Would this work? Morley MHE 2-channel Stereo Hum Eliminator
EDIT: They're proving difficult to find. If someone was committed to avoid putting an output module in their main case, I suppose they could bring along a tiny separate case with an isolated output module and maybe a few other utilities.
I wonder, are there external output modules that have built in isolation? It's hard to justify putting something like this into a small rack when most of the time spent will be practicing in a safe environment. I'll look and report back, feel free to suggest things in the mean time.
@Ronin1973 Do you have any output modules you would suggest that have a pair of built in isolation transformers?
EDIT: I see three at the moment that seem to qualify and also have a small profile:
- Happy Nerding's Isolater
- Joranalogue Audio Design's Transmit 2
- WMD's Pro Output
Holy crap, that is one stupendous build. @Lugia, you've outdone yourself.
@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.
@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).
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'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.
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.
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.
I suspected as much. I would be concerned with feeding too high a voltage to some other module after mixing two or three +5V gates into one +10V 0r even +15V signal.
No, no, Intellijel still makes their OR logic module, it just takes ordering directly from Intellijel's site. I'm still curious if a unity mixer would work however.
Can I use a Unity mixer to act as an OR logic module for gates? Will I fry modules if I have too many gate signals going at the same time? Alternatively, are there any highly dense OR logic modules available (Intillijel made one, but I think they don't anymore)?
I've just realized the Metropolix can reverse the sequence for one voice while playing normally for the other voice. This should allow me to provide a nice amount of contrary motion so long as I program the sequence to 'advance' upwards or downwards in pitch. Very very good, as it's proving somewhat difficult to jam a Scales and a Switchblade in; it's doable, but requires sacrifices.
Good gracious, 'The Craft of Musical Composition: Book 2' by Hindemith has achingly specific instructions on what exactly to do within melody-crafting. Frankly @nickgreenberg, I'm impressed that you can recommend a book like this. I'm just trying to craft a system that won't get me booed off the dance floor. Thank you, I've ordered a copy and I'll see what I can make of it.
I imagine contrary motion will be somewhat more difficult to pull off with something like the Metropolix, but I think I could put together some oblique counterpoint in a fairly non-complex manner. I'll have to do some testing, and some deeper research into counterpoint music theory.
Running the Maestro through a quantizer like Scales is something I hadn't thought of, excellent. Let me see if I can fit in a Switchblade and Scales to switch between the Metropolix and the Maestro; that could provide me with some momentary controlled contrary motion before switching back to the oblique and (hopefully short) moments of similar motion.
Your post doesn't read as condescending in the slightest, quite the opposite; it has been intensely helpful. One of my weaknesses is my novice grasp of the theory behind music. I appreciate any tips others have to offer, so again, thank you.
I should say I'm trying to build a portable techno system myself right now, getting a lot of great advice from others here.
One particularly transformative bit of advice: the Metropolix is a beast of a pitch sequencer. If you're trying for two voices (maybe a lead and a bass line), the Metropolix is a solid answer. I'm buying one myself.
Another transformative bit of advice: an external drum machine works really really well. You have a lot of space with this case, but my guess is you'll find space runs short incredibly quickly. An external drum machine saves a tremendous amount of space, and a tremendous amount of money as well. Plus, you know, they're fun.
Are you sure you want to have a dual purpose of melodic techno as well as ambient with this build? It seems like one of the consistent pieces of advice I run across is to focus your build on one area; build it to do one thing really really well before trying to cover more bases. Noodling around with modular is plenty of fun, but if you want your build to actually make good music in some specific genre, build for that genre in mind.
I'm pretty new myself, but I can already say any modulation source (lfo's, envelopes) almost needs attenuverters/vcas to tune how deep the modulation will go. This is particularly true for voices that have a wide range of responses across a single knob (Noise Engineering modules almost always have wild responses to tiny knob adjustments, for example).
For attenuverters specifically, I think the Steady State Fate's Quad-Atten looks great. I have ALM Busy Circuit's ALM010 - O/A/x2 and it works like a champ for so many things (pitch before a quantizer, normal variables).
Great idea! I'll order one and play with it to see if it'll work. It would be nice to use the Metron more.
Good point. Okay, I've updated the rack to the following:
I've added the Metropolix, it's definitely what I'm looking for. I also dropped the Javelin single VCA-envelope in preference for a full quad rack of envelopes and VCAs, so that I can gain some sustain for the Manis, the Ataraxic, and the uPlaits.
I'm also thinking that I'll augment the Metron with uGrids for the snare, hi-hat, and clap (via some logic OR modules, I'll be able to send gates from both Grids and Metron). That way I can generate entirely new drum patterns with the twists of a few knobs while still retaining much of the Metron's ability to control what's going on (particularly with the kick).
Wonderful. Now comes the painful part; the eons of waiting while I buy modules bit by bit.
The more I research about the Metropolix, the more GAS I fall prey to. I'm growing convinced it's exactly what I'm looking for.
This leads to a central question: Do I keep the Metron? If not, should I transfer to an external drum machine? How do I sequence drum modules without Metron, maybe Grids? Do I keep the Metron but mostly not use it in preference over other rhythm generating sequencers? Could I somehow augment the Metron with other trigger generators?
Can I just say how fun this all is? I absolutely love a good optimization problem.
Growing pains are a real possibility, I'm very new to this.
It's pitch sequencing, I'm struggling to quickly create decent sounding melodies and bass lines. I definitely need more practice, but it feels like even if I were to put in the time to master Metron's Voltera expansion (which is what I've been using for pitch sequencing) I'd still really struggle to do it quickly and easily enough to keep the music satisfactorily interesting. Too many things to do to focus all my time on coming up with the next bit of pitch.
I'll keep playing with it. I'm already loads better off since the beginning of this thread, thanks to all these great suggestions.
I'm using the clock on the Metron itself. It does have a clock in though, so I could possibly use a Polyend Poly 2 to send clock from an external drum machine to the Metron as I don't think the Digitakt or the Octatrack has a clock out port, only midi.
I've been eyeing the Metropolix @troux. It's a tremendously powerful pitch sequencer, and the two voice control is exactly what I'm going for. The issue I keep coming back to: I fail to see how it could interplay with the Metron. I absolutely adore the Metron's 'variations' capability; I love being able to flip to a new musical idea, and then flip back to the original before moving on to something else. With the Metropolix I kind of lose that ability, though it might be true that with this recent change to precision adders generating the pitch sequences I may have already lost that ability.
Though it pains me, maybe I should jump ship from the Metron sequencing nearly everything to an external drum machine sequencing drums while the Metropolix sequences pitch? I love my Metron, but it's definitely proving difficult to integrate certain aspects (in a tasty way).
Oh, here's an update on the setup at the current moment. As always, this will change dramatically as I continue twiddling. I took a lot from that video you shared @farkas, particularly around live pitch sequencing. I'm feeling much, much better about generating melodies on the fly now.
Those are great points about drums in modular @Ronin1973.
My main concern with an external drum machine is something that actually might not matter much (or might matter tremendously): desk space. I'm concerned with being able to fit both my modular case and a separate drum machine on whatever table is available, whether that's at some venue or at home while practicing. I'm also a little concerned with the portability aspects of packing the modular case as well as a case for the drum machine, but that's a more minor concern.
In trialing with the case I currently own (a 104 hp 9u beauty from Case From Lake), I now realize I might actually be able to rock a small drum machine to the right of the case when it's setup. Maybe I should sell my Octatrack and buy a Digitakt?
What do you guys think of mixing separate drum machines and drum machine modules? How would a person get the drum machine sequencing drum modules? Would the drum machine control the clock on the Metron?
...I'm realizing this is going to take more research, but that's nothing new. Thanks again.
@farkas, That is a fantastic video, exactly what I'm looking for. I'll give it a watch through (probably a couple times actually). Thanks for the input!
I know I'm crazy. This is crazy. If you can, please help me with my crazy.
I'm trying to build a setup for live improvisational dancy techno. I'm looking for a lead, a bassline, and drums. That's (technically) music, that's what people seem to expect, that's what (I think) will get people dancing.
My thinking is I'll have 2 lead voices and 2 bass line voices to be able to swap out a voice when I move to a new musical space. Throw in drums, delicious and weird voicing from the Loquelic, some basic effects, plenty of filtering to twiddle with, a few samples. Jam everything into a small enough case to be portable but large enough to accommodate not needing another piece of equipment (like a separate drum machine) and I'm off to the races.
In theory, I thought Metron's Voltera extension would allow me to throw together melodies and bass lines easily enough on the fly. In practice, it's proving somewhat clunky; I'd very much appreciate an easier way to generate said melodies and bass lines.
Enter the theoretically insane: double (2x!!) Arpitechts. One for the lead voices and one for the bass voices. It just feels bad, but what am I to do?
How else could I improvisationally (on stage) generate two sequences of notes that, you know, get people dancing? I look at this current setup and just see problems. Do I need a bigger case? Should I accept defeat and move to an external drum machine? What think?
