Hello,
I'm planning on buying my first modules in the coming months to fill an Happy Ending case from TipTopAudio.
why such a small case to start??? you will have filled it before you know it and then end up buying another almost immediately... better to start with something bigger - tip top also make the mantis which is a much better proposition - more space and much better power supply!
you are trying to do too much in too small a space... this is a very common affliction for newbies, don't worry, you'll come to your senses at some point!
I'm not really looking for anything generative, just a simple rack that offers a wide range of sounds.
this size case is too small to hold 3 voices (plaits, plonk and bia) and the modules that are needed to support them... if you really want to stay with the smaller case then reduce the number of voices to 1 - even in the mantis that is 2.5* bigger than this I would only recommend 2 or 3 voices at most!!
I've picked up Maths because it's well rated and seems to offer LFOs, effects and more.
download the 'maths illustrated supplement' - work your way through it until you are bored senseless and then continue doing so - think deeply about the what, how and why of each patch - eventually you may learn something...
Also chose Plaits as a VCO and Pamela as a clock and function module - apparently it can also be used as a quantizer or LFO ?
yes
To fill some gaps I've added an Expert Sleeper at the end.
For the rest of the case I was thinking of something maybe like an Iteritas Alter, a mixer or another small VCA, a multiplier or maybe even a Mutable Instruments module like Beads.
a mixer woul be a really good idea - preferably one bigger than you think you need right now - so that you hae a bit of space to expand
I was also looking into the Polyend Poly 2, as I have a Squarp Pyramid and I thought it could be pretty great to convert MIDI sequencing into different CV outputs to control the rack from the Pyramid. I guess that would require multiple VCOs to birth different sounds, so maybe way later if I'm deeper into modular and want to expend my rack. Again I don't fully know, let me know if I'm completely wrong here.
this is another good reason why you should get a bigger case - if you have the pyramid - some way to utilise it would make a lot of sense - although maybe a mutant brain would be a better option
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities