New Eurorack Modules

[awepittance]

some of these appeared at NAMM

made by Tom Erbe of Soundhack in collaboration with Make Noise


Circadian Rhythm Generator tip Top audio

Valhalla DSP reverb card for Tip top audio Z-dsp module


Qu-bit Nebulae : true granular sampler/oscillator running off a raspberry pi /csound, pulls flacs/oggs/waves/aifs from usb thumb drive on the left.

[psn]

There is an enormous potential in relatively cheap digital processors hiding behind eurorack fronts. That Nebulae looks interesting.

[awepittance]

yeah there is a HUGE potential for those kind of devices, even non eurorack just stand alone mini computers running PD/csound in a box with knobs on it. There are a few crazies on youtube who have already made PD guitar fx boxes running off a Pi. its fucking bad ass really

the Nebulae is pretty amazing, you can even 'freeze' the grains and just turn any piece of a sample into a tone, and then using an LFO like sawtooth wave while its frozen you can control the playback position by plugging it into the CV in/start point.

[awepittance]

so far this is probably the most exciting 808 emulation i've seen in the hardware realm, lets you CV control pitch and distortion on one single eurorack module

tiptop audio makes a bunch of pretty low cost modules for 808 kicks snares and hats but they have virtually no CV control over any of the parameters

someone just came up with the 'first' digital drum synthesizer eurorack module, and as we all know by the machinedrum for drums digital doesn't necessarily mean worse



company: noise engineering
product name: basimuils iteritas

i have to say the Z-dsp module is pretty top tier, i just got one and I've never had this kind of smooth parameter control over a delay/flange/chorus type effect before. Very easy to get crazy Irlite, Exai-esque massively automated delays and flanges so they end up sounding like splattering noise trails

[ZoeB]

tiptop audio makes a bunch of pretty low cost modules for 808 kicks snares and hats but they have virtually no CV control over any of the parameters

 

True, but you can tweak their sounds an awful lot with their knobs. The 808 style snare module's decay knob alone turns it into an altogether different beast. That's more flexibility than the Tiptop modules have, which in turn are more useful than a real TR-808 by virtue of being detached from that old sequencer. So all have their usefulness.

[awepittance]

what are you saying that the tip-top modules have more control than a real 808? even without cv control? I was trying to decipher your post and was having a hard time understanding. Do you have any of these?

I'm debating whether i should get that hexinverter kick, a few tip-top modules or have my friend mod a half-broken 606 (the sequencer doesnt work) for me to put trigger and cv ins.

i don't need an 808 sound specifically, but i want some similar roland drum sounds to trigger from voltage

[foresense]

wish I could afford modular stuff.. planning on getting a few of those patchblocks though, for my monotron delay and android phone stuff.

 

my friend built these, limited run:

 

http://www.ginkosynthese.com/product/ttlfo/

 

he did a few more but they have sold out.

[ryancolecreate]

goddamnit. I said I wouldn't build a modular until I was an old man. I'm not old yet!

[ZoeB]

what are you saying that the tip-top modules have more control than a real 808? even without cv control? I was trying to decipher your post and was having a hard time understanding. Do you have any of these?

 

I'm debating whether i should get that hexinverter kick, a few tip-top modules or have my friend mod a half-broken 606 (the sequencer doesnt work) for me to put trigger and cv ins.

 

i don't need an 808 sound specifically, but i want some similar roland drum sounds to trigger from voltage

 

Sorry, I mean that the ASol modules have more control over the timbres than the Tiptop ones, the Tiptop ones being about the same as the original TR-808, but even then, I think that having either set is preferable to having an actual TR-808 precisely because you can directly trigger them via inputs instead of having to only use them with a built-in sequencer. I like being able to vary my drums a little bit here and there, without having to worry about changing patterns while performing the part. So yes, any of the options you're considering would be good in this regard as you'd have trigger inputs, which I'd consider the main advantage.

 

Yes, I have some ASol and Tiptop modules. I use two Analogue Solutions Concussor modules (the BD88 and SD88) all over Blast Off! for instance. Note how increasing the snare's decay time makes it sound really nice in a not particularly TR-808 sounding way.

[awepittance]

thanks for the tips Zoe, I actually owned those concussor modules a few years ago and I never could get the type of 808 kick sound i was looking for. If the tiptop modules are actually less tweakable, sounds like i need to take a different option because the concussor modules didn't really fill that need for me either. Since then I've sold them and I've been using my Xbase09 for similar kick drum sounds, but id much rather get something eurorack again (That doesn't cost as much as the xbase eurorack modules). The reason that Hexinverter one seemed up my alley is because it lets you CV / tune the kick and it has built in distortion, seems like it might be a nice replacement for the xbase09 but i have no idea what price they will be charging for it.

[ZoeB]

Huh, that's curious you couldn't get the kick you wanted out of the BD88, I found it really versatile, with a decay that could last for ages if you wanted it to. Having said that, mine's been in a box the last few months so I might be misremembering it slightly... Yes, the Tiptop ones are less tweakable. They're just like the originals, in terms of what you can change, whereas the Analogue Solutions ones are much more versatile, so you can take them to pretty un-808-like extremes if you wish. Neither have much, if anything, in the way of CV inputs though, so if that's important to you, I can certainly see why you'd want to go for the Hex Inverter module you mentioned.

 

Personally, I heavily multitrack my music, and record almost everything monophonically, which is presumably why I don't have an issue with MIDI timing, and why I don't need much in the way of CV inputs: I tweak almost all the settings live for my dynamic timbres. But most people seem to take quite a different approach, so I can see how you would have different requirements and priorities to me. Good luck in your quest!

Incidentally, if you want to tune the kick drum, I've personally had a good experience simply using the sine wave of my VCO, feeding in an envelope generator with a short decay and release and the attack and sustain totally off into its second CV pitch input, and of course attenuating it with similar settings (or using simple decay-only envelope generators for these). The lack of attack results in a click unless you have a fancy waiting-for-the-oscillator-crossing-the-zero-threshold type envelope generator, and if you run the whole thing through a lowpass filter, that becomes the initial click of the kick drum, an integral part of the sound rather than seeming like a side effect. But if you're playing lots of parts at once, you probably wouldn't want to use up so many modules on just one sound. :)

[awepittance]

yes, your tips on how to make my own 808 kick with a vco and envelope is totally sound. I've done that before, but yes you are right that i'd prefer not to use so many modules to make one sound. My goal is to have a eurorack setup where i can have a full drum kit, a snare, hat, and kick as well as 4 voices of oscillators for melodic sounds.. I just got a toppo brillo quantimator module which is fucking awesome, it lets you do arpeggiations to 3 note stacked chords with a cv output for each different oscillator. Its kind of like instant cluster/harmonia if you use the 'round robin' cycle mode or if you transpose the chord with another sequencer it can become instant late 70s vangelis with a little bit of spring reverb. I just picked up an Analog solutions spring reverb and was pleasantly surprised of how much it sounded like the Analord sessions, like a total dead ringer. Makes me suspect that Aphex was using this exact module often in those recordings

i put together a rough jam that i used at the very beginning of this podcast if you want to hear the 'analord' ripoff attempt :) (drums are all analog4)
https://soundcloud.com/media-roots/media-roots-radio-american

[ZoeB]

Oh, don't even get me started on spring reverbs or BBDs, I love both. Instant Daphne Oram / Delia Derbyshire. (I'm sure even one or two Analord tracks have some very short BBD on the 808 snare for a sort of resonant echo, but it's been a while, so don't quote me on that.) I'll check out your podcast tomorrow, thanks! I'm always looking out for music inspired by AFX. :)

[awepittance]

have you ever tried turning a BBD with a short delay time (so that it sounds like a tone) into a melodic instrument? sounds really nice through an LPF with an envelope, can get some really interesting bitey kind of acid sounds with it.

[ZoeB]

Yes! :D To my ears, this basic method of Karplus-Strong synthesis sounds very plucked string-like, similar to a sample I made of my electric guitar back when I was tracking in my teens. At some point I should experiment with retuning my MCV-24 to compensate for how the A-188s aren't quite 1V/oct, then I should be in KS business. :)

Incidentally, I know AFX has owned an A-199 at some point due to his Panflet posts (he had mains hum issues; alas, this was a while before I got one and Nina worked out a simple way to attach it to the top of the G6 case, far away from the adapter... or maybe it was simply that I had a revised adapter). Not that it's important, I'm sure pretty much all spring reverbs are good ones. I just like having all matching Doepfer modules, plus the ability to splice things into its feedback loop, the same as with his BBD modules. :)

[awepittance]

interesting references, yeah when i got mine i was also sort of disconcerted by the fact that the springs are so vulnerable, it almost needs a bottom plate or something to hold it all together. I also heard that AS just bought a bunch of deadstock of spring units from old Crate amplifiers, i dont know if this is true or not.

the BBD as oscillator concept very much sounds like a Karplus-Strong, but i almost like it better since most Karplus stuff I've used doesn't resonate or generate much energy in the low frequency range (100hz and below)

[Guest yanG]

The CTRLSEL modules by MN are the most beautiful and most exciting to me. For once I love the look of a MN module (they rank among the best looking modules ever as far as I'm concerned), and the functionalities make me so fucking impatient!

[awepittance]

http://www.modulargrid.net/e/make-noise-ctrlsel-v are you talking about this?

Is it essentially just a sample and hold or does it do something else?

I get mildly irritated at companies using esoteric or different names for things that are normally called LFOS or S&H but i dont know if this is the case, i just know on my search for a properly named 'S&H' i've found very few modules. Im about to get the Doepfer duel S&H module because i cant find anything cheaper or smaller and i dont need slew or anything fancy.

Im still all about doepfer, their prices are still very affordable

[Guest yanG]

http://www.modulargrid.net/e/make-noise-ctrlsel-v are you talking about this?

 

Is it essentially just a sample and hold or does it do something else?

No because it can store voltages. This video explains a bit though it doesn't say how you store voltages, rather how you then recall them. Looks like you can have "preset" voltages that you recall using a knob or CV.

 

[ZoeB]

Im about to get the Doepfer duel S&H module because i cant find anything cheaper or smaller and i dont need slew or anything fancy.

 

Yeah, I have one of these. It's sensible and does the job. As a bonus, if it's the 2005 or later version, you can use a jumper to toggle each device between being sample and hold or trigger and hold, so you can have one of each.

[awepittance]

interesting, thanks for the tips ZoeB. I like your tutorial video you posted in the other thread by the way. For some reason I trust old-school modular synth heads like yourself with a full doepfer setup much more than somebody with a fancy case of later era 'fancy' looking and pricey eurorack modules ;)

[ZoeB]

Thanks! I guess I never really form much of an allegiance with any group or become part of any scene... I don't really like prog rock, so wouldn't fit in with much of the 5U crowd from what I understand, and I don't want to mix and match lots of different companies' gear into a patch that's so automated you merely have to press one button and it won't repeat for several years... I just want to make fun, simple tunes on exotic, versatile timbres...

 

Not that I'd dismiss either of those groups, I just don't really fit in anywhere, I guess. It looks like Aphex Twin likes to mix and match a lot of Eurorack (and a lot of other stuff besides), and his music's certainly grown on me over the years... :)

 

I guess you can trust me to take a sensible approach to making melodic music on modulars, but you couldn't trust me to be any better than anyone else in any reasonable sense.

[Guest skibby]

i got an awesome idea, put a raspberry pi with a really good D/A converters in a euro rack, and boot to vsthost. boot time would be like a tube warming up. maybe it could use a tube for the output stage so you _have to_ wait for the module to boot up?

[awepittance]

whats vsthost? Can that run off a linux distro?

I'm collaborating with a friend of mine right now on a non-eurorack stand-alone real-time granular sample capture device, still in the early stages

[futureimage]

Wooooo