Modules for acid?

Hi ya, completely new to modular so forgive me if this seems a bit redundant. What modules would you need for acid? Recently become obsessed with make noise modules (still trying to figure out what the hell they do) and I was hoping to dip my foot into modular. Without buying an entire suitcase, what modules do I actually need for acid bass?

There are several 303 clones that are quite true to form. A nice rolandy filter gets you far too (the system80 Jove for instance. Or even more elaborate standalone voices like Atlantis.

Make Noise not so much. Their stuff is great, but distinctly non-acid.

Doepfer has a 303 inspired filter: A-103

The x0x-heart module gave me good results too: x0x-heart Eurorack Module | Crowd Supply

1 Like

I use an SV-1 by Pittsburgh Modular. It gets extremely squelchy and the Blade wave cuts through the mix nicely.

1 Like

Not sure which combination of modules this would apply to, but (subjectively!) whatever is going on in the 0-Coast can have a very acidy quality, especially when sequenced w/ a 303 clone that has CV output (I’ve heard this with the TT-303). It’s not going to sound like a 303 exactly but it’s got that kind of angularity and squishy creepy-crawly quality, maybe just with more of a snarl than a bark. And you don’t need a separate distortion stage to get it.

Erica Synths do a bassline module that’s basically a whole synth voice and acid as fuck.

Likewise, acidlab do an M303 module.

There’s the Eowave Quadrantid Swarm, which you can put into a modular, that will do all sorts, but will definitely acid.

Intelliijel Atlantis if you’re feeling flush and have plenty of room

DFAM will acid, but it’s 60hp so…

There’s a decent sequencer, the steppy acid or something. That’ll be useful if you don’t have a sequencer that does slides and accents, which are pretty essential for acid.

3 Likes

Well anything can acid if you push it. But it’s not the style those instruments were designed for. The lack of resonant filter, pretty much creates a dead wall for many classic acid tones on 0-coast. Paired with an external filter, it can get into some of that afx bassline serge-y territory (but to me that is not classic acid). And none of their sequencers really do slides.

Even the dpo which has a saw, has limitations because the saw is quite wonky and not super sharp. And while the qpas is a fantastic filter, it does not saturate and squeal in the way, I would want from a filter. And it had too many peaks :wink:

If you want to do acid with a weirder oscillator, I would recommend the Pittsburg Lifeforms Primary Oscillator. It does some wild tones for the a filter to work with.