I'd really like to hear that!
-- legrena
Working on it :) Tracking for a release now.. and this skiff is proving quite versatile...
This is what I'm thinking of starting out with. The goal would be to get a full voice that I can play. Is this a good start? I latched onto Pittsburgh because it's made in the US and I like the way it looks.
I was sort of kidding, sort of not.
PAs and guitar amps tend to color sound, whereas you want a "flat"/uncolored representation.
Noise goes well with guitar amps, whereas detail and clarity gets treated like oil in water.
Here's a pretty basic Mother-32 patch with a slow sweeping LFO filter modulation. Create a sequence and then fine tune the Pulse Width, Cutoff Frequency and Resonance Frequency to suit your liking during playback.
You are welcome..
The user guide is helpful too, in understanding the feature set...
http://media.wix.com/ugd/069912_d56247220d1141b8b9cc905200662378.pdf
Please note: Im just a very happy owner of the TA and have nothing to do with the company itself.
Not the sequences themselves but all the various settings that generated the sequence such as the probability settings and exclusions.
Here's the youtube playlist... that demos a lot of the features
As an aside.. I've been experimenting with Brain Seed to record the generated sequences for playback live...
Thanks for the review. It looks great.
Maybe I'm missing it, but can you save and recall sequences that you like or is it always generating new stuff?
The Time's Arrow has quickly become my favorite and most musical step sequence generator in my rack.
Although it cannot (and apparently, was deliberately designed not to...) generate evolving patterns, the patterns it does create, are almost always musically useful and inspiring. Used alongside and in combination various other Generative/Standard sequencers such as the Turing Machine, Brain Seed, Metropolis, Hammer Mk2 etc.. in my performance rack, it works really well and provides an extra dimension to my music for sure!
A great, 'go to' module for me, when I need fresh ideas!
Oh....
Well that was something I'd never even considered. Hahah
Cheers dude I'll check some out this weekend!
In Dispute with @ODS331180. I have had an open dispute with PayPal since he told me he would not give me my money back. Waiting on their answer.
Ordered VCA Matrix on 29 April and paid promptly. When I got a letter saying I needed to pay over £60 import charges, I had to say no. Maybe it makes me an asshole but it just made it too expensive, so I had to return it. So I never recieved the module. It was sent back. He recieved it and told me he will not refund me. Does he get to keep the module AND the money? What do you think? Sorry if this doesn't belong here. Happy to move it to a more appropriate forum.
-- oddbeats
To me, that is bad manners, and that goes for both of you.
Import charges/taxes are not the seller's problem. Just deal with them (or arrange something with the seller beforehand).
To the seller: You can't have both the money and the module - are you insane?? Were is the logic in this? You got the module back - refund the guy and stop crying.
(Personally, I wouldn't refund the postage).
Yes, we should probably have a "dubious sellers/buyers thread".
In Dispute with @ODS331180. I have had an open dispute with PayPal since he told me he would not give me my money back. Waiting on their answer.
Ordered VCA Matrix on 29 April and paid promptly. When I got a letter saying I needed to pay over £60 import charges, I had to say no. Maybe it makes me an asshole but it just made it too expensive, so I had to return it. So I never recieved the module. It was sent back. He recieved it and told me he will not refund me. Does he get to keep the module AND the money? What do you think? Sorry if this doesn't belong here. Happy to move it to a more appropriate forum.
-- oddbeats
What do you think he should do? You bought the module so its yours... He sends it to you and you refuse it. He can send it again If you pay for shipping... It may be nice of him to refund you, but I think you not wanting to pay taxes is not really his problem and something you should have thought about beforehand. He might already have spent the money and getting it to refund you might be a lot of hassle.
In short my opinion;
It would be nice of him to offer some kind of refund. But otherwise you should just come clean on your part of the deal and accept the module, or just be at piece with the fact that your module is at his place. If he resold it he would be a dick though...
Hey all, pretty new to the modular synth world and I wanted to know what everyone recommends for their amplification?
I come from a guitar/bass/harsh noise background and am currently using a Orange TH30 with a 4 x 12 cab, a Vox AC30 with a 2 x 12 and a Sunn 1200s with two 4 x 12 and a 1 x 15 cabinet for my live stuff.
For guitar, bass and my noise this setup has always been more than awesome but I'm finding the more complex tones and poly melodies are sounding muddy with no clarity.
Any ideas on what to use to clean the sound up? Should I split the synth into one amp/speaker can for each part or...?
Thanks for posting the link to soundcloud so we can hear this monster! Nice setup.
After setting something like this up, how does one go about validating whether or not it will be effective as a potential noise producing device?
@bj_gzp sells and ships nice and fast
-- ghee hgt
Not surprising: it is a nice fellow.
Had super smooth transactions with:
In Dispute with @ODS331180. I have had an open dispute with PayPal since he told me he would not give me my money back. Waiting on their answer.
Ordered VCA Matrix on 29 April and paid promptly. When I got a letter saying I needed to pay over £60 import charges, I had to say no. Maybe it makes me an asshole but it just made it too expensive, so I had to return it. So I never recieved the module. It was sent back. He recieved it and told me he will not refund me. Does he get to keep the module AND the money? What do you think? Sorry if this doesn't belong here. Happy to move it to a more appropriate forum.
A Roland & Doepfer inspired Mod System with a lot of sound bending, different OSC types and modulation functions.
Just kind a dream :-)
I recommend @pitri as a good trader, thank you for good price and fast delivery on delptronic lpd-1e/x
Custom 150hp skiff loaded and running! Pic inside..Enter the StarCrater!
This is my starter setup that I'm planing to finish by winter, starting with Lifeforms ( as something i can use right away ), and probably Clouds right away, moving into other modules based on what I'm into at the time. Trying to do dusty, droney, Tim Hecker-y melodies but wouldn't mind it jumping into techno every now and then. What do you think? Thanks!
Thanks. Don't have a Disting anymore, but I'm sure Os would be willing to share the panel dimensions or even source files with anyone who wants to give a 1U conversion a go.
Nice! Great idea.
A Disting converted to Intellijel 1u would be awesome as well!
Big thanks to @bommelito and @shelter_studio for being the nice communicative, fast paying buyers they are : )
Bought RYO Aperture Lowpass gate kits from Modularaddict in Wisconsin, USA. Ran into a glitch during the build which he resolved promptly. Highly recommended seller.
I sold a freshly-built RYO Aperture lowpass gate to @lumot. No dramas with him, great attitude, smooth transaction! Discussing future deals.
easyskywalker sold me a Mutamix, and everything was just as it should be!
Custom 150hp skiff done! Pic inside. :)
Done in the 4ms row style.
Hi all!
I would Like to ask you guys an opinion about what is better for FM synthesis.
Beside price and beside the whole modular vs stand alone features what do you guys would choose and why between:
Volca FM
ALM011 / Akemie's Castle
Thanks to all!
As the power consumption and depth have changed, this is a valid/useful addition to MG.
Is this just an alternative panel for the original module?
a|x
idk if ill buy this but it one cool concept!
hobbies include VSTi creation, sound design, 3-D design, photoshop, eurorack, and music production.
A quick "Thumbs-up" to @echoromeo for a quick payment of the uScale II and @zen4one for quick payment of the E350 Morphing Terrarium. They both were a pleasure to business with.
R-
Hello folks...I see a lot of questions on this topic, so I thought I would chime in. Having had about 35+ years of experience in electroacoustic music, as well as having designed a few devices, plus having used a plethora of modular setups over the years, I'd like to offer some how-to-get-going advice to people starting in this direction.
1) Don't start cold. Before designing a modular system to YOUR spec, see how others have been designed over the years by others. Especially note semi-modular patchable designs; the ARP 2600 comes to mind immediately, as many schools still use these as a primary tool for learning analog synth programming basics. After looking at (or better, using) a few of these, you'll notice that there are certain patterns to the layout of the panels, and this all relates to signal flow. Making this as efficiently directional as possible, instead of a patchcord hodgepodge, results in a more instrument-like...well...instrument. Which leads to...
2) Generators / modifiers / controllers / processors. These are the four basic 'food groups' of modules. Some modules can fit into a couple of these categories (or more), but it's how YOU define their uses that determines where in there these sorts wind up. So, let's look at these:
a) generators. Pretty straightforward. Things that create a waveform that is the 'raw meat' of your sound. Oscillators, certainly, but also signal inputs, noise sources, sample-based modules, and so on. If it MAKES noise, it fits here.
b) modifiers. Now these are things that ACT ON the waveform and modify how it behaves. Filters, ring modulators, VCAs if you use them for AM, waveshapers, and the like. If it changes the output of the generator(s), it's a modifier.
c) controllers. The obvious things here are controllers themselves: sequencers, keyboards, and the whole gamut of such widgets. But also various modules, especially modulation sources like LFOs, EGs, etc. If it makes something do something, it fits in this club.
d) processors. The 'summation'. When everything that's been through a-c above gets to the end of its journey, it arrives at d. Mixers go here, plus effects, output stages. But also, processors are scattered throughout any good synth design. A multiple is a sort of processor (passively splits something), as are submixer stages for various other subsets of modules, either AF or CV.
3) Why is that important? Well, it's because you, optimally, group things according to those categories...and when you do, you begin the basics of sensible signal flow. "But I want a VCO way the hell over here!", you say? Well, you could do that, sure. But at the same time, if you get adept at reading your patchcord jungle, you will come to notice 'unusual' patches that require a cord to go 'way the hell over' there, and therefore you'll pay attention to it, because, obviously, you set that special patch aspect up for a significant reason. The cord there becomes an 'arrow' that tells you 'hey...look at this a bit more carefully than the rest of the spaghetti'.
4) Flow directions. Once you get your groupings sussed out, then you need to decide how they fit together and play together. Again, study some existing, tried-and-true designs that had a lot of work go into them and which are considered 'classics'. And if you do, you notice something of a rule of thumb: up and left/right and down. Huh? Well...consider...
Your human input, as control signals, are probably best coming in at the 'bottom' of the layout. You want them at hand. Knobs to grab, wheels to turn, keys to tickle. Then from there, the control signals from those control other things to augment the control. And now, we're heading upward, building up the control signal structures. Some of these branch one way, and triggers, gates, etc go to other control things, stuff to modulate, while your CVs head on upward to (where I like to put them) the upper part of the layout, where your generators live. So now, we're all the way up and all the way left. Now we have to go rightward and downward.
The generator signals, influenced by modulators coming from that middle-leftward zone, and jiggered by processing to cook 'em down, arrive at the modifiers...where you find filters to tamper with timbre, VCAs for amplitudes, waveshapers to mangle stuff, etc. And with this stuff here, your controlling modulations are simply moving across the middle...left to right...to have at the CVs inputs herein. Once we're done here, then it's a simple move on down to the final modifiers, namely your effects processing and mixing, as well as other end-stage trickery...which, like the controllers at the beginning, are nicely at hand in the bottom-right quadrant where you can easily get at 'em. It feels right, it looks right, it's not QUITE so maddening to program...perhaps...and cables all seem to flow around the front panel's user interface in a way that doesn't seem look like some sort of connect-the-dots puzzle on mescaline.
Anyway, that's how I tend to work with these things, employing much the same sort of flow structure on an instrument as I might with a studio environment...which, after all, is what the innovators such as Don Buchla, Bob Moog, Peter Zinovieff, and the like had in mind: an 'in-one-box' solution to the electronic music studio setups of the 1960s and before. Not saying these are hard 'n' fast rules, but they work for me, and have for quite some time. Give it a try (which Modulargrid makes oh-so-easy) and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
L
Wow, you make some great points and thank you for the valuable information. I have decided to go with a MDLR classic case which expands my HP per row to 114, giving me more room for extra modules. I am keeping the DUBjr in there and adding the disting mk3 because I am a delay junkie and want many different options (let me know if that doesn't make sense). I have replaced the mutagen with the mutamix.
Take a look at the mods that I have added and let me know what you think.
Also, to start I am not buying all of the modules at once. The grand total for everything will probably end up at close to $8k. I will most likely be spending $4k to start with. Any pointers on which modules I absolutely have to get first given my starting budget?
Once again, I appreciate the help. I'll continue to do my own research to develop my own knowledge, but I really enjoy the fact that there are others out there willing to help on this journey.
Thanks!
Oh and yes, I meant using the moog in desktop form. I might grab one myself. The sound great.
Vcas are necessary because the gate and control levels of everything. Want to control vibrato over time? Use a VCA between your LFO and oscillator with an envelope generator opening and closing the VCA. This is where a modular shines over fixed architecture. Anything can modulate anything, and it's the dynamics and movement through vcas, cv switches, logic, etc that opens up everything. Effects are fun, oscillators are necessary, but to really get them moving, you need dynamic voltage, and that's achieved through vcas.
Take a look at your DPO. You might not know it but there's a bunch of vcas built in already. One to control fm between the oscs, one to control osc modulation to the timbre section, etc.
The uMod 2 is a great choice because you can use it as a VCA in addition to ring mod. Plus the lower section is amazing fir creative cv processing.
Unfortunately the mutagen has been discontinued a while ago, but the mutamix is its replacement and quite great. It's 18hp though, versus the 12hp of the mutagen. Still a good choice because of the 3 output buses. Not to mention its sequencing capabilities.
If you replaced the dub Jr. with a Disting (which has ping pong delays, tape delays, in addition to tons of other functions, of course) then you'd have space for the mutamix.
A few words for @baguetta, I sold him my Flame Fx 16, and everything was great! Great man, great artist, great buyer!
Great communication everything was fine from start to finish. Highly recommended!
great and awesome sellers: @He_lium and @moriyama !!
be carefull with @davidauthior sold me broken module.
Anyone else out there that can help? Would love to get as much guidance as possible from some seasoned folks before I take the plunge. I feel like there are brands and actual modules out there that I am missing out on. Also, some additional tips and recommendations on the current configuration would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Right on, so I got rid of the moog (sucks cause I really wanted the moog sound in there, though I know I can just get it tabletop and still mess around like that). I added the Make Noise DPO, Make Noise function generator, Intellijel VCA 2, Intellijel uMod 2, and the intellijel mutagen as a mixer. Unfortunately, even though I know what belongs inside the rig, I do not completely understand what purpose some of the mods serve. For example, what do the VCAs do and why are more than one important? Also, could you recommend a good 4hp mod to squeeze in as the last piece? Other than that I am open to recommendations with swapping my current mods.
Apologies for the newbie questions, but I am still reading up and researching. Going to take the final plunge and buy everything hopefully in the beginning of June. Appreciate your help!
