(As for the quantizer, I love the o_c quantizer but the keyboard on the ADDAC makes a big difference to me!)
without good ergonomics, ANY instrument turns into a total PITA.
It's something I failed to understand for a long time, that programmability is not the only asset of a good rack, but ergonomics (eg. having attenuators normalled to internal voltage, manual gates, wide(r) modules and so on were super important) too
In your situation I would probably go with the Verbos Multiple Envelope, I think the different outputs would complement the BIA very well and make it sound like more than a single voice. A lot of people associate it with the Varigate but it's not my style. Each Verbos module screams techno and later on you will find plenty of uses for the gate outs. You will also be able to feed the sequential switch with various outs. As of clock modulators, IDK, you could use the Maths to create gate delays or go with the Malekko quad delay (see Divkid video)? Maybe a burst generator would be cool, Ladik make an inexpensive one. But make sure you validate these with others, I far from excel at planning racks!
@jb61264 The Font on top right is a filter! I second the FX AID. Also how do you usually use the o_c? If you're stuck on a specific app, you could buy a module devoted to a similar utility (eg. Quadraturia --> Batumi). I'm far from being an expert but I'd say you lack some sort of clock modulator to create more interesting rhythms of of the Pamela (except if you're happy programming it but I'm not), and maybe complex envelopes (BIA is a sucker for envelopes)
Hey,
I posted my Matriarch, polyphonic companion some time ago but cannot find the thread again, so here is the updated version! I'd be interested to get some critics. I hope it will also give ideas to people building something similar. My goal is to get access to a good bunch of polyphony technics and overcome some of the limitations of the Matriarch. I tried to describe different ways to use the rack but it might seem too obvious to more advanced synthesists!
Harmonaig multed outs to BBT. It can be transposed further by the Sequence Selector into uScale. The 2 outs from uScale can be switched or T&Held by the Select 2.
One Harmonaig out into uScale while a o_c sequence sends 1V/oct to the shift input, creates 2 related voices where transposition can be sequenced independently and envelopes to shift input create note bursts.
5V into Réseaux provides 4 VCs to be fed into signal selectors or the 1U sequential switch. They can be used to sequence Harmonaig's voicing and/or Inversion.
Polyphonic envelopes + Morph 4 address the Matriarch mixer limitations as it can't be VCed. They replace my actual setup of Zadar + Quad VCA. Envelopes can be used to advance the Sequence selector and/or select active stages.
Done through Step 8 + Ruissellement
I don't know if the sequencing part is well addressed. What I'm sure of is that I just CAN'T program the Matriarch sequencer and see myself using it less and less. I may miss offset/attenuverters and fw rectifiers to create positive LFOs. If I can get rid of the Next Phase, I'd be happy to take input on what I could add there instead. I've been hesitant in selecting the Harmonaig instead of the Bard's quartet and ended up getting 2 quantizers. Another solution would be to use a dual quantizer from Hemisphere and replace uScale with a 6HP dual sequencer (or a sequencer with scale and a transpose input eg. the Tirana). Cheers!
I didn't know the Kermit MKIII but it looks quite more versatile than the Zadar to me.
You get S&H and T&H, gated repeat (sort of burst generator I believe) and other goodies
edit : well Zadar has gated repeat too though!
Hey, is anyone able to recognize which effect is used here? I guess it’s a chorus effect but which one?
Thanks!
Alright, I found someone nice enough to let me try my modules with their rack: they work perfectly! I'll try to get a 15V alimentation tomorrow before going to the repairman ✌️
Thanks a lot for your answer! Do you happen to know the kind of place I could go to and ask to test the devices? Or is that something I should try myself? Oh also, can I safely plug one of the modules to another rack to check that they work safely?
Thanks again
Hey,
yesterday I was about to make a small video that showcases various modules I wanted to sell.
I could not find the power supply of my Palette 62HP and used a 12V universal adaptor instead.
Everything worked fine until I plugged a Noise tools : all of the other modules stopped flashing and the Noise started to make a lot of buzz sounds. I unplugged everything and now it seems that any module produces this sound. I can't say what's broken exactly and the various threads were too complicated for me to understand.
Do you have any idea what could be wrong? Someone is supposed to buy several modules from me today and I sincerely don't want to sell something I'm not sure is working properly.
Thanks in advance!
PS: this was the initial 104HP rack I drafted, with exactly 24 active modules.
Price is obviously very different!
Hi users!
Last year I built a 62HP travel case, mostly thanks to your help. My project was to move around Europe with it - and I did mostly! Now that I'm almost broke, I'm planing to live on a pond (yes, ON a pond) where electric consumption will be very limited. And I believe low income + low electricity makes for an interesting challenge!
The idea is to limit myself to the current 62HP case I have and add an ARP 2600 + a DFAM (this one is a maybe). I've encountered a lot of difficulty building my current rack as I realized very late that it could fill no more than 12 modules, which prevented me to stack a lot of 4HP modules that I was planning to buy. Yesterday I came up with the opposite idea: fill the case with bigger modules (9 or 10) and drill a hole for (2-3) more modules to be mounted on a custom rack. Then, throw in as many passive utilities as possible (attenuators, fixed filters and LPGs).
I know nothing of power consumption, I don't even know if a 104HP palette would consume more power than a 62HP with the same modules inside. Maybe it would be simpler to trade my case but as I said, I'd prefer to focus on buying the few modules I miss and its size is still way easier to travel with (the ARP will stay on the boat but I'll still be able to travel with the case).
Now the rack:
It's centered around the Harmonaig that feeds the 3 oscillators of the ARP while the Ornament is set in sequencer mode. Pamela mostly provides synced LFOs to be fed to the S&H then RE comparator and/or Ruissellement). The Ochd is fed to passive attenuators and provide variations a bit of everywhere. The gates of Ruissellement are fed into JF in volley mode (clocked bursts) that can be routed to the DFAM trigger and/or the ARP VCAs. I added the Sarajewo here but I don't own it and it's expensive, so I'd be happy to replace it with "anything" and I'll use an FX AID (that I do own) in the meantime.
The bottom row is the external case!
In terms of cost, this is ok: I own most of the modules already, apart from the Harmonaig, the Ruissellement,the Sarajewo and some of the very inexpensive passive modules). But do you see any possible ameliorations? If the drill is a good idea of course
Thanks for reading :)
I can't help you on your questions unfortunately, but I'm super curious of how this sounds.
Do you happen to have some records of it?
what important or interesting musical use cases for gate/trig are not covered with the setup above?
I'll talk only about my experience so consider that my racks are probably much smaller, and my music isn't good 😊 My first approach to eurorack was almost exclusively rhythm based. I bought and used extensively most of the modules in your second row. And to me, it resulted in a pretty uninspiring configuration. Note that I didn't have a lot of other modulators to make my sounds interesting, but more generally I don't think rhythmical beauty of a piece comes from that much clock complexity. Most interesting rhythms I found were created by other synthesis methods.
If I remember correctly, this video has been pretty helpful on that matter:
That being said, if I had to produce dance music, play live or just be effective in rhythm patterns and transitions, I think your rack would handle 99% of what I'd want!
Hope it helps 👋
Looks good to me! I love the Gate Delay too.
Hemisphere has a dual slope detector applet called Trending (https://github.com/Chysn/O_C-HemisphereSuite/wiki/Trending) that could be super interesting here. It will probably also give you an offset/inverter in another applet but I don't know the suite really well yet.
The deep thought could be interesting too. As of my favourite clock modifier, I'd say something like the Time Wizard: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/shakmat-modular-time-wizard but this is only from watching their intro video.
Hey Ronin, I got the Palette already + all the 1Us and they do fit! 😊
Hey frow3n,
Could you elaborate on what you mean exactly by generative? Would it be something that "plays itself", or something that adds randomness to what you programmed, or maybe just evolving melodies?
In term of pure generative, it misses the most essential modules I believe :
There's a shit ton of other utilities that would be interesting in a techno live rack.
I think this guy could help. He's built a live techno system and explains how/why in several videos:
And him probably:
To summarise, I 100% agree with mog00: first add all the utilities you can and try things out for yourself.
They're cheap and a lot of fun. Also, you don't have to do generative music for things to be interesting and fun in your rack!
(also take everything I said with a bit of salt because I'm essentially a beginner at eurorack)
Hey 👋
I've been playing with the rack for some days now and I thought I could share some feedback!
First having everything under hand really helped me see how much the improvements that you proposed made a lot of sense. The 1U tiles were such an important addition, the stereo effect is just perfect and I've had a LOT of fun with audio feedback pretty much everywhere in the signal flow. The mults are much more useful than I would have thought. More importantly, each time I felt like I missed something in my patch, I realised that it was offered in your original build (eg. I miss the Noise Tools a bit more than I would have thought) or the module was on its way (O_C is arriving in 2 days!).
So, I thought it was time to work on the second iteration with the idea of ditching the JF and the RE for smaller modules. But I soon realised that there was an issue with the build: the Palette cannot power more than 12 modules simultaneously. The original build included 13 modules (14 if you count the 2HP loop that I decided to keep). So now, the question is not so much about space but number of modules.
To mitigate the issue, my first idea was to find a passive attenuator to replace the Duatt. I found the Attenumixer from Zlob that has 4 inputs and a sum output. This just left me enough room to replace the Duatt and the Mosaic Clock with the Noise Tools.
This left me with the possibility of replacing the 18HP Resonant Equalizer with 2 modules (14HP) and the Attenumixer. I haven't decided how to replace it exactly as its internal circuit + its second input allow for so much control over feedback. But what I'm missing the most should help a lot:
- probably a second VCO
- a LP filter
- some feedback control
From this, I sketched the second step of my modular backpack journey:
I added a second Mangrove as VCO but a lot of other VCOs would work here. The second module would a a Sclpl, the C4rbn or even maybe the Tanh[3] from Instruo (https://www.modulargrid.net/e/instruo-tanh-3)
Anyway, I hope this will help some of you readers on your own path 👋
You're definitely right. I haven't been able to locate all modules anyway!
I've bought the case and all the 1U modules except the stereo out (couldn't find it) already :)
I'll leave with the JF and the RE because swapping them is out of my price range for now.
This leaves me with 10HP that's supposed to be filled with a 3x VCA (6hp) and a filter or a stereo effect (4hp).
Alright, I've made some changes to the 1U tile!
First, I replaced the stereo VCA by a Ritual Electronics Pointeuse.
you can use an out from the Stasis Leak AND from the SCLPL and then use that dual VCA to let one fade in/out against the other.
Although I won't be able to fade in/out anymore, I really dig the idea of being able to switch both manually and from a gate signal. Also thanks to its internal flip-flop, it can act as a clock divider and a square sub-oscillator (perfect for the Mangrove). I'd take 2 if I could :)
This forces me to ditch the Noise tools. Fortunately Ritual Electronics will be releasing a 4HP noise source which, combined with the Pointeuse will still allow me to generate random pulses. I’m loosing the S&H ans slew limiter but get more hands-on fun and immediacy (I think). Also, my skiff is already in desperation of any sort of VCA so this feels like the right choice to replace it with a single trigger.
Lastly, this gives room for the guillotine. I really dig your idea of inserting a stereo effect at some point in the signal flow. This will work really well in pair with the Statis and is perfect with the Pointeuse already. Also, this will help beefing up the Sclpl when I get rid of the Resonant Equaliser!
I’l pull the trigger this afternoon :D
What do you think?
Wow thanks a lot to both of you for your answers, I can't stress enough how useful it is to me.
Ronin, I usually simply plug the mono out of a mixer (here the Joranalogue Mix 3 and a Quad VCA in y usual rack) straight into to a speaker. Far from being optimal but I usually don't have access to more than one speaker and I never use my computer to record or anything. That's probably something that I should have mentioned as it probably has a bigger impact on the skiff than what I thought.
Lugia, this is fantastic, really. I took quite some time to understand how you proceeded and it's extremely enlightening. And I'm 100% convinced that the palette is a far better choice, the Godfred + peaks combo is an excellent replacer of 90% of what I do with the JF and after taking a third look at the SCLPL I think I will be able to say goodbye to the RE.
The part that I have some issues understanding is the replacement is regarding VCAs and the absence of a mixer. I chose the Joranalogue because it acts both as a VCA and a mixer and although not having individual outputs is really limiting, I don't get how my different sound sources will be mixed at the end. Also, the 3x VCA is unfortunately not available anywhere at the time of writing. Yesterday I tried to reproduce the features of this skiff on my current system and I had to use my quad VCA as a final mixer.
Another thing I consider is the final (far higher) price of this new setup, which I'm fine with but will force me to split the bill on several months. I've updated the skiff with what I can afford now (and what's available): palette + 1Us + o&c + C4rbn + some sort of VCA, and I've created a small patch to see if that works for me:
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/patches/view/81765
What differs:
I've kept the JF and RE for the moment as their size will only be an issue when I'll be able to afford their replacements. I've switched the IU VCO for a Duatt as I was desperately in need of a pre-mixer. I replaced the 3xVCA with a Tallin: it's only 2 VCAs but you get some extra features and it leaves room for the 2HP loop (not ideal but I really don't want to take external devices with me for the moment). Once the first part is bought, I'll get rid of the RE in profit of Sclpl and the stereo effect (if I'm able to find it).
~ Patch notes:
2 JF outputs (LPG mode) directly to RE. Pass comb2 to the Duatt and mix it with white noise then pass the mix to C4rbn and LPF out to stereo VCA (IRL I'd pass the HPF out to a VCA and treat it separately for pseudo hi-hats). Pass comb1 of RE to to stereo VCA. Then scan between the 2 sound sources using the stereo VCA, like you mentioned above, and pass them to the stereo output.
I haven't patched the rest for more clarity but not sure if that's an easy read haha. Now my issue is that the other sound sources (Mangrove and Loop) would need to be mixed and passed to both right inputs of the stereo output so that they're always present in the final mix. How would you achieve that with the system you designed? I'm probably missing something in the exact flow that you designed, with the mono to stereo transition around the stasis leak and the Sclpl!
Edit: ok, so the 3xVCA lets you cascade the outputs so that you actually end up with mixed sources! So I guess it's a Mix 3 with a tad bit more flexibility around individual outs. I wish it was available somewhere around EU...
Anyway, thanks A TON for your input, it helped me a lot although I haven't fully digested everything yet. At this point, my post probably looks more like personal raving and ranting, but I'd be happy to read more from you if you have comments on my answer!
EDIT: I've been looking at variations of a VCO/VCF filter in 6HP and this combo seems to check my list:
I've updated the rack and this post is now a "please roast my rack" post 😊
Hey 👋
I'm leaving my home town for a (hopefully long) trip across Europe. As I was saying good bye to my modular system, the idea of putting up a small system to take away started to grow in me and I came up with something I would like to show you.
I have 3 constraints that guided my choice:
- Use a 4Ms Pod 64X cause it looks small enough and sturdy
- Try to use modules you have already (JF, Mangrove and Resonant Equalizer)
- Only add modules that are easy to find (I'm leaving in a month)
I'm not good at patching mentally (which makes planning a rack super hard haha) but the idea is to use Just Friends as a clock + source of modulation (ASR envelopes to VCA, LFOs to O&C quantiser, etc.) and O&C as a melodic sequencer and quantiser. I would use the 2HP loop to pre-record drones and multiple layers (I was going for the W/ initially but it's not available anywhere and I've never been fully convinced of the module). I chose 2 oscillators that should work great in pair: the mangrove is my favourite oscillator and I felt like almost any 6HP secondary oscillator would do it. But more on that second osc later.
I'm curious what you guys think of putting a REQ there. Obviously it's really big but it may be my favourite module and I don't know how to make music without it. I think it would be super helpful to create drones and I really need a sort of mixer. If you think of an alternative, what would it be?
Later on, I've found this video online: and it should give you a good idea of what I'm trying to achieve. But what really bugs me is how central the filter is in his piece and I don't thin the EQ would be as effective there. From this came a questioning on wether I should keep the second oscillator (currently an Instruo Ts-L although it's super expensive and I don't "love" it, but it could be Godspeed+ or a Dixie II or an MCO) or replace it with a filter (I was thinking of a µVCF because of its sine wave).
Of course, I truly want both and I've started to look at 80HP skiffs, but this is not the answer I'm looking for.
Anyway, feedback greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
@JimHowell1970 what would you recommend instead?
@sacguy71 nice! I'm still hesitating between the dual borg and a borg II + a resonant low pass gate so I guess it'll depend on what's being sold in the coming weeks
@lugia, I think you're talking about the Three Sisters. The Just Friends in cycle/shape mode gives a lot of rhythmic variations, especially when self-patched.
Bought the Richter and the Resonant EQ so the second row is now complete!
Thank you guys again 😊
Ho, one last question: what do you think of the Cold Mac in this configuration? I haven't enjoyed it as much as I thought I'd do but it may come from my lack of actual modules. The manual mentions a "Cross FM combinations" patch that seems quite nice but requires 2 mangroves - I only have one at the moment. You mentioned the need of a submixer so maybe the cold mac could act as one?
Thanks a ton for your answer, I can't stress enough how useful it is to me :)
On drum modules: alright, it makes sense to drop them all + I didn't mention that I also had a DFAM. I totally forgot about noise modules indeed. Do you have preferences on these? I found the entropy by Zlob, that also has an expander that adds blue and purple noise. The noise and filter from Verbos seems interesting too.
Maths: check ✅ To me, another argument for going with Maths is also the ton of ressources available. I will also wait a bit before buying the Joranalogue, as they feel a bit less necessary than a number of other modules. Also, I feel like the Just Friends already offers nice ways to screw with clocks.
On Borg, would you go for the Borg 2 rather than the dual borg? I'm having difficulties to find any of them but I'm planning to trade my Jove 80 as soon as one of them is available.
Yeah, I didn't really pay attention to the order of the modules, I'll make an updated version of the rack once I digest all the information you gave me.
Thanks a lot again for your help!
Hugo
Hi!
I've been building my first rack this year and am trying to understand what makes sense and what does not in my current plans. Because I only have 12 of these modules, some of them here (eg. the Joranalogue and Hex modules) were less thought through than, say the second row that I really like and play with daily.
I've been super inspired by this video from Hainbach: and am trying to escape tracks layering and the groovebox-like kind of rack, that I don't find inspiring at all. So, I've been selling most of my early buys (sequencers and drum modules) and although percussion is still a big part of what I do, I'm much more happy with building the percs myself - I plan to use the R*S equalizer for these mainly, same with the boogie filter. I'm also quite inspired by east-coast synthesizing, like most of you, and I probably miss some of the required modules to get that.
Modules I have already:
- Pamela
- Branches
- Mult
- Just friends
- 1 mangrove
- cold mac
- quad VCA
- delay no more
- zadar
- bloom
- Takaab lpg
- diode chaos
Next modules I'm buying:
- Serge res EQ
- Boogie filter (or Borg?)
- Contour 1 (or Maths?)
Voilà :) So, what do you think? What should I rethink and what feels right already here?
Thanks for your time, Hugo
Hey I'm sorry,
my post got truncated again. Not sure why, really, but it's the second time.
I can't delete my post so apparently this thread is here to stay ✌️
In case anyone wondered, I was asking questions regarding this rack:
Merry Christmas everyone!
Hey wendallsan, thanks for such a detailed answer!
I didn't know of the 2VL1 nor warps and it seems a bang for the buck.
Especially, the warps seems like a smart choice in a smaller rack like mine.
Can you explain why you decided to go for the same 4 complex voices, instead of varying the separate voices?
I guess it makes sense when you want to use the module inside a larger system like yours and need polyphony.
On my side, I finally went to the store and tested different modules, and reality is that everything I tested sounded good... I think I could see myself with anything that's usually mentioned of forums. It's sort of a relief and I understand better what more experienced users usually say: that all major complex oscillators or Rubicon are all good decisions and that it's just matter of personal preference...
Not that it helps at making an actual decision but anyway
Nevermind, let me try to write it down a second time:
I've been looking to buy a new main voice for my somewhat small case (3x84HP).
Complex oscillators (these days Instruo cs-l, Rossum trident and Double helix) seem like the most natural/common choice as they pack multiple modules in one. So, I was about to pull the trigger but against my gut: I have a feeling that other coherent paths to building complex sounds exist, and that they may suit me better.
So, my question is:
are there other winning couples of modules that would pack a lot of sonic possibilities and in maybe other directions than the traditional Buchla 259 system?
I heard of the trio Dixie + Rubicon + Wavefolder of course, and other people even mention coupling 2 mangroves.. I thought that a Rubicon + a Mangrove could be interesting, but I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Of course, if you really think that a complex OSC would simply provide more,
I'd love to hear you too!
Thanks :)
Mmmh, does the empty thread means that I actually deleted my whole, long message?
Hey Eddy, I started modular extending from DFAM too! From my (really small) experience, the modules that gave the most out of the DFAM are envelope generators. I went for the Zadar and it's been a game changer. Pamela new workout and Befaco burst did great too. Hope it helps
