, from these fast and full sounds to more sparse ambient, to very noisy and chaotic stuff. All good, and I never know what to expect. Thanks for posting, I enjoyed it a lot.
I really like this. Nice work! Some very interesting visuals in the video, too. I'm not familiar with the work of Syd Mead, I'm going to check out some. Thanks for sharing!
Miaw! This cat module is very fun, except the hissing which is actually pretty scary, and perfect for Halloween!
Congratulations too on finding a Shared System. That's a fab looking instrument, and the one which first sparked my interest in modular.
I have ordered a bunch, in the last few months from all over the US (I am US based), perfect circuit, detroit modular, control, sweetwater, chuck levins, and everything has arrived. I used the default shipping (whatever was marked as free) and honestly haven't paid too much attention, some things have been delayed a few days here and there but I always got what I paid for. While I can be as impatient as the next guy, frankly these are luxury items that have always arrived independent of what was used for shipping. This reminds me of the airline argument when people claim they will never fly again because only to find that in an imperfect world things just sometimes happen and all carriers can and will be at fault. I recently got a module from one of the vendors above all nicely sealed that clearly had rack rash, made a simple inquiry and got a new panel shipped from the manufacturer. My only gripe comes when something doesn't arrive/doesn't work or isn't as described and there is any issue getting a refund or a new item resent, luckily for me I haven't had this issue ever, I must be one of the lucky ones. International shipping can be a different issue as customs is quite a mess, though I have ordered a few things internationally and haven't had an issue here other than longer shipping times.
Arrived yesterday and spent time last night patching on my new Make Noise Shared System Plus. Such a fun powerful modular package! Here is a quick jam I patched with Rene v2 and Tempi for sequencing/clocking the DPO complex oscillator with Echophon and Erbeverb for pitch/echo and reverb effects. This will keep me busy for a long time and no need to buy more stuff for at least another year or two since I also picked up some support modules for my other case.
Since many people ask questions and ask for suggestions, I sometimes wonder what solution(s) they ended up chosing. So, I thought I'd finish this post with the results of my questions here and on Mod Wriggler, and show people what I came up with.
Firstly, thanks for all the suggestions, as you'll see below, I did finally put together my first rack. I decided to stay with the 104HP, as a way of focusing on what to pick for modules - although that will change/expand in the future (as we all know).
I decided to go/try the no Maths route, after all what you've never had you can't miss. I went with the Quadrax and a Falistri. They're both very interesting modules and I'm amazed at what you can do with them. I also dropped Stages and ALM Pam's New Workout due to availability (at the beginning). Since a friend of mine talked about Ornament and Crime, I wondered if it could be an alternative to Pam's, which when I looked into it, it seemed a more interesting choice, with many more possibilities/uses - Robin Rimbaud called it a Swiss Army knife of modular.
Lastly, most of the modules were chosen because of their multi functions. As an example, the Quadrax can do so many different things, and the Joranalogue Filter 8 is quite exceptional in being a filter, a VCO, LFO, a slew generator, etc.
Anyhow, here's the solution that I came up with - I should add once again, I have a Pittsburgh Mod. SV-1b, Make Noise 0-coast and a Synthstrom Deluge which I use to work with this rack.
Any comments and/or suggestions welcome as always.
Tempi and Rene are a great combo and it’s fun hands playable like an instrument. You can tap in tempo for the tempi channels to Rene and quickly change tempo and clock division for example in real time. I’m really enjoying Rene v2 has cool way of sequencing different than most sequencers plus touch based fun.
That’s a great tip on using scales, I will have to give that a go. I’ve been a more plug and play user of quantizers, select scale, use attenuators and mixers for stepped random voltages and let it run. I almost picked up the Addac quad quantizer but it is so expensive I used ornament and crime quad quantizer to program separate chord tones and switch between them, but I like this approach as well, solid.
Intellijel Scales is part of my setup because it allows me to constrain pitches to pre-set groups (e.g. "pitch class sets" or "PC-sets").
The basic setup is like this:
1. get a Scales unit
2. read the manual to know how to program your own pitch selections (PC sets) into Scales
3. use "Pitch B" to SELECT WHICH of up to 7 PC sets is currently active
4. use Pitch A input as the pitch signal quantized to your selected PC set
5. use Pitch A output as your quantized pitch signal to send to any units needing it
I send a sequencer signal to Pitch B to pick a PC set on a defined rhythmic plan (e.g. I'm setting the "harmonic rhythm") of the song, then I send any signal to Pitch A to pick pitches from the active PC set.
This setup allows for huge flexibility while at the same time constraining output pitches to a desired sequence of PC sets. Super useful for my purposes. It lets me do things like:
-- I find 3 chords I like in a sequence. I program those 3 chords into Scales. Then my modular can jam / riff / do arpeggios in ways that exactly fit that chord sequence.
-- ditto but programming in scales that fit with a chord sequence (as suggested by the "chord-scale theory" common to Berklee books)
-- I will be evolving this technique to allow "auto-counterpoint" though that is trickier in practice.
In summary, I think Scales could be a good fit for your need, specifically because you can change the active PCset via PitchB input. In a guitar analogy: in Scales used this way, PitchB is like the fretting hand, PitchA is like the strumming hand.
A dedicated quantizer or a sequencer with built in quantization will help keep things in tune. Ornament and crime is great value with a quad quantizer built in, scales is a dual quantizer, but you have less control over the notes available to each channel. When paired with a matrix mixer and/or an a*b+c polarizer you get a lot playable improvisation. Now this helps with the no wrong notes, controlling dynamics and when voices play is a topic in and of itself and the options here are many, mutes are a easy cheap option to switch on and off voices during live performance.
A dedicated quantizer or a sequencer with built in quantization will help keep things in tune. Ornament and crime is great value with a quad quantizer built in, scales is a dual quantizer, but you have less control over the notes available to each channel. When paired with a matrix mixer and/or an a*b+c polarizer you get a lot playable improvisation. Now this helps with the no wrong notes, controlling dynamics and when voices play is a topic in and of itself and the options here are many, mutes are a easy cheap option to switch on and off voices during live performance.
Yep, the Tempi + Rene combo has a backplane connection that locks these up as sort of a "hybrid" single module with pretty elaborate clocking tricks. Also notice the dual logic module next to the Tempi, which allows you to majorly screw with how clock pulses get generated and from what. In theory, you could lock the Rene to the Tempi, then use two other clock modifiers to mess with how those interact in the logic gates.
If you don't know about Boolean logic, you'd better! Using Boolean gates to create complex gate patterns is a killer way to get even more out of a system than JUST having a clock. What Boolean logic is are basic operators and how they react to incoming gate signals...
AND only fires a gate when both inputs to a gate are active
OR only fires when there's a gate on one or the other input. These can also be used to combine pulses, which is why you see so many pulse adder-type modules
NOR only fires a gate when there are NO gates at EITHER input
and NAND only fires when both inputs are NOT active, but is on in all other states.
You can also get the "N" via using an inverter on the gate output so that the gate's resulting "high" state converts to zero, and vice versa. But these slightly-confusing Boolean gates kick the door off the hinges when it comes to creating complicated patterns...and all you need are a couple of gates to input. Now, as for the rest of the Pam's trickery, did you look at this?: https://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/fh2.html You'll note that the FH-2 isn't JUST a MIDI interface, but it ALSO has some sneak functions that kinda overlap with a Pam's. Have a look at that link.
Now, where to start for building...my suggestion would be to start with the top row and then you can work on how to optimally use the synth's voicing. Then the second row, which should be fillable at that point since Tiptop should have some of their Buchla "t" series modules ready. Get used to how the modulation works, and how it works together with the top row's voicing. THEN do the control row on the bottom. By getting used to the primary functions of each row one at a time, when you finally get to the point of implementing MIDI and a controller, you'll be very much up to speed.
I would be interested in how others from the forum build their rack if they want to play it completely live. Do you have a central module with which you control your system or do you have ready-made SEQUENCES? For example, melody, bass and drums?
-- FWGW
I don't think you're going to find too many people using "canned" sequence tracks or prepacked libraries around here...
As for how to play a modular "completely live", there's literally no guidebook to that process. A "live" system is just as likely to have some type of MIDI interface as a "studio" system. Plus, that's not the only way to control a modular via some sort of computer interface...you can use a DC-coupled digital audio interface or a purpose-built DAW to Modular module such as the ones Expert Sleepers makes.
As for my "modular sandbox"...there's no real "central module", either. That part of the studio is set up so that pretty much anything goes, given that modulars ALSO tend to fall into the "anything goes" zone as well. Sometimes I'll use some ad hoc clock distribution, but that's about the only "typical" thing I do.
Once again I totally agree. Thanks guys for your advices.
About mixing : For the moment I mainly use the 321 as attenuator / offset, and I plan to acquire a 3xmia for the same reasons because the voltage block suffers from a lack of attenuations (why malekko did not include this option ?? Why ??!!!). In addition to that, pamela is not bipolar, it will also be very useful to me to modulate its signals. I use my matrix mixer in combo of marbles (marbles 4 cv out, matrix 4 in, it looks like they were made to meet). Regarding tesseract and audio mixing, I think I overestimated my current needs a bit. On the other hand, I absolutely need to improve my stereo mixing capacity, so I think I will start with a single stereo module and drop the mono. The send / return will bring me a big plus to optimize the use of my effects / sidechains. For the rest, I don't have much left to buy to complete this project and it is indeed always a plus to have a little room to meet my future needs ... the maestro looks amazing !!!! I had heard about it without paying much attention to it. Just watched a video...this module looks totaly insane to perform on the fly! I want this !
Thanks again and sorry for my english wich is not my main language.
I discovered a possibility of extension to the M303 that might interest you with MI Warps + Soundmachines LS1lightstrip... see the Mylar Melodies video below.
Note the final budget, but you apparently will get a true enlargement of the 303 spirit. It’s very surprising...
For my part, I almost opted for the Behringer TD-3 simply, as I had indeed done with the RD-6. But, from my point of view, if drum machines (like mixers) are more obvious and tactile in a traditional desk solution, I have preferred 2 basic modules to combine with other tools I already have (like Optomix, modDemix, Synchrodyne, Bloom...). That's an inexpensive solution and takes little space too (6HP): Pico VCO2 + VCF1!
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond in depth! There are a number of modules in there that I am not familiar with so I'll have to do a little research.
It looks like the Buchla stuff hasn't been released yet so I'll have to wait on exploring those, but I'm really excited to dig into you suggestions!
You only have the Trident in there for oscillators. Think that will be enough with that setup? I guess you are considering I have a Moog Grandmother too and the disting.
Are you mostly suggesting the Tempi over a PNW because it pairs with Rene? From videos I've watched I feel like i'm leaning toward PNW.
Last questions. Where would you start with your suggestions? I can't get everything at once and some have not released yet.
Supersaw oscillators are on my wish list since they are the core of trance music. Maybe in year or so. Looking at Acid Rain Chainsaw, Saich and others. Instruo modules are hella expensive and so may go with cheaper ones.
-- sacguy71
Cheap Chainsaw is nice to have sound allway gread!
