Hey guys. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to modular synths. Closest I’ve come to them is playing semi modulars like my old Doepfer Dark Energy (which I had 2 of) an old MFOS noise synth, and my Analog Four to sequence them. I’ve always wanted to get into proper eurorack modular synths but never took the leap due to lack of funds (when even getting an empty case costs like $300) and an uncertainty of where to start. When you can customize every step in the chain of synthesis it gets daunting on what to choose and where to begin. And at the end of the day it seems like all you’re really doing is making really crazy deep monosynths with modulation options galore. But I’m wrong about that, aren’t I? I think I’ve seen something of a sampler module out there, and there are straight up effect / modulation modules, but is there a decent polyphonic synth module to be had? Again - I’m totally ignorant to all that’s on the market so I’m sure I’m missing something obvious. But is there a cool 3 or 4 voice poly synth module I could check out? The synth voice is clearly the best place to start (after you buy a case of course) and I’m really into the idea of a killer eurorack that’s more than a monosynth. There are already soooo many great monosynths out there, it doesn’t make sense to me to get into modulars just to get more monosynths. But a modular poly… to play rich tones, drones, pads, stabs, and chords… now That sounds like fun. This is where my head is at today, my fellow elektronauts!
The question of polyphonic modular comes up every now and again, and the answer is usually a unanimous “don’t bother”.
There are a few modules out there dedicated to chords. Telharmonic, Qu-Bit Chord, Rings can do it, Chord Organ…
But if you want true polyphony, you’ll need a dedicated VCO, VCF, VCA, envelope, etc etc for every single voice. It’s stupidly expensive, difficult to use, and utterly pointless.
My advice is not to approach modular with the mindset of “how can I make a modular do this thing that I’m used to doing on other synths?”. Modular is limited in many respects, but totally mind-blowingly open-ended and powerful in others. It’s not a beefed up monosynth (although it can be), it’s not a polysynth (although it can be), it’s a modular.
I like poly modular stuff, it sounds different to polyphonic synths, to my ears usually better. It’s true that it’s a pain to set up though.
The common logic is that to do it ‘properly’ you need get all the modules that you might need for a poly synth then buy them all again, and again, and again until you have as many voices as you need. Then you need a way to deal with the voice logic. It starts to make poly synths look quite cheap.
However, if you are doing drones then you can bin all that. Look into paraphony - it’s lot’s of oscillators into a single amp/filter chain. If you are always hitting all the notes at the same time for stabs - or leaving that stuff open so they drone then it’s a good option. A cluster of cross-modulating oscillators is, in theory doable in A4 but I’ve never got it sounding even close to how swarmy it sounds with a pile of vcos.
If you want to go the ‘proper’ route then something like Intelligel Linix gives you enough vcas and a mixer in a small footprint. There are some quad envelopes out there. One area where you can break the get-4-of-everything logic is with modulation, a single quadrature envelope might be nice?
It’s not the easiest task for a modular rig but if you like drones then don’t feel that you have to make a 303 patch and Autechre drums like everyone else does. Make a polysynth, or a strange approximation of one. At worst you can just repatch it if you don’t like how it turns out.
Yea, Digable thats about the general feeling I’ve gotten from modulars, actually. Every time I’ve gotten near one I’ve made crazy noises that I can’t really replicate on other synths. Either that or i’ve made a kiiiiiller monosynth sound, haha. I’ll check out those modules you mentioned as I have no idea what they are.
Something like the Nord Modular is more suited for polyphonic modular stuff than a physical modular setup, imo. You basically create a monophonic patch and set the voice count to as much as you can until the DSP chips reach capacity. The only drawback being that, at least on the G1, the sequencer modules aren’t polyphonic.
Reviving this thread. Times change, and it’s good to have historic perspective on things.
Eurorack modular, has become much more friendly to polyphony. What’s changed among other things are various digital polyphonic modules.
What sparked me to post this is CORAL, the new 8 voice polyphonic, multi-engine, 14HP Eurorack module from OXI Instruments. ( Yes that OXI, innovating again. )
This has a choice of synth engines, VA, FM, wavetable, wave shaping, a drum synth, strings, and swarm, plus a sample playback engine. It also has a low pass filter with drive, resonance and envelope control. All this for 399€ !
You can read this SynthAnatomy article on it and see pictures :
Also relevant to the change are modules like the Poly Cinematic from Knobula, or the Qu-Bit Electronix Chord V2.
Then on the control side there have been improvements. The new Chord Pilot from Knobula, or the Cre8audio NiftyKEYZ, Eurorack keyboard, are both examples of this.
There is more, i know, for anyone who’d like to add to this.
If you want all 8, you must work with MIDI, which is increasingly finding its way into the Eurorack world.
I mean. Fine. But I feel like these sorts of modules sort of combine the worst of classic hardware synthesis (closed architecture, limited modulation opportunities) with the worst of modular (UI compromises made to fit as much depth as possible into a small package).
If you are already using MIDI with your modular system, go for it, I guess. But I tend to find these “polyphonic” modules feel like they would just as well (or better!) as desktop modules with some CV I/O and more space for controls/feedback.
But I’ll add ZOIA Euroburo to the list.
Here is a patch that implements polyphony in two different ways:
Via MIDI, the four voices are played with a traditional, gated ASR envelope.
Via CV, the four voices achieve “polyphony” by having a fixed AR envelope, triggered by the input. Each time a trigger is received, the frequency input is sampled and held for that voice (this is the Rings approach, and if you are working with a circumstance where fixed envelopes are appropriate, one of the best approaches to polyphony in eurorack, IMO, since you don’t have to worry about bringing MIDI into the mix).
vector wave seems to be another.
I haven’t read the whole thread so apologies if already mentioned; but look at the doepfer poly modules - most cost effective way.
You can get quite far with 4 voice and some sequential switches 
Also the PreemFm eurorack module is an ‘affordable’ (still euro rack priced however!) way to do poly also
I have the doepfer 111-4(?) and quad input SSI filter …. Its a nice mario thumbs up
1V/Oct is showing a new semi-modular system at NAMM 2023 which is built around their year old the Centre module, which allows for Eurorack CV control of a 4 voice wavetable synth.
Antigone from Nanopolis
New and not finished yet, but it is a four voice multitimbral digital module in 26HP.
It sounds pretty good to me.
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Plus now a technology set up to do polyphonic Eurorack from Tiptop. They call the communication technic ART. Here’s the thread :
Here’s another new polyphonic Eurorack module.
Helical from Sdkc Instruments
This one resolves the “how do you control polyphony in Eurorack” question in a different manner – it’s more of a self-generative approach. Each of its wavetable oscillator voices has a sequencer, an envelope generator, and VCA. At least it’s got a fair amount of CV control.
Detail seems a little sketchy still, but it sounds good to me.
There is an article in SynthAnatomy on it.
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September 21. 2023
JoMoX Mod FM
Specifications
- 8 voices fully multi timbral FM synth
- 4 operators per voice
- Full modulation matrix / 26 algorithms
- 2 LFO/VCOs per voice
- CV/Gate per voice
- CV modulation inputs per operator
- Outputs for each voice plus mix out
- True audio FM modulation inputs
- True analog filters per voice
- 24db low pass
- 12dB multimode LP/BP/HP cont. shape
- True analog VCAs per voice
- Midi TRS type A
- USB C device
- Digital reverb, 2x stereo delay
- Full storeability, also CV amounts
- 128 presets, 118 multi sets
- 2x 128x64px OLED displays
This thing sounds great, to my ears, perhaps the analog filters ? Listen to the audio demos at the JoMoX site. More detail there too.
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September 22. 2023
Neuzeit Warp
Specifications :
Main functions
- Complete synthesizer with 4 voices and 2 oscillators each
- Innovative hybrid of additive and wavetable synthesis
- Four voice polyphonic with WarpEx Expander, monophonic as standalone unit
- MPE and MIDI capable with WarpEx Expander, but also playable polyphonic with 4x CV & Gate
- Comes factory equipped with numerous Factory- and Artist-Created features
- Large pots act as performance-oriented macro controls for several internal parameters
- Each pot has its own CV input
- Graphically appealing, animated and easy to follow menu
- Internal modulation: 2x ADSR, Note-Key and 2x LFO with a variety of waveforms
- External modulation: OMNI CV input (24-bit), MIDI velocity, MIDI aftertouch, MIDI CC
- Powerful and clearly animated modulation matrix with 8 x 19 = 152 internal modulation values per voice
- Many modulation destinations can be modulated at up to 24kHz, a unique feature in digital synthesizers
- The XY matrix serves as a pool of 32 x 16 overtone spectra from which each voice draws its basic sound
- X and Y position to scan overtone spectra in two dimensions (with interpolation), as in wavetable synths
- Complex spectral filter is applied to overtone spectrum before wavetable is calculated in real time
- A mix of wavetable effects changes the waveform in the time domain: Fold, Drive, Bend and Redux
- The waveform is used by two oscillators per voice, which can interact through several effects
- Oscillator effects: Linear detune, Sync, AM, FM, Phase distortion, filtered noise
- Low-pass and high-pass filters with 12 or 24dB per octave as well as filter resonance
- Two outputs for stereo or two signal busses. 24 bit, 48kHz output, 32 bit internal
- Pitch adjustment with stepped encoder in octaves, semitones or fine tuning. Quick reset on long-press
- Several intuitive editors on board to draw your own overtone spectra or derive them from audio files
- Wavetable export function to create wavetable files in the appropriate target format for other synthesizers
Needs the expansion module to give it full polyphony and MPE control.
This sounds pretty special to me. See my post for Machina Bristronica, which also has a sound demo video.
I’m still curious to see when someone is going to build a series of eurorack modules that use cat5a instead of minijack to get 8x voice patch cables.
On second thought, they’re a little bigger than minijacks, so this might be better for 5U.
Pianophonc from Knobula will go on sale on October 8th. ( link )
This 8 voice module does a lot more than piano – though that’s where it’s sound starts. Should be interesting to hear where people take this. Expecting to see some more current videos on this soon.
On the sound capabilities from Knobula’s web-site :
With a built in SD card and our online re-synthesiser utility Waveslicer, users can create their own wavetables, hammers and sound banks, making the possibilities for sound exploration limitless.
All the Knobula modules feel almost anti-Eurorack to me. The contrast with the Neuzeit Warp just above is fairly stark.
This quote from Sound on Sound’s review (Knobula Pianophonic) sort of sums up Knobula for me:
Truth be told, I would love to have seen a CV input for the filter, if nothing else for this very purpose. I actually would like to have seen a couple more CV inputs in general — at times I even wondered why this self‑sufficient MIDI‑controlled synth is in Eurorack format at all; it doesn’t exactly beg to integrate with the rest of a system and is certainly more at home with MIDI than it is CV, not least because it supports CC messages for many parameters I would like to have seen CV inputs for.
I actually am interested in the Pianophonic, because I like the idea of the module itself (I use a lot of piano samples already, and I play piano into my rack). But if I get one, it’s gonna sit in the corner of my rack, receiving MIDI from an external sequencer and only really integrating into the rest of my system as a sound source.
Haken Eaganmatrix:
https://www.hakenaudio.com/eaganmatrix-module
Though I’m not sure how accessible it is from just CV
As for the EaganMatrix Module from Haken – also see the E’nauts thread.
Some info related to that topic is discussed there.
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This may reassure you. This update is planned.
Matt Hodson with Sonic State just did a thirty minute review of the Pianophonic, and he says the similar, and wonders about other parameters too, but later on added this text on screen :
This review is very informative in general, and there is a good amount to listen to, and plenty of guidance of how this module works, and how to work around a couple rough edges. ( IE : This only works if you set the knobs like this, sort of thing. ) I looked at the knob wiggle, but MATTHS is comfortable with it.
The combination of initial sound with wavetable follow on, and the fact you can freely mix and match that around that control dial ( albeit with a small load time ), is a really nice feature. I can see that sound design, while not overwhelmingly daunting does have enough flexibility so that you, or other designers, will be able to create some amazing patches far outside the “piano” realm, implied by the module name.
The SH-3 patch sounds nice tp me.
Don’t recall hearing the chord mode on this yet.
Stored presets across all the controls would also be nice, but as a “module” it is not to unexpected to lack that.
We get a few more posts on the Pianophonic, with other interest, and this one might deserve a thread.