Currently playing around with a Digitakt and a few synths (Audiothingies MicroMonsta, Behringer Model D). Everything’s running in to Ableton which I more or less use as an FX box, and that serves me nicely. Soundtoys Echo Boy, Little Plate, and Filterfreak offer lots of opportunity for sound design.
However, I’d like to add at least one hardware effect, for hands on control if nothing else. As powerful as my plugins are I hate manipulating them with a mouse or MIDI controller. I figured Clouds would be good since it seems very versatile, and I can’t think of a plug-in that sounds quite like it. Just curious if people who have bought this felt it was a worthwhile purchase, of had other suggestions for hardware effects that will push my synths in to more interesting territory.
lmao I know, I know…TBH I really do prefer simplicity and a straightforward workflow, so I really don’t foresee that happening to me. And if it does then I’ll surely make all my money back from the chart topping modular opus I record.
Well like I said hands on control is my main impetus here, but I suppose that would let me try before I buy, in a sense. I didn’t know that was even a thing.
Trying it in VCVRack will let you experiment and get a feel for what’s possible in terms of audio processing. It will also give you an idea of how the unit functions in practice (of course it won’t be 1:1 because it’s virtual, but it will give you a good feel for how it works).
Honestly, I wish VCVRack had been around when I had my modular. It would have saved me some time and money in terms of selecting modules. I can’t imagine purchasing a module nowadays without trying the virtual version (if available).
It’s a free demo with no wait time, shipping/PayPal fees, and no chances of blowing your rack if you plug it in wrong. Do it!
Modular isn’t worth the hassle and expense just to run a single effect IMO. Either commit to a small system with utilities/modulation so you can get the most out of Clouds’ patch points, or just grab a nice delay pedal.
The two closest in spirit to clouds are probably Red Panda Particle and Montreal Assembly CT5, but TimeFactor also kinda does granular and speaks fluent midi. BIM, Tonal Recall, TimeLine and Blooper could also be interesting.
Stop at one eurorack module it is obscenely and insidiously addictive.
But Clouds is awesome. There is also uBurst which is the smaller diy version but does exactly the same. I could put you in touch with a top notch builder if you wanted a uBurst.
I agree with the others. Don’t get into Eurorack for effects. You can get some mileage out of guitar pedals like Red Panda Particle, Boss DD-500, etc. if it’s effects you’re after.
Eurorack is great, but where it shines the most, in my opinion, is unique sequencing. There are some great effects in Eurorack as well, but they need a lot of supporting modules to come alive and not sound generic.
I have a uBurst in my rack (no other gear, I only have a eurorack setup at the moment) with the Parasites firmware. I seem to be only using it in the looping delay mode. It’s fun, really adds onto my sound (specially considering I have no other effects in my rack), but it really shines when there’s some modulation. Triggers, LFOs, you definitely need those to do interesting things with the Clouds/uBurst and unless you’re really willing to invest in a bigger rack setup with those kind of utilities, you’d be better served with hardware midi controllers to control your plugins. I’m not an Ableton user but at least on Bitwig it’s possible to use the inbuilt modulators (LFOs etc) to drive parameters for plugins which makes things fun - might be worth looking into as well.
There’s no exact plugin to replicate Clouds, yes, but didn’t Clouds release for Softube modular that can run as a VST? Otherwise, some of the spectral and granular stuff Soundhack has to offer can do some interesting things which might get into Clouds territory.
Thanks for the input, everyone. Sounds like Clouds doesn’t quite make sense for my setup.
Red Panda Particle seems cool, but even more expensive than Clouds, TBH. As for MIDI controllers, I suppose I could map something like a Novation Launch Control to Echo Boy. It won’t be quite the same, but I imagine I’ll be able to at least map most of the functions and slap some stickers on there.
MI_CLOUDS is actually a granular-sampler with some lush reverb. you could achieve quite similar effects by using ABLETONs grain-sampler plus a (preferably “shimmering”) reverb, like VALHALLA_DSP.
BASTLs MICROGRANNY has a more “hands-on” approach and does the same btw, way more “lo-fi”, but, again, adding a huge reverb would colour it away…
why not try the max for live version of clouds. you can map its parameters to your controller as well. and you can modulate everything with max midi lfo‘s
