Rack and Digitakt

Hi ,

I want to expand my Digitakt with modular (Techno/industrial based).
Do i need other modules for cv, gate, clock, ... to work properly?
Will the rack start/stop playing via the Digitakt in this setup?
Any case idea?

Thanx!
Stephan

EDITED Feb 8th 2023, 13:24

As far as you are sending the standard start and stop midi signals from your Digitakt to the Hexinverter Mutant Brain, the signals can then be used in your rack to handle clocks and modulations accordingly.

But regarding your rack setup, you should familiarize yourself with the general modulation and sound generation capabilities. In order to play notes and sequences, which is probably what you have in mind for techno patterns, you need more CV modulation tools like envelopes and LFO's, maybe also sample and hold (s&h). To shape audio and sound you’ll need an amplitude modulation module like a VCA, a filter, a low pass gate and / or a mixer to which you can send the CV modulation coming from the envelope. If you stick with a small case size like this one, VCO + BIA is quite enough. Modular sound design is all about modulation rather than stringing lots of VCO’s together.

Hope that helps to make you dive deeper into the topic of modular synthesis.

The Mutan Brain module shown here does not seem to have any sort of clock / run outputs, so I'm not sure it's going to work as you expect it, actually.

I'm using the Flame µQMCV for this exact purpose, having the DT midi out (sending clock & transport) in the midi in of the µQMCV - that way I have 4 midi channels sending Gate / Pitch / Velocity, as well as the "Run" and "1/16th" outputs going into Pam's "Run " and "Clk" inputs, keeping everything in sync - a quite simple, efficient and complete solution in my opinion :)

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/flame-%C2%B5qmcv

The Mutan Brain module shown here does not seem to have any sort of clock / run outputs, so I'm not sure it's going to work as you expect it, actually.

Mutant Brain can output clock (tick / and run) as a trigger signal for all gate outputs. Working perfectly.
Configuration can be done here: http://mutantbrainsurgery.hexinverter.net/

EDITED Apr 19th 2023, 13:40

If you don't want to use up your 3U space, there also the Intellijel MIDI 1U and CVx which can be expanded and the outputs can be customized via an app on your computer including Clock, Reset, Run, MIDI CC messages, pitch control, portamento, after-touch and a lot more. You'll need their MIDI 1U Jacks, but this might be a flexible option that won't take up too much space. I use it as my MIDI to CV interface and it works like a dream.

I want to expand my Digitakt with modular (Techno/industrial based).
Do i need other modules for cv, gate, clock, ... to work properly?

the answer to that is probably no - at least to start with... but you'll probably find you want more very quickly... and then run out of space, so...

Any case idea?

yes - ignore case for now - work out what modules you need to achieve what you want from your modular, then work out what modules you need to support them - mixers, vcas etc and then add about 20-30% for expansion - then find a case... my advice start with a mantis...