My Tiptop Audio Mantis

ModularGrid Rack

Hey guys, I'm just starting in Eurorack. I have all the modules except the Intellijel Dual ADSR and the Make Noise Tempi, Wogglebug, and Morphagene. What are your thoughts on this setup? My point of emphasis was versatility with a nice mix of East and West Coast principles. I tend to enjoy dissonant experimental sounds, along with heavy bass as well. Any suggestions as far as modules, setup, or anything else that comes to mind? Thanks for any feedback.

Edit: I've changed the rack up some. Now the modules I don't have are the two Ladik envelopes, and the Make Noise Wogglebug and Morphagene.

With what you have on hand at this point, the only two modules I feel iffy about would be the Dual ADSR and the Tempi. The latter is more useful if you have a number of different devices that require all sorts of shifting clock values, such as a few sequencers. Sure, you can also use the differently-timed outputs for triggering envelopes, etc, but the only other thing I see here that is really timing-centered is the Wogglebug, and it has its own internal clock source which it can also output. To save money and clear some space, you might consider a couple of small clock modulator modules, such as a clock divider (Doepfer's A-160-2 is a good choice) and something else to screw around with timing values. Actually, EMW has some interesting things for this, notably a couple of pulse counters that offer some interesting abuse potential.

As for the Dual ADSR, for what it is, it's not bad, but you can cram a couple of other ADSRs and then some into the 14 hp it currently occupies. Look at various envelope generators down in the 4 hp size range, and you'll find plenty, as well as the ability to put in a few EGs that have different behaviors. That's always useful; things like DADSRs, for example, give you the added extra of an inboard trig/gate delay, which means you can screw with time values a little more by offsetting the DADSR's envelope timing. Root around a bit more and let your imagination wander.

Also, if we're talking 'dissonant experimental sounds', you've got to shove some sort of ring modulation in there somewhere. The one I'm pretty jazzed about, and have been for some time, is Intellijel's uMod II. Not only can it do traditional-style ring modulation, because it's a variation known as a quadrant modulator it has some other uses. It can output either purely 'sums' or 'differences' instead of both at once, and it also has some capabilities for logical functions and other nifty arcana. At 6 hp, you could stuff one of these and a couple of 4 hp EGs into the hole now occupied by the Dual ADSR, and get even better/wilder results in that 14 hp space.

None of these are huge and/or spendy items, either...you might find that if you shop carefully, you've actually reduced the cost of your system a bit. That's always a win!

Hi, thanks for the info and suggestions. I have a Moogerfooger MF-102 Ring Mod that has CV inputs, and I have 1/4 to 1/8" converters, so I was thinking of using that as a good ring mod and also saving rack space. It also has an LFO with sine and square wave. In your opinion, do you think it would still be worth it to get the uMod II, with it being different enough to justify buying it (I just have no familiarity with it, and I can't really get to Youtube easily for a few days)? Ultimately, I'll look into this a bit more, but I was just curious about the uMod II now that you mention it. I'm not intending to put it on you to make the decision for me (sorry if it comes off that way).

Also, in your experience, is there a big variation in quality with EG generators? I've heard the Dual is pretty good, but yeah, if I can save rack space without a drop in quality, great. I'm adjusting my setup on here to experiment with different modules to try different setups.

I appreciate the opinion on the Tempi. I was aiming for it to introduce randomness and chance into the various parameters, but with my current setup, that may have been a bit more limited than I was thinking. Once again, thanks for the perspective!

MF-102 isn't a bad choice, but I would check and see if its audio I/O can handle the synth-level signal or if you're going to have to restage the gain to match what the MF-102's input and output want to see. If it insists on line levels at input and output, adding an effects loop I/O module is easy enough and won't take too much space. Better still, Ladik's A-525 offers dual I/O restaging in only 4 hp so if you want to run two different mono effects boxes, that would make that happen. As for the CV connections, there's no problem there. The Moogerfoogers all use standard synth-level CVs and such for those patchpoints.

There's not so much a difference in quality per se between envelope generators, except for the obvious build quality issues that turn up all the time between different manufacturers. The differences that exist mainly have to do with circuit behavior...how the controls respond and what exact values are being set by them, can you change the overall speed of the envelope, exponential or linear, onboard inversion or not, stages, looping/one-shot, and so forth. These are not exactly problematic limitations, but more something you learn to live with and get used to how they behave over time. But it really is a matter of choice, and I've always found it interesting that so many people dote on the four-stage ADSR method when some classic, coveted synthesizers actually never used that; the Minimoog's EGs are actually three-stage (ASR) and much of the Buchla architecture revolved (and largely still does) around two-stage AD envelope generation. But they're all a bit different, and while having a couple of one type (or one of those being a slight variation on the other) is a good idea, having a couple more for somewhat different purposes is always a good idea if you can fit them in.