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I personally don't especially mind this phenomenon. The QMMG looks like a pretty sweet module, and it's super rare. If they can find someone who is comfortable paying this price, more power to them, and putting on my empathy hat I can wonder if they need this money for rent, essentials, etc... we are in a pandemic after all. A 6X or 10X markup isn't cheap, but Eurorack is ultimately a hobby. What really bugs me is 10X or more markup for houses, healthcare, college, etc... just my 2 cents.
Miscommunication on my part @Rabel, when I ask what's missing I mean "What are you trying to do that you don't quite succeed at?" or "What sound do you want that you can't find?" or "What's hard that you'd like to be easy?"or "What rut do you get stuck in that you'd like to break out of?" Answering those questions will help us know what modules could help.
Mostly agreed with @JimHowell1970 here, looking at the rack it feels like a really focused version of what you think you want now but you probably need some room and time to explore to see what you really need. So I'd start off with half the modules here, scratching all the Dreadbox duplicates to start and then a few more, and give that some time. (I'll also second the suggestion that you fit a Maths in, it was my first thought looking at the rack.)
Soundstage or a Jumble Henge or a Nearness plus some attenuators could do a lot of work for you. I have the first and the last and they're both really nice modules.
Owning a Scales myself and having recently recommended one to another poster on here, I think @JimHowell1970 is probably right that an O&C or a Disting would both be a better choice here.
I saw you'd started to make some of Jim's suggested changes and I had 5 minutes so I took a crack at this:
Quick thoughts:
1) Serge Wave Multiplier >>>>>>>>> Serge Wave Shaper, stick with the former (I noticed it had fallen out of the rack)
2) I like my DUSG but would probably take a second Maths over it so I swapped em here (and also switched to the white knobs which is what seems to be available).
3) Added a Links on top of your Kinks and dropped the various buffered mults as you can get stack cables and mostly be ok.
4) Disting rules, added one here.
5) Added an MCO because a digital oscillator would be a nice change of pace here and it does a lot.
6) Swapped the Doepfer matrix mixer with a 4MS VCA Matrix since you have a lot of CV sources. FWIW I don't actually love this module but I think it's my fault since I try to keep my racks focused and it's pretty big, but I think it could shine for you here.
7) Zadar + Nin rule, added them here as both envelope generators and as long running control sources for ambient.
8) Added the NCOM you had outside the rack cause it rules super hard, great fat suboscillator sounds and useful for utility stuff too.
9) Dropped in a Scales so you can forget about sequencing sometimes and do some CV driven generative stuff.
10) Added an Intellijel Unity mixer in 2Hp for both CV (fun!) and audio mixing.
11) Dropped the Extended ADSR since we added a Zadar.
12) Added a Ladik folding LFO, very cool module.
13) Added an OCHD, big fav of mine and will free up your Maths for example from driving long running LFOs.
14) Added a 4MS Rotating Clock to drive periodic changes around the system as your base clock keeps ticking.
15) Added another switch by 2HP.
15) Not totally sold on this idea just yet, but I dropped the HexMix VCA for a Jumble Henge. You already have a good number of VCAs and attenuators, and while more generally doesn't hurt Jumble Henge (or Soundstage) help clarify a mix a lot without you having to fiddle with it too much, not to mention something like the VCA Matrix and the XPan into a Jumble Henge open up a lot of interesting possibilities.
Hope this provides some ideas and insight, let us know where you end up!
I shared this the other day, but was having enough fun making noise (https://stevehand.bandcamp.com/album/l-i-t) I've started thinking about a dedicated 208 rack for it, put this together, and thought I'd ask the forum what people think, what am I missing, where you'd take it.
Some quick notes on composition:
1) PNW for all sequencing, I don't especially want 1 V/Oct sequencing in a rack like this so a pitch sequencer isn't needed, but I still want to be able to create drum lines.
2) Maths + SSG for pitch and dynamics control, lots of fun possibilities there, A * B + C to expand that even further.
3) Crater seems awesome and a powerful kick is critical for this stuff.
4) Serge ResEQ for feedback patching, WMD SCLPL for end of chain EQ'ing.
5) Terci Ruina, DTM, + Let's Splosh for distortion (both audio and CV)
6) Warps for various effects, including wavefolding, which is a bit of an open question: is its wavefolder good enough?
7) Bad Idea #9 is playing the snare role.
8) Pressure Points plus Ears for a more performative touch (and for the ability to create distinct structural moments that PP provides).
Anyway, curious what people think and how they'd tackle this.
I hear all that @Lugia, but as an acid fanatic I'll chime in to say that modular does open up some really interesting room to explore the acid sound, and folks are looking at the challenge you've raised re: the sequencer thoughtfully, for example the m303 has a Slide input that aims to mimic the TB-303 sound. It never hurts to go the VST route (and certainly helps the budget) but as someone who started his Eurorack journey to make ambient/drone/noise I couldn't resist making squelches once I got a rack in my hands... there's something there there.
I've been spending a ton of time working on acid racks so I spent a few minutes on this and came away with the below:
Some notes:
1) I extended to 104HP because that extra 20HP can go a long way for us here as you'll see.
2) The biggest and probably most important addition from my POV is the Make Noise Pressure Points. This lets you easily create 4 part song structures, with let's say two of the inputs going into the meloDICER and a third controlling the Bassline filter cutoff... all of a sudden you can easily change chords and dynamics across multiple parameters with one press. Not to mention it's playable, you can use pressure to drive CV changes through the top outputs, meaning you have structured control of 3 parameters and expressive control of a fourth, lots of fun.
3) I added a WMD Time Warp for gateable slew and as another envelope generator.
4) I added a Bin Seq and a Tree to get weird gate patterns going. This isn't something I've tried personally so you could take another route and add a temps_utile or an Intellijel Steppy and get good and perhaps more grokable results that way too.
5) Pip Slope as a backup envelope generator and also as an LFO.
6) FX Aid because it's got huge range and is superior to the Delay and Verb at their own game from what I can tell.
7) A Disting MK4 to fill in any number of possibilities, wavefolder, recorder, tuner, more effects, etc.
8) I left 4HP open for you to fill in with a distortion module of your choice, I couldn't pick one (though I love the Manhattan Analog DTA) but ultimately the Erica Synths one felt like it took up too much space so I cut it.
Some alternate possibilities worth considering:
1) With Metropolix coming out Metropolises will be going on sale used at a discount I bet, probably worth comparing to the melodicer, in which case you could cut the Time Warp.
2) I recently got an M303 and love it, compare it sound wise to the Bassline and throw the X0X Heart in there too to see all the voice options out there.
Hope this is helpful, and let us know what you end up with!
I'm doing my best Wolf Eyes impression here, feedback loops and wavefolding abound, and in an example of how rad modular is I'm using the same rack I've been using to make all my acid tunes 😮😮😮
Anyway, this'll definitely not be everybody's cup of tea but I'm kind of loving it, hope you all can rock out too 🤘🤘🤘
@farkas my current workflow is to record to my Disting, convert to 44.1khz in Audacity, and post here, so if the mixing is sounding good I think it's primarily the Soundstage (which I have really been enjoying). In this case I did use the Audacity default compression algorithm, so I am coming back to that question with @Lugia's comments from a few months back in mind but without any space, still working in the kitchen and all 🤣
Had been farting around with this for a few days and thought I'd record the patch before breaking it down, turned out pretty dang good. VCFS, an NTO, and a Metropolis go to town:
For your sake going forward, different filters have different sounds based on their design or topology, which is generally named. By identifying the topology, in this case Steiner Parker filter, you can look for similar filters in Eurorack.
@troux - couldn't agree more regarding small focussed cases - especially when they're pulled out of larger cases - but as starter modulars I'm not convinced they are a great idea at all
-- JimHowell1970
I'm a fan of small focused cases, knowing the limitations. Looking at yours it's hard to argue with some attenuators but I can see a few other routes too:
1) add a 2HP Clock Divider and a 2HP Sample and Hold, this lets you add changes that sustain over longer durations and that add a bit of structure if they are impactful enough
2) add a filter of some sort that fits in 4HP, IMHO filters are close to the funnest part of eurorack and a good analog filter always sounds great with a digital oscillator
3) pivot and get a 62HP Intellijel palette, more expensive but the extra HP would go a long way here and you could do all of the above, including attenuators pretty easily.
Nice tune @farkas, I'm really appreciating the sound design in this one, that faint background howl/drone is a great icing on the cake to the gritty vibes here. You need to post more often!
if you want to stay at this point - stop coming to modulargrid, don't go to any other modular forums, don't go to any shops either online of in real life - don't communicate with other modular synthesists - these are all sources of gas
