I started typing this a few nights ago (ah, the joy of being a new parent) - now I see you have bought some things. I’ll still post for future interested parties.
I love a Make Noise thread!! And I remember you from the other thread, congrats! They are my favorite manufacturer and I have a lot to say about them. I’ve had almost every module of theirs, so here are some thoughts. Long post, so I’ve divided into sections, the modules I couldn’t “live” without have an asterisk next to their name.
Sequencing
Rene’s: I wish I had Rene 1 back. With Rene 2 I don’t like that I have to load states or remember what notes are in a state. It’s hard to explain without trying both but I don’t use what the 2 adds and I wish it was simpler.
Brains. It’s a neat little add on but I never saw it as super useful.
*0-Ctrl : super handy as a control surface, clock and sequencer.
Sequencing outside of an MN system - Challenge yourself to not use external sequences for a while. Use the left side of the DPO as a clock. Use the phonogene as your clock.
Control
Pressure points. I didn’t get it at first, I thought I could replace it with another touch key option or MIDI sequencing but that missed the point. It’s the pressure, it’s the unquantized pitch, it’s that each If I replace it with a keyboard I might as well just replace the whole thing.
I saw a guy in the park playing a four note marimba like instrument. He got a ton of mileage out of those notes. I thought about expanding using the Analog Memory attachment, but never could think of a use for that many CV destinations from one trigger.
Teleplexer. Puzzling, never enjoyed using.
Filters
*QPAS - Great filter. Usable both as a tamer of the more intense frequencies and a modal voice on its own. I don’t “need” the stereo features, but I’ll never say no to an extra output.
MMG. I’ve owned a few different MMGs and they each behaved so differently I cannot recommend. One resonated beautifully and I used it as an Oscillator. One sounded great but only self oscillated for the first few minutes my case was turned on. The third was dead weight, more like a volume knob than a filter.
QMMG - The resonance gets unusable very quickly, but it is really handy to have a vca, lpg and two filters times four. I wish there were more modules where you could switch modes and it would change the whole patch.
Modulators
*Maths is amazing and enough modulation for two rows. (You don’t have to modulate everything in every patch.) This is a module I can definitely see having two of but when I’ve had two in the past, one of them almost always went un-patched.
Function is cool to have also. Two functions does not equal one maths.
Tempi I don’t think I use it correctly, I couldn’t learn the button combos and the different states confuse me. Still I prefer this over other options (Pamela’s various workouts, Tempe-Utile, etc) as I don’t like the menu . If you have the interest or patience in the bus board capabilities, you can go deep.
*Wogglebug - one of the key elements of the system. Try it as an audio source! Try using it to modulate itself!
Contour - If you must have more than A and D in an envelope, this is the quicker way to do it in an MN system. I wasn’t wowed enough by it to keep it.
FX
Erbe verb - a cool reverb. I use it more as an end of chain passive effect but it is capable of a lot more. The CV output is handy and another reason why you may not need a second Maths right away.
Echophon - I love the character of this delay, I would have been totally fine if MN never came out with a new delay, but…
*Mimeophon - Way more than a delay. Almost up there with Morphagene in terms of multi-use. I use it like one of those old digitech pedals as a mini-looper also. Dont count on this for reverb, the ‘halo’ is more smearing of the delay than a reverb effect.
Recorders
*Morphagene - this is a noisy module! But what it does is magic. I feel like it doubles the capabilities of any system it is in as a kooky tape machine and granular computer.
Phonogene - it’s got a cool gritty sound. limited recording time compared to the Mgene can be
a fun constraint.
Oscillators
XPO. This is one of the only MN modules I haven’t owned. Very intrigued by all the outs, but I tried it out and as I expected it didn’t compete with the DPO.
STOs, I once had four of these in one case, I loved them so much. The varishape, the sine the sub, all sound amazing
*DPO - the very best. Great base sound, really easy to get something wild going. The hard part is reeling it in and not going full UFO ambulance.
Telharmonic - I liked the sound of it, but some of the noise engineering modules quickly overshadowed this. Whenever I wanted chords I went outside modular.
Mysteron - odd character but not versatile enough to keep in my rack. Kind of a karplus strong string kind of sound
Mixing
Dynamix. Could have left it in the 0 coast. Neat to have the option but not distinct or useful enough. Maybe in 4 hp.
Lxd. This is a great little module! Could sit well next to a QPAS.
Optomix. The unsung hero of the case. It’s never thrilled me but makes every patch much more pleasant.
Moddemix. A super useful vca, I get all kinds of starved robot sounds out of it.
Xpan. I had imagined using it like a Cold Mac, a bunch of utilities in one that would get my patches swirling and make mixing easier. It was surprisingly dull in use, I wish there was a twist of some sort. Took a very large amount of power also.
Rxmx/fxdf. A very cool combo! It lent itself to the same kind of patch most of the time, which required a lot of the same kind of modulation . It’s out of the case for now. (see also the Ctrl File)
Rosie. The Rosie’s I owned were unusually noisy but did the basic trick.
Xoh. This is probably what I wanted when I had the Rosie, I would get if I didn’t have the CV bus.
*CV bus - essential. The utility is so simple but necessary. Horizontal mults, brilliant!
Mixing in an MN system- it’s an interesting challenge! I use the effects and morphagene a lot more as faders from wet/dry than I use the optomix or moddemix.
Stereo
a cute trick but not necessary. I find its another variable to have to keep track of in a mix. I like what the XPO and QPAS do but I don’t feel the need to be surrounded by every sound source all the time.
Recommendations
Don’t buy more. Definitely don’t plan a whole new system around things you think the MN system lacks
Hold off for as many weeks as you have new modules.
Challenge yourself to make a patch with three modules, preferably selected at random.
Explore big and little changes.
Protect your ears. Shit gets hot quick.
My Current System
My current system is a shared system minus pressure points and echophon but add a qpas, mimeophon and a QMMG
