Oxide • Intellijel 4u Palette setup

Here's where I am currently landing with the Palette.

One of my goals with this setup is to have a flexible way to create rhythmic patterns with that fall somewhere between percussion and melodic content. Like a kick drum sound triggered in tandem with a grainy melodic one-shot sample at another pitch, and a third sound (say, a bell-like FM tone) coming from the VCO. The intention here is to be able to create a range of complex voices—with evolving envelopes, filtering, amplitudes, etc—i.e., 'sample fodder' for compositions I've got going in my DAW.

There are two main sound sources (macro oscillator and sampler), a VCF, and a 3 VCA mixer with overdrive. Plenty of hp dedicated to function generators and gates. I want to go deeper with fewer sound sources and have a lot of sound shaping choices available. And the MIDI to CV is in there to sync up with my desktop gear, VCV rack, etc. It would be fairly straightforward to put together simple patches that shift into more textural rhythmic territory, get droney, go percussive, and get melodic and/or arpeggiated.

I compromised a bit on FX, leaning on the MK4 for that, as well as some external gear. My semi-modular offers S&H / slew, noise, analog VCOs, BBD delay, so that will help round things out.

Let me know what you think, and thanks for looking.

EDITED Feb 7th 2020, 17:09

My own personal tastes would be wanting a little more in on-board sequencing so that I can stay-in-the-case as much as possible. I find sequencing via the computer to really pull me out of my hardware zone.

I like Maths. But for the size of this case... it's just too big. You already have the Pip Slope for an AD envelope and the Joranalogue for mixing/VCAs.

I would ditch the Maths and replace it with a Mimetic Digitalis (10HP) and an micro Ornaments & Crime (8HP) and then find a 2HP module of your choosing... maybe a reverb or delay so the Disting isn't always on effects duty.

Thanks for the feedback & ideas, Ronin!

I hear you re: Maths—and get the appeal of a stay-in-the-case system. The current setup is a bit limited in being able to easily create melodic sequences internally. I could do some row rotation sequencing w/ Pam's and send that cv to the mk4 in a quantizer mode—that ties up two key modules pretty well, though.

I'm a fan of Mimetic Digitalis and its approach to cv sequencing—can I get by without using a quantizer with it? I believe it can do semitones. And any other compact cv sequencers that you'd consider for pitch sequencing?

I'd have another 10hp slot for one module to work with after that—the palette allows up to 12 modules, so that'd rule out an 8hp O_C AND a 2hp module. There is the Blue Lantern O_C at 10hp—though, I am tempted to get a Basimilus Iteritas Alter (10hp) in that slot ;-)

Thanks for the feedback & ideas, Ronin!

I hear you re: Maths—and get the appeal of a stay-in-the-case system. The current setup is a bit limited in being able to easily create melodic sequences internally. I could do some row rotation sequencing w/ Pam's and send that cv to the mk4 in a quantizer mode—that ties up two key modules pretty well, though.

I'm a fan of Mimetic Digitalis and its approach to cv sequencing—can I get by without using a quantizer with it? I believe it can do semitones. And any other compact cv sequencers that you'd consider for pitch sequencing?

I'd have another 10hp slot for one module to work with after that—the palette allows up to 12 modules, so that'd rule out an 8hp O_C AND a 2hp module. There is the Blue Lantern O_C at 10hp—though, I am tempted to get a Basimilus Iteritas Alter (10hp) in that slot ;-)
-- aarontw

It doesn't strictly adhere to pitch and definitely not to scale (apart from chromatic). The Mk4 does have a quantizer. But then you're tying up that module. That's why I recommended the O_C as well (dual quantizer onboard)... and get the one that is 8HP. Smaller is better.

The Basimilus Iteritas is okay. I own one. But it doesn't really play well with others and requires a ton of modulation sources to really get it to 'sing'. So it might not be a great module for a small case unless you're featuring it.

EDITED Feb 12th 2020, 19:23

Hi Arontwee,

I like your picture, it's good looking and especially your humour behind that is what I like: Do you really need that coaster? Does the rack/case get so hot? ;-)

Have fun with modular and kind regards, Garfield.

Ronin—that makes a lot of sense, thanks. Tall Dog makes an 8hp O_C in silver that I've had my eye on—that would complement their uPlaits I've got in there. MD + Pam's + Steppy would give me plenty of sequencing capability to stay in the case.

Out of curiosity, what are some of your go-to modulation sources you enjoy alongside BIA?

Hi Arontwee,

I like your picture, it's good looking and especially your humour behind that is what I like: Do you really need that coaster? Does the rack/case get so hot? ;-)

Have fun with modular and kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

Thx for the kind words, Garfield — ha, good eye ;-)
I like having a pad of some kind underneath my various instruments—in lieu of having a proper stand—so I can move them around on my (fairly crowded) desk and reconfigure as needed.

Cheers!

Ronin—that makes a lot of sense, thanks. Tall Dog makes an 8hp O_C in silver that I've had my eye on—that would complement their uPlaits I've got in there. MD + Pam's + Steppy would give me plenty of sequencing capability to stay in the case.

Out of curiosity, what are some of your go-to modulation sources you enjoy alongside BIA?

-- aarontw

Just remember that Steppy and Pam's New Workout only offer triggers and gates... no pitch CV. Steppy allows for a lot of real time changes... Pam allows for more features and functionality. Plum Audio offers an Intellijel 1U version of Ornaments & Crime if you ever consider replacing the Steppy with something else. But being able to reconfigure your sequence on the fly is a powerful aspect of any type of sequencing.