Pittsburgh Modular Voltage Lab 2

The Lounge Other Gear
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Anyone know the dimensions of the unit? Just checking if I can cure gas by ruling it put due to size…

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90hp each

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From Modwiggler, dimensions for the unit as a whole (including case)

Dimensions are roughly:
47.6 cm wide
4.5 cm high in front, 10.5 in rear
27. cm deep

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A nice long video of the VL2 being demo’d by Richard Nichols at Sweetwater:

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Only piece if gear I slightly regret selling is the Microvolt by Pittsburgh. That thing sounded insane.

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I would buy the sequencer if it came on it’s own.

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I have it and I’ve thought about selling it a few times, glad I hung onto it! You’re right, it’s wild.

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I wanted the VRL, waited yonks for the VRL2 to come out. Now its here. Im just not bothered.

Post GAS.

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A video interview from Cuckoo with a lot of emphasis on the VL2 sequencer:

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And an upcoming live Q&A w/Richard Nicol on Wed at 8pm eastern

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31

New video has dropped:

I continue to be really excited about this instrument. The oscillators sounds awesome and the modulation possibilities are vast. Can go from chaos and lovely organic squelches to beautiful melodic lines. Can’t wait to get this one in my hands!

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This video is the best one yet. She really gets to the edges in a nice way.

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And another long video from Starsky Carr, focused on the oscillators:

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Latest video from Starsky on the VL2:

I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but every time I watch a new video on the VL2 I feel obligated to note again how KILLER the oscillators on this thing sound.

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Voltage Lab video manuals starting to be posted.

These ones by Starsky Carr. Jorb is supposed to be working on the written manual.

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Has there been any news on shipping? I was told mid June when I pre ordered but haven’t been charged yet

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So the Cre8audio site was updated a few weeks ago to say late June/early July. Apparently this was the timing all along (?). I think some people said it would be early June in some videos, and they updated the timing in part to make sure it was clear that was not the case. There’s more discussion on this topic over on ModWiggler. Latest update from Luna Moth at PGH is ‘They’re on the boat, the boat should be landing any day now.’

We are all waiting for that boat.

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There are a second series of videos posted to the PGH youtube page on the sequencer, following up on the videos posted by @pmags :

Touch controller part 1
Touch controller part 2
Touch controller part 3
Utilities
Controls

But, even more exciting, the V1 version of the manual has been published!

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39

Anyone get one yet ? What’s the verdict ? Is it like a Buchla 208?

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I’ve got one but work has been busy so I’ve only started to scratch the surface. I’ve never used a Buchla, so I have no frame of reference to make the comparison to the 208, but here are a few of my quick thoughts:

  • Amazing oscillators! – I already knew that from the video demos and this was the thing that convinced me to purchase; it just sounds great!

  • You gotta love patching – nothing is pre-normalled. If you want sounds out of this instrument you better be grab some cables and think about your signal paths. Again, that was known from the get go.

  • The sequencer is very flexible and deep but has lots of shift functions and takes some study – I guess this befits the complexity of the instrument but I’m definitely going to have to wrap my head around it before I’ll be comfortable using it for anything but the simplest operation. I personally would have preferred pads or keys rather than a touch controller, but I understand both the historical and practical reasons for this choice.

  • Every submodule has multiple uses – this is a modular trait in general, but in the VL2 really emphasizes this in it’s smart choices of input and outputs.

  • The instrument as a whole feels well made and solid – quality knobs and buttons; metal case and nice wood end cheeks, nothing rattling, etc.

  • I had to get used to reading/deciphering the text near the jacks – they’ve crammed a ton of jacks into a pretty small space. They’ve done a decent job keeping labeling clear but you definitely need to read carefully to make sure you’re patching what you intended to. It comes with 20 of the Nazca noodles patch cables which are well sized given the jack spacing. If you have lots of big chunky patch cables they’re not a great fit for this instrument.

Those are just some superficial thoughts after a couple of hours playing around with it.

So far my biggest impression is that “Voltage Lab” moniker really fits – this is a super-flexible platform for sound and CV experimentation in a relatively compact size, which is what I was looking for.

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