User Posts

Hi Sacguy71,

Nice jam! So nice, this video, you are showing quite a few interesting modules here! How is the Batumi, worth it? I am considering that one too.

Such a nice way to enter the weekend with your jam, can every weekend start like this please? ;-) Thank you very much for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Oh this is nice! It's beautifully done and so nice relaxing. Could listen a whole day to something like this!

A great 2021 gift to us, thank you very much for sharing this! I wish you a Happy New Year too, kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

Ha, ha, every time I watch this video I still have to laugh. Brilliant clear demo what happens if you put DC to your speaker.

"So, you should put AC to your speaker, not DC", ha, ha, he keeps repeating that. Anyway the smoke should tell the rest ;-)

I am still grateful to you and some other members here on this forum telling me this, now almost 2 years ago. I don't save money on a good Audio Interface Input/Output module. I want to be able to sleep at night and knowing that the next day my speakers still work and the room has not this awful smokey smell from last night when DC "slipped through" to my speakers!

Thank you for demoing it again and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

Thanks a lot for the additional information, interesting reading material! :-)

Not sure if Uli likes your idea of nationalising his factory and then give it to Cuvave, he might be "not amused" ;-)

I barely can wait for the Behringer's 2600 and BCR32. The way they sound from what you told, it sounds like a great addition to our modular synths!

Have a good weekend and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

Ha, ha, yes let's see where Korg is heading on the long run but looks like nothing much interesting for the moment.

It's good to hear that BCR32 and 2600 match so well. I am surprised to hear from you though, knowing that normally you don't like the "Behringer concept" very much, that you already done a full prepayment for the 2600. If there is one thing I have learned, no matter how "juicy" and nice something might look like (like the ASM for example that was once tested to me also quite a bit of a disappointment), I rather prefer to test it first at my local dealer before I really make a decision.

I agree with you, from the looks it almost can't fail, but I want to have it tested first :-)

Or can you return the item in case of a huge disappointment? Not that I expect that will happen, it really seems to be damn good :-)

Can't wait for the 2600 to arrive in the shops for testing! Usually a demo device arrives faster at my local dealer then the sales itself, since those kind of things, as you also already indicated, are sold out in a matter of minutes or hours.

Or once you received it and it's not generally available yet, a first impression from you would be very welcome :-) Thank you very much in advance and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Zuggamasta,

Wow what a nice track is that?! Some real nice and fun sounds you got in there.

I love your video too, nice "night" view with a clear view on your Disting module :-)

I will be honest with you, first I thought: "9 minutes???" now I think: "Why not 19 minutes please!" :-) You keep the tension, enough surprises to keep the listener engaged, that's just my kind of track. Experimental? Yes certainly but all worth it, every second of it :-)

Nicely done and thanks a lot for sharing this! Kind regards, Garfield.

Ha, ha, okay fair enough, then the 4 Mutes it is ;-)

Hi Lugia,

That indeed looks very interesting! Since there is no announcement/release date yet we have to be patience...

Talking about that, shouldn't be the Behringer 2600 coming out any moment from now? Oh... I just check at my local dealer's website... end of April... I thought it would have been somewhere this month or so...

Anyway patience seems to be a main ingredient required for synthesizers ;-)

Thanks for letting us know, interesting and let's see how that goes. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Zucker,

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation. This one here:

It does not cover trading single used devices between private persons.

That really sucks that it isn't covered by this "Christmas eve" deal...

But this is two ways, right? Not only sales from UK to EU but also if somebody in the EU wants to sell something to someone in the UK? So it works both ways I am afraid :-(

Sorry to hear this but thank you very much for the explanation. Kind regards, Garfield.

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.

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 :-)

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.

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.

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.

Hi Exposure,

No complains here about the rhythm, nicely done :-) I love the sonic discovery tour throughout your track, surprising us with several surprising & interesting sounds!

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

Hi The-Erc,

If you look for a cheaper and simpler clock divider, then why don't look into Doeper A-160-1 or A-160-2? The A-160-5 is a mulitpler by the way. Saves you the DIY part ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

Yes, fair enough about those two Noise Reaps. Still, it's same as with the VCAs, right? You never can have enough oscillators ;-)

And never can have enough filters ;-) Kind regards, Garfield.

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.

Hi Jingo,

You said: I am trying to get more and more into the calm waters of sounds and music.

I think we all should :-) That's the best advice I heard so far in 2021 :-)

Thanks a lot for sharing your patch notes too, it's (at least for me) always interesting to hear/read how people setup their modular synth, the way it's used, etcetera.

Can't wait for your next track! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Defragmenteur,

Wow, that's a cool sound! Amazing how you managed to get that done like that. It sounds to me more like a real instrument than that it would have been done by a modular synth :-) Especially the first one and a half minute.

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

Hi The-Erc,

I can recommend the Time Wizard as well, very lovely tool and in every patch where I use a clock, I use it in combination with Time Wizard. I use it in combination with Tempo (from Make Noise) but you can use it with any other clock module as well, of course.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Jevans,

You certainly got a rack with a few very interesting modules, the Hermod for example and in combination with the Hermod and a few oscillators you should be able to get some melody out of this rack :-)

If this would be my own rack, I would add one or two more oscillators, for example an STO from Make Noise or the Dixie 2+ from Intellijel.

I do see the Morgasmatron but is that the only filter you have in your rack? I feel you are lacking a bit on filters, try to consider one or two filters that have a different characteristic than what you can do with the Morgasmatron (I don't have experience with this module so it's a bit difficult to advice you here).

Having oscillators and filters added, you should be able to get some melodic results! Actually with this setup already but adding a few more oscillators makes it even better :-)

Have fun and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Sacguy71,

Thanks, I found it now at Schneidersladen too, it's not Acidlab, it's Acid Rain Technology, fair enough :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Amliw,

I wanted to give you one more example but pressed the Submit button already...

That Azewijn track, I made that with 12 voices and 5 voices were for the Sinfonion (but those voices were the complicated ones, well most of them, not the chords), the rest of the voices where not done via the Sinfonion. In total for that Azewijn track I used 56 modules, so I estimated somewhere between 30 and 40 modules were used by Sinfonion (for it's channels, chords & arpeggio and the whole shebang), just for that Sinfonion (and all its channels of course). Just to give you a rough idea. Not that 56 should be a leading number, it's just an example. I am sure it can be done with less modules. I use usually rather simple modules trying to make something complicated. Others might prefer to buy a more complicated module then the complexity is already in just that one module and you don't need many extra modules to come up with the same ;-) So don't hang yourself too much up on that number, pure as an example here.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Amliw,

You are welcome :-)

Well, I have to be honest with you, yes that Sinfonion needs a lot for input (actually for the output, the input is still kind of okay), the more you feed it, the more fun it gets and I wasn't joking that the Sinfonion will become the black hole of your system, it really sucks up anyting that comes near to it, you just want to feed it more the get more complicated stuff out of it.

I also bought it a slightly bit too early, but there was a good deal in the regular shop I am going so I couldn't leave it there :-) What I did then was I just didn't use all the channels at the same time yet because I just didn't had enough modules to feed this beast. Then slowly when my setup started to grow I could make more use of the potential of this monster. A monster in a good way, but still a monster ;-)

Well utility modules are always good to have, with or without the Sinfonion, so you might need to look into that issue first then.

Perhaps we should change the question a little bit here from "What does the Sinfonion like to be fed with?" into "What would you like to feed the Sinfonion with?" ;-)

It's really difficult to answer that question of yours because, the Sinfonion is rather flexible and because of the many possibilities it offers you, you really can just almost throw anything to it and it will take it and do some weird or less weird things with it, which all will depends on you, on how you configure it.

But perhaps with trying to give a few examples, you might get a better idea:

For that "The Cry Of The Modular Synth" track, I "fed" the Sinfonion with an input signal... oh yes! For each channel the Sinfonion likes to have an input :-) I usually take an LFO that's flexible in use so when I change the LFO, the behaviour of the Sinfonion changes too. However for the above-mentioned track, I used the Doepfer - A-118-2 noise module and used the random output and used that as the input for channel 1. That's why the "note selection" by Sinfonion behaved a bit weird (and not in always the same kind of rhythm that you might get with an LFO) in that above track; on purpose of course :-)

On the output of each of those Sinfonion channels you could connect those to a simple or complex oscillator, totally up to you. What I didn't do was that I connected the output of a channel first to an oscillator and then started to work on that sound of the oscillator. No, I worked the other way round, it could take me days till I found a nice kind of sound (or an interesting sound), once found only then I decided the channel I wanted to relate that "nice found sound" connected to the Sinfonion. Once I got then a nice tone pattern with/from the Sinfonion then I tried to kind of finalise that sound by an extra touch with yet another filter or effect.

But in the above example of "finding a nice sound" that usually takes some efforts and might use quite some modules to come up with that nice sound.

Once that channel was then ready, I then again started to look for another nice sound that took me again some time and lots of modules and then used that in context with yet another channel on the Sinfonion. Till the Sinfonion was fully fed (or connected all the channels) and then you can start using the Sinfonion in all its glory ;-)

But you are totally right, you need quite an already large system to be able to get the Sinfonion to its rights. ACL is mentioning that also, it's rather meant for medium till large setups than for small setups.

While you saving money for the Sinfonion, look if you have enough oscillators for 3 channels, chords and a nice arpeggio (with all the supporting modules that those oscillators might need). If you find here and there a lack of modules you can start working on that and when you think you are ready, get the Sinfonion :-)

But don't get me wrong here, I don't want to push or force you into any direction or whatsoever, you just do what you like. You don't have to get a Sinfonion. For your wallet it's much better not to take a Sinfonion, not only because of the costs of the Sinfonion but also because of the costs of all the modules you sooner or later will need to keep the Sinfonion (and yourself) happy :-D

Take a few days off and think about it, for these kind of big things you shouldn't rush into it and give it a few good thoughts. Meanwhile have fun with your modular synth and a good weekend. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Oh that's great news that you can dim those LEDs. All modules that use (bright) LEDs should have that, by kind of "Eurorack law" ;-)

Cheers, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

I had a look at Schneidersladen.de here in Germany but they don't have the Maestro module of Acidlab (but they do carry this brand), pity. Any website where I can check this one out?

Thank you and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Jingo,

Oh wow! What a beautiful sounds are you producing here?! It makes me speechless, just done with the Piston Honda (and some effects) or did that module got some more help there?

Ambient enough for me, but not long enough, this could go on and on and I would still feel it's too short :-) He, he, and a nice touch at the end of the track!

Nicely done and thanks a lot for sharing this! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Mowse,

Fixed here on my side as well, it works! "It works"... that's putting it so mildly, what you are doing here is superb!

It's lovely to see this time a video of you at work at your beautiful setup! I enjoyed it a lot watching you, do your magic and provide us yet another fantastic entrance into a beautiful weekend :-D

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Oh that's nice to see that Christmas tree of a Euclidian Circles in action :-) Looks like a fun-to-play module, isn't it?

Any chance to reduce the brightness of those LEDs of the Euclidian Circles; small potentiometer for that or something? How tempting this module might be but if it burns your eyes out then I might need to reconsider it...

Ha, ha, indeed fun module for using in a club, then just get a bunch of 4 or 8 of those modules put them all together in a block. Put a camera on that block of those Euclidian Circles and project that on a huge screen, for sure everyone goes bananas ;-)

Nice one and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi CyberneticOhm,

Did you guys there on planet Tryondip 59E managed to catch one of those old Russian satellites that was drifting off? ;-)

Well, come to our blue globe and we show you some more modular stuff here. Meanwhile enjoy your Russian stuff, and hope to meet you once again during one of my hyper-spaced journeys! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

He, he, directly at the beginning that sound, I love that! Very funny and interesting sound :-)

Yes, absolutely, sequencers, percussions, the whole shebang together is great to play with! :-)

Enjoy your modular synth over the weekend and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Yeah, nice drone! I will not tell Troux that you are missing here almost 14 minutes ;-)
Regarding that new "rule" that a drone must be 17 minutes long ;-)

That module with a half million buttons on it, what's that exactly? I only saw the word "maestro" on it.

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

Hi Sacguy71,

Yeah, and finally your Eloquencer arrived :-) So do I understand you correctly that the Eloquencer is ideal for more immediate usage while the Metron is the one for the complex sequence stuff?

Well, have fun with both sequencers and I look forward in watching a video of yours where you demonstrate them both at the same time! ;-) Thank you very much for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

he, he, yes! Just saw this video in your other post. So glad for you that your Metron arrived. Looking at your videos, you are happy too with your Metron! :-)

Enjoy the Metron and its modules and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Yeah! Your Metron has arrived and you immediately made a nice movie and track of it so we can see the Metron directly in action! :-) Great work!

So what's your first impression? Looking at the video's it's good? :-D To me it looks brilliant!

Have fun with it and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Steve, All,

Steve: Brilliantly done and thank you very much for your efforts here! :-)

I am going to listen at this in the weekend, bit too busy this week.

All those who provided input for this album: That's superb, I am going to have a fantastic weekend, just because of you! Thank you!

Modulargrid: Thanks a lot for publishing this on Facebook :-)

Kind regards and oh man, what's modular lovely! :-) Garfield.

Hi Amliw,

I totally agree with you that the Sinfonion is completely bananas expensive, there are no words for describing how %&^(#*^# expensive the Sinfonion is and just don't buy it, saves you lots of money and you can buy so many more modules from that money, right? So who needs a Sinfonion? ;-)

Of course I am joking but yes the Sinfonion is expensive but no, it's seriously worth it, what I am trying to say here (my above text), that yes with the money of Sinfonion, you can get so many other nice modules but not really what Sinfonion can offer you here. Don't expect wonders from it either but if you are ready for the next step into more complexity, yet harmonised and get the things kind of organised (well.. when is something really organised within Eurorack, never I guess? ;-) ) then the Sinfonion might be actually the right module for you.

But before I continue: Hey, did you saw that woman just walked away at the end of the movie and leaves a very interesting modular synth there in that crappy building? Run fast and see if you can get that synth for yourself, perhaps she hasn't returned yet! I mean... come on... who walks away from a system like that and leaves it unguarded? (assuming the camera man wouldn't be there of course). Well at least Hélène does ;-)

Anyway, back to the Sinfonion. Bit more details then, with the Sinfonion you have 3 channels that you can use for your "regular" voices, each channel has a slightly bit different extra functionality compared to each other but the main functionality is about the same. Then you have another chord channel, it only requires one input but gives you up to four outputs to play for example (that's how I like to use it) with a polyphone module like the Doepfer A-111-4 Quad VCO. Last but certainly not least is the arpeggio channel, I love to use that one, very flexible in it's use.

That might not sound very complicated but it exactly gives you so many possibilities and complicated ways of using it harmonised or even unharmonised if you like (detuned). You can have slew option on channel 1 and on the chord channel. In my demo "The Cry Of The Modular Synth" you are hearing there that "Cry" sound using partly the slew option in combination with channel one. I am only using channel one here for this track (so "barely" using the Sinfonion actually):

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/9397

The other voice you hear in that track (more kind of LFO driven sound) that's not done by or via the Sinfonion.

If you want another example of the Sinfonion I used, take this track here:

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/8749

I fully utilise the Sinfonion here with all it has: 3 channels, channel 1 in A/B mode as well, chords, and the arpeggio. In that track I didn't used any keyboard or whatsoever to put "notes" into this track, that was mostly done by the Sinfonion. You just give it some bizarre sound and Sinfonion spits the notes (and chords) out you prefer, brilliant!

These are only two examples, I am not sure if Hélène is actually using a Sinfonion but if she would then that would be some other examples, but you can do so many various things with a Sinfonion, it's almost endless.

One thing to keep in mind though, it's not a sequencer in the classical way, it actually isn't really a sequencer; ACL likes to call it a chord progession sequencer and that's exactly what it is, the "only" thing you can sequence with the Sinfonion itself are the chords, all the other channels can't be sequenced, at least not by the Sinfonion itself. But that's not the idea of the Sinfonion anyway. See it more as a kind of master control of your entire rack getting all your stuff channed into the Sinfonion and get it a bit nicer out of it :-) Harmonised, quantised, whatever you like to call it. For details please download the Sinfonion manual, it's in English and it's written with some nice kind of humour. The manual will give you a good idea of what is possible, but actually that's just the beginning of it, what you are going to make out of it at the end might be way beyond what has been described in the manual and the Sinfonion is the tool for you that allows to do just that.

So yes, it's expensive but I have never regretted it. If I have to sell a few of my modules, the Sinfonion will be one of the last ones!

Though having said that, please do keep in mind that the Sinfonion becomes the black hole of your entire modular synthesizer! It sucks up any of the modules you have, it's very module hungry, because you need to feed it with inputs, so it can processes the sounds you provide it and then spits it out again and then it might again cry for more modules to do funny bits with the output. So you must have tons of modules (that's a bit the con of the Sinfonion) and Sinfonion will "slurp them all up" :-) Hence the reason I call the Sinfonion the black hole of my modular synth!

Have fun and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Kieranjonesmusic,

There are quite a few, some examples I am myself happy with:

• Intellijel - Audio I/O, jacks input & output versus mini-jacks output & input, nice module, only con is that it doesn't have a headphones connection
• ACL - Audio Interface, XLR input & output versus mini-jacks output & input, includes mini-jack headphones connection
• Befaco - Out v3, either input or output module, includes jack headphones connection

All three modules I like to use, however the Intellijel one is the one I use most but I can't explain why because the ACL is excellent too. Only the Befaco is a bit simpler but cheaper, still using that one regularly too.

I hope this helps and kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: Removed typos.

EDITED Jan 8th 2021, 01:40

Hi Shakespeare,

Are you saying you want to volunteer to provide us the USA prices in US$/HP per each rack? That would be lovely, thank you very much in advance ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield ;-)

Hi Farkas,

He, he, pity is though... the major shops here in Germany are taking a break from Pittsburgh Modular. In 2019 there were still dealers to be found where one could buy Pittsburgh Modular, however since last year most of those shops are putting an end to Pittsburgh Modular. There is here one shop left but that one doesn't carry at the moment the EP-420, so I don't have any price of that one. Oh and I found another shop but they also don't have the EP-420.

Now luckily I wrote down back in 2019 the prices of cases because I was comparing them at that time to see which one I should buy so I rely here on an old price (I will take the cheapest, I had two prices) for the EP-420 that was Euro 889 somewhere in 2019.

EP-420 is 3 rows if I remember well, each row 140 HP, so a total of indeed as the EP indicates 420 HP :-) That would make it Euro 889 / 420 = Euro 2.12/HP, ehm... Farkas...? That would make it the most expensive one of the whole lot ;-)

Of course, I agree, from an aesthetics point of view, those low costs cases from Doepfer don't look very fancy but if we just talk about a plain & cheap case, there is nothing cheaper (and quite good actually) than a Doepfer low cost case, being it the 84 HP series A-100LC6, LCB or LC9 or the 168 HP series A-100LMS9 (or LMB).

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi CyberneticOhm,

Thank you very much, I wish you a Happy New Year too!

I always thought you were using Zopple too. So were you that bloke from Planet Tryondip 59E that I met some light years ago? ;-)

Great track that dEON, thanks a lot for sharing this with us, and I am honoured that you thought of us down here on Earth to share this with us while our technology is so far behind that of yours!

Kind regards, Garfield, one of those earthlings ;-)