Jumping into the modular madness!?

You would wrench my Telharmonic from my cold dead hands

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Modular is something every electronic musician is going to have to try at some point in time. Itā€™s only a matter of time. Resistance is futile. All those flashing lights, knobs and buttons are too hard to resist as an electronic musician.
Donā€™t agree with people saying to avoid it, you need to try it for yourself and see if the concept and workflow works for you.
Modular is really the only place these days where we are seeing real innovation and the boundaries pushed in electronic instruments and synthesis.
Do it, itā€™s only money, and you can always sell at not a huge loss anyway if it doesnā€™t work for you.

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If you have an A4 this is all you need to start out.
Synapse isnā€™t necessary but it really works well with the A4, and the leds are great providing visualisation of the cv signals.
Any oscillator would work, but a digital wavetable or similar will give you the most diversity with the analog A4 oscā€™s

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/325054

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I love my small modular system. I use it with Reaktor 6 and try to build my own hybrid hard/soft synths. Braids is really good. Donā€™t think it has a VCA though.

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I also use a Hybrid system with Reaktor. If you donā€™t mind using software there are awesome possibilities these days. Reaktor Blocks, Silent way, Cv toolkit, Audulus 3 (even on the ipad) and some more.
This way you can keep costs low.

Braids has an internal VCA that you can switch on or off, and an AD Envelope controlling it

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Forgot about the internal VCAā€¦ Hahaha more fun to be had. :slight_smile:

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The decision will be, do you only want a different VCO ā€¦ then everything different from traditional subtractive synthesis will get you there. Some of those even donā€™t need a filter (wavetable, FM) ā€¦ at least not mandatory.

The madness begins, if you realise, that each new VCO should be the foundation of a dedicated synth voice, which at the end will give you a full fledged instrument rather a collection of signal generators or processors only. VCO - VCF (if needed) - VCA - ADRS (2x) - LFO (some) ā€¦ mixers for audio ā€¦ mixers for envelopes ā€¦ all kind of sequencers ā€¦ utilities ā€¦ and ā€¦ and ā€¦ and :wink:

Very important is what @psyclone001 already pointed out about the innovative power of the many developers. We will always see new modules, which are providing interesting new ways of creating sounds. And the addition of one single module to an existing modular system is allways a multiplication of options.

Can you stand this?

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hey peeps

thank you all for driving me deeper into the modular maelstrom :smiley:
yesterday i ordered a DIY Braids, got a used Doepfer A-100 lc1 case and a few patch cables :nyan:

yea now i understand why there are some people with like eurorack walls / rooms stuffed to the roof with awesomeness. i can imagine its hard to stop when you begin building the ultimate aliengalaxy communication system :wink:
thanks for the suggestions for other modules looking into them, but as i said i want to keep it simple - as i still have a lot to learn from my Octa,MnM,A4,Virus C i just wanted to compliment these babies with (for me) the pinnacle of electronic music systems

modular is such a emotional, sensible and personal way to feel sound/ expressing / experimenting / meditating. Im looking forward surprising myself with the A4/Braids combo.

so another thing - i have always been blown away by formant filters, vowels, squelches and making a synth sound like a metallic alien cyborg transformer frogā€¦ / or human :smirk:
would you think its overkill to get a grendel formant filter to pair with the vowel mode from braids?
and do you know of any other vowel vocaly modular stuff?
im just scraping the surface

PS: im picturing myself in a deep cave in the woods, a huge ass modular system in front of me and all animals gathering around me, listening to some esoteric bullshit noise XD

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honestly, those modular walls look frightening to me. I would go crazy. 6-9 U racks look much more usable and inviting to me :slight_smile:

Try the formant filters, because they should be different ā€¦ modulation and sound wise.

hey guys, so again the old problem

syncing the A4 to the braidsā€¦

using mono cables and set the internal VCA of the braids to ON

Analog 4 CV A - Pitch V/oct CV B Grounded
connected to the v/oct input of the braids

CV C Gate, V-trig, 5 Volt
CV D Grounded
connected to the Trig input of the braids

i can trigger very short blips via the keyboard of the A4 in the braids and hear it very well (with the VCA off its a endless drone)
but i cannot use the sequencer to program notes in, i do and i programmed every octave every note into the sequencer still no sound from the braidsā€¦
please help :frowning:

Man Iā€™m dumb. Iā€™ve had Braids for 3 months and just now started playing with the internal VCA. It completely changes the module - Itā€™s amazing!!
Iā€™m running out from Braids through M:I Clouds and into Analog Heat then into Reaktor via Expert Sleepers ES3/6 and modulating from Reaktor (Clock/lfo/env) and from within Braids itself (ATT / DEC and FM). Stunning sounds - also using Rounds Reverb in Reaktor which I think sounds really nice too.
I need to get a few more of these.

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You need to adjust the ATT and DEC settings from within Braids if you want to hear more than blips because the default setting is for very short attack and decay times. Not sure about pitch though.

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hi thanks yea that works better hahah sorryā€¦ but it always plays the same noteā€¦

HA! now i got itā€¦ i donā€™t know why but chasing the CV D to Pitch v/oct made the jobā€¦ so now i just have to get the LFO/ENV/Filters workingā€¦ omg im going crazy

PS: now i got the LFO and ENV runningā€¦ buuuuuut wellā€¦ i think i need 2 stereo to Y-split mono cables to fully get goingā€¦ just learned that painfully and im not known for being the most patient guyā€¦ :sweat_smile: :rage: :tired_face:

Braids is nice, Braids is versatile, Braids is ton of fun, Braids sounds good, but Braids is not meant to be the entry point in modular imho, because it is actually not so modularā€¦

Surely it probably packs one of the most function per hp per buck spent from all released module ever but youā€™ll learn nothing about how to patch a voice with Braidsā€¦

Get a dixie, get a vca, build from here !

This post worth nothing more than my two centsā€¦

P.S: I owned DPO, Dixie, Braids,shapeshifter etcā€¦Keepers have been Shapeshifter, Dixie and Doepfer A 110-4 ( thru zero )

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Welcome in the craziness of modular.

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Iā€™m jumping into this modular stuff as well to go with my A/Keys

got my self a 84Hp powered enclosure about a month ago but i have no modules yet :loopy:

still its been fun researching which ones Iā€™m going to get

You have had an empty case for a month?!? ā€¦

ā€¦ while you do research?

You are a paradigm of self control (so farā€¦)ā€¦:wink:

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Respectfully disagree.
Why wouldnā€™t you learn as much as using a Dixie?
Use Braids without its env and vca, and functionally itā€™s the same as Dixie, but just much more diverse.
Apart from being analog and digital, both just an oscillator that omits sound. Look at their cv control. Virtually the same.
Donā€™t get me wrong Dixie is awesome, I used 2 in my euro rig (FMā€™ing each other is glorious). Fact is one Dixie alone wonā€™t get you nearly as far sonically as Braids.
You would need to partner Dixie with at least another Dixie, or other oscillator for FM etc, whereas Braids algorithms provide much more diversity alone.
Will agree with you on Shapeshifter though, my fav euro osc.

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Haha yeah itā€™s more of a money situation than having patience
got my first module coming in the post next weekā€¦ 2nd hand pre made Turing machine of all things