Hi,
This one could be interesting :
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/blue-lantern-modules-grids-mk2-2021

Cheers
-- klodifokan

Hi,
This one could be interesting :
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/blue-lantern-modules-grids-mk2-2021

Cheers
-- klodifokan
Thanks

Ha! Well, here's an amazing one that directly relates to this conversation. It's your creativity and brain that matters, not your filters, or utilities, or oscillators. :)

Been sidetracked moving (absolutely awful, but sold my house in an incredibly market now renting until I find a new place), but settling in and bought a new 420 HP case. Should be back to making music soon.

I have the Instruo I-o47, XAOC Belgrad, just picked up the SSF Dipole (soon to be delivered) and LxD (don't forget about the low pass gates).

I also have my eye on the Doepher Wasp filter (will likely make an entrance soon).

Some people can never have enough VCA's, and while I agree, I love filters all of them.

Others I have on my radar:
System80 Jove
Filter8
Polaris
Three Sisters

The Filter 8 is nice. It has a lot of features for a filter module. All outputs are available simultaneously, there's a make-up switch to "fix" the low end cutting out when the resonance is cranked (a common issue among filters). The modulation section is well thought-out.

I also like the Morgasmatron as it's two independent multi-mode filters. One filter has a phase reverse, the other overdrive. Both can be switched in or out. I have a Roland 505 dual filter... but it's not as snappy or as "Rolandy" as I would like. Roland doesn't even make their own modular gear... so going with another company wouldn't hurt... as Roland did... lol. But the 505 does come with VCAs controlling the output stage. Which is a nice addition if you are crunched for space.

I own all three filters. FYI.

@farkas, you share the best videos. I never realized how useful sample and hold modules really can be. Guess I'll need to try and work one in.

Looking good! I checked out the rack itself because, like you say, the picture didn't update (which I think is because you created a new rack rather than modifying the old). For some reason it just feels better, dunno why.
EDIT: Ope, you fixed it, great.

You might reorganize that 1u row to move the attenuators closer to the other attenuverters, but I like it either way. Also, if you get the PM DB25 you might look into buying a longer cable on WMD's site. It might work as it stands though. Great work either way.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 17:59

Thanks guys for the feedback. Looks now as follows:

• Looked at Matrix Mixers and did not find one that I liked from function and space perspective. But I will probably get one at some point to try it out
• Rearranged to bring the Ochd closer to the Attenuverters
• Added the C4RBN filter for the drums. Imagine it to be especially spicy with Hi-Hats or the Taiko because of Saturation, Resonance and the Wavefolder
• Added a DivKid Mutes. Schneidersladen does not have the PM - Mutes right now and that thing looks good.
• Had 4hp free and added a Disting. Maybe I find something else but usually Disting is always helpful.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 17:54

@farkas, I see. Yeah, muting is the other thing I'm finding to be a super simple way to keep things interesting.

Posting again while it's on mind, I would just straight up lose the extra channel expansion for the Performance Mixer. The mixer already has 12 mono ins and 2 stereo, which if I'm seeing straight more than covers your voice count. That would put you that much closer to something like the AI008 Eurorack Matrix Mixer or whatever else you'd like to add.

Also if you're going to have a mult in your case it might be wise to make sure it's a buffered mult for pitch cv. It's really easy to buy cables that already mult for you, personally I don't see much point in having a passive mult in a tiny case (unless you want to send one modulation to 3 other sources, that's harder with cables).

Actually fading volume in and out on the mixer or muting different drum parts and letting the Taiko fill the void.

Good point @farkas, didn't see the v/oct in on the Taiko. Didn't realize the Black Sequencer had four cv and gate outs either.

What exactly do you mean 'fade in/out from your drum voices to the FM sounds'? Like route a drum element through the Taiko's v/oct in?

I like the matrix mixer idea for stretching modulation sources even further. On the other hand, I would probably keep the Taiko as a melodic percussive voice. Mult a trigger to that and fade in/out from your drum voices to the FM sounds. That's how I would use it anyway.

I'd lose the Akemie's Taiko personally; you've already got four of the base drum elements (kick, snare, hi-hat, and clap), what you could use instead of the Taiko if you were going to add something is something fun like claves, marakas, or (dare I even suggest) more cowbell.

I'd replace it with a matrix mixer. Matrix mixers are great because you don't have to repatch to send a modulation source to some input; with that joystick, I think you'd find you like being able to send it to something like a filter cutoff, then reroute to send it to something on one of your primary voices. The other thing matrix mixers are really good at is combining modulation. Take an LFO, add an envelope (triggered from your drum sequencer), and you've got a really interesting waveform that's particularly playable. If you're thinking you'd like to instead keep more than four drum elements, instead of a matrix mixer I'd suggest a sampler. Some sampler would likely be more useful than the Taiko, maybe Squarp Instrument's Rample or Erica Synth's Drum Sample. You could even net a vocal sample or two this way, which is fun.

Also, having a filter for every voice is proving to be so very very tasty. Filtering down a voice is the simplest way I've found to keep that voice interesting while simultaneously giving your audience's ears a temporary break. Might consider adding a tiny filter like WMD's C4RBN for your drums, but you do already have the Morgasmatron so dunno.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 16:38

Loving the VCA and attenuverter additions, that ALM O/A/x2 should in-particular be useful. One suggestion I might add is to move the ochd up to where it's modulators and attenuaters will be, should make patching much easier. While you're at it, you might move the WMD Performance Mixer expansion up one row and bring the joystick down one, basically swap them (might have to move that mult up too, but that's good because it also likes being with the other modules it will mult).

The joystick is particularly playable, so it would make sense to put it closer at hand. The other consideration I've found is that WMD expansion module cables aren't as long as you'd expect; pretty much they're long enough to put the expansions right next to the master device, but not much longer.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 16:23

Haha, that is indeed true. Did not want to make any attempt to compare myself to the skills of Surgeon. However, I still find his approach very interesting and kind of a goal state. But yes, you are right. In the end, I have to try it. Anyway, thanks a lot for all the feedback and time.

I think Surgeon's sound comes down to Surgeon's brain... which I don't have. Haha. Same with Richie Hawtin. Those guys can make incredible music with incredibly minimal setups. I have to supplement my dull-witted brain with extra knobs and utilities.
Everyone will do this differently. I don't take any of the advice given as gospel, so I try something and if it doesn't work for me, I search for what will help me solve the problem and move on to that. My rack, and MylarMelodies' rack, and Surgeon's rack are wrong for YOU. So, at some point you just have to dive in and try your ideas. Don't expect them to work every time. You may find at some point that a Behringer 303 and 909 is all you really need to make amazing live techno, and modular just gets in the way. Or you may find that you don't need VCAs or LFOs for your approach. Only one way to find out! :)

Thanks @farkas !
I basically watched most of his videos before coming up with the first version. While I agree that I needed a bit more modulation and utility, it’s interesting that he also does most modulation by hand and does not have too much utility. Of course he has quantizers, precision adders and so on and over all uses a more elaborate sequencer setup than I would do. But the Black Sequencer does a lot of this in-house. He also does not have a lot of attenuverters or similar.

Interestingly enough, he mentions the system Surgeon uses, which is even simpler. Both Surgeon and Blawan do not have a lot of modulation or too many utilities besides their sequencer lines and both very small live racks.

Or did I miss something? I find this discussion super helpful because it makes me rethink my approach. Also thought of switching to 12u/94hp but actually want to have a rather small system with the approach of less is more. I know that this is more difficult but otherwise it would be boring.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 12:50

I suppose the best value filter I have is the Erica Synths Black Dual VCF - thanks to @GarfieldModular for recommending it :)
It's got all the filters type outputs available at once which is something I wanted on at least one of my filters, the feature set is more than enough for the synthesist in me to have fun and most importantly, it sounds just right when pushing resonance right below the self-oscillation point, lovely. It may be discontinued now but prices on Reverb make it a great value, around 250-300 euros.

For the very particular sound and an amazingly plethoric feature set, one could look at the IME Bionic Lester MK3. Sounds crazy and then some, it's got presets, different link modes, you name it. The price may be high, but it's worth it IMO.

Finally, I should mention XAOC's Belgrad, plenty of filter types, and combinations thereof (it's a dual filter). Again, it sounds great and each filter type sounds different enough to offer a lot of sonic variety to the operator. Sounds great as a voice too !

I've found the MylarMelodies video series about building a live performance rack valuable as a resource in my own journey. I stumbled upon his videos about a year ago and found some solutions to the exact problems I was having in building a similar setup. The key is to keep things moving forward and avoid a stagnant groove. Just a few inexpensive utilities and modulation tools can really help with that. Here's a video about sample and hold that helped me achieve what I was trying to do. His videos on switched multiples and VCAs were helpful too. I shared a longer one on CardiacTasty's post a week or so ago that covered the broader philosophy and design of a live techno rack. Helpful stuff.
Have fun and good luck.

I just got the Erica Polivoks VCF II and can’t believe how great it is. It’s a fairly straightforward filter, but I’ve had so much fun with it already. With filters, the old adage “use your ears” really applies, and the Polivoks sounds perfect to my ears. It sits somewhere between an acidic Roland-ish sound and the MS20. It doesn’t have a crazy feature set or anything (like the QPAS, Dipole, Morgasmatron, or Filter 8), just a great sound and can be found for $200 or less.
The Doepfer SEM and Morgasmatron (or Dual Borg) are still on my shopping list, but I’m pretty happy with what I have for a while.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 14:23

Forum: improvements

Search

If you typed something into the search form every post in the post view was hidden that did not contain the search string. That was confusing. Now the search term is just highlighted.

Notification email

The link in the new post notification email now redirects to the last post.

Thanks a lot for the feedback so far. That was very helpful. I reworked the rack a bit and integrated some of the feedback.

• I removed the Jomox Bassdrum and switched to the WMD Crater - thanks @farkas for the tip.
• I added a Erica Synths Joystick 2. It seems that it is very versatile and can also record which I imagine might lead to fun modulation
• I removed one FX Aid XL and replaced it by a ALM O/A/x2 and a 2hp Trim to add more Attenuverters.
• I removed the Intellijel 1u VCA and added two Mosaic 1u Dual VCA

Looking forward to your feedback. What is still missing from a utility perspective? Thanks @CardiacTasty for the feedback regarding the modulation of modulation. Do you think modulating the Ochd is enough? The Acid Rain Maestro takes a lot of space and I am still unsure of keeping the Taiko. Also though of somehow switching in an Industrial Music Electronics KERMIT for more modulation and functions.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 09:59

If one publishes something on BandCamp, is that "something" then exclusively to be used with BandCamp only or is one allowed to publish it parallel elsewhere as well?

I am actually not very familiar with bandcamp. I created an account just to test the MG embed feature :)

Nice album by the way, my favourite is Ankylosaurus, fantastic track. Nice vocoder effects you are using there :-) If I may ask, which vocoder are you using there?

Thanks, I used the Waldorf Lector Plugin as vocoder in this track but nowadays I love my Roland VP330 and just use that for everything vocoderish.

Thanks a lot for this great functionality within Modulargrid and thank you very much for sharing your great work here with us! Kind regards, Garfield.

Thanks for kind words!

Looking into more filters and curious for some of your favorites you've owned/used, some you consider the most underrated, the most unique, best value, etc. etc. Any all recommendations welcome.

I wouldn't do that. While you definitely get two balanced outs from that Erica mixer, if you're sending to that interface directly, you're far better off going 1/4" TRS - XLR-M. That ensures that your signals stay in a balanced circuit from the modular to the 8pre, which should help with noise and maintaining the same level at the 8pre's inputs.

Good interface choice, also...it's a snap to go from 8 channels to 24 via the ADAT lightpipe connections. Just make sure your lightpipe-connected interfaces are ALSO DC-coupled.
-- Lugia

Thanks for the advice. The Motu choice was a happy accident, used them in the past, and recently bought the 8pre-es before looking at getting into modular, so lucked out with the whole DC thing :)

Cheers
TSG

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 21:09

@swaminstar I use the Sphincter VCA most days.

@Ronin1973 I'm doing exactly this.

@Lugia Sounds pretty interesting that. So you can use a VCA prior to the filter as an accent (etc) control with the post-Filter VCA shaping the sound.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 06:51

Hi Eexee,

If you have to put the attack up to 5-6 then I am afraid you might have another issue going on, that shouldn't be the case. I don't know which Doepfer ADSR you have, if it's just the A-140, the one I am using too, then make sure that how often you trigger your ADSR should be roughly in the rhythm of the ADSR itself as well, that's how I call that for myself, not sure how to put this properly under words.

What I mean with that is that if you offer very fast gates to a (Doepfer) ADSR/EG then make sure you put the ADSR in fast mode, i.e. put that time range switch to L (low time, so high speed) or M (medium time/speed) but not H (high time thus low speed) and visa versa so if you provide a slow trigger set the ADSR to H (high time, thus slow speed). Once that's corresponding to each other than I don't think there is a need to put the attack so high to avoid clicks.

Let me know if that works out for you and good luck. Kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

I have the A-141-2 VCADSR/LFO unit. That's the worst case scenario, I suppose. This has three modes, x1, x10, and x100. Those seem to be like S/M/L on my other ADSR (Soundforce Dual). Patching a basic sine through a VCA and using this module to attenuate the amplitude, at x1 I need at least 3-4 to crop out the clickies, at x10 I need 2-3, and at x100 I only need 1-2 -- though all these require at least equivalent delay times. I guess that's really not so bad, though some signals fare better than others it seems to me, and in fairness, I think I do confuse the x1/x10/x100 setting at times, and haven't always chosen the most appropriate one.

That said, with my Soundforce Dual ADSR I barely have to have any attack to elimate clickies on the same wave, no more than 1 in some cases, regardless of the setting (S/M/L - Lin/Exp). I feel like I generally have more problems with clicks/pops from the Doepfer one.

I'd actually thought about selling off the Doepfer one, since I mainly use the Soundforce now, but the A-141-2 does have CV ins for each stage of the envelope with -5 to +5 attenuverters for each (which I quite like), EOA and EOR triggers, and can be patched in ways that turn it into a crazy sound source. If it could get a couple hundred for it I'd probably list it, but you can get them new for like $180-190, so I'd probably have to settle for $150 or so before shipping/fees. It's handy enough to keep around for now, though I might eventually sell/replace with a different type of envelope generator.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 06:54

My experience so far in building a live techno setup is that without proper modulation (particularly modulation of the modulation) it's proving to be super hard to keep the music from getting stale. I feel like I don't have enough hands to twiddle knobs quickly enough to keep things sufficiently interesting to play a 30-60 minute set, or to transition from one musical space to another sufficiently different space.

I think it's absolutely true that with practice this will get easier for myself, but I'm definitely looking into how to jam more modulation into my own case (which is requiring sacrifices; smaller drum setup, fewer voices, etc). As I look over this proposed case I can't help but feel it would be mighty difficult to keep the music interesting without more (playable) modulation.

I really like Acid Rain Technology's Maestro, but honestly others here will have better suggestions for playable modulation that can itself be modulated.

EDITED Aug 11th 2021, 05:09

I wouldn't do that. While you definitely get two balanced outs from that Erica mixer, if you're sending to that interface directly, you're far better off going 1/4" TRS - XLR-M. That ensures that your signals stay in a balanced circuit from the modular to the 8pre, which should help with noise and maintaining the same level at the 8pre's inputs.

Good interface choice, also...it's a snap to go from 8 channels to 24 via the ADAT lightpipe connections. Just make sure your lightpipe-connected interfaces are ALSO DC-coupled.

Ronin: Yep. And that just shows that if you're not set up for method #1, there's almost certainly a "method #2" hiding in the rig somewhere! Just requires ingenuity and necessity...

For me, it's VCO - VCA - VCF - VCA, especially if there's more than one VCO. By putting your source VCOs on VCAs, you can then cause some initial timbral changes prior to the VCF by using different waveforms and bringing them in and out of the signal path via different modulation schemes. Case in point: on my AE system, I have six banks that can be configured as complex VCOs, since they have two VCOs, two DCOs for modulation, and a dual VCA plus a mixer for the VCO outs. With that, I can then use LFOs, EGs, whatever to ping around "inside" that module structure and generate wild timbral changes simply with modulation sources. The VCAs function to control the FM signal from each DCO to its complimentary VCO in the more "basic" patching, but that configuration can get really nuts really quick with a few extra pinwires.

Oh, it's definitely not a 100% substitute for the Real Thing, to be sure! I aim beginners toward VCV when it's clear that someone's in a position where they have ZERO idea about modular synthesis, with the intent that once you know what should be in a proper modular, you should THEN start building. A few stick with VCV, and I'll also note that VCV + its VST extension does make for a good sequencing/clocking environment, but in the end, VCV is only a "model" of something that works so much better in actual hardware.

I do have it, but I still find it to be somewhat untrustworthy when larger setups are in use, especially if there's a lot in the audio paths. Those audio modules are often "bad actors" as far as CPU load is concerned. And that makes perfect sense; it's harder to accurately emulate the behavior of an analog audio device than it is to be "inaccurate" and fudge the results. It's very much related to the fact that digital computers don't like chaotic systems...and as far as gobs of waveforms and such being generated and modified in a hardware modular patch, you ARE working with a system that has some inherent chaos, and the various flavors of "chaos" actually factor into what things sound like.

Hi Solitud,

Let me try to reply from your point of view, because if I would reply from my point of view as a user then I want everything ;-) But let's try to be realistic and it needs to be doable for you too :-)

From that latter point of view, I would not expect to see an archived (or exported) rack visible in our command centre. To keep things simple for you as well as for the user, I think once a rack has been archived it should become a private rack... though... just having thought/said that...

What would happen if a user makes a rack for another user and displays/uses that in one of the (Rack) posts and that particular rack would then be archived... hmm... then perhaps it shouldn't become a private rack and the user who checks then that post should see, for example, a reference to an archive file or whatever way you would like to implement it.

So coming back on my own above comment once a rack is going to be archived... if somehow possible, perhaps ask the user if it should be private or public? So asking that for every rack that's going to be archived? Or if one does a bundle of racks into an archive the entire bundle will then be either private or public, depending on the choice of the user?

It gets quite complicated, right? :-) Exporting a rack to avoid issues with archiving a rack, is not an option for you? To be honest, I would rather have the option to export a rack then to have it archived.

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Solitud,

That's indeed a great way of integrating Bandcamp here into Modulargrid, thank you very much! That causes me to consider to take a BandCamp account. If one publishes something on BandCamp, is that "something" then exclusively to be used with BandCamp only or is one allowed to publish it parallel elsewhere as well?

Nice album by the way, my favourite is Ankylosaurus, fantastic track. Nice vocoder effects you are using there :-) If I may ask, which vocoder are you using there?

Thanks a lot for this great functionality within Modulargrid and thank you very much for sharing your great work here with us! Kind regards, Garfield.

The Dipole looks outstanding, but I haven't used it yet. I have QPAS and on occasion it completely blows my mind with beautiful sounds. It really is unlimited and perfect for the "pretty" and ambient side of things. I still have not mastered it so I just haphazardly stumble into interesting sounds.
I've been really impressed with everything I have heard from the criminally inexpensive Doepfer SEM filter. That one is next on my list. I know some of the members here like the Filter 8. It seems very useful in a small case due to the range of duties it can fill. The demos I've seen have failed to interest me much though.
Have fun and good luck.

Hi fam,

I've designed my first simple rack (non generative) and I'm asking for opinions on anything I'm missing in terms of signal chain. I've set up something similar in VCV so I'm fairly certain I have everything I need to start off with.

I have a keystep pro arriving soon and I want to patch the outputs of the Erica directly into my Motu 8pre ES and then into my DAW. I'm mainly interested in taking source signals and running it into interesting filters and then into distortion/wavefolders etc. I'll use EQ, FX, comp/lim in the box. The main thing I want to check based on my research is that as the outputs on the Erica are balanced, all I need is just a 6.3 to 1/4 TRS cable for my audio outs?

Cheers
The Sound Gardxn
https://www.thesoundgardxn.com

The Befaco ADSR is also pretty tasty. It has modulation capabilities for each stage PLUS... it will output a gate for every stage the envelope is in.

I've used a Quadratt as a cheap and dirty "AND". As long as the module you're feeding has a minimum voltage to trigger that input, you can feed two gates into the Quadratt and attenuate them so that each individual gate is under the threshold. But when both are present, you're over the threshold.

A little off topic but still relevant IMHO. But should work with any DC compatible mixer with attenuation.

EDITED Aug 10th 2021, 21:09

Hi Andrés,

Well let me start to remind you of the reply and advice that Lugia already provided here, so please keep that in mind. Then I am sorry to let you know that I have barely any experience with a DAW and no experience at all with MAX, so I can't help you much about these two.

Naturally I can (and I will, a bit further down here) help you with having a look at your rack. On the other hand... most likely I am the worst person to ask since I like to have for my own rack setup lots of space for future module extensions. So for me a rack never can be big enough, it only can be too small ;-)

Okay let's put those above-mentioned things here aside and have a look at your suggested above module setup, not keeping in mind a DAW or MAX usage, just a "simple" and plain modular setup. From that point of view, I will here below provide my feedback. Please note that might be here and there quite critical, that's not meant in anyway bad way, you just pick out the best parts for yourself and you take it from there.

I do see you have a Plaits, that's a great module, I have that one myself and I use it quite often. I would like to suggest you however to look into at least another voice to provide enough variety. So get another VCO. There are tons of modules available for that purpose, if you want to take it easy consider a Make Noise - STO module, great small module that provides a good sound and some patching possibilities.

Is that just me or can't I find any filters at all in your rack? A rack without a filter is... boring? ;-) You need to consider at least two filters to give it some variety. One filter can be a multimode filter the other filter entirely up to you what you prefer or like to do with it. I, myself, like crazy filters, a Doepfer A-124 Wasp filter is great for going bananas and the little milder yet still great filter A-106 SEM filter are good ones or perhaps I should say: they are my favourites :-) If you want something else yet interesting an Erica Synths - Black Dual VCF is a great stereo filter. Different then the Doepfer yet a big feast to use it! There are so many filters, in a way it is better to have any filter than not having a filter at all ;-)

I do notice you have planned two drum/percussion related modules being the Akemie's Taiko and the Intellijel Plonk modules, I don't have them myself but I do believe these are good modules, however to start with modular and already look into percussion & drum stuff while not even have covered the basics, mwah... If you have a good percussion/drum solution outside your modular, then stick with that first, get experience with a simple modular setup first. Once you are comfortable with that you could then start to look into which parts of drums and percussion you want to consider to take that into modular... If you want to have drums/percussion fully done by modular, yes that's of course possible but that doesn't go cheap neither that goes low in HP space I am afraid.

I noticed you planned Quadrax as your LFO and Quad VCA as your VCA, fair enough I guess. Keep in mind that it's nice to have a second or even a third LFO. The same goes for VCAs, the famous slogan here on this forum is: "You never can have enough VCAs" and that's not too much off from the truth, so you could consider a second VCA. I am crazy about the Waldorf DVCA1, the best VCA module in the world, at least to me that is (and for the moment, haven't discovered yet a better one) however I can imagine it's not everybody's cup of tea since it's a large module, however it's a great dual VCA. Waldorf stopped producing modules so if you are interested you should hurry and get one before it's everywhere sold out. Otherwise consider a Xoac Devices Tallin dual VCA, much smaller module, yet still a good dual VCA. There are tons of VCAs, many of them are good.

Mimeophon is definitely a great module, it's on my wish list too however it's a bit large for a rather small rack, so you might want to reconsider this, up to you. Yes, it's good to have at least one or two effects in your modular setup, so from that point of view it's good and you can keep it in your rack --> hence, again, consider a larger rack ;-)

Are you going to use your DAW only or are you going to use an external mixer as well? In case you are going to use an external mixer, you might want to consider the Expert Sleepers - ES-9 instead, I know that one is bloody expensive but it provides you an audio output towards your external mixer. Other options for audio interfaces are Intellijel - Audio I/O, Befaco Out v3, Bastl Instruments - Ciao! and many others. If you like XLR inputs & outputs then consider ACL - Audio Interface or Vermona - Tai-4.

I might have overlooked it but I think I didn't see any envelopes (EGs), so get at least one, better to have at least two. If you want to get started with a simple one consider a Doepfer A-140, great ADSR for not too much money.

I haven't even started about utility modules but start to look into the above. Seriously consider a larger rack and reconsider certain choices of your modules. Good luck with the planning, check all type of modules, the more you investigate, read and check the more things might get clearer or not because there is a lot to check ;-) Once you have updated your rack, let us know then let's have a look again. Kind regards, Garfield.

Greetings,

I am looking at a these filters and see if there are any opinions regarding them. I do a little of everything style-wise, but probably mostly ambient followed be just weird experiments. I'm leaning towards the Dipole. It seems the patching options are endless, though all of these are super flexible. I had read somewhere that the Filter 8 is an 'acquired taste' not sure what was meant by that. I thought it sounds great. Qpas seems like unlimited experimental fun. Anyway leaning towards the SSL. In addition to the unlimited patching options, I like the clean interface. the ways the high/low/BP filters are with switches. There's really a lot to like with all these. Could ramble on with all three. Any other candidates? Oh yeah, forgot the Jove 80. Sounds totally awesome.

Thx!

EDITED Aug 10th 2021, 20:42

A VCA at the end offers the most flexibility; especially if you are driving your filter into self-oscillation range. The sound will be tighter. But maybe you WANT the filter to ring out if you're under those conditions.

My opinion is to do a little homework with your rig. Try and overdrive the filter if you can and see how that affects things in your rig. The type of filter and how it's implemented is going to have the most influence... my Roland style filter won't self-oscillate while my MS20-style with do that all day.

I read up on the manual a little. For Accent and Slide to be triggered, a voltage between 5-12v is needed. So I think the requirement would be pretty easy. An analog-style sequencer with a gate and at least 3 CV outs would work fine.

My thoughts are the Noise Engineering Mimetic Digitalis should work fine for this need. It has 16x4 CV tracks and a gate out. It will need a clock source.

The Make Noise Rene 1 or mk2 would also work.

https://www.acidlab.de/ProductAssets/M303/M303_manual_english.pdf

@farkas

thanks for the feedback. Since I own some of the modules already I have worked with them in the past. A joystick would be indeed a nice addition. However, I do not mind turning knobs around and actually like it, coming from a DJ background :)

The bassdrum is indeed a good point of discussion. From what I read and heard, the Jomox excels in sound and versatility. This was kind of the reasoning for choosing it. The idea for BIA would be less to create a Bassdrum sound but rather to create metallic textures and crackling.

Since the Black Sequencer is not able to produce polyphony I did exclude the Hel Expander. I have the Hel-Expander and use it together with a Nerdseq in my current rack, but Nerdseq is too inemmidiate for a live environment, at least from my point of view. The idea for chords was to use the TipTop One and for Drones the Desmodus. However, I prefer the sound of the odessa over the 4ms ensemble osc. Found it much richer.

I like the Morgasmatron for its versatility, especially since its two-in-one. However, there would be indeed more space-saving options. Any specific suggestions?

Regarding the FX AID XL - yes, I could get rid of one. I thought of adding VCAs to the 1u line. There I also have attenuverters. Quadrax should be enough Envelopes, together with the LFOs from the sequencers. Or would you add more?

Since I do not own the sequencers yet, I am very unsure about them. In general, I really like the design and immediacy of them. However, they take alot of space. I am also unsure about the Taiko. In general, I like it, but not sure if needed as an additional drum voice beside the others. And it takes a lot of space.

Maybe as a question: What would be modules that you would add? Especially from a utility perspective?

Update: Spent more time on the WMD Crater and maybe that is actually a good alternative. Thanks for the hint!

@dssiah Especially in regard to missing modules. Farkas feedback was already very helpful. That's the type I am looking for.

EDITED Aug 10th 2021, 18:05

Sorry, can you clarify the type of feedback you're looking for. Are you unsatisfied with anything in particular? Is this case too large for portability?

Thanks @GarfieldModular :)

I'm afraid I'm missing something in my rack. Do you think this looks good for a beginner's rack? Do I have everything in order to get something working? Do you have any other suggestions in terms of modules? I think I will buy a bigger case though, thanks for the suggestion!

Hi Bertus95. Just a few initial thoughts as I'm looking over your rack.
First, when you say that you want to go in a live performance direction, how do you envision yourself interacting and performing with this rack. There are some expression-type modules available that may encourage a more interactive experience and performance. Joysticks, trigger combining crossfaders, mute modules, SoundMachines LS1, and things like that.
Second, it looks like you have chosen several of the largest modules available in such a small case. Do you really need to dedicate 20hp to a bass drum when you already have Basimilus Iteritas Alter. Would the WMD Crater serve a similar purpose in a smaller footprint? You have chosen Odessa but not the Hel expander. Any particular reason for this? Would the 4ms Ensemble Oscillator work just as well in 8 less hp? Is the Morgasmatron the best choice for your only filter at 20hp? Do you need two FX Aid XLs and the Desmodus?
These are all great modules, don't get me wrong. But you have a very small footprint that you are more than likely going to want to fill with more utilities/logic/envelopes/VCAs/attenuverters/etc.
Again, these are just my initial thoughts if I were going to build a rack for your purpose.
Have fun and good luck!

Hello there,

I started roughly a year ago with my modular journey with a rather static setup in a 15U 84TE Doepfer Case Combination. However, I quickly realized that I definetely want to go in the Live Performance direction in an actually a bit smaller more compact case (so that I can carry it around)

The music that I intend to make (or make so far with my bigger case) can be described as very fast, hypnotic and slightly groovy techno. I have no plan to start ambient or anything similar with that case in order to optimize the modul-choices. The plan is to do everything (mixing, sequencing, drums, voices) in the rack and only optimize the mastering process outside, if necessary.

This is what I came up with (10U 104TE)

Any feedback would be much appreciated, especially in regard to module choice and workability and any ideas for optimization.

Thanks!

EDITED Aug 10th 2021, 15:40

Forum: embed albums from Bandcamp

Bandcamp embeds should work now. You have to go to Bandcamps Share/Embed options, then select a "style" and then copy the code that is listed with the option wordpress.com. Paste that in the ModGrid forum post and it should render the album.

Re: bandcamp I seem to be the main user around here but I would love to see that working 🙇
-- troux

Bandcamp embeds should work now. You have to go to Bandcamps Share/Embed options, then select a "style" and then copy the code that is listed with the option wordpress.com. Paste that in the ModGrid forum post and it should render the album.

To all with the archive idea: what happens when a rack is archived? Is it visible for other users? Is it still searchable and can be copied by others? Or will it behave more like a private rack? Will it disappear from your command center?

The forum has a new experimental feature to embed Bandcamp.com albums. Use the embed code in the wordpress format from Bandcamps share options.
Happy to post my latest album Dinosaur Ballads albeit it is already 3 years old. It is made in a more traditional way using mainly polysynths (OB-8, Juno 60, Prophet 6, JD800, PolyEvolver) but most songs also have a track or some sound fx made with my Eurorack modular.