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My teeny weeny 2hp VCO was already a non DIY module, haha!

More noise from the cave. This little skiff keeps on giving and is a lot of fun. I'm currently planning how to bring in another voice, additional sequencer and vca and and will show you the planning later this week ;)

Anyways here is my jam from last night:

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2021/01/09/behringer-bringing-back-bcr2000-midi-controller-as-the-bcr32-with-built-in-zaquencer-sequencer/

Not that I approve of Uli's behavior, mind you...but in THIS case B. collaborated with the original Zaquencer firmware developer for the BCR2000 to arrive at THIS. There's several things that will make your head explode here...four channels of CV/g/t, MIDI I/O, all of the Zaquencer magic...

...and a price tag of $150-ish.

Pretty cool, pretty neat...and I have to say that it's refreshing as hell to see Uli doing this RIGHT after the Behringer Keystep or Arturia Swing or whatever the hell it is' intro (and its probably subsequent funeral).

As long as you don't exceed the DC rails' current potential, you can stick whatever you like in there. But second busboards are a bit much...

Instead, what I'd suggest is to use a flying bus cable that has the proper 16-pin connectors across the board, such as https://schneidersladen.de/en/eowave-flying-bus Just plug it into an open busboard connector, and there you are.

The only time you'll have too many modules is when you've exceeded the potential load of the P/S itself. If you've got a max capacity on your 12+ rail of, say, 1.2A, but your module complement only draws 750 mA, you're fine. But if you're beyond 3/4ths of the way to the rail's maximum current, then things will start to get a little tricky because you DON'T want to have a 1.2A supply dealing with an 1.2A load, and your inrush current at power-up can momentarily EXCEED the current capacity of the P/S and this can harm the supply. But since that's the only ACTIVE power component, and things like busboards and cables are passive, you only need to worry about the P/S load overall.

Well, that's the idea...but what XODES seems to have figured out here is how to mount a Pulplogic-format tile into an Intellijel tile row without further modifications. Now, if we could just get the Intellijel format guys to have a look at these and sort out how to do universal mounting slots like that (to put Intellijel format tiles in a Pulplogic row), the whole "tile format war" would effectively be OVER. And I'd be 110% down with that!

EDITED Jan 12th 2021, 08:04

Unfortuntaley that is not correct. If you buy something from a UK shop that is shipped to the EU you will either not pay VAT but pay a net price to the shop and VAT is applied when the device gets delivered or picked up by you. Or the shop has a EU VAT regristration and you pay VAT directly on purchase which then is passed on to the EU by the shop (usually once a year or quarterly).

If you now buy a used module from the UK the seller most certainly has no VAT regristrtaion and you will have to pay VAT on import. The custom authorities do not care if anyone has already payed any taxes on the item in any country before and the price is now a net price. Though there might be the opportunity to claim an exception if you can prove that this very device has been imported to the UK when it still was under the authority of Europe and VAT has already been payed. But I don't think so as it would open a can of worms. I guess that with the segregation all british things count as exported now and are britisch again.

You can also apply for a VAT regristration if you are doing any business you get payed for. Then the VAT you are adding on your invoices will be substracted from the VAT you have payed on your (business related) purchases and you are allowed to pay net prices in shops who are ofering this like Schneidersladen. By the way that would also be the price Brits would pay now on european goods because they also have to pay VAT to their own sovereign now.

The Christmess deal is about trade and "real" business. It does not cover trading single used devices between private persons. Therefore it might have passages on how VAT regristations are handled but it does not cover your duty as a citizen to pay VAT to your state on all goods imported by you. Having all that centrally regulated was the main point of the EU and what made the british people feel uncomfortable.

On a side note this also applies when you fly to London for vacancies and come back wearing a tweet jacket that you did not wear before. It is just more difficult to control than it is when your tweat jacket comes in a parcel and DHL can inform the autorities that you will get somethine fromthe UK that probably is a good as it is sent in a parcel.

20 EUR is the threshold then for import VAT. Below that you don't have to pay it. There is also a threshold for custom duties. I think it is 120 EUR.

To sum it up the main point is that VAT is a tax you pay to your country for financing your infrastructure. They won't abandon it in favor of a foreign country.

So far I have been learning and enjoying my new sequencers: Eloquencer, WMD Metron, Stillson Hammer MK2, and Euclidian Circles.

Metron is great for programming lot of drum and bass modules and amazing patterns that can be saved and recalled at light speed and with Voltera can sequence 1v/oct and Axxent for adding drum flourishes.

Eloquencer a great sequencer with random, probability, ratcheting and easy to program and fun to use with live record mode.

Stillson Hammer- what Metropolis should have been a fun live sequencer with quantizer, reverse, pendulum, random modes and 4 channels of CV and 4 gates. Love using it for melodic and bass lines.

Euclidian Circles- wacky fun colorful sequencer best used with external clock source.

Varigate 4+ a good random CV generator but not very precise and pain to program.

For me 2021 is the year of mastering sequencers to create songs in live and record session on modular and deepen my knowledge of modular synthesis.

EDITED Jan 12th 2021, 15:15

Super ace sounding and very plucky!

Garfield, Sisters of Mercy might be it. It definitely reminded me of something from the early industrial, post-punk, or goth era. Good ear.

Hi Mowse,

Oh my goodness, this is superb! What a track!

Ha, ha, that dog bark actually fits perfectly well in this track, it gives it just that extra unexpected touch that nobody else would do or come up with, that kind of "your own stamp" on this beautiful track. Well done doggy! ;-)

Next time your dog is around, keep that mic switched on and put a few "kilos" of echo on it, would be fantastic :-)

For me the old, inventive Mowse is back in full glory! Well done Mowse and thank you very much for sharing this! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Brunomolteni, and Farkas,

Yes, great track! Nice pluck instrument you are playing there :-) The video is nice clear and lovely to watch to see you at work too!

Farkas: The melody line reminds me a bit of The Sisters Of Mercy, is that what you meant? :-) Or This Mortal Coil, also a bit like that :-)

Bruno: Beautifully done, keep coming with tracks to surprise us! Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi The-Erc,

Ah, okay :-) Now got it, how about DivKids - Mutes?

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lugia,

That's interesting indeed, quite small modules, might be indeed useful for one's 1U row :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Homeslice1479,

Any update on this matter?

Happy New Year and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Zucker,

Yes, fair enough and I meant indeed the import tax, which is usually equal to the VAT rate, but yes of course, if I am in the EU and buy something in the UK, I pay the VAT in the UK on the product I bought. Important for me (and I guess for many others) that there will be no additional import tax (or duty or whatever it is called) applied and as far as I understood it, that will be the case (as it was till 2020). Correct?

Still don't understand your "above Euro 20" explanation that import duty needs to be paid on that, that would be not confirm the agreement that I understood (and you just explained here above).

Thank you and kind regards, Garfield.

I'm running out of superlatives @mowse, well done as usual and it seems like your mastery of the synth is only progressing!

Thanks @Exposure!

Really nice track troux! I'm enjoying it a lot, thanks for sharing!

thanks guys! yeah the Ts-l was one of the first ones I got... it's really powerful for the hp it takes... and the stages panel is from magpie panels, one of the best :)

here is what I'm planning towards... I change some modules almost every day but the main idea is there already, having a "harmony" voice, a "melody" voice and a "bassline" voice plus some drums/perc, some fx, a mixer and stuff to control everything :)

EDITED Jan 11th 2021, 20:05

This is a great track mowse, I've tried many times to do something like that and it seems like something impossible, I'm not sure how are you doing it but it's fantastic, and I love that dog too!!

Great - thanks a lot! Or, not great, but thank you for implementing it!

Thanks for sharing brunomolteni!
I'm considering getting the Instruo Ts-l, it sounds really nice and its waveshaper seems very versatile.
Also, that stages with the black panel is rad, cool setup!

United Kingdom is now a new option in the marketplace selector. All existing UK offers are moved to the new option.
I hope it will work with the Reverb offers too, that needs a couple of hours.

Welcome brunomolteni!
This is awesome. You have a great handle on melody and song development. Your song reminds me of something from the late 70s or early 80s but I can't quite put my finger on which artist. Keep up the great work.

A short segment from a live streaming session on 01/10/2021. Main voices are Moogs, Trident, and Telharmonic.

Pro tip: Don't run a hot mic with a dog in the room.

Here's the video, open to hearing what you guys think :)

Patch notes:
Instruo Ts-l as oscillator
Calsynth Rangoon as simulated strings
Erica Pico Drums as kickdrum
Doboz XIIO as arpegiator
Robaux LL8 as gate sequencer
Super Vcas as vca and mixer
ST Rocinante's Gate as LFO and Env. for sidechain.
Music Thing Startup as mixer, clock generator and clock divider.

Hair metal acid? Why not?? 🤣

Good info @farkas, I'd love a Stereomix

Sweet

Thanks for the suggestion Wavescape!
I also thought about that, but actually I'm having a lot of fun while exploring harmonics and I just love letting my sequencers play some melodies while turning some knobs here and there.
But I get your point, its just two different things I guess. And as far I can see the Sinfonion really gets me in the direction I want to go, even though I'm still open for alternative ideas/modules :-)

@Lugia, I'm listening to "Beneath Puget" now. This totally captures the atmosphere of the PNW. Excellent work.
I also see that one of your recommended albums on Bandcamp is "Black One" by Sunn 0))). Underrated album! I love "Kannon" as well.

LOL... I forgot about Jackyl.

Thanks gang! I enjoyed making it.
@troux, Yes, this was played and mixed almost completely live in the rack. I use a Focusrite Scarlett interface into Garageband as a glorified tape recorder, and the Toppobrillo Stereomix and a Moffenzeef Moffenmix in the rack. I'm about to add an Erica Fusion Mixer v3 as a second submixer too. I ran the Crucible to a different input on my interface and adjusted the volume in Garageband because I can never get hi-hats/cymbals to sit in a mix on first try. I didn't do any sort of mastering or EQ in Garageband.
Only the Prophet 80s synths were overdubbed, though still run through the rack. If I remember correctly, I just went from the Doepfer A119 to the FX Aid XL (for a tiny bit of reverb) to the Toppobrillo. You might laugh, but ever since I was a kid, I've been obsessed with the synth sounds in Billy Idol's song "Eyes Without a Face." Hahaha. So, almost anything I come up with on the Prophet ends up having an 80s vibe like that.
Thanks again for listening.

I'd like put this discussion up.
Anybody that could be interested in this option?

Love this. Awesome work @farkas.

Hi Zucker and Kel_,

Zucker: Import VAT will be applied on everything above 20 EUR - so you have to add about 20 % to all prices.

May I ask where you get this from? As far as my knowledge goes, there had been made a "Christmas Eve" deal between the EU and the UK meaning that the trading stays under the same conditions, meaning again that there will be no VAT charges between EU countries and the UK.

So I am a bit puzzled by this, has the deal been changed?

Thank you and kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and the UK covers (besides a lot of other things like transportation, police stuff and to whom the fish in the oceans belong if not to them selves) only international trade, no national taxes. It was aggreed on what can be traded between both civilisations and that generally no custum duties shall be applied on goods manufactured within each area.

Value Added Tax is a tax, not a duty. It is collected by the european states on basically everything that has a value and can be traded. It is added when you buy something within the Union or when something enters the Union for the first time. It does not matter then if it was purchased abroad or if it is a gift or a prize you won. If something is send abroad for a repair job and then sent back VAT is added to the value of the actual work done, even when it was not payed for.

So no, the deal has not be changed. It just does not cover this topic as it is not a bilateral problem. On a side note, I think the actual custom duty rate for synth stuff is abot 3 % for the EU - the main "issue" is import VAT and is important two distinguish both.

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

??? I think you misunderstood what I meant. I am not suggesting to build a polyphonic modular.
-- Wavescape

Oh, I know...that part of the comment was directed at the thread's OP.

??? I think you misunderstood what I meant. I am not suggesting to build a polyphonic modular.

I meant you can use paraphonic / polyphonic synth as an ambient pad (with CV in / VCV Rack etc.). Then, use Eurorack in parallel to create a melody/timbral variations based on the harmony of the ambient pad. Especially, nowadays some synths like P6/OB6 are compatible w/ MIDI MPE, you can modulate the parameters of each voice instead of all voices. It also depends how you are trained too. For me, I prefer to play with a keyboard, instead of using a quantizer/chord generator. Eurorack to me is more about exploring timbre instead of harmony.

EDITED Jan 11th 2021, 07:00

...for trying to find a bridge between the current Intellijel vs Pulplogic tile mess! EVERYONE making tile modules needs to have a look at what they're doing here!

And I'll also point out: if XODES can come up with a full series of drum tiles, this could go some distance to fixing the "drums don't work with modular" issue. You could easily devote a tile row to this, along with the requisite mixers, etc, and this keeps these types of modules OUT of the 3U rows, meaning that you'd have the space for the intensive sequencing needed AND space for the rest of the build as well.

Awwwww ...now I'm disappointed. Here I was, expecting some sort of hybridization of Berlin School with the musical chainsaw craziness of Jackyl...

EDITED Jan 11th 2021, 06:39

Oh, yeah...you CAN have too many oscillators! When it gets to a point that trying to keep the rig in tune with itself is becoming a joyless and impossible task, you've got too many oscillators. But also keep in mind that that bar WILL change as you gain experience over years, and as you build up a system that fits your own expanding musical needs.

From my experience, I'd say that seven VCOs is a good stop-point. And this is from my own experiences of using my Digisound 80 (four oscillators) in tandem with my ARP 2600 (three oscillators). A good example of what results from this can be found in one of my works, "Beneath Puget" (https://daccrowell.bandcamp.com/album/beneath-puget); on that work, the only other "voices" consist of an MS-20 doing something very static, plus the "intrusions" from the theremin. It's also worth noting that this recording was "live in studio"...one pass for the whole thing.

Get a paraphonic / polyphonic synth and use Eurorack to create timbral variation of a harmony. Eurorack is not good at creating complex harmonies.
-- Wavescape

No disagreement here. Sure, you COULD build a polyphonic modular, but the resulting instrument would be QUITE huge, physically, and the patching complexity would border on total insanity. The ONLY setup I can think of like that would've been Toto's massive early-mid 1980s Polyfusion rig, which also used a Roland MC-8 clocked by a central timing device (my bet's on Garfield's MasterBeat being the device responsible) for control. And sure, Eurorack IS smaller...but you'll still wind up creating something huge and maddening to patch even in that format. You're far better off trying to set your build up as a multichannel set of potential mono/duophonic patches, then slotting those in and out via your main output mixer. Then if you want chords...there's loads of options with prebuilt polysynths.

As for 30-40 modules being a "large number", consider this: I learned modular (1980/81) on what I still say is the best teaching synth, the ARP 2600. And even though that looks to be just a big prepatched rig, the fact is that it contains 25 or so discrete "modules" within it, and you can break the prepatching just by plugging in patchcords where you see that little circled "interrupt" icon. So 30 - 40 is really kinda typical for module counts in a basic Eurorack system.

Listening now @farkas, fantastic ambiance and layering. Did you mix in the modular? If so I need to grab a copy of your mixer lol because the space here and how everything is both distinct and part of a whole is topnotch. And gotta say I loved the 80s synth vibes too. Looking forward to more like this.

LOLLLLLL @farkas, and yes @GarfieldModular I thought about ducking the kick but wasn't sure how that'd end up working out with the Mimeophon doing delays and decided I was too lazy. Maybe for round two...

Agree and at first I thought that they were overpriced and not worth getting since I started using a cheap external mixer. But after having a couple modular mixers that can blend audio and CV, they are super useful and fun. Mutes are very important to me as they let me punch in and punch out melody and beats rapidly. Also help my workflow to be way more productive in modular. Once I get the WMD Performance mixer will let you know. So far, WMD modules like Fracture, Chimera, Crater and Metron are superb! They were made for the live performing modular artist and I can feel the easier workflow. Praga is ok but more a pain to use and need the Hrad expander for that.

Farkas: Where's my glow stick?

I absolutely agree with you about the usefulness of Eurorack mixers!

That's the reason why I am looking into an additional Eurorack mixer :-)

Yeeeaaaahhhhh!!! Where's my glow stick?
Sounds great. I sort of regret selling the Chainsaw, but I needed to fund a keyboard. I'm glad to hear it in action here.
Keep sharing the acid.