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Yep...although, there's always the cheaper alternative: use an "outdated" DAW interface (like the MOTU 828mkii I use) and some software (like Ableton's CV Tools, MOTU's Volta, etc) that can deal with incoming and outgoing control signals. That way, if you need to gig live, just use the saved voltage info in the track and connect things appropriately. You just have to make 100% sure that the interface in question is DC coupled, otherwise this gets difficult.
VCAs: well, if you want the variable response curve AND need to optimize space, my suggestion would be the new 10hp version of Veils. Those can be shifted from linear response for use with modulation signals, CVs, etc...to the exponential response you need to properly maintain perceptual loudness in audio signals. And anywhere in between, for that matter.
As for the EG, the Zadar isn't a bad choice as long as you get Xaoc's expander for it, and as long as you don't mind some menu-hopping. Next fave is probably Intellijel's Quadrax/Qx combo, then the much bigger Buchla/Tiptop 281t. Maths can also do this, but using a Maths as just an EG is sort of like paying $20+ for a Arturo Fuente Opus X cigar, then smoking it while mowing your lawn. Definitely look through the "function generator" possibilities, too...
I've got a mantis - when I need to check this I just take 3 copies of the full rack and remove all but the relevant modules for each zone, check etc and then delete after i've plugged stuff in - my mantis doesn't change that much though I mostly use it for video synthesis and I have plenty of other cases (some of which I have to do the same for!)
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
That's interesting to hear your feedback on the Rings tuning issue. I have been messing around in VCV 2 with Rings, but have yet to notice that issue. I presume I am far from utilizing the module to its full potential.
I appreciate your other points regarding the ergonomics and supporting the manufacturer. Basically, I already plan on purchasing Plaits and Beads, but have very limited $ and physical space for a bigger case. The ability to process sound in Rings still seems like a winner.
BTW Do you have a YouTube channel or Instagram related to your modular system? I learn a lot from your posts on the MG forums and would like to support.
Thanks again.
Ian
-- djidmusic1
Thanks Ian...
I have:
instagram - but I don't post much music there - mostly modular video synthesis - same name as here
soundcloud - latest 4 are modular - the rest are pre-modular from years ago mostly reason - same name as here
I'm on the modulargrid best of 2020 on bandcamp - it's one of the 4 modular tunes on soundcloud though
I'm currently working on new music, which I'll release eventually
Jim
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
Ey, i have one.. build quality is ace!
but have to agree to all the comments on the size, and looking into upgrading to an original one in the long run.
(Choose for the nano to begin with because I had a smaller case and wanted to fit in 'enough' modules)
Further to JimHowell1970's comment above -
After messing with a lot of different methods, I can say that the nw2s:016 is the best tool to get audio into a signal level and format pro-level audio interfaces prefer. If you need multi-channel with the intent to multitrack, don't mess around with multiple stereo modular-to-line level modules (this will always end up costing more than nw2s); and the USB interface and Modular-to-ADAT modules (ie. Expert Sleepers, Birdbrain etc..) on the market right now just don't compare (sound quality, noise floor, sampling rates) to the ADCs inside interfaces from Focusrite, MOTU or Universal Audio.
For live purposes, many mixers can pad down modular levels - but having 16 jacks in your system with the nw2s:016 is so convenient, and connects easily with two DB25 snake cables to your mixer at a perfect line level your mixer will love.
I have a nano Rings, it's not the one from After Later Audio, although mine has the same dimensions and layout.
The obvious difference is the size of the module and the knobs. In my opinion, the knobs are still okay to twist in a live jam to make it sound more or less 'big', achieved by modulating brightness (BRT on the nRings panel) and damp (DMP on the nRings). I do need to mention that my nRings is quite on the right side in my case, which makes it easier to access these controls. It would be more cramped if you put for example a mult or mixer to the right of the nRings, or any other module with a lot of sockets on the outer left of the panel. So some planning in this is advised.
The original Rings (and most clones I guess) are difficult to tune while jamming, as mentioned by Jim. This is because both the frequency and shape knob influence the tuning. There are some blogs/videos online on how to make this process more easy, Lightbath seems to have a good one I believe. I guess tunig is more difficult with the smaller freq/shape knobs. I don't have the original rings to compare, but if you tune it beforehand with some explanation nearby it's not impossible. However if you intend to change the shape while making music with it, go for the original rings.
(off-topic; I once saw a post somewhere with a modified version of the Rings firmware, which sort-of fixes that turning the shape knob makes it go out of tune. Haven't been able to find it since. If someone has a link to it, please let me know!)
Hello guys, I've spent my spare time to make a collection of spots to stop by on the superb Manis Iteritas from Noise Engineering. A large range of style are explored here, Darkbient, Industrial (of course), Acid, House (sort of), Drone, Techno, EBM...
Français
Salut les Zamis ! J'ai mon temps libre des 15 derniers jours à explorer l'impeccable Manis Iteritas de @Noise Engineering un module d'oscillateur vraiment détonnant. Dans cette vidéo, j'expose certains des spots lmes plus cools où j'ai trainé. On balaie allégrement quelques styles comme le darkbient, l'Industriel (bien entendu), la Techno, l'Acid, la House, l'EBM et autres.
bon voyage !
I’ve been looking at the Intellijel Dual ADSR, Malekko Quad Envelope, and XAOC Zadar for EG. I’m leaning more towards the Zadar or Quad Envelope because of their somewhat smaller sizes and more envelopes. Which one would you prefer personally?
As for VCA’s, what’s your thoughts on the Intellijel Quad VCA and ALM Tangle Quartet?
OK, now Uli's team of design copyists have cranked out (or will soon, I should hope!) something truly astonishing. What this is is a modular oscillator that's based on the tone generation in the Prophet VS. I would figure this is something that spun out of their efforts to create these little Microfreak-ish boxes they've been teasing. This is far more important, though...
First up: pretty much NOBODY without a bushel of ca$h will ever get their hands on a Sequential Prophet VS. Ever. I kid you not.
And secondly, all of the voice oscillators in the VS are "ganged" to the one joystick, so you can't easily impose different vector patterns on each one. This, however, fixes that issue, since the module has its own vector joystick and you can save vector patterns per modules. Think something along the lines of the Korg Wavestations or Yamaha's SY-22 and the TG-33, but sounding a lot beefier...provided they do their homework on the design.
In short, what you have here is a wavetable oscillator that outputs four different signals, and the joystick lets you manually (or under CV) morph between these, then save the vector "path" so that it's reproducible. Definitely NOT a normal VCO.
Drawback: it's Behringer. And since it is, some people will want nothing to do with it. This one might be a gamechanger, though...
Try looking for a Princeton Applied Research CR-4. This is a completely insane-sounding scientific instrumentation amplifier, with three input configurations and low and highpass filters switchable in 5ths.
Anything processed through one of these takes on a vicious psychedelic tone...totally overloaded, brutal, and the filters just add to this. The only caveat is that these are obsolete test equipment devices, and not musical ones per se. Even so, to use Hainbach's term (he also owns one), it will 100% music! You should keep an eye on eBay for one of these; they can turn a basic synth into something that sounds like it might KILL YOU.
An interesting module from Bastl today, a probabilistic pattern generator. You can read what that means from the product link in the description.
Straightforward build, interesting output. Useful for changing up your rhythms in interesting ways,
For all those who own a case like Mantis, Rackbrute, Go! etc... How do you keep track of the power zones?
Currently, I create 1 rack for physical layout and, depending on the number of power zones, 2 or 3 more racks for the power zones:
mantis physical
mantis zone a
mantis zone b
mantis zone c
This of course is less than ideal, because taking a module out of mantis means maintaining that change in two locations. Also, the relation between physical and electrical racks must be done in the naming of these racks.
Which brings me to a feature request/discussion:
"Sub Racks for Electric Layout"
Can we have an additional attribute of a rack named "parent rack" that allows for a hierarchical relation between racks? And then have that displayed as links on the parent? And maybe have the option to filter out all "child racks" in the rack main page?
RACK: mantis
+ mantis zone a (parent: mantis)
+ mantis zone b ...
+ mantis tone c ...
RACK: Rackbrute
+ rackbrute zone a
+ rackbrute zone b
About syncing between physical and electric layout: Ideally, one would have a dropdown option on modules:
- If module is in a top level (=parent, physical): Display all child racks as selectable targets
- If module is in a lower level (=child, electric): Display all child racks of the parent rack as targets
- If module is removed from top level, also remove child level instance
Not a full feature request yet, more like brainstorming.
I think my only gripe about the Rackbrutes is that they didn't really incorporate 'airflow' through it and have seen a couple modifications that use the 'laws of physics' for some natural airflow.
-- jb61264
Which comes back around to why I keep insisting that the width is, as Arturia notes, 88 hp. Simply because it's possible to jam 89 hp worth of panel space into these is NOT a good reason for doing so. With 88 hp and its slider nuts, you can add a little bit of space across the panel by slipping each module a TINY bit, and then this should help with the internal heat issues.
I think I made this argument a couple of times, that Arturia states the width is 88 hp and there's a definite reason for it...this problem being exactly that.
-- Lugia
Is 1 HP distributed along 88HP really doing much at all in terms of cooling tho? Did Arturia really 'engineer' that 1HP as a solution for cooling purposes?
A whole nother universe of overdriven, wrecked, FSUed racket can be found courtesy of the psychos at Schlappi Engineering. I think they come factory-drenched in ACIIIIEED! Because sometimes just overdrive is not necessarily the right way to get at that crazed sound...or at least, the way I remember it from the early-mid 1990s, which wasn't quite like Larry Heard's methods on "Washing Machine".
I've gone nuts over the cheap Chinese pedals in recent years. Yes, it's true that they don't always sound "right" (although many DO), but the "not-rightness" can actually be an asset in a purely electronic setting. Plus, I can jack 'em in via the studio's patchbays.
Ones that really ring my bell:
Aural Dream - Breath Delay. Analog delay, up to about 600 ms...but it has this little switch labelled "NO/GH". NO is "normal operation", where this behaves like any basic analog delay. But GH brings in the "ghost trails", where the delay returns tend to not decay, so you can build up masses of delayed sounds' echo trails. VERY useful.
Joyo - Classic Flanger (the white one with the jump jet). To my ears, this hits the spot on the OLD MXR flanger...the one with the AC cord from the late 1970s. It can go from normal to rubberband-twang sweeps with one or two tweaks. VERY easy to get excellent results here.
Nux - Tape Core. Nux's take on the Boss RE-2. I actually think the Tape Core is easier to use than the RE-2, while still delivering that old-skool Space Echo sound and feel.
Mosky - Spring Reverb. On first glance, it looks like just some knockoff of Malekko's pedal of the same name. But looks deceive, as this thing hides a secret under the "Dwell" control. Turn this up "too far", and the reverb starts behaving like FEEDBACK, ringing on the main harmonic inputted. Since you can't exactly do this with synthesizers, these cheapo things are a godsend if you want to do keyboards with rock...why let the guitarists have all the fun, right?
Biyang - Ripple Space. Really good reverb coupled with their also-excellent Time Machine delay. The Time Machine gives you either 600 or 1100 ms of delay, and coupling this with their reverb in the same box: brilliance.
But those are just the high points. Fact is, there's a LOT of pedals coming out of China that are either utterly excellent (Mooer's "Liquid Phase", f'rinstance) or downright strange. That last bit might bug guitarists...but around here, we eat "downright strange" as a main course!
And two Electro-Harmonix pedals...the first being the Flanger Hoax, which is actually a redux of the incredible Mu-Tron Biphase, and that pedal's creator collaborated with E-H to whip this out some years back.
But the other is fairly new...and totally KILLER: the TriParallel Mixer. Makes NO sound...but instead, provides a set of three FX loops that, instead of normal pedalboard routers, work in parallel against the dry signal, and you have a broad array of controls per "loop" to affect levels and phasing. THIS PEDAL IS A REVELATION...I kid you not!!! ANYONE who works with stompboxes should own one...the versatility is off the scale!!!
Wow, almost one hour of great music from you! The pictures of NASA are amazing indeed, your music fits very well together with those images. You are hyper spacing me away from earth, I am wondering were I will end up ;-)
Let's hope so far in space I can keep the earthy Internet connection, while getting hyper spaced further away by your music, I will continue listening to your amazing music and watching those indeed beautiful and amazing NASA pictures.
Just wanted to click the submit button when I realise and read that you have a Novation Summit. I am seriously thinking of that synth too, not sure if I can make it this year or if it will be on my shopping list for next year but I am very interested in the Summit! How is your experience so far with it? Is it worth it, or would be one Peak enough? :-)
Thank you very much for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
I think my only gripe about the Rackbrutes is that they didn't really incorporate 'airflow' through it and have seen a couple modifications that use the 'laws of physics' for some natural airflow.
-- jb61264
Which comes back around to why I keep insisting that the width is, as Arturia notes, 88 hp. Simply because it's possible to jam 89 hp worth of panel space into these is NOT a good reason for doing so. With 88 hp and its slider nuts, you can add a little bit of space across the panel by slipping each module a TINY bit, and then this should help with the internal heat issues.
I think I made this argument a couple of times, that Arturia states the width is 88 hp and there's a definite reason for it...this problem being exactly that.
Actually, the thing that REALLY dropped everyones' jaws to the floor when Tiptop released the first two "t" modules...was that the price on the 258t was only $200. That's the non-Buchla part...that price tag. Everyone's so used to seeing prices up around the $1000 (or higher...a LOT higher) mark for Buchla modules that I myself just about did a spit-take when I saw that. Anyway, they'll have all of those out by the end of summer (barring supply chain issues) and they're all supposed to be in that general and affordable range. And, without dropping any specific hints, a support person at Tiptop that I had some communication with noted that these will NOT be the only ones and that they're going to try and reproduce as many different ones as they can, also noting that there's not much documentation on some of the 200 series. They also want to do some 100 series, but they're working out supply issues with...oddly...the knobs. Weird story there, too long for here.
OK...as for the build, all requisites duly noted...(heads up)....
Back to the Doepfer LCs, then...you mentioned you liked the stackability of those, so what I did here was to use both an LC6 and an LCB. So the top two rows are vertical, then the third is at an angle, and the fourth...where I put the "controllers"...is flat, like you'd expect if there was a keyboard in there.
But there's NOT...I'll explain that in a minute...
TOP: First thing is a PWRchekr for the top cab, then the 258t/Dannysound combos are still there, as is the A-119 input module. Anyway, the top row also still has the Veils and Behringer 2500 VCF, and the rest of the audio now moves downward from the VCF.
2ND: Modulation core is pretty much the same, minus one 281t. The Disting is next to the remaining 281t, and then the Beads is next to that.
3RD: The SOU, and then a more compact 2-row (and then some) sequencer, the Tesseract Step Fader. The sequential switch is after that, and then a dual-channel quantizer from Intellijel. After that are effects: one of these is Make Noise's Mimeophon, which can do delays, loops, and several other interesting things. Then the Stasis Leak returns to make use of the mixer's mono send and stereo return.
BOTTOM: The lower cab's PWRchekr, then the Pam's...and then this Nonlinearcircuits CVable matrix mixer. Instead of a keyboard or something similar, I put this thing in. What it can do is to send a signal to one of eight inputs, then it mixes those across four output busses. But since each control responds to incoming CV and modulation signals, you can either tweak it, or you can have modulation sources operate it. Or both, what the hell? Then the Mixology and Ciao! as before.
This slims things down, as desired. And by avoiding a typical controller, this also plays into the generative aspects since the MISO/VCAs core can output several CVs at once, and then you can also send those into the matrix's CV ins to control the crossmodulation aspects that the matrix will generate. And size-wise, this only stands slightly taller than Doepfer's LC9 case, but has far better ergonomics. Better? Or more changes?
I always am keen for driving, acid sounds and in that task, I like to try/test different OD. That is the reason why I did this o ne, hoping it could help some to make a choice.
Hi all!
It's been a while since i posted something here.
I'm from Ukraine and maybe some of you know there is a war here now.
Yesterday I played live performance from a shelter and made a worldwide broadcasting devoted to a fundraising for Ukrainian army, who are bravely fighting for my motherland in this crazy military aggression of Russia against Ukraine.
Maybe you will be interested to watch and listen to it.
Wishing you all the best!
Igor
Plus, you really don't need a buffered mult unless you're trying to split out a scaled CV to 4+ devices, as you'd need the buffering to mitigate voltage sag that can happen from this. But if you've only got two or three audio generators that (might) need this, the buffering is superfluous.
-- Lugia
I'll second that. I bridge up to four VCOs with stackables, all using the one CV line, and can keep the tuning perfectly.
I bought a pair of Roland System-500 sets to give my Oberheim DSX something to do with its CV/Gate outputs. Four Juno-like voices either as a poly stack or four separate parts. The remaining 4hp in each case are used by 2hp Buffs to split the pitch CV between oscillator and filter, 2hp Mix to get the four voices down to one output, and 2hp Trim to patch between the LFO and the Hosa Knucklebones for consistent vibrato and PWM.
You can hear it play a Juno pad here:
For the next phase, I plan on adding a sub-oscillator, extra envelope, and noise source:
What should I do with the 40+ hp left? I'm torn between adding a wavefolder per voice, alternative (multimode) filter per voice, or Black Sequencer for future live use.
I don't think that Plaits & bOSC is a limiting setup. bOSC alone has 4 outputs that you can route through different paths, e.g. filters, wave-folders, effects in combination with a envelope+VCA per path that is sequenced differently, etc... Plaits has endless possibilities for modulation (models, parameters...) that you can work with and also two different outputs that you could treat differently. There's a lot of variation that you can squeeze out of these two oscillators...
Yes, you're right and re-reading what I wrote, it doesn't entirely convey correctly how I feel about it. bOSC is a great analog module, which is precisely what I wanted. I'm very happy with it. Plaits, however, seems like a gateway module. It introduces several types of synthesis but it's a bit limited in all of them. For example, the granular mode is 8 sawtooths, period. I like it and I use it a lot, but granular based on samples is much more powerful. It's that sense of exploring and finding the limits that I meant.
One LFO only, but with multiple outputs. Also, I use Zadar as an LFO from time to time. It's unipolar, but hey, set the start point at the bottom instead of in the middle and it works just fine. Great to have complex LFOs when I want them! Ochd sounds nice, but it's not on my urgent list.
Ochd is overpriced in my view, but I haven't regretted buying it. It is in 95% of my patches. It is simple, easy to use and doesn't take up much space. The cost/benefit ratio is top...
Next up will be a Joranalogue Select 2 S/T&H and a Pamela to clock it. There's a random CV on the Static that I can use with this. Pamela will definitely be a great addition in the long run.
Pamela was also among the first 5 modules I bought. It's also one of the modules that gets a lot of usage. I started relatively simple, using it as a clock divider and euclidean pattern generator. As I learned about modular synths I've found many other ways to use it. Actually, if you use the stepped random, that's exactly what you get with noise + S&H, plus you'll have a lot of ways to control and manipulate it. Pam will grow with you. You can't go wrong with Pam's...
I've actually changed my plans. Instead of the Joranalogue Select 2, I am considering the Intellijel Shifty. 4 S&H that can be shifted, but if you tell it to use just 1, then it's a plain S&H. Flexible in a different way than the Joranalogue. And for modulation (and also as an extra sound source), I'm eyeing the Joranalogue Orbit 3. I'm pretty much into fractals and mathematical chaos, so I really appreciate the patterns that come out of that one. It should work as a very interesting LFO-type modulator. As for PAM - I may hold off and just use Zadar with a pulse for the clock for now. I'm still sequencing with my BeatStep Pro and doing more sequencing in the modular (PAM - Euclidean etc) is not on the plans now. I'm getting a Teensy to try out a headless Dirtywave M8 to explore more in that direction.
Apply the first sentence to your Plaits & bOSC combo...
Heh :-) I've been doing that for the last almost 4 weeks on my one-track-per-day project. I noticed I was tending towards all saws and synthwave, so I moved away from that again with Plaits' FM mode for my track of 6 April. Yeah, there's a lot of live&learn in the bOSC-Plaits combo, but I want more!
As you already have two Doepfer modules: I would recommend the Doepfer A-106-5 SEM filter. Sounds fantastic, from creamy to dirty to aggressive, has LP, HP, BP... incredible value for money!
Did you try to take the pole off and see if it was the source of imperfection as @Vow3II suggested? I purposely bought the Rackbrutes because I knew from seeing a couple that the quality of the build was very good. I didn't want to mess around with powering something or having a 'flying bus cable' to mess with. I think my only gripe about the Rackbrutes is that they didn't really incorporate 'airflow' through it and have seen a couple modifications that use the 'laws of physics' for some natural airflow.
I would verify if the pole is the cause...if it is, its an easy fix to get a different one. Also as @Vow3II suggested, contact Arturia...they actually have decent support and respond pretty quickly to help requests.
I'm a relative beginner myself (started in 10/2021), so this is not meant to be "expert advice", but I'd like to share my experiences...
I have only two possibly melodic sources: Plaits and the bOSC. I absolutely love both of them, but it's limiting. I'm eyeing a Klavis Twin Waves mkii next.
I also have Plaits which, I think, is very versatile. A friend has bOSC, and I think it's a great, albeit simple, oscillator. I have the Dixie 2+, which is very similar to bOSC, feature wise. I don't think that Plaits & bOSC is a limiting setup. bOSC alone has 4 outputs that you can route through different paths, e.g. filters, wave-folders, effects in combination with a envelope+VCA per path that is sequenced differently, etc... Plaits has endless possibilities for modulation (models, parameters...) that you can work with and also two different outputs that you could treat differently. There's a lot of variation that you can squeeze out of these two oscillators...
I spent a bit more money on envelopes and drums, getting Zadar and Rample. I regret neither. They are both incredible modules. And I haven't even put my own samples on Rample yet!
Zadar is great, my friend has it, and I'll probably also get it some time. Rample was among the first 5 modules I bought, and I had a lot of fun with it. I sold it because I also had Erica Sample Drums, and thought this would be the more powerful sampler. I really regret selling the Rample and will maybe buy one again... I hardly ever use the Sample Drums...
One LFO only, but with multiple outputs. Also, I use Zadar as an LFO from time to time. It's unipolar, but hey, set the start point at the bottom instead of in the middle and it works just fine. Great to have complex LFOs when I want them! Ochd sounds nice, but it's not on my urgent list.
Ochd is overpriced in my view, but I haven't regretted buying it. It is in 95% of my patches. It is simple, easy to use and doesn't take up much space. The cost/benefit ratio is top...
Next up will be a Joranalogue Select 2 S/T&H and a Pamela to clock it. There's a random CV on the Static that I can use with this. Pamela will definitely be a great addition in the long run.
Pamela was also among the first 5 modules I bought. It's also one of the modules that gets a lot of usage. I started relatively simple, using it as a clock divider and euclidean pattern generator. As I learned about modular synths I've found many other ways to use it. Actually, if you use the stepped random, that's exactly what you get with noise + S&H, plus you'll have a lot of ways to control and manipulate it. Pam will grow with you. You can't go wrong with Pam's...
[...] I like the limitations, as they force me to be creative. Some things turned out really well, some a bit less. You live and learn. [...]
That's the spirit! Apply the first sentence to your Plaits & bOSC combo...
As you already have two Doepfer modules: I would recommend the Doepfer A-106-5 SEM filter. Sounds fantastic, from creamy to dirty to aggressive, has LP, HP, BP... incredible value for money!
Banged on this A LOT. Instead of having a bunch of Mutable modules, I opted for the ultimate tweak-head ones: Buchla. Or rather, the Tiptop reissues of the original Buchla 200 modules. Then I built around that.
That is a massive reply, I won't go into all of it simply because of your answer's complexity and the amount of reconfiguring you've done. First, let me say your input made for some very interesting reading. I like that you took the few modules I already had and built a buchla tiptop rack from there, but ultimately the finished product is too big of a challenge for me -- Both musically and financially. A lot of these modules are also on backorder with no timeframe for when they'll be back in stock (I live quite far from everything) and I haven't seen a single Tiptop buchla module pop up on my local used exchange... This probably means they are keepers, which is a great thing, and you've certainly opened my eyes to incorporating some buchla elements into my system. The whole idea of combining East and West coast also appeals to me. I'm especially intrigued by the Dual Oscillator Model 258t, the Source of Uncertainty Model 266t and the Dannysound Timbre.
Well, the four Electrosmith VCAs aren't a bad idea...for modulation and CVs. These are linear, DC-coupled VCAs, which are better used for those purposes. For audio, you want exponential VCAs with AC-coupling, which is why you often see VCAs such as Veils, Intellijel's Dual VCA, etc used so often; since these have a control per VCA that can shift the VCA's response between full linear and full exponential.
That is a perfect explanation of something my system is clearly missing. Thank you!
Gonna mess with this, starting with a bigger and portable cab off the bat.
Portability is not an issue for me. I won't be playing any gigs nor bring the system travelling. I can see why you went with the bigger case, but what I like about the doepfer low cost base is that I can always add another doepfter lowcost ontop of it. I also quite enjoy that it's made of wood, which makes easier to either paint or varnish or even leave raw.
While it definitely costs more than the initial plan, you probably won't need to add anything to this for years to come. You WON'T exhaust this build's possibilities!
I'm overwhelmed by the thought you put into this rack on my behalf. I've read your module rundown multiple times now and am more impressed each time with how you've shaped it. I will definitely return to it again and again as I learn more about eurorack in general. Again, thank you very much!
Definitely not normal...I have two 6Us and a 3U....what Vow3II said for troubleshooting
-- jb61264
Thanks for confirming. It’s not ‘bad’ and I can use it sometimes without noticing it but when I do notice it it’s annoying..! Shame I can’t use another one for that direct comparison. Im somewhat tempted to just keep it in case another one is worse..!
I can not speak about your specific problem with the Rackbrute but i think it's a pretty common problem for hardware in general. I used to work with a Digital-Video-Tape-Machine (HDCamSR) from Sony wich is a realy expensive piece of technology (around 25k Euro). This thing was wobbling around when i we're pressing buttons or ejecting/loading tapes. A piece of beerfelt was the Bavarian solution to fix it. Some behringer stuff i own is wobbling and other Hardware too. I think the Problem are not the plastic feets underneath, Sometimes the housing ist not 100% straight/flat and quality controle is poor.
-- Max_Modular
It’s frustrating as this is quite ‘expensive’ to me and I expected a premium experience.. but it’s hard knowing the line of where to say ‘ah, I’ll deal with it..’
This may be the most involved project I have done in the last couple of years. It was born from a simple goal - create a full album length ambient piece in multiple parts, using a wide variety of synthesizers and synthesis techniques, but not using midi note programming or sequencers. It's four pieces with a common melodic theme and blended together. I used almost all of my synths including my modular rig and a guitar.
Part One is a brief intro that gives you the flavor of the whole piece.
Part Two has a complex foundational drone from my modular rack and uses six oscillators, each tuned to a different note within the E Dorian scale. They are all running through filters or being modulated in other ways. Each oscillator is faded in and out using slow asynchronous LFOs on the mixer's VCA creating a very unpredictable combination of sounds and textures. This is a "self-playing" or "generative" patch. Other sounds are layered on top and come from the ASM Hydrasynth, Korg Kronos, Novation Summit, and Moog Taurus Pedals.
Part Three uses a base drone from the Waldorf Iridium in a low register and features a few solo sections using that same sound played in a higher register. I made extensive use of the Waldorf's amazing Mod Matrix and set up about 25 different modulations of all different kinds of sound parameters. This is also a generative patch. Part Three also feature solo sections on electric guitar, Moog Subsequent 37, Korg Kronos and Novation Summit.
Part Four has a foundation pad from the Prophet Rev 2 which is played on its keyboard and expression pedal controlling Filter Cutoff. Additional bass, pad sounds and solos are layered on from the ASM Hydrasynth and Korg Kronos.
Again, no midi note programming or sequencers were used to record this, so each track, section, solo here is recorded "live".
All images are from the NASA website and are public domain. They're freakin amazing to look at, especially with the Ken Burns treatment. Enjoy!
I'm with Jim on this topic, effects pedals may be the best way to incorporate a broader range of effects. This may or may not save you money depending on the pedals you prefer, also the CV control options for pedals aren't ideal, so it's not a perfect solution. I would recommend picking up something like the Strymon AA.1 to convert euro signals to pedal and back. It's a good inexpensive utility.
I also don't necessarily think the analog vs digital debate applies much to effects, as I have a mixture of both types of effects, though I prefer analog for some other things. I recently picked up a Strymon Deco which is digital, and it has become my favorite overall effect for just about everything. It's a magic pixie dust pedal that makes everything sound better than it should. I have also enjoyed the results I've gotten from the simple and inexpensive Doepfer spring reverb (though I have to leave a 1hp blank space to run the reverb tank cable outside of my rack). I've gotten mixed results with the Erica BBD delay/flanger. Sometimes it's awesome, and other times I struggle to achieve what I'm hearing in my head.
Let us know what you choose. Have fun!
