Can we talk about modular synths?

[MrNovember]

@Strange Tales, I ended up selling my Rene because of the infinite possibilities. It was a great sequencer but I felt I was never using it to its full potential. I guess I just never fully connected with it. I now have 2 Moskwas and a Pressure Points+Brains. I was planning on selling the Pressure Points but I'm not sure any more. Either way, I was so much happier with a Moskwa over the Rene. I immediately connected with it and I liked it so much I had to have another.

Also I would look into a Batumi over the A-143-3. I'm starting to feel a bit like a Xaoc fanboy, but it's smaller and offers a lot more over that Doepfer Quad LFO. That being said, it's probably much more expensive.

A good piece of external gateway gear that has a full synth voice and puts out audio, such as a Werkstatt w/CV expander(cheapest), Roland FX(next cheapest), Mother 32, Dreadbox, Doepfer Dark Energy, etc. is a great place to start. Was for me anyway. Fast and cheap way to start having fun immediately, and gives you full freedom to start with whatever cool modules you want, like yep and warps, the kind of modules that make people take the plunge in the first place. Once you have a full synth voice or two to fuck with, bad choices are virtually impossible.

I actually kind of wish I went this way when I started. That's some good advice

[Warpsmasher]

There is no DONE...there is only next...surely pedals and guitar taught us plenty of that. I'm hoping that 12u@84 plus tabletoppers will be enough for me, but I don't really want to have a plan or look too far ahead...because of stuff like Warps, that comes along and fucks up everybody's whole plan. I'm sure there will be new stuff I want more before I can finish anything I might try to plan out, so I'm just keeping it open to changes in my gas and financial circumstances.

[Strange Tales]

@Strange Tales, I ended up selling my Rene because of the infinite possibilities. It was a great sequencer but I felt I was never using it to its full potential. I guess I just never fully connected with it. I now have 2 Moskwas and a Pressure Points+Brains. I was planning on selling the Pressure Points but I'm not sure any more. Either way, I was so much happier with a Moskwa over the Rene. I immediately connected with it and I liked it so much I had to have another.

Also I would look into a Batumi over the A-143-3. I'm starting to feel a bit like a Xaoc fanboy, but it's smaller and offers a lot more over that Doepfer Quad LFO. That being said, it's probably much more expensive.

Well put in the Batumi over the A-143-3. That's just me not knowing the best options available but yea you're right.

It's really hard for me to judge Moskwa vs Rene when neither of them are in my hands and I have no where to go to test them. It's days like these I wish I lived near Perfect Circuit Audio so I could try stuff out.

[Warpsmasher]

I said god damn son, but that Moskwa is one fine piece of rack. I would totally hit it, but I've already got my hot chinese girl Meng Qi, and she looks like a BigSky on acid.

I think I would add a second pressure points over a rene, that's just me though. I haven't ruled it out, and I see pressure points getting flipped for cheap pretty regularly.

[Invisible Man]

bad choices are virtually impossible.

Words to live/die by.

[MrNovember]

It's really hard for me to judge Moskwa vs Rene when neither of them are in my hands and I have no where to go to test them. It's days like these I wish I lived near Perfect Circuit Audio so I could try stuff out.

Yeah, you'd really have to try both out to really know. I thought the Rene was going to be the perfect sequencer for me, and it was for awhile, but then that faded. You experience may vary, though. There are a lot of people that love the Rene and you may as well. There's got to be a modular place somewhere in New Jersey? Are you anywhere near this place: http://www.threewavemusic.com/

There is no DONE...there is only next...surely pedals and guitar taught us plenty of that. I'm hoping that 12u@84 plus tabletoppers will be enough for me, but I don't really want to have a plan or look too far ahead...because of stuff like Warps, that comes along and fucks up everybody's whole plan. I'm sure there will be new stuff I want more before I can finish anything I might try to plan out, so I'm just keeping it open to changes in my gas and financial circumstances.

Man, that's what I thought. 12U, 84hp would definitely be enough...it's not. It's never enough
Seriously, though, I'm a few modules from filling my 12U, 84hp case and I'm already thinking of expanding to a Doepfer Monster case. Because 12U, 168hp should be enough...right?!

[D.o.S.]

Any of you weirdos use ribbon controllers for anything?

I feel like if I ever fall down this rabbit hole that would be a must.

[Strange Tales]

It's really hard for me to judge Moskwa vs Rene when neither of them are in my hands and I have no where to go to test them. It's days like these I wish I lived near Perfect Circuit Audio so I could try stuff out.

Yeah, you'd really have to try both out to really know. I thought the Rene was going to be the perfect sequencer for me, and it was for awhile, but then that faded. You experience may vary, though. There are a lot of people that love the Rene and you may as well. There's got to be a modular place somewhere in New Jersey? Are you anywhere near this place: http://www.threewavemusic.com/

I'm a couple hours out from there, but I might have to make the weekend trip.

[Warpsmasher]

bad choices are virtually impossible.

Words to live/die by.

I guess it is a bit absolutist. I just can't see myself committing to any kind of long term plan, and would rather keep some room for new ideas. I don't have a clear enough picture of what I want yet, but for where I'm at with it already, it feels like there's just no way to go wrong. Everything works with everything, and there's always a use for it. It's ridiculous.

[Invisible Man]

Haha there's no criticism there, it was just a great, pithy quote about modular. This logic trips me up a lot, as I worry that I'll make the 'wrong move' when dipping my toes into this stuff. I figure I'll start with a Mother 32, then add interesting tidbits as I can afford. Disting, Maths, Erbe-Verb, tELHARMONIC, Braids, 4MS RCD, Wogglebug, Rene, Wasp, Optomix...oh shit, now I get it.

[Strange Tales]

Well as much as I was thinking between Moskwa vs Rene, it's videos like this that really nail the point home on the flexibility I want.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jD9yPxWacI[/youtube]

[Inconuucl]

This is what I've been seeing thus far, just replaced the dixies with their new variants.

[Invisible Man]

That looks very cool, but are you missing VCAs? And why the two I/O modules? You might consider swapping one of them for, say, an Optomix or the Intellijel dual VCA.

Also curious about the rationale behind using two Dixies rather than two mismatched VCOs. Might get more mileage out of different timbres, but two of those sounds pretty cool, too.

[Inconuucl]

Well, it's a dual VCA, and it's not two out modules. One's an FX loop to add pedals and THEN the out module to not have to use an amp. As for the two dixies, it's a sound for the space sort of thing. Ithought of having an STO, but I like the Dixie's feature set more. My intent here is to make the sequencer give two related but different lines for the Oscillators to play, using the quantizer and the Brainseed looper, making weird pseudo-baroque wanky bull shit.

[MrNovember]

Oh man! Mutable Instruments Rings! So happy I never actually pulled the trigger on an Elements because this is the part I really wanted!

Somehow I need to find the money for Rings, Warps, and a Blippoo Box