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@GarfieldModular -- does Pamela's New Workout do what you want?

I don't have one but I'd love to get a Steve's MS-22
If you want an example of the cleaner sounds, check out the sound sample that's part of Steve O'Hear's review

-- tverscho

Yes it does sound very nice, thanks for the link. Also sold out at Three Tom. Guess I'll keep an eye on eBay...

+1 one the Short Bus, especially in combination with Pamela's New Workout. I'm also using an ST Modular Switched, which is just a switched multiple. More often using it to send two sequences a few destinations, but it can also serve the wrong way round, just try not to have 2 sequences feeding the same bus at the same time!

I've had the Tetrapad for a while and I feel I'm probably under-using it. In particular the pressure has never been all that usable. I just got the Tete which might open a few doors!

Oh I wasn't trolling you @syntasis! Your rack is certainly very small by the standards of the MG faithful.

This: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/g-storm-electro-delta-vcf-8hp
-- Lugia

Watched the demo. I see why you like it!

Digging this very much.

Sounds great! Not having a tape deck any more, is this going to be available on more modern formats? Like CD? :)

Also :

tracks recorded live on a small modular system.
-- systasis

Just trolling!

I am maybe interested... but 100% busy with other things right now. Is there a deadline?

I recently watched DivKid's video on the Joranalogue Contour 1. At about 11:54 he shows how to use the Contour 1 as an envelope follower. Am I right in thinking that any slew limiter can serve as an envelope follower in this way?

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone. I will do some further research.

@zuggamasta -- I have seen the Zlob SVF in your videos. Yes. :)

@farkas -- I actually bought a second hand Doepfer Wasp, but it arrived not working properly so perhaps you are right about its flakiness.

@GarfieldModular (or anyone) what's the difference between the OptoMix and the LxD? Just the Damp control? (Which is a slew limiter, right?) These are interesting but lack of resonance control seems a loss.

Anyone tried the WMD C4RBN? (or whatever it is called). Its tiny buttons put me off, but the demos sounds decent.

At 8hp, I have a hard time arguing against MI Ripples for features and sound quality per hp.
-- farkas

I have the (perhaps wrong) idea that Ripples and Font probably sound pretty similar.

Of course once you go to 8hp there are so many Doepfers to choose from!

I don't have one but I'd love to get a Steve's MS-22
-- troux

Seen some demos, seems good for dirty and overdriven, but can it do anything else?

Considering I only got into synths at all for the filters it's unacceptable to have only two* filters in my rack. I need another, pronto. I don't have a lot of space so big beasts like the QPAS or Beograd are out of the question. I'm looking at the Erica Pico VCF1 as a characterful option or the Doepfer A-121-3 for more versatility.

What's your favourite small filter? Let's say small means less than 8hp.

[*] My current filters : Nano Modules Font and Doepfer A-101-2, which is technically an LPG but can be used a straight up LPF with a very nice sound.

I haven't used it, but I have been lusting after Shakmat's Knight's Gallop for a while.

Actually, they seem to have addressed some of these BSP issues in the more recent firmware revisions, notably the pad velocity thing.
-- Lugia

Sounds like I need to update the firmware then -- Thanks Lugia!

BeatStep Pro is good, but (you might guess from the name) better for drum sequencing than melodic. Pros :
* good ergonomics for most things
* memory you can save stuff in
* some good performance features
* packs in a lot for the price
Cons :
* drum gates ignore velocity (sad) which makes it less useful for CV sequencing
* entering velocity is not especially quick (though it is easy)
* playing notes on drum pads is possible, but it's not ideal

Depending on the kind off music you are making you can quite far with just Pam and pitch quantised random + looping. And since you have DFAM you can feed its pitch sequencer to a quantiser to get melodies too.

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?

Great music for cold blue skies.

I was trying to sum together triggers, with the added wrinkle that some of the triggers go to multiple destinations. As it is any trigger into the SMIX and everything gets triggered.

Right now I've got the patch sounding TIGHT ... but totally failing to get some musically satisfying arrangement.... Weekend ahead though!

EDITED Feb 12th 2021, 21:46

The "lower-level" signal is still high enough that a 5V signal at one input can trigger modules connected to another input.

You should update the description to make this clear. It really limits what the module can be used for. In particular it cannot do what I bought it for.

Signals present at one input are also present at other inputs. Is this actually a mixer or just a passive mult? Very disappointing, makes the module quite unsuitable for its intended purpose.

Sometimes, no matter how many things you try, how many different ways you change the patch around, how many different settings you use on the modules, hell, even how many VCAs you employ, it still sounds like garbage. Sometimes you just have to pull the cables and go do something else.

Share your frustrations in this thread.

Basic Channel vibes, I like :)

My tuppence : I think you are a bit over-endowed with randomness. Also quite a few modules take up too much space. I would :
- ditch the Chance;
- switch the Scales for a 2hp quantiser;
- switch Quad VCA for Veils (to save space).
- Swap the 2hp MMF for a filter with more controllable params (and bigger knobs!)
- Consider switching Maths for a smaller function generator.
- Add some voltage controlled envelope generators to eat all the triggers from steppy/noise tools/pulses
- Add a step sequencer

A filter?

How do you usually set this up? And what is unsatisfying about the results?

I would say that you should add (i) attenuverters (ii) CV mixer (iii) more VCAs. That said, I would expect that with Pam, Maths, and your MIDI controller you have enough modulation capabilities to do something interesting.

I would also recommend throwing your computer out the window, at least for while.

This is very nice. Very strong BoC vibe at the start, and then moves off into something new. I like.

Nope, no you don't @the-erc, acid is the truth and we want more around here!
-- troux

Ha! The next stage is buying a 606 just for the hihats.

Nice work @farkas, really good flow especially. I'm thinking we need a @the-erc, @farkas, and @troux live show on Ibiza once Covid is over 🤣
-- troux

Thanks @troux. I’d be happy with a live show in Ithaca at this point. Lol.
-- farkas

I'll put the monitors in the back garden and you can all come round :)

Ceiling + gaffer tape. Lots of gaffer tape.

This was a nice evening trip.

Can you get an overhead view from your camera next time? Possibly only synth nerds would appreciate, but we would appreciate :)

Round of applause! Very nice stuff. Looking forward to the record.

Tangent : I hear people saying a lot "please listen on headphones" or, weirder, "this has lots of bass -- please use headphones". At my place, the computer is connected to a pair of big studio monitors which are much better than any headphones I own, so I always find this request bizarre. Is the intention :
- this has really detailed stereo imaging, you need headphones to really appreciate? Or,
- please respect my work and don't listen on a crappy phone speaker?

Thanks guys. This is a really fun setup to play. I really need to stop myself from going "Hmmm, acid." every time I turn on the Werkstatt.

Ah cool -- so the sine is your only oscillator! Very impressive.

I really like the idea of Grids, but every time I see that panel I think it ought to be about 6hp...

(Yeah, I know there is an 8hp clone, and yeah it does look a bit cramped.)

Seconded on Veils -- also the response shape is variable, and it works as an offset too! Great module!

EDITED Jan 28th 2021, 19:22

So is the PO-33 doing the drum break, and the modular all the rest? Patch notes please :)

The DFAM is listed in the MG database so I think this is allowed. Also I plugged and unplugged a patch cable more than once during the jam!

Patch notes are pretty boring :
- DFAM is kick and noise snare; VCO2 gets pitch from the BSP, but you don't hear that often.
- Acid synth noises are the Werkstatt-01, gate, pitch, and VCF cutoff controlled by the BSP. Delay from Boss RSD-10.
- Hats, claps, other percussion, and weird digital noises are from a Pocket Operator PO-12, which never makes into fully into the frame, passing through the Korg Monotron filter.

... and much wiggling!

This is very nice indeed. :)

Coming from the perspective of a small, performance-oriented rack, an important consideration is : where are the your hands going to be and where are the cables? They had better not be the same place.

For my two-row setup this means that modules with the patch points at the top should be in the lower row, and modules with patch points at the bottom should be in the upper row, installing the module upside down if necessary/tolerable. Modules with the patch points along one edge (like the classic Doepfers) ... well they are a pain. This does tend to create an illegible mass of cables between the rows but the controls are usually not obstructed.

My rack has been hacked by a previous owner to have some horizontally oriented 4hp spaces above and below the rows. While this seems useful I still haven't figured out what are ergonomically acceptable ways of using it -- actually patching something in there would require cables across the controls of the adjacent row (or else very long cables) and the lip of the case makes getting fingers in there a bit tight.

I don't have the space to leave the modular set up permanently, which implies a very brutal approach to patching : one patch, one recording, pull the cables and put it away, usually the same night.

Nah, Divkid mutes is four independent mutes, whereas the dirty secret of the Mute4 is that it is four mutes summed to a single output which is essential to my intended use here (and might screw you if you actually want 4 mutes!)

Love this. Awesome work @farkas.

Doeper A-160-1 or A-160-2?

They don't have switches.

Perhaps I should have explained what I want it for. I need a reset for looping material which will be either 1, 2, 4, or 8 bars long. I don't want to repatch to change the length of the loop. I want to do it accurately and quickly with one hand while my focus (and other hand) is elsewhere.

To achieve this with a plain old clock divider I'd need to combine it with a 4-way switch or something like the Malekko Mute 4

This DIY module from yusynth is pretty close to what I''m looking for.
(Found via this thread at Muff's which has a few schematics for making clock dividers.)

Nice! Especially when it switches up half way through. And those high hats sound perfect. Both thumbs up!

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I don't think either of those modules does what I'm looking for.

The Time Wizard does look very cool and is clearly overkill fro what I want. Having peered through the manual I don't see a straight forward way to even get the binary divisions I want. The switchable ratios are 1:1, 1:3, and 1:4. If that 3 was a 2 it would basically work, although it seems ridiculous to use such a large and powerful module for such a small task.

The Fractio Solum looks good also, but I want to be able to instantly change the ratio, which I doubt I can do with an encoder.

I expect that this would be easy to DIY, but otherwise it looks like basic clock divider + switch is the way to go.

Does anyone make a clock divider whose ratio is set by a switch or buttons? I'm thinking of something very simple : 1 input, 1 output, and the choice between clock ratios of 2, 4, 8, or 16 at the output.

I have had look through the MG database but I don't see anything like this. There are a few modules (2hp, SSSR) which are quite similar but use pots to change the ratio, and obviously lots of clock dividers with those ratios on different outputs. The effect I want could be achieved by combing such a classic clock divider with a 4-position switch but I was hoping to find it in a single module.

@lugia : checked it out, but for the same price you can get two Isolators, which would suit me better. I only have mono things in my rack, and it goes into a mixing desk which already does all the other stuff. The only "feature" I need is to stop worrying that I plug something in wrong, or forgot about some normalling somewhere, and accidentally cook the speaker coils with DC!

The closest contender is the Menu Qi Please Exist, but that's more expensive, discontinued, and only has unbalanced outputs.

I'm one of those that doesn't bother with an output module -- just be very careful with the DC! -- but if I was going to get one I'd get the Happy Nerding Isolater. It would be better if had either separate attenuators for each channel, or another channel instead of an attenuator but it's still pretty good value, both in cash and hp.

@troux -- you are a star! Thank you so much for making this happen!