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Hi TumeniKnobs,

thank You for your kind words. The Starlab is the most appelling reverb I had so far. Its very lush and I hope to get some more ambient stuff out of it :)...

Best,
jingo

Great jam Bruno! Thanks for sharing.

Great stuff as usual, Mowse. I too am really enjoying having Nautilus in the rack. I finally found something to be a viable alternative to Mimeophon for cool delay based effects, but clearly Nautilus offers more delicious weirdness. FXAid Pro and Chronoblob are good, but not as good. Thanks for sharing.

Hi all,

I've been dipping my toes into modular for about a year and a half now, and am starting to think about expanding into a serious system. I've been eyeing the Case from Lake resealable 15u 126 hp model (https://www.casefromlake.com/product-page/15u-126-hp-84-104-or-other-eurorack-portable-case-powered-patched-resealable) as being sufficient for me to build a rack without too many sacrifices (no harm in dreaming big and pretending I have the funds). I put together the linked rack to see if this is the direction I want to head.

Goals of the rack:
1) Be interactive and playable.
2) Able to perform hands-off generative music.
3) Be a versatile multi-voice instrument with lots of sound mangling possibilities.
4) Be self-contained when needed, and able to connect with external gear as needed.

Planning the rack:
1) Making it interactive - I figured the "playing surface" would be the outside perimeter (rows 1 and 5 and the exteriors of the inner rows), as the inner rows would hard to access once patched. I added joysticks and some macro-controllers, and placed the more wiggle-able modules on the perimeter o make it more playable.
2) Grouping by function - I have a general pattern starting with sequencers and midi in the bottom left, moving up to inputs and drums and then triggers and gates and randomness in the center. Above that are modulators and then the voices on the top left. Moving to the top right, there are audio manipulators, below that are envelopes and the like. The center right will be the main output area, with mixers and effects and such. The bottom right has more modulators and other interactive modules. Utilities are sprinkled throughout.

Questions:
1) Am I thinking along the right track for an instrument that will meet my goals?
2) Am I missing anything important, or are there better/more available modules for the job?
3) Are there redundancies and modules I can remove to reclaim hp?
4) Do you have suggestions on other ways to organize the rack to make it a coherent and playable instrument?

Thanks a bunch everyone!

Excellent! I love this kind of thing. Starlab sounds super lush here. Thanks for sharing.

hello
i am wondering if we can use the time warp module as a shuffle generator by sending a trigger in the input and have different value of swing by turning the corresponding rate knob?

thank you
-- croute

It would be very cumbersome to do this as time warp is a slew, not a gate delay. There are some great gate delay modules out there that would be a better fit for this. In theory, if you were using long enough gates for the clock signal, not triggers, you could slew the voltage so it doesn't cross the gate threshold (2.3V for Schmitt Trig inputs), but it would not be exact at all, and tough to nail.

Hello,
I'm in the process of configuring my first modular synth. Music should go in the direction of ambient. Is my module selection right for the planned purpose or totally wrong? Are modules missing or can some be removed? I would be very happy about help.
QWERTZ

EDITED Oct 26th 2022, 14:13

I got my first rack, in the end went with 2 Mantis cases. Have some free space left for eventual expansion. I followed general advice on voice structure of @Lugia - but got some extras and things to play with. There's plenty of modulation sources, maybe only thing missing is the lfo's, but I can achieve that with Endorphin.es Shuttle Control (with macbook). I also have the Erica Synths Matrix Mixer on the side, which is a 16 x 16 audio/cv mixer, which allows me to copy sound channels or cv channels.
I have already my first patch and it sounds great! Thank you generous people for helping with this, it's going to be a great time!

EDITED Oct 26th 2022, 13:24

Simple fix: Name it "Pedals and more". I'm Looking through the new uploads right now and really getting a lot of inspiration and want to build some of my Hardware setups (which combine "pedals and more"). This plus some patch cables is even a lot more usable to me than patching on a modular synth setup.

This looks familiar ;-)

Thanks for the advice. Good to know about the sequencers. Will probably keep them for now and see how much use I'm getting from them before making any decisions to sell.

As for the mixer, would I not be able to use the A-138s, Quad VCA and Listen 1/4 for mixing if needed? I'm only playing around with possible expansion ideas and definitely want to focus on utility modules next. If I were to get the A-138s, Maths, Mult and either the O/A/x2 or 3x MIA next, that should be enough to open up more possibilities and keep me busy for a while, no?

One of our local stores has a WMD Toolbox and Overseer on pre-order, but I have heard they're being discontinued, so not sure if it's an error on their site or not. What would you recommend instead of these if I'm not able to source them? I'm not phased about the black Maths either. I'd probably just get the regular one and a custom faceplate if I wanted to go black - was just playing around with potential colour options.

I'm still very much in the learning phase, so I definitely don't want to go all out and would prefer to just pick a few utility modules that will give me enough freedom to experiment while learning.

Hi all,

I am going to acquire this module and I would like to know if anyone around here uses it or has used it, to know their impressions.
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/future-sound-systems-fil-1-convulsion-generator
Thank you,

A OTA Filter from AI Synthesis. Good quality and pretty quick build, as I’ve found with their other modules.
Nice sounding, though you’ll want to tweak the resonance (with the installed trimmer) to get it to bite where you want it to bite.
Good mod control, you’ll see me using both an LFO and an ADSR to spice things up. Test section went a little long as I was having fun playing with it.

Build

I think all the desktop devices like the small synths make kind of sense and we think we should keep the modular user in focus with all his gear. That user does not stomp on the pedals but has them sitting on the table next to his sequencer and drum machine.

Exactly! I've made many setups that incorporate both pedals and other devices like small mixers, synths, power conditioners, patch bays, clocks, recording devices, etc. and often are built onto actual PedalTrain pedalboards (or sometimes into rack cases). A majority of the time these will sit on a table/desk and are operated by hand.

It would be very helpful to be able to rotate modules 90 and 270 degrees to be placed into 1U rows! I have one custom case in particular that has two approximate 2U sections that is a pain to keep updated in MG because I have to take the time to photo edit custom images for custom modules and then do manual calculations for the power requirements of all modules in the section. It's particularly difficult to get modules that are split across two 1u sections to look right! 😅

It would be very helpful to be able to rotate modules 90 and 270 degrees to be placed into 1U rows! I have one custom case in particular that has two approximate 2U sections that is a pain to keep updated in MG because I have to take the time to photo edit custom images for custom modules and then do manual calculations for the power requirements of all modules in the section. It's particularly difficult to get modules that are split across two 1u sections to look right! 😅

It would be very helpful to be able to rotate modules 90 and 270 degrees to be placed into 1U rows! I have one custom case in particular that has two approximate 2U sections that is a pain to keep updated in MG because I have to take the time to photo edit custom images for custom modules and then do manual calculations for the power requirements of all modules in the section. It's particularly difficult to get modules that are split across two 1u sections to look right! 😅

Agreed! I was just searching this subject. I don't want to change a bunch of other peoples racks just because I want the non-standard knobs on my module to be represented in my ModularGrid rack. I "could" create a separate hidden module but it seems a waste of time and server space. hmmm, maybe I'll upload my panel version, and then right away upload a copy of the current panel version?

Maybe a check box next to the panel image upload button the is labeled "Make This Image The Default?" or a popup prompt etc would be good?

EDITED Oct 25th 2022, 09:21

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 piece, now I'm going to play with random out of focus flashing LEDs. Shame I know nothing about video editing!
-- wishbonebrewery

Thank you!

hello
i am wondering if we can use the time warp module as a shuffle generator by sending a trigger in the input and have different value of swing by turning the corresponding rate knob?

thank you
-- croute

I don't think so, I believe it will output a sort of AR envelope

Thanks a lot for listening! I appreciate your encouraging comment. Yes, I have been working with a very basic set up and trying to squeeze the most out what's there. Still new to making videos, but finding the process surprising fun.

All the best with your modular exploits.

I have a Hypster and love it.

But I also have a Timo Rozendal Ian Fritz Jerkster - Chaotic CV Generator, and it is also a worthy option to consider. It's also just 6 HP. Mind it is DIY, and as I don't have DIY skills, I found a builder to assemble the module.
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/timo-rozendal-ian-fritz-jerkster-chaotic-cv-generator

personally I don't think you can have too many sequencers - I've got 5 or so - but I have a much larger rack - so you might want to consider getting rid of the mimetic digitalis - however, you could also use it for modulation purposes... if you want 'generative' then marbles is good for this so I'd keep it

if you are asking if you have enough utilities, then the answer is probably no - more attenuators/attenuverters/mixing/vcas/etc are almost always a good idea... especially once you start using them for modulation as well as audio - personally I'd add a matrix mixer - I like the doepfer due to ergonomics - but you may not be able to fit it in before the next case!! I think 30% of rack space being utilities is a good idea and then follow the advice in my signature... and I'm not a fan of output modules - more utilities = more control!

I'd be tempted to go for smaller attenuverters, if you can fit them in as well as a matrix mixer, possibly 2hp - as they do a dual in 2hp - the happy nerding 3*MIA is great if you have the space, though!

good luck finding a wmd/ssf toolbox, wmd overseer and a black maths - discontinued, about to be discontinued or just plain unobtanium....

I'm trying to use the Octatrack in a DJ configuration and put together a small companion rack out of modules that were mostly sitting in boxes on my shelf. The idea is to have 2 "decks" on the Octatrack for conventional mixing, with two extra layers of complexity and sonic expression in the shape of this stereo processing rack (which receives audio from the Octa's Cue outputs and sends it back to the AB inputs) and a pickup machine or two to help with transitions and corrupt captured loops in real time.

Overseer, Morpheus and the Z-DSP could be used in series or parallel, with 2x SAM providing either mixing or multing/attenuating service for the stereo track(s). I have the Time Domain cards, but maybe getting Grain de Folie would be more interesting for mangling audio with the Z-DSP.
The ADDAC filter, OR, and Slew function from the dual S&H are my attempt at finagling an Envelope Follower. I wanted to filter a copy of the stereo input through the bandpass filters, half-wave rectify them and slew them with the S&H to either directly modulate parameters or scale modulation within the rack. The issue is that after bandpass filtering, there is not much energy left in the signal, another half is lost because the OR has the diode-specific voltage drop of 0.7V and is not full-wave-rectifying (I'm currently using two 3dB boosts from the Quad VCA per EF signal), and the slew control on the S&H is finicky, but the general functionality is there.

• What ideas for other processing modules do you have? Clouds or Beads is an obvious candidate, but maybe you know of some other obscure audio buffer with cool modulation possibilities.
• For a better envelope follower I thought about the Doepfer A-135-4C, but it's lacking comparators, and those would be nice to have. There don't seem to be that many EFs on the market in the first place. Got any tips? Maybe some ideas to fix the issues with my bootleg EF described above?
• The XAOC Katowice would be cool because I could split the incoming stereo track into three separate frequency bands, process those individually, and mix them back together at the output. Has anyone tried that with a fully mixed track? Is it worth the 200+ $? In general, I'm trying to just use what I already have and don't get to use in my other setup at the moment, but if a purchase here or there would elevate this concept significantly, I'm not opposed to it.

Hey everyone, a new video is up on my channel:

What I did for this one is have the 4 pads on pressure points each going out to 2 destination with the Hosa splitter cables, so i can use 4 fingers to control a lot of different parameters as a kind of macro control over the patch, modulating the kick mute, Rings decay, Bass Attack or Release times, Filter cutoff and more. This helps me to play on the Rhodes while being able to quickly turn around the modular into a different place.

The Dreadbox Disorder is also doing a bunch of work here, using the mix of the envelope follower, with high res filter and fuzz to give me that powerful lead sound out of the Rhodes

Patch Notes

Voices:
- Rhodes MkII Stage 73 amped by Mutable Instruments Ears, using Dreadbox Disorder as Fuzz & Filter.
- NANO Modules ONA into @Stefan Tretau ST Modular Werner as bassline, sequenced by Clank Chaos with filter enveloped modulated by Pressure Points.
- Calsynth Rangoon sequenced by S.I.G. with decay modulated by Pressure Points.

Drums:
- Instruō Ts-L through Patching panda Punch v3 as kick.
- Blue Noise through Takaab LPG as high-hat.

Modulation:
- Clank Chaos as clock divider, gate generator and random CV generator.
- Mutable Instruments Stages as envelope generator.
- Instruō Ochd as LFOs

Utilities:
- NANO Modules ALT as VCA's and mixer
- joeSeggiola's Nearness as panning sub-mixer.
- Cosmotronic Cosmix as mixer, using Dreadbox Splash as send effect.
- Music Thing Modular Startup as mixer and output.

So I've bitten the bullet and purchased an Oxi One Sequencer + Pipe module to use with my Eurorack, 0-Coast, Digitakt and Digitone and am looking to get some feedback/advice on my future rack plans.

Here is my current set up as it stands:

And this is what I'm playing around with for the future so far:

I'm purely a hobbyist, so I have no intention with completing full tracks or performing live, but rather just want to have fun jamming and playing around as a means of relaxing during my spare time. In terms of musical styles, I'd like to experiment with deep/minimal/micro house grooves, along with more generative ambient and melodic soundscapes.

Here's some examples of the music I'd like to experiment with:

Deep/Minimal/Micro House:

Ambient/Generative/Melodic:

Would love to get some feedback if I'm heading in the right direction with my future plans, or if there is anything I should consider/change? A few things that stick out to me so far that I'd like some advice on is:

• Have I got too many sequencers in the rack now in light of the Oxi One? Should I consider getting rid of either the Mimetic Digitalis, Marbles or both?
• Do I have the right/enough utilities to keep me busy and achieve the goals I'm after?
• Am I limiting myself too much with only 2 attenuverters with the O/A/x2? Should I consider something like a Happy Nerding 3x MIA instead?

Ideally, I'd love to be able to use the rack alongside my other hardware (Oxi One/DT/DN/0-Coast) mainly, but also standalone by itself, so hoping I can get some insights and advice to help me plan for the future!

Thanks in advance :)

Wow I meant to say switch, not knob.
That's quite the range, seems pretty perfect.

The knob named "rate" is the one some might call "range" in secret. What documentation there is saya that it goes from approximately 3kHz down to 5 minute orbits. Ian Fritz told me that negative CV will slow it down even further. Perhaps it can be driven even faster too, but I didn't ask... Really cool circuit anyway :)

Thank you both for the replies. The Orbit in low mode goes a little further into the audio range than the diode chaos but it's like using a nuclear bomb to shovel your garden for my purposes. And it still doesn't go as far into the audio range as I would like. I find that's the case with a lot of oscillators and stuff with lfo/audio rate switches too.
The Hypster seems just about perfect, relatively speaking. Neither of the colorfully named knobs are secretly a range knob, are they? I haven't been able to find a demo that shows how low/high it can go and the documentation is a little sparse.

Thank you both for the replies. The Orbit in low mode goes a little further into the audio range than the diode chaos but it's like using a nuclear bomb to shovel your garden for my purposes. And it still doesn't go as far into the audio range as I would like. I find that's the case with a lot of oscillators and stuff with lfo/audio rate switches too.
The Hypster seems just about perfect, relatively speaking. Neither of the colorfully named knobs are secretly a range knob, are they? I haven't been able to find a demo that shows how low/high it can go and the documentation is a little sparse.

Here's another one from last night.

More modulation of Qu-Bit Nautilus with WORNG Vector Space and ochd. This fits right into my workflow and creates a lot of dynamic sounds and events. This is really helpful since I spend a lot of time playing the Moogs by hand.

I have three of them... one in each case, except for the XOH in my Make Noise case... great little headphone out module...

Heyas,
long time since I posted here. Well, I hope you are all well and healthy.
Anyway, after having not played my modular for maybe a year or even longer (cant remember) I finally found some time to play again...

So here my first attempt to play some ambient on ACL VCO/VCF, StarLab, sequenced by Marbles, modulations by IM Kermit MK3...

Have a nice sunday :),
Best,
jingo

Sanity check: For the cost of this rack you could get some great synths and outboard gear

Check out this video of Phase Fatale's creative process

The best advice is to get a bigger case than you think you'll need and start slow. Buy just a few essential modules, then add as you learn what you need

Metropolix, Brains (or Plaits) and Function Junction would be a good starting system

Great piece, now I'm going to play with random out of focus flashing LEDs. Shame I know nothing about video editing!

a slow, psychedelic ambient patch built around the RYK Vector Wave

i made the “cell footage” with close-up shots of the VW’s display

more patch details in the video description

thanks for watching

All unlisted
-- modulargrid

Now there are three more, same link.

I was formerly a punk/hardcore bass/guitarist, but exchanged all of my gear for a Eurorack as my son wants to get into Industrial Music creation... so I created this Eurorack for him, with a sales-rep from Sweetwater (Ben). I'd appreciate any feedback on my Eurorack. Is it suitable for Industrial Music... what is missing if so... what are some key patches, or other dynamics I should be aware of. I have some basic but not intermediate knowledge of the ARP-2600/Moog-Grandmother, that I exchanged for my Eurorack we created. I just want to read any possible advice to assist in our sound development.

A couple of jams from my first evening with Qu-Bit Nautilus.

Definitely a keeper. Wants modulation, loves slow LFO’s. Try WORNG Vector Space fed by DivKid’s ochd.

-mowse

Yeah. It’s amazing. Definitely keeping.

@toccata aha! That makes total sense. Right now I have the M32 multiple covering the right side while the ACL covers the left and acts to mult out pitch and gate from the Hapax sequencer (or Hydrasynth) to various inputs on the rack. I can definitely see the advantage in smaller and more dispersed mults - thanks for that insight!

And the rack LINK it doesn’t seem to show recent edits though - dang.

EDITED Oct 22nd 2022, 18:43

I know this is past two years ago and you may not remember, but is this system more or less the same as what you use here: https://tinyurl.com/mtffd49k ?
With minor changes like Morphagene -> Nebulae etc?

EDITED Oct 22nd 2022, 19:05

The ACL is 6hp, Buffs are 2hp, so it was for conserving space and distributing them where you’d be most likely to use them—close to the vcas, where you could split a modulator to control multiple amplitudes; close to the LFOs and envelopes, where you could split them to control multiple parameters; and close to a sound source, where you could split it for parallel routing. Justa space thing.

You can share your build by inserting the link and it will be displayed as a picture. That will save you having to take a jpg screenshot. But it sounds like you’ve mostly got this figured out, just the vcas remain, yes?

@shakespeare I do already have the black dual filter. Since I don’t plan to carry all that gear around l, nor keep the mother32 in there forever- and at some point I’ll be taking the Modular out of the studio (playing w friends, or playing out) - I wanted some good filter options in the rack. Aside from the VcA I’m not getting more modules till i know mine inside and out - and that will be a while coming. So room isn’t an issue for me atm.
Re: your note on Pam’s, right now I’ve barely tapped the Hapax’s capabilities for clocking, lfo, gate etc - let alone that and/or Maths, and given I have 3 LfO between the M32 and Minibrute 2s I’ve concluded more LFO for this sized rack is simply Modular GAS talking.

@Toccata I don’t have the Disting or 0chd atm nor the pair of doepffer vcas- sorry I wasn’t clear. I’m definitely putting the dusting on my shirt list of mods once I’ve mastered what I have now.
Is your note about mult swap to get more buffered multi vs the unbuffered column on the ACL?

Doepfer makes a great full voice at good value and flexible yet easy to patch. The Doepfer A-111-6 Mini Synth Voice is fantastic and less expensive than most full synth voices.

Do you already have the dual filter? If not, I'd ask what you think the need is for it. You aren't adding any voices here, and you have plenty of filters in your various semi-modulars. You might have more fun using that space for other things.

Thanks! For this I pretty much did as you say - I used two of the XPO stereo outs to the four 1/2/A/B ins on X-Pan and treat them basically as mono sources, and I modulate cross fade and panning for all of it so they swirl around. I also used two mono outs into the Aux channel. It’s more for highlighting the stereo overload you get from the combo as opposed to highlighting the native stereo you get from the XPO on its own (which is excellent and like the QPAS effect). Cheers!

So what you're saying is that even though you recognize that there is a solution (the Panel Selector), because the solution is somewhat inconvenient, you feel entitled to exacerbate the larger problem of adding entries for functionally identical modules that differ only in their panels.

Edit: I guess it's a moot point now; the entry in question has been removed.
-- sibilant

A solution that leads to further problems isn't a solution, as has been made abundantly clear. Panels don't persist across racks, and they don't even consistently stay unchanged within racks when new panels are added. The workaround continues to exist because of this, continues to be used for other Schlappi modules, remains standard practice for some manufacturer-locked submissions, and is the sole way to get aftermarket panels on to MG for manufacturer-locked modules.

You yourself have felt entitled to exacerbate what you call a larger problem at least twice yourself, so you're clearly neither unaware of the impacts nor unwilling to implement workarounds when it suits you. Perhaps mentioning it in the Feature Requests thread linked above would be productive, since the issue is ongoing and will continue to affect users every time somebody uploads a new panel for any module.