First modular build - comments & criticism

Hi all,

Above is my finished attempt at a modular I'm aiming to build. I've quite a lot of experience with DAW's, VST's, drum machines, and even some classic hardware synths, but this is the first modular synth I'll be putting together. I feel like I've done my research but I'm sure there's a ton I don't know, and would appreciate hearing some input, finding out where the holes are, etc.

The aim for this modular is for IDM/techno/electronic, working with Ableton to generate MIDI and an Analog Rtym drum machine - mainly studio focussed. The goal would be to take MIDI out as CV from the ES-9, run everything around the modular, and then back into the ES-9 so that I can record individual tracks - hence no sequencer. This will allow me to do after-effects processing on the individual channels within Ableton (e.g. reverb, sidechaining, etc) - hence the limited number of effects in the rack. The modular would not be built all at once - I would aim to start with about 50-60% of this, mainly so I can learn each module.

Thoughts on the rack:

1. MIDI would come out from the ES-9 into the Pam's, to clock the whole rack. I've added a few other utilities (clock divider, mult, sample & hold) and then the Marbles clone Pachinko - this would allow me to use MIDI sequences from Ableton but still have some measure of randomization and shifting.

2. I'm aiming to have one pure analog oscillator (Instruo Ts-L), and I decided to add the Instruo VCA for it, for good measure. The Plaits clone because gives a wide range of sound options, and then the Piston Honda because I love the sound, I'd like a different form of synthesis (wavetable), and because I can use it to feed other audio through it - not just as a pure oscillator.

3. The Quadrax with expander (plus the Maths below it) seems to give me quite a lot of options on envelopes/LFO's.

4. Morgasmatron provides options to run the filters independently or together, which I like the flexibility of - plus I like what I've heard from them.

5. The 2 noise engineering modules plus the Happy Nerding Tritone are aiming to give me some options on saturation and distortion - also the Noise Engineering modules, both the filter and low-pass gate give me another option on filters (and I would like at least one LPG module - I like the short decay "ping" sounds).

6. The Doepfer VCA's I'm a little unsure of - I know I will need a number of VCA's, and this seemed an effective means of using them - but another alternative would be 2x Happy Nerding 3-VCA's, or the Quad VCA from Intellijel

7. The Morphagene - I just love the sounds of these, and it gives me lots of options to gain anything from background ambience to effects.

8. Finally the ST Mixer would allow me to mix some sounds together before the ES-9, and the Disting is really just to allow me to test out different functions / fill any gaps that I may have.

The questions I would have is - does this fundamentally work or is it a mess, are there any other module recommendations, and finally I do have some blank spots left - which I'm assuming I'll end up filling with utilities - but are there any recommendations for these?

Open to any and all criticism!

You'll get much better advice from others on this forum, but I'm on a similar path with the ES9 + Ableton + Piston Honda

My suggestion would be to start slow. Get ES9 and Plaits then figure out where you want to go

Honda paired with a Zadar or Kermit for modulation is an amazing standalone drone machine

Authentic Mutable Instruments modules quality and ergonomics are worth the expense and HP.

I was headed to this rack, but got sidetracked

Thanks, helpful to see someone going in a similar direction and some other interesting modules to think about. Yes, agree about the Mutable originals - could be a good use of my spare space.

Thanks, helpful to see someone going in a similar direction and some other interesting modules to think about. Yes, agree about the Mutable originals - could be a good use of my spare space.
-- ntrancer

Yeah, jump in! ES9 + Plaits with VCV is plenty to get started. Check out the great M4L utilities for CV in Ableton. Once you've spent some time with VCV you'll have a better idea for the next few modules. Maths (or another DUSG), a quad VCA and effects would be my choices

If you're anything like me, the direction of my rack quickly changed after getting started. It's much more "out-of-the-box" than I expected. Glad I didn't buy everything at once.

Hopefully you'll get lucky and Lugia or another legend will take an interest in your rack and rip it to pieces (with love of course).

EDITED Feb 17th 2021, 04:39

OP - make the rack public!

so we can copy it and rip it to pieces!!!

Sure!

Messed with it...I think I squeezed a little more out of it, although the module complement was already pretty spot-on. There were still a few changes that could've been made, plus a general reordering...

I opted to shuffle everything in here. There were modulation modules in amongst audio ones, and the signal flow was sorta confusional. This version has all audio on top, modulation and control on the bottom. And on top, there are actually two "voices" laid out...

Voice #1 consists of the Ts-L and the Plaits clone, which then feeds into an After Later dual VCA which uses Veils clone VCAs for summing under CV control. This then goes to the Sinc. This first "voice" is mainly intended for bass...with that LPG in place to output punchy hits. Then voice #2 is the Piston Honda/Morgasmatron combo, which is a stellar digital-hybrid stereo voice opportunity. After these sections, there's a Veils clone to provide VCA control prior to the mixer inputs. And the mixer I opted for here is a Cosmotronic Cosmix, which is four mono ins with panning, AUX sends, and two stereo ins. Now, since this mixer has an AUX send/return, this lets you use the Morphagene in parallel to your mix, or you could just as easily patch it in after the Cosmix for global processing/looping. Last little sliver there is a Konstant Labs PWRchekr, lets you keep an eye on your DC rail performance.

Lower row starts with the ES-9 and Disting, then the Pam's and the RCD...but I also added the RCD Breakout expansion which lets you mess with timing a bit more. A-118-2 is next, then the Pachinko, and I then dropped in a trio of linear DC-coupled VCAs specifically for tampering with modulation levels. And after that is the Maths and Quadrax/Qx, but between them I put in a MISO, which is a CV/mod mixer/polarizer/mangler that can let the Maths and Quadrax contribute to even more modulation strangeness.

This should work a lot better than the prior iteration, I think. The layout now makes tons of sense, plus the few additions I made are optimized to really get the other modules perking. Much more potent. Oh...and I saved you $90.

EDITED Feb 18th 2021, 03:43

Oh...and I saved you $90.
-- Lugia

Hah! Great critique with whip cream and a cherry on top.

This is incredibly helpful, thank you. This make a hell of a lot of sense, the module substitutions and additions look great, and I appreciate the revised signal flow.

A couple of quick questions on the revised layout;
- You talk about two "voices" by linking the Plaits and the Instruo, which makes sense, but I'm assuming with 3 oscillators (plus morphagene) you could have more than that. I'm guessing you'd just be limited on the utilities?
- I originally included a mixer, and the Cosmix is a great upgrade, but now I'm wondering whether it is really needed. One thing that worries me - and perhaps I'm too used to DAWs - is the ability to record individual "voices" as individual tracks, which was what I like about the ES-9 - it also allows me to add individual effects to tracks through Ableton.

Would it make sense to scrap the mixer and just feed everything directly into the ES-9? Alternatively, i could keep the mixer and use a simpler/cheaper PC to CV converter for CV signal output.. and then record separately through my soundcard. I can see there are benefits to keeping the mixer too.

Well, when I define a "voice", what I'm referring to is the "source + modifier" part of a chain. So if you look at the Ts-L/Plaits pair as a "source" thanks to the 2-in VCA/mixer and the Sinc as the "modifier", that's how that should work. Remember: one VCO is good, but TWO of them means you can do quite a bit with detuning, waveform combination, etc + some form of mixing to sum those signals. And likewise, the Piston Honda has that dual oscillator architecture, then it feeds right to the Morgasmatron...but in this case, you can keep the entire "voice" in stereo, where the other "voice" is mono. And at the same time, you could just as easily patch those directly to the ES-9's inputs to stripe those directly to the DAW.

But the Cosmix is still pretty essential. Let's say that you come up with this complex result that requires the Cosmix's AUX send/return architecture to work with the Morphagene. Well, without the Cosmix (or something similar), you lose the ability to parallel process that way. I put it in because there'll be times that the working method from above is just fine, but there WILL be other points in time where you'll want to patch up something epic...and the stereo mixer/AUX architecture makes that much easier.