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i would definitely keep the quad vca - but i'd swap to veils

@JX5JX5 me too and small firms need to get more involved with the modular community to promote their products if we don't hear about them then we cannot buy their new boutique modules, right? All the big players started small at one time. Right now, I have a module from Abstract Data never heard of them before but wanted a super modulator and they came across in few videos.

Thanks, I'm checking FSS out as we speak. What are your favorites from them? I love hearing recs of companies I haven't heard of yet because it seems like of the thousands of modules shown on this site, people are almost afraid to get anything that isn't one of the top say 20 brands. ALM, IME, Make Noise, Bastl, Noise Engineering, Cwejman, Tiptop, Intellijel, Endorphines, Frap, 4ms, Bastl, Happy Nerding, Roland, Doepfer, Mutable, Erica, WMD, Instruo, Malekko, XAOC, Rossum. There's 500 more though lol

I've jammed around a couple of sequences from my hermod.
Love so much the simple and beauty fm synth sounds from Rings, I've used one from bassline and the other one to the lead melody.
I've found so useful tain + triplatt to changing sounds in live on plonk, so there, I could play a programmed sequence from hermod, but thanks to tain+triplatt changing manually the send voltage, so I could make fills and changes from the first melody, so fun.

What's differents uses do you find around switches?

Right on. Sounds cool. Be sure to share some of your tracks here.
Yeah, I wouldn't set any artificial boundaries. Just do your research and find what works best for the sound you need regardless of analog/digital. The Error Instruments stuff is pretty wild. For what you are doing, take a look at Future Sound Systems stuff too (I'm the forum's resident Future Sound Systems fanboy. Haha).
Have fun and good luck.

What kind of music are you making?
-- farkas

For my current project I've been creating two-to-four bar synth motifs in Ableton, adding live a drum part (I'm a drummer), looping it and doing spoken word verses on top. It's got a dark industrial feel, but I still try to be musical and keep some replay value—I love glitchy/chaotic sounds but similar artists seem to be just trying to make people's ears bleed.

I've done this using my beloved DSI Mopho x4 and various plugins (Arturia, u-he, etc.) for a while, and after thinking long and hard about what my next hardware synth should be, I decided that instead of dropping $2-3k on one new DSI or a fragile vintage piece that I already have a great emulation of, I can spend that money starting a Eurorack and really make sounds no one has ever heard. After watching hundreds of Eurorack vids, I really think this is the best investment for my intentions of creating those haunting, hypnotic loops. Planning to start with an Erica tube VCO, Error Liquid Glitcher, Folktek Matter, Maths, maybe a Squarp Rample, and mixer/EG/utilities.

Hi,

To be perfectly honest, it looks pretty solid! Maybe add a matrix cv mixer? I use a 4ms VCA Matrix mixer which gives me 16 VCA CV options plus mute controls and 4 CV inputs/outputs. Doepfer makes a great affordable matrix mixer and Livestock Electronics Maze mixer looks like a cool cv matrix mixer module as well.

Some great LFOs that I really like so far:

Batumi with Poti expander for quad channel modulation
Abstract Data ADE 32 Octocontroller can modulate up to 8 outputs!
IME Kermit MK2 has quad channel LFO, S&H, random modulation and more plus create and load custom wave forms too
Acid Rain Technologies Maestro- six channel modulation with program shapes and pattern of LFO and super fun to use

The Erica Black Octasource is on my shortlist for next purchase. Give it a look.

Hi,

You can never have too many LFO´s right? :-)

The thing is, i do have a lot of modulation already, but i do miss having dedicated LFO´s.
I like the idea of Just friends, Tides 2 and Ochd, to control several LFO´s together to create movement, like waves or undulations.
My thought was that SWN would solve that problem, and it kind of does, but not. And both Zadar and Pams can do it sort of.

Either i get Quadrax, Batumi, Just Friends, Ochd or Tides 2.

What would you get if you made this kind of ambient music to create movement? It is the 2014 Tides that is supposed to leave my rack after a long duty period.

Thank you for your help!

This is my rack:

This is the type of sounds i make

That’s true but also limiting. You’d miss out on great modules from IME/Harvestman and Mutable Instruments like Piston Honda and Plaits which are digital and sound amazing while providing countless sound crafting options. That said, I do like analog modules like Rossum Trident and Moog modular.

What kind of music are you making?

No, it really doesn't matter and tone is near impossible to to tell the difference now.

-- sacguy71

My point here is that—regardless of the long debated difference in signal character—making an all-analog rule would lead me to a completely different rack of modules than if I didn’t

No, it really doesn't matter and tone is near impossible to to tell the difference now.

My advice is to figure out what you need your rack to do, and then buy the best version of the module that does that thing.
Analog... digital... doesn't really matter as long as you can accomplish your musical goal. If you need a resonator like Rings or something, it's gonna be really hard to do that with analog.
Have fun and good luck.

I’m not trying to have the perpetual analog vs. digital debate again, I have nothing against digital and I’m thrilled with a lot of the things people have done with digital modules.

But given the sea of different modules available, everyone has to make those “arbitrary” decisions for their rack’s limitations to some extent. The decision to stay fully analog is a mostly arbitrary but fun one, and you’re sure to get a certain sound that you wouldn’t if you melded analog and digital ones together.

So my questions are somewhat simple—any of you have experience doing it? Is it significantly more expensive? Is it terribly limiting?

I mean, the reason I’m going Eurorack instead of MU is that I want to take advantage of all the crazy innovative shit in Euro rather than the somewhat traditionalist, more often analog MU stuff. I don’t wanna be glued to only two or three brands. But then I also like the idea of starting with analog modules and later putting digital stuff in its own row.

More importantly, it’s been really hard for me to even know which Euro modules are fully analog. So many have digital components that I don’t even know if the vacuum tube ones are! Any tips on how to figure it out somewhat easily without elite knowledge of circuitry?

I posted a few months back and got some good advice from JimHowell1970 and Lugia about how to get self-modulation and add randomness to what I felt was too structured and monotonous. This week I decided to purchase a second Mantis case. The first 3 rows are modules that I already own. The last row is an expansion of utility modules were either recommended to me, or that I think I need. I'm making mostly ambient stuff and acid and playing it over an external drum machine (TR8s) and a few other desktop synths. The oscilloscope is mainly to help me learn what is happening. I'm looking for holes in my plan. Is there anything I should have that's not here? Anything I should get rid of? I'm still pretty new to this - maybe a year in now.

I have C4rbn as well, but most of my VCO's are stereo. I didn't really warm up to the C4rbn right away, but it's a filter with a lot of character. I have probably used my Vult Freak the most, and now I have two filters with VCA's.

Fun ambient patch using Happy Nerding FX Aid XL and Make Noise Mimeophon with Plaits/Rings/Marbles

Hi all, I'm putting together a system for both music-making and teaching. We already have a few synths in the department, and I wanted the modular to be a bit different.

The Mother 32 will stay outside the rack, as to allow individual use, and I went with the 104 HP case for future expansion.

My sticking points are whether I need the quad VCA, or a more simple one would suffice (and save some £££)

I would appreciate any advice you have, and perhaps where to go next to fill the rest of the case, ideally with more modulation and effect processors. I would avoid Make Noise in this system, as we eventually plan to get a Shared System (unless you think any of their modules that's worth doubling up?)

Thanks in advance!

Awesome bang for buck. This just replaced my Popple. Packed with features, and the quality seems excellent too.
-- mntbighker

I agree. I have this and the WMD C4rbn and am extremely happy with both so far. I even considered getting two of the Ikaries instead of it and the C4rbn, and I think that would have been just fine too.

Thanks

Exploding Shed also has a lot of them in stock!
https://www.exploding-shed.com/shop-catalogue/4ms-pod-cases/

You can try it in this Berlin located store:

https://schneidersladen.de/en/eurorack-modular-3u/eurorack-modular-cases/?p=1&o=5&n=12&s=4

The only pod currently unavailable ist the 4ms Pod 40X (unpowered).

Hi,

Anyone knows where i can buy 4ms pods in europe (not UK) ?

thanks
ciao

Hi Gabor,

Oh that's a nice start of your track that sound, that introduction, nice touch!

I am always amazed to watch your videos, how can you be so creative and keep coming up with such interesting things? :-) Making it yet perfectly in harmony with the sound! :-)

Lovely jam, thanks a lot for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

Thank you, again, for your feedback, Garfield ☺️ This time the images
were captured first, I just loved
those tulips + tested my new phone’s cam. The music came two
weeks later and when I finished it
I realized the tulips belong with the tunes and the concept of “from
colorless to color” kind of
presented itself to me ☺️

Thanks again and all the best :)

Thank you, Garfield! That is too kind of you!

A gentleman named Neil Welch tracked the sax for me in his home studio. I hope to have him on a couple more.

Hi Gabor,

Oh that's a nice start of your track that sound, that introduction, nice touch!

I am always amazed to watch your videos, how can you be so creative and keep coming up with such interesting things? :-) Making it yet perfectly in harmony with the sound! :-)

Lovely jam, thanks a lot for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Baltergeist,

Two interesting tracks. With the first track I was thinking that actually no matter what you are able to do with your Cocoquantus, you are always be able to let me sit at the tip of my chair and listen what you are delivering us here :-) Very intriguing.

The second track is a great jazz track that, in my opinion, can keep up with the great jazz names and producers, this is seriously beautifully done! I love this! Did you play the sax or did you use samples?

After the just beautiful weekend we experienced here at the You section, I thought this can't be topped, but you just did it and that on a Monday! :-D

Thanks a lot for sharing this great material and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Whoops and I thought that joystick was the Planar from Intellijel, this is indeed a nice alternative!

Thanks for the details and kind regards, Garfield.

Awesome bang for buck. This just replaced my Popple. Packed with features, and the quality seems excellent too.

EDITED Jun 7th 2021, 23:40

A more ambient piece with tulips. Basic patch details in the video description.

Cheers :)
The joystick is the https://www.modulargrid.net/e/transient-modules-7j
Underneath that are the DNI pro Dot and the Roaux LL8 and ep that is mostl for the percussion, though I have the Roland TR-09 playing too which is behind the rack along with a mixer.

Thanks a lot for all your comments :)!

And yes, XAOC becomes a 2nd ES to me. They just deliver! :)

I have the Greyscale one. Could buy it from me. (Based in Holland)
-- Pmwmartens

That would be amazing, will drop you a PM.

I have the Greyscale one. Could buy it from me. (Based in Holland)

Does anyone know of a decent battery I can get in the UK so I can take my Palette out and about?

This is my current build:

Power Consumption: 553 mA +12V | 211 mA -12V

EDITED Jun 7th 2021, 19:18

Trying to get a silver Disting MK4 alternative panel but the Greyscale one isn’t being made anymore and I can’t find one anywhere.

Anyone know of any other options I have to get a silver panel? (based in UK)

@toodee yeah it works well. Sometimes I will feed another VCO like the Doepfer basic VCO into Rings then modulate with Marbles. Mimeophon rocks so fun.

Rings into Marbles ? Now, that's adventurous but at least it differs from the old Rings-To-Clouds everyone started sharing years ago which was getting a bit old

A new track with my Cocoquantus processing an Electro Faustus Black Fly and a kalimba, with overdubbed hollow body git box and electric bass, and then the Monday track with the sax added.

Cheers!

Rings into Marbles and use Mimeophon for great results.

I'm bumping this thread so I don't create a new one.

Would that make sense? Or should I go 9U? I think I already know everyone's answer on this one but still...

yes it's a vca matrix mixer - similar to 4ms vcam but a lot smaller and without attenuaton or mutes, but you do get 4 inputs/4 outputs and 16 vcas to mix them together with - feed envelopes, lfos etc into these

See, my philosophy is that Eurorack is too darn expensive to do things with it I can do with other cheaper devices, not to mention it's also a bit space intensive. When I was making only "regular" techno with a sound similar to the bands you mention, I was basically just using a couple of good samplers (octatrack + MPC or Digitakt) along with a couple of good synths (varies with taste, I'm a sucker for the Elektron workflow so in my case, that was Analog Four and Digitone). The only reason I went to modular was because I wanted to make weirder music which needed very specific tools: in my case, complex oscillators with wavefolder which Arturia's Pigment and Serum sort of got on my radar, crazy wavetable VCO's and filters I can touch as opposed to VST's, ways to have extensive control over complex modulation, and a hands-on modulation "controller" which I built with things like Intellijel's Tetrapad and Malekko's Voltage Block.

So what do YOU need ? Well, assuming you picked those Mutable Instruments modules because you like the sound of it, the first thing that comes to mind is not modular but the Elektron Digitone. It essentially gives you 4 tracks - more than what you have above - for a fraction of the price. It sounds beautiful, the design is really clever so what appears as a small object is actually quite capable, for me it's the king of the "inexpensive" digital synths. You also have the ability to go poly with it, you gain a powerful step sequencer and it's MIDI like your other devices.

I think you considering that option and then telling me why the DN is not (or maybe it is) a good option for you would help design a modular system that fits your needs, right now I have too little information to determine what those are...

And looking at what you built, the most obvious omissions in my opinion are
-at least one additional modulation source, for me it would be Voltage Block or maybe Marbles
-ways to combine modulation like Links/Kinks and/or a matrix mixer and Maths
-probably a proper EG like Quadrax to free up Stages
-a good analog filter

Thanks for the replies, a bigger case will be in the future. I found a blackhole 7U sixty used and it was too cute.
The more I look at it, the more I think I should do the silly thing and add another o_C running hemispheres. It would be more flexible and take up less space than anything else. the vector EG is exactly how i'd use the zadar.

Can you tell me more about the mixer?

Thanks for the feedback, @wishbonebrewery :)

Great little sequencer the DOT, pairs well with a Robaux LL8, I like that the DOT lets you program ratchets and you can control Euclidean sequences with CV for a constantly moving set of rhythm. Programming it can be a little boring but its great for little fills and background percussion, I also use one channel as an Accent pattern on the Patching Panda Hatz.

If I was going to give a negative about the DOT it would be that the Trigger outputs could be a bit stronger, and the Channel mutes should come up first on the Long Press Encoder knob.
-- wishbonebrewery

Thanks for your input, appreciate it.
Coincidentally someone contacted me regarding a diy clone module, oh excuse, ‘based’ on the Dot. I’m curious to find out what the difference is. Just might adress your issues.

EDITED Jun 7th 2021, 17:42

delays, reverbs and lo-fi tape effects are often what I go to for when I try to make ambient ish music

exact modules are down to individual taste but I like Magneto, disting and fx aid xl for a lot of these effects as well as moogerfoogers etc

plus a lot of modulation - run through a lot of utilities

EDITED Jun 7th 2021, 10:09

The modules in my rack I use the most when making ambient-related stuff:

• XAOC Zadar
• Intellijel Quadrax
• Make Noise Mimeophon
• Make Noise Morphagene
• Ornaments & Crime
• Squard Hermod
• Mutable Instruments Marbles