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Nice to see some new music from you @farkas. It sounds totally different but I got some Studio - West Coast vibes on this around the middle, fun stuff. That said... I'm looking forward to hearing some of your more refined work too 🧐🧐 don't keep us waiting

@Lugia thanks for the input above.

QQ: what level Furmann conditioner do you consider good? I find their product literature nearly useless; seems to me nearly the same marketing speak is applied to their $200 units up to their $3600 units—I can barely discern a functional difference.

Here in my studio, EVERYTHING has to pull AC through Furman conditioners. I consider them 100% essential here in the Midwest, given the kind of insane storms we have here. They won't withstand a direct hit on my AC line, but they do well at stopping spike transients that really aren't good for electronics.

My other key here is grounding. The entire studio is set up to be "star grounded" at the mixing desk's star ground point, and I use 16ga stranded wire to connect ALL chassis of rack gear and, by them being connected at the racks that have their Furmans, I can also maintain that star ground through the synths and other devices.

I consider both of these to be totally essential. The conditioners lower your overall e-noise in the studio's audio, plus the grounding method makes ground looping pretty impossible.

OK...I did two variations of this. The first one is made up of nearly everything save for the swap of the Xaoc Warna for the original diode OR (the Warna can do what it does, PLUS it has a buffered mult in addition to the two ORs) and the Doepfer A-119 for the Erica INPUT (the INPUT has no envelope follower, so if you want to control something with the amplitude contour of an external instrument, the Erica module would be the wrong choice).

After removing the Tukra and rearranging things for a better workflow, you'll notice all of the open space in the second row as well as the big hole at the right end of row #4. Also, I did dump the Erica A-mixer and the OUTPUT, plus the 2hp delay and the Endorphin "stereo" mixer (which it's not...it mixes stereo signals, but if you want to pan a mono signal, you're screwed, and I also consider 3.5mm TRS cords to be a bad idea when in use amongst buttloads of 3.5mm TS ones). Top row is "voicing" (sources and filters, plus a quad VCA for amplitude control), second should be "modulators", third is randoms and FX, bottom is sequencing, for the most part. At this point I finally "snapped" and did some serious reworking. Not too much, because I was still working to keep as many of your modules in the build...but I DID pump up some needed things in all of this new space. So what eventually resulted was:

Row one stayed the same as my initial "open" build. But row two got some 'roids! From left to right, there's one of your mults, the Disting, and then there's a 4ms QPLFO, which is a quad LFO with tap tempi and RIDICULOUSLY long possible cycle times. The Maths follows this, then I did some swapping for the mix/att zone so that you now have three linear DC-coupled VCAs for amplitude control over mod signals, and a triple attenuverter/mixer from Tenderfoot for manual levels, inversion, etc. Then I dropped in a Quadrax/Qx pair for two-stage envelopes (and a lot of other screwy trickery!), a Xaoc Zadar/Nin pair for the four stage ones, and lastly, the other mult. MUCH better! This gives you four LFOs, eight EGs (with the ability to swap Quadrax EGs for LFOs via loop functions), plus a proper VCA/attenuverter complement along with the other things such as Maths).

Row three has all of your random sources on the left (along with a Konstant Labs PWRchekr) and FX on a rather long right end (I'd really like to chuck the RML fuzz...it's simply too damn big for a "one trick" module!) that now has an FX Aid at the end, which works with something in the next row. As for that fourth row, it's mainly "control"...clocking, MIDI, and sequencing...except down at the right end, where you now have a REAL stereo mixer (6 ins, 2 out, CV over either VCAs or panning) and a matching Happy Nerding OUT, which gives you your isolated 1/4" jacks (again...trying to avoid 3.5mm TRS plugs), 1/4" headphones, AND a second stereo input. Remember that FX Aid? This would allow you to fly the FX aid in in parallel (by using a couple of stackables to split the PanMix's output to the first OUT input and the FX Aid's inputs, then mixing the "paralleled" FX via the OUT's second input), which should give you a much better result at your output than you'd get with just thruputting the mixer through the FX and then futzing with the wet/dry balance. Much less fiddly!

Not a bad case choice, btw...I think Pitt's discontinued these, which is a shame. Sure, they were (are, if your can find a new one) spendy, but the "utility row" is a very useful addition that addresses a few needs. And I love the Buchla-esque curved design!

Thank you both! And @GarfieldModular we'll see about some 17 minute tunes, hopefully soon!

Updated the rack a bit, swapped the DUSG for a bunch of utilities including some lowpass gates (go Takaab go) and think it turned out pretty nice. More than most of my tunes this one might benefit from headphone listening if you have em handy. Hope you enjoy!

Made with:

EDITED Aug 31st 2021, 01:00

Thank you Steve!

This is lovely @GarfieldModular, looking forward to more!

The Disting could be used to do some mixing, I think, but, you're right, some kind of Turing machine would be good.

-- InvictaRed

Yeah but if you use the Disting for mixing Plaits, BIA and whatever mults, then you can't use the Disting for anything else. The only way I can think of maximizing the 40HP limitation is to throw in another Disting! You'll be reading menus throughout the vacation but you can pretty much do anything with 3 Distings + 2 SD cards full of samples etc (or 1 mk4 and the EX in single mode).

EDITED Aug 30th 2021, 23:17

Hi Farkas and Wishbonebrewery,

Thank you both very much :-)

Yeah, I love sweeping oscillator sounds and that here in combination with the mono input and stereo ping/pong output of the Grand Canyon delay from Electro-Harmonix.

Ha, ha, well recognised, the Dixie has been indeed "sequenced" by channel 1 from Sinfonion. I just used an old setting from one of my previous demos and used that for this demo, still being lazy ;-) I am writing here "sequenced" between double-quotes because it's actually not really sequencing... the Sinfonion only supports chord sequencing (that could be seen as channel 4) not the other channels (1 till 3) "normal" voice channels. I am using here a normal voice channel (channel 1). The input is from a slow LFO (E355 from Synthesis Technology, interesting dual LFO by the way) if I remember well, that LFO input uses Sinfonion then to control channel 1 or rather to "decide" which notes to play on channel 1 here just set to C major.

Indeed, the Ventris Dual Reverb has a serious and lovely sound and quality to it. In this demo I use it very strongly however you can use it in a much subtler way than here in this demo and actually it sounds then extremely good. You can check out this YouTube link:

Nick from Sonic Lab uses here the Arturia MiniBrute 2 in combination with Source Audio - Ventris Dual Reverb, here you really can hear the good sound of the Ventris. This video provided me weak knees and caused me to buy the Ventris. I am not regretting it at all! :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

EDITED Aug 30th 2021, 22:40

The nifty case is 55mm but is also 84hp so a bit bigger, although that could be seen as a plus. I don't have any experience with these cases but seems to be a decent bargain with the included midi.
-- mog00

I started with a NiftyCase! I think they're great! If you're considering getting one, I would recommend doing so. But they don't offer the portability of 40HP, which was an important consideration for this system.

Yeah these shallow skiffs are challenging. Disting EX won't fit into a Intellijel Palette either, which would've opened up a 1U row also. I think the Make Noise skiff is deeper but dunno if that is taking the bus boards into consideration. Might have to go the custom route!
-- Manbearpignick

Thanks for your suggestions!

I'm going to have to do some careful measuring when I get the Disting for my A100!

@InvictaRed I do not, though it looks like the disting is 50mm deep and the 4MS pods are 50.8mm seems a bit tight and could be a problem if tolerances are not exact (often the case, I couldn't fit a standard 19inch rack patch bay in my desk because the tolerance was off by a fraction)
-- mog00

It does sound tight, doesn't it?

I have space for the Disting in the A100 so I'll be able to get a better idea of it when I can justify that purchase!

Thanks for your help!

This is my first comment on someone else's rack so maybe take it with a pinch of salt!

I think Pam's a a nice choice here because I'm assuming you intend to use it to modulate the BIA to extract all them sounds, right? Plus you can self-patch it for 2 layers of modulation. You could maybe shave a few HP with a more narrow 8HP Plaits clone and get a 2HP Turing and wouldn't you need the 2HP left over for a mixer?
-- Manbearpignick

Thanks for your thoughts.

The Disting could be used to do some mixing, I think, but, you're right, some kind of Turing machine would be good.

So many options!

I have Xaoc Kamieniec Phase Rotator, it sounds similar to the various Phaser VSTs I have, but of course is in eurorack. With rate and depth up, IMO it sounds rather similar to other phasers. With rate to minimum, I hear it as giving a static boost to whatever frequency you've set on the big dial, plus that kind of rubbery acid-y sound phasers make. I like that type of setting for a "quick acid" treatment to any sound I would want to apply. I like the unit, but in retrospect, consider it a bit expensive for what it is.

Wasp filter is one I will likely get at some point (if I wasn't already well stocked on filters). It gets so much praise and is a good deal.

As a kind of tangential question to this thread, I wonder what people consider their favorite "budget" VCFs to be, VCFs for under $200 that hit above their pricepoint in your opinion.
-- eexee

I'd say any of the Doepfer filters. I've had so many of them in my shopping cart, but haven't bought any of them yet. They all seem great and I just can't decide. The SEM and Wasp filters get a lot of praise, and the A-106-1 Xtreme filter looks great too.

Yeah, the Morgasmatron at the very least is definitely one I'd like to own at some point.

As I often seem to do, I went on Reverb the other day with the complete intention of getting a sequencer and a VCF, and ended up buying up something completely different. I somehow came away with a Xaoc Kamieniec Phase Rotator, Nonlinearcircuits Multi-Band Distortion, and Instruo Lubadh, none of which I'd remotely intended to buy.

While not exactly a filter, I'm hoping the Phase Rotator scratches a similar kind of itch for the time being, it seemed really interesting to me, price wasn't bad, they're hard to find right now, and I like the couple little Xaoc utility modules I have pretty well. The Multi-Band Distortion I just jumped on bc it seemed a good price, I don't see them often, and I love anything that allows me some control over EQ -- if it's distortion oriented, all the better. And the Lubadh, I have no idea really ... seemed a good price for one considering it was being sold with the expander, I've wanted one since I first started modular, and I'd just watched a demo of one that got me all juiced up.

As a kind of tangential question to this thread, I wonder what people consider their favorite "budget" VCFs to be, VCFs for under $200 that hit above their pricepoint in your opinion.

EDITED Aug 30th 2021, 20:20

The nifty case is 55mm but is also 84hp so a bit bigger, although that could be seen as a plus. I don't have any experience with these cases but seems to be a decent bargain with the included midi.

Yeah these shallow skiffs are challenging. Disting EX won't fit into a Intellijel Palette either, which would've opened up a 1U row also. I think the Make Noise skiff is deeper but dunno if that is taking the bus boards into consideration. Might have to go the custom route!

EDITED Aug 30th 2021, 19:03

@InvictaRed I do not, though it looks like the disting is 50mm deep and the 4MS pods are 50.8mm seems a bit tight and could be a problem if tolerances are not exact (often the case, I couldn't fit a standard 19inch rack patch bay in my desk because the tolerance was off by a fraction)

I have both, but I got the FX Aid XL first, great fx module use it all the time, so much so that I wanted a dedicated reverb to get more use out of the FX Aid. I mean I also have a clouds clone and use that as reverb. I am always on the lookout for a good reverb, have my eyes on Death by Audio Rooms Reverb and then I can try the other modes of the Versio platform.

In short: You can never have enough reverb, the FX Aid is great lots of algo's to try. I got this first and a dedicated reverb when I wanted use other algo's in FX Aid and not lose a reverb (love the lofi junky algo). Don't forget pedals these are a great add to any modular system. The NE Versio platform is great, the distortion option would be a great add to any Dark Ambient (if you have any reverb even clouds/disting would be a great combo)

The only thing I wish for the Versio would be a front panel usb mount as it stinks having to unrack the module everytime you want to switch modes.

This might be a contender (though I have personally enjoyed the FX Aid XL)?
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/noise-engineering-desmodus-versio

im in the need of a good reverb module for that Dark Ambient vibe,any suggestions?

Loving that, great sweeping / ping-ponging stereo :)

This is my first comment on someone else's rack so maybe take it with a pinch of salt!

I think Pam's a a nice choice here because I'm assuming you intend to use it to modulate the BIA to extract all them sounds, right? Plus you can self-patch it for 2 layers of modulation. You could maybe shave a few HP with a more narrow 8HP Plaits clone and get a 2HP Turing and wouldn't you need the 2HP left over for a mixer?

EDITED Aug 30th 2021, 13:15

Got it. Cheers!!!

How can I upload my rack screenshot to this conversation?
-- CostasP

Just copy and paste the URL from your rack page.

How can I upload my rack screenshot to this conversation?
-- CostasP

Simply paste the link of your rack :

EDITED Aug 30th 2021, 11:53

How can I upload my rack screenshot to this conversation?

Hi everyone.
This is my first post on the forum.
I'm new to modular synthesis and fairly new to synthesizers, as I come from a bass guitar background. Been in some bands over the years.
The last 8 years I'm experimenting and recording my music at home. Mostly electro punk-ish and ambient stuff.. My DAW is used only for recording/mixing my demos.
I'm also rehearsing with a fellow drummer. I use an affordable and sturdy small set-up for this, so I can transport with safety. A Polyend Tracker for samples and sequencing a MAM mb33 which I use for basslines with a Zoom ms60b. And a Microbrute + zoom ms50g for leads and fills.
I also have a Dreadbox NYX v2 which I'm only using at home (I love it but those little switches seem so sensitive to carry in a case) with a Keystep, a Boss looper and a Zoom ms70cdr pedal, for some ambient stuff and sampling sounds and phrases on the Tracker.

In short, I'd like to add an 84hp rack of modulators and cv modifiers to the NYX. Don't care much about osc and filters, at the moment. I really like the looks and can afford Doepfer stuff. Please tell me what you think of my rack planning so far.

Thank you all in advance. I have learnt a lot by this forum already.

EDITED Aug 30th 2021, 18:54

Ah, that's nice. It sounds like a conversation between oscillators. :)
Are you sequencing from the Sinfonion? Also, that Ventris reverb sounds incredible. I had never heard of that pedal until now.
Thanks for sharing!

Hello All,

Please find in the below link my first recording from my new studio setup. I was testing some Doepfer modules as well as I was testing the Intellijel Dixie 2+ module. 1 + 1 = Doepfer Meets Dixie ;-)

The Dixie 2+ can be heard in about the first 40 seconds, followed then by some 'stuff' from the Doepfer A-110-1 module with some supporting modules.

Strange this MP3 version on Soundcloud does have a few irritating clicks/ticks that were not there in the master wav file... weird... I have no explanation for that. Even at home the MP3 version seems to be all right... Hmm... also on other performers hearing clicks, perhaps Soundcloud have currently some issues, no idea, let's hope this is just temporarily.

Used external effects here: Delay (Electro-Harmonix Grand Canyon), Reverb (Source Audio Ventris Dual Reverb), Leslie (Neo Instruments Ventilator II) and some mild compression and touch up by SPL (Stereo Vitalizer Mk2-T).

Thank you very much for listening and kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: Improvement on the above text and adding details on the effects.

EDITED Aug 30th 2021, 00:53

Modular is actually a fantastic platform for me. I can remember way back when and Reason 3.0 was brand new, the whole concept of CV control was showed to me at a demo. I invested in Reason, and used it for quite a while. Over the years I have owned a bunch of groove boxes, dabbled with DAW's and other things. I never really stuck with anything once I figured out the workflow. I have discovered my enjoyment(kink?) is the process of exploration and trying new things through experimentation. I find the modular allows me to scratch that itch. There is a near infinite number of possibilities with modular. It really is open ended and I can always add a new module or two and it opens many more possibilities for me to explore.
I also an a computer engineer for my day job, and I really don't like sitting in front of the computer to make music.

Hi Farkas,

He, he, I am hesitating about the Drum 3P, I have zero experience with drums. On the other hand it's tempting... if I am going to get one, I need to get some kind of experience with it first, then, once I can produce some sounds out of it, will demo it here. Let's see how that goes :-)

Regarding the VC340, pity the keys aren't of good quality, once I visit my local dealer again, I hope they have this one for testing purposes available so I can test it before I might want to buy it. Have a good start of the week and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wisbonebrewery,

Thanks a lot for the details of your patch, interesting! Can't wait for your next jam :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Anubiz,

That's a great video with nice lighting! Thanks a lot for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

Any other recommendations on power (routing, protection, conditioning etc) folks?

EDITED Feb 27th 2023, 06:55

Yep, More Vocoder please :)
-- wishbonebrewery

As you wish. :)

Hi all,

Sorry to just on to somebody else's thread, but a new user cannot create a new one... (?!)

Anyway, total noob with modular, although I know a little about synthesis, waveforms etc. I starting with literally nothing, but I want a small simple setup to mess with some Berlin style riffs, think Rubycon, Tangram etc. I've just got a Behringer 960 on the way to handle the sequencing, I'll get a small case and power.... I need advice on other modules now. I have a Poly D that the 960 could drive for the moment, but I'd like to build the rack up to be self sufficient. It doesn't need to do an awful lot really, a couple of oscillators should be enough for now. Some delay, a filter of course. What else will I need? Midi conversion, so I can use a regular controller perhaps? I will learn more of course when I plug in and start to mess, but right now, it's all a bit overfacing to say the least.

All advice, examples etc is very much appreciated. Budget is fairly tight at the moment, as much as possible I'd rather keep things cheap and cheerful for the moment and then upgrade as I grow with it.

Many thanks in advance :)
Joe

EDITED Sep 2nd 2021, 11:52

@Lugia,

I love VCV Rack and I used it a lot before buying a modular system. I still use it on occasion to try new items out now that Instruo has placed copies of their expensive yet amazing modules on it. I used it and the videos on YT and picked up the book Patch and Tweak when I got into it. Now that I have half a monster case and 14u case full, have more than enough modules to keep learning and creating music.

Made me think of Aphex Twin. Nice job =]

Nice work, and I'm loving your Blank panels :)

Yep, More Vocoder please :)

Thanks... I'm nowhere near where I want to be yet. I'm sort of talking about getting a micro Ornament & Crime so I can set Chords to play through the Chainsaw properly, either that or Maybe a Robaux 3PT as I just found that will let you output 3 finger chords from one input.

This is a beautiful journey. Well done.
Man, you're going to make me re-buy the Chainsaw eventually. You get great results from it.

Current state of affairs:
I will get a second 84hp row.

I already own:

• Pams New workout
• Plonk
• Links & Kinks
• Joranalogue Mix 3
• Befaco out V3

I already played with this setup and it's really nice. I like both the plonk and the pams although it made me realise I don't want to have too much devices with menu diving. They're both very easy to operate but it's a lot of turning and clicking with that main encoder button. I think it's ok for a few modules but it's better to keep it limited.

I'm about to order:

• Marbles
• Plaits
• Maths
• FX aid (massive banks of effects)
• Also a filter but not sure which one yet. Lugia's idea of taking the A-106-1 xtreme in combo with the bad comrade seems like a good idea but I'm not sure I can get my hands on the bad comrade. I might just go with the Doepfer A-106-5 for starts and maybe upgrade later (or maybe the wasp, but as for now I like the sound of the A-106-5 better)
• Second 19" 84hp rack

What I'm about to order is open for debate, but I think it's all modules I can't really go wrong with. Let me know if you think the opposite.

At one point I might get the Disting EX for its multifunctionality. And the ES-9 as an interface (although might go with something simpler not sure yet to what degree I want to integrate my rack with my daw/vcv-rack).

So apart from the Plonk and the Doefper filter and if you remove the currently optional modules on the right side of the second row, there is still around 60HP left that can be used there:

• At one point I might want to get a proper (pair?) of oscillators the work in combo (or separatly) but I'm not sure which ones yet. I reached out for the gravitational waves but it's kinda difficult and expensive to get in Europe due to import taxes. So I'm thinking maybe two smaller ones instead of a dual or another dual (from Instruo maybe?) ?
• Should I add some simple ADSR generator (maybe with a looping function?) or is this somhow covered with the maths?
• A sequencer?

Are there other major things missing or that could be optimized?

Hey, thanks for listening Garfield. Believe it or not, slower styles with a new wave or Boards of Canada feel are what I write more often than anything else. The techno and improv stuff is just quick and fun (for me). I get lazy and don't finish structuring a lot of songs, so these improvisation things force me to put something out in the world while I work on other stuff.
That Nord Drum 3P looks amazing. Unfortunately, no. I don't have one. You'll have to share some of your experiments when you get one. :)
The only issue I can find with the VC340 is that the keys feel kind of cheap, but they still feel better than my old Arp Omni. Just a minor concern. Otherwise, the sound is pretty phenomenal.
Thanks again and have a great weekend.

Thanks @GarfieldModular Yeah I think I got a bit crazy on the Rebach filter started clipping the recording or something, it didn't sound quite that bad while I was playing it.
I get 3 parts out of the Acidrain Chainsaw via the ST Modular SVCA, the main Stereo outs fom the SVCA go to Mimeophon and then onto Monsoon Clouds, then I take the extra outs from the SVCA and split them to the Patching Panda Punch before hitting either the Omsonic FLF or the Rebach VCF-AB, Triggers for these going to the Punch come from the Robaux LL8.
Marbles controls the whole show, Mimeophon is clocked from Pams, Mimeophon clock the Pitches side of Marbles.

I feel what I need to do is disconnect all my percussion or make a point of not using it, it was sort of my fear when starting to buy percussion modules that everything I do would have beats in it, my percussion row will eventually become separate so i can completely avoid it.