Saturday Nite Modular Jam

Really having fun with the new IME modules Kermit MK3 and Bionic Lester so deep and wild plus loving Intellijel Quadrax with Expander and Noise Engineering modules. A quick jam I came up with this evening:

The Hex VCA and Mixup is great combo with mutes for the mixer.

Hi Sacguy71,

Hey, hey :-) Another enjoyable video from you, seeing you being happy with your second rack! :-D

To my surprise, I see empty spaces in this second rack, wow! ;-) In another post just now I saw you planned that second rack already full, so enjoy the last few moments that you have space left and then save money for a third rack, ha, ha, it looks like the modular synth "bug" bite you well ;-)

Thanks a lot for sharing this, please continue to enjoy the fantastic modular synth world and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Garfield,

Thanks, yeah with COVID lockdown and recovery from a broken ankle, I need a fun hobby to do for now and into the future. It is expensive but a vacation to Europe each year costs as much and at least the modular system gear lasts forever if you take care of it. I probably won't add much to it for a while due to how much more complex the IME Kermit, Bionic Lester and Quadrax modules are to fully learn plus how to route CV with Kinks and Links to create self generative patches. Fortunately, the other modules are out of stock so it puts my spending on hold for a while. I will get a way bigger 12u case next time. So far, out of the modular companies, I really dig the Noise Engineering and Industrial Music Equipment/Harvestman (IME) modules a lot. Intellijel and Mutable Instruments make amazing products as well. I like how Mutable Instruments send you a nice wood toy with each purchase! That is nice gesture of sway for buying their stuff. Now I see why Jim likes that company so much! You get cool modules that sound great and have tons of utilities and wood custom hand made toys as well.

Hi Sacguy71,

Ha, ha, so you are saying that besides our modular synth hobby we should maintain a wooden toy hobby too? Hence buying a lot of Mutable Instruments modules?

It's a pity that IME (ex-Harvestman) is quite difficult to get here where I live, can't really have it tested. Noise Engineering is a slightly bit easier to get but... somehow... their front panels aren't really convincing me, but that might be just me. Besides that, I am not convinced about their price-performance ratio, are you? It's good to hear that you like the brand though :-)

How about Make Noise, Erica Synths and Doepfer then? At least I like them quite a bit! Did you checked out Xaoc Devices? They have quite a few nice bits here and there too. You have Batumi already if I remember well?

Definitely with modular synths we got ourselves a fantastic hobby, that's for sure! :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Garfield,

Well I never expected cool sway like the cute wooden toys with Mutable Instruments purchases so that is nice touch. They do look good on my case but a cat would be better hehe. Yeah, IME modules are super hard to come buy here in the USA and I am in California so not really that far from Portland and Seattle where IME/Harvestman makes the gear. Friends of mine have older versions of their stuff and I was impressed by the sounds and design and happy with them so far. Expensive modules but do quite a bit. The Kermit can be a quad LFO, quad EG, dual VCOs and S&H noise generator- plus presets and create and save custom wave forms of your own. WOW! I don't know many modules that can do that in one device except maybe some of the Rossum or 4ms stuff. Plus they are very gritty industrial hardcore nasty tones perfect for my work as well as bell tones. I was able to get an angry growling dog tone out of mine last night which was cool. Plus Scott Jaeger of IME/Harvestman is a genius. He keeps adding features and making his stuff better with each version.

Regarding Noise Engineering- they make really good techno industrial modules. I love my BIA and Cursus Iteritas. Easy to use many wave shaper options and less expensive than IME/Harvestman and way less complex to learn as well. Pair them with an LFO or two to trigger multiple tones out of each module works wonders. I can get a bass lead and kick drum out of BIA and similar results with Cursus. Their panels are very simple but effective and easy to use controls. Complete opposite of IME/Harvestman modules which seem to require lots of patiences, reading manuals, watching videos and time to learn to program their computer like interfaces.

I love Make Noise! My 0-coast was my first step into modular patching world. Just got the 0-ctrl which is a very fun touchpad sequencer controller. I am saving for a Make Noise Shared System since it would work better for me than to create a set of the same modules in another case. But I wanted variety hence why I did not buy Maths or Rene yet and just save for that complete system to pair with my 2 racks :-)

Erica Synths is great- the black polivoks filter is fun to use. Would love to try out the techno system one day after Covid ends.
Heard the drum sequencer is not that great however. I may get the sample drum or pico drums at some point and the smaller LPG they make.

I like Doepfer- dead simple and basic. Perfect for using with crazy modules as a baseline and scratchpad. Easy to learn. Functional and affordable. It lets me concentrate on learning the more difficult and esoteric modules like Kermit so I can just plug in the Doepfer basic VCO module to it and test and not get distracted with a crazy whizbang VCO. The Doepfer VCS A171-2 is great module and lots of sound shaping options on par with half of a Kermit or half a Maths.

Xaoc Devices is superb. I love my Batumi Quad LFO quite powerful and easy to use. Want a Belgrad and Odessa but every synth shop is out of these two modules so will wait until future when I have bigger 12u case to get them. The Zadar looks amazing as well. On par with IME/Harvestman for power packed features.

Modular is the most fun I have had with music since I started learning guitar a few years ago. I still love my hardware synths but the patch madness is therapeutic and ultimate freedom in creativity. Expensive as you want it to be like anything in life but less than a house, exotic car or 100 year bottle of scotch at least.

Hi Sacguy71,

Thanks a lot for your extensive details on those brands, I will keep that in mind for future decisions. In October I plan to visit my local dealer (if Covid-19 situation allows of course) to hopefully being able to check out the Ground Control (of Endorphin.es), if I have time left, I think I should try a few Noise Engineering modules to give them a second chance :-)

Yes, I agree, from a financial point of view this hobby is a serious disaster but indeed not much as buying a new house ;-) At least not yet, I wish I had a bigger house so I have more space for Euroracks but other than that there is no reason yet to sell my house :-)

Going to zzzzzzzzz, good night and kind regards, Garfield.

Sure thing Garfield! Same here, I plan to visit places in socal after covid ends to try out verbos and buchla gear for fun as well as some other more esoteric things. Endorphin.es has some cool modules worth checking out as well. Would love to try out the ground control, drum modules and shuttle system. Yes, it can get seriously expensive. Best to do it gradually. I have plenty to keep me busy for at least a year or two now. Only really need a clock and switch and these are not expensive modules fortunately. Maybe get Hertz Donut MK3 if it comes in stock toward end of the year.