modular synthesis

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 12:21 pm

on more bit of advice;

1/ you will need 4 times the number of patchcords that you think you will.

mostly 30cm and 45 cm, with a few 60 / 80 cm.

2/ make sure you get as many colours as possible, we may not have digital memories in modular, but we do have digital cameras, and if all your cords are the same colour, you'll never work out whats going on.

Analogue Systems sell 6 different colours in all sizes.

3/ have at least one 2x4 mulitple for each row, invaluable !

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:07 pm

^^ sounds like good advice.

about randomness in music. It doesn't need to be crazy garbled intense noisiness. I find some amounts of randomness can be very musical, for example if put thru a quantizer, or randomly choosing when to add another beat, to use some (very simple examples). And I'm sure there are a million interesting ways to add interesting randomness into a modular circuit. I remember really enjoying using the Noisering for one afternoon, but maybe there was some novelty factor in it and I'd find it less useful if I actually had one.

Anyways, I guess probably better for me to put it this stuff into practice than talk about it. (and I notice this is basically what steevio said... to use a little bit of randomness, but for techno based music its not so necessary to go too crazy)

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 12:12 am

oblioblioblio wrote:
Daemonix wrote:Im about to start bulding something myself! But Im going to start with DIY modules! Ill print my PCBs and do all the work myself! Its more fun and it will cost me round 70-80% LESS!
When I think about going modular I think I'm gonna save this hassle for some other people. It definitely seems to take a certain sort to be good at this kind of thing. (well, not saying that you don't have the skills, but i don't think it's for me)

I watched some intereviews with some of the guys like Cwejman and Macbeth, and they seem to be involved in some magical and dangerous life consuming love affair. I'll leave that part to the pros

sorry this was a bit of a lie. i don't think there is too much of a reason why you can't get stuck in and experiment with making modules yourself. give it a try, you've got nothing to lose.

(tho I don't think you'll end up saving any money from building stuff yourself... but you might well learn some invaluable stuff and be able to find your own interesting ways of using components... there's so much information freely avaiable on the internet and it's very fascinating how things work)

Phase Ghost · Post by **Phase Ghost** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 6:26 pm

Just to bump this thread a provide a little update on my mission into modular synthesis.

First, http://www.muffwiggler.com is the place to go for all your information. Period.

Also, there is a very active buy/sell forum on there. I've already bought 4 or 5 basic doepfer modules from a few people there at 65% of retail on average. They haven't came in yet, but I don't suspect any quality issues as people seem to take care of these things. I've just been checking ebay and that forum for the last week or so and found a bunch of deals.

So, if you are interested in modular, don't think you need to drop a load of cash at once. I'm just grabbing modules here and there and when I get paid next week, I'll grab some more. When I get enough modules and a case together, I'll start using it. Although, I suspect I'll end up spending every extra cent until I get this thing up and running. I'm kinda obsessive in that way.

Phase Ghost · Post by **Phase Ghost** » Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:17 pm

The first round of modules came in. Here's a pic of a LFO I bought. So far I've bought all used modules and everyone has been in great condition. I need to get a case, vco (probably 2), simple adsr envelope and I'll be on my way. My total, minus the A-155 sequencer, will be around $1,450 USD (unless I buy the tiptop z3000 new). That includes mixer modules, patch cables, midi to cv, clock divider, 2 filters, etc. There's tons of used sh!t out there.

Very excite!

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 10:46 am

^^^
the Z3000 is an awesome VCO, i would definitely save for one.

the FM on it is really tastey, i ve been getting some really big bass sounds using the linear FM on a triangle wave, modulating with an Analogue Systems RS95E which is another great VCO.

i'm really happy with these two VCOs, nice warm analogue sound.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 10:53 am

i've been thinking about the Wiard Anti-Oscialltor for oscillators, and also their Borg LPG/filter (instead of the QMMG). It's so hard to find decent audio demos of modular stuff though.

I really love the West Coast designs. It's a ridiculously exciting time for modular stuff right now.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Mon Feb 01, 2010 10:58 am

also been fiddling around with my mc-202. I got it heavily modified to input and output all kinds of voltages. But a word of warning, putting in new CV inputs/outputs is ok, and I think having a few modified audio ins (and maybe outs) is ok. But I had outputs from all the oscillators from the device individually installed (as in new outputs on the front from saw/pulse/sub1/sub2 etc that bypass the filter/vca) but I'm gonna have to de-solder them cos they've created way too much noisy interference in several places in the circuit.