Your thoughts on my rack?

Hi Everyone,

I'd like some input on my current rack. It's the result of around 2 years of building up. I mainly enjoy jamming with it (although there's never enough time) and using it to add sounds to tracks I make in Ableton. I have Electronica and Ambient leanings, but have a broad musical taste. I am a child of the 70s and therefore came of musical age in the late 80s with all the synth sounds you would expect.

I am at an impasse. My rack has evolved over the last two years without a strong vision, and now I'm looking at a nearly full case and feeling that something's missing. Therefore I'd love your input on what you might add / change / do differently.

Here's my thoughts, to help give a picture:

I think I’m missing inspiration around modulation. I have plenty of sources (clep diaz being the most recent addition) but struggle to get great results out of them. Any tips / learnings / changes / additions?

I don’t think I’ve ever really ‘clicked’ with Beads. Aside from a nice reverb I’ve never managed to get into a flow with it or truly ‘play’ it. I’m thinking I should have bought a Morphagene instead to manipulate and warp audio. Any thoughts on this?

I’m not really clicking with Bloom at the moment. I bought it for the evolving / fractal nature of it, but on reflection I think I’m missing a sequencer that gives me more hands on / immediate control. Of course I can use Ableton for this (and I have a Keystep Pro too) but having something else in the rack might open things up for me and means I won’t need to break from the patch to change / modify sequences. Thoughts?

I have a feeling I’d like a complex oscillator. Last Osc bought was the 4ms Ensemble but honestly I haven’t clicked with it (or spent enough time learning it, probably). I seem to struggle with too many switches, buttons and modes and prefer the more ‘nob per function’ approach. I’ve looked at the Rubicon2 and DPO as potentials and would welcome your thoughts!

Recently I’ve been interested in linking more directly with Ableton / Max to feed modulation in and out of the rack (and was therefore looking at the Expert Sleepers ES-8 and 9). I’m not a proficient Max/MSP user but like the generative / logic coding base of it (am a big Autechre fan). Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on getting this going?

Wow – there’s some big questions there, no wonder I’m a bit stuck! I hope the above makes some kind of sense and I welcome your thoughts and observations!

Here’s the link to the rack:

Cheers,
-J

I think I’m missing inspiration around modulation. I have plenty of sources (clep diaz being the most recent addition) but struggle to get great results out of them. Any tips / learnings / changes / additions?

Maybe try a mixer to create complex modulation signals (mixing several envelopes, or envelopes and the sequence of voltages that Clep Diaz gives you, LFO's, or maybe some feedback signal.
Clep diaz is also very useful for sequencing the CV of a filter.
For these cases the ideal would be a matrix mixer, since it allows you more than one different output, but if not with a simple mixer you have it too.

I’m not really clicking with Bloom at the moment. I bought it for the evolving / fractal nature of it, but on reflection I think I’m missing a sequencer that gives me more hands on / immediate control. Of course I can use Ableton for this (and I have a Keystep Pro too) but having something else in the rack might open things up for me and means I won’t need to break from the patch to change / modify sequences. Thoughts?

A sequencer that I personally like, relatively small and usable, is the NE Mimetic Digitalis https://www.modulargrid.net/e/noise-engineering-mimetic-digitalis-black

Cheers,

BR
Ferran.

The first thing that jumps out at me is how are you sculpting your modulation? I'd recommend looking at the Happy Nerding 3xMIA, you can mix, mult, invert, attenuate and offset your CV through it which might give you more control.

re: sequencing, I've still not really clicked with marbles (which I'm going to equate to your bloom), and I bought quite a few sequencers (Marbles, 8s, Varigate 4+, bin seq, dnipro Dot, ornaments & crime, mimetic digitalis) but having recently picked up the Metron & Arpitecht and they made the whole case come alive from a sequencing point of view, I now use the mimetic digitalis alongside those two and I feel like I have a lot more control over standard sequencing as well as sequenced modulation.

for four sound sources, I think you might need a bigger case to get the most out of them

I think I’m missing inspiration around modulation. I have plenty of sources (clep diaz being the most recent addition) but struggle to get great results out of them. Any tips / learnings / changes / additions?

Maybe try a mixer to create complex modulation signals (mixing several envelopes, or envelopes and the sequence of voltages that Clep Diaz gives you, LFO's, or maybe some feedback signal.
Clep diaz is also very useful for sequencing the CV of a filter.
For these cases the ideal would be a matrix mixer, since it allows you more than one different output, but if not with a simple mixer you have it too.

I’m not really clicking with Bloom at the moment. I bought it for the evolving / fractal nature of it, but on reflection I think I’m missing a sequencer that gives me more hands on / immediate control. Of course I can use Ableton for this (and I have a Keystep Pro too) but having something else in the rack might open things up for me and means I won’t need to break from the patch to change / modify sequences. Thoughts?

A sequencer that I personally like, relatively small and usable, is the NE Mimetic Digitalis https://www.modulargrid.net/e/noise-engineering-mimetic-digitalis-black

Cheers,

BR
Ferran.

-- ferranadsr
Thanks for this Ferran! I will have an investigation in the matrix! Also will have a look at the MD.

\The first thing that jumps out at me is how are you sculpting your modulation? I'd recommend looking at the Happy Nerding 3xMIA, you can mix, mult, invert, attenuate and offset your CV through it which might give you more control.

re: sequencing, I've still not really clicked with marbles (which I'm going to equate to your bloom), and I bought quite a few sequencers (Marbles, 8s, Varigate 4+, bin seq, dnipro Dot, ornaments & crime, mimetic digitalis) but having recently picked up the Metron & Arpitecht and they made the whole case come alive from a sequencing point of view, I now use the mimetic digitalis alongside those two and I feel like I have a lot more control over standard sequencing as well as sequenced modulation.

for four sound sources, I think you might need a bigger case to get the most out of them
-- Sythic

Thanks Sythic, all really useful thoughts! I nearly bought an MIA but couldn't get hold of one. I thought I would use channels 3 and 4 on Maths for the same purpose, but will look for it again.

Will check out Metron and Arpitecht - thank you!

And fear not, I have a 6U rack brute with nothing in it at present - looks like it will be getting used!

Cheers,
-J

Expert Sleepers ES9 is incredible for in-the-box composing and recording with Ableton.

A few years ago I hacked some Maxforlive CV tools to work with the ES expanders (ES5, ESX8GT & ESX8CV)
https://maxforlive.com/profile/user/bhenry1790

ES9 + VCV Rack opens up a lot of flexibility for a hybrid system

Malekko Voltage Block might be worth consideration. It can output quantized sequences, but it's a little fiddly if trying to hit precise notes. Similar to Bloom it can be a happy accident machine

I think a lot of people haven't clicked with Beads they way they did with Clouds... so luckily there are other granular modules out there. I have Beads, a Noise Engineering Versio (which has the Melotus firmware), and Arbhar. I've spent the least time with Arbhar, but so far I'd say my order is Arbhar > NE >/= Beads. That said, the Versio can be whatever you want it to be... filter, granular, one of the best reverbs, an autowah, a wicked distortion, etc. So I'd say if Beads isn't speaking to you, give a Versio a try.

I agree with what others are saying; I'd shy away from more sound sources and focus more on mixing your modulation sources to make it more complex. I use the Doepfer Matrix Mixer with other offset/attenuation to vary the mix and degree of my modulation sources, and something like the TipTop Miso or the 4MS SISM fills a similar function in a smaller footprint. I would also say injecting a little bit of randomness really keeps things interesting. I know Pams has random waveforms, or I'm sure you can use one of the Distings for the purpose as well, but a little bit of slewed sample and hold or a designated random module like the Wogglebug (or Sloths if you dig the smoother chaos) goes a long way. Mix your modulation sources, run your modulation sources into a VCA and control it with another modulation source, mix and mingle with some feedback maybe (!?), send it to your cutoff or timbre controls and see which motions jive with your sounds. Apart from that, all great stuff in your rack! Have fun!

and another no more sound sources... 4 is more than enough in this size case!

I also agree that maybe more than 4 channels of sequencing is a good idea - so you can sequence modulation if you feel so inclined

ES8/ES9 - I've got an es8 +es6 but really only use it for audio in and out and clock (& occasional drum triggers) out (using an audio track) - it's a really useful piece of kit of you are combining modular and a computer though and would much rather use that for sequencing than midi

modulation - yes matrix mixer... just do it & I'd probably also go for a 3MIA too - as well as channel 2 & 4 of maths - the 3MIA will effectively be 6 channels of the mid section of maths in this use case - but I'd also not tie Maths up doing basic utilities - it's much more powerful when self patched to do more interesting things - bouncy ball etc etc

complex oscillator - rubicon2 iirc is a great module that can form part of a complex oscillator when patched with another oscillator and a wavefolder - I'd probably go this way as it is more flexible

re people gelling more with clouds than beads - I think at least some of that is down to when clouds was released and there was no competition in that area for a while so people played the shit out of clouds and hence got deeper into it - when beads was released there were other similar modules available from other manufacturers - so to some extent people got beads and compared it to the other granular effects that they had (or were available) and decided to go elsewhere

EDITED Jan 18th 2023, 18:11