And here is why I chose the modules in the above picture.
The goal is to make a single, selfcontained analog voice with as much flexibillity as possible, using just LIFEFORMS modules from Pittsburgh... I like the design, i like the sound, and that most modules has built in attenuators on their CV inputs, so that I'm free from having a lot of separate VCA's for that job. A few of the modules are duplicates (tools and ADSR) simply becaue I decided that I would find modulation modules that are to be ganged with the different audio modules they are supposed to control in most cases... thus a mod tools module for the oscillators, an ADSR for the VCF and VCA each and another mod tools specifically for the BBD delay module... everything is of course usable all over the place, but I like to have a system, where it's a basic analog subtractive routing layout... thus all modules have also been laid out in the order of general signal flow here.
1. LIFEFORMS Double Helix Oscillator module.
This module seems to be rather selfcontained... it even include an LFO which is handy, a noise source, a sub oscillator... but most importantly it has separate outs for all the waveforms which also contain sine waveform and blade waveform (PWM sawtooth basically)... in addition it has a handy routing matrix at the bottom which will be handy for live tweaks, and that is something I intend doing... live tweaking... so there are four modules in the picture you cannot see... two "hand modulation modules" and two "foot modulation modules"
... also, the oscillators can go so low in frequency, that they are also useable as LFOs in case one needs that... it seems like a rather powerful oscillator module in itself, but I decided to gang it with a mod tools module as well beccause this module sports some additional logic functions, sample & hold plus a multi-tool EG/LFO/SLEW/EG FOLLOWER which will be handy for many pitch modulation purposes. Also the module includes a wavefolder with a Low Pass Gate for even more options in sound sources.
2. 2x2 mixer... pretty straightforward... it can work as two mixers with two inputs each, or as one 4 channel mixer... there is nothing special about this module, it's just an essential part of any subtractive synth... this is where the chosen oscillator signals are mixed, and in the future, this is where digital oscillators from additional cases could be plugged in.
3. State Variable Filter... a nice filter that gives me both LP, BP and HP outputs... better than a regular LP alone since it will give me more filtering options... I'm not sure if it's 12db or 24db but that does not really matter because I'll get external filter modules later if needed. I decided to gang it up with a dedicated ADSR module which is essential.
4. Dual VCA module... the usual subtractive module... essential as allways, and of course ganged up with it's own ADSR too... otherwise no special mumbojumbo on this one.
5. BBD analog delay module... this is the only module that is not normally included in a subtractive synth, but I like the idear of having this at the end... it can of course be used for longer delays (up to about 2 seconds) which it will probably also be used for, but also for creating shorter modulation FX or inserted in different places in the signal chain... it'll certainly add some flexibility to the system... it also need something to modulate it, so I ganged it with yet another mod tools module.
6. Sequencer module... this is the first module and I was in doubt if I should include it, but after some serious thought I decided it would add a lot of possibillities to the equation, even if I'm hooked up to my sequencer via MIDI anyway... it's nice to have this module clocked to the MIDI clock coming from the DAW, so that it can introduce rhythimcal contra-melodies to what is played on the daw... even if it's not gating any EGs it can still supply rhythmic stuff into other parameters in the system... it also have ratchet functionallity and a hell of a lot of other playing modes, so it's a nice part of the system i think.
That's it basically... I know it's not a huge million-possibillities setup like bigger systems, but that's the point... it needs to be a middle sized analog subtractive hands-on system, with the possibillity to add things in on the fly, and I think it will do this fine... the final price is somewhat around just below 2.000 Euros, and the system should be build to the last module in a month or two, with most modules (about 2/3) by the start of next month... untill then I'll be playing around with the SV-1 before sending it back to the dealer... I'd be very frustrated to go another month without the chance of playing something