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Garfield, Sisters of Mercy might be it. It definitely reminded me of something from the early industrial, post-punk, or goth era. Good ear.

Hi Mowse,

Oh my goodness, this is superb! What a track!

Ha, ha, that dog bark actually fits perfectly well in this track, it gives it just that extra unexpected touch that nobody else would do or come up with, that kind of "your own stamp" on this beautiful track. Well done doggy! ;-)

Next time your dog is around, keep that mic switched on and put a few "kilos" of echo on it, would be fantastic :-)

For me the old, inventive Mowse is back in full glory! Well done Mowse and thank you very much for sharing this! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Brunomolteni, and Farkas,

Yes, great track! Nice pluck instrument you are playing there :-) The video is nice clear and lovely to watch to see you at work too!

Farkas: The melody line reminds me a bit of The Sisters Of Mercy, is that what you meant? :-) Or This Mortal Coil, also a bit like that :-)

Bruno: Beautifully done, keep coming with tracks to surprise us! Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi The-Erc,

Ah, okay :-) Now got it, how about DivKids - Mutes?

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

That's interesting indeed, quite small modules, might be indeed useful for one's 1U row :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Homeslice1479,

Any update on this matter?

Happy New Year and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Zucker,

Yes, fair enough and I meant indeed the import tax, which is usually equal to the VAT rate, but yes of course, if I am in the EU and buy something in the UK, I pay the VAT in the UK on the product I bought. Important for me (and I guess for many others) that there will be no additional import tax (or duty or whatever it is called) applied and as far as I understood it, that will be the case (as it was till 2020). Correct?

Still don't understand your "above Euro 20" explanation that import duty needs to be paid on that, that would be not confirm the agreement that I understood (and you just explained here above).

Thank you and kind regards, Garfield.

I'm running out of superlatives @mowse, well done as usual and it seems like your mastery of the synth is only progressing!

Thanks @Exposure!

Really nice track troux! I'm enjoying it a lot, thanks for sharing!

thanks guys! yeah the Ts-l was one of the first ones I got... it's really powerful for the hp it takes... and the stages panel is from magpie panels, one of the best :)

here is what I'm planning towards... I change some modules almost every day but the main idea is there already, having a "harmony" voice, a "melody" voice and a "bassline" voice plus some drums/perc, some fx, a mixer and stuff to control everything :)

EDITED Jan 11th 2021, 20:05

This is a great track mowse, I've tried many times to do something like that and it seems like something impossible, I'm not sure how are you doing it but it's fantastic, and I love that dog too!!

Great - thanks a lot! Or, not great, but thank you for implementing it!

Thanks for sharing brunomolteni!
I'm considering getting the Instruo Ts-l, it sounds really nice and its waveshaper seems very versatile.
Also, that stages with the black panel is rad, cool setup!

United Kingdom is now a new option in the marketplace selector. All existing UK offers are moved to the new option.
I hope it will work with the Reverb offers too, that needs a couple of hours.

Welcome brunomolteni!
This is awesome. You have a great handle on melody and song development. Your song reminds me of something from the late 70s or early 80s but I can't quite put my finger on which artist. Keep up the great work.

A short segment from a live streaming session on 01/10/2021. Main voices are Moogs, Trident, and Telharmonic.

Pro tip: Don't run a hot mic with a dog in the room.

Here's the video, open to hearing what you guys think :)

Patch notes:
Instruo Ts-l as oscillator
Calsynth Rangoon as simulated strings
Erica Pico Drums as kickdrum
Doboz XIIO as arpegiator
Robaux LL8 as gate sequencer
Super Vcas as vca and mixer
ST Rocinante's Gate as LFO and Env. for sidechain.
Music Thing Startup as mixer, clock generator and clock divider.

Hair metal acid? Why not?? 🤣

Good info @farkas, I'd love a Stereomix

Sweet

Thanks for the suggestion Wavescape!
I also thought about that, but actually I'm having a lot of fun while exploring harmonics and I just love letting my sequencers play some melodies while turning some knobs here and there.
But I get your point, its just two different things I guess. And as far I can see the Sinfonion really gets me in the direction I want to go, even though I'm still open for alternative ideas/modules :-)

@Lugia, I'm listening to "Beneath Puget" now. This totally captures the atmosphere of the PNW. Excellent work.
I also see that one of your recommended albums on Bandcamp is "Black One" by Sunn 0))). Underrated album! I love "Kannon" as well.

LOL... I forgot about Jackyl.

Thanks gang! I enjoyed making it.
@troux, Yes, this was played and mixed almost completely live in the rack. I use a Focusrite Scarlett interface into Garageband as a glorified tape recorder, and the Toppobrillo Stereomix and a Moffenzeef Moffenmix in the rack. I'm about to add an Erica Fusion Mixer v3 as a second submixer too. I ran the Crucible to a different input on my interface and adjusted the volume in Garageband because I can never get hi-hats/cymbals to sit in a mix on first try. I didn't do any sort of mastering or EQ in Garageband.
Only the Prophet 80s synths were overdubbed, though still run through the rack. If I remember correctly, I just went from the Doepfer A119 to the FX Aid XL (for a tiny bit of reverb) to the Toppobrillo. You might laugh, but ever since I was a kid, I've been obsessed with the synth sounds in Billy Idol's song "Eyes Without a Face." Hahaha. So, almost anything I come up with on the Prophet ends up having an 80s vibe like that.
Thanks again for listening.

I'd like put this discussion up.
Anybody that could be interested in this option?

Love this. Awesome work @farkas.

Hi Zucker and Kel_,

Zucker: Import VAT will be applied on everything above 20 EUR - so you have to add about 20 % to all prices.

May I ask where you get this from? As far as my knowledge goes, there had been made a "Christmas Eve" deal between the EU and the UK meaning that the trading stays under the same conditions, meaning again that there will be no VAT charges between EU countries and the UK.

So I am a bit puzzled by this, has the deal been changed?

Thank you and kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the UK covers (besides a lot of other things like transportation, police stuff and to whom the fish in the oceans belong if not to them selves) only international trade, no national taxes. It was aggreed on what can be traded between both civilisations and that generally no custum duties shall be applied on goods manufactured within each area.

Value Added Tax is a tax, not a duty. It is collected by the european states on basically everything that has a value and can be traded. It is added when you buy something within the Union or when something enters the Union for the first time. It does not matter then if it was purchased abroad or if it is a gift or a prize you won. If something is send abroad for a repair job and then sent back VAT is added to the value of the actual work done, even when it was not payed for.

So no, the deal has not be changed. It just does not cover this topic as it is not a bilateral problem. On a side note, I think the actual custom duty rate for synth stuff is abot 3 % for the EU - the main "issue" is import VAT and is important two distinguish both.

Doeper A-160-1 or A-160-2?

They don't have switches.

Perhaps I should have explained what I want it for. I need a reset for looping material which will be either 1, 2, 4, or 8 bars long. I don't want to repatch to change the length of the loop. I want to do it accurately and quickly with one hand while my focus (and other hand) is elsewhere.

To achieve this with a plain old clock divider I'd need to combine it with a 4-way switch or something like the Malekko Mute 4

??? I think you misunderstood what I meant. I am not suggesting to build a polyphonic modular.
-- Wavescape

Oh, I know...that part of the comment was directed at the thread's OP.

??? I think you misunderstood what I meant. I am not suggesting to build a polyphonic modular.

I meant you can use paraphonic / polyphonic synth as an ambient pad (with CV in / VCV Rack etc.). Then, use Eurorack in parallel to create a melody/timbral variations based on the harmony of the ambient pad. Especially, nowadays some synths like P6/OB6 are compatible w/ MIDI MPE, you can modulate the parameters of each voice instead of all voices. It also depends how you are trained too. For me, I prefer to play with a keyboard, instead of using a quantizer/chord generator. Eurorack to me is more about exploring timbre instead of harmony.

EDITED Jan 11th 2021, 07:00

...for trying to find a bridge between the current Intellijel vs Pulplogic tile mess! EVERYONE making tile modules needs to have a look at what they're doing here!

And I'll also point out: if XODES can come up with a full series of drum tiles, this could go some distance to fixing the "drums don't work with modular" issue. You could easily devote a tile row to this, along with the requisite mixers, etc, and this keeps these types of modules OUT of the 3U rows, meaning that you'd have the space for the intensive sequencing needed AND space for the rest of the build as well.

Awwwww ...now I'm disappointed. Here I was, expecting some sort of hybridization of Berlin School with the musical chainsaw craziness of Jackyl...

EDITED Jan 11th 2021, 06:39

Oh, yeah...you CAN have too many oscillators! When it gets to a point that trying to keep the rig in tune with itself is becoming a joyless and impossible task, you've got too many oscillators. But also keep in mind that that bar WILL change as you gain experience over years, and as you build up a system that fits your own expanding musical needs.

From my experience, I'd say that seven VCOs is a good stop-point. And this is from my own experiences of using my Digisound 80 (four oscillators) in tandem with my ARP 2600 (three oscillators). A good example of what results from this can be found in one of my works, "Beneath Puget" (https://daccrowell.bandcamp.com/album/beneath-puget); on that work, the only other "voices" consist of an MS-20 doing something very static, plus the "intrusions" from the theremin. It's also worth noting that this recording was "live in studio"...one pass for the whole thing.

Get a paraphonic / polyphonic synth and use Eurorack to create timbral variation of a harmony. Eurorack is not good at creating complex harmonies.
-- Wavescape

No disagreement here. Sure, you COULD build a polyphonic modular, but the resulting instrument would be QUITE huge, physically, and the patching complexity would border on total insanity. The ONLY setup I can think of like that would've been Toto's massive early-mid 1980s Polyfusion rig, which also used a Roland MC-8 clocked by a central timing device (my bet's on Garfield's MasterBeat being the device responsible) for control. And sure, Eurorack IS smaller...but you'll still wind up creating something huge and maddening to patch even in that format. You're far better off trying to set your build up as a multichannel set of potential mono/duophonic patches, then slotting those in and out via your main output mixer. Then if you want chords...there's loads of options with prebuilt polysynths.

As for 30-40 modules being a "large number", consider this: I learned modular (1980/81) on what I still say is the best teaching synth, the ARP 2600. And even though that looks to be just a big prepatched rig, the fact is that it contains 25 or so discrete "modules" within it, and you can break the prepatching just by plugging in patchcords where you see that little circled "interrupt" icon. So 30 - 40 is really kinda typical for module counts in a basic Eurorack system.

Listening now @farkas, fantastic ambiance and layering. Did you mix in the modular? If so I need to grab a copy of your mixer lol because the space here and how everything is both distinct and part of a whole is topnotch. And gotta say I loved the 80s synth vibes too. Looking forward to more like this.

LOLLLLLL @farkas, and yes @GarfieldModular I thought about ducking the kick but wasn't sure how that'd end up working out with the Mimeophon doing delays and decided I was too lazy. Maybe for round two...

Agree and at first I thought that they were overpriced and not worth getting since I started using a cheap external mixer. But after having a couple modular mixers that can blend audio and CV, they are super useful and fun. Mutes are very important to me as they let me punch in and punch out melody and beats rapidly. Also help my workflow to be way more productive in modular. Once I get the WMD Performance mixer will let you know. So far, WMD modules like Fracture, Chimera, Crater and Metron are superb! They were made for the live performing modular artist and I can feel the easier workflow. Praga is ok but more a pain to use and need the Hrad expander for that.

Farkas: Where's my glow stick?

I absolutely agree with you about the usefulness of Eurorack mixers!

That's the reason why I am looking into an additional Eurorack mixer :-)

Yeeeaaaahhhhh!!! Where's my glow stick?
Sounds great. I sort of regret selling the Chainsaw, but I needed to fund a keyboard. I'm glad to hear it in action here.
Keep sharing the acid.

Hi Troux,

Oh yes, you got some really nice & fun sounds in that track :-)

Yes you are right, the kick doesn't really shine through, for me as a non-techno guy that's fine but I can imagine you want to have a clear kick coming through :-) Ducking the rest of the sounds a little, would that help to show the kick a bit clearer in the mix?

I love that transaction period just before & around 04:30, lovely sounds there!

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

Instead of being responsible and doing some work this evening I decided to give the Acid Rain Chainsaw a workout, inspiration to @Exposure for posting a sweet jam this morning. Check it out below:

https://stevehand.bandcamp.com/track/capricorn-acid

Immediate thoughts, the kick is a little weird in the mix, and maybe I start it off with too much craziness at the beginning (though I do dial it back later). Take two could be incoming... Anyway, hope you all enjoy!

Hi Garfield,

Sure will do that and just waiting until next major online sale this year. I have the Befaco Hexmixer/Hex VCA combo which is great and love the mutes and options and XAOC Devices Praga in my other case. Eurorack mixers are expensive but I find them super useful for modular performance and submixes.

Hi Sacguy71,

Let me know once you got the WMD Performance Mixer and if you like it, I am kind of considering that one too, but I am not sure yet. Not the cheapest mixer around there...

Kind regards, Garfield.

Thanks Garfield,

Yeah it is super fast to create lots of variations and chain them together into songs and then instantly punch in a dramatic change for variety on the Metron. Very immediate sequencer once you get the hang of it. The random and probability modes are tons of fun and you can create a lot of unique patterns and save them quickly. I am enjoying my Eloquencer as well and that has even more sequencer modes and features. Probably look at getting the new Erica Synths Black Sequencer and Vector with expander when I get an 18u studio case in few years but have more than enough to keep busy for 2021. I do plan to get mixer expanders and the WMD Performance mixer and the comparator that Lugia advised for my setups and more drum modules hehe.

Hi Farkas,

Wow, oh wow, oh man, oh wow! ;-) Restraint and tension exercise completely fulfilled!

Yes go on then, minimum 7.5 minutes for dark ambient and 17 minutes for drones ;-) Either way, this is beautifully done and I wouldn't have minded it if it indeed would have been 17 minutes.

I enjoyed every second of it and thanks a lot for sharing this, kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Oh yeah! Nice and cool rhythm you got yourself build there with the Metron. Nice to see in this video the Metron as well as its supporting modules.

Ha, ha, I like those sudden surprise sounds that kick in around 2:10.

It's still very enjoyable to watch you at work with your modular synth :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

I'll definitely put it together and let you know. It's been a goal of mine this year to make a modular system so you'll definitely be hearing back from me 😁