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Hi Everyone

Looking for some advice, tipps & tricks before jumping into the world of modular! Heads up - Long post ahead!

Some Background information:
I've been researching and learning about modular for about half a year now. Mainly from watching tons of videos, checking out this forum, reading Pacht&Tweak and now I finally want to get my hands on some modules. I think I got some basic knowledge built up but I learn a lot faster if I can actually try out some stuff I read and hear the outcome. I've been producing mostly electronic music (dub techno, micro house, deep tech) with Ableton and some outboard gear like the Nord Lead A1, Korg MS-20 mini and TR8.

What kind of sound would I like to achieve?
I really like the sound from Plaits and Tides. Absolutely love the chord modes on those modules, which I would like to use for making rhythmic, evolving patterns / soundscapes. I really like the sound of clouds. So I decided that I would get a secondhand Module or go for the microburst or microclouds, whichever is easier to get my hands on here in the Europe. I want Plonk to be my source of percussive sounds, which I would like to run through Rainmaker to create some interesting rhythm. Love how you can modulate the pitch of all 16 taps from Rainmaker. Batumi will be my main source of modulation. I also really like the way Nebulae works, especially the option to manipulate speed and pitch separate. I want to use Nebulae to record random samples from Plonk to create little Sample Packs. I once read that with a firmware update, you can record directly onto the USB stick. With Sisters I think I got a great sounding Filter, but I'm also open for suggestions. And I really dig the analog sound of the STO in combination with the Optomix Lowpass Gate, which also gives me some mixing capabilities.

Starting Plan:
For the Case, I want to go with Intellijel's 104HP 7U Case (+12 V output at 3000 mA, -12 V output at 3000 mA and +5 V output at 1500 mA. - I think that should give me enough headroom?)
For the first Modules I'm considering Plaits, Tides and Plonk as my soundsources, the 1U tiles for Midi, Ins & Outs, VCA/Mixer, a multiple, as well as a headphone amplifier for some utility. In the Future, I want to set-up Pamelas New Workout as a slave from the 1U Midi Module, which syncs to ether some hardware or Ableton (I hope that makes sense?). I also want to start with the quad VCA (or is the 1U tile enough for the start? From all I hear, you can never have to many VCA's :D), the Envelope Generator from Erica Synth, Batumi für modulation, and Clouds for effects. Does it make sense to start with these modules or am I going to fast?

I want to hold up on the eloquencer. At the moment, I'm not sure which sequencer ist the best choice (I'm also thinking about voltage block or 1010s Toolbox). So for the start, I thought I would use Arturia's Keystep.
I want to get to know my other soundsources first, before getting the STO. And I don't want to start with to much.

Next up in line to purchase after getting to know my first modules in the Starting Plan would be Rainmaker and the Nebulae V2. I looked at some alternatives, like the Tape Delay Unit Magneto from Strymon, Morphogene, or the sampler from 4MS, but kept coming back to these two. Maybe someone with experience with these Modules can give me some insight to why they chose one over the other?

Sorry for the long post, but I hope I could give some insight on what I would like from my future Modular System. I'm really looking forward to not only a great learning experience, but also the little sonic surprises you get while experimenting with different patches.
Thanks a lot for reading and any kind of feedback will be highly appreciated!
Cheers!

EDITED Dec 17th 2018, 19:15

where can i get the black panel for my moons?

Yes, nothing against the Malekko 4hp via; I just meant that you might have trouble finding one.
You can't go wrong with the Intellijel vca. Xaoc Tallin or the Malekko Vca in 6hp should also be nice.
I don't know the 2hp-vca, but this has the advantage to give you two additional vcas of course, which is nice...

Eurorack enthusiasts have 2 disreputable sources of quantitative data on the community: random MW polls and ModularGrid's "in rack" count.

I wanted to provide the community with something a little more reliable and robust. Do you have 5 minutes to take this little survey? It will close on 31 December, and I'll publish a results report in January.

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THE IMPORTANT STUFF
Your privacy will be respected. The results of this survey will be shared in aggregate only; individual responses will not be shared with any other individuals or entities. I'm a data analyst by day, have no Eurorack-related business interests, and am receiving no compensation for this survey or its analysis.

EDITED Dec 17th 2018, 02:04

Thanks Phineas! Great to have your point of view. And thanks for the complements, too. :)

At first I took yr comment to mean that a quantiser could replace the VCA, but I see what yr saying - I could go for a smaller hp quantiser and then free up some space for a bigger VCA. :)

Any recommendations for VCAs I should be looking at? Maybe something like this?

Or this?

Cheers!

EDITED Dec 17th 2018, 04:47

Hey noob here. Building first rack. Going for ambient and soundscapes. Thoughts?

I've built a few of these modules. They are super-fun builds, and handy functionality. I've used the AND gate and the VCA on several patches to good effect.

Also super helpful when your rack is running low on HP or power...

The "OR" gate saved me the other day; i wanted to patch together to modules at opposite ends of my rack and I didn't have a long enough cable. So I used the OR like a cable extender. Of course, then I decided it would be interesting to plug an LFO into the other input,... :)

Would love to see these listed on Modular Grid! Mystic Circuits is already listed as a vendor, so should be possible.

This looks like a cool set-up!
I think the Malekko vca is out of production (at least the 4 HP version), so you would have to buy that one used.
An alternative could be to choose another quantizer, for example from Intellijel, Doepfer, or Topobrillo or the Penrose quantizer... lots of possibilities.
This way you could free some HP and then choose another Vca.

Anyways, seems like a cool set-up that will sound absolutely great!

How's this look?

Re: the sampler, I was hoping for something that'd allow me to ‘slice and dice’ the samples in real time (hence my inclusion of the Morph). I'm guessing the TipTop Sampler is a little more basic than that. Not a biggie, tho...

I should also mention my other gear: Moog Sub 37, Korg Minilogue, Korg SQ-1 sampler, a bunch of Volcas, an Arturia KeyStep Pro, a Mackie 1202, chorus and compressor pedals. And a Lava lamp - without cv. ;) And the DFAM is under the tree for Xmas...

Re: the pipe, I'm not a big pipe guy by any means. Apart from synths, I'm also into motorcycles and blogging, and that was a pipe I purchased for a charity event called the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride. More here: https://www.gentlemansride.com/ - I like the idea of smoking a pipe, but sadly the actual act itself didn't live up to my expectations. I think I'll just stick to whisky...

EDITED Dec 16th 2018, 02:59

Thanks for the heads up on the Aria! I do plan to keep the Neutron out of the case, I mainly just have it included for the visual.

Agenda item #1 for you: remove the Neutron from this build. If you look at the functions it provides in the space it takes up, you'll notice that it's a bad use of space vs functionality. Try keeping it in its own cab instead. The Roland Aira module can go too, unless you have one, as it's discontinued AND the Eurorack Airas are notorious for huge power inrush draws on power-up, which could spell trouble for your P/S.

Nah, keep the Marbles. If you're shooting for that weird, jagged, tangential Autechre sort of direction, it'll help the whole rig (mis)behave in just the right ways. One point, though...move the P/S module to the left side to get it away from your audio sources (One, VCAs) in the top skiff to help avoid any noise that might sneak in through the P/S brick. This thing should sound crazy as hell, especially if you tandemed it with some sort of outboard granular processing.

BTW, what's that quarter-bent apple you've got in the thumbnail? It's a sharp look...

EDITED Dec 16th 2018, 02:05

Nah. Obsoleted modules abounded, plus there was a lot of 'predictable' there. Instead, I tore it up, came up with this instead:

Now this is a superior piece of kit, tooled for the exact purpose. Around $750 cheaper, too. Maths (the correct one) stayed, added a Marbles for random sampling of CVs and the like. RCD got its expander (great for live performance). Went with a single quantizer with an analog shift register which allows subsequent CV levels to pass on to another destination times three. The 0 Sugar deals with weird logic-based gate scrambling, and a Pithoprakta Euclidean gate/trig sequencer was dropped in for generative timing trickery.

Second row has a dual mix/attenuverter/offset, two linear (for CVs) VCAs. I added a 4ms QPLFO for multiple slow (or fast) LFO sources to create gradual modulation shifts (important for good generative work)...and then a Rubicon2 for warped, spacy crossmod and TZFM. Kept the Plonks, then there's a 4-1 audio mix to sum it with the Rubicon2. After that, a Disting, because...it's a Disting, which is pretty much a Swiss Army Knife for most anything. The Doepfer A-106-1 (variation on the Korg MS-20 VCF pair) has an insert in its resonance path, for which the lo-fi Noise Reap delay is intended, although you could use it as a regular delay. And then a final VCA + envelope to send the results back down to the 2S for the final mix with the MiniBrute's audio and output.

Now these should get you where you want to go. Note, also, that some of these modulation sources can also be aimed down at the MiniBrute 2S to make it act in tandem with the Rack. No mults, also...I suggest using either Stackcables or inline mult widgets, as these save space in smaller builds like this.

Trying to plan out my first rack.

I'm going to start with just the Neutron and from there add the Plaits or a Braids, and then start adding whatever else I'm itching to add to the case. Planning on sequencing/playing everything with a Keystep.

Thanks Lugia! OK, here's the updated set-up below. I'm looking to create some ambient/Autechre type stuff with a heap of randomness in there and plenty of scope for the unexpected. I'm wondering if I should maybe lose the marbles and sampler and go for something like this (below, below):

How would this pair with the mini brute 2s for generative+unpredictable? I'm thinking of removing something for a delay, but do you guys know of any really weird modules that would help it?

A demo of the detune functionality provided by the latest firmware update 1.3

using the detune functionality from the latest firmware update (1.3)

The Angle Grinder seems pretty rad, though it's a bit big in hp and price for this rig. The 119 is cheapest and is probably as good as anything, so I'd go with that.

Aaannnnd right now I'm in multi vca land... If anyone has used and has opinions on the Sputnik Valve Mulitplier, Cynthia Octal, Doepfer 132-4, SSF Muton, Zlob Vnlcursal vca, Bubblesound Hex, please blip it here!

EDITED Dec 16th 2018, 01:05

Yep...and with the LaserBox's output levels also working with normal synth CV levels, that would make for one crazy LFO bank...lots of phase-correlated modulation, weird Lissajous-based control methodology. Definitely not a sequencer, but if/when the need calls for something like that, it's convenient to flip that functionality.

Extra VCAs would be useful, yep...my suggestion would be to pull the buffered mult (you don't have enough destinations to cause a voltage drop that would necessitate one...use some stackcables or inline passive mults instead and save your space) and the blank and have a look at Malekko's VCA...it's a dual VCA module with switchable functions for linear and exponential response, fits in 4 hp.

EDITED Dec 15th 2018, 03:52

The A-119 is probably the more cost-effective of the two. As for BOTH waveshapeable VCOs and a warped idea of what a filter is, Schlappi's Angle Grinder might be something you'd find entertaining. You get those, plus quadrature outputs which can come in handy when using the Angle Grinder as a phase-correlated modulation source.

You might add a mult into 2 hp of that 10. And with the remaining 8 hp, have a look at Doepfer's A-171-2 VCS. Basically half of a Maths, a very useful modulation source to say the least.

'Course, I wouldn't have put the M32 in there, though....it has a cab, plus it eats up a lot of space that could be better used for discrete Eurorack modules.

EDITED Dec 15th 2018, 03:43

had a flawless buying experience with @yrn1, quick shipping, great comms, 100% would buy from again!

Plus, I think it was you, Ronin, that made the point that you can blow new firmware onto the Toolbox and change its function. That's also potentially a plus inasmuch as you can shift the entire working paradigm of a build just with a switcheroo on the Toolbox's EPROM.
-- Lugia

Corrent. But 1010 Music has TWO series of units. The first series can run BitBox, FXBox, and SynthBox. The second series can run ToolBox and LaserBox. I believe the difference in the series are the physical inputs/outputs.

great seller @Jungleofwires - thank u 4 the SDS RiTm ; working perfect!

I have dangerously little idea what I'm doing and I'm 2/3rds the way through a bottle of red wine. Please don't call the cops...

Case would be a 3-tier jobby from Moog. I based the whole thing it one this:

https://bit.ly/2BjiJPJ

Effects will be applied at the mixer (Eventide Space & Boss DD-550)

No, it's not the most impressive beast right now. Anything I need? A VCA?

All thoughts welcome!

P_Jack

EDITED Dec 15th 2018, 21:51

Thanks for sharing man!

I agree that it would be useful with a clock to drive Rene. Your existing synths may already have one that you can use. In principle, any LFO will do. For more features, Tempi is a good choice. Another popular option is Pamela's NEW Workout.

I am not sure about the quantizer, though. Rene2 has a pretty good one built in, so that may not be as urgent.

Cool. thanks for comments. yes will definitely add in audio out.and look at a quantizer. other make noise bits look useful too.
cheers.

Any Update for this??

I'm also thinking of the Doepfer 119 and Sputnik EF/Preamp for an ef. Wondering if there's some other good multimode filters other than the Koma, or a better waveshapeable vco other than the PM Primary.

It will be linked to a Minibrute 2s, I feel like I have everything I need, what am I missing? :)

Wow. The Neutron has a tune-pot-bypass feature that allows me to use the oscillator tuning knob for other stuff while using MIDI to control the oscillator in tune. (So it's even less of a sacrifice than I thought.)

OK, so it turns out the keyword I needed was "offset." I think I searched for voltage offset and found nothing. Just the word offset, all by itself, finds modules that emit a constant CV. Here's a small one with a couple other handy features.

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/lpzw-modules-wk2

I think that if I configure the Behringer Neutron's assignable output to the oscillator 2 control voltage, I can turn the oscillator 2 tuning knob and emit from the Neutron's patch bay a constant, manually controlled CV. (Page 13 in the manual.) This seems like a straightforward way to control something in a modular system that has a CV control but no knob.

(By the way, this isn't a great sacrifice, because I often don't like the sound of the Neutron's two oscillators working together in sync, and I think it's because of the issue described in this YouTube video of a modification performed to correct the issue: )

OK, I'll leave this thread here for future searching newbies like me, and for educational replies, but here's at least one answer found on another forum:

https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43964

Oscillators send a signal even with no input. even if there's nothing saying what pitch to play or when to start/stop - that is done by other modules such as sequencers, VCAs etc. This is true for VCOs - they'll make a constant tone and LFOs - they'll make a constant CV (dependent on settings)

Apparently, oscillators don't always oscillate, and perhaps they're the conventional way to get a constant CV, e.g., for a static setting on a CV-controlled pan: oscillator -> attenuvertor -> pan.

Hi! Consider, for example, the CV-controlled panning on this stereo mixer:

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/erica-synths-black-stereo-mixer-v2

If I want to hold the mono audio at a constant place in the stereo image, say slightly to the left, during part of the song, what module emits that constant voltage? I expect a VCA with bias turned up to amplify zero if there's no input, resulting in zero output. Oscillators oscillate, but I want it to stay constant, so that the panning stays put, like a manual knob that I've left in place for now.

Things that send out voltages for pitch must emit constant voltage, but I only know about MIDI-to-CV modules and sequencers for that. These modules seem overly complex for driving a constant pan.

This is a pretty serious gap in my knowledge of how modular systems are working, but the odd thing is that I can't find any results when searching for "constant voltage" in the forums here, so I'm ignorant in a special way! Any help would be most appreciated.

Yes I saw the SSF, the ability to choose a frequency range from the input looks good. I've been trying to use my minibrute's gate extractor into my eurorack with a Tocante Karper for an input, and had lots of trouble. But anything that someone says they use and is reliable in lots of situations I'll look into. The Xaoc is probably overkill but I like that it has a line output as well.

Simple and basic...that'll work, actually. A couple of additions you might consider, though, would be an audio output module, a quantizer (definitely beneficial with the Rene2) of some type, and maybe the MakeNoise Tempi, as the Rene2 was designed to link with it for some extra timing trickery and it would be useful for triggering extra bits here and there. And while you're on a MakeNoise kick, why not put in a Pressure Points/Brains combo which can also work in tandem with the Rene2/Tempi to provide some direct hands-on control in addition to the Rene2's pads...plus gives you an extra 4-step touch-controlled sequencer to beef up the control capabilities.

Well, for a basic, straightforward envelope follower alone, you might check Ladik's E-510. But if you need more complex functionality, SSF recently kicked out a new module called the DETECT-Rx. It's about twice the price of the Ladik, but serves up some enhancements for the price.

AH does appear to carry Buck's full line, yes...although, it's worth checking with AH themselves to see if this is, in fact, the case.

Plus, I think it was you, Ronin, that made the point that you can blow new firmware onto the Toolbox and change its function. That's also potentially a plus inasmuch as you can shift the entire working paradigm of a build just with a switcheroo on the Toolbox's EPROM.

My first foray into the world of modular synthesis.
I am an enthusiastic amateur and enjoy creating synth soundscapes. Hoping to add some more interesting textures/sounds.
I currently use a mixture of plug in synths / vcv rack / korg minilogue and roland piano.
My research has led me to believe the modules in this rack would be a good starting point.
I plan to build my own rack using the doepfer A-100 DIY kit.
Any thoughts / ideas / suggestions would be most welcome (before I hand over any hard cash to dealers!)
Cheers.

Thanks, I'll take a look. However I forgot to mention this would be more for getting gates from external audio; instead of an envelope follower I'd prefer to get a gate from the signal and use an envelope I already have for it. More flexibility that way!

Yeah, I think they're part of Analogue Haven, maybe?

Buck Modular seems to be the manufacturer... but I can't find a website for them. The best I get is a hashtag.
http://www.instahu.com/tag/buckmodular

If you're looking for gate extraction from CV, you may want to research Erica Synth's quantizer. I know it can output gates based on changes of incoming CV voltage. I don't have the model name.

You may also want to research Joranalogue's Compare 2. Perhaps its not exactly how you envisioned pulling gates, but could also be useful.

Even though it's pricey I feel the eloquencer is one of the best modular sequencers out there! Ronin have a look:

This module is a complete powerhouse with an infinity of of possibilities in terms of sequencing.

I've been eyeing out FMRs products, I also checked out the RNLA but I feel the RNC gives a more transparent result. Thanks for the recommendations guys!
-- burayemusic

As far as sequencers, I had a toss-up between the Eloquencer and 1010 Music's Toolbox. I went with the Toolbox. There's nothing wrong with the Eloquencer. It's great. However the Toolbox is smaller (fewer HP), it's more flexible with its outputs, and the controls are a lot easier to deal with... especially coming from a DAW environment to a Eurorack environment.

I would also check out the forums for OS revisions. 1010 is always updating the firmware to give more value. From what I understand the Eloquencer is rarely updated. Oh, and something you might like is the ability of the Toolbox to record CV voltages, store them, and play them back. So if you have a nice complex loop of CV, just record it and take back your CV generators for something else.

if anybody knows his adress please let me know, he scamed me for 230€ for a bassilimus
he removed his account already.. if anyone has any info on riccardo please let me know
you can send me an e-mail on filip.liekens@telenet.be