All Posts

wow 45 minutes of full energy, that's something!

Did you record the sequences in advance or is it all improvised?

greeting earthlings and welcome to the year 2021 >

< we have been busy the last few weeks in the lab transcoding deep space frequencies and are happy to announce our new album "the book of dEON" is now available for streaming/downloading > a mystical journey from ambient to downtempo/lofi through to techno and experimental works > recorded in super-wide stereo > performed on a modular synth >

< also included in the download is the album artwork + a special bonus track "OUMUAMUA" - the Abbey Road remix >

< we hope you enjoy the music and support underground electronica >
.........

< cyberneticOhm >
< circuit bent for life >

https://cyberneticohm.bandcamp.com/album/the-book-of-deon-album

Hey everyone.
Hope you're all doing well in these strange times!

I am looking at getting more into modular but would like some feedback and advice before I start spending all of my money....
I currently have a Make Noise 0-coast and 0-ctrl to start off with, but I am looking to expand into more voices, effects, modulation, sequencing and control, while staying in a fairly small case.

After doing a bit of research I think I'm pretty set on the Intellijel Palette Case. It seems well designed, the 1U row seems quite handy for utility modules etc, it's quite portable and will fit on my studio desk (Output's Platform Desk). Are there any other cases I should consider?

In regards to modules, I have sketched out a few different Palette Case ideas. All of which are fairly similar to each other except for some different effects and sequencing modules.
I would love some feedback on this and any ideas for other modules to consider.

The music I want to make with this rig is a mixture of generative ambient music and more aggressive left field electronic music. The full spectrum of sonic moods!
Here is a link to some music I made in 2020 (during the first lockdown) with a mate who has gotten me into modular (it's all his fault! lol). Check it out and let me know what you think:

Any thoughts, feedback and advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Best,

Kieran

EDITED Jan 5th 2021, 20:53

Hi,
CIRCUITBENDERS make DIY eurorack modules but I can't find them in the manufacturer list.
https://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/shop.html
drumBs analogue percussion
PHONIC TAXIDERMIST
...
Is it possible to add a manufacturer ?

Thanks !

Marbles doesn’t really do S&H type stuff in my mind. More like a vanilla random Sequencer. But still fun.

Wait...sorry you’ve already got the Intellijel 1u Noisetool. Hmm.

I guess Woggle it is. I think I saw one at Detroit. I guess if you did get that that would free up that 1u if you wanted.

Maybe swap out one of the other 1u for the Intellijel Noisetool? Haven’t used it as I sadly don’t have a 1u case, but it looks cool.

Or maybe Mutable Kinks (only 4hp) if you can swap out something else. I do love Woggle, but find I only really use the stepped out, so the extra hps for me aren’t as crucial. Good luck!

I have included Pamela and Ornament and Crime for Sequencing, quantized note generation and other functionality (Hemisphere firmware on the O&C)
-- benjaminjamesgreen

Glaring omission : switches. Pam's and OC gives you 12 channels of clocked triggers and modulation -- that's great (although possibly not enough considering you have five voices in here). But now you want the kick drum to go to half-time for a while. How do you this? From the look of your rack you have to go menu diving into Pam or OC, or start repatching while you're playing. Not a good look either way.

If you make copious use of AB-switches, switched multiples, switched OR-combiners etc etc you can redirect and recombine your control signals around the rack. I guess from the phrase "Minimum Viable Party" you know mylarmelodies on YouTube: check out his video on switched multiples; he covers about half the reasons you will want these.

I suggest you would also want at least one envelope generator (for MCO's amp envelope), and probably a second for the filter. Yes you can generate envelopes from Pam but again, you are going to want to tweak them while playing so having actual knobs to turn will help a lot. For reasons of tweakability and control you will also want some attenuverters/offsets and maybe a CV mixer.

Pam's and O&C are great, but Varigate 4+ is more fun.

IMO Percall is essential for a minimal viable party. You're going to want a function generator eventually. Take a look at Maths, Rampage, Falistri or something like Stages.

This could use some refinement, but here is an alternate idea

EDITED Jan 6th 2021, 17:36

Welcome @benjaminjamesgreen. I would first recommend planning long-term, i.e. not what your current budget is, but what you want to achieve. Anyone who is into modular quickly finds out that money and space quickly disappears. With that said, most will tell you to invest in a larger case from the get-go. You WILL want the space eventually, and you can fill it with blind panels in the meantime. The TipTop Mantis is almost always the recommended starter case around here. 2x104hp, inexpensive, and great power supply with a decent amount of power headers.
A second recommendation would be to get a dedicated drum machine instead of trying to include drums in your modular right off the bat. The drum modules you have chosen don't have a lot of patch points, and so their sound design capabilities are very limited. They're also very tiny. That's not very fun. Get a more versatile drum machine that you can clock and interface with your modular for now. You can always invest in better drum modules in the future. Most beginners try to pack too much functionality into a small space (I did it too). For something small like this, focus on developing an excellent synth voice and try to make it as tweakable and patchable as possible. Plaits is always a good starting point. Also, you probably won't need an output module if you get a good quad cascading VCA to double as a mixer.
I've put together what I consider to be a good STARTING point for a modular synth. It overshoots your budget, but I promise that is going to happen anyway. And, you don't need to get everything at once. When you start patching, you will discover what you need to buy next. Some of the others in this forum will probably have recommendations and suggestions for budget friendly alternatives too.
Have fun and good luck!

Edit*
This build assumes that you will be using the Disting or uO_C Piqued for the envelope functions. I have added a Quadrax envelope generator but it's not showing up above.

EDITED Jan 5th 2021, 13:11

Hello all, long time lurker first time poster....

I currently make dissapointing house music for self-release using a NI Maschine but have been increasingly tinkering with VCV rack and loving the generative abilities/possibilities. I have a modest budget of around £1500 to build an initial setup loosely based around the idea of a "Minimum Viable Party" an all in one unit, this unit will be focussed on Techno / Electro primarily.

I have included Pamela and Ornament and Crime for Sequencing, quantized note generation and other functionality (Hemisphere firmware on the O&C)

My voices are Plaits and MCO for their versatility.
Pico and Hats module for 3 drum voices.
DSP & MMF for effects and filtering
VCA, Mixer & Outs (Envelopes for the MCO coming from the O&C)

Am hoping for critique in terms of module choice;

Are there better modules to achieve the same? Assuming the approx. price of each module is relatively firm (within 10% odd)
Do my choices make sense?
Are there any glaring omissions?

Thanks in advance you lovely people...

Believe me, if you intend to mainly use this as a live gigging modular, you'll find that you'll probably want the expansion fader module for the WMD. The VC mixer on my Digisound has seen WAY more use than you'd suspect, because I use it to slot different signal paths in and out when live. With each path being a separate "instrument", this means I have at least four different, discrete "voices" present on the mixer, and I can slot those in and out as the set goes on. Sure, it looks like "too much" mixer right now, but wait until you implement it in an actual set. It'll get real busy, real quick.

Also, keep the Plaits. Farkas is spot-on there. It gives you everything from analog TO digital as far as sound palettes go. And while I can see the point about Marbles (it really is more of a "studio module"), you might consider keeping it as it's one of the more comprehensive random-source manipulators around. Now, my take on the Maths vs Quadrax thing is this: try having BOTH, especially with the Qx expander. By crosspatching the Quadrax/Qx with the Maths, the resulting modulation behavior should be VERY elaborate...something you could even use to "glue" a set together by having the strange mod activity affect all of your patches in a live set in some way. Sort of like some of what you hear on Orbital's "Brown Album", in the long set that runs from "Lush 3-1" through "Walk Now".

Hi Sacguy,

Yes smart move to get directly Voltera and Axxent expander modules with your Metron, makes sense!

Ha, ha, to me it sounds like for a while (after you receive the Metron + expanders + Eloquencer) you have enough sequencers for your racks :-) Now trying to bundle them together and let them all work together in harmony might be the largest challenge ;-) I have the same challenge with my trio of Drum Sequencer (Erica Synths), Vector and Sinfonion :-)

Let's hope that UPS delivery person doesn't get shot in down town Sacramento (but I guess and hope the shooting has stopped by now?) so you get your Metron by today ;-) Have fun later with the Metron and kind regards, Garfield.

Thanks Garfield,

Yeah the Stillson Hammer is super easy to use and very playable for live on the fly performances. It has ratcheting, multiple random, ping pong, forward and reverse modes with 4 CV outs and 4 gate outs. Plus lots of quantizer scale options even. It has a very basic screen not as fancy as the Vector but I got it for a good price.

It works great for acid bass lines and random CV type stuff. Hopefully my new Metron arrives tonite if the UPS driver does not mess up the delivery. I have the Voltera and Axxent expanders to give me 4 CV outs and accent for percussion. I like that I can chain a bunch of Voltera expanders up to 16 for huge sequencing options. Since the Stillson Hammer has the random, reverse modes that fits the gap that Metron lacks but metron has probability and other modes that I look forward to using. I also have an Eloquencer on the way which gives me 8 gates and 8 cv outs for my monster case and tons of modes like random and forward/reverse. Maybe in few years when I have a much larger modular setup, I get a Vector sequencer with expander and maybe Black Sequencer or Ground control.

EDITED Jan 5th 2021, 01:23

Hi Sacguy71,

I am glad to hear that you still have a nice job and place in your rack in mind for the Stillson :-)

Of course I bought the Jack Expander for the Vectron (Five12) as well, otherwise it doesn't make much sense, now does it? So up to 6 output channels, each having: pitch, gate and velocity outputs and 8 triggers as well with that Jack Expander, so that makes the Vector kind of complete. I just hope that for the (far) future Five12 will consider to make those Jack Expanders chainable or something so one can extend the sequencer over time. That concept has been thought through a bit better with the Metron!

...then again... with the Metron I do miss the other direction possibilities besides forward sequencing, like: backward and random play.

When does your Metron arrive? Can't wait man! ;-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Mowse,

Pity, I am getting an error: "Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner" :-(

Well, I hope your next track will be viewable and especially audible again here at our forum :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Also, I don't know if you already have the Natural Gate or if it's on your wishlist. I haven't been able to personally justify the substantial cost or wait for this LPG yet. I know it doesn't have the same cool factor, but I just got the Takaab 2LPG and it sounds incredible. It's only 2hp and costs about $40. If you are in the market for an outstanding vactrol based LPG, the 2LPG is hard to beat.

I think Erica makes a dedicated drum sub-mixer, and the Moffenzeef Moffenmix is really fun if you can find one secondhand. I always recommend the Happy Nerding 3xMIA for a mega-useful mixing utility. Happy Nerding also makes the 6Mix in 6hp. I've found sub-mixers to be an integral part of my performance oriented patching. The G-Storm Electro Infusor-X may be a sub-mixer worth looking at too.
I've also found Quadrax to be a quick and smaller alternative to Maths (though it's missing Maths' handy attenuverters. The 3xMIA can make up for those).
I can see getting rid of Marbles, but I would reconsider getting rid of Plaits. While it may not be the coolest oscillator in the world, it is one of the most versatile and sits nicely in a mix. I can always find a way to put Plaits to use in almost any patch.
Have fun and good luck!

EDITED Jan 4th 2021, 23:26

Trying to move towards performance and figure out how to explore using modular for various genres (ambient, doom, industrial techno, and house). There are several modules I can see removing as they already are somewhat redundant. The current list for the chopping block are: Marbles and Plaits. I'm also considering replacing Maths with Rampage or a similar, but smaller, function generator. The Plaits I'd likely replace with another oscillator, probably something specialized as I already have a Moog Matriarch and Moog Werkstatt that can cover the smooth analog sound (and then some). Or maybe I don't need any more voices if I take into account the external voices.

I recently acquired a few utility modules from NE that are 3U format. If I do end up switching to a 4U case as my secondary, then I may ultimately replace some of those 3U modules with a 1U varieties—unfortunately that will likely not be from NE as they currently don't make 1U modules.

I have the WMD Performance Mixer here as I've read about performers using lots of mixers for live shows and they frequently mention this specific mixer. It's big and may be more than I need since I have less voices. E.g., I use a single BIA as monophonic drum and/or use an external sampler for drums. My mixing needs are then reduced. However, I'd still like to have wet/dry lines for various effects (reverb, delay, distortion). Also, I'm just realizing that when relying on a single module for all drum sounds, there isn't an easy way to live mix different drum sounds. If the module is driven by a sequencer (e.g., the Polyend Tracker), then I could set different levels in the sequence to achieve that effect. But it's definitely not the same as moving a single slider or twisting a single knob.

EDITED Jan 4th 2021, 22:40

@Lugia thx, that helped a lot. Gonna order the doepfer module and a nice gooseneck lamp. With the 4 ports I can also power my tr-03 :)

Hey Garfield,

thanks for your kind words! I also whish a good start for 2021 :)!

I hope I can do some more tracks this year...

Happy wiggling,
Best,
jingo

If we could have a "date created" for builds (ie: the date when the build was started with an empty rack) along with the "last modified" date, that would be a big help in going back thru older builds I've got to clear space.
-- Lugia

Sadly we don't store the rack creation date, and I guess it is a bit late to start with it :(
However we have the Rack Id which kind of mimics creation date. I have sorted the racks in descending order by id in the users view https://www.modulargrid.net/e/users/view
And I have added the modified date to that table, i hope that is a good compromise.

@lugia -- I remember a long post you made a while ago called something like "Why you shouldn't get into modular". This should be a sticky in the forum. Does that count as a feature request?
-- the-erc

I have stickied that thread. Happy new year everyone!

Thanks Garfield,

Yeah really digging the WMD modules. Fracture and Chimera are super fun and can make amazing range of sounds besides percussion from clap/crash to broken glass and so forth. Crater has an intense kick and can be tweaked for serious techno mayhem on par with my Noise Engineering BIA module. I love my Stillson Hammer sequencer and will keep using it with the Metron to create subsequences. I have a few smaller sequencers arriving as well and plan to use Eloquencer to control the other sequencers. I want to get into the whole master sequencer controlling other smaller sequencers and same way with master mixer and submixes.

Did you get the expander module for your Vector sequencer? That would be a powerful combo.

Glad to assist. Another option you may want to consider after trying out VCV Rack and so forth could be to get a prebuilt modular system like the ALM Busy Circuits Super Coupe, Make Noise Shared System, Doepfer A100 Basic System or Endorphin.es Shuttle System that comes with the required ingredients like case, power, support modules and so forth. I started with a Doepfer A100 Basic system (under 2k) and built from there over time. Plus you can always use modules with other gear or sell them over time.

Thank you for all advices, definitely Im not ready yet to get into the modular world, Ill download VCV and Ill try to get some experience here.
I already saw a few days ago the book Patch and Tweak and I think that it could help me a lot.

Brilliant! So cool! I'd like to see it live someday!

Fantastic build ! And very good concept.

@WAVNE -- this is super cool. Is there any chance you will make more of them? Asking for a friend.

There is no Rabbit Hole Electronics listed. I have one of their modules coming and will add it when it does. Anyone else?

My recommendation in addition to what has been provided is to get a copy of the excellent book Patch and Tweak by Chris Meyer. It really is such a great book and will save you a lot of time, money and frustration learning modular concepts and how to put a system together. Chris also has a website of tutorials called LearningModular that I recommend. I use VCV Rack still to try out routings and modules that I don't have to buy until I try them first. It is free and very useful way to learn the basics of modular for FREE.

Now regarding Elektron connectivity and sequencer, I use the CV.OCD box that works great for sequencer to modular and using the effects from Elektron Octatrack to modular system. I have the Doepfer A190 but that thing was a royal pain to use. The CV.OCD is small easy to use and works with any MIDI controller/sequencer so it is great way to use external MIDI gear with modular. That or you could get an Expert Sleeper ES-9 module.

I probably need to upgrade my Ableton and patches and drivers for the K-mix. I will see what Ableton and KMM support advice for Mac OS X. Funny a few years ago, I never would have imagined diving into modular gear. Now here I am with tons of Eurorack but love it. Especially when record to a DAW and use with other synths it shines.

This actually sounds a bit familiar. In the early iterations of Live 10.x, I was constantly having problems with my Push2 and Live deciding to not talk to each other over USB. This was something that appears to have been addressed in a later 10.x update, though...but I can't help but think that these are related somehow.

Hi Lugia,

Yeah I need to open a support ticket with KMM why Ableton cannot recognize the K-Mix via USB connection when it should. I will probably do that this week as time permits. I was troubleshooting different options to determine the weak link in the recording chain. At least for now I can dump audio from the modulars to my RME Babyface and record that way so all good in the short term. I tried a bunch of driver ASIO settings on Mac OS X and it would not recognize the mixer. It did recognize my RME Babyface and my A190 USB to MIDI CV module.

This is an interesting point, before deciding to start building a modular synth I wanted to integrate the Neutron into the setup but I thought that starting from the basics it could help me learn a lot more (also if costs much more).
I might also consider integrating the neutron directly into the eurorack...

DON'T do this. The Neutron already has power and housing, and the modules that should go in here do NOT. Besides, unless you're down for losing very close to an entire 84 hp row, it simply takes too much out of the (expensive!) rack to be justifiable.

• Can I use the A-138o also as an attenuator before the befaco output?

No. The A-138o must be tandemmed with the A-138p, for one thing, and this negates standalone operation. Also, this is intended as a stereo summer from the 138p which also contains the AUX send/return routings; as such, what you suggest doing amounts to turning down the level to send it to another thing that...turns down the level. The Department of Redundancy Department might approve, but it's very technically unsound otherwise.

• Why I need also an attenuator for input? In this system I have only midi as input signal, I'm probably wrong but I want to understand.

You don't need an attenuator for an audio input. What's needed there is a preamp to bring the levels UP to synth levels. And, preferably, an envelope follower as well so that you can extract dynamic CV from the sound's envelope.

• On the Digitone or Octatrack you can sequence multiple tracks so what can I use to split my midis into cv?

There's quite a few MIDI-CV interfaces out there that offer lots of assignability to their patch points...the A-190-4 isn't one of them, though. As for what'll work here, well...do you really want to send MIDI to the modular, or would you prefer being able to send CV/gate/trig/clock directly out of the DAW as those signals? Two different approaches, requiring two rather different equipment and software considerations.

Looking at the thread thus far, I think you might benefit greatly from NOT trying to jump to modular hardware just yet. Instead, you need to really comprehend what these instruments are about before proceeding further. While I realize you want to "...detach myself from the PC as much as possible...", what I'm going to suggest results in the exact opposite...and that's VCV Rack. However, since VCV looks and ACTS much like a Eurorack system (it even has 1:1 module replications from makers such as Instruo), and since you seem to need a better grasp on what's going on with modular synthesis in general, I'd suggest starting THERE and getting some experience under your belt before heading back into hardware. Otherwise, this is the sort of situation that gets expensive and frustrating very quickly. But with VCV...well, it's free, and it allows you to make TONS of mistakes without destructive or expensive consequences. And yes, you can lock it up to the DAW very easily...it comes with VST bridge plugs. https://vcvrack.com/

Well done as usual @mowse, things came together beautifully there at the end.

Effing brilliant! I especially like the touch of having those eccentric idlers...BUILT-IN wow and flutter! I like!

That's odd...I'd suggest checking with both KMM and Ableton on this, since it seems to me that this device is perfect for Ableton work. Did you check to see if it'll play nice with the native ASIO driver?

Streaming a live session for The Bl33p Bl00p Collective. Hope you enjoy it.

Oh yes, Jingo is back! :-)

Hi Jingo,

That's a lovely track, wow what did I miss your music, I just realise! :-) Beautiful done, nice tense, building that tense up and oh no, now I am getting goose bumps as well...

To shortcut the prose... I wish every new year starts with a track of yours like this! Now this is what I call a fantastic entrance into 2021! Thank you very much for this and I wish you a Happy New Year too! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Looks like that besides a Noise Engineering fan you also become a WMD fan ;-)

So what is going to happen with your Stillson when your WMD Metron arrives, does the Stillson becomes... kind of jobless? :-( and ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

In this case though, what other modules could I add to create something interesting?

It depends what you are interested in! If you click through the modules here you will find many video clips showing what they do. Alternatively maybe try VCV Rack and experiment with some things to find out what you like?

• Can I use the A-138o also as an attenuator before the befaco output?

Yes, but there is not much point, since the Befaco module has an output attenuator.

• Why I need also an attenuator for input? In this system I have only midi as input signal, I'm probably wrong but I want to understand.

For an audio input to the modular you will need an amplifier of some kind, not an attenuator, otherwise the audio will be much too quiet compared to the modular gear. For MIDI input this is not relevant, you just need a MIDI-CV converter.

• On the Digitone or Octatrack you can sequence multiple tracks so what can I use to split my midis into cv?

It depends on the converter, but different MIDI channels or cc messages could be different CV signals.

Hi Marchettijes,

Welcome to modular synths! :-) The A-138o has a Main Level knob only but with the A-138p module you can per channel use the Gain and the Level knobs to adjust your signal and that's good enough. I use the A-138p & A-138o combination and I am pretty happy with it. Only one little side remark the A-138p does bleed a little bit, but only a little bit and it would only disturb people like me who are very sensitive to any kind of side noises otherwise you would barely hear it and if you aren't as over-sensitively as I am, you don't need to be worried about that little bleeding issue (it's barely audible, but for me it is).

Keep in mind that you need at least one A-138p module and just one A-138o module, then you have a four-channel (performance) mixer. In the future if you need more channels you just add one more A-138p module and you got yourself then an eight-channel mixer :-) You can extend more A-138p modules to get even more channels.

Regarding the Doepfer A-190-x modules, those MIDI to CV modules, I had the Doepfer A-190-5 module in the past and I didn't like it, somehow not logical in use, difficult to set the MIDI parameters, just not easy to use. I exchanged that module against the Vermona - qMI2 module and that one is great, 4 channels (like the A-190-5) and it's so easy and so logical to use, no problems with that module.

I am usually very positive about Doepfer modules however the A-190-x modules are the exception, those A-190-x modules, I can not recommend them.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Very cool! Well done.

Amazing!

This is an interesting point, before deciding to start building a modular synth I wanted to integrate the Neutron into the setup but I thought that starting from the basics it could help me learn a lot more (also if costs much more).
I might also consider integrating the neutron directly into the eurorack and adding a few more modules to further customize the sound, even to get started with the modular system. In this case though, what other modules could I add to create something interesting?

About the spaces I knew I had made many mistakes but this is the first draft, not knowing the brands and models well I trusted a few reviews and guides (for the wasp filter and for adsr for example).

As for the question what I would like to add to my sound, I cannot answer because so far I have experimented a lot only on ableton and with the digitone (I will add the Analog Rytm for the drums), in short, the goal would be to start producing everything out of daw, or almost.

Other questions:
- Can I use the A-138o also as an attenuator before the befaco output?
- Why I need also an attenuator for input? In this system I have only midi as input signal, I'm probably wrong but I want to understand.
- On the Digitone or Octatrack you can sequence multiple tracks so what can I use to split my midis into cv?

thanks :)

the triple sloth sequences the arbhar and is quantized by the sinfonion, the triple sloth is also patched to nearly every cv in the arbhar has. The arbhar itself uses one of its buffers which has a voice from the piston honda sampled. I take the output directly from an erica synths mixer (where the arbhar is patched to) into my allen&heath qu-pac, there is nothing else involved (in the recording), I go totally dawless... I hope I could explain it a bit :)...

EDITED Jan 3rd 2021, 20:39

Lovely track- how did you sequence and record it? I am experimenting with different recording, mixing and sequencing options so always love to hear on best ways to go about it.

Happy New YeaR :)),

best,
jingo

ps: please tell me how you like it...

EDITED Jan 3rd 2021, 19:42

Check out: Maths, Plaits, Pamela's New Workout, Disting

You can do a basic mix and output with 4ms Listen instead of the array of modules needed in the current configuration

EDITED Jan 4th 2021, 16:46

Stereo trigger out from Wing Pinger goes into Ladik Probability --> Strike on Optomix
Stereo step out from Wing Pinger goes into 1/v oct on each STO