Can we talk about modular synths?

[coldbrightsunlight]

Just got a Dixie II in from oscillateur (thanks) and that's very nice. Very good sounding VCO and seems to track nicely, just what I wanted.

Also ordered a morphagene to upgrade the phono and selling some modules too to fund all (read: some ) of this haha.

starting 2018 off with happy new gear.

[resincum]

that's awesome, I'm glad you ended up digging the phonogene so much


the trogotronic m666 is an unruly fucking beast. all the controls are so interactive with each other, it's a struggle to just try and understand what fuck all is going on in there sometimes. you can listen to it for like 5 minutes in some settings and it's constantly evolving. so cool. I've been sending it into a slow opening vca then into the polymoon for MONSTER DRONES. it's mesmerizing having a hard time utilizing some cv ins tho


anyone here use LZX stuff? I'm torn between getting a few modules of theirs or just getting the Vidiot

[MrNovember]

I've yet to actually use any LZX stuff, but I've been planning a small rack based off their system build examples page for awhile:


The Vidiot has definitely thrown a wrench in that plan though as it seems like a much easier way to get started considering the Visual Cortex is more expensive than the Vidiot

Also, this is way down in my priority list. My biggest priority right now is to get a Digitakt and finish building my small Euro system.

[01010111]

The only thing that gives me any pause when it comes to the vidiot is that it still runs at the same voltage as the rest of the LZX line and would need some voltage conversion to work well with any other modular gear.

On another note, I still don’t want to go full modular, and I’m thinking about flipping my Lifeforms SV-1 for a Plankton Electronics Ants. Anyone else seen this or have opinions on this?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sB_9tqQAFs[/youtube]

[MrNovember]

The only thing that gives me any pause when it comes to the vidiot is that it still runs at the same voltage as the rest of the LZX line and would need some voltage conversion to work well with any other modular gear.

On another note, I still don’t want to go full modular, and I’m thinking about flipping my Lifeforms SV-1 for a Plankton Electronics Ants. Anyone else seen this or have opinions on this?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sB_9tqQAFs[/youtube]

Ants looks and sounds pretty cool. I don't know much about the Lifeforms, but Ants seems a little more inviting to me.

And I'm pretty sure you're going to have voltage issues any time you're trying to combine euro and video synths, but looking at the Vidiot manual, it seems like it should be pretty friendly weird other gear. It has an envelope follower specifically designed for audio and all the CV inputs expect +/-10VDC

[01010111]

The only thing that gives me any pause when it comes to the vidiot is that it still runs at the same voltage as the rest of the LZX line and would need some voltage conversion to work well with any other modular gear.

On another note, I still don’t want to go full modular, and I’m thinking about flipping my Lifeforms SV-1 for a Plankton Electronics Ants. Anyone else seen this or have opinions on this?

Ants looks and sounds pretty cool. I don't know much about the Lifeforms, but Ants seems a little more inviting to me.

And I'm pretty sure you're going to have voltage issues any time you're trying to combine euro and video synths, but looking at the Vidiot manual, it seems like it should be pretty friendly weird other gear. It has an envelope follower specifically designed for audio and all the CV inputs expect +/-10VDC

The Ants seems like it’s more geared towards a “modular” experience than the lifeforms, and more and more I’m finding myself sitting in front of my Lifeforms looking for weirder things to do with it. Where this thing has so many functions, it seems a lot more capable as a standalone modular system.

Somehow I missed the +/- 10VDC thing. Where did you hear about that, though? According to the manual the key source inputs only accept 1VDC? If all the inputs accept +/- 10VDC, then this thing’s a no-brainer.

[Dark Barn]

So I’ve started patching up whatever I’m going to perform in Portland. My system is probably big enough to get 3 full pieces patched up without having to patch on stage, just perform. But my system is two cases... I bought some Mr Label cable labels on Amazon and plan to just hand-write notes on the destination ends of cables that cross the two cases. I’ve also learned how to save the current state on all of my modules with menus, a first! Lol

Also, I need to buy more cables, probably even more than I think...

Also I’m just repeating what I’ve heard elsewhere but there aren’t a lot of cross patching possibilities between audio and video synth systems.

[MrNovember]

The only thing that gives me any pause when it comes to the vidiot is that it still runs at the same voltage as the rest of the LZX line and would need some voltage conversion to work well with any other modular gear.

On another note, I still don’t want to go full modular, and I’m thinking about flipping my Lifeforms SV-1 for a Plankton Electronics Ants. Anyone else seen this or have opinions on this?

Ants looks and sounds pretty cool. I don't know much about the Lifeforms, but Ants seems a little more inviting to me.

And I'm pretty sure you're going to have voltage issues any time you're trying to combine euro and video synths, but looking at the Vidiot manual, it seems like it should be pretty friendly weird other gear. It has an envelope follower specifically designed for audio and all the CV inputs expect +/-10VDC

The Ants seems like it’s more geared towards a “modular” experience than the lifeforms, and more and more I’m finding myself sitting in front of my Lifeforms looking for weirder things to do with it. Where this thing has so many functions, it seems a lot more capable as a standalone modular system.

Somehow I missed the +/- 10VDC thing. Where did you hear about that, though? According to the manual the key source inputs only accept 1VDC? If all the inputs accept +/- 10VDC, then this thing’s a no-brainer.

Yeah, I feel like you're right with the Ants. It seems a lot more patchable than the Lifeforms. Lifeforms looks like it has a lot more normalized connections.

It's just the CV inputs that appear to be +/-10VDC (eg. manual page 8 #30 horizontal CV in, #33 vertical CV in, etc.). A lot of the specific video signals like the key source inputs are still only 1VDC. So not all inputs, but it looks like you have CV over horizontal and vertical frequency, brightness, contrast, detail, and red/green/blue levels.

[Muse FTW]

Also I’m just repeating what I’ve heard elsewhere but there aren’t a lot of cross patching possibilities between audio and video synth systems.

Check our Critter & Guitarri's video synths. It's not gonna be 1:1 from what the CV is doing to the screen but they respond fairly well to audio. The cheaper ones take 1/4" audio inputs and spit out video to a Y-cable (so you'll need an adapter for a newer projector) or you could get the more expensive one that came out recently which outputs straight to HDMI (I think).

____

Does anyone here have an Ornament & Crime? I'm interested in it but have no idea who is a reliable builder. There are some on reverb but they vary in price pretty significantly...

[MrNovember]

Also I’m just repeating what I’ve heard elsewhere but there aren’t a lot of cross patching possibilities between audio and video synth systems.

Check our Critter & Guitarri's video synths. It's not gonna be 1:1 from what the CV is doing to the screen but they respond fairly well to audio. The cheaper ones take 1/4" audio inputs and spit out video to a Y-cable (so you'll need an adapter for a newer projector) or you could get the more expensive one that came out recently which outputs straight to HDMI (I think).

____

Does anyone here have an Ornament & Crime? I'm interested in it but have no idea who is a reliable builder. There are some on reverb but they vary in price pretty significantly...

My girlfriend actually got me a Black and White Video Scope for Christmas. I haven't done too much with it yet due to the holidaze, but I did quickly plug it in to test it out and got some interesting results. I was having a lot of fun tuning some of the shapes with my BPMC Premium Cable. I'll definitely post some clips of it somewhere eventually.

I've got an O_C and personally really like it, but I know a couple people on here aren't the biggest fan of it. I got mine second hand so I can't recommend a builder, but I would recommend going with a uO_C if you can find one for a reasonable price. There's probably some good builders available on Muffs, just check the good trade reference thread.

[Dark Barn]

I have ordered a O+C, a Temps Utile, and a µO+C all from Raph Wlodarczyk of Michigan Synth Works, on MW as altitude909. He is well regarded as a for-hire builder, but not the cheapest option, iirc it is $250 for O+C and $300 for µO+C PLUS shipping ($15.)

I will have my OG O+C for sale *most likely* when my µO+C gets here but not certain yet, but yeah I agree that µO+C is a great option, one of the few recently miniaturized modules that actually makes sense to me.

[baremountain]

I read on MW that you have to physically press both record and splice to initiate a new recording, a gate at both inputs won't do it unfortunately.

I'll have to play around with this but that'd be shitty if the gate inputs don't work the same as the buttons. I'm very close to pulling the trigger on a Walk, but I'll have to see about this first. I hope those MW'ers aren't correct.

[worra]

If he’s the one with the cat-baphomet avatar then y his stuff is super legit.

Thats the one. I have a uBurst (clouds) from him and it is awesome.

[Deltaphoenix]

Oh man, I did it again, I traded for a Fenix 2.

[Muse FTW]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll get in contact with him if I decide to get one.

Kinda stressin' today. We're supposed to get a foot of snow tomorrow and my XAOC cluster should've already came with the mail but USPS didn't drop it off, so now I'm hoping someone swings around still to drop the package off before 8pm.