I hear Crave is only better if you care about the built in sequencer, whereas Neutron is more unique and can take your more places? From the number of holes it seems the Neutron has more patching capabilities?
As for the other half of my post…I’m half considering pairing one of these semi modular with a modular unit like a Mutable Instruments box and testing some potential waters. If hypothetically I were to do this, how would I power the modular bit? Do I need a full on power supply or what? Modular eludes me.
Leave the Crave or Neutron in their box — they’re already powered, and then get another small powered box for whatever else — if you’re comfortable with Behringer (various people cringing) get one of their Eurorack Go cases.
There are other options if you want to put everything in one rack, it’s up to you.
Neutron for all the bread and butter functions that come with it. Its nice to have things like S&H, LFO, and a VCA when first starting. Also, those 3340 OSCs actually sound pretty good when you patch them out of the Neutrons signal path.
For the modules you’ll need some kind of power source. Lots of options. I started with a Tip Top U Zeus, and still use it for a little break out box I’ve got. The Pods are also pretty cool and allow for you to easily move it around. There really are a ton of options to be had… Get on Muff Wiggler and read through the endless post for beginners. Don’t be afraid to ask questions too.
Neutron is much more powerful. Its extensive patch bay and functionality has taught me quite a bit about modular concepts. I’m still getting used to its 12db filter but aside from that it’s excellent. Since you can get them so cheap I got two Neutrons and polychained them together to make a four-voice paraphonic synth with 112 patch points. Comparable to a Moog Matriarch at less than a third of the price with more patch points (90 patch points on the Matriarch).
To be clear I’m sure you mean the first plays the first note, the second plays the second, etc.
It’s important to note, how you’ve set the controls on each synth down the line will affect their sound. If you set them alike the notes will all sound similar. If you set them differently, even slightly so, then which plays which could be up to the luck of the draw, building in some randomized variation.
The Behringer polychaining works across models, so you hook a Neutron, to a K2, to the PRO-1, to the CAT, etc and get all sorts of polyphonic randomness in that way. Plug ‘‘em in in a different order determines which gets played first, and get’s played most often if you are playing fewer notes at once. Reference.
well i just bought a neutron for pretty cheap from reverb! and with a cool faceplate. so i’m sure i’ll have fun with semi-modular experiences in the meantime.
any website any of you recommend for buying patch cables?
Get an Intellijel Palette case. Built-in power, midi, stereo outs, and mults. Then you have a row of 1U for utilities and a row of 4U for your main modules. The size will keep you focussed on specific designs.
That’s what they say in the pdf manual…I don’t own any B synths. I was just reading through the Model D’s manual, because somone I know has some weird issue with his D and I tried to figure out what’s going on.
I always thought all B mono synths just forward midi notes, like you said, though.
Anyway, it’s no ‘clever’ implementation of polychaining, no round robin or other voice cycling in any way.
There are some nice software solutions for polychaining, though
