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And in action with VCV on my mac doing end of chain processing!

Here it is in real life!

This rack is going to be used while travelling. A few notes on the choices:

• I bought the ES-8 to replace a broken AC/DC. It's 2hp bigger but has lots more I/O, which I need because I'm combining it with VCV on my PC. Still waiting for it to arrive. Worst case I need to take my ES-9, in which case the Electus should have to go.
• Droid will be there for sequencing and modulation. Still learning it, but despite my trepidation about the workflow, I'm starting to see the advantages of quickly creating something in there that is controllable with the buttons and knobs.
• bOSC and Plaits(Ro'ved) for sound generation. I usually like Thermo Nuclear or Doppio for overdrive but added a cDVCA here, which should arrive together with my ES-8.
• The Doepfer 8x VCA is there purely for saving space. I like Veils 2020, but decided to go for this. I already have Duatt+Vasat below for the knobs if I need to, or to patch feedback...
• SHTH is there mainly to fill the remaining 10hp ;) Always nice to have a noise source, though!

Very nice and simple patch! Of course, being generative, it lacks the sense of direction of actual pieces of Glass. But it's quite inspiring to already get this result without adding compositional direction. Very cool!

One thing I've found that works well is multing the envelope that opens the vca for the kick, sending it to, say, Maths ch. 2, attenuverting it ( 9 oclock dial position), taking the INV out to the vca for the basslines, to get a nice "ducking" effect.

Yes, I've done it with a basic Intelligel Quadratt as well. Works very well. Though it's worth experimenting with the envelope and whether the VCA is linear/exponential to see what the effect is. I use a compressor in my iPad for sidechaining which also gives plenty of possibilities. I like the witch house exaggerated ducking, which is hard to achieve by using the original kick envelope.

For me, there's a difference between modular synths and guitars in the same way that there's a difference between experimental and pop music. Or an outside comparison - go and chess. The former is small and the latter is big. That causes the communities of the former to be rather close-knit everybody knows one another kind of places whereas the latter are rather anonymous. So when a bully enters, the latter will shrug and go on minding their business. Whereas the former will close ranks and protest. There's more at stake than pure business. When Behringer clones current products of existing companies, they're threatening the livelihoods of well respected members of the community and, in many cases, friends.

So while I prefer having correct information on what a module does in the module's page, I consider it to be essential information as well when it's a rip-off.

I am contemplating using a basic VCO to design my own kicks.

You can do that easily with any basic vco. Plug a decay into V/Oct and another decay for the vca. Trigger them together. Works pretty well! Using two separate decays gives you more flexibility to scale both level and length of the V/Oct decay.

That being said, I can recommend the Can I Kick It module from Skull&Circuits very highly. It has two of these circuits. You can control the V/Oct and VCA decays separately, but also cross-modulate them for more fun. It's a very good sounding modules with a bone piercing kick. There's also a pitch in. While it's not V/Oct, with some scaling I managed to use it as a bass synth

EDITED Dec 16th 2023, 08:05

The side chain idea...is that a type of "ducking"?
-- Jukeshoe

It's frequently used like that, yes. Suppose you have a bass line and a kick drum. If you sidechain compress the bass against the kick, the bass will typically duck when the kick hits.

EDITED Dec 13th 2023, 19:30

I just got the ES-9 Eurorack Audio + CV Interface - can I just use it to mix inline and use the audio ins and out without going to the iPad - as in like in inline Mixer module - or is the entire purpose to use the ES-9 to get audio out as an audio interface?

-- Gonkeroo

There is a mixer built into the ES-9 that would allow you to do that. But it's really hard to understand how to configure it. And the most obvious way to control it is via a web interface on a computer, which is cumbersome. Also, it's not a live mixer where you can move a slider and it takes effect immediately: you change the settings, then you upload it to the ES-9 to take effect. So while possible in theory, I would strongly advise against it!

EDITED Dec 13th 2023, 19:29

I fully agree with Jim here. Space for the knobs works well, so the original size is great. There is one exception I would make. If you have a 1U row, get the Ro'ved from Plum Audio. It offers a few modifications, like built-in S&H on the CV inputs, and the concentric push knobs work really well. For 3U, stay with the original size.

Hi wrna1! Please provide a link to your rack if you want comments on it. With a link, we can browse the rack and the individual modules.

For my Palette 62, I got a Befaco AC/DC. It has 4 ins and 4 outs, so 4 to PC and 4 back to modular. I like its size and functionality, but I need to say it's very noisy. I found this out the hard way and found discussions about it on the forums as well. I contacted Befaco about it but no reply yet. But if you can live with that (which I can, because the Befaco is in it only when I'm out of the house on holiday and taking only the Palette case), the Befaco is a nifty small module that's not too deep for the Palette cases.

I'm in the processing of building a small drum box myself, which you can find here:

Take note - it's a very small case. I would not advise that at all to anybody starting with modular. My advise is usually to start small with the modules, but big with the case. Mantis or 7U, as mentioned above.

The Constellation is also a Euclidean sequencer, but next level. You can layer Euclidean patterns in many different ways that I don't understand yet myself. So the purpose of this very small rack is to focus myself on getting to know that sequencer.

I'm quite a fan of the Rample. 4 channels of samples. Mostly drums, some complete drum breaks, some silly or crazy, some very useful but not drum at all (e.g. piano or a singer). Ro'ved, which is a Plaits clone, is also interesting for drums, particularly when combined with Traffic. I'm definitely getting that module at a later date. Note the FX Aid also and the filter. Those are a bare minimum for any rack. You really want some sort of reverb to add presence, or a delay. FX Aid has plenty of those. There may be better ones out there, but FX Aid is a very good starter module. You can make your own selection of effects and play with them for a while, then select new effects to get to know those.

I've also added a sample-and-hold. This AfterLater one, or the Intellijel Noise Tools, are very handy in 1U. Of course you can find other modules in 3U as well. With S&H, you can add some variance to your sound so they sound less robotic.

Approved! 6:40 is perfection.
-- FredFoxtrott

Thank you! Many people seem to like the fuzzy reverby feedbacky bit at the end ;)

Here's a live jam I recorded today. Some patch notes:

• Mixing and recording in AUM on the iPad. I just set it up for send busses. So several sounds now go through my FX Aid lo-fi reverb at the same time. The main synth that starts the track and the bass line go through Electus Versio. All of this is of course orchestrated through an ES-9.
• Bass - Ensemble. Main synth - bOSC (CEM3340). Icy second main synth in the break - Klavis Twin Waves. Noise - Error Instruments Tele Blender Asia version.
• Bass line generated with Zadar. Icy synth sequenced with Transient 8s. Main synth is S&H through an attenuator and quantiser. Drums with a combination of PNW and RCD + Pico RND.

What do you think?

I can only agree with all of this. First, to get the matter over with, if they bring AI to photography, I'm moving back to analog. Heck, that's what I did with music to a large extent already anyway!

Second, about the module purchases. I haven't even started building my large rack (planning 14U 168hp) yet, though I've asked one quote from a builder which wasn't bad. And I've already noticed the slowdown. My most recent oscillator is an Ensemble, which is quite something different. I see a few effects and small sequencers could be interesting, but they're not urgent. And indeed, utilities multiplying the possibilities. My most recent purchase is a Pico RND and a rotating clock divider - both are quite intriguing and just bring out more of what I already have. So instead of utilities being the base on which I build a system, it may actually be the other way round. Oscillators and effects are the base on which I can build stuff using utilities. I've gotten far more creativity out of PNW or Zadar than out of any sound source module so far. Best thing - it's frequently cheaper to buy utilities and cables than to buy those "hero" modules like sound sources, fancy filters or effects.

I really like Electus Versio as well. It can go really long and you have a useful knob to go between clean delay and reverb.

Next on my list are Mimeophon and Frequency Central Stasis Leak.

I need more mults
-- AEROCATONE

You should try the Moffenzeef System Bus Mult. It would work great in combination with the above rack. See Oh, and I love the (almost) clean black/silver divide!

Don't forget the Wackel Kontakt! It's a 2x4 multiple but who knows if it will work?
-- Arrandan

OMG! Problem solved.
Space Clowns rejoice!!!
-- AEROCATONE

I got one for free with another module. Obviously, the Wackel is my favorite module ever! And I haven't even used is as a multiple yet!

EDITED Aug 9th 2023, 11:29

Don't forget the Wackel Kontakt! It's a 2x4 multiple but who knows if it will work?

imho veils
-- ferranadsr

I agree. I have one original and 2x the After Later clone. I wanted to buy something like a Tesseract Sweet16 but that wasn't available. I already had the OG Veils & added the two clones. Great as a VCA, with offset, lin/exp control and a decent amp in it, and great as a controller for live.

Thanks for spending the time to advise - it seems that even at this early stage I have not made the best choices as far as what I have purchased.

That's entirely normal and part of the exploration! Because that's what modular is. You don't buy a prefab instrument that goes "pling" when you pull a string or press a key. You buy a rack because you'll be adding modules as you explore the possibilities of synthesis.

The initail idea was to begin with 2 or 3 modules that would produce sounds that i could explore, have fun and expand on.
-- EuroBadger

Yeah, but as indicated above, 2-3 modules are very, very limited. It's like getting a small box of regular Lego blocks. Sure, you can build a little house with a basic roof. Roof tiles, wheels for a car, little men, ... All of those are extra purchases. Here too: Plaits is a very good starting point because of the built-in trigger. So learn it, then when you consider your next step (add a second sound at the same time? add drums? add an effect?), add modules. I started with I think just under 10 modules, just to get a few sounds going.

Welcome to the forum! Others will chime in as well but first - get a bigger case. Mantis gets advised often as it's pretty good value for money. You can say now you want to start small. But a modular setup grows and you'll be happy not to be stuck in 84hp after a few months. I can vouch for that - I wanted to start in 84hp and I'm at around 400hp now, a year and a half into it.

Then, about how modular works. To get a note, you need a trigger (note NOW please) and a note value. The Ladik 610 will give you some note values from the CV out. But it also needs a trigger in. So you'll need a clock source and/or sequencer of some kind. Take a look at Pamela's New Workout (or Pro Workout). It features a clock and several kinds of organised triggers. Call it a clock-and-sequencer if you like.

So now you have your Plaits clone getting a trigger and a note value. The good thing with Plaits is that it can take a trigger - it saves you some complexity of adding VCAs and envelope generators. Plaits output isn't ready to listen to, though. How are you going to listen? Headphones? Connect to the line in of an amp or powered speakers? In any case, you'll need an output module. I started with the Befaco Out, which I thought was a good little module. There's plenty of others, like the higher end Joranalogue Transmit 2 in case you need XLR out (you probably don't).

With those 4, you'll have a basic setup: triggering notes, setting the tone, and sending it out. You still don't have filters or effects. And with other oscillators, you'll need VCAs and envelopes. And there's a billion options for sequencing as well, internal as well as external (Beatstep Pro is a good starting place for an external sequencer for modular). But if you want to start really small, it will work fine and give you plenty to explore.

Hi,
Here's a dark ambient track I recorded live in my studio on 7 July. While I initially picked the name because I liked the sound (vanity!) I think the unease in the track reflects the dynamism quite well of the Greek concept of apeiron.

Created entirely on my modular synth, see below.

https://arrandan.bandcamp.com/track/anaximander-anaximenes

Spend time with what you have...
-- Dub007

This is always a very good suggestion. In my experience, if I want to make pop-techno-trance-EBM-ambient, I can do it with the same setup. That's 7U 104 + 6U 84hp. It's a matter of getting to know your gear.

Instead of waste your bucks to sequencers, envelopers, oscillators and clocks you don't need.
With respect, I read Pamela NW and René, what are they for dark-ambient?
Probably someone are convinced that's sh*t like Board of Canada or Aphex Twin....
-- RossMotus669

Rhythm may be of lesser importance in (dark) ambient but that doesn't mean it's entirely incompatible. For example, Atrium Carceri has plenty of tracks with implicit, or even subtly explicit, rhythm. A clock can be used to clock effects as well. You don't need to use it as a 4/4 beat only. For example, try an irregular Euclidean (e.g. 17/32) with some serious trigger dropping to get very irregular movement that doesn't seem completely out of place. I have PNW and just worked on a dark ambient track. For my previous track, I think I could've used a second one. But for this dark ambient one, I'm still using over half the outputs. As for sequencer - depends on what you want. Plenty of dark ambient uses plain piano melodies - nothing wrong with that. And don't forget the output of a sequencer is just a voltage. It's up to you if you use it for V/Oct, or filter cutoff, or delay times, or whatever you want. Add slew for fun and games.

EDITED Jul 8th 2023, 23:14

I had good results using a triangle wave for the clock signal as well. Because it doesn't have the sharp edge, it's inaudible. As a consequence, you can continue using the dry/wet mix of the FX Aid and you don't need to mix dry back in afterwards.

Hi Folks - Just wanted to post my latest recordings. This one is called A Hundred Lamentations and came about while exploring Schlappi Engineering's 100 Grit filter.
-- TumeniKnobs

Very cool stuff that makes me want the Schlappi. I have a thing for dark ambient. But there's so much that thinks it needs to sound like a remote ice planet. This one is abstract and I like it a lot for that. Are those Julia sets in the animation by any chance? Sure looks like some sort of fractal.
(edit: fixed the quote)

EDITED May 29th 2023, 08:34

Have you checked out Error Instruments? I've got his Tele Blender (red version) and I'm still trying to figure out what it is supposed to be precisely.

I started with a Beyerdynamic Lagoon that I got for my train commutes. It was pretty good cabled, far better than wireless. When it broke (crappy plastic construction) I looked at the typical Beyers for production. Very good cans. But I happened to audition an Audeze LCD-2 closed back and fell completely in love. It's big, heavy, comes with a crazy big flight case and I don't care because it's extremely transparent and does incredibly accurate stereo imaging. It's less neutral than my monitor speakers so it's a good double validation.

• "I see people constantly asking what they need for their rack and I don't really relate to that very well because to me you should just start with enough to make some noise and then when you want to do or try something but can't, that'll inform what you want/need real quick."

Yes, ^this exactly.

Yes, very true. I started out thinking it'd be nice to get some analog tunes going with some noise added for percussion. Think the SID of the Commodore 64. That very quickly changed when I started using it and I added a Rample for sampled drums. I expanded based on what I needed after that. When somebody asks advice about their rack and "what to add next", it's more an opportunity to exchange ideas and options. With modular, nothing is set in stone anyway.

-"the point is not to use it all at once - it's like having a bunch of guitars/pedals, it just gives you more options"

I'm guilty of over-patching in an attempt to "use everything" but that's more an attempt at "learning" through trial and error than a "music production" aesthetic....and after my first few months of patching I've come around to the "less is sometimes more" aspect of not patching the kitchen sink each and every time.

Depends on what you have. If you have 1 oscillator and 20 effects, yeah, you'd probably not want to use it all at once. However, I have more voices than effects, so I end up using all my effects almost all of the times, but not using all my voices. I try to make full tracks, my synth is not an accompaniment to a band or something like that. So I go as much all-out as I need to go to get the result I want.

-"I did have a strong vision for my music, I think that's what a lot of people are missing and maybe what makes the journey more confusing for a lot of people."

And this is key. Modular is a major distraction from music-making, IF you don't know how to funnel your energies in order to harness the tools at your disposal.
-- Jukeshoe

Yes, modular can be very distracting very quickly. I found DAW to be even worse, actually, as it's all right there available on the same screen. With modular, when I'm patching the synth and building tracks, I'm undistracted by anything that is not right there.

I never played a guitar for real myself, but I know things can get weird quickly when a guitar friend of mine (35+ years and counting) asked if he could buy my BeatStep Pro. Right. It's one of those "do boundaries even exist" moments. He's got about 20 guitars as well. Another friend tried to replace his rack of pedals by a one-does-it-all model ("Look, now my pickup is 30cm beyond the neck!"), only to find that other do-it-all models did other things.

Yeah, modules are very hard to grasp for non-modular people. Even if somebody is familiar with pedals, something like a VCA, panning scanner or modulation source (Orbit 3 for the win!) are completely alien. I just got the Error Instruments Tele Bender and I find I can't describe it in words to anybody who asks what it does. But it's so much fun! It gets even better because it's extremely pretty and looks like an obscurantis 19th century magick device from China (I got the red one), and only 30 will ever be made. I bought it to shock my fellow modular friends, partly at least.

In the meantime, I feel like modular is really making me think in components that connect together. I tried hooking up my Argon8 to my modular, which I succeeded in easily, but I had a hard time wrapping my head around all the capabilities in that synth. There's so much in there, coming at me all at the same time! I feel I'm already starting to find Bastl modules like Pizza and Ikarie hard to get because they do so much. They should just chop it up into 3 or 4 modules. Or make them 20hp wide instead of 8

I think there is such a thing as “finished” if you want it to be…that’s what my wife keeps telling me…
-- clivevass
Hahaha, my wife is just the same. She thinks it can be finished because she's not in it. As for her own projects - to me, many look finished, whereas for her, it's just the first step. It's a bit like guitar players. Some people think you buy a guitar and that's it. Except modular is worse, far worse ;-)

Or at least the cropping tool? (sounds less harsh than the trashcan!)
-- Moogul
Not for photography! As for music - it's built up of several components, so you could reuse that drum line for something else later. Btw, for my EP I published last week, I also had several ideas that I started on and dropped. Put differently than the trash can metaphor, selection is part of the creative process. Firmly off-topic by now ;-)

Thanks Arrandan, for listening and commenting. I did have a few doubts about the percussion, but by that point I had spent quite a lot of time setting up the drum modules and trigger sequencing, so didn't want to waste that effort!
-- Moogul

Hi Moogal! Never, ever let effort come between you and a better result. There is a saying in photography that the most important instrument of a good photographer is the trashcan. It should be similar for a musician ;-) Just a general remark, not specifically targeted at your piece here!

I have just published my 2nd EP, Major Triad.

https://arrandan.bandcamp.com/album/major-triad

It's an exploration of the notes C-E-G (do-re-sol), based on a study of three-note combinations that showed this trio to be pretty good in harmonics. The EP contains three tracks exploring this. As the base of the music is minimal (just three notes), the style has been kept minimal as well. The whole album was composed and played on a Eurorack synth, recorded on an iPad and mastered afterwards.

Released on Bandcamp today. By the way - on Friday it's Bandcamp Friday!

Nice demo of Fugue Machine and more. I've had my eye on it for a while but never got round to trying it out. Your video definitely shows that even with a tool like this, there is still an art in making a good fugue/canon. Being into classical music, I'm not sure the percussion should be needed ;-) I didn't know Disting Ex had a 4x Plaits mode. I'm traditionally not a fan of multi purpose modules. But I'm getting an O_C because it seems like the best option for a quantiser. I might need to check out the Disting Ex later on, too.

Great find, and great demo! I have 2 Versios but I'm really stuck on the Electus firmware. I tried most others and Ruina is nice but gets little use after I got my first tube overdrive (Frequency Central Thermo Nuclear). I recently tried Desmodus again and was quite disappointed. This one sounds like a great addition to the Versio series.

Or you can use your trigger to trigger an envelope, that triggers the drum. For example, with Zadar, you can set it to 10V with a block shape and you can choose (or cv) the length. For fun and games, you can use non-trivial envelopes. For example, Zadar has 4x or 8x an upward sine or saw. You can use that #or ratchetting. Remember, most modules trigger when a signal going up goes over a threshold. No reason to limit yourself to blocks. I've had fun with triangle waves and noise in several shapes (for irregular triggers).

EDITED Feb 18th 2023, 14:33

If you have the space, the Frequency Central Infinitely Maybe looks interesting. Gives you the option to S&H from something else than noise and you can use the noise for something else as S&H as well.

As for other modulation sources - why the (apologies) crazy 4hp limitation? My favorite is Joranalogue Orbit. It’s 10hp, granted, but it gives a very organic non-repetitive modulation source that I use in every track. I can’t remember a single day where I haven’t used it. I got it back when my Intellijel 104hp 7U was half full but it was one of the core modules that moved over to my smaller 84hp 6U rack that I have used on its own for a while. I couldn’t miss it. I’m sure others here have other larger than 4hp modules they have similar experiences with.

I'm very happy with the Zadar. It's basically a list of digital envelopes that you can chose from. Some of them look very ADSR-like, though the module doesn't support sustain with a gate or something like that. Instead, you get a huge variety of non-ADSR shaped envelopes. You can use CV to change duration, voltage (= attenuation) and many other skewing parameters. The only thing I’m missing is the Nin expander, so I could have 2 cvs per channel. Anyway. Short summary: 4 super flexible channels in 10 hp. I love it!

Good post! For my first DIY case, I nearly maxed out the power with a Konstant Labs StrongPWR. It most likely provides more power than I can ever use in a 2x 84hp case. Why did I do it? Well, it comes in a nice package deal with two filtered bus boards that instantly got rid of the hiss plaguing my Intellijel 7U case when connected to my iPad. Second - is it really that expensive indeed. I think €250 or thereabouts was well spent on peace of mind.

What Jim says! I started out almost year ago and, with his advice, I got myself an Intellijel 7U 104hp case. He actually advised a Mantis, which is much cheaper but has no 1U row. I built a second case (DIY) in the meantime without 1U and I have to admit I don't miss it. I'm using only half of it on the 7U anyway. In any case (haha, get it? case!) a bigger case is very advisable because as soon as you're adding a few modules, you'll curse the fact that you have to buy a bigger one. Might as well get that bigger one right now.

Plaits and Beatstep Pro is what I also started with, and a CEM3340 based analog oscillator. Plaits is a bit of a taster menu. Lots of modes to try out, e.g. a bit of FM, a bit of wavetable, a bit of physical modeling, and so on. When you want to go further, you can get a specific module in that area later on.

Let it dry, then try it. Of you can't see if it's really dry, 2 days should be enough. Don'ttry to force it with hair dryers etc, which may damage it. I've seen coke end up on a keyboard and after drying, it worked again (though the keys were very sticky with all the sugar)

I just added this module to ModularGrid:
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/other-unknown-bela-io-gliss-

I found the discussion on MW where it's getting a lot of interest. The developer is really listening to what people have to say. For example, some found issue with the connectors at the bottom on a controller. The developer decided to implement an upside-down usage mode. Consider me interested as well!

That's a hell of a disciplined way to learn, wow. Those are cool tracks, by the way!

Thanks! It takes a bit of discipline, yes, but the reward is very large indeed. It also buys me a lot of freedom as I hardly feel any attachment to what I make. Which allows me to do crazy stuff, like today's experiment with a 5-beat rhythm. That's completely new for me, so a quick track later I know a bit more of the possibilities.

For some occasions, I leave the patch a bit longer. For example, there was a modular meet on Sunday. I started the patch I presented there on Thursday and worked on it until Saturday, leaving it intact for the day after. That's something I've been considering exploring more of. Building up a number of elements, then recording it as a jam. I notice it allows me to explore more complex patches and song structure.

For me it's a bit different. To keep myself away from TV, I committed myself to making a new track every day. So every evening, I pull all the patch cables and start from scratch. 2-3 hours later, I post the result on SoundCloud. I've been doing that since March. I can tell you, it's a very fast way to learn a lot about patching techniques.

Hey Blobby! Good that you replied. I realise now that I forgot to let y'all know how it went so far. I have both the Metal-O-Tron and the Can I Kick It module. You are very right that it's not your standard kick. Fortunately, the large hp count was used very well indeed, on both modules. The maker has refrained from making everything CVable, which looks like a shame at first, but the choices he made work very well.

Here's a few sound examples. First, the basic sound of the Metal-O-Tron. You can hear it at the start of this track. I'm just CVing the filter cutoff here. You can also do decay modulation via CV, e.g. for an open/closed hat effect.

The Metal-O-Tron has an audio in (handy to run another sound through the built-in VCA) and an XOR in. I didn't really get what it did until I ran into the maker of the module by accident. I asked him why there wasn't a CV for the four OSC knobs at the bottom. We had an interesting back-and-forth about how useful that would be, as they are quite sensitive in the upper regions. So I said it'd be cool to change the pitch with it. He pointed out I could do that by sending a pitched OSC into the XOR in. That's what you hear in this one:

Both the long gong-like sound and the 'ta-ta-ta-tak' at the start of the track are the Metal-O-Tron. They are differently pitched. If you listen carefully, you'll hear that the 'ta-ta-ta-tak' also changes pitch. The XOR in takes the output of a bOSC CEM3340 sine output which I use to change that pitch. I'm sending the velocity of the Oxi sequencer to the delay CV to make the gong long and the others short.

The Can-I-Kick-It is fun as well. Mine has a defect where the output volume is around 10dB too low, but I'm getting another one in the mail soon. In the meantime, I have been sending it through Ruina Versio which has a handy trigger able +12dB boost. But of course, that's distorted, which is kind of the purpose of the Ruina in the first place...

The kick has a pitch input, but it doesn't track V/Oct. I work around that by attenuating a V/Oct by around 80%. It then does track reasonably well. It's a little bit fiddly (scale with the attenuator, offset with the pitch knob on the module) but it's good enough for some simple work. It's also got a nice decay mod, i.e. the sort of pitch decay you get on traditional sine based kick drums, and much more. Here's an example of the kick following the pitch of the bass line. It steps in around 0:42. As it's -10dB, use headphones for best effect! The metal sound that starts at 0:14 is the Metal-O-Tron. I played the decay by hand during recording.

Overall, I'm very happy with both modules. I wanted deeper drum modules and it's exactly what I got.

I use an ES-9 to send everything to my iPad, where I use AUM to mix it. AUM can also add effects, side chain compression, etc, so I'm finding it very flexible. With it, you can record each track separately. I also send everything to a mix bus, on which I apply a final EQ (removing hiss if necessary, for example), and I record that as well for publication.

Very well done! I really like Bach and I really like modular, so this is a very holy combo. And so is the atmosphere. Nice square cases, btw, are they DIY?

Great tips from Joris above. I'm using an ES-9 myself (kinda like a big ES-8) to send all my channels separately to my iPad. I guess you can do the same on a PC/mac. Put each in a channel strip, then add any EQ or sidechain compression you like. I worked with a basic Ladik mixer and Befaco out before, but when I finally switched to AUM (audio mixer on iPad), it was a revelation. The ES-9 also has outs, so I send the mix back from iPad to the ES-9 where I can send it out to speakers or headphone. Having every channel in a channel strip setup also allows me to add a few effects when I run out of effect modules