I was referring to the original GDC, not the DC-2, which I agree has lots of potential if you’re into Eurorack. I’ve got both the pedal and the ammo can and like them both. The pedal is more practical (and slightly more feature rich) but less fun, just because there is something about messing around with a synth in an ammo can. Both just do what they do very well, but no more, so like the Moffenzeef I guess you’ve got to like it…
At the moment, I’m still messing around with the Maneco Groan Drone pedal a lot, which benefits from a bit more going on, although much less of an instant sweet spot. It’s not perfect, and I suspect makes much more sense in its Eurorack form. But still another great sofa noodling tool.
Don’t forget the Drone Commander emulation script for the monome norns! It’s free, it’s called grendy (since all DCs are part of Eric Archer’s Grendel line) and it sounds fabulous. It doesn’t have the frequency emphasis and sonic weight of a real Drone Commander, but it still sounds moo-hanking cool.
Yes the micro black death is discountinued since long. It is one my most loved tiny noise synths, it’s super random and you never know how it’ll sound.
Not to justify the behavior of internet forums, but i definitely wish i had more IRL exposure to some of these items without needing to buy one first
Thankfully for mental state I also don’t need to validate sense of self by inflicting opinions on persons who didn’t ask for what I think of the brands they buy and youtube demos.
Having got a DC-2e in pretty much those circumstances, I can attest that it drones well in person and much more besides. Not knowing how close it is to the ammo box edition doesn’t really bother me when it sounds so good as-is and can be integrated into the rest of the modular.
I suspect we all wish that, thermionic! But our lack of exposure doesn’t mean we have to repeat echoed opinions about two pieces of gear we haven’t had the opportunity to compare. I’m an empiricist when it comes to that. I can speak about what those pieces of gear can do acc. to documentation, but I can’t speak with any authority about the sound or setup integration until I hear and interact with them IRL.
(I used to go to NAMM to compare things like new instruments and mic pres until the event moved from New York to California. And when I was a full-time studio musician, I rented every available piece of vintage gear over those decades to try it for myself. That’s why I know that the guy from Boy Harsher is right (in the sense that I agree with him) about the JV-1080.)
My DC-2 sounds and looks gorgeous – I’ll post a photo in the new-gear forum at some point – and any issues I’ve had were simply a matter of patching. The LFO and pitch rises had a disarming stepped quality until I realized I’d simply routed them that way.
I spent last weekend setting up my new SiX as a summing mixer (12 ins, if you buy a snake for the Alt channel, and an effects send/return you can stack), so I hope to patch and enjoy my DC-2 at home. I’d been using it at my partner’s house with my toy setup (a Keystep 37, microfreak, norns and 13" XPS) before this.
Speaking of the DC pedal: I’d love to hear from anyone here about whether the filter and gate ins give the user enough control over the clock to make the pedal reliable for use with a DAW. At $369, I didn’t want to experiment with the possible absence of (for me) necessary features. The same forums where people assert conclusions about sound have been curiously quiet about use cases.
Time to bump this thread. Anyone done any decent droning recently? Have just dragged the Maneco Grone Drone out of the cupboard and actually read (well watched) the manual explaining how it actually works. Getting my head around Clouds actually helps it all make sense. Much less of a confusing box of noise, and at times even musical.
The Meng Qi Wingie 2 is proving quite a nice add on to refresh otherwise tired drone boxes. Well recommended as a bit of cheap spray on magic if your drones aren’t quite grabbing you in the way they once did
I hope so - the second part of this (after about ~40 minutes in) was added to an existing and reworked livestream drone from a couple of years ago; mostly MS-20, MC-202, Nyx and Grendel DC-2e, so not actually that many small-format synths in this one this time around.
Interesting (as is so much from Error Instruments). Is there a boundary between small format drone synths and small format noise boxes? Some, like the Babybox, definitely sit near that boundary. But should a line be drawn? And if so, where?
Hey folks. I am a noise and drone lover and I am looking for a versatile box. I wish it can sound wide and all-over-the-place soundscape-y, and after some simple tweaking also really harsh and aggressive like those high-pitched cross-modulated noise lead. Idk if I have made myself clear. I hope it has a small form factor but any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance!
I actually like the pulsar-23 a bit more than the Lyra as a noise/drone synth. I find it has a larger sound palette (and it has midi). Bonus is you can even use it as a drum machine
