Can we talk about modular synths?

[lordgalvar]

Haha, I've been meaning to finish my build I started a few years back. I've talked to be a ton about it.

It's an old diy project. this lady Jeri (don't remember her last name) made one a long time ago and this other dude expanded the idea to be controlled by Arduino. There is a message board where there is a bunch of stuff about building your own.

Mine was slightly different but based off all the work those people did. Kinda lame to take other people's ideas and slap an 1800 or whatever price tag on it. I think it is cool as a diy thing, sucks as a commercial product because of the repurposed materials.

Anyone remember when I tried to trade pedals for floppy drives (I think I have 40 drives sitting here for the project).

[behndy]

i am TRYING to not watch that new Knobs vidja. don't want to get seduced. have enough new loots to learn as it is.

got my OC in. OOOOFHGDGSJEGH. SO FUN.

[drolo]

Somehow I had always lusted after a modular rig (like for 20 years) and was convinced it was too expensive or inaccessible.
A couple of weeks ago it just downed on me that these days it was not much more expensive than buying pedals ...

So I got some 2nd hand basic bits to get started :-)



Put them in an old wine case. I had actual rails along with the doepfer supply kit I bought but when I started to mess with the tiny nuts and screws I just thought to heck with rails, to heck with standards and mounted them directly onto some wood rails .. :-)
Will see how that holds up.

while I was shopping I also got a korg sq1 which is a ton of fun

[Invisible Man]

That is an excellent way to start. Doepfer, random case, small and slow. Keep at it!

[solitud]

I just want to leave this here:
ModularGrid now supports pedals!
There is a shortcut URL to the pedal section, that is pedalgrid.net

[behndy]

yesssssssssssss.

[MrNovember]

I just want to leave this here:
ModularGrid now supports pedals!
There is a shortcut URL to the pedal section, that is pedalgrid.net

This is cool! I've always wanted something like this. Unfortunately, it's missing A LOT of pedals and I'm way too lazy to add any

[actual]

Pedaltrain's http://pedalboardplanner.com/ has been around for a while, but it's hopelessly outdated. Glad that modulargrid is doing this.

[solitud]

This is cool! I've always wanted something like this. Unfortunately, it's missing A LOT of pedals and I'm way too lazy to add any

ModularGrid started with 50 Euro modules. You always have to start somewhere. Upload is painless as possible. But I am lazy too and have sympathy with an other lazy man

Pedaltrain's http://pedalboardplanner.com/ has been around for a while, but it's hopelessly outdated. Glad that modulargrid is doing this.

It's no fun to use their planner but they still have a nice collection of older pedals. I wish they would collaborate with ModularGrid, so there would not be the need to edit and upload all the images again..

[kbit]

*cue MLC voice*
Alright! Here we have.....



My first system. I had a lot of messaging back and forth with MrNovember and oscillateur so kudos to both of them for guiding me on my journey

This actually looks a bit different from the stuff I was asking them for advice on, because initially I was trying to pack as much functionality in 90hp as possible (my plan for a while had like 12 modules in there). After a while I realized that I could still have a lot of functionality while being more ergonomic and fun to use, so here we are. My general goal is to make long form polyrhythmic/polymetric jams, and a lot of modules I want to use to do that aren't in my initial system because I don't have the gall to buy a $4k+ set-up before I even know if modular is how I want to make music

So these are going to be my building blocks for now until I can buy all those sequencers I'm dreaming of... Still need to buy some stackcables/mults. The extra 4hp at the end will probably be filled with a Lightstrip, Pico Logic, or Pico DSP. Eventually I'll replace Rosie with a Bastl Ciao and I'll definitely add one of those Pico modules, or maybe the Batumi expander (then mod it to have some OR gates onboard )

I also have a Beat Step Pro to go along with this but I really don't like the work flow, too much shit for me to remember. I'd rather have a plug and play device so I'm gonna ditch it for a Korg SQ-1, or maybe two of them! But even without a sequencer I'm having a lot of fun using Blinds to combine divided square waves from Batumi to make rhythms. Changing the polarity and scale on the fly gives you different yet rhythmically related patterns. Didn't work so well with the Mysteron though, might be better to use triggers for that one... many more experiments ahead.

[behndy]

oooooo! VERY sexy!

Hawt Batumi is HAWT.

[MrNovember]

kbit looks awesome! Good selection! Congrats on making the plunge!

[Ruiner]

Nice kbit! Looking forward to clips!

[oscillateur]

Yeah, that looks like a very good and not restrictive small system.

As I told you, a Pico DSP would add a lot to that, I think .

[Dark Barn]

Nice system kbit! I don't own one but I find it weird that the Mysteron doesn't like your LFOs, maybe Mysteron's excite input expects positive voltages only? I'm guessing, but it could be the negative voltage instead of the pulse width.