What the Bleep's Next (2017 Edition)

[chysn]

The DSM03 has been awesome. It's a major part of my modular experience, for all the things it does. But what will the DSM04 be? And will it be announced this year?

All of the DSM modules so far have been functions pulled from DSI synths, at least nominally: The Curtis Filter from the Prophet 08 (etc.), the character section from the Prophet 12 (etc.), and the tuned feedback from the Evolver.

If this trend continues, there are a lot of nice options: The effects section from the Prophet 6, the Pro 2's state-variable filter, a Prophet 12-style digital oscillator. Any of these would be welcome in the eurorack world. The market isn't saturated with eurorack effects; there are lots of filters, but there can't be too many; and euro enthusiasts tend to embrace good digital oscillators.

[Paul Dither]

The Prophet-6's and OB-6's effect section might not be too exciting for the Eurorack context, as it's not fully embedded in the modulation matrix, but rather a pure addition to the audio signal. This would make the Prophet 12's or Pro 2's delay section preferable for the Eurorack use.

A digital oscillator module does certainly make sense. For a single voice module, the Pro 2's oscillators along with the superwaves would be predestinated. Same goes for its state-variable filter.

A sequencer module could also be interesting, but it would probably take up too much space.

[chysn]

The Prophet-6's and OB-6's effect section might not be too exciting for the Eurorack context, as it's not fully embedded in the modulation matrix, but rather a pure addition to the audio signal.

Certainly they'd need to add interesting CV ins or it wouldn't be worth doing.

A sequencer module could also be interesting, but it would probably take up too much space.

A sequencer gets to be significantly bigger than most modules, though. It's one of the opportunities to really stretch out in the format. The reason I didn't put a sequencer on my list is, I don't think DSI has a better sequencer interface than current eurorack sequencers, and they'd need to start over from the interface down.

[DavidDever]

A bipolar-valued MIDI-to-multi-CV interface / multitrack sequencer / programmer (i.e., a Pro-2 minus the sound generation facilities) would do the trick, with each section performing a useful feature that would apply not just to Eurorack-format modules, but also SEMs, 0-Coasts and the like. (Of course, its usefulness assumes modules which could accept multiple linear or exponential modulation values.)

I'd also love to see a good-quality, sensibly-engineered polyphonic voice assign module, maybe with splits, velocity, etc.

[chysn]

It would be a tall order to pull market share from Yarns, but it would be interesting.

For one purely selfish reason (I don't need MIDI for my modular), I hope it's not that, though.

If I got to choose DSI's direction here, it would be the multimode filter. If it had a VCA like the DSM01, I would make space for it, probably by parting with the A-106-5.

[DavidDever]

It would be a tall order to pull market share from Yarns, but it would be interesting.

The Mutable Yarns interface is intentionally minimal, which suits a smaller, portable approach, and is perfectly valid.

There might, however, exist an argument for an expanded, one-knob-per-function Eurorack module (or two) that exposes everything without shift-buttoning (Yarns' Quick Setup notwithstanding).

Who knows - I might end up doing something along these lines myself....