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What elevates Eurorack effects modules from guitar pedals is the ability have voltage control over many of the parameters, either through hands-on manipulation or by utilizing control voltage generators like LFOs, Sample&Hold, Sequencers etc.
You have Pams New Workout in thhis setup, which can provide up to 8 CV sources, but lacks immediate control due to only having one encoder. But even if you use all of Pams outputs, you still have vastly more CV inputs on your three effects modules that you aren't using. I would drop at least one, if not two of the effects modules and add more CV sources, mixers, maybe a filter and, most importantly, VCAs into this system. One knob per function-type modules will make your effects rack very playable. Also think about mixing several modulation sources together before sending them to the CV input of one of the effects. This is almost mandatory if you want to go beyond what you can do with guitar pedals anyway.
Hi, I have a 3U, space left in my table and thought I would use it for a small audio-processing euro-rack, based on the 84HP Behringer Euro-rack Rack.
This would be my first euro-rack build and I would appreciate any comments.
The rack would primary be used for processing electric guitar/bass and harmonica. I have lots of pedals, so I like this to have a "far out/weird" sound of its own.
does anybody know if Blue Lantern's Mr.Blue delivers a trigger just from the rising part of an incoming gate signal? If there was also a trigger output from the gate-off (like one doepfer) it was useless for me.
You of course DO realize that, if you made the lower row a set of modulators and voltage sources, what you'd have there is a pretty substantial analog computer.
-- Lugia
This is my first time setting up a modular synthesizer and I would like to ask you for help and advice to see if I am on the right track. The type of music I'm going to make is cinematic music. For that, I'm planning to use the nerdseq to sequence the pizza and the ensemble oscillator as well as some squid salmple samples and then the marbles clone to sequence the remaining squid salmple samples (mostly percussion sounds). The effects are the mimeophon and some guitar pedals that I'm going to use via ALM SBG and that I'm going to pass as sends in the Mix BX.
My main questions are:
-Do I have enough VCA and modulation sources?
-Do I need more utilities?
-Would you change anything to improve the workflow?
-Does it make sense at all?
For those, like me, who grew up with such bands, it's always a pleasure to patch the system in that direction. In this video, I explain with details (thank Modulargrid!) a full patch (drums, bass, leads).
That Joranalogue Receive is incredible sounding, crystal clear and no noise. Same can't be said for the A-119, while not being terrible does have more self-noise and high end roll off.
-- liquidcolor
The original ARP 2600 preamp/envelope follower was also a noisy critter. A lot of this seems to be due to impedance mismatching between the input and the device feeding it, which is also a source of noise with some guitar pedals when they have to deal with a mismatch. You might try some experiments with matching transformers before the A-119 input to see if you can find a "magic number" that brings the noise under control.
It's also worth noting that Roman's Input module (now discontinued) in the Sputnik modules had a switch for helping with impedance matching.
I can't imagine how you could get a Synthacon VCF to sound even MORE aggressive than that circuit already was! There were VCF settings on mine (had from 1981 - 1994, traded it for my first ARP 2600) that were so downright vicious, just the slightest HINT of Nyle's nasty VCF's antics would suffice...sort of like how you might only need 1/2 (or LESS!) of a ghost pepper for an entire pot of chili that can serve 20+ people. Scaaaaaaary!
About the only change I would make here would be to chuck the theremin controller in row #2, shift the whole row over into that space, then use the new 8 hp space at the left end of the row for the A-119 (to the right of the mult, natch). This would put it in better proximity to the voicing so that it's easier to use external audio for part of the voicing as well.
-- Lugia
This is a good idea, however the A-178 can induce noise into susceptible modules so it's up and out of the way. The A-119 is generally being used as an envelope follower while the Joranalogue Recieve is my primary input module. Directly to the right of this modular is the 40 space server rack with my mixer/interface and rack polys. I've found these very slick right angle D-Sub adapters that let me avoid having two D-Sub snakes sticking straight up out of the WMD Performance outputs.
That Joranalogue Receive is incredible sounding, crystal clear and no noise. Same can't be said for the A-119, while not being terrible does have more self-noise and high end roll off.
A new effects unit from Neutral Labs, the Scrat They describe it as āan aggressive sounding multimode Steiner-Parker filter with a twistām the twist being that you are able to plug in random electronic components to ports on the front to change resonant capabilities. They include some cards and random components to try.
A generally good build, though the trimming you need to do to get the headers for the plug-ins through the front panel could be challenging.
Sounds great, and lots of modification potential, another good Neutral Lab kit.
Weird stuff is... going on 'round here. Like when I zoom in on the Afterneath module, it turns into the silver version! Now that is spooky! I suspect whichever panel was uploaded last becomes the "main" panel.
Just tried setting up a pedalboard build for my tandem string rig (1952 National Dual-8 lap steel, Suzuki Ran Alto taishogoto) and...uhhhhhhh...
Honestly, it's like the rest of Modulargrid threw up and all that barf wound up in Pedals. There are things in there that really, REALLY don't belong...such as iPads, DJ mixers, entire synths, pedalboards (no, not the ones in the build setup page, but entire empty pedalboards which, of course, you CAN'T put pedals on since MG thinks they are pedals), and so on. As an example, something such as a Vermona DRM-1 isn't a pedal, isn't supposed to be on a pedalboard but OBVIOUSLY should be in a 19" rack. The rack ears are a bit of a giveaway, natch.
And on and on and on. Hell, who knew that a pic of the lion from "Madagascar" was a "really good" wah? For a dollar?
And then there's users who put any ol' image of a pedal on there, not thinking/realizing that the pedalboard builds are supposed to be viewed from the top-down, so angled images of pedals are nice as a reference, but lousy if you're actually trying to determine pedal spacing on a board. Plus...plenty of missing stats, especially prices.
Really, this ought to be cleaned up and corrected. It has the potential to be as important a resource as the modular synth sections, but it's seriously compromised to the point that going through the different manufacturer pages becomes a hideous chore. Stompboxes are 100% useful, and definitely fit into the same scheme of things as modular components, but if the database is as fouled as it is right now, no amount of usefulness of pedals can counterbalance the info-slog that haunts the section. And yeah...some of these things aren't exactly pedals, but they fit, such as the DF Mini Bay. But I double-dawg-dare someone to put a Launchpad on their floor and work it with feet. Not. A. Pedal...nor does it really work with them.
Euclidean pattern generator creates changing baselines through modulation. Euclid 2hp is gate: sends length, steps, offset variables.
Turing machine provides random but loopable modulation source. Connect output/scale to Steps on Euclid 2hp. Modulate offset for half-steps. Bassline is just the scaled output of the Turing machine going into the steps amount, with the steps set to zero so Turing has complete control of steps.
Metropolis is pitch sequence.
Tiptop one sampler being triggered by pulse of Turing, to get a rhythm and bassline.
Euclidean pattern generator creates changing baselines through modulation. Euclid 2hp is gate: sends length, steps, offset variables.
Turing machine provides random but loopable modulation source. Connect output/scale to Steps on Euclid 2hp. Modulate offset for half-steps. Bassline is just the scaled output of the Turing machine going into the steps amount, with the steps set to zero so Turing has complete control of steps.
Metropolis is pitch sequence.
Tiptop one sampler being triggered by pulse of Turing, to get a rhythm and bassline.
Ended up starting with a Pamās, plaits and beadsā¦ already having a blast. Should be years of fun and experimentation ahead. And I think the mantis was a solid choice. Not massive but room to build something interesting.
Thanks again to everyone for the helpful feedback and ideas!
Ran it through audacity to remove dead space on track. Used Jomox bass and WMD percussion modules with Doepfer and Plaits for the voices.
-- sacguy71
Mister ''I Know Everything'' Doesn't manage to record his tracks in stereo.
-- Next_G
Hey Mr. Next G A$$hole where did I ever say that I knew everything? You never post anything constructive or useful here and are nothing but a filthy troll. Take your crap elsewhere.
Hey Mr Next_G clown hide behind keyboard warrior, why don't you post your tracks and how to solve issues to help folks here instead of being a sniping dickhead? You are a clown and jerk. Oh BTW the audio is stereo from DAW. Maybe get your hearing checked?
Hey MG! Itās been a few years and I was wondering if there are any plans to change the subscription service as it is now. Iād love a way to buy a ālifetimeā pass for a reduced rate. I only use the site a few times a year to arrange things or add/delete a module here or there, I end up going a couple years before Iāll re-subscribe.
Best filter i ever had was the Blue Lantern Asteroid, awesome madness and very versatile. Stupidly sold it though. Currently i use the Blue Lantern Hermippe, its quite boring, similar to the Make Noise MMG, but it has the deepest wide ranging bass when resonating. Just got the Schlappi 100 Grit and love its dirty glitch and distortion.
Actually, this is a major symptom of using either the wrong VCA or wrong envelope behavior. When you use linear VCAs and/or linear envelopes, this can happen because our ears aren't linear with respect to "apparent loudness". We hear exponentially as far as volume is concerned, and the Decibel scale reflects that.
The actual fix here isn't a noise gate (sorta-kinda)... --Lugia
Lugia, thanks for the info but in my current patch there is no VCA after the filter, and the noise is present when there is no envelope going at all. And yes a noise gate gets rid of it. As I said, a VCA after the filter could also take care of it, thank you for elaborating on that. I'm aware of the rule of thumb you site in regards to linear vs exponential VCAs, I would just point out that as with any rule, there are exceptions. I use my ears and do whatever works for the current situation. A lot of my VCAs have adjustable response curves, so it's easy to go back and forth between linear and exponential without having to use another VCA.
The Frequensteiner sounds great but is a notoriously noisy filter, that's the only reason I mentioned it.
I love the Doepfer SEM and Wasp filters quite amazing and less expensive than a lot other filters. Here is a good demo of the Doepfer SEM filter sweep I used today
And yes it can be a little noisy but a noise gate like the one from Ladik or the one in the FX Aid takes care of that easily. You may also be able to handle that by simply putting it in front of a VCA, depending on how you're using it. But anyway it sounds fantastic.
-- adaris
Actually, this is a major symptom of using either the wrong VCA or wrong envelope behavior. When you use linear VCAs and/or linear envelopes, this can happen because our ears aren't linear with respect to "apparent loudness". We hear exponentially as far as volume is concerned, and the Decibel scale reflects that.
The actual fix here isn't a noise gate (sorta-kinda), it would be one of the following:
Change the VCA after those filters. This needs to be an exponential VCA, or a "multi-topology" one like the Veils VCAs that's been set to exponential response. Or...
Keep the linear VCA...but send it an exponential envelope.
Now, the reason I said "sorta-kinda" above is because, when you do this correctly, it actually has some dynamics elements in common with a noise gate. The response of these VCAs when properly set is actually VERY close to the sort of thing going on with a noise gate, inasmuch as the noise will fall nearly to or all the way to inaudibility when there's no generated audio thruput.
Rule of thumb: LINEAR is for DC, low rate modulation signals, and basic audio use upstream from the final output stages. EXPONENTIAL is for any audio rate signal, and NOT DC or low rate modulation. Many exponential VCAs aren't DC-coupled, so if you try and pass DC or a low rate mod signal through one, you'll get either nothing or a very attenuated output signal as far as those signals go. Very useful to keep in mind when trying to keep DC out of your monitoring setup!
I'm definitely a fan of the Bastl Cinnamon, in fact I have 3 of them. I saw the Frequensteiner mentioned above as well, I recently got a hold of one of these and have quickly become a fan, in particular of the bandpass and highpass modes. You do have to be careful where you put it in your rack due it's propensity to pick up signals from other modules, but I've got it in a Doepfer mini case with just a couple other filters so as long as I'm not using them at the same time as the Frequensteiner it's not a problem. And yes it can be a little noisy but a noise gate like the one from Ladik or the one in the FX Aid takes care of that easily. You may also be able to handle that by simply putting it in front of a VCA, depending on how you're using it. But anyway it sounds fantastic.
I'm still finding the "Command Center" (unicorn account) very frustrating. I have a lot of rack plans, for two different size racks, but the preview sizes of the racks constantly changes, but not uniformly, so the previews of some racks are bigger than others even thought the racks are the same size (same number of rows, same HP). Refreshing the page constantly changes the preview sizes in different ways that I can't understsand. It wasn't like this when I first started using the system - all the previews would appear the same size if the racks were the same size. I thought it was related to the length of the rack names - if they wrapped to two lines - but even if all names fit on a single line I still get this erratic behaviour. It seems very buggy and inconsistent - I'd like to see an overhauled Command Center layout where each rack design fits a designated space, with allowance made for word-wrapping titles that don't affect the placement of the previews and previews that are a consistent size - i.e. all previews in all row fitting the same width, with just the height varying to maintain aspect ratio. This is the sort of thing I do myself when making website layouts with HTML/CSS for image galleries (e.g. real estate listings) [note: this happens in both Chrome and Firefox on my Win 7 Pro machine, latest versions of both browsers]
Maybe look at Cosmix vs that larger SUM2? 28HP vs 16
Starlab is a really cool looking module but not sure its 28HP in a smaller build cool :)
FX Aid Pro is 14HP (vs 28HP)...those two things alone will give you a lot of options in the future.
I have a two 6U Rackbrutes setup and my largest modules are Maths and Morphagene at 20HP and all my drums are external with MPC Live 2 and TR-8S...except for BIA which is in my rack
The only real way to tell if you're going to need more VCA's is to start patching things up and if you find yourself saying "damn, i wish i had another VCA" well...then you know if you need more VCA's :)
Good suggestions as always, thanks. I've definitely thought of moving the Moskwa and Ostankino next to the Erica sequencer. I change modules around every time I take things out of the case, so I don't mind moving stuff around. (And yes, I know, the organization here could definitely be improved.)
I've thought about adding Hrad, too, but alas... right now it seems to be out of stock everywhere in the world.
There should be no hp...this thing is full to bursting...even managed to steal a few of HP from the Rackbrutes...each 3U row can fit 1 extra HP more than advertised which across two racks is 4hp of space for free!
A few things immediately come to mind...first up, you should add the "master" module to the Praga. It'll be useful for quite a few things. And yes, add a matrix mixer; in a build of this size and complexity, you've got plenty of sources to screw around with via one of those. Plus, add the expanders for the Batumi and Zadar. You'll want the extra functions.
But the big thing I would change is the organization here. Everything seems to be laid out in a hodgepodge manner, which is definitely going to add to that "overwhelming" sensation. But by putting things together in functional groups, you can cut that problem down to size. Sources...modifiers...modulators...effects...etc, that sort of thing. It also leads to different methods of exploration...for example, if you had the Black Sequencer AND the Moskwa in proximity, you might notice that there's a possibility there that hadn't presented itself before. Same goes for having the logic modules and clock modifiers in proximity, and so on. Yeah, it sounds like a total PITA to do that, but trust me...in the end, the effort's got rewards.
Hmm...OK, for starters, you won't need two P/Ss. One of several hefty power supplies on the market can supply the juice for the whole cab. You just have to make sure that you've still got about 25% MORE capacity than the modules themselves draw so that you can avoid problems with current inrush when switching the modular on. Choosing proven Eurorack supplies is something I recommend as well, since that one component has the highest potential for causing trouble for the entire rig.
[short pause to wail on rack above]
OK...well, this came out fairly well, but you'll notice some things immediately missing, with the most notable example there being the Plasma Overdrive. I just don't think it's a really good idea to put some sort of gas discharge tube inside a closed-up cab where there's plenty of opportunities for any electrical noise from that module to get into all sorts of other things.
TOP: I got rid of the Intellijel I/O, deferring instead to the more useful (albeit mono) Doepfer A-119, which gives you an envelope follower so your input levels can be extracted to use as a modulation source. The A-119 also provides a gate (with threshold) that can key at your desired level. Next is a pair of Noise Reap's take on dual VCOs, the Paradox. These have a "sorta-sync" and some odd FM capabilities that you don't tend to see in this module size. Very timbrally versatile. Plus, as if that wasn't enough, Antimatter's Crossfold Waveshaper lets you take outputs from TWO oscillators and "smushes" them together, along with the more typical wavefolding duties. That module also replaces the Plasma Overdrive, and does so with a much more capable module. Codex Modulex's clone of Veils gives you four VCAs with the typical Veils features...variable response curve, breakable mixbus, etc. After this, I set Rings in there so that it functions as a "filter" with mono-in/stereo-out. Similarly, the Zagrezb has a stereo out as well. So with a pair of stereo signals incoming, plus the point about FX, I put in a Toppobrillo Stereomix2. This mixer has VCAs on all four inputs, plus CV control over panning and AUX send, and it also has a mono-out/stereo-in FX bus, CUE bus capabilities (which helps with the tweak-on-fly needs), mutes per channel...in short, it's a far better idea as it'll be a good fit for live work, studio or otherwise.
BOTTOM: There's the power supply. I overspecced the HELL out of it so that you can reuse the P/S (a 4ms Row Power 45) in larger builds later on. Plus, by having a P/S with a LOT of current headroom, it will run cooler, which you definitely want as heat is a component-killer, plus it can lead to plenty of instabilities due to thermal effects. MIDI interface next, then the Octasource. The Octasource is interesting...unlike the Ochd which is seeing a lot of use as of late, this LFO only has one rate being outputted...but via a phasing network so that you have offsets every 45 degrees with the same waveform. This fits really well with the various modulation schemes here...the Paradoxes alone can be made to act VERY nuts with this LFO. Next from Toppobrillo is their half-a-Maths, the Sport Modulator2. No room for Maths? This is a damn good substitute, which uses the same sort of Serge Dual Universal Slope Gen core as Maths, etc, but with the few odd tricks of its own. The Frap 321 and Erica PICO VCA are the "manipulation core" for your modulation signals, so that you can add offsets, invert signals, mix 'em, and on and on. Then the envelope duties are handled with a Xaoc Zadar (and Nin expander). Then the next two modules are your effects...the Mimeophon (which would make a good destination for the Rings' stereo output, actually) and a Frequency Central Stasis Leak...tap delay, chorus, reverb with a mono in and stereo out...just like the Stereomix2 wants. Then the final outs are last, via one of the updated Happy Nerding Isolators...which not only gives you a pair of balanced 1/4" outs, it has a 1/4" out for your headphones as well. So you can monitor the mix from that...or if you need the cue, just shift the headphone plug to the Stereomix2's headphone out.
Not too shabby, I think...this hits all of the desired points, plus it's really good with ergonomics and control density as well.
