Stand Alone or with Ableton

I'm building a single 104HP row that I'm going to be using primarily with Ableton (thus the ES-8). I will expand it to another row sometime next year, but this has to be it for now. I'll sequence, process effects, and provide additional LFOs and envelopes through Ableton and the Push 2.

Take a look and let me know if there are any 1U "must haves" I can get for this case (it's the 7u Intellijel case that has 2 104 HP rows as well as a row for 1U modules). Also, am I missing anything obvious? I feel like this is a pretty basic design.

Additionally, my goal is to make melodic ambient music. I also like to have interesting percussive sounds. I would have liked to include the Plonk as well, but decided to go with Pamela's Workout to provide a clock and sequencing for when I'm not connected to a computer. This is the module I'm least committed to, seeing as I'll be connected to the computer most, if not all, of the time. Not to mention the fact that there is quit a bit of menu diving.

If you have any thoughts on other modules I should add to the second row, that would be appreciated as well. I was thinking of some additional voices (plonk for percussive sounds and a "gnarly" sounding oscillator for drones), another filter, reverb and delay, a tactile sequencer (I'm liking the Polyend Seq and the Sequentix Cirklon as well as Erica Synths new sequencer, but might consider another in-case module if it was easy to use).

This is my first modular synth, so I'd value any of your thoughts on my plunge!

EDITED Oct 17th 2019, 11:07

Hi Naugrim,

First I thought "what a small system" but having a good look at it, for the fact that's so small, it's quite complete. You got your VCOs, LFOs, filters, envelopes and VCAs/mixer. You could consider a linear VCA for CVs, a logic module might come in handy and the obvious as you mentioned yourself already, a sequencer and a few effect modules.

Regarding the 1U definitely look into Audio input/output in combination with (if you go for it) Intellijel 7U case to make sure you got everything you need. Or are you going to do that via your computer too? But you mentioned that if you are not connected to a computer, so I still would consider that (audio input/output module I mean).

It's not a huge system, rather small, so don't expect wonders from it, however you got the most basic modules covered. So get experience with it and with that experience then decide how you are going to fill up the second row and that second row will be faster full then you might think or want ;-)

Good luck with the planning and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Garfield Modular,

Thanks for your insights! Could you recommend a linear VCA? And as far as logic goes, does Maths and/or Marbles fit the bill?

As for the in/out, yes, that's a definite purchase in 1U. The other option would be to get the ES-9 coming out, but then everything doesn't fit so snugly. :)

I'm not expecting to compose a symphony on this thing, just do between 1 and 3 voices at a time. I'll pipe them into Ableton when I can add additional tracks from VCV Rack or Reaktor Blocks - or just other non-modular content.

At the end of this journey I want to make a system that I can sit down and tweak until I find the sounds I'm looking for, not something I need menu dive with. I think I have that with this simple system so far (aside from Pamela's Workout).

I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Naugrim

Hi Naugrim,

You are welcome. How about that one from Doepfer, the A-130? It's reasonably priced and if you build up enough experience with it and you want a more fancy one you can consider that for the future.

With logic modules I meant logic functions like: AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, etcetera. You don't straight away have to buy it but keep it in mind. Once you have build up experience with your rack then you might want to look into it to play around with CVs and make it more exciting. I am myself rather new on that field as well and still have to do quite some homework in that area before I would be able to give you better advice than this.

Make Noise Maths goes into that direction but is not a "pure" logic module on its own; Maths is just a wonder on its own :-) Marbles I don't know it well enough but I don't think it's a logic module as such.

Generally I would recommend to not fully plan the second row yet, keep some blank space left, you will need it in the future to adjust the ideas (and experience) you have now. So in the future you can add a few modules without having the issue of straight away need to buy a new case...

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield.

What Maths is is a simplified analog computer that's been set up to work in a Eurorack synth environment. As such, it outputs complex voltage curves (like an actual one does) but it doesn't use Boolean logic per se. Boolean works well in a digital environment, but it wouldn't really be useful in an analog one unless you had some way of translating voltage levels/behaviors into on/off pulses, such as with a bunch of comparators.

Marbles is similar...but again, not a Boolean device.

What Maths is is a simplified analog computer that's been set up to work in a Eurorack synth environment. As such, it outputs complex voltage curves (like an actual one does) but it doesn't use Boolean logic per se. Boolean works well in a digital environment, but it wouldn't really be useful in an analog one unless you had some way of translating voltage levels/behaviors into on/off pulses, such as with a bunch of comparators.

Marbles is similar...but again, not a Boolean device.
-- Lugia

The more you know!
Thanks Lugia.

I ordered the modules and 7u case just as designed. Very excited to get started. As you can see, I've started to design the top row as well!

Hi Naugrim,

Great, I wish you much fun with your modular system! :-)

I hope you haven't ordered all modules yet, so you kept most of the top row free and planned it at the moment only? Get some experience with your new system and you will see that here and there you might want to change your current planning for that top row.

Enjoy your rack and kind regards, Garfield.