Perfect for Musique Concrete aficionados without the use of synthesizer. All recorded media for manipulation old school. If only the Make Noise module was white. :D
Perfect for Musique Concrete aficionados without the use of synthesizer. All recorded media for manipulation old school. If only the Make Noise module was white. :D
Perfect for Musique Concrete fans with an added sprinkle of synthesis. :D
When feedback is triggered, the sound comes from the right then quickly moves to the left. Very enjoyable and creepy.
The specs on the manufacturer product page say: Multiple - 8 x 3.5 mm TS jack, mono, Arrangement - 2 sets of 4 parallel jacks, passive
Hi little world,
I need a little precision: Does someone know if the "Multiple" sections of CP3A-M are buffered or passives ?
Thank you.
https://www.imagevenue.com/ME13QXAJ
https://www.imagevenue.com/ME13QXAK
This finally happened today, can't wait to spend a bit of time with it! It was the demos of this module that sent me down the Eurorack hole to begin with, but production delays have made it a little hard to get in a timely manner.
First impression is definitely one of quality though, really nice panel and components and organization of the PCB. Very slick.
Most all of it, but you have to remember that Rimsky-Korsakov wasn't around by the time that electronic instruments were coming up. The only thing we'd sort of recognize that fits his timeline would've been the Telharmonium, and there was only one of those and it was more of an experiment than anything else. So what's necessary is to translate our sound production methods to how he would work with acoustic instruments. Fortunately, much of the timbral spectra you find in an orchestra often has parallels in electronic sound generation.
Rimsky-Korsakov was very familiar with Helmholtz's "On the Sensation of Tone", clearly...so his orchestration techniques were informed by Helmholtz's concepts regarding timbre and "clearing space" for the partials from the orchestral instruments so that everything sounds "clearer". In his time, he would work this out on paper in a score...but we would be more likely to view this process as being closer in character to mixing. So, if you pay attention to that aspect as well as his methods for grouping timbres, then yeah...this book's pretty useful. And if you side-by-side it with Helmholtz's book (https://www.amazon.com/Sensations-Tone-Dover-Books-Music/dp/0486607534), you then get a VERY clear picture of how/why Rimsky-Korsakov dealt with orchestration as he did. So, unlike prior treatises on orchestration, his actually takes cues from the emergent science of acoustics as a partial basis...which is why, once "retranslated" into our present-day electronic and electroacoustic lingo, that orchestration text "translates" very well to how we produce.
Man...that's some spectacular mod-work there! I can see how this would require some real component-mashing to make it work, but you nailed it.
-- Lugia
Thanks. I appreciate the encouragement. The biggest limitation to layout was that the 2 knobs are mounted to the edge of the board, so no components could be to the right of those knobs and the board continues a full 2" below the bottom knob. The Q128 button and LED just barely fit. Thankfully it all worked out.
@Lugia, is there a specific part of the Rimsky-Korsakov you find most relevant for the topics at hand here?
That text is one I’ve had for a while but not spent much time with yet. I picked it off the shelf this evening and on a quick browse don’t immediately see a section most relevant to mixing (+arrangement etc). Yes I’ll study the whole thing in depth if that’s advisable. Thanks!!
In this build, I'm working to solve an issue with creating a modulation-primary skiff that can work equally well with my Digisound 80, the B.2600, my two MS-20 minis, and a bunch of other toys. And via the Nanobridge, these can also be used with the AE system.
This is a build in a Case From Lake 4U 168 hp skiff. While CFL doesn't have these in stock, they're available as a modification to their angled 84/104 single 3U row cab.
The module row starts with a Plankton clock sequencer...basically, what it sounds like: a sequenced source of time pulses, with the ability to set the durations as sequenceable steps. After this is a clocking "mangler" stage: Adventure's Count for extracting individual pulses, Ladik dual pulse delay, and Ladik probabilistic pulse skipper, a pair of Frequency Central Logic Bombs with a dual-OR pulse combiner, Doveman's dual window comparator, and a Ladik Derivator and Min-Max. The Greyscale Permutation then provides random generative sequencing to bridge the gap between the "clock" section and the "CV" section.
For modulation CV signals, I then dropped in a 4ms QPLFO. This is followed by a Tenderfoot attenuverter/mixer, a Quadrax with Qx, Maths, and a Zlob Vnicvrsal VCA for six linear VCAs. Then the sole audio device, Behringer's Bode Frequency Shifter, and after that, G-Storm's translator module for Korg/Yamaha analog synths.
The tile row below then gives me a Temps Utile (with four CV expander points) and an O&c for elaborate and interlaced clocking/utilities, a dual-channel mult, a pair of Pulplogic Cyclic Skews for use as either EGs or LFOs, Plum Audio's Dazzle stereo VCA/polarizer/modulator, then a pair each of a DC-coupled Pulplogic mixer and DC-coupled VCA.
So, this is more or less a "mission-specific" build on a fairly large scale. The cab design lets me place this perfectly in front of the bases of the racks in the "modular sandbox" without blocking any controls, etc. It might not be something I eventually put together, but at the same time it's a worthwhile "test" to see if this concept works, and how.
Man...that's some spectacular mod-work there! I can see how this would require some real component-mashing to make it work, but you nailed it.
I dig the Happy Nerding VCAs, actually...they're linear, making them ideal for modulation control. Plus, they can be used as a "breakable" mixer, and the ability to get three VCAs, etc into just 6 hp makes them a go-to. The topology sort of makes them less than optimal for audio, but if you're down toward the "DC Zone", these fill the bill...and then some!
+1 on Jim's assessment of Doepfer. Sure, most of their modules are "primitives", which means that the circuits in them make up the circuit complement for more complex modules. But there's tons of potential situations when a "primitive" is just what the Dr. ordered. Dieter's making some great stuff to this very day...and there are some definitely unique offerings in their huge line. You can't write 'em off!
Gave it a bit of a poke, mostly to fix the layout but I also was able to remove a few modules that either weren't cost-effective or necessary:
Most everything is still the same as far as module complement, but I was able to mash the polarizers (and add more functionality) by swapping that for a Xaoc Samara II, which also contains VCAs for your mod row. Losing the buffered mult + a bit of shuffling then let me put in the Takaab VLH, which adds a ring modulator, suboscillator, and noise source to your VCO complement. And one more crunch let me put in a pair of ADSRs courtesy of Paratek's updated version of Peaks. But besides those changes and the module shuffle (which now has audio up, modulation down except for the Stereomix, with signal flow on both now working left-to-right), it's pretty much ready to rock.
Oh, and two more VCAs got added in the audio row, right after the Rings clone, so that you can use those to control stereo amplitude coming out of the Rings and before it hits the Monsoon, with the Plancks serving to submix prior to the Stereomix, if needed.
Such a beautiful build!!! Kudos! You should post this to ModWiggler if you haven't yet? :-)
-- JohnLRice
Thanks, John! It's the most complex combo/repanel I've done to date. Really took some finagling to get it all to fit. Maybe I'll post on the forum once I make a video.
Such a beautiful build!!! Kudos! You should post this to ModWiggler if you haven't yet? :-)
Nice stuff, to be sure...I also note that there's a backplane link to the Stereomix2 on these, so they also function as expanders for those.
No real advantage, per se...the main part of that issue really stems from which synthesis approach you want to work in. Digital sources like the Plaits do "pre-make" the sound in a sense, but you can warp their preprogrammed waveforms all the same.
The real thing I was aiming at in the build above isn't so much a choice between oscillator topologies, but about the point of oscillator doubling. You can have one VCO (of any sort, really) and it'll sound good...but TWO of the same, with the same waveform and a slightly different tuning yields more than the sum of the parts. By using slight detunings, the result is that the sound has more presence...low end stuff hits harder, mids sound bigger, and so on. With the VOID Modular dual VCO, you've got those two VCOs...but the module offers more than just two oscillators inasmuch as you've got the ring mod (probably a 4-quadrant design in there) for amplitude modulation, you can drive one with the other at audio frequencies for FM, etc. However, you can accomplish the same sort of idea with two Plaits and the addition of a ring mod module.
But the big difference is actually in price. The Gravitational Waves is $250; a single Plaits runs $259. So while you could do a dual Plaits setup, just the two oscillators alone are more than DOUBLE the VOID's price. And yes, you definitely need to keep cost-vs-benefit in mind here...
I’m sold! Will add some vca! Hope I didn’t offend anyone calling maths a utility:) thanks again for your responses and sharing your knowledge. Something I love about the modular community.
Will update in a bit!
Hi Mowse,
Oh yes, very nice! :-) The first half minute or so, I immediately had to think of the good old Tangerine Dream when I heard this music, after that you turned it into pure your lovely music; with both I can live and enjoy it :-)
Nice to hear from you again and I don't mind to hear more of it, thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Hi JB61264, Eexee and JimHowell1970,
I am glad it works now :-) Nothing more disappointing as a module that might not work, thus so glad that you managed to get it work the way you want & need it!
Yes, I agree here with Jim, Doepfer modules are good and because most of the modules are so "pure" it's indeed, Eexee, good for starters and for a good learning curve however also for when you are beyond the starting experience. Their utility modules are pleasure pure to use and usually easy to understand.
I also agree though on the sometimes poor documentation. The older modules of Doepfer were actually good documented in both German and English, though indeed the English translation might not always be perfect in most cases it's good enough to get you going. Though I can read and understand both languages, I always start to read the English version first since I believe all (electronically and computer related) documentation should be world wide in English only (and no, my mother tongue is definitely not English related), but that's just my humble opinion as a technical guy. Only if I don't understand the English explanation, I check the German explanation to see if something got lost in translation, which is sometimes the case but not always. I found even for one or two modules (can't remember which one that were) where the English manual provided more interesting information than the German one. Recently for many newer Doepfer modules, I come to realise that the documentation gets of poorer quality or it's just not existing as JB discovered already for the A-140-2. That's a real pity indeed.
JB, for the A-140-2, you can indeed rely on the A-140-1 documentation, the principles are the same and after having read that, you will realise that the A-140-2 works pretty much in the same way however I agree, each module should have their own complete module manual.
Have fun with modular and kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Hi Anubiz,
He, he, indeed a very nice sweetener for this lovely weekend, thanks to you :-) Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
I remember the original, good stuff, this reminds me of a MakeNoise demo.
Enjoy your spare HP, don't rush to fill every last space, this is not like filling sticker books. Resist the urge to 'complete' your rack, its never complete so just relax.
It has been a while but I found time today to jam on the modular synthesizer. I thought I'd revisit one of my earlier tracks, Cygnus.
Hope you enjoy it.
-mowse
20210821 FIRST ENTRY
After years of trial and error within modular; spending thousands of $'s on multiple builds, synths, VSTs, selling off all my gear and slowly buying back what I missed/need for my creative process, I think I finally have an idea of what I want from a modular system and to answer the requirements of my creative needs that have fallen short within the box and from other gear.
I'll be treating this thread like an open diary, recording my thoughts, processes, and progress on this build over the foreseeable future.
As an open diary, I welcome any feedback, observations or questions around the build.
To me, modular is a playground, where games and rules are defined and broken as needed.
Thanks
- Joseph Knight aka hyperbola.xyz
Hi All, I’m looking to go at this from the other direction, a guitar player wanting to add synth to my setup. I know absolutely nothing about synth so I have come to this site to learn. This is basically my first post and the OP’s question is relevant to my goals. I would like to build a small rack that I can get sequenced rhythms out of that will play nice with effects pedals.
As a new member I guess I am not allowed to post questions in a new thread, so for the time being I will follow this one and try to get some synth 101 from searching the site.
Mitch
I also like to use strobe tuners. I have an older (now discontinued) model from Sonic Research (the ST 122), purchased many years ago. Now they only make it as a stomp box (ST-300). I ended up with both and they are both really fantastic.
Additionally, I have two apps for my phone:
iStroboSoft by Peterson - a really great strobe tuner app, has all sorts of features
insTuner from EUMlab - another good one
All the best
Sorry if I am doing a hyjack here, but I am a newbie and would like to know where to go to post a hello and ask a few questions
Thanks
Mitch
hi, is it best this for 6 outs to send to other modules, or the bigger bitbox?
Love the concept of this mixer. Faders and lot of channels are a success. Hope come in production soon.
I came across this tuner on etsy: Ecolab OT1 Tuner and Oscilloscope - 4hp - $124 - from Germany ecolab etsy link
The little banana lights up when tuned. Seems simple and affordable enough.
well I wouldn't class Maths as utilities - although it is in a way a collection of utilities - it's often better seen as more of a complex modulation source / swiss army knife module and fantastic learning tool for modular patching and thinking in general - see the "maths illustratated supplement" for ideas
the mixer and mults and vcas(?) though definitely are indispensable utilities - as I am sure you will find the attenuversion and offsets in Maths so useful that you will want them as separate modules (shades, 3*mia etc) very soon - so that you can use Maths for more interesting things
I'd seriously consider adding a quad cascading vca such as veils or the equivalent from intellijel or happy nerding these are near fundamental to synthesis - for processing both audio and modulation signals
"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!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities
Lovely stuff indeed :)
Enjoy your spare HP, don't rush to fill every last space, this is not like filling sticker books. Resist the urge to 'complete' your rack, its never complete so just relax.
Sorry my post was a bit all over the place.
Utilities: gonna start with maths…learn how I like to patch and buy more utilities.
I figure with PMW and maths will get me pretty far for now.
Also I’m slowly filling in my 1u rack. These are no brainers …mixer and mults. ( should have mentioned that)
The complex oscillator rabbit hole I went down led me to vampire and grone drone. The price point was a big factor. Looking for something to fill in the atmosphere.
Since I only own a few modules I’m still figuring out sound wise what I like. Only have YouTube for that. Filters are not high up on my list yet but if I can get a great oscillator with a filter for a good price I’m figuring why not.
Quantizer would be redundant if I grab one of the other modules.
Thanks!
haha, it is hard to stop listening to! :)
Enjoy your spare HP, don't rush to fill every last space, this is not like filling sticker books. Resist the urge to 'complete' your rack, its never complete so just relax.
This is proper good, more please :)
Enjoy your spare HP, don't rush to fill every last space, this is not like filling sticker books. Resist the urge to 'complete' your rack, its never complete so just relax.
Sort of the same as last weeks stream patch but the 2hp Pluck is going into the Mimeophon and Monsoon Clouds.
Cheers for listening, and looking at my Elbow quite a lot, Tats on upper arm are due a redesign to work better with the lower arm.
Enjoy your spare HP, don't rush to fill every last space, this is not like filling sticker books. Resist the urge to 'complete' your rack, its never complete so just relax.
that's always how I'd thought of it - this thing!
just remember that disting can only do one (or 2, depending on model) thing at a time - you'll probably find you use it primarily for a one or 2 things after a while - replace them with dedicated modules and continue exploring the disting - I'm currently using mine as an extra vca - AR envelope for noiseout of deckards voice into rings - which is in turn fed though magneto with a wasp filter in the send return loop - sounds epic!
I always used to use mine as a tape echo - then I caved and got an fx aid xl and then magneto - heheh always more modules!
"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!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities
what a mess
hehehe
maybe instead of the dopefer mixer/vca - something like veils which is both at once would be more appropriate, alm, intelijel and happy nerding make decent alternatives-- JimHowell1970
Hehe, yeah it's a work-in-progress for sure. It's a little tidier now if clicked through, but looks like there's some caching for these images that are pulled from rack links.
Thanks for the advice. I'll maybe keep the a-135-2 for VCA duties, and look into a 7hp mixer that will fit instead of the Doepfer adder, since I discovered Disting can also do precision adding, as well as so many other things. I'm playing around with the SD card sample playback algos right now. A bit quirky, but what a versatile unit! Any idea why it's called 'Disting'? Sounds a bit like a Jamaican accented 'This thing'. Like - what do I need for this gap in my patch? Dis ting!
I'm currently testing Plaits in VCV Rack, going through the manual at the same time. Am I wrong or is this a fantastic sound source? I mean there are so many sonic possibilities just with this alone. Any ideas on what the advantage would be to go with a more classic VCO over the Plaits? I'm thinking that with a classic (Dual) VCO one would perhaps be more inclined towards finding interesting ways of modifying and shaping the sound source as opposed to a tool that has it all premade?
depending on what you want from a rack then a trigger sequencer like steppy may be useful immediately - if the track is predominantly percussion, for example
in a general purpose rack of this size where I would advise keeping to a single (melodic) voice, pams can adequately cover trigger sequencing - as there is not that much to trigger, as well as envelopes, unipolar lfos and looped quantized random cv for generating melodies
at some point you may want to have more control over over melody - and I would expect this to be before wanting a trigger sequencer - in which case a melodic sequencer not a trigger sequencer is what you would want
"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!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities
sequencer (steppy?)
what are you trying to sequence?? - if it's plonk then I would just use Pams for now
Initially I plan to use Pams as 'the brains' of my rack, but doesn't it make sense to add a sequencer at some point? Or formulated differently, at what stage would it make sense for me to add a sequencer to my setup? I used steppy initially but I'm not fixed on that one specifically, could be anything else.
what a mess
hehehe
maybe instead of the dopefer mixer/vca - something like veils which is both at once would be more appropriate, alm, intelijel and happy nerding make decent alternatives
"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!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities
Hey @ryanthegecko do you mind providing a link to your rack vs. the image?
-- jb61264
hmm - seems you are confusing complex oscillator with semi modular - DFAM is a semi modular - or are you talking about the drone grone?
what;s the use case for the quantizer? it would appear superfluous to me - don't the sequencers in mom, dfam and bloom have quantizers built in already? maybe not the dfam?
I've said it before and I'll say it again - more utilities!!!!
but if you don't like patching modules together maybe modular is not for you - 5 modules is a tiny patch! which is fine - but there's a reason that vcos come without filters - so you get to choose which filter (or not) is used with which vco, how many vcos are mixed before hitting a vcf, how those vcos are mixed and filtered - do you want to use an lpg instead of a vca? etc etc
"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!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities
doepfer are great full stop! not just when you are starting out...
I think the more you want to actually do "modular synthesis" as opposed to "just connecting some synthesizer modules together to produce some sounds", the more simple building block modules are important, and even when "just... to produce sounds" the addition of simple building blocks into especially modulation is an inexpensive way to implement complexity - and doepfer are especially good at simple building block modules that mostly do exactly what they say they do
I have quite a few doepfer modules - mostly utilities and filters - and I consider them to be as good quality as any other manufacturer - I've not got an adsr though
maybe some of their modules are a bit poorly documented (possibly lost in translation from german to english) and the odd module doesn't work how you might expect, but the same can be said for almost all manufacturers
and whilst he didn't invent modular synthesis, Dieter did start the eurorack format
"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!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities
@Lugia - yeah - I kind of know what you mean, but I'd call it moving basic utilities into the "expensive" row:
the cost of the 1u row is the same as that of a 3u row in terms of rails, inserts/nuts, screws
the difference in case material is generally negligible - unless possibly made from a very rare wood
hp for hp tiles are less functionally dense than 3u modules so will only cover 1/3rd the functionality or so
and all to save 3.5"...
better to get an extra row of 3u unless there is some overwhelming reason - & the only real one I can think of is overhead baggage size limits
"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!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities