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I remember their stuff from way back in the day and stumbled on them again recently, it's very cool that they're still making synths. Have any sounds you've made that you'd want to share? I'd be curious to give it a listen.

I've been looking at this one for a bit and pretty sure I'm going to get it. Thanks for the demo!

If you're curious about the sound of the 4MS Ensemble Oscillator this may help

Hi Apache-Raver,

Nice setup you got yourself there, nice to look at your setup and looking at your modular "activities" while listening at your sequenced music!

That red module in the right bottom corner, what is that, by any chance the Dreadbox - Ataxia EG? If yes, what's your impression about this module and Dreadbox' new modules series in common, good? I might consider here or there one of them too...

Thank you very much for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

There are some fantastic nice sounds in it and that together with the beautiful percussion sounds, well done again :-) !

So when is this ADDAC 103 module arriving at your doorstep? Can't wait for your demo patch on that one :-D

Thanks a lot for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Pablo,

In context with modular synthesizers I agree here with Lugia, not having at least CVs & gates out and in or at least a clock in, is a big miss from a design phase point of view.

The Arturia - Keystep Pro or the Endorphin.es - Ground Control (a Eurorack module by the way) have this already... granted, I am waiting already a year or so for the Ground Control that still hasn't been released and recently has been postponed till October...

Some basic ideas and concepts sounds indeed interesting but so pity of this missed chance :-(

But please let me know once you have found the ideal sequencer for modular, I would love to know since I still haven't found the ideal one; though the above two mentioned ones come quite close (but haven't tested them yet).

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Iammurals,

You are writing that you are not really looking to ever have to use it as a stand alone system but you then forgot to tell us what you already have and how this is going to fit in your current situation, so because of that, it's pretty difficult to advice on anything useful.

I have two main advices:

• Look into a rack that's at least 3 times the size of what you got planned now, you have no space to grow here, meaning you have to straight away buy a second rack if you want to add just one module (and if you are going to like modular, you will for sure going to add more than one module...)
• If you need this "only" for sound processing and design then why not use the computer with Ableton or something like that and do there everything? Much easier, most likely much cheaper too

Please carefully think how you want to go to use it and how this then all should fit within your current situation? If you have the possibility then you should try at least a part of that setup at your local dealer to see if it delivers what you expect from it, such testing might give you a total unexpected result, believe me. Before I bought any module and casing, I came once till thrice a week to my local dealer and the only thing I did was testing, testing and testing. I tested (as far as the modules where available for testing) all the modules I was interested in and then I continued with testing, testing and testing. I have done that for about 3 till 4 months in a row before I started to buy my first modular stuff and yet now I got a modular synth, I keep testing, testing, testing and reading, reading, and checking, checking and checking everything I can find about modular synthesizers.

To summarise: modular synthesizers are fantastic, really! But they require you to do a huge pre-work and pre-investigation on it, to get a rough idea on how it's going to work (or not as it will show in test results).

Good luck with it and oh... did I mention already that you should test it first at your local dealer? ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Jrs77,

The ACL - Sinfonion might be just right then, ridiculous expensive but ideal for us lazy people who don't want to put any notes into any devices. With the Sinfinion you just provide a clock and some input, let's say a slow LFO and there you go. You have three "normal" channels/voices for notes, then one specific "chord" channel (3 or 4 note-chords), for that you can use the chord "sequencer" but even if you don't use that "sequencer" (officially it's called chord progression sequencer) it still runs fantastic and putting some input in that sequencer is easier than eating an apple. It's not in a way that you have to put single notes for that chord sequencer, just a few settings, removing / adding only a few notes in a few chord steps and there you go.

The part I like most of the Sinfonion is the Arpeggio, just plug the clock into it, use the 1 V/oct output to connect it to one of your nicest oscillator sounds you got and the Sinfonion is doing the rest for you, playing chords, melodies (well kind of, created either by those 3 voice-channels and/or by the arpeggio), whatever you want. If you get a little bit less lazy than 100% (so let's say being lazy at 95%) then with once and a while pressing a button you change the sound, note, chord, arpeggio, transposition and all the other things I most likely forgot.

You can let sound it all nicely in-tune or if you want to let it sound not too perfect you use the detune option and there goes your nice sounding sounds to smithereens ;-)

The Sinfonion is quite complicated but the manual is written pretty good with quite some humour, so it's easy to read through, follow the simple steps mentioned there and you got most likely what you want (and way beyond that).

The user interface is very friendly and once you have gone once through the manual, you need that manual only for a few special settings but most of the time it's easy, not much to remember, no serious menu diving, most is just one-level, with a few exceptions I think (like factory reset or something like that, but the often used options is just pressing one button and then you can select what you want).

You have assignable "things" like: 4 CVs that you can assign, 2 inputs, 2 outputs and... nice one: two pot-meters that you can assign to parameters you like to change with them.

Oh yes, make sure you got enough voices that you can "feed" the Sinfonion with, that's perhaps the only con (beside the price) of this fantastic thing: The Sinfonion is like a black hole, it absorbs (and requires) all your modules you have in your rack; it's for medium till large environments. So if you just have two oscillators you might just not have enough "food" for the Sinfonion to feed it and keep it happy ;-) You need 8 voices: 3 for those normal channels, then 4 (so a quad VCO is perfect for the job; I am using here the Doepfer A-111-4 for the chords, these two go quite well together) for the chord channel and a voice for the arpeggio. I guess you can start with 6 voices and in the future grow to 8 voices, starting with using just one normal channel first; but 6 voices is the minimum I would advice to go for. If you don't have a quad VCO yet, you could even start with 5 voices, 3 voices for the chords then, 1 for the arpeggio and 1 (to start with) for one of those three normal channels.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Lugia,
Yes, you right about the process of design.
But I think that they make the process of this way, for being a part of the crowdfunding paltaform to go ahead with the project.
Honestly, the design of the piece looks really strong and functional, I trust the Nordic industrial vision. Look like Elektron product.
I decided to be part of Backers and trust in the work of these guys. Lets take a chance for good design.
We will see Lugia, really appreciate your opinion. Maybe Beatstep Pro form Arturia be the most similar product.
Cheer Lugia!!
Great regards,
Pablo

Niiiiice!

Hey peeps. My goal for modular is having a box for processing and sound design that I'm not really looking to ever have to use as a standalone system.

My main wants are processing modules and sound sources for sound designing and adding effects to techno projects or bass music in general.

Let me know if anything seems odd given those goals, this is my first setup I've designed and it has gone through many iterations.

I'm planning on just starting out with the ES-9 and the BIA (with the Morphagene hopefully following soon after).

Thanks for any feedback,
murals._..

Not yet, it's not. The site lists the CV/gate/vel and clock I/Os as a stretch goal, not available in the present version. And this was probably a big mistake on the developers' parts, given the amount of similar devices available that have that connectivity already.

It's not that this wouldn't be a useful device, mind you...I just think that the developers should've considered that connectivity from the beginning, not as an afterthought.

Thanks for listening!

Note to Self:

The O-CTRL lacks a quantizer, so I would need to add one to my rack. PNW cannot quantize inputs - only its own internal waves. I would probably want Sumdif if I add BIA so I don't have to mix it through the W/D knob of Morphagene or Arbhar. Trying to mix that way would be annoying and make it difficult to add effects to Morphagene or Arbhar output, alone. Therefore, this is really the minimum viable setup for adding BIA. This setup has 11 powered modules. Apparently I can add another ribbon cable to add the 11th module, but I would have to verify this.

EDITED Jun 15th 2020, 19:48

Here we got a new Midi controller, at the Kickstarter backer support.
I think that it is interesting to integrate whit modulars. They included recently CV/Gate whit pitch and velocity.
Take a look at the project...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/torsoelectronics/t-1-expressive-algorithmic-midi-sequencing/posts/2865472

Maybe a new flavor for modulars.

Cheers.
Pablo

CV/Gates on T-1
23 hour left

So, If anyone interested
Take a look
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/torsoelectronics/t-1-expressive-algorithmic-midi-sequencing/posts/2878481

EDITED Jul 7th 2020, 12:36

A quick Youtube of the current patch

I basically need a device that let's me create melodies without me having to have an idea about the melody first. And I need something that doesn't play like a piano or whatever.

I've watched tons of videos about the Varigate 4+ and it does what I want. The Conductive Labs NDLR would be great and maybe even better, but I can't buy it anywhere.

The Squarp Pyramid is a nice device, but again I have to punch in every single note for every step and then start playing around for each step. I can do all of these things with my current devices allready, as they all have 16step sequencers integrated.

Thks for sharing your experience and take time to write full explanation. I will try to use hosa cable (maybe Doepfer Adapter Cable 6.3/3.5 mm) to plug directly on soundcraft epm8. Maybe the release of the doepfer 130-8 octo vca mixer from doepfer could be also a gamechanger (or quad vca slim version to use output separatly and pan on soundcraft).

First of all, a disclaimer about taking my advice too seriously: I still consider myself to be very much in the amateur, or even hobbyist, category. Which is to say I don't have any official musical production training/education. I take my personal research very seriously and do my best to honor the knowledge and history that is shared here, but I'm no expert. So this is personal opinion.

That said, I am happy to share my experience. My personal modular system ended up like this:

And there are three very important pieces of external gear that go along with it:

• Digitakt - primary beats and clock source and sequencing
• SH01a - bass lines and chords
• Soundcraft Signature 12 MTK - mixer and audio interface to the computer

In the end I decided to relieve myself of doing beats in the modular because I would like to stick with only the Intellijel case. That's a combination of financial consideration + trying to force some constraints on myself so I maximize my use of what I have. The Digitakt also has the added bonus of its 8 MIDI tracks, which means I can use it to sequence my 3 modular sound sources (as you can see, there are 3 oscillators in there: Basimilus, Akemie's, Plaits), plus the SH01a. Which brings me to the mixer...

The sounds I like are very often crunchy, so I am OK with a not-perfect and not-pristine sound. So I did end up just going directly from the modular outputs into the mixer, also with 3.5mm to 1/4" hosa cables like @jburzy01 says above. I agree with the comments by @chaosnick above, but again, I am amateur hour here, so the sound is "good enough for rock and roll" for me. That's not to say I'm not tone obsessed, just that I have a pragmatic streak and don't kid myself that I am working with a professional studio. As an amateur, if I wanted to work towards clarity, I'd probably just stay entirely in the computer and DAW. That said, the "Peak" LED on the mixer does not light up on tracks from the modular. I have input gain buried to the left (i.e., as low as it goes) for most modules going in. Occasionally, I'll raise the input gain from the Erbe-Verb.

So generally, I have the Digitakt always going into the 9/10 stereo input channel. I always have my Chronoblob going into the other primary stereo input channel, 7/8, because it does stereo delays. And then one of the mono inputs gets the SH01a, say mixer track 6. After that, I usually have tracks 1-3 coming from the modular corresponding to patches using the Basimilus, Akemie's and Plaits. Then what I really like to do is feed the dry signals from any of these sound sources (Digitakt, SH01a, modular synth patches) via the mixer's sends back to the modular via the Intellijel Audio I/O to the Chronoblob or Erbe-Verb. And then I send the Erbe-Verb's outs directly to the mixer's mono tracks 4 and 5, which are hard-panned left and right, respectively. I also do similar things with sending a drum beat via one of the mixer's sends to the case, to the QPAS and back to the mixer.

Finally, the fact that the "MTK" version of this Soundcraft mixer has the multitrack USB connectivity to my computer, it is my interface to record directly into Ableton as discreet tracks.

This setup works for me, but the Basimilus is a pretty gritty FM sound, the Akemie's has its wonderfully, notoriously dirty/gritty sine waves an my favorite BHDSP2 patch is the granular delay. So I'm already in a slightly fuzzed out sonic space. If you are going for very clean/accurate sounds, you may want to focus more on some of the suggestions above regarding modules that step down to line level. I have kept @Lugia's comments to heart in case I get to the point where I feel it would be worthwhile to get more accurate sound.

But I spend many happy hours here for now...

I’m no expert since I don’t actually own one, but I’m almost certain what you described can be achieved with the Squarp Pyramid I already mentioned.

Also, the Varigate is a fantastic module but it doesn’t do what you seem to think it does. At this point, my suggestion would be to do a lot more research about existing midi sequencers you consider easy enough to purchase, reading product manuals carefully and what not, as well as reading about basic modular concepts such as gates vs CV etc, and probably also have a look at a few 1st rack advice threads on this forum which contain a ton of answers to many usual questions.

I'm new too, but I think what you want to do may be accomplished by routing your sound signal to a VCA audio input, and routing the ADSR to the corresponding VCA voltage input. So, VCO->Korgasmatron->VCA input, and ADSR->VCA CV input. Try it anyway. That stereo mixer looks nice.

At the moment I use Ableton and some Max-Plugins to create random melodies that I then feed into my Models:Samples or Cycles, but I would like something that doesn't require my PC. I've looked for standalone random melody boxes, that could simply send a midi-signal into my Model:Samples or Cycles, but such a thing does'nt exist.
-- jrs77

Sure it does: https://conductivelabs.com/ It's capable of that and a lot more besides; I have and use one myself.

-- Lugia

Projects like these I've found others aswell, but none of them are comercially available products, so I can't buy one of them. The newest of these interesting projects is the Torso T-1, but it's aswell only a kickstarter project so far.

EDITED Jun 14th 2020, 21:42

At the moment I use Max-Plugins in Ableton that create random patterns with a single mouse click (note, pitch and velocity), which I then modify to my liking and feed into my Model:Samples or Cycles through USB/Midi.
A standalone midi-device of this nature doesn't exist as far as I know, so I'm looking for the next best thing, which is something like the Varigate 4+, where I can simply play around with the sliders to create a "random melody".

Using the probability function and conditinal triggers doesn't help me that much, as I still need to first program note/pitch/velocity for each step on my Model:Samples or Cycles, beforehand.

So yeah, what I'm looking for is something that puts out random patterns/melodies within seconds of pressing a few knobs or pushing some sliders around, like on the Varigate 4+.

At the moment I use Ableton and some Max-Plugins to create random melodies that I then feed into my Models:Samples or Cycles, but I would like something that doesn't require my PC. I've looked for standalone random melody boxes, that could simply send a midi-signal into my Model:Samples or Cycles, but such a thing does'nt exist.
-- jrs77

Sure it does: https://conductivelabs.com/ It's capable of that and a lot more besides; I have and use one myself.

EDITED Aug 21st 2020, 17:04

The DOT is so far Fff.....lipping amazing under CV control, currently got it playing the 2hp Pluck & bell with a dirty Triangle wave sample stabbing in from the Disting, practically infinite percussion variation and still musical.

standalone random melody boxes, that could simply send a midi-signal into my Model:Samples or Cycles, but such a thing does'nt exist.
-- jrs77

That statement is too incomplete, as it stands it sounds incorrect. What is random melodies for you ? The moment the notes are generated, the length of the notes, the pitch of the notes, the velocity, all of that combined ?
Pretty sure that between the Elektron stuff, the Pyramid and others, one could achieve a lot of randomness in MIDI sequences without requiring to use Eurorack tools. Hell, I didn't even need anything when I was trying to achieve random patterns on my Elektron machines, clever use of probability and conditional trigs did the trick, I was able to achieve never repeating patterns with little effort. Did you try that, why doesn't it work for you ?
You're going to need to explain better what you want to achieve, "random melody" is not enough, also if we are to recommend a Euro setup to achieve your goals.

For now I just have just Clep diaz and loqueliq iteritas. The interfaces are clean and it is very easy to play live. Clep diaz is impressive, just 4hp with lot of modulation capabilities. I'm planning to expand my new case with lot of noise Engineering modules

Hi. Thanks for the answers.

At the moment I use Ableton and some Max-Plugins to create random melodies that I then feed into my Models:Samples or Cycles, but I would like something that doesn't require my PC. I've looked for standalone random melody boxes, that could simply send a midi-signal into my Model:Samples or Cycles, but such a thing does'nt exist.

I specifically look for something that can create random melodies on the fly by simply turning a few knobs or pushing a few sliders around, without having to program every note into the stepsequencer beforehand. That's why I like the idea of the Varigate 4+.
The Manther Growl is just the synth I chose for now, because it sounds nice, but I might add other synth-modules later on.

So my initial question still stands, if this setup would allow me to do what I intend.

Hi Mebitek,

I am glad you like your DFAM :-) From the video one can hear you are enjoying it! :-)

It's funny that you mention Noise Engineering modules... for some reason... I feel a bit scared of the modules of this brand, I don't know why, perhaps because of the... ehm... "weird" (?) front panels?

Could you please let me know why you love these modules so much? Is it the user interface, the sound, the... ? Whatever that overwhelms you? It would be interesting to know and perhaps it can take away my scared feelings about this brand?

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Ha, ha, I am afraid it was me talking about the user interface, big knobs and that kind of stuff, sorry for being so "bad" influencer ;-)

Nevertheless, I am excited and can't wait for your next demo video where you show us what you can do with the 103 from ADDAC :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: Removed a typo.

EDITED Jun 14th 2020, 20:05

Hi Mebitek,

Interesting sounds and experiments you got there! :-)

Thanks a lot for sharing and also thank you very much for the details on your sound details, always welcome to read.

Kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

Thanks so much for your feedback!!! I have the dfam since one week and I like so much how it sounds. I'm falling in love with noise Engineering modules too

Hi Mebitek,

Interesting sounds and experiments you got there! :-)

Thanks a lot for sharing and also thank you very much for the details on your sound details, always welcome to read.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Funbun,

Ha, ha, well chosen name for your computer, I love the name :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sislte & Family,

Wow, nice dirty sound indeed! I love this demo video and sound, some real fun sounds and nice overview video of your rack!

Looks like the entire family is involved in the goodies :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

The track is my first experimentation with Moog DFAM and my custom eurorack system.

The video is a tribute of the 1993 experimental movie "Engineering Red" (Конструктор красного цвета) directed by Andrey I from which I take some footage parts and mixed with performance eurorack modular visuals.

never stop modular experimentation

Patch notes:
- Drums: DFAM (kick + snare), Pico Drum (hit-hats)
- Sequencer: Beatstep Pro (lead, hats, snare)
- Main Voice: DPO
- Bass: DFAM
- FX and ambient voices: Loquelic Iteritas through QPAS and micro clouds, morphagene custom reel, Telharmonic, DPO final through Echophon
- reverb: Erb-verb
- Main modulation: Clep Diaz
- additional modulations: Maths, Function, Wooglebug, micro o_C, Pressure Points, rené

Feedback and comments welcome

EDITED Jun 14th 2020, 20:00

toodee is spot on here. This is one of those examples where modular is NOT the solution.

While it seems like modular is the Royal Road to raw sonic power, it's often the case that one can cobble up something in modular that doesn't work as well as an off the shelf patchable and which also winds up costing considerably more than that not-as-sexy solution. Small systems are especially prone to this problem, notably ones in which users try and populate very small cabs. But the REAL use for those, tbh, is to allow for expanding existing systems with a few specific modules. Think a Maths might beef up your MS-20 mini? That's what those minicases are for. But when you house a voice module in one, add the cost of the cab, one or two possibly (or not) useful additional modules, you often find that all that's happened is that you've replicated the functionality of an existing off-the-shelf solution for sometimes twice the money. Not good.

Here's a suggestion...when doing a build on MG, I'll start off TOO big, then start reducing the setup until I've arrived at a minimum for what result I'm looking for. But at the same time, if you can keep reducing things to the point where you're arriving at a result that's comparable to (but more expensive than) an off the shelf device, go with the off-the-shelf device. You'll often find that the same amount of money spent on the modular will get you MORE power from those, since the cost of one modular solution can often come in at twice (or worse) the amount of similar patchables, etc.

Sent some Model:Cycles into the RK2 (and one output to Synthrotek DIRT Filter). Filthy suff!

It's also a cool filter. The Dot looks very interesting.

Chris Mayer discusses this in his "feeding the monster" videos. It depends on what signal a mixer accepts, this varyes from one mixer to the next.

EDITED Jun 14th 2020, 18:39

Hi !

Don't take this the wrong way but this rack is essentially a much less capable and more expensive version of the desktop Manther. I quickly read the product page for the desktop version and it seems it's capable of randomizing its sequences, amongst many other features that are missing from the above rack, so if your goal is 'only' to get the sound of Manther and random sequences while playing nice with the rest of your Elektron-based setup, I'd say the desktop version would be better suited for that rather than getting a small rack like the one above. Maybe the Elektronauts forum has a thread on the Manther where people share their experiences with Manther + Elektron machines ? You can also get randomness from some sequencers such as Squarp Pyramid paired with any synth of your choice.
I suggest reading this excellent thread before going further: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/3579
Make sure Eurorack is the answer to what you seek before making such investment, it is wonderful on many levels but can also be a sub-par solution for many situations too. For the same money the rack above would cost, you can get a desktop Manther AND a Behringer semi-modular to start playing with patch cables if you also want to do that (and those usually have MIDI I/O so they can play nice with your other stuff).
If you're curious about what Eurorack is and what it offers, the thread I suggest above also offers some perspective on that but there also was another created after which looks at the subject from a different standpoint: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/8681

I hope I was able to offer you some perspective and food for thoughts as my goal is to get you the most for your money ;-)

Have a good one.

D.

A Note to GarfieldModular and Defragmenteur.

I've gone for the Big Knobs and ordered a 103! I've already got a lot of small knobbed modules..... who knows though, if I enjoy the 103 enough, maybe a 104 later.
I've just started playing with the DNIPRO DOT and it looks like it's going to be the perfect companion.

I'm sure I have one of you to blame for big Knobs! ha

Hello,
I have the same question, what's your conclusion ? For instance I still want to use mackie or soundcraft mixer, but i'm not sure how to out signals.
Best.

Thx! Frankenputer is the name of my computer. IT has no case. It's just wires and parts bolted together; therefore, it looks like something Dr. Frankenstein to have made.

Hello there. I found interest in modular synths due to the fact that I could'nt find anything that would allow me to create rather random melodies. so I came up with the idea of a small modular synth that I can pair with my stuff from Elektron.

I don't know if I'd actually need the SYNC module, or if I could just send the clock from my Model:Samples or Cycles into the CLK IN of the Varigate. Also I'm not sure if I'd be able to get sound out of this system with my chosen modules, as I don't see how the Manther Growl would connect to the intellijel Outs.

Basically I want to use the external clock from my Model:Samples or Cycles to set the tempo and then have the Varigate 4+ to control the Manther Growl. The sound would then need to go into my mixer.

Any help is apreciated.

Hi Carl,

Thanks for the details on that bass. Wow, I am a bit jealous. Once and a while I hear some interesting stuff about Pittsburgh but where I live in Germany most of the dealers let go the Pittsburgh brand, no idea why but it means I can't try it out and even just buying it blind is getting difficult since you barely can get it... pity my modular life has to be some longer without Pittsburgh I am afraid.

Have a good weekend and kind regards, Garfield.

Thanks Kel!

Hi Carl,

That's very nice indeed! I tried to reply to you yesterday already but for some weird reasons I couldn't send posts/replies; hopefully that works now again.

I admire that almost crystal and clear sound you got there! At almost exactly 1:00 there kicks in some quite deep sound, what's that? I mean how did you manage to make that?

I look forward in hearing more from you and kind regards, Garfield Modular.
-- GarfieldModular

Thanks ! The bass is made with the Pittsburgh Oscillator V2, into a Lider for suboctave, and filtered out with the Pittsburgh Modular FLTR. Glad ya dig it!

Hi Mowse,

Bloody Nora! This is some nice & heavy exciting music, I like it quite a bit :-)

If every time when you clean up something in your setup something like this nice comes out of it, then please keep on cleaning up your setup ;-)

Thanks a lot for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Funbun,

Wow, a complete album, well done!

Does Frankenputer means anything (sorry my English isn't very good) or is it a name? He, he, you are pulling all the registers there with this track :-) Of your... I guess AE modular system, right? Nice!

Thank you very much for sharing and kind regards, Garfield.