Anyone using a Pittsburgh Modular 10.1+ system?
Keep some money to be spend after NAMM, or if you want to go modular, after Superbooth … 
1 Like
1,5 years ago I started the same route and guess what my first module was? Clouds ofcourse
Now I have 2 x 104hp rack full.
As I have A4, AR and OT, I tried to set a goal for doing stuff with the modular: things which I can´t do with the Elektron machines.
One basic main thing ist the sequencer. I could run the modular from A4 or OT - but that´s not where the modular fun beginnns. Modular Sequencers or trigger based sequencer just can run independly from your straight clock. Think of trig conditions. Let´s say there is a 83% chance the seqencer will go one step further. Not possible with the Elektron gear. But in the modular world there is Pamelas New Workout (which you can sync via DIN SYNC) and little sequencers like Korg SQ1 or Make Noise Rene´. Or you can build your own little sequencer using 2, 3, 3 or more clock divisions and run this into a cv mixer … you know … possibilities are endless.
Soundwise I went with STO and Dixie 2+ for basic great sounding VCOs. (STO has wave shaping). And for chords I went with Braids. I love those wavetables!!!. Also love Clouds parasite firmware in resonator mode. I also added Basimilus Iteritas Alter for drum duties. The key is, to send as many lfos or other moduluations sources as you have into the cv ins. You can send your soundsources to different filters. I went with Z2040 and SSM Filter by Doepfer. Also SEM Filter by Doepfer is good.
Basicly I would say, I was looking for modules that take me in unknown theretories, out of the standard grid workflow, and complement soundwise with the Elektron machines.
But biggest suggestion is: take your time!! You will not learn in a month or two which kind of workflow you like! There a great modules out there but they are a little buggy or a lot of menu diving or what ever. for example I sold Yarns after 2 months because I just was not running as I expected and the menu diving …arrrg! 
Sometimes you buy a module and use it for 1 or 2 months and it feels great but after that it feels you are done with it and never use it again. It´s a bit tricky with one trick ponies, which most of the modules are.
5 Likes
I only started last week:
First: Noise Engineering Loquelic Iteritas
Second: MN Optmix
Third: Maths.
Got the CV splitter from Elektron and am using the A4 so far as sequencer. Pitch to Loquelic Iteritas, Gate to Maths. Then audio from Optomix back into a4 for now. But will go to OT for sampling soon. Also have a 0 coast but just using these 3 moules with the A4 this week. Small Steps.
Next to get:
Disting mk4
Veils
Ripples
(Maybe) Batumi.
Its all sitting in a Tip Top Happy ending case i bought for 70 euro second hand.
2 Likes
Thanks people for the advices.
Keep shooting ideas, I still haven’t made up my mind…
Peak is calling, I know what I can reach with this powerful instrument.
And in the other side, I am convinced modular is wallet murder.
I might totally chicken out…
Or get me a 6U case and Clouds + Elements…
Damn.
I’m frightened!
1 Like
based on my long winded reply here:
If I ONLY had 2k~ and didn’t want to save up more I would get at the system cartesian. It does lack FX but it contains quite a bit of modular, and you end up with rosie which can be used with external FX. I’ve been extremely happy with make noise and I did have a cartesian for a short while (it was after I got my shared system and the two of them combined ended up being more than I needed or wanted).
Regardless though, I would snatch up a 7U intellijel case. You end up having to get 1U tiles from intellijel but really having that extra 1U row is really great when you start realizing you need mults, offsets, noise and other utilities.
2 Likes
Or get an Organelle which now has a lot of Mutable Instruments code and patches available for it, for less than the price of a case plus Clouds
4 Likes
I completely slept on this one. Watched some videos today, now the GAS awakens
Indeed… 2k€ is Peak + Organelle…
Wouldn’t go far in modules…
Might as well follow your advice, pal.
2 Likes
I will say, though, that my ‘sudden 4am insomnia dark thoughts before dawn’ time this morning was spent thinking “you know, maybe I should sell my OP-1 and get back into modular.”
Once the cold winter light came in and the rational mind started to regain control, those thoughts subsided a bit.
One of the eurorack modules that I want really badly right now, the Make Noise Mysteron, often sounds almost exactly like the OP-1 ‘pluck’. The OP-1 falls down by not offering a lot of great modulation options to dynamically shift the sound while playing it, like you can on Eurorack. But then I remembered that the ‘MIDI LFO’ option on the OP-1 plus an Elektron sequencer basically gets me that one module. And I still have the rest of the OP-1’s engines to use too.
But I’ve really had to keep myself from reaching back into eurorack land this week. It’s awfully appealing. But I’ve run into frustrations with it before: I built a small system around a particular style. Once I ran out of case space, and also grew tired of the limited (but unique) sound palette I had given myself, it just felt like too much money to expand and change.
$4000 USD in Elektron boxes later…
3 Likes
It can be amazing, it can be annoying And it’s certainly expensive.
It’s a continuous back and forth between: “it’s the best thing in the world, I need to expand… no, it’s far too expensive, I should sell and get another elektron instead”… Or: “I could do this all on my laptop, I need to sell everything”
(quoted from my head 
)
5 Likes
check out Ladik modules for bread n butter stuff. Small hp and prices to boot. the dude is a module making machine 
2 Likes
dope. a dsp running pd patches. but than i could use a laptop/arduino running pd with an associate controller
and that would be more flexible.
or is there an difference?
A difference is that with the Organelle, you don’t have to build it. Or at least, I don’t. All self contained. I don’t have a music laptop. I thought about getting a refurb Mac and just have it run Pd / Max / Reaktor / VCV Rack, but I just find that less engaging at present. Organelle wraps it into a ‘plug in, turn on, turn some knobs, and play’ party, which can then be extended in all sorts of ways and is still something I can play with on the couch.
3 Likes
The Mysteron is cool-sounding but not very versatile. I wouldn’t let it be your gateway back to eurocrack
2 Likes
the mysteron is one module I miss. I think that the majority of people seem to use it in a way where it becomes the most identifiable module ever, but then a small handful of people go deeper and it ends up being a surprise.
1 Like
I got rid of mine because my skill level put me in category A
OK, I finally decided to go for an Organelle, cheapest way to get access to MI modules…
Totally chickened out, for the sake of my bank account.
2 Likes
Yeah, but I have a problem : glass just destroys my vibe, I can’t seem to be able to play music with a computer or an iPad 
That might change in the future… Organelle may be the link for me to get back to the screen…
But so far I’ve been swallowing my pain, I’m just a hardware guy 
1 Like