Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...

chysn

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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #620 on: April 07, 2018, 07:02:09 AM »
My perspective on Maths is this:

It seemed like a cult. Everybody was talking about how good it was, and how everyone needs it. And I was like, don't tell me what I need, $&^%@, I'll do what I want. I came to Maths sort of organically. I identified features that I was missing with Function and SPO. The big one was attenuversion on the function generator outputs. Too few LFOs have this, and you need to use a VCA or external attenuator to get any nuance from the modulation. The other feature was voltage control over cycling. This is killer. It's basically the ability to stop an LFO if you want to with another modulation source. So I acquired Maths out of a desire for specific features over what I already had. It was compelling enough to make the switch.

Sometimes, a product comes along that's so bloody good at its job that it deserves all the accolades that it gets. Another thing is that Maths is sort of the Lingua Franca of eurorack. When a new generative technique is described, it's usually described with Maths. You can make the patch using other stuff, of course, but Maths is kind of an anchor. It's a good learning tool because (almost) everyone has one.

Certainly, "Maths but smaller" has been a desire for years. It hasn't been done, despite the enormous sales such a thing would accrue. Maybe someone will do it.

Everyone's needs vary, though. I'm firmly committed to the idea that there's no wrong way to do a eurorack synth. One can only be "wrong" within one's own system. In other words, if I do something "wrong," I will realize it and correct it myself, as my budget allows. For me, getting Maths was a course correction.
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #621 on: April 07, 2018, 07:14:50 AM »
The three SSF/WMD modules I've got are compact, but I do not find them hard to use really... in fact they are easily patched because all patch points are located beneath the knob area... this is how I like modules to be arranged...

Yeah, they do small really well. They're small, but they don't feel small, if that makes sense.
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #622 on: April 07, 2018, 07:40:06 AM »
The three SSF/WMD modules I've got are compact, but I do not find them hard to use really... in fact they are easily patched because all patch points are located beneath the knob area... this is how I like modules to be arranged...

Yeah, they do small really well. They're small, but they don't feel small, if that makes sense.

I use the phrase "Compact" ... sounds better :D

I agree with your MATHS explanation... point is that I've probably not really fathomed what that module is capable of, and the reason is probably that I hate the layout and the style... nothing about it makes me curious really... with a quick glance it just look a bit like a double function generator... MakeNoise also make another module called "Function" that looks like it's one half of MATHS... point is... i need to know what it does for me that I need... but when I do not feel attracted to it, to investigate it further... it stays there... I guess... but again, it simply takes up too much space no matter how good it is in a 107HP setup...

Maybe it also has to do with the fact, that I'm still rellatively new to the modular world, and I'm not sure yet what it is that I really need... I don't believe that MATHS is essential for every system in existence, so I'd like to be certain that I need it, before getting one... and I have not stumbled on MATHS yet when seeking stuff that I feel I need... not in a way that other modules much narrower can do the job...

Maybe someday in the future, I'll figure out the mojo with this module... and then... hopefully... that day, there will be a narrow version of it :D
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #623 on: April 07, 2018, 08:22:14 AM »
I don't believe that MATHS is essential for every system in existence

This is absolutely true. When it comes right down to it, Maths is an envelope generator and/or LFO. If your needs are served by Moog-style ASDRs and dedicated LFOs, you can live your whole life without a function generator.

My synth is strongly influenced by the traditional Buchla voice, which has function generators instead of ASDRs and LFOs. That's also sort of Make Noise's general direction, and until the Contour came out they didn't even make a dedicated ASDR. They still don't make a dedicated LFO. And in true Make Noise fashion, Contour can cycle.
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #624 on: April 07, 2018, 10:54:29 AM »
I don't believe that MATHS is essential for every system in existence

This is absolutely true. When it comes right down to it, Maths is an envelope generator and/or LFO. If your needs are served by Moog-style ASDRs and dedicated LFOs, you can live your whole life without a function generator.

My synth is strongly influenced by the traditional Buchla voice, which has function generators instead of ASDRs and LFOs. That's also sort of Make Noise's general direction, and until the Contour came out they didn't even make a dedicated ASDR. They still don't make a dedicated LFO. And in true Make Noise fashion, Contour can cycle.

I can see their usage... for sure... as a flexible modulation source, but I do not feel they cover all ground of either ADSR or LFO... ADSR's have a bit more control over the shape and an LFO can have a sine waveform... the function generator can make the LFO waveform skewed as a special... I'd like to have one, but I can do with something smaller and more compact :)
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #625 on: April 09, 2018, 12:56:50 PM »
I have decided to forget all about a dedicated eurorack setup, I know it's not going to last anyway... I'll get bored of a static setup at some point, and new things will GAS up my attention... so I'm back at the first ideer i got, which is probably the best... set up a system of modules in the KB37 107HP, and make a tune with that... next project may house other modules in a completely different setup... i need to do this to keep myself focused.

It does not really matter what modules is put in... i may even choose most randomly, just for the fun of seeing what you can make with a random system... I may get surprised because I have to think creatively, which is something I love to do anyway.

So I'm not thinking much about how modules will fit together anymore... I've got ONE TONESTAR which will always be able to make sounds for use, and then anything else in the setup is just "add ons"...

This method also allow me to buy 2nd hand a little better, since the modules only has to catch my attention... so I bought a few more modules cheap that I found interesting... first a Frequency Central - Continuum Phase Shifter... second, a funny LFO called "Psycho LFO" from CSG... all it does is make chaotic random fluctuations, which I guess i could do with my random module as well, but it probably has it's own charm, and was dirt cheap... and it takes up less space in situations where the random module is not in a setup... Also I will buy an analog formant filter by the end of the week... the Grendel Formant Filter V2... I dig it's sound a lot, and it will be handy for vowel sounds.

In general (though it may sound stupid I know). I'm trying just to fill up the KB37 completely, as fast as possible with interresting cheap 2nd hand modules, just to get started with a projet... I'm close now.. :)
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #626 on: April 09, 2018, 01:02:55 PM »
A link to the current setup on ModularGrid : https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/633977

It looks horribly chaotic, but that's just how it is :D ... I need to find something interresting for the last 10HP now... it will probably be some kind of oscillator module if I can find one, but maybe I find something completely different instead :D ...
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #627 on: April 09, 2018, 07:15:15 PM »
It does not really matter what modules is put in... i may even choose most randomly, just for the fun of seeing what you can make with a random system... I may get surprised because I have to think creatively, which is something I love to do anyway.

Here, you can try this out. Just paste your Modular Grid URL into the input, choose how many modules you want to use, and it will randomly pick that many of them.

http://www.beigemaze.com/challenge/
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #628 on: April 09, 2018, 07:19:41 PM »
It looks horribly chaotic, but that's just how it is :D ... I need to find something interresting for the last 10HP now... it will probably be some kind of oscillator module if I can find one, but maybe I find something completely different instead :D ...

Something "completely different" in 10HP screams "DSM03!"
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #629 on: April 10, 2018, 03:27:17 AM »
I stumbled upon this while researching the Boss Bow Tie switch:

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/alm-busy-circuits-alm008-pip-slope

It's a function generator in 4HP, cut pretty much down to the bare essentials.
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #630 on: April 10, 2018, 08:42:21 AM »
It does not really matter what modules is put in... i may even choose most randomly, just for the fun of seeing what you can make with a random system... I may get surprised because I have to think creatively, which is something I love to do anyway.

Here, you can try this out. Just paste your Modular Grid URL into the input, choose how many modules you want to use, and it will randomly pick that many of them.

http://www.beigemaze.com/challenge/

That's actually a cool thing... I just wish it could choose from among modules that you actually have, otherwise it'll be quite an expensive thing :)
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #631 on: April 10, 2018, 08:46:31 AM »
It looks horribly chaotic, but that's just how it is :D ... I need to find something interresting for the last 10HP now... it will probably be some kind of oscillator module if I can find one, but maybe I find something completely different instead :D ...

Something "completely different" in 10HP screams "DSM03!"

Hmm... it certainly would add something new to the pallette, but I'd wish he had made that filter analog at least... it's a 100% digital module which somehow lowers my interest a bit... I know that is stupid, but that's how my GAS works :/
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #632 on: April 10, 2018, 08:53:02 AM »
I stumbled upon this while researching the Boss Bow Tie switch:

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/alm-busy-circuits-alm008-pip-slope

It's a function generator in 4HP, cut pretty much down to the bare essentials.

Cool little thing actually... I like that most function generators allow you to CV modulate the attack/decay times because this allow you to feedback the output into the rate times for very plucky envelopes... marvelous for basses and other plucked things...

But what that video told me was, that I just need to get one of those O' Tools... I've wanted one since I saw it, and it really is handy that you can see what you are doing, even though it takes up a bit of space... it kilsl me that it's so deep it cannot sit all to the right in my KB37... that would have been perfect since those last 15HP can only be 25HP deep... but I'll get one anyway... it's a really nice and (to me) essential visual tool.
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #633 on: April 10, 2018, 09:18:23 AM »
I decided I needed some kind of oscillator for the last 10HP... and I decided I should probably get a digital oscillator and stop this freakin' aversion against digital, as long as it sounds good :) ... found a used Synthesis Technology - E350 Morphing Terrarium wavetable oscillator used for about half the price of a new one, including expander.

I find this one interesting because it has the waves set up in an X/Y/Z kind of pattern, begging for a joystick controller module at some point... it interpolates up to 24.000 different waveforms when morphing around plus other stuff, and most important: it is one knob per function... no menus or other things like dump features that will just have me hangin' for eons before feeling "ready to use" :)

It is wider than 10HP, but I'll just flip out the Psycho LFO as this is not that important in this first project, as I'd rather use the Ultra Random Analog for my first project...

This also means that I'm ready to go and make a tune... yay! ...
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #634 on: April 10, 2018, 09:48:00 AM »
The link to my modular grid setup in the post a few entries up show how the first projekt will look like... I took the buffered mult out as I will not need it in this setup... wonder what will come out of this weird mix of modules :D

Here is a SoundCloud link to tunes done with the E350 Morphing Terrarium... https://soundcloud.com/grimulkan/sets/e350
« Last Edit: April 10, 2018, 09:50:11 AM by Razmo »
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #635 on: April 10, 2018, 10:04:19 AM »
I decided I needed some kind of oscillator for the last 10HP... and I decided I should probably get a digital oscillator and stop this freakin' aversion against digital, as long as it sounds good :) ... found a used Synthesis Technology - E350 Morphing Terrarium wavetable oscillator used for about half the price of a new one, including expander.

I find this one interesting because it has the waves set up in an X/Y/Z kind of pattern, begging for a joystick controller module at some point... it interpolates up to 24.000 different waveforms when morphing around plus other stuff, and most important: it is one knob per function... no menus or other things like dump features that will just have me hangin' for eons before feeling "ready to use" :)

It is wider than 10HP, but I'll just flip out the Psycho LFO as this is not that important in this first project, as I'd rather use the Ultra Random Analog for my first project...

This also means that I'm ready to go and make a tune... yay! ...

Good choice. They sound really awsome – at least according to the YouTube videos I watched about this and its successor, the Cloud Terrarium.

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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #636 on: April 10, 2018, 12:44:41 PM »
It does not really matter what modules is put in... i may even choose most randomly, just for the fun of seeing what you can make with a random system... I may get surprised because I have to think creatively, which is something I love to do anyway.

Here, you can try this out. Just paste your Modular Grid URL into the input, choose how many modules you want to use, and it will randomly pick that many of them.

http://www.beigemaze.com/challenge/

That's actually a cool thing... I just wish it could choose from among modules that you actually have, otherwise it'll be quite an expensive thing :)

Just make a second ModularGrid rack that contains only the modules you own.

Hmm... [DSM03] certainly would add something new to the pallette, but I'd wish he had made that filter analog at least... it's a 100% digital module which somehow lowers my interest a bit... I know that is stupid, but that's how my GAS works :/

The DSM03's digital filter isn't meant to be your main audio filter. It's a dampener to simulate absorption in the feedback path, and it does that job very well. I have no problem with the DSM03's digital nature. Its processor is blazing fast and handles auto-rate modulation like a boss. But it consumes as much power as downtown Tokyo at night.

I decided I needed some kind of oscillator for the last 10HP... and I decided I should probably get a digital oscillator and stop this freakin' aversion against digital, as long as it sounds good :) ... found a used Synthesis Technology - E350 Morphing Terrarium wavetable oscillator used for about half the price of a new one, including expander.
This also means that I'm ready to go and make a tune... yay! ...

That's awesome, nice find!

But what that video told me was, that I just need to get one of those O' Tools... I've wanted one since I saw it, and it really is handy that you can see what you are doing, even though it takes up a bit of space... it kilsl me that it's so deep it cannot sit all to the right in my KB37... that would have been perfect since those last 15HP can only be 25HP deep... but I'll get one anyway... it's a really nice and (to me) essential visual tool.

It's the opposite for me. I can't imagine putting something like that in a synth case. I'm looking at handheld oscilloscopes, but O'Tool seems like a waste of rack space. My perspective, though, is one of a strict HP-out-for-HP-in limit.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2018, 12:50:06 PM by chysn »
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #637 on: April 10, 2018, 12:58:40 PM »
I agree about O'Tool... that is also what has kept me from getting one actually... but point is that it IS nice to see what you're doing, so maybe an external alternative... but are there any!? unless it's a huge oscilloscope meant for building electronics? ... would be nice with a compact one that has the same features as O' Tools... not just an oscilloscope view, but also one showing slow CV oscillations because that is where I see the most use besides analyzing how waveforms look... to be able to see the shapes created by CV modulators etc... checking that stuff do not clip etc...
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #638 on: April 14, 2018, 03:15:26 AM »
A few new things... first of, i did not get that E350 wavetable module, someone beat me to it, so it'll have to wait a bit since I'm not ready to pay full price for that yet :)

Instead, I got both the Continuum Phaser and DTech Filter home... the DTech needed calibration which was why it was quite cheap, but it took me 5minutes to calibrate it, so that was a good thing... this filter can scream like a witch, a really odd filter with lots of resonant howling and unstableness... useful thing for lots of things... it does take up a lot of HP space in my opinion though... but it'll be handy for some special jobs.

The Continuum Phaser also sounds really good and even have two audio inputs and two CV inputs... enough parameters to tweak in that one, and will certainly be good for certain jobs too.

In addition, I've got the DPLR from SSF/WMD home... i thought it could not produce a 100% wet signal, but it does... I don't know how they managed this though, as the delay chips datasheet depicts a signal flow that should make that impossible since the dry input signal is mixed at the input with the delayed DSP signal and output BEFORE the DSP input in the analog domain... so how they remove the dry signal i do not know... wonder if they somehow add an inverted dry signal to the output to cancel out the dry signal when the mix knob is moved above center position... or maybe the datasheet has it pictured wrong... dunno...

Also... one thing I've always wanted is to get completely MIDI free, so that the only thing I use the DAW for is raw analog audio recording... until now I've needed the MIDI to time tracks together, when I record them one at a time, meaning that arrangement is needed in the DAW... this is what I'd like to get away from, doing all arranging by tweaking knobs live during recording, making everything performance oriented... unfortunately, creating a modular system that allow for many tracks playing at once would require way more modules and money than I'm capable of dealing with so I've been thinking this thru pretty hard lately...

I came to the conclusion, that if I'm to use only the KB37 with a chosen 107HP of modules, I'd be hard pressed to have more than 2 or max 3 voices going at the same time.. .in most situations only 2... and for this I'd need some sort of sequencing module as well... some tracks need dead on timing, like sequencer tracks and percussion so to sync these up when recording without MIDI on different tracks become a problem.

But I've decided to try and do it anyway... as I'm recording a whole track in one go, all that would be needed is that the clock used is exactly the same, and that I start playback at the same time... a little latency is not a problem since this can be corrected by shifting a recorded track back/forth in the DAW after recording, but the timing of the clock should be deadly precise to keep in sync over several minutes in case I'm sequencing more tracks.

Most other tracks but sequencer, bass and percussion would not really need to be that timing stable... I'd just record those live... like lead synths, FX, Pads etc... so in most cases, the sequencer and bass part is what will be recorded via sequencer at the same time so that they absolutely click in timing... if I'm not able to record drums on a second layer and make it time with the bass and sequencer track, then I'll be needing some sort of expansion case for this to be done at the same time as sequencer and bass... time will tell... maybe I will even do this in the future, to get free from having to rely on the clock keeping up.

To do the sequencing I went on a little hunt because I'm more into actually PLAYING in the steps of a sequence, than editing it with some knobs or sliders like on a traditional modular sequencer... I need something that can record at least two gate and CVs in at least 32steps to get something interesting going... i found one such module... the Shakmat . Bishop's Miscellany... it does just that, and is not overly huge in HP either, so I'll order that module very soon.

It is my plan to use that for recording directly from the KB37's gate/cv output, and use the KB37's internal clock for it (the module does not have it's own clock)... the KB37 clock is digital, and can be tap-tempo'ed so that the clock will not drift, and I thus hope it will be good enough to layer sequenced tracks in the DAW without drifting... otherwise I'll just have to expand my setup a little... I will have two sound sources in the KB37 for bass and sequence, there should be enough HP space to allow both this, and some modules extra to spice things up... when these first two synths have been laid down, the backbone for the tune is there, and I can switch out the modules for percussion sounds (provided I do not expand the setup, so that this is also handled with the two other tracks at the same time)... the rest of material can be recorded live...

With this approach, I can concentrate on tweaking knobs to make the necessary dynamics in the bass/sequence/percussion while the sequencers take care of the note playing, also eliminating the need for a lot of those modulation modules, since i prefer doing all the slow movements by hand instead of using envelopes and LFOs... when the live tracks are to be recorded, sequencer modules and multiple voices is not needed, so these can be more experimental setups to create more advanced sounds with more modulation modules etc.

IF this will work well... in time... I'll probably move my computer screen from behind the KB37 on my desktop, to hanging on the wall to one side, and then invest in a large standing eurorack case to be placed right behind my KB37 and expand my system this way... having a row of HP for percussion, a row for sequencer/bass and a row for modulation modules as well... and then fill up the KB37 with the modules that I'll use in a project for playing live... but this is still only in the speculative phase :)
« Last Edit: April 14, 2018, 03:26:29 AM by Razmo »
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Re: Razmo's Gear Rant Thread...
« Reply #639 on: April 14, 2018, 04:57:32 AM »
The Bishop's Miscellany is pretty awesome. It would be fantastic with a CV controller like Tetrapad.

This is how I manage synchronization to DAW tracks in my system:

I don't have a MIDI module, so I don't rely on MIDI clock. Instead, I created a set of MIDI files with a single note repeated at a single duration*. I dragged these into my user clip library in Ableton, where they're always available for me to drag onto a clip in the Session View, so it loops. Now I just send this track to my SQ-1**, and it fires a gate on each note. That gate becomes the modular's master clock and it stays perfectly in-sync with the DAW, regardless of tempo.

________________
* One measure of 4 quarter notes, one measure of 8 eighth notes, one measure of 16 sixteenth notes, and one measure of 4 sets of eighth-note triplets. I write a good amount of music in 6/8 time, but because the MIDI files in a Session View clip just loop, the time signature of my sync tracks doesn't matter.

** Korg SQ-1 might be the best value in modular. It's at home in pretty much any combination of MIDI/CV/DAW/DAWless environment you can think up. If you part with the €119 for one, it will become the answer to a lot of questions.
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