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Good stuff, thanks Lugia

EDITED Jun 27th 2021, 06:38

BTW what about using a standard sequencer but routing the results through scaling and transposition?

Modules: vermona Amplinuator would give you scaling including over 1x, "AJH synth precision voltages" would give transposition.

From the Ideas described in video above I think this might give you a solution in modular. Might be a pain to calibrate or dial in initially. But IMO this could work!? This is a potential solution only for the tuning side of the problem; what remains is the OSC to get a suitable timbre. That said, I would think the complex OSCs with FM (or any good FM implementation) would give you good options for getting inharmonic yet tracking partials.

I've been thinking about how to use my sequencers for stuff other than pitch control; routing them through attenuverter with offset is a good option for me to try. Made me think again of this thread.

Please let us know if you have progress on your effort. Good luck!

EDITED Jun 27th 2021, 06:07

Here are a few tracks from a recent project in progress. Was trying to keep it simple, not a lot of layers.

1. Quiet Sea
   Serge Eurorack Modular
   Guitar
   Instruments from Spitfire Audio
   https://audiomack.com/embed/song/solitaire-ou-solidaire/quiet-sea

2. In Close Pursuit
   Eurorack Modular (mostly Serge Eurorack)
   Guitar
   Instruments from Spitfire Audio
   https://audiomack.com/embed/song/solitaire-ou-solidaire/in-close-pursuit

3. Altocumulus
   Eurorack Modular (Verbos Random, Linnaeus, Panharmonium, Nebula, Prism, Arbhar, Serge Eurorack, +)
   Guitar
   https://audiomack.com/embed/song/solitaire-ou-solidaire/altocumulus

4. Implode
   Serge Eurorack, Eurorack Modular (TINRS Tuesday-Synthesis Technology E352, Schippmann PHS-28. DLFO, DTG, Supercell, Elby IF120, CGS733, øchd, tàin, +)
   Guitar
   Instruments from Spitfire Audio
   U-He Diva (pad)
   https://audiomack.com/embed/song/solitaire-ou-solidaire/implode

The last one is just short of the requisite 17:00 minutes but I'll try to make up for it in future posts!

All the best

EDITED Jul 11th 2021, 19:55

I can name that flaw in two words: "envelope generators". Maths can do that, but using Maths as an EG is sort of like having a Bugatti Veyron...but only using it to go thru the McDonalds drive-thru. Same goes for the Stages. These are 100% part of the basics of synthesis, and you can't really get the best results out of this without several EGs. So, I'd suggest filling 18 of those 20 hp with a Quadrax and its Qx expander. This gives you four two/three stage EGs which can also be looped as LFOs, plus the Qx allows a lot of triggers you don't normally find on the panel to be used...and not just with the Quadrax, but those "End of..." pulses can fire plenty of other events.

Plus, Maths + Quadrax/Qx = MAD modulation capabilities when tandemmed.

You could also get this done with a switching mult...something like the Doepfer A-182-1 comes to mind. This gives you two passive mult busses as well as a center "disconnected" position. EMW also makes a switch matrix along these same lines, albeit in a 4 x 4 matrix (plus a couple of regular passives).

Hi Mod Life Crisis,

Ha, ha, I thought already I recognised the voice of Kim Jung Johnson ;-) As well as that you meant it sarcastically, hence my reference to the UK band Latin Quarter :-)

Anyway, better not getting too political, that's not wanted on this forum. I look forward to your next new album or another nice video jam? :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Mod Life Crisis,

Oh yes, a complete album made by you! I am struggling with writing yet another review report however by listening at your album suddenly this work becomes more pleasantly. Once and a while I can't work on the review report because your music needs my attention :-)

Which module did you use for that robot voice?

In a few tracks I recognise here and there bits of Latin Quarter ;-) I love that kind of yelling sound in "I Struggle To See", nicely done!

Great album and I continue to listen at it, I want to hear all of it! Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

Hey Garfield! Thanks. Glad to think of accompanying you in your report writing. I used Plaits for the robot voice. There are also some additional voices from the UK's current prime minister (I'm not a fan of his although many people love him).

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 22:06

@voodoochild16, any news on this?

That's a huge build... will be a lot to chew on!

I will also be interested to hear how Flux is in use.

Hope all's well! Nicholas

Hi CyberneticOhm,

Wow, this is/was live? Where was this concert? I need to move to that place I guess ;-)

That's a great almost one hour of music, I am very impressed since this is live, great show! Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

It's almost like you didn't even see the asterisk, or even anything past the first line space... My goodness! What a lot of nothing! Preaching to the converted, sister!

Thanks guys,

You've given me some great tips there, a few things I wouldn't have even thought about!

@Cangore I'll have to look into Kinks ...a little bit of random on noise sounds right up my alley. Mutable Links is something else I'll need to look into....so many options it's easy to get over whelmed!

it can be easy to get overwhelmed, that's why we often say replace this module with this one - because mostly we will recommend modules that we have and have had good experience with - I just had to have a button replaced on my Marbles and DHL and Emilie had it back to me in perfect working order in 6 days!

Blades is pretty much only there as a placeholder. I know I'll want a filter and I was impressed with what I saw from MI

@JimHowell1970 I have Beads on preorder. I'm willing to wait for that one besides...it gives me time to figure out the other stuff. :D

I wasn't at all saying don't get either - I was saying there's going to be a long wait (at least for beads - blades seems to have been re-stocked) - seriously though get an fx aid xl in the meantime, you won't regret it!

RE: Veils & Maths Likes I said, I'm new. No idea really which versions are the newest. When it comes shopping time I'll p[probably grab which ever ones my local retailers have (unless I find a good deal used)

dealers will only have veils 2020 by now and the white knob, aluminium panel maths (if you can find one) - you might be able to find other versions used - but then a mk1 maths is quite different than a new one - I would get a newer one at least (blue knobs, white knobs, black panel not red lightening panel) - the same goes for veils - you can filter by module/brand and order by newest if that helps

I was planning on running the output through the Minibrute to start with then expand with mixer and a seq on the next round of impulse shopping.

sounds like a plan - remember to get something at least a bit bigger than you think you need - you probably will in the future - I like the tesseract tex-mix for this reason - it's expandable and inexpensive - even if you buy built modules - need another 4 mono or stereo channels that'll be 12hp and 70€ - it does mean you spend elsewhere though - but for example - I don't need lots of auto panning - probably only 1 channel and I can use 2 vcas, an lfo and an offset, which I have anyway to do that if I need it - or just do it it in the DAW (if I'm recording)

attenuation/attenuversion a is somerthing I hadn't even considered.

nor offset I expect!

As for planned music? something between old school industrial and early periods of Aphex Twin with a dash of 80's New Wave...I think...we'll see what it morphs into :D
-- legion

good luck!!

no, just € & $, but there is a feature request thread somewhere

I don't think it's done by exchange rate more expected selling price - which is often why you find non-eu manufacturers prices about 20% lower than actual shop prices - no VAT added

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 16:18

Hope you are all well and enjoying your modular. This is my current set up and I need some suggestions on what would be good candidates for 1U modules for my Intellijel case which would add more functionality to my system. I have 3 slots left on the Intellijel case and plan to buy the 1u dual vca modules for definite. Other than that I am open to other options. I don't think I need a big mixer as I find that I prefer tracking everything to Ableton. I don't plan on gigging with my set up. I just enjoy making music and so using the dsp from my UAD Apollo twin and satellite, helps with processing the sound to achieve less muddy mixes and side chain to my kick drum which I can save and hopefully release one day.

I really can't help that much here - the noise tools module always struck me as useful, as does the attenuator and the vcas - anmd midi an i/o if you want that sort of thing (I guess you do as you bought cases that have it (semi-) built in

Oh and maybe some tips for people starting out and head scratching about how all this stuff works. I send clock from a digitakt via midi into the hermod and then distribute clock all over the system from the gate 8 output. Its rock solid.

good

I invested in a small erm midi clock which also takes care of any clock jitter from Ableton, which ensures that if I use internal software based vst's, these also play in time with the hardware set up. It works really well but I remember at the start, I remember thinking that I had wasted money on my hardware set up as I couldn't get anything to play in time with each other. Don't let this get you down as it's all part of your learning process. When you come from just the software world all this side is taken care of for you and you don't have to think about it :)

erm yes... I guess

The other thing I would say is that there are some brilliant contributors to this forum, Lugia, Jim, Garfield modular, farkas and others. I often go back to old threads and read their very detailed replies and this really helped investigate and research some of the modules they suggest which if you watch YouTube you will miss, as reviewers will only tend to review what's sometimes referred to as the 'sexy' modules in this forum.

thank you!

Ok , back to my post, over the last few months I have really been impressed with Steevio's music and want to incorporate more of his ideas into my system. I particularly like how he takes odd length patterns and hives triggers off to other voices. In fact, I love the rhythms he is able to generate and they way he seamlessly transitions to song after song without stuff going all over the place. How does he do that? I am hoping that I can replicate some of this idea with my varigate + and precision adder, which I bought specifically for this purpose.

have you seen his rig run down on youtube - I would watch it repeatedly and take copious notes - then try to figure out wtf the notes mean - from what I can remember there's a lot of logic involved

one thing to note is that Steevio's rack is almost all if not all doepfer - buy a switched multiple now - abuse it as a gate/trigger combiner, just like Steevio 'it's not broken 'out yet'

Are there other things that I need to incorporate his tricks into my set up. I have watched some of mylarmelodies take on this and also Omri Cohen's video ( although as much as I adore Omri), he sometimes replicates modules to develop his patches which due to cost I am unable to do.

having started in modular a bit before the rise of the influencers, hopefully the fall will be soon, not that I don't think that they do a good job - they do - just explain why you are using the beauty case - it's shitty to start - and they are always swapping modules in and out of larger cases - I saw one of them admit it once

Also I have just placed modules in my racks so they fit (top 2 rows are Intellijel 84hp), bottom row is nifty case (84hp) and the other case is a 241hp custom built wheedy whizz cab.

@Lugia, not sure if you have the time available, but would love one of your reconfigs for a more efficient patching workflow, if you have time??? :)

nothing wrong with that approach - group functionally go from left to right in terms of signal path, modulation below voices and control below that - or something similar - whatever works for you is best - but won't necessarily be best for me or Lugia or anyone else for that matter

Also, I know it seems like I have amassed a lot, and indeed I have but 90% of my modules are second hand and I have really waited a long time to buy at lower prices - for instance I bought my two Doepfer VCA's for £35 each, the Wheedy whizz cab with about 6 modules (braids, korgasmatron ver1, jp8 filter and a few more) for around £750. I recently picked up the excellent ACL delay for £158 and this unit would be over £350 brand new. It's the old brand AQA but sounds wicked and was in perfect condition. There are many bargains to be had for people particularly looking to exit from their eurorack addiction , find that the patching workflow isn't really to their liking or simply just collected the modules at new prices without spending time learning how to use them, for instance I still see online people using plaits and they have the pitch all the way to the left so that they can get the tone in a lower octave, which could very easily be sorted out if they read the manual or read a forum post where people explained how to use the buttons at the top of the unit :)

Hahahaha - really no one cares - it's your money to do with as you please - good that you got a few 'bargains' though!

There's nothing wrong with using the frequency knob of plaits like that - but I agree RTFM, RTFM, RTFM and forums

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 16:15

I have no thoughts about the livestock maze at all

in a small form factor the mix04 would tick all my boxes - but needs envelopes etc not sure about the maze

the thumbnail and the rack don't match

as is often the case - not enough utility modules - submixers, things for modifying cv etc - the erica sequenctial switch is massive - do you really need an 8 channel sequential switch in a case this size? I wouldn't - I'd be pushed to use 8 channels in my 1500hp case - I'd rather have a second 4 channel one

redundancy is not really an issue in modular - and it really depends how you patch, how many voices you have etc

I'd ditch the cells and chips modules - not heard good things about them at all

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 15:52

@jb61264 - if you right click on the rack in this thread you can open the link as another tab and then get infomatics and click through to read what every module does (how do you think we manage to give rack advice - there are over 7k eurorack modules!!)

but in broad strokes (the rack seems to me to be)

the top 2 rows are mostly vcos, modulation and effects (plus grids - which is a trigger sequencer)

the middle row is more utilities and effects = plus vc-t-networks which is 4 percussion voices (or you can use it as filters) and a basic vco

bottom row is mostly things that you'd want in easiest reach - control modules, favourite filter, voice etc

Is there an option to get prices in GBP £ ???

why? can't you send it to a vca to shorten the envelope?

Data Cult Audio have just released a stereophonic recording of NZ modular synth electronica collective cyberneticOhm aLive set > catch us here > https://datacultaudio.com/data-cult-audio-0220-cyberneticohm/

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 12:57

Hello Everybody,

Hope you are all well and enjoying your modular. This is my current set up and I need some suggestions on what would be good candidates for 1U modules for my Intellijel case which would add more functionality to my system. I have 3 slots left on the Intellijel case and plan to buy the 1u dual vca modules for definite. Other than that I am open to other options. I don't think I need a big mixer as I find that I prefer tracking everything to Ableton. I don't plan on gigging with my set up. I just enjoy making music and so using the dsp from my UAD Apollo twin and satellite, helps with processing the sound to achieve less muddy mixes and side chain to my kick drum which I can save and hopefully release one day.

Oh and maybe some tips for people starting out and head scratching about how all this stuff works. I send clock from a digitakt via midi into the hermod and then distribute clock all over the system from the gate 8 output. Its rock solid.

I invested in a small erm midi clock which also takes care of any clock jitter from Ableton, which ensures that if I use internal software based vst's, these also play in time with the hardware set up. It works really well but I remember at the start, I remember thinking that I had wasted money on my hardware set up as I couldn't get anything to play in time with each other. Don't let this get you down as it's all part of your learning process. When you come from just the software world all this side is taken care of for you and you don't have to think about it :)

The other thing I would say is that there are some brilliant contributors to this forum, Lugia, Jim, Garfield modular, farkas and others. I often go back to old threads and read their very detailed replies and this really helped investigate and research some of the modules they suggest which if you watch YouTube you will miss, as reviewers will only tend to review what's sometimes referred to as the 'sexy' modules in this forum.

Ok , back to my post, over the last few months I have really been impressed with Steevio's music and want to incorporate more of his ideas into my system. I particularly like how he takes odd length patterns and hives triggers off to other voices. In fact, I love the rhythms he is able to generate and they way he seamlessly transitions to song after song without stuff going all over the place. How does he do that? I am hoping that I can replicate some of this idea with my varigate + and precision adder, which I bought specifically for this purpose.

Are there other things that I need to incorporate his tricks into my set up. I have watched some of mylarmelodies take on this and also Omri Cohen's video ( although as much as I adore Omri), he sometimes replicates modules to develop his patches which due to cost I am unable to do.

Also I have just placed modules in my racks so they fit (top 2 rows are Intellijel 84hp), bottom row is nifty case (84hp) and the other case is a 241hp custom built wheedy whizz cab.

@Lugia, not sure if you have the time available, but would love one of your reconfigs for a more efficient patching workflow, if you have time??? :)

Also, I know it seems like I have amassed a lot, and indeed I have but 90% of my modules are second hand and I have really waited a long time to buy at lower prices - for instance I bought my two Doepfer VCA's for £35 each, the Wheedy whizz cab with about 6 modules (braids, korgasmatron ver1, jp8 filter and a few more) for around £750. I recently picked up the excellent ACL delay for £158 and this unit would be over £350 brand new. It's the old brand AQA but sounds wicked and was in perfect condition. There are many bargains to be had for people particularly looking to exit from their eurorack addiction , find that the patching workflow isn't really to their liking or simply just collected the modules at new prices without spending time learning how to use them, for instance I still see online people using plaits and they have the pitch all the way to the left so that they can get the tone in a lower octave, which could very easily be sorted out if they read the manual or read a forum post where people explained how to use the buttons at the top of the unit :)

Thanks
Greenfly

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 12:37

Thanks guys,

You've given me some great tips there, a few things I wouldn't have even thought about!

@Cangore I'll have to look into Kinks ...a little bit of random on noise sounds right up my alley. Mutable Links is something else I'll need to look into....so many options it's easy to get over whelmed!

Blades is pretty much only there as a placeholder. I know I'll want a filter and I was impressed with what I saw from MI

@JimHowell1970 I have Beads on preorder. I'm willing to wait for that one besides...it gives me time to figure out the other stuff. :D

RE: Veils & Maths Likes I said, I'm new. No idea really which versions are the newest. When it comes shopping time I'll p[probably grab which ever ones my local retailers have (unless I find a good deal used)

I was planning on running the output through the Minibrute to start with then expand with mixer and a seq on the next round of impulse shopping.

attenuation/attenuversion a is somerthing I hadn't even considered.

As for planned music? something between old school industrial and early periods of Aphex Twin with a dash of 80's New Wave...I think...we'll see what it morphs into :D

you've learnt well @Cangore!!!

blades and beads are kind of difficult at the moment - I don't think the next batches are due until next year - so maybe go for something else to start with - you can't go far wrong with a happy nerding fx aid xl - plaits doesn't need a filter - there is one built in

but I would suggest some (used) doepfer filters - there is a huge selection and they are relatively inexpensive

as is a black face maths - only in the B&G shared system iirc

there's nothing wrong with the old veils - I have 3 - but if I was buying today I would buy the newer one - 2 less hp

I too dislike the rackbrutes - they do seem a little expensive, I don't like the aesthetics, and worst of all they waste hp with the rack wart - but you do have the only reasonable excuse for getting one - a minibrute 2(s)

the links and kinks tips are correct

I would also add something like shades - or the happy nerding mia - you need attenuation/attenuversion and offsets a lot

personally I'd also want a matrix mixer of some sort - predominantly for mixing modulation sources

how are you intending to final mix/record the output of this and the minibrute?

what sort of music are you intending to make?

you may well want to add a second sequencer - to enable you to transpose the sequence - for separate sections and/or chord/key changes - for this you would also need a precision adder - shades and links both include these

Hi Jim,

Yes Ive thought about a matrix mixer as well, thanks for mention it. What do you think about Livestock Maze?

Kinks and shades would def fit my set up, do you also have something else utility on your mind?

Thanks!!!

so what's missing??

imo definitely utilities

a nice matrix mixer perhaps? maybe keep it small - rebel technology mix04?

kinks and shades would also add a lot

that will fill your 20hp - use them primarily for processing modulation

Hello,

Please help fill my last 20 HP, im out of ideas and I would love to hear some of your thoughts, I do all my sequencing with octatrack so thats covered.

Thanks in advance!!

Hey Legion,
I‘m also fairly new to this and I guess it won‘t take long before someone experienced will chime in, but there‘s a few things I‘m noticing you might want to check.

First of all I think the Rackbrute is rather expensive for what it is, but if you want to join it with the Brute I guess it makes sense.
Veils is probably a good choice for a VCA but this Version is discontinued and there’s a smaller version now (which is a good thing imo). You also probably won’t need the mult and and passive mixer, Mutable Links has both of those functions plus a precision adder which is very handy, and is likely cheaper than buying those two while retaining the same size.

Also Jim would probably recommend buying Kinks while you can (which is something that I did), great module and it adds some Noise and random to your build for modulation.

I personally would substitute Blades for something smaller and cheaper filterwise, it seems a little overkill to me (tho it looks like a rather awesome module) and add a good lfo module for modulating the brute and the other modules with, but you might be fine with maths.

All the Bestest

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 08:19

Thank You @GarfieldModular :)
...and Thx for the reference to Isao Tomita ;)

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 07:40

Thanks @farkas!

Yes Makrow is worth a serious look for this application! Doing more internet search on this topic, Addac306 looks very similar to FSS Makrow. Tiptop Z8000 might be a fit from a sequencing perspective. Are there other good candidates / techniques to consider here?

Of course the span between sweet spots is sometimes nice sounding, sometimes terrible, depending on the patch. So sometimes I want to sweep the control value, whereas other times I would need to step it.... All this also makes me wonder if there are quantizers that can be set to arbitrary (non scalar) values without a tuning input file; basically a quantizer with knobs that lets you set any step values? With one of those, I could feed any CV input (say a lfo) and custom tune the output to 2 or more "sweet spot" values (which would then feed DPO FM timbre controls).

I do own attenuverters with offset (SISM etc.), so I do have existing options for timbre control with standard CV and/or sequencing. Just trying to go further and have a good scheme for controlling / switching / sequencing a patch's timbre sweet spots, including FM patching.

EDITED Jun 28th 2021, 22:29

Hi Garfield,

Thanks for the tip. This is can help, yes. I guess i can use this in combination with some passive multiple to build the final solution i am looking after. Thanks. Matteo

ᅠ

EDITED May 24th 2024, 04:15

About to take a leap into the world of Eurorack and go on a spending spree.

I have a Minibrute 2S and I plan on getting a Rackbrute 6U to start building in.

AS far as I can tell I've covered all the bases here but I am admittedly new to this, Can y'all see any glaring omissions?

EDITED Jun 26th 2021, 04:21

Very nice and inspiring considering I have a Rackbrute 6U with two modules currently (Maths and Quadrax).
I'm still quite new to the modular scene and don't know what a number of the modules in your setup do...can you describe how you have things set up between the two 6Us?...like top for synth and modulations and bottom for drums and other stuff?

I recently recommended the FSS Makrow to someone on this forum for just this purpose. It has 6 CV outs that can be configured to your preferred voltages (+ or -) and then you can morph between these "macro" settings with the turn of a single knob (the knob is also CV controllable if you would prefer to be hands-off). I think it's a genius module.
I think Endorphin.es may have just released a similar module too, but I don't have any experience with that one.

Hi folks,

Good news, I'm making enough learning progress on my modular setup to be able to find some real nice timbral sweet spots, such as in the complex oscillators like Make Noise DPO and other complex generators.

Makes me wonder, let's say I find 4 good "sweet spots" for a given patching, what are elegant ways of going from "sweet spot" 1,2,3,4 with switching, sequencing, morphing, etc.? For example if I have a setup involving FM and find a couple different settings giving me good (but different) FM timbres, what's the elegant / efficient way to move between those settings in a patch setup? Obviously I don't want to do stuff by hand all the time because I can't perform that fast or accurately enough.

And of course, some timbral "sweet spots" may rely on 2+ input settings, such as pitch plus FM depth. So I would need to be able to manage changing multiple input values. On the DPO it would be easy to imagine wanting to change pitch, FM depth, and the wavefolder settings, for example, to go from "sweet spot" 1 to 2 to 3, etc.

Is there a good way to satisfy this "setting and switching between sweet spots" task in modular? Feel free to recommend techniques, patching and/or specific modules.

Thanks everyone!

Nicholas

EDITED Jun 25th 2021, 23:06

I think Castor and Pollux also fit very well in that realm, with the goal to "Create a spiritual successor to the Roland Juno's voice for Eurorack".
(https://blog.thea.codes/designing-castor-and-pollux/ blog post on designing the module)

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/winterbloom-castor-pollux

Hi Matteo,

Don't forget to have a look at some of the modules from Frequency Central, quite a few are based on Roland as well.

Additionally to Frequency Central modules, Happy Nerding Super Sawtor seems to sound like Roland's Supersaw from JP-8000.

Intellijel's Dual ADSR has been based on SH-101 and System 100m.
Similar related seems to be Bubblesound Instruments dlADSR module.

Intellijel's Metropolis or nowadays Metropolix is perhaps not from a sound point of view related to Roland however it is related to Roland's sequencer approach. Similar for Scales from Intellijel.

The Behringer 1xx, 297 and 305 modules seem to be based on Roland System 100m.

EMW's VCF S100 is based on Roland's System 100m filter.

I didn't mentioned the modules related to Roland's TR-808 and/or TR-909 then that would have been a huge list ;-)

Good luck for the search of some more nice Roland related modules and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Splendor,

That's a beautiful and tidy setup. Slightly bit small for my taste but it's a pleasure to the eyes! :-)

I had a look on your website and listening now to some of your tracks. Are you by any chance making this music for Minecraft? Would fit good into that community I guess :-)

I wish you lots of fun and sonic pleasure with your beautiful setup, enjoy! Have a good weekend and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Jihel,

Wow, I am overwhelmed with the number of great sounds and surprises you have "built-in" your tracks. Experimental but with intriguing content that make me sit at the tip of my chair can't wait for the next second to pass, the next surprise you will have. Now this is something really special and that for the start of the weekend, fantastic! :-)

Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

P.S.: Some little parts (some of the "fun" sounds) of your track "Low fly of drones under the clouds" reminds me of Isao Tomita! Nice :-)

Hi Matteo,

How about the Erica Synths' Link module? That's a small version of your mentioned 1 U ADDAC911 module.

Might be that one does the trick for you?

Kind regards, Garfield.

Running out of space. Thinking of removing a few modules but curious what the rack masters might say about what I've built thus far, what is missing, what is redundant, or what is not functional enough to merit a place in this rack.

I intend to use this as a starting canvas for a my songs. It doesn't need to fit a generative or ambient purpose. Really, I just want a palette of tools to build whatever might be inspiring to me that day: a motion-sequenced pad, a thick bassline, a nice melodic pluck synth, or a hard edged lead tone.

This will be integrated into the rest of my studio gear with 4 other synths, a drum machine, an MPC, microgranny, a few rackmount units. I'm generally using a Squarp Pyramid to build sequences and songs, however still need a Midi->CV converter. Leaning towards a Yarns clone (mBrane from Michigan is likely as I need the reduced hp). I would also love to get a dedicated Waveshaper/folder, but the Vult Freak and the Disting have both functioned well for me when I needed one. I can always rely on the Ikarie as a filter if I need to utilize the Freak for a different function.

What say you, fine patchers of the web? How would you change this rack? Have at it. Tear it apart. Suggest things in spite of my tastes and aesthetics. It's good challenge and keeps me thinking. Really appreciate anyone who has taken the time to even read this far.

Stay funky.

OK...well, I don't think there's anything for me to say, aside of this one point:

If a manufacturer gives a specification, there's probably a reason for it. Yes, you probably can jam 89 hp worth of modules into each row of a Rackbrute. You might NOT want to do that, however, and I think I know why Arturia's spec is what it is: heat.

I learned the basics of synthesis on an ARP 2600, way back when. And one thing I'd always found odd back then was all of the air-gap between the synth and its case...at least, at first. But the first time I ever had to calibrate it, everything snapped into place...because analog circuits are VERY susceptible to problems resulting from heat buildup. Interestingly, every iteration of the ARP 2600 that I've used, from rev.2 thru rev.4, and even on Behringer's 2600, has SOME sort of ventilation to keep the circuitry stable.

When you're dealing with power components, these generate quite a bit of heat simply because of what they're being asked to do. And that heat can build up inside the case, causing instabilities (like, say, VCOs that don't stay in tune) that are annoying. But if it were just a case of making a synth work in a wonky manner, I wouldn't sweat it (much). But it's not.

Heat also causes damage over time, especially with electronic components that are generating heat. Those components require some level of ventilation, otherwise the heat buildup within the case...as well as the on/off cycling that takes the synth from room temp to whatever it would be under load and back down again...will take literal years off of the lifespan of the gear. Yeah, 1 hp doesn't sound like much, but if you put that entire 1 hp "in" as a gap along the left end, where the P/S is, this WILL provide quite a bit of ventilation for the supply module. The lower row provides an "inlet" for cool air, and the hot air will simply rise out of the 1 hp slot next to the module. And yes, I know that some people argue that the panels in a modular provide some heat-sink-type behavior...and they do, which is why the lower-temp modules use that to dissipate their heat loads to some degree. But the major heat source is the power components...which also includes heat generated by current flow in the busboards and DC rail wiring, and that has to get out in some other way.

Plus, if your power module pops (which could easily result in a catastrophic failure in some P/S designs...as in modular go "pop!") and Arturia finds that you had 89 hp per row while they specced 88 instead, they could argue that you've voided your warranty, provided this were to happen while the cab was still covered. Those guys know what they're doing...and that's why I pay attention when I'm dealing with any sort of sizable heat source that's part of a musical device.

I believe he conducts all of his business via this Reverb storefront:
https://reverb.com/shop/gstormelectro

Hi Farkas,

Thanks. They looks interesting.

Do you know if they are available somewhere online? Thanks

Ciao

Very nice but where are all the resonator or vocoder type sounds coming from?

I'd definitely recommend checking out the EX over the MK4. MK4 does a ton of things but I rarely use it because I have to RTFM every single time I want to try to use it. I'm planning to trade mine in for an EX eventually as I think it will be more user friendly.
-loops
-- looprication

Yes. I have all the Mk4 cheat sheets printed out in color. I find myself HATING the interface and never can remember which knob to push, twist, or turn in what order to change some parameter. That EX is just the right price. Also it will respond to MIDI CC inputs if you want more real-time controls. There are quite a few useful videos on Expert Sleepers website/Youtube that show off the EX's functionality and it's superiority to the MK4.

I don't like to remember key presses, numbers, etc... so I end up hating the Mutable stuff... trying to remember what exactly each symbol and LED corresponds to. It takes me right out of my modular mojo to have to look something up. But that's me. Everyone is different in terms of ergonomics and ease-of-use.

You probably won't need Scales with the quantizing abilities of the Disting and Bloom. I may be wrong but I think a recent update to Pam's New Workout also has some quantizing capabilities. Maybe someone else could chime in on that.
-- farkas

The Disting can run as a quantizer. The Disting EX can run as virtually two Disting Mk4s... so it can juggle quantizing and still be capable of offering another function.

I own a micro Ornaments and Crime. I like it for quantizing. I think with a Disting EX,an O_C, and the Pam's, you'd be very covered in possibilities.

-- Ronin1973

Thanks @farkas and @Ronin1973 . Once again I appreciate your input here. I've looked at O_C and considered it. I'll check it out again and see which version of it seems like a good fit for me.

Hi @andrew0 !

...

Whatever you do, enjoy the process!

Cheers,

-loops
-- looprication

hey @looprication thank you for your support & insight. I've checked out the LMNTL splitter and I've been meaning to add some of these to my shopping list so thank you. Also good to hear that I'm on the right track with the uMIDI.

Decided to have a bash at this, then got a surprise when checking the rack values. The Arturia Rackbrute 6U isn't 89 hp wide, it's 88. See the page at Arturia's site here: https://www.arturia.com/products/hardware-synths/rackbrute-6u/overview The copy there states that the cab has 176 hp totalled (including the 5 hp taken up by the P/S), which is 2 x 88. I already had a build completed in the original cab, then had to go back and change several things. Nevertheless, this came out pretty good, I think.
...
This isn't too bad. It'll make for a more-than-ample starter modular, plus it also has the ability to work with chance-determined melodic patterns (and a lot of other stuff) via the Clank Chaos. 2 x 104 would've made for a better fit, admittedly, but I think this 2 x 88 came out pretty decent.
-- Lugia

hey @Lugia

Thanks for taking the time to do this and giving a thorough response. I appreciate that this must have taken you a lot of time to put together as well as going to the effort of explaining each choice and how the parts fit together. That being said a lot of these modules don't seem appropriate for my needs. Based on some of your comments/responses, I'm not sure you read through & understand my goals/aims for the rack. I'm going to go point by point for some of this:

1. The Rackbrute & its size, yes I know it is small. In terms of HP to price this comes out on top for me right now because of the heavy discount I'm getting it at. If a 104 HP case was more HP to price efficient for me at this time I would be going for it.
2. I've looked up the HP width of the Rackbrute series several times and they are listed as 88HP width on the Arturia website but users report that they are 89 HP with 88 screwholes.

https://modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=194865

https://old.reddit.com/r/modular/comments/cqr9pw/mysterious_bonus_hp_on_rackbrute_3u/

https://www.thomann.de/gb/arturia_rackbrute_3u.htm
from user Robrecht:

"One more thing: in early announcements from Arturia, the width of the case was advertised as 88hp. It is, in fact, 89hp wide. The threaded strip has only 88 screwholes, but there's room inside the case for 89hp worth of faceplates. Just shift the strip a little to the left or right inside the rail and mount one module with its faceplate extending beyond the strip. "

3. I already have the Contour Module, I'm not going to leave it out of my first build because its HP inefficient. My limitations at this point are budget, not HP. I'm just getting started.
4. The Expert Sleepers FH-2. I've actually looked at nearly all of the Expert Sleepers modules and have been trying to figure out how they would integrate with my current equipment. FH-2 seems inappropriate for this build considering I want to sync my Octatrack & Digitone with my Rack.

As for the rest of it... Well like I said I do appreciate the effort you've gone to and it seems fine, but I don't know what else to say at this point. It's not even wrong.

Check out the G-Storm Electro filters. I have several of them on my radar for an authentic Roland sound. Mutable Instruments Ripples also has a Roland-ish feel.

Thanks for the suggestions

Hi ,
I would suggest following Modules:

System 80 - Jove (Jupiter 6)

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/system80-jove
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/system80-860-mk2 (newer version)
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/plum-audio-ujove DIY-version

AMSynths - AM8109 JP8 LPF (Jupiter 8) pops up not very often
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/amsynths-am8109-jp8-lpf

Soundforce - Juno 106 inspired VCF
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/soundforce-vcf-vca-6-black

Soundforce - Juno inspired VCO
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/soundforce-dco

For sure there are many others but i think this is a good start ;)

Cheers

Hi Garfield,
When I listen my stuff, I'm notice all my mistakes... So if someone like it, make me more comfortable with all of that. So thanks a lot, I appreciate so much your feedback :)