modular synthesis

goomba · Post by **goomba** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:34 pm

Here's my plans, Mission 9 on its way

http://img695.imageshack.us/i/modular1e.jpg/
http://img412.imageshack.us/i/modular3.jpg/

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:46 pm

goomba wrote:Here's my plans, Mission 9 on its way

http://img695.imageshack.us/i/modular1e.jpg/
http://img412.imageshack.us/i/modular3.jpg/

looks nice !

the only thing i could say is that i hated the Flame Clockwork, i got rid as quick as i could.

the resolution is really poor, the 16th shuffle is just one setting, unusable.

i need to be able to adjsut the shuffle to anything i want, not be stuck with one shuffle.

the resolution on everything else is really coarse, all too digital and going against the whole feel of a modular, plus theres no CV or trigger inputs which is criminal in a modular.

the tempo knob is also really coarse and the usuable range for say minimal (120 -130 ?) comes within about a 20th of a turn, really difficult to be accurate, and is stepped, its impossible to dial in say 126 bpm, you'd be stuck with either 125.15 or 126.87 or something like that.
i emailed Per about this and he sent me a new Eprom which made the resolution slightly better, but still not good enough for me.

a real Dog in my book.

probably why its been discontinued. maybe the next version if there is one will address these issues.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:57 pm

yeah i saw your post on MW. Clearly a well thought out system. Enjoy the journey!

You might end up swapping stuff and changing your mind about how you feel about certain modules... so possibly a good idea to buy stuff in batches... espcially as you might not be able to sell on super easy due to your location.

But having said that, I spent quite a while thinking about stuff, and I haven't really changed direction that much, even though my initial plans were made without really using that many modules.

One other thing, is that a new version of the QMMG is being announced soon, so possibly better to wait for that, than to look for a 2nd hand older version.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:13 pm

Also I would highly recommend the Metasonix stuff. Eric Barbour is quite hostile with his marketing, but his designs are simply pure alien technology. Pretty challenging to play, and it's sometimes a bit like treading a tight rope, as even though you can control all of them, it's very possible to slip into chaos. But if you get it right I simply cannot describe what is possible. I would probably swap that out instead of the Cwejman stuff (although if someone gave me a res-4 I wouldn't say no), as the Cwejman, to me, offers a really high quality and well implmented vision of quite 'classic' synthesis, but tubes are a totally different dimension. And well worth investigation.

Phase Ghost · Post by **Phase Ghost** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 3:55 pm

That quantizer by intellijel looks really cool. I've got some pcb's to build a dual quantizer, but I might pick up that intellijel too.

The VCO-6 is a beast. It's my favorite oscillator.

Also, consider a A-151 switch. I have a triple diy quad sequential switch (3 A-151's basically) on a breadboard right now. I know Steevio likes this module as well. It's the sh!t for rhythms.

I'm strangely into the Gamma Wave Source that just came out. I always liked the PPG wave and this reminds me of it. Probably won't end up with it though. I just grabbed another Maths and a cvws to almost fill up my 9u case.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:40 pm

Phase Ghost wrote:That quantizer by intellijel looks really cool. I've got some pcb's to build a dual quantizer, but I might pick up that intellijel too.

The VCO-6 is a beast. It's my favorite oscillator.

Also, consider a A-151 switch. I have a triple diy quad sequential switch (3 A-151's basically) on a breadboard right now. I know Steevio likes this module as well. It's the sh!t for rhythms.

I'm strangely into the Gamma Wave Source that just came out. I always liked the PPG wave and this reminds me of it. Probably won't end up with it though. I just grabbed another Maths and a cvws to almost fill up my 9u case.

how are you building the quantizer? is it from a schematic?

Fairplay to going down the DIY btw. It's a really worthwhile thing to do. I've been trying to do bits and pieces of learning voltage, but it's been pretty slow progress. I had to swap out a part on my Rene... that was pretty fun. Surface mount is quite small!

I shouldn't be knocking on Cwejman, especially as I haven't used anything.

My opinions of 'deep' got changed by Metasonix r54. I don't think I want to hear another solid state oscillator for phatness again. That thing is so beautiful. Shame it's hard to get it to track.

r53 is harder. Sometimes it disgusts me and I never want to hear it again, but sometimes its this beautiful blissed out dissonant sweetspot. Shame I can't work out what settings and signals do which.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 7:12 pm

Phase Ghost wrote:
Also, consider a A-151 switch. I have a triple diy quad sequential switch (3 A-151's basically) on a breadboard right now. I know Steevio likes this module as well. It's the sh!t for rhythms.

ive also recently been getting into the A152 and A150 switches.

the A150 is simple but i find it really useful for rhythmic variation, i'm into lots of switches at the moment, with a few of them you can really make something really simple into something very complex.

ive pretty much stopped buying esoteric modules now, and am going for cheap and cheerful stuff like offset generators, trigger delays, precision adders and switches.
the A166 logic is also a gem.

Phase Ghost · Post by **Phase Ghost** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:01 pm

oblioblioblio wrote:
how are you building the quantizer? is it from a schematic?

http://www.bartonmusicalcircuits.com/cvquant/index.html

He sells the bare pcb's. Just buy the components and solder it together. You gotta get a faceplate too though. There's 2 versions and I bought both. I think I read there's a way to program your own scales also, but I haven't looked into it too much.

Steevio, I just recently figured out how the logic modules work and that's definitely next on the list of things to get. Maths works good for some Logic duty, but a stand alone version would be handy. I'll probably grab the spock.

I really like my dual trigger delay, but rarely turn the knob more than just a little for some shuffle in a pattern by switching between the delayed and non-delayed trigger. It's too tough for me to dial in anything long. It always floats off.

I always look at the A-152, but I'm not real sure how it works. I've got some ideas for my sequential switches. I'm going to use a switch for counting up or down. Or I may make it cv'able to select direction. Also, I'm going to use a switch to select which step it starts on. Then I can run it in 2 step mode, but start it on any step I want instead of just 1 and 2.