I’ve got one of the early ones that did a weird version of Osc Sync, I wouldn’t even send it away to have it upgraded (despite the kind offer from Pittsburgh Modular).
Iove semi-modulars.
SEM Pro was incredible sound-wise…MS-20M absolutely awesome… But they’ve all had to go…The big daddy of all semi-mods inbound - ARP 2600 FS. ( If I ever get the thing ! )
The Grandmother remains though - love this little synth. Just amazing.
That’s the combo that I have here too. With them being sequenced by the Digis, it’s easy to add randomness through the assignable out on the Neutron. Tons of fun for under a grand to be had!
I am always under the impression that whenever people sequence melodies on an AE modular it sounds terribly out of tune. Which keeps me from investing any money in their products
Hahaha. Maybe the low price point pulls in people not very attentive to things like TUNING YOUR INSTRUMENT xD
Also no QUANTIZER yet, still in production and should be finished in a few weeks so available in a few … months
I have a mother 32 for sale…good price.
In the gear for sale.
The rabbit hole can be just as tempting with Semi-modulars.
On the plus side, there are a lot of boxes out there that can add functionality to a “contained” synth like the Erebus, 0-Coast, M-32, Etc. Lots of effects pedals with CV, stuff like that.
$300 will get you a Koma Field Kit or one of the Dreadbox pedals from a few years ago, and $220 will get you the Boredbrain INTRFX which has CV patches to hook up your semi’s to normal effects pedals.
So much fun to be had.
I’m looking for a semi modular to complement the MicroFreak.
I’m thinking Behringer Neutron or Arturia Minibrute 2s.
I’ve had a 0-Coast in the past, which I kinda regret telling but I think the 2 above would give me more of the traditional subtractive I’m looking for.
Opinions?
I don’t think the plankton ants has been mentioned here yet, I own one and really love it, it’s a real modular Swiss army knife, I use cv from it with anything else that has cv inputs and also its amazing for processing external audio in a number of ways and then it also sounds very good and can make massive 4 osc sounds! Only complaints are the small pots are fiddly and the range at which it stays in tune isn’t the best.
Check out some YT videos to make up your mind about sound and features. IMO the character of sound is quite different.
Different waveforms and waveform modulation options of the Minibrute have a particular character. The Steiner-Parker filter and its Brute-Factor deliver a “less-traditional” sound. It’s more raw and agressive. I like it, but it may not be everybodys tea
The Neutron has some interesting features as well. The combination of two oscillators, smooth blending of waveforms, and the drive section support many very different tones. I love the ToneMod waveform, because it’s quite different from standard wavefoms. The Neutron is excellent at rich and raw basses.
It’s a tough one, I still haven’t seen a Minibrute demo delivering on that aggressive side I like, while the Neutron seemed to be there, but the Minibrute 2s has the sequencer…
Hard decision, I guess it will all boil down to Ebay…
you should consider a Neutron + Crave for sequencing purpose and back and forth modulation between them
I have both … Minibrute and Neutron. IMO the Minibrute can get more agressive than the Neutron, if we exclude the typical sync-sound of two oscillators.
Set the triangle-oscillator in action with it’s Metallizer, combine it with other waveshapes, throw this on the Steiner-Parker filter with resonance and Brute-Factor in action and this little box screeches like no other.
Lots of love for the m-20 on this thread! I love mine (K2 version), but it’s also a bit of a pain.
I started with the microfreak - which I loved - but after a bit, I started to feel like most of my work with it sounded the same. So many different timbres, but after listened to the recordings a day later, they all kind of had a similar techy-digital sound to them I started to find unappealing. Also it was just really hard to expand/integrate with other gear, since’s it’s not at all a semi-modular.
Then I got a used 0-coast, and that little thing has just blown my mind. Such an extraordinary range of sounds that seem to never get old. So that set me on towards modular… (cue dark music)
I got the K-2 / M-20 and it’s so frustrating I constantly want to sell it, BUT, as soon as I listen to recordings I’ve made with it, I realize I can’t, because it too has this incredible range of sounds totally unlike the 0-Coast.
BUT… so frustrating. WTF is with this patchbay that’s, A) not in hz/v, and B) has completely wierd routings and voltage for so many things. How to integrate it with other modular gear is definitely a work in progress for me.
Also, WTF is with all these pitch modulations? Who on earth EVER wants pitch modulation? I mean, the mod-wheel pitch bend has got to got to be the absolute cheesiest move in all of synth music. And this has like several components dedicated to pitch modulation, completely a useless waste of space as far as I’m concerned. Is there any way to REROUTE these to more useful effects, like say, timbre modulation? filter modulation? ANY other kind of modulation?
ya i dont get pitch mod [like on the peak] either. but I also suck at synthesis. there MUST be uses for it, or it wouldn’t be offered…and im sure someone here will/can enlighten
I guess the main uses would be vibrato or FM tones. If you can make you’re oscillator initial pitch go low enough to act as an LFO you can get some interesting stuff going on by modulating that initial pitch too. More for FX type stuff?
if you’ve got two oscillators its cool to patch an envelope to the pitch of one or both for some auto bend.
Boards Of Canada?
Tasty. Always wanted a VRL. Missed the boat. Cant buy them now!
To answer it like a knobhead…people that want to modulate pitch?
To answer it less like a knob head…I use pitch modulation a lot, especially for percussive sounds. A fast one shot pitch modulation at the start of a kick drum sound gives it a lovely little click/impact sound.
I use pitch modulation for vibrato, or just a tiny bit of random or S&H modulation to give fairly static pads some wobble and movement, a la BoC.