User Posts

Hi all,

I have had quite a few issues with combining triggers from multiple clock sources. I had a lot of unwanted behavior for example by using a trigger Pamela's New Workout as a clock source and a trigger from Abstract Data's Octocontroller as a reset signal. The reset almost never "resets" a sequence since the reset trigger is always a few milliseconds before or after the clock trigger.
The cause seems to me is that some clock modules have a little more processing time than others. Makes sense.

Most of the time I try to avoid this problem by using clock and reset input from exactly the same source. However I tried to use a logic module combined with the third channel of Mutable Instruments' Grids (hat channel) and Pamela's New Workout (which directly clocks MI Grids).
Pams sends an offbeat trigger of a 1x pulse, 1% width and 50% phase, classic open hi-hat pattern. I want the hat pattern coming from grids as the closed hi-hat, but also the closed hat needs to choke (i.e. not be triggered) when the open hat is triggered.

So there are a lot of ways to do this, but my first thought would be: both hi-hat offset trigger and Grids' hat channel into logic module, set mode to exclusive or (XOR). This should only put out a trigger when only the open hi-hat is playing and Grids is not, or when only Grids if playing and the open hi-hat not. But since the triggers are not from the same source, there is still a trigger when both inputs are high but with a weird ratcheting effect.
I tried to change the width and phase of the output of Pams, but this even makes it weirder. The same when I use a trigger delay or function generator between Grids' output and the logic module to delay the trigger.

Its very difficult as well to see how far the two triggers are apart, since it's just milliseconds of difference.
How do you guys handle this issues?

Hi all,
I've recently purchased a second-hand Moon Phase stereo filter. It seems to not working properly, but I'd like to see if I can fix this issue myself first :).

The module was a DIY kit, which, according to the docs, doesn't have a whole lot which you need to solder. LEDs, jacks, potmeters and one big button in the middle. Fairly straight-forward, all SMD parts are pre-soldered. So logicially I'd think if it doesn't work properly, it's somewhere in there parts.

The issue is as follows:
The left audio channel works as expected. Filter opens and closes and has the desired effect on the incoming audio. However, the right audio channel doesn't have any resonance on it. The difference is quite audible when I put the filter mode select to both lowpass filters.

Also, probably related, when I have all the knobs at 12 o'clock and start turning up the stereo frequency control, the right audio channel pops at around 4 o'clock (so when it's around 80% open) and the audio seems to glitch out and gets heavily reduced in volume. This audio change doesn't sounds intentional (not like the low frequencies that are reduced on certain filter with a high resonance). It pops really hard (like a click sound) and then the sound get very noisy and high-pitched, it doesn't sound intentional at all.

I've messaged Patching Panda right away through their contact page but haven't got a reply yet, tried Instagram DM but no reply on that either (yet).
I've DIY'd modules in the past and have some electronic background. To me, it sounds like some signal path is short-circuit, as the right channel doesn't pass through the resonance, but I'm not sure.

Does anyone have an idea what can cause this and/or how to fix this?

I'm also considering adding a drum sequencer, in- or outside the rack.
May I ask why you want to move the sequencer inside your rack? Is it purely the form factor?

On paper, the Beatstep Pro has somewhat the same functionality as the Erica Synths Drum sequencer (I believe difference being that Drum Sequencer has a few more tracks and accents while Beatstep Pro has two cv/velo/gate sequencer which you could also use for accents of course), while costing 1/4th of the price of the Erica Synths one. Also the workflow seems quite similar.
Just curious.

Besides a drum sequencer where you'd program your own sequences, I find the Mutable Instruments Grids (or any of its clones) usefull to have as interesting accents or some extra background voices. Also it's really easy to dial in snare fills and funky hihat patterns. Grids is also not too expensive so maybe it's nice to have besides a dedicated drum sequencer.

Hi Jim,
Thanks for your reply! I will take a look into a matrix or another interesting mixer. And indeed add some more atten/offsets and VCAs.

I've initially held back on FX in the rack as I didn't find them very interesting, but I will look into more interesting fx modules. Do you have recommendations on effect modules and interesting other modules to pair them with?

As for the filter, I can't deny that fany sounding cool stereo effect type filters like the Makenoise QPAS are on my whish list, but are also getting expensive fast. For one (or more) filters as well, any recommendations and which modules would you pair them with?

Some notes to help you critisize the module flow choice more specific:
- My sequencer is the Arturia Keystep Pro, which has four tracks of CV/Gate/Velo, one of which can be a 8 part drum track as well. I'm leaning towards getting an Arturia Beatstep Pro as well, as I like the workflow and it is way cheaper than having a "basic" (linear 16 step type) drum sequencer in my rack.
- Outside the rack I have a Modal Argon8 Wavetable Synthesizer, Arturia Microfreak and Alesis NanoPiano as other sound sources. As my rack grows I'm considering selling at least one, I'm not sure which one yet.
- Mixer is a 1010Music Bluebox (non-eurorack version), so mixing is mainly done outside the rack. The mixers in my rack are used to create some sub-mixes for drums or bass sounds to have some free channels on the Bluebox for my other synths.
- The Addac 213's are meant to prevent very long cables running from one rack to the other.
- I make music in the styles of melodic to hard techno, house, deep house, breakbeat and sometimes drum 'n bass.

Hi all,
I've been into semi-modular synths since 2017 and went modular in 2020. The past few years I have started to grow my module collection and I've just finished my seconds 3D-printed rack. As the distance between the modules gets bigger and I've just got a fresh box of knurlies, I think this is the perfect time to rearrange my rack and have a big reflection on the choice of modules that I've collected!

This is how I have the modules in my rack currently. There's not really an order of thought process behind it, except the lower row of the smaller rack where I had the idea to create a paraphonic chord-ish stereo synths in one row. However this workflow is still not really working, as started using the Ensemble Oscillator for FM-bass sounds and patching the other modules to the other side of my other rack as well.

Please help me evaluate my module choice and placement!

If you can get your hands on an inexpensive clouds clone, there's an alternative firmware for it that add several modes besides granular: reverb with pitch-shift, resonator, looping delay and looping delay with pitch-shift. It's from Matthias Puech who also worked on serveral 4MS modules. You can check more on this website https://mqtthiqs.github.io/parasites/clouds.html.

It's not as versatile, but especially if you have one that has dedicated knobs for the blend-modes, it may be a cheaper option than the modules mentioned above. Here I can find the After Later Audio Typhoon for 250 euros for example. This way you can easily check if granular/looping delays are something that fits your style.

Alternatively, if you want to go have a big dedicated module without this alternative firmware stuff, the modules mentioned above seems very interesting and there are some great video's on YouTube on them.

Some thoughts:
- Very nice that you've chosen VCA with independent CV and manual level control. This way, you can use the VCA as an attenuator as well.
- You have quite a few modules that are reasonibly big for what they do, aka they have very specific functionality. For example, Erica Synths Ring Mod, Dreadbox Dystopia, Behringer 305 EQ/Mixer/Output. Behringer Brains and Behringer Perfect Pitch 1 are also a bit wide. This is not a problem per se, just an observation.
- 4Ms Shuffling clock multiplier is nice but for a beginner rack I'd recommend this beside an ALM Pamela's New/Pro workout. This module is a bit more versatile since it can also do euclidean rhythms, LFOs and Quantazation. So the SCM is a nice addition for more experimental or polyrhythms.
- You mention that you use the Keystep 37. This has a sync in/output so you can link it to a clock module. I see there is no reset in/out on the Keystep (meaning that when you stop and start a sequence on the Keystep, it won't restart your divided clock for example). When you start with this rack, I think you can manage to go without a reset, but later on you can use a midi to clock or clock to midi module for this (like the expanders for the Pamela's New/Pro Workout modules)
- Note that the Behringer Perfect Pitch PP1 converts Midi NOTE data and not the clock! You don't really need this part I believe as the Keystep 37 has CV/Gate/Mod output as well. You can still get this module for the instrument interface, but just so you know.
- You got four oscillators and three filters (plus your guitar/bass), this is quite a lot for the size of rack that you have. Especially as you have only one sequencer (your Keystep). I'd advice to drop one or two of these oscillators and add more utilities or a more versatile effects unit. Such as a micro Ornament & Crime or a Disting EX.
- If you want more sequences at the same time, consider upgrading your Keystep 37 to the Keystep Pro. This will give you four melodic sequences or three melodic sequences + a drum sequencer, all via CV or Midi. Also has more versatile sequence management.

Basically it's a 2x8 step sequencer, however if you look closely there are four outputs at the top part labeled trig 1, trig 2, trig 3 and gate (which is also a trig output but it's longer, however the functionality is somewhat the same as the other trigs).

Trig 1 & 2 and trig 3 & gate are grouped. You can create a basic 2x8 pattern by flipping the two rows of switches to the upper position (which sets a trigger/gate) or leaving it in the middle (creating a "rest"). Use the outputs of trig 1 for the first row and trig 3 for the second row. You can expand this by using the "rests" from trig 1 or trig 3 as another trigger for trig 2 or gate. This way you have two independent step sequencers (trig 1 & 3), but also two sequences which can have steps whenever the two main sequences have rests (trig 2 & gate).

For an example, let's only use the upper row of triggers. Patch trig 1 to make a sound (let's say a closed hi-hat) and trig 2 to make another sounds (let's say an open hi-hat). If a switch in the upper row is set to the "up" position, the module will send a trigger to the trig 1 output. If a switch in the upper row is set to the "down" position, no trigger will be send to an output. If a switch in the upper row is set to the "down" position, the module will send a trigger to the trig 2 output.
The relation of trig 3 and gate is equal to the relation that trig 1 and trig 2 have.

Also, since you mention that this is your first modular system; the A-155 doesn't seem to have a built-in clock, meaning you need external gates or triggers to advance the steps or reset the module to the first step. Also, the A-155 output seems to have an analog only output, meaning that the CV outputs (this is handled by the lower half of the module, CV output is usually note data) are not in any musical scale. To force the CV outputs to be in a musical scale, you need a quantizer or an oscillator module that has a quantizer built in.

Recently I've added a wavefolder to my rack to break out of traditional subtractive synthesis. I've been looking around for other types of synthesis and I stumbled upon through-zero (or thru-zero) frequency modulation. As far as I understand, through-zero FM doesn't have the pitch-shifting effect that you get when you increase the FM amount on linear or exponential FM oscillators. As far as I've also understand is that "traditional" FM sounds are typically made using sine oscillators.

This brings me to the Happy Nerding FM aid. It's advertised as "designed to perform through-zero linear Frequency Modulation (FM)". This module does not only have a sine output, but also triangle, sawtooth and square outputs. The way I interpret this module, is that with two sawtooth oscillators as inputs (according to the manual, this is what FM aid expects), I can create "traditional" FM style sounds with the FM aid when I use the sine output.

However, a lot of videos I've seen are going into the other waveform outputs of the FM aid, creating harmonically rich synched-like overtones and PWM type sounds. Happy Nerding themselves even have a video called "FM aid folds" and I've heard more videos in which someone mentioned "folded" waveshapes.

This makes me doubt if this module is designed to make tradidtional FM style sounds. Can anyone clarify this?

Also, a bit off-topic: I was assuming that an FM oscillator and a wavefolder added to an oscillator have different, distinctive sounds. Is this the case or do FM and wavefolded sound quite the same?

Thanks in advance!

A bit late to the conversation, but a fairly inexpensive module to add more low-end would be the tiptop audio fold (https://www.modulargrid.net/e/tiptop-audio-fold-processor). You do need an oscillator to feed it, which might be a downside for you. However you could use any oscillator I believe, especially sine wave are working just fine (I'm mostly using one from Qu-Bit's Tone filter in self-oscillating mode).
Besides a wavefolder, which sounds pretty awesome in low-end in my opinion, you get square wave outputs from the source frequency plus 1, 2 and 3 octave shifts down. You can mix these together however you like.
Also, modulating the "fold" and "inject" with CV has a big impact on subdivided output as well. It makes for a sort of pulse-width modulation effect. Divkid has of course an excellent video on it, highlighting the sub out and its modulation as well:

Discolure: I have the Ornament & Crime with Hemisphere firmware, a Clouds clone similar to Monsoon, nanoRings. No experience with Odessa, Quadrax and Marbles, but know the concept of Marbles and Quadrax. Had semi-modulars for 4 years and fully into eurorack for another 3 years.
I'm not really sure if you'd consider yourself a beginner or not, as you seem to have a lot of electronic music experience but not as much eurorack experience. This is why I find a bit difficult to tell you if these modules are good choice for you.

The modules that you have chosen are understandable, as they are quite popular and versatile. Lots of eurorack videos online seem to include at least one of these modules. I've been drawn into eurorack by demos of Clouds too.

However, as farkas mentiones with Quadrax, you've chosen some top-of-the line modules, this makes them very appealing and versatile but also somewhat complex to understand. Ornament & Crime has a lot of "modules" in it, Monsoon has multiple modes in it with button combinations to remeber, and Rings is notorious for being hard to tune.
I can image that there's a possibility that you put this rack together, the modules are difficult to tame or button combo's are hard to remember, you have to read hundreds of pages from manuals and forum posts, and you eventually drown in all the possibilities.
If you consider yourself a "beginner" in the eurorack realm, the learning curve might be less steep by swapping one or two modules for more "basic" modules. If you find those too basic or easy to understand, you can always get the more fancy ones.
I'd agree with farkas that Plaits might be a good choice, for example instead of Rings. You can use a second-hand Quadra instead of Quadrax, or something like Nano Modules Quart. Maybe even a second Ornament & Crime, that one helped me a lot with a bunch of different eurorack concept because the screen gives quite a good visual feedback, and includes things like a scope, tuner, envelopes, logic, slew etc. Only down-side is that it's not very suitable for audio but mainly for CV. I have no experience with Odessa but it looks a bit intimidating. You could swap it for maybe one or two Befaco Pony VCO's, those have through-zero FM and wavefolding, cross-patching the two might give similar complexity to Odessa but not sure.

EDITED Jul 13th 2023, 12:50

As @T0MMI001 and @JimHowell1970 have pointed out, when shortening the sequence length not a 4/4 time signature, you are creating polymeters and not polyrhythms. I will edit the post above to avoid confusion.

Robaux also has the SWT16+ in addition to the LL8. If you want something comparable to the Tiptop Circadian Rhythms, this might be a better choice. The price of the SWT16+ is between an LL8 and the Circadian Rhythms, but is also available as a DIY kit if you're into that. If you want something where you don't create rhythms per step but more generating it by knobs, you can look into something like the vmpe.de Euclidean Circles V2 (has six channels) or something like Mutable Instruments Grids, which has three channels + three accent channels of 25 mappable pre-programmed drum sequences)

Good to keep in mind while browsing for trigger / drum sequencers is what type of workflow you want. The SWT16+ and also other sequencers like the Erica Synths Drum Sequencer have a different project setup than the Circadian Rhythms (disclaimer: I don't have either of these but am looking for a drum sequencer as well so I've read up on their workflow).

In the Circadian Rhythms you have 8 outputs, called channels here. All 8 channels are bundled together in a preset and you can have multiple presets, which are then sorted into groups.
What's interesting about the CR is that all channels in a preset have a fixed length of 8 steps and you "extend" those 8 steps by looping a selection of presets. So let's say you want a 16-step rhythm, you can achieve this by looping two presets (can be any of the eight presets in a group). The looping multiple presets means that you can experiment more with combining different rhythms that you've made, as opposed to the more linear classic TR style approach. Also the interface of the CR is different, depending of the amount of presets you loop you can edit the triggers of multiple channels at the same time.

The Robaux LL8, SWT16+ and others like the Erica Synths Drum Sequencer have a more "traditional" TR-style approach. Channels are bundled into presets (similar to Circadian Rhythms' presets) and then divided in projects. However in these type of sequencers you can most of the time edit the default sequence length per channel, which is probably 16 steps. Depending on the module you can select less than 16 steps (which can create polymeters) but sometimes also extend the sequence length to 32 or even 64 steps.

Euclidean Circles is more based the number of filled steps divided by the number of steps, however it also has a step edit mode per channel (with a max length of 16 steps). Mutable Instruments Grids is its entire own thing, you can find lots of explanations online on how it works but it might be worth to take a look.

On the ModularGrid modules page you can filter on drum sequencer with a maximum width. Set function selection to "drum" and second function to "sequencer", punch in the max with in HP and have a look. Of course you will find some other modules as well (like drum voices or melodic sequencers) but it should give you an idea of what's out there.

Oh and one more thing; if you look outside of eurorack, there are plenty of sequencers that are eurorack compatible, have loads of features and are on average far cheaper than their eurorack-sized competition. For example the Arturia Beatstep Pro and the Korg SQ-64 just to name a few. Compared to something like the Tiptop Circadian Rhythms, the Beatstep Pro is half the price and fully eurorack compatible.

EDITED Dec 22nd 2022, 11:15

Is 1 filter enough?
-- theundeadwarrior

A stereo filter or two separate filters would be better as you have two possible sound sources without filters (Plaits and Disting Mk4), but 84 hp is small so I'd suggest to keep it like this to begin with.

Still trying to figure out where to get a kick from (I have a disting Mk4 in my other rack that I might use for samples here)?
-- theundeadwarrior

Maybe take a look at Erica Synths Pico Drums, it's small but you can load your own samples on it with a separate programmer chip. I wouldn't recommend to go for a module that does only one sound, like the befaco kickall or one of the tiptop drum modules, because of the relative small size of this system.

Is Pam + mini grid too much for sequencing such a small rack? My idea was to combine gate triggers from both with an OR module to create interesting drum patterns.
-- theundeadwarrior

I think grids work best as a full-size module, the small knobs on the one you have will make it less fun to play with (at least in my opinion).
Grids is a great module but I think in such a small rack you'd have more fun with a more versatile module such as the micro Ornament & Crime. You can easily load the alternative firmware on it, giving you two separate "apps" on each side on the module. This could replace your logic module as well and there are alternative versions that have two of the three grids channels (https://github.com/benirose/O_C-BenisphereSuite).

Overall opinion on this rack: 84HP is quite small to have both you drum, multiple sound sources and keep it playable as well. You mention you already have a few modules, which have quite some HP altogether. These modules can almost be a rack on their own (although mini grids is a bit of an odd one in this but you can use it with melodic stuff as well, to trigger the Percall for example).
If you want to add drums you are going to compensate those modules in size, functionality and playability. Like I mentioned earlier, you can add something like a Pico Drums to the rack, but keep in mind that this won't have as much experimentation opportunities as the other modules you have.

If you are willing to keep some modules that you already have gathered out of this rack (for now), you could add some more drum-related modules into it, but of course the tradeoff would be less modulation for the melody part.
Another option would be to have a small drum synth/groovebox outside of you rack and use a CV/Gate to MIDI module to sequence it.

I removed the effect I had and added the one you suggested. Do I need an FX Aid Pro as well?
-- Jamest2305

Depends on how many effects you want to add in your DAW later on. You can always leave it out first and see if you feel like you want to do some crazy stuff with effects in your rack later on.

Both the Erica Synths Bassline and the x0x heart are quite similar (...) having them both seems a bit overkill.

They're both kits I have wanted to build for ages and had always been at the heart of what i planned to do so want to keep these
-- Jamest2305

If you want them both that sounds reasonable, since both of them eat up some HP I'd remove the Atlantis in a rack that is this size.

I added a Doepfer Quad VCA. Will 4 be enough or should I add another?
-- Jamest2305

Combined with the added Lapsus Os Quad Attenuator it will be enough at first. You can always add one later on as they're not that big and you can get them fairly cheap.

• Something that creates envelopes, LFOs, random, i.e. modulation.

Isn't this what Maths does?
-- Jamest2305

Yes, Maths can be a modulation source amongst other things, that's why so many people recommend is for a starter system. Maths has four channels, two of which have a trigger and rise/fall control, basically giving you two LFOs or envelope generators aka modulation sources. Two modulation sources (not counting the modulator and envelope on the Atlantis) is not much. You can dedicate all the Maths Channels to modulating the Noise Engineering Manis Iteritas alone, let alone all the other modules.
The Ornament & Crime module theoretically has four modulation outputs but I assume you don't want the o_C only for modulation source as it can do many things. I'd add something like Pamela's New Workout or Intellijel Quadrax (or maybe even both)

Also, please take a second look at the case you are going to use. Since you've added a 104HP Palette Case Top Row, I assume you are going to buy an Intellijel Palette.
However, the Palette module you've added to the top row is only on the 4U Palette cases, which contradicts with your case settings that indicate a height of 7U. On the 7U version this top row is not present (although some I/O is on the back of the 7u Palette case), which would mean that you could remove that Top Row module, giving your case another 1U row.

You could also provide a link to the case you want to buy so me or someone else can create a valid ModularGrid template for you :)

EDITED Nov 2nd 2022, 10:52

The description of what you want sounds defined enough and the modules are well thought out. You also have enough VCAs and modulation sources in my opinion. You say you want to be able to make generative music - is this also your main goal with this rack, or do you want to create other types of music as well?

A few things that I've noticed, maybe you thought about these points already:
- You say you want to be "able to connect with external gear as needed", what kind of external gear? The options I see are optical and USB on the ES-8, 6.3mm jack in on the A-119 external input and XLR on the Transmit 2. Maybe it'd be wise to add a stereo 6.3mm jack in/output module, like an fx send/return or something. But again, depends on the type of gear you want to connect with.
- There are not a lot of trigger / gate sources from which you can synch / reset / sequence all your envelope generators and LFOs from. As far as I can see you only have eight outputs from Pamela's New Workout and six from Euclidean Circles (or four if you link the first two channels). This might be okay for you but I'd say that the clock sources on pamela's are used up quickly, you already need at least three to six to sync and reset the Metropolix, René and Euclidean Circles. In generative / ambient music this is less required but if you want to keep everything in sync maybe a second Pamela's New Workout + Pexp-2 would be good to have for some extra time-synched stuff.
- The go-to module for generative music is Music Thing Modular Turing Machine. You could also have this functionality in Ornament & Crime but it might be worth a look.
- You have seven voices and two main sequencers with (AFAIK) two output channels each. This gives you room to create melodies from LFOs, envelopes or shift registers such as the Turing Machine, but these melodies need a quantizer (at least if you want to use traditional scales). You only have one two-channel quantizer, which, if you focus on generative or non-tradional sequencing, might be not enough for what you want (although Ornament & Crime can be a quantizer as well).

Full disclosure: I'm fairly new at eurorack with only two years in.

This is my first go at this and i'm not sure if I have enough utilities or have got the output mixing right.
-- Jamest2305

To have both an Hexmix and a ES-9 is confusing - the ES-9 is meant to send each sound source separate into your DAW, while the Hexmix is meant to combine all the signals and output the mix. If you want to get your modular sounds into something like Ableton, it'd choose the ES-9 over the Hexmix because having all the sounds separate makes it easier to tweak and mix.

EDITED Nov 1st 2022, 14:19

If you want to make hard techno, by this I assume a bit in the styles of Charlotte de Witte or I Hate Models, you will needs loads of effects. I'd advice to keep your standard reverbs, delays and compressors in Ableton, otherwise it'll take up a lot of space and money. However eurorack effects can be more interesting as their parameters are often easier to modulate. The FX aid pro seems to be a reasonable choice as it offers a load of different effects. Maybe you can also look into the Endorphin.es ghost, it's a multi-fx module but it seems to be really suitable for hard techno as it has filter, delay, reverb, compressor and distortion. This can be used pretty good for those rumble kicks I think.

Both the Erica Synths Bassline and the x0x heart are quite similar - both have a saw/square VCO (bassline has also triangle tho), a filter that can do acid-type resonance, a gated VCA, accent input and VCF envelope depth. Unless you have a specific feature that you want on either of these machines, having them both seems a bit overkill.

The atlantis seems to be a great one-in-all module (it has oscillators, filter, envelopes, VCA, basically an entire synth voice), but combined with the one-in-all Erica Synths Bassline and x0x heart modules I think this will discourage you to experiment a opposed to having separate modules for each functionality. What I mean by this is that these all-in-one modules have a pre-wired signal path - VCO goes into VCA controlled by envelope 1, goes into VCF controlled by envelope 2. If these kind of modules have your preference, you can just as easily get a 303-like synth + another mono synth - this does basically the same and saves you a lot of learning curve and money.

If you are interested in the possibilities of eurorack though, I'd remove either the Erica Synths Bassline or x0x heart and add the following modules:
- A separate VCA where you can control both the input signal AND the CV input signal (the Befaco Hexmix seems to do only of the combined output of the signal and CV in). Something like the Doepfer A-130-2 or the Happy Nerding 3x VCA. These give more flexibility to use the VCAs as simple attentuators as well. Maybe even more than 3 VCAs
- As a sound source it'd be nice to use more dissonant or richter harmonic sounds as well. An analog VCO (which usually has saw, square, triangle and sine) is nice as base or a sub sound but it'd look into modules that can do a wider variety of sounds. These are more difficult to learn but give you more flexibility. A Mutable Intruments Plaits is often mentioned for this. Since the module is discontinued, you can also use clones
- Something that creates envelopes, LFOs, random, i.e. modulation.

Muddiness usually occurs in a mix when there are multiple lower frequencies, these tend to clash more than higher frequencies.
Do you have drums and/or multiple voices in you system that you use as bass sounds?
There are a couple of things you can try here:
- Narrow down the deep bass voices to one at a time, or mix them in one by one to see when it starts to sound muddy
- If you use multiple voices/drums in the lower frequencies, use highpass filters to filter out the lowest colliding frequencies
- Create a sidechain with you kick and bass: mult the trigger signal that triggers the kick to a AD/AR envelope, invert this envelope and set the offset to +5V, so that when the envelope is triggered the signal is moved from +5V to 0V and back. Patch the bass voice into a VCA with the CV controlled by the inverted/offset envelope, and patch this to the mix output. Now the bass gets "silenced" when the kick hits, creating a more clean mix
- Use two separate mixer modules (doesn't have to be a mixer as a lot of modules can mix signals among doing other things, MN Maths for example) and mix on your PC, as you usually have more options in a DAW for equalizing and to see at what frequency the issue occurs. Something like Expert Sleepers ES8 can work as well, you can send your separate sounds to the ES8 and mix them in a DAW.

Like mentioned in the posts above, it can also be that there's an issue with the loudness of the output from your eurorack, as these are generally way louder than normal synth/instrument volume levels. Try to decrease the volume output of your eurorack to see it if sounds less muddy.

Good luck!

It's been fixed :D I had contact with RYK and they were very responsive and helpful. They instructed me to do some continuity checks the trace they've send me lead to IC9 (on the bottom left IC on the main PCB). This IC is responsible for the midi input I guess and it had a leg that was not soldered properly. Added some extra tin and the module works like a charm. Updating it through sysex was a piece of cake as well.

The module now works as intended for me, as the newer firmware has the option to use the midi input as a clock reset. This method is solid and patching the reset from something like a euclidean rythm is really fun.

Props again to RYK, their support is very responsive and even though a third party build it they were willing to help me sort out the problem.

Update: I have the older manual now, but the midi input port is still not responding to both midi messages and sysex file transfers. I can exclude some causes with my cable management, since the midi out is working fine (sending note and gate data, tested on laptop's midi in monitor and the midi in on one of my synths - this works like a charm!) Things I have tried to find out what the problem actually is:

• The midi to cv mode (powering on while holding the left arrow key). This is not working, but it might be helpfull to say that when the module is powered on in this mode, the CV1 output moves to approx. +5.24 volt, except when voltage mode is set to 5V unquantized, then the CV1 output moves to approx. +1.92 volt. CV2 moves to +5.24 volgt and gate2 to +4.45 volt.
• Booting into the firware update mode (powering on while holding reset key). The two left ligths are red but nothing happens when I send a sysex file (both the A & B files)
• Different midi to TRS adapters (the one provided and adapters from 1010music, arturia and Empress effects)
• Flipping the mini switches on the back of the module - I've tried all four combinations
• Two different midi-usb interfaces

Hi all,
I've received a secondhand RYK M185 module today - the thing is pretty dope. Awesome for making acid baselines!
However when I tried to hook it up to my other gear to use it's clock as a slave, it noticed that the settings menu (where you set the midi in jack to be used as a reset) is different from the manual.
Instinctively I tried to update the firmware, but that doesn't seem to work either. When I hook up a midi monitor from my laptop via a midi - usb interface, the midi out of the M185 seems to work perfect but the midi is gives no reponse, both the sysex firmware update and sending notes in (what I think is) the midi to CV mode.
Does some have an older version of the M185 manual or can maybe knows why the firmware update is not working?
Thanks in advance!

I think there are two sides to your question. The first is how to get the acid sound (aka the sounds design) how to create evolving melodies (specific patches/modules). I'm by no means an expert, I've also stared my full modular journey in 2020.

Of course the synth that introduced acid is the Roland TB-303. I don't have one myself so I cannot give you all the details about this. If you want an exact replication of this sound then there are some modules that are basically 303 eurorack clones like the Open Music Labs x0x heart (https://www.modulargrid.net/e/grayscale-x0x-heart-eurorack-module). If you want to build it out of a oscillator/VCA/filter/envelope combination, know that the main characteristic of the sound is the filter and its resonance, for the other parts like osc and envelope you can use whatever modules you prefer. There are plenty of filters that "scream" in the same way a 303 filter does.
The original 303 has a slide option as well. You can achieve this by adding slew to your pitch CV. You have dedicated modules for this in a small package, like the WMD Time Warp that nickgreenberg mentioned, but you could actieve the same thing with a gate/drum sequencer or something else that produces gates, an attenuator and a slew limiter. I believe you have everything in your rack to achieve this as well, but like mentioned it takes up a few modules vs. WMD's one-in-all solution.
Let me know if you want more detailed info on these above topics.

For evolving acid patterns/melodies, there are a million ways to achieve this. What I think you want is a pre-programmed or random set pattern to slowly change rhythm, notes or velocity over time. Everything that generates CV can be patched into a quantizer to generate pitch information in a specific musical scale. I've seen people use LFO's, multiple mixed LFO's, noise, envelopes, you name it.
What you might want to look into is called "Shift Register" or "Turing Machine". It has a list of random, generated or input voltages. This list is looped and moves (or shifts, hence the name shift register) with every clock input received, over and over. With knobs or CV input you can determine what the probability is the current voltage will stay the same. If its set to 100%, every voltage will stay the same, thus looping it. If it's set to 0%, the voltages are all random again. Divkid has a good video about the Music Thing Modular Turing Machine, which I think the most popular module in this category:

You can achieve similar results with the gear you already have I think. Some examples:
- I believe the Eloquencer has a few ways to throw randomization into pre-made patterns, you could look into that.
- Disting Mk4 has a Shift Register built-in as well as described above, F-6 Shift Register Random Quantized CVs (check the manual).
- Disting MK4 has a quantizer as well, which can be used to turn other CV sources into pitch information. As input you could use anything you want, such as:
- Create a complex envelope on XAOC Zadar, trigger (or loop it that's possible, don't know this module) it from somewhere. This is your looped melody. Patch other LFO's like the XAOC Batumi or Instro Ochd into a bunch of attenuators and use the attentuators' output to control multiple parameters on the Zadar. The more you turn the attenuators, the more you change the envelope aka your melody.
- You could go the other way around as well, so not Batumi modulating Zadar, but Zadar modulating Batumi. Use a mixer to mix all Batumi's LFO's (or patch the output of one LFO into anothers input).
- You could expand on this idea by not using attentuators to evolve the melody, but replace the attenuator with a VCA and use a gate as CV input to evolve the melody on specific steps with a gate/step sequencer.
- Pamela's New Workout has a random stepped voltage output type. In the same menu, you have an option to loop the output for a number of steps. This value can be CV controlled. Use something that creates an offset voltage (like the Befaco A+B*C with nothing patched in) to set the desired amount of looping steps. If you then briefly set the CV input back to 0V, the output starts randomnizing again, until it receives the offset voltage again. Sending it 0V and the offset voltage every few bars evolves the melody, the amount of evolvement can be controlled.

Good luck!

as for sending the reset signal to multiple modules, a passive mult (or stackcables, or headphone splitters) should work perfectly, it's a bit of a waste using the buffered mult from links - better for pitch (and potentially if you are re-patching triggers on the fly)

thanks for this info...separately I have an Intelijel buffered mult (no passive mults in my setup) so i will just use that for any gate to Varigate 4+ and Bloom...but also need to get one sent to my separate 3-tier Moog setup...does the signal for a gate diminish in strength if you 'mult' it out too much?

I don't think so, most trigger/gate outputs are between 5V and 8V. It depends per module what the input threshold voltage is for a gate, from a quick Google search I found that some modules respond to a gate input of 1.4V.
Buffered mults are more stable in voltage, this is mostly used for sending pitch information. For triggers/gates, mult however you want them.

About your question on how to use resets on other modules, the easiest way is to send a clock signal every x divisions of the clock.
For example, let the clock run and on every 4 or 8 clock ticks you send a reset signal as well. Both clock and reset can are the same sort of signals, a trigger (short pulse) or gate (longer pulse) will do.

Depending on the module, the reset input can cause different behavior. This is in my experience often not documented and up to you to figure out.

Some modules like Mutable Instruments Grids (which is a drum sequencer) have the reset input tell the module that the NEXT clock pulse is going to be back on the first step. A typical use-case will be that you send a reset signal when you stop your Beatstep Pro. When it starts again, the module starts on the first step as well. You can also send a reset signal while the clock is running, it will always play nice with the clock as it will tell the module to wait for the next clock and then go back to the first step. I hope this explanation makes sense.

Another way that modules, for example the TipTop Z8000 (a CV sequencer), interpret a reset signal is that the reset input tells the module to set back to the first step AS SOON as the reset gets a signal. This means that if you use the above use-case (send a reset signal when you stop your Beatstep and then start the Beatstep again), the "stop" reset signal will move the module to the first step, and the first hit of the started clock will advance the module to the second step. This basically skips the first step.
Let's say you have a 8-step CV sequencer module (like the sequencer on the DFAM) that uses this type of implementation for the reset in. You don't want a sequence of 8 steps, but instead 4. So you send it a clock and as a reset every 4 clock ticks. What could happen is that it resets to step 1, but because the clock is hitting as the same time as the reset, it will immediately move to step two on the same clock tick.
Your 4-step sequence will not run from step 1 till step 4, but from step 2 to step 5. Highly frustrating.

To test what reset implementation your module has, send a very slow clock and reset to it and see if it skips steps. If it does, Pams has a solution built in to fix this. Head over to the channel that sends the clock to the module, and go the logic option. Select the ^ symbol (stands for Exclusive OR) of the Pams channel that sends out the reset. This will create a clock output that gets muted when the clock channel puts out a signal, effectively skipping the step that hits on the reset.

Pams has a clock and run/reset input. I understand that you slave it to the Beatstep Pro but not sync them in any way (so you're not telling pams to restart when the BSP does). To do this, I'd suggest to set BSP's clock out to a rate of 24 pulses per quarter note (or PPQN) in the MIDI Control Centre. Faster clock rates between time-synched devices leads to a more stable clock down the line.

A quick look at the BSP manual says that since an update you can use a TRS to dual TS cable to get both a clock signal and a run signal out of the clock output (section 7.2). I haven't tested this, so do that at your own risk, but if I understand correctly, it'd sync out of the box with Pams (make sure to set run input to be assigned to run on Pams). Cable to use is not a standard stereo splitter but stereo to dual mono, like the Hosa YMM261.

(the manual only talks about a clock and run signal when BSP is used as slave, but on the Muffwiggler topic people say it also works when using BSP as main and Pams as slave https://modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=193133)

Good rack to start with I think. Are you planning to create specific types of music with this or mostly experiment? Does it fill a specific need soundwise that you are missing right now? (this is not to judge, do what you want, but purely to see what you want to achieve with this rack).

I have a feeling that some of these modules are selected because people refer to them as good starting points. This is definitely true, plaits is very versatile as well as maths. But considering your current rack size (again, depending if your're planning to expand it in the future) the modules are quite big. This enhances the comfort (especially when playing live) but can be a limiting factor in 84HP. These are just my thoughts, it's up to you to decide if you prefer comfort/playability/hands-on controls or you want more versatility.

• Plaits seems to be a great choice because it offers a lot of different sounds. Mutable Instruments have made their modules open-source, meaning there a quite a few modules out there that behave like Plaits but have different (and often smaller) layout. There's quite some discussion on these forums if it's morally okay to buy clone modules vs. the original Mutable Instrument ones, I don't say one is better than the other BUT given that they are less HP, it might be worth to consider. Obviously less HP means smaller/cramped knobs, especially a smaller "Frequency" knob makes it harder to tune the module.

• The Behringer filter has two independent filters and can be used as a stereo 3 channel mixer. This might be needed for what you want to accomplish, but given that you only have one main sound source I find 16HP for a mixer/dual filter quite a lot. Ask yourself if you need two separate filters AND two separate mixers? Maybe a stereo filter (which you can also use to filter two separate sound sources with the same filter) is smaller and better suited. Although the Behringer filter is nicely priced of course.

• Music Thing Modular's Turing Machine is an amazing module, but if you want to randomly generate melodies with this, you probably want a quantizer (which "forces" the TM's voltage output to a musical scale, such as C minor). However you could also go for a micro Ornament & Crime, which are made by several manufacturers. Most of them come loaded with an alternate firmware called "Hemispheres", which has all kinds to CV utility modules build into it, of which you can load two separate on each half of the module. For example, you can have to ADSR envelopes on one half and a quantizer on the other half, or a slew limiter on one half and two LFO's on the other. It also has asort of Turing Machine built in, but with less hands-on controls.

• I'm not familiar with the Noise Engineering Desmodus Versio, but it seems like a fully featured reverb module with a user-flashable DSP Platform. If you want to modulate your reverb to do all sorts of crazy stuff, this is definitely the module for you. If you want a reverb as something to make the overall sound more pleasant, this again is quite a big module for just that. Maybe you can look into the Disting MK4 or Disting EX, which have a lot of different functionalities including reverb, delay, but also filter, VCA, envelope etc. (sort of like the micro Ornament & Crime but with a less informative screen and more suited for audio processing). Also you can get a Mutable Instruments Clouds clone which has a custom firmware called "parasites", this also includes a reverb, delay, granular, and pitch shifter.

After typing this all out, it seems that I can summarize this into: you have a great start rack with lots of comfortable, hands-on control. There are quite a few modules that have more features in less HP, but this comes with the cost of smaller knobs and less hands-on control, aka less knobs that only do one thing or more menu-scrolling. Consider what is best suited for your needs. Also, if you want to use the Turing Machine to generate random melodies, consider a one-channel quantizer.

Cheers!

EDITED Sep 7th 2022, 12:14

The issue that you describe might have to with the M32' pitch/gate handling, as described by catwavez and Lugia above this post. However it can also be that you need to adjust rings a bit.

I understand that you've got this module cause it sounds amazing, BUT rings is known to be hard to tune in scale because both the frequency (input labeled as v/oct on the panel) and shape are both influencing the pitch. So let's say you've tuned your rings with the frequency knob and you are changing the shape, it could go out of tune again.
My suggestion would be to set up your rings as described in Lightbath's guide: https://lightbath.zone/tune-rings . This way, you have a clear 'starting point' from which you can work out what the issue is. Try to see if Rings sounds acceptable in this way by plugging and unplugging a cable in and out of the "strum" input, thus triggering the sound.

Check the Beatstep's CV/gate settings by hooking it up to your computer and opening the MIDI Control Center software (free download from the Arturia site). The BSP manual provides extra info for this in chapter 10.9.6. called "CV/Gate mode". For controlling Rings, the gate mode of the sequence you want to use (seq1 or seq2) needs to be set to V-trig I believe. Pitch mode needs to be set to v/oct and you can experiment with the seq's 0V midi note settings. Try to see what happens if you set this to C1, C2, C3 or C4.

If you want to keep controlling the Mother-32 with the BSP as well, I'd suggest to keep using the selected seq that it works with now, and change the settings of the other seq to match with Rings.

Good luck!

I have no experience with any of these modules, but I am familiar with clocking issues. Maybe these tips will help you find the problem.

Clock signals are essentially short triggers, so you could make a clock source yourself by creating an on/off signal of approx 5 volts. A square LFO can be used for this, or manually triggering something like a short envelope should work.
Patch a temporary manual "clock source" into Pam's to see if it responds to this the way you expect. If not, the problem is likely on Pam's side. Maybe you need to change some setting to make it listen to external input as opposed to the internal clock.

Ideally, patch the clock/reset output of Yarns into a scope or something that shows you the voltage from Yarns. If you don't have a module like this, create a basic patch to see if Yarns actually puts out a signal: clock/reset into a short envelope generator (sustain all the way up, short/medium release), envelope to a VCA's CV in, add any audible soundsource (noise or somthing) to the VCA input and route the VCA output to your mixer/output/speakers. Is the envelope being triggered, do you hear any sound? If not, the problem is probably in the MIDI output settings of the Tanzbär or the midi input settings of Yarns.
Try to connect the MIDI OUT of the Tanzbär to another MIDI device and see if that works.

Good luck!

I have a nano Rings, it's not the one from After Later Audio, although mine has the same dimensions and layout.

The obvious difference is the size of the module and the knobs. In my opinion, the knobs are still okay to twist in a live jam to make it sound more or less 'big', achieved by modulating brightness (BRT on the nRings panel) and damp (DMP on the nRings). I do need to mention that my nRings is quite on the right side in my case, which makes it easier to access these controls. It would be more cramped if you put for example a mult or mixer to the right of the nRings, or any other module with a lot of sockets on the outer left of the panel. So some planning in this is advised.

The original Rings (and most clones I guess) are difficult to tune while jamming, as mentioned by Jim. This is because both the frequency and shape knob influence the tuning. There are some blogs/videos online on how to make this process more easy, Lightbath seems to have a good one I believe. I guess tunig is more difficult with the smaller freq/shape knobs. I don't have the original rings to compare, but if you tune it beforehand with some explanation nearby it's not impossible. However if you intend to change the shape while making music with it, go for the original rings.

(off-topic; I once saw a post somewhere with a modified version of the Rings firmware, which sort-of fixes that turning the shape knob makes it go out of tune. Haven't been able to find it since. If someone has a link to it, please let me know!)