Skulpt from Modal Electronics

The Lounge Other Gear
#141

I just got mines back from a pal who’d had a loan of it so he had something to use with the new midi out from his A4. He liked the ModalApp OK but didn’t particularly like the front-panel with it’s quirky diagonal layout. For me, I’m OK with both but the physical interface is a bit marmite. Sound-wise, I think it sounds really nice and I enjoy it a lot.

I wouldn’t say it’s a straight-forward alternative to the Argon8 as the oscillators are more traditional morphable analogue waveforms. No wavetables or processors available. If the wavetables/processors are what interests you then you can get the Craft2.0 which is much more similar albeit with a greatly reduced number of wavetables and it is only monophonic. I also also have a Craft2.0 which I like even more than the Skulpt - for just north of £100 it’s an amazingly flexible and great sounding monosynth. Especially when you consider that you can use the Spread parameter to create chords.

So, for me, having both Skulpt and Craft 2.0 means I’m able to resist the temptation of the Argon8. There is a review on YouTube by Stimming where he goes through both devices so that might useful for you.

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#142

thanks for the detailed response, I watched that video and he too says he prefers the CRAFT 2, tbh everyone who owns both says the same. im thinking I may be inclined to grab the CRAFT 2 after all

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#143

I’d swap my SKULPT and craft 2.0 for the argon8 in a heartbeat if the Argon8 wouldn’t be so big. For the size, these two are still superior choices over any volcas IMO.

In terms of sound architechture, the craft 2.0 beats SKULPT hands down. However, on UI and voice count, SKULPT beats craft 2.0 equally. Craft also lacks the sequencer which is quite decent on the SKULPT.

What I hate the most about both boxes is the clunky preset switching. Its a PITA to switch presets and sequences live, and even remote controlling over MIDI requires using both pgm chng and MIDI CC for the SKULPT. I wish we could select whether or not to link a specific sequence to a specific preset on a per-preset basis, that would be ideal.

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#144

ugh I would love to have hands on use to be honest the more im looking into it the more im talking myself out of it lol, I have a micro freak which is comparative to the craft apparantly but better?

#145

It bloody well should be. Craft 2.0 is lots cheaper. However I haven’t used microfreak so really can’t say - kinda thought the microfreak would have too much overlap with my Shruthi-1 (MI algos, modmatrix, analog filter, minimal UI) so haven’t even considered getting one.

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#146

I didn’t know much about Skulpt and Craft 2.0 until about a week ago, and from what I’ve seen online they are surprisingly powerful synths for the price and form factor.

I ended up pre-ordering the Argon8 yesterday and with any luck will have it before years end, but I was seriously debating getting a Craft 2.0 or Skuplt instead.

#147

I also decided against the Microfreak and I’m also a bit of a shruthi fan. But the reason I decided against it was more that I ended up going with the MinilogueXD as the various Mutable Braids algorithms are available for it’s MultiOsc. The oscillator shapes within the Shruthi are quite different and the various ways you can mix/combine the 2 oscillators ends up sounding kind of different. The Braids algos are what is in the Microfreak.

So, to get back to what @Sureno was asking, I don’t think there is too much crossover with the Modal stuff here. Especially a lot of the detuning which I think gets into quite different territories.

#148

I’ve had a CraftSynth 2.0 for about a month. The interface is irksome but not impossible- after a couple of sessions with the app to help figure out what’s going on, I happily use it disconnected. It does some sounds very well - I’ve made cross modded OBish sounds that make me sad it isn’t polyphonic, and some interesting wavefolded percussive bleeps. A cautious recommend, it has a place for me, but I don’t have many synths.

#149

No regrets for you then! AFAIK the Argon8 is like an 8-voice version of craft 2.0 with a UI that’s even better than the SKUPT’s, and it also has the SKULPT’s sequencer! Best of both worlds I’d say, and more.

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#150

I love the craft but really hate the UI. I can’t even progrm patches on it without the modal app editor, unlike on the SKULPT. But guess its just me.

#151

Thank you guys for all the input, I think I will be passing on the Modal stuff for now I think, when I move to a house il be able to entertain the argon8 so may just hold fire till I have a dedicated studio rather then hacked bedroom job with limited space

#152
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#153

I’m expecting a 2nd hand Skulpt soon to complement my Model:Cycles.

It says the output is dual mono, so I’m wondering what’s the best cable to connect to my mixer which has mono and L, R trs inputs?

Also, it would be awesome to stereo spread the oscillators but that’s not available so I’m wondering what would be the best hack? Bit of stereo chorus and reverb as a send?

#154

I’ve started using a TC Electronics Mimiq to conver my Minilogue to stereo - works really well, but you do tend to lose a bit of bottom end, so not the best on bass patches. Easy to compensate though.

I really wanted to love the Skulpt, and it did sound amazing for the short time I had it. It just felt far too flimsy to last even moderate usage. I would have been scared as hell to use it live too.

#155

The mimic looks like a good solution, I’d have to try one. I don’t want to lose the centre image too much.

I really want a dreadbox typhon but am waiting for them to sort a few things out before I buy one so when I came across a fair priced Skulpt I thought I’d try it.

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#156

Yeah, I really want to love the skulpt but the build and plastics feel so cheap that other things literally ‘feel’ better to play. At least it uses standard batteries or USB power
I’ve had prototype products to work on that feel better than this “production” output.
I’m a hoarder, so I will hold on and give it another go though… Other things are giving me more joy at the moment though.

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#157

Did a Black Friday impulse buy. Should be getting this on Monday.

I have a Digitakt and a Digitone, plus other gear including mono and paraphonic analog.

I’ve been casually looking at poly analog gear, all the way up to the A4.

I figure that the Skulpt, as a mostly passive box driven by my Digitone sequencer, will be a cheap experiment to get a sense of if I really NEED poly analog in my live setup.

Yeah, I know it’s apples and oranges compared to an A4, but if VA poly brings enough to the table, I can always upgrade to something else later.

From the demos and reviews, Skulpt’s VA sounds quite nice, and I certainly have the sequencers and/or keys to drive it. Don’t care too much about the controls layout or the lightweight plastic feel as I’ll probably use the app for sound design and mostly not even touch the controls during performance.

I’ll see how it goes, but if nothing else, it looks like some inexpensive fun.

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#158

Nice price £155

MODAL SKULPT @ THOMANN

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#159

It showed up a few days early.

I haven’t done a deep dive yet, just played with some presets and created a few sounds of my own. Broke down and used the editor on iPad, which made sound creation much more fun.

Anyway, first impressions are that it can do a variety of convincing, even inspiring sounds. It has enough (virtual) analog mojo with plenty of sweet spots for me to start putting some effort into using it as a piece of my rig, sequenced by the Digitone. Ideally, live, I’ll just leave the lid on and let the DN or keyboard controller do the driving.

Preset volumes are all over the place, and I wish they had done some kind of phase/volume compensation when spread is engaged, but that’s probably nitpicking since I’m going to use my own patches anyway. But it is annoying to crank the volume to properly hear a spread pad, only to be punished when switching to a fat mono bass preset. Watch out for those levels when auditioning sounds.

I still want to do some A/B comparisons with my real analog or a high quality soft synth like The Legend, see how close I can get, but at first blush, Skulpt seems quite worth the money, just for the sounds it can do. From the demos online, I was reasonably confident it could do what I hoped, but nice to have it confirmed in real life.

Now, off to get this thing working properly with DN MIDI sequencing …

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#160

Gah! I don’t think the Skulpt stores volume per patch. This may be a serious problem if I want to treat it as a hands-off box with extra VA voices driven by the DN. In fact, I would think that’s a problem for anyone who wants to use it live with various patches.

I could try routing it through the DN audio in, which does have per-pattern input levels, but it’s an ugly way to solve for something that should be standard on ANY digital synth with presets.