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Had fun making some acid trance tonite

I dont know for Arbhar but Morphagen can handle signals from modular and from your sound card output.

Page 38 : The Auto-level procedure has been replaced with an improved input gain staging, accessed with a 4-step gain selection (blue-green-orange-purple). To use, Hold Record, and Press Shift to step through the gain settings: Blue, low -3db, Green, modular level, Orange medium +6db, Purple high +12db.

I'm struggling a lot with the mixing and mastering part of the process and I think hiring a professional mixing / mastering engineer will help me get a better sound for my tracks and learn something on the way.

Can you guys recommend someone? and how much should I expect to pay for the mixing and mastering?

To Sample from a Laptop Out or a Phone or iPod i use the Erica Synth Pico Input. You can go directly from your Laptop or Phone Headphone Out with a 3.5mm Stereo Cable to the Pico. From the Pico you can go with two Standard Patchcables into the Morphagene or Arbhar (but its just Mono In)

With the Pico Input you can also Boost the incoming Signal.

Hello, after careful consideration I’ve decided to take a dip into the fascinating modular world. I’ve been watching the State Azure channel on Youtube since I’m into ambient myself as Sonmi451. So I've purchased a Pico Case with an Instruo Arbhar, a Make Noise Morphagene and a Happy Nerding FX Aid. But now I'm stuck... Can someone please explain what cable to use in order to get a sample out of the stereo out laptop or AC out of my Focusrite One into the Arbhar input? Same question for the Morphagene input. I have some mono patch cables but I’m in a bit of a conundrum on the switch/difference between AC and VC. I have a little Behringer USB mixer: how do I output the modules out’s to the inputs of the mixer? I’ve seen 3,5 to 6,3 patch cables: can I use these to lead the signal to the Behringer? For the moment, the Behringer is the only mixer I’ve got, the Focusrite One only has a guitar input which I use for my Mother32. I've searched and searched but I can't find a clear answer on the internet. Any advice highly appreciated !

Thanks @farkas, it's new in my rack but definitely impressing so far. I think I might get a Jumble Henge for one of my smaller racks too.

Yeah, I kinda forgot about Marbles being in control, its nice that it has so much variety but keeps 3 lots of gates and 3 lots of pitches all muddling along nicely.
Though I did start off with Marbles just throwing Gates at the 2hp Turing machine or ARP which was doing a good job anyway before re-patching over to totally Marbles.
Its really feeling like Marbles is the module I've been looking for to help tie everything together. I need another VCO now so I can use the full 3 channels as all analogue goodness :)

Oh, wow. In addition to your excellent composition as always, the EQ, separation, and use of the stereo field are outstanding.
I have been eyeing both the Worng Soundstage for a while, and the new ALM variant. May have to make room in the rack.
Thanks for sharing!

EDITED Feb 14th 2021, 17:00

@Mazz
That's too healthy an attitude to get into modular. Sorry, mate! ;)

(Oh damn, this is a sticky thread! Should have contributed something more profound. Next time.)

EDITED Feb 14th 2021, 16:42

Both excellent tunes, I especially like the human-ness of Upside Down Cat which I can have trouble finding in my generative stuff. Is this the power of Marbles? 🤔🤔

I realised the entire Youtube page was all Modular Vids, but i thought it maybe inappropriate to put the shop link on here each time so the link is on the Youtube page. :)

So @wishbone now you are using MG to advertise your beers, the least you could do is post a link where we can buy them, hmmm?

It certainly feels spacey and airy.

read the pams manual - pams can generate envelopes - as well as triggers and random quantised sequences

how are you planning on sequencing?

Make Noise STO sine wave into DannySound Timbre, Befaco Even VCO into Happy Nerding HNVCF, quite a bit of modulation from Divkid Instruo Ochd and using the ALM Pip Slope envelope combined in the AI Synthesis Matrix Mixer, beats from the Roboux LL8 and DNi Pro DOT triggering the ADDAC103, using the filter on the ADDAC105 for a bit of extra blippy percussion from the T-Networks, 2HP Verb and Erica Pico DSP bringing things all together. There are also some Hats from the Roland TR-09.

While I'd agree with most points, aren't people overthinking their music-making a little too much?
It makes the assumption that every musician's goal should be becoming successful or having some kind of mystical experience out of it...
I don't know, some of us just make music because it's our favourite thing to do in our spare time. I learned decades ago that my music is nothing special and is going nowhere, yet precisely because that wasn't my goal, I'm still at it 35 years later, and enjoying every minute of it. For the sake of it.
For the present I'm just getting some Eurorack modules to expand my DFAM explorations, but knowing myself I know I'll get deeper down the rabbit hole, but always within reason.
I'd say, yes be aware of your budget and measure how important things are to you, but don't overthink it. It's just a hobby like any other. If you lose interest after a while. Sell on and move on.

Cheers :)

Thought I'd reverse my usual and post a quick outtake. This is a really nice mixer, it lets you play with space intuitively/easily and makes good room for different voices. Check it out:

https://stevehand.bandcamp.com/track/staging-acid

Made with:

EDITED Feb 14th 2021, 06:26

Sorry about that A single envelope generator will be enough its Een without one he will mange Greatings Raimon

(try #2...hate how this thing loves to eat posts)

Jim answered the thing about "incomplete power consumption specs"...my suggestion would be to go to the website for the module(s) in question and check to see if they have the current specs, or whether they have an online or DLable manual that has those. And if you DO find 'em, come back here and fix the listing...because one of MG's best strengths is its crowdsourcing of information to keep the place comprehensive.

As for the drums...I can't endorse this. For one thing, having drum modules and sequencing and all of that in this small a build will crowd out modules that can make the drone synth aspect stronger. My recommendation would be to go with an external drum machine or two, locked up with some sync method. Also...your two Tiptop drum modules here run $380, while at the same time you can get Roland's redux of the TR-808 for a mere $19 more. Or you could just as well wait for Uli to drop B.'s version of the 909. Either way, this is really the right way to go...function AND ergonomics all considered. There's also a bunch of things in there that won't quite work for this, or won't work in the way you expect.

So...I banged on this for a bit, changed a bunch of stuff, and this resulted:

Now that's a lot better, as far as drone instruments go. I got rid of the Red Square VCO in deference to a pair of VOID's Gravitational Waves dual VCOs with ring modulators + a bunch of crossmod tricks. And interestingly, they cost exactly $1 more together than the one Red Square. Following those is a Bubblesound Hex VCA for level control of SIX inputs...which means you could take a single waveform from each VCO + each ringmod, or double up different waveforms...bunches of timbral possibilities there...and then "strum" through them with modulation signals. After the Hex VCA is a fixed-level panning mixer from Omsonic (the VCAs handle levels here) to set up your stereo field. This gets fed to the Morgasmotron after that. Then the Morg's A and B outs can go to the FX Aid XL while at the same time the mono MIX out can go to the Purrtronics spring emulator. The end of the audio path is just below this, where a VC stereo crossfader can accept CVs for fading between the FX Aid and spring outs, feeding this to the Isolator for output. As for the wet/dry balances, those get controlled on the FX modules.

Now, the modulation section here starts with the A-118-2, then Tesseract's FranKinksTides dual Tides clone with some additional Kinks circuitry handles long-period modulation. The SISM after this allows you to use CV to control all sorts of modulation tampering and combination. Then Maths, followed by a triple linear VCA for CV over modulation levels. Then a Quadrax/Qx combo allows you to do very complex envelope/LFO/function gen activity.

This is intended as a drone-specific instrument, really. Loads of ambient drone potential, plus there's ample modulation to allow plenty of internal changes to those drones. And with the dual FX/crossfade end stage, this has the potential for a lot of weird stereo field depth trickery, too, such as moving from the Morg's A and B via a swirly foreground chorus to its MIX out into a deep, blurry reverb...sort of like the mixing equivalent of falling down a well, if you like.

CV processing and perhaps logic like an Intellijel Plog.
-- exper

Yes, been thinking about Plog as well.. What kind of CV processing module were u thinking about?

-- flowwwer

There are many good 6hp mixer/attenuverter/offset modules, such as Intellijel's Triplatt, Mutable Shades, or Happy Nerding's 3X MIA. And with that last 2hp, I suggest a passing OR module. Yes there is OR logic on the Plog, but it's better to use that for more interesting logic scenarios. OR can be done passively and is versatile in that it can also be used as a voltage rectifier and mixer. I love throwing some LFOS or random voltages into one and get different versions out of it.

Nifty! And yeah, it's probably more sensible to stay holed up, working on lures right now...winter in IL is bad enough, but when you get back down South, you get that WET cold. No fun being out on the water in that, nope!

My situation is sort of atypical...I have 124U of various rack processors, plus some non-racked ones, a "library" of stompers that I can drop in when/wherever needed, and pretty much everything in my studio involves a patch, so it's easy to reroute things so that I can easily make changes to the signal path. And this is all hardware...doesn't cover the various VSTs.

Hi Funbun,

It has been awhile, but you are back! :-)

Properly back, with one of your nice videos that I missed so much! Naturally, nicely accompanied with your AE modular system :-)

Great work and thank you very much for sharing this with us. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hell yeah! The BIA is one of the greatest modules ever made for eurorack. Especially when you modulate and sequence the gates and CV it really comes to life. Here is a quick jam that I made with mine recently that shows what it can do.

By the way, did you know that Kris Kaiser of Noise Engineering uses the same Winter Modular Eloquencer sequencer with her BIA stuff?

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Oh yes, another nice beer can combination with drone track. For me this is a drone all right ;-)

It's a pity that I am not a beer drinker, otherwise I would be very tempted to try out your different beer styles, seems and sounds quite interesting to me!

Nice work and thanks a lot for sharing with us, kind regards, Garfield.

Hi guys,
The pedals thread made me think;
How do you handle effects in your rack(s) and what are your favourites modules.
DSP, analogic, guitar pedals ? The best of all world ?

Good day/night !

Hi Baltergeist,

Wow, another two bonus tracks from you :-) How much can one wish for a weekend, great work and thanks a lot for sharing this with us, kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Flowwwer,

I would put 2 blind panels of each 4 HP put in the lower rack next to the Metron. It's always good to have some spare space left and then you are able to extend your Metron with for example 2 more Voltera modules.

Must the rack be full? Perhaps keep the other gap filled with a 8 HP blind panel as well? If you put your rack now full then you are forced to buy a new rack in case you want to buy more modules after a certain time. If you keep the 8 HP now free, you have at least some spare space in case you unexpected come along a nice module :-)

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Although this is for my customers, the music is from my latest album.

CV processing and perhaps logic like an Intellijel Plog.
-- exper

Yes, been thinking about Plog as well.. What kind of CV processing module were u thinking about?

CV processing and perhaps logic like an Intellijel Plog.

EDITED Feb 13th 2021, 22:12

Hello,

Im thinking to fill my last 16 hp but im kind of confused what to add, what would you have added?

I just got mine, and I agree with the others. This thing is a monster alpha male. I think I'll find uses for it. I think it's a good augmentation to my setup because I mostly use Plaits and Peaks for percussion up to now. I have tried to shy away from one trick pony modules. I also think my Muxlicer and Percall will help augment and tame this beast. I'm generally either in pounding beats or all the way in the other direction doing generative ambient. Interesting times.

I'll second @JimHowell1970 on the A-118, I have one and like it but Kinks can cover random for you and it's got some nice extra functionality packed in. Agreed as well that the FX Aid is great.

Drums wise, take a look at the HexInverter "Mutant" series. The Mutant Hi-Hats is just fantastic and will have a lot more range than the TipTop clones, plus you can put all that modulation to use on it. 13HP is a lot in a case this size, but it's worth it if you're going to do drums in the rack, imho.

I tried a Drone.... some of its drone, some of its not!

EDITED Feb 13th 2021, 16:12

you don't need an extra lfo, but you might want one - modulation is probably one of the most important things in modular - decide if you want sync/reset or free running lfos

personally I would add a matrix mixer instead of another modulation source in this size case - very useful for combining modulation sources - and can also be used for feedback mixing, amongst other things

fx aid xl seems to be the best bang for buck multi fx module - more modulation, more effects and less cramped than a lot of the competition

incomplete power means no one tested and noted the power consumption in modulargrid - it maybe available on the nlc website though - or not, you should be ok as long as you leave enough headroom - 20-30% or so overall - I always use 10mA per rail per hp as an upper guide - it is probably less than that - this is one of the reasons why it is better to design the case around the modules rather than trying to fit modules into a case!

replace the intellijel quad vca with veils - saves 2hp

the tritone is probably superfluous - you have filters! - if you want this much control I'd consider dropping this and one of the filters and getting mutable shelves instead

probably not enough mixing capabilities - for submixing pre filter, final stage mixing etc - I'm guessing final stage is external

not enough in the way of utitlties in general in my opinion - I'd remove the mult and doepfer a118 and replace with mutable links and kinks - and add a shades - or at least their functionality - read the manuals carefully

you may not need the adsr - most people use simpler envelopes - unless they are specifically using a keyboard to play

how are you sequencing/playing v/oct? - depending on this you may not need the quantizer - or you may need a sequencer!

I'd consider a disting (mk4 or ex) as it will be useful working out what functionality you need

I would go very slowly adding only a few modules to start with and then expand as you feel you are missing things - try to make sure that you know modules fully before buying new ones!

Thanks :) Cold white skies here and frosty.

Hard to beat the Happy Nerding FX Aid XL for a multi-effects module.

https://cdn.modulargrid.net/img/racks/modulargrid_1426890.jpg

Hi! i wanna make an experimental/drone rack that I can use for techno too. Note: I have a moog DFAM for drums and I can patch it as an additional soundsource, VCF ect. too.

Questions:

Do I need another LFO if I have a Maths and the NLC Chaos which can be used as random CV source?
Is there anything I can get rid off or save on?
I need more Fx, cant decide multi fx module to get.. any recomendations? Id love a few delays (pingpong!), distortion, and chorus.
NLC FF Chaos: It says that this module has incomplete power consumption specs. what are specs? what does that mean exactly?
Any general comments?

thanks a lot for your feedback!!

Great music for cold blue skies.

Do you really need to re-organise your rack or would some longer cables be helping you out here to reach all the modules? ;-)
-- GarfieldModular

I'm currently in need of more power so some things are unplugged in favour of other modules.

I've figured I can drone on without gates for the moment and just control pitches so I'm playing with ideas.

Thanks Garfield!

Yeah the Eloquencer is an amazing sequencer even more so than Metron in that it can do more sequencer modes and better quantizer scales and ratcheting. I'd love to get my hands on with 512 Vector and Erica Synths Black Sequencer after Covid lockdowns end and stores open again for in person visits. I like that I can mix up patterns quickly on the fly with a simple button push and use the modular hands on while a good base pattern is running on the sequencer.

And another, but this one is just the Double Knots and Plumbutter.

Here's another one with the same set-up, minus the fuzz, plus a Mother-32. Kinda drifts pitch-wise, but I like the cracked nature of it.

Hi Baltergeist and Lugia,

Baltergeist: That's a great nice track, real nice way to start the weekend :-)

Lugia: I just managed to get a Fuzz pedal from Cuvave before the Brexit but had no chance to test it because of lack of a power supply, then just recently tested it but looks like a DOA (Dead On Arrival) :-( I was so looking forward to this pedal...

Bad luck, even more bad luck since sending this back to Amazon UK costs a fortune, I had been told by the post office because of the Brexit their costs went rocket high now. It costs more to send it back then the unit costed me...

I hope there will be a time that I can experience a Fuzz ;-) considering you can't get it here in Germany and the UK because of the Brexit is a bit difficult to get things there or from.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

The Eloquencer sequencer together with your percussion modules are indeed very nice and attractive to watching you, using and demonstrating it. Great fun! :-)

Enjoy the weekend with the Eloquencer and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Zuggamasta,

Wow, nice long track where you take us on your sonic adventures! :-) You got at several spots some real fun and nice melody lines with fun & good sounds. I like that!

Then you have a Leslie effects module on the left bottom turning around for your Leslie effects, great! I guess that's using blue tooth or some other wireless protocol otherwise the wires are getting wrapped up pretty fast ;-) Just kidding! By the way, what module is that?

He, he, I overlooked your video above this one, going to check that one out now, looks like some fun too!

Looks like you got yourself a new toy, the OP-Z ;-) Enjoy and have fun with it and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Then it's even a nicer can :-D

I wish I could make nice long drones like yours. Do you really need to re-organise your rack or would some longer cables be helping you out here to reach all the modules? ;-)

Good luck with the possible re-organisation and kind regards, Garfield.

I have just listed a pedal for sale, the first time I have done this, expecting it to appear in the regular Marketplace...

Turns out there is a whole separate Pedal Marketplace... who knew?

p.s. It's the Empress Zoia for a really good price :)