Once again, back to planning a hypothetical eurorack that might never happen. Could some experienced modular experts name me some options for trigger, that would work great for having ongoing drum rhythms in a live situation, that can be changed on the fly, without having to prepare patterns before and without having to program them hit by hit… So no xox like elektrons etc…
I know there are multiple ways of having a combination of various modules like clock dividers, sequential switches etc etc. But I was thinking more about single modules, where various rhythms can be vastly changed by turning some knobs or moving some faders.
So far I can think of
Trigger Riot
Grids
Marbles
Euclidean Rhythm
vermona random rhythm
Any experience which of these work good for keeping rhythms interesting and varied, without having to program all on the fly… other suggestions?
I tried grids and marbles in miirack. Really nice and interesting, but there might be better options.
Thanks.
Maybe look at Shakmat for rythms. knight Gallop is very nice.
four bricks rook is ace too.
They also have a very interesting clock divider, Time Wizard, with 6 outs and logic options, that is my favourite too for rythms!
PS I have a Steppy. Not the module that spits out interesting rythms, but it is very handy for its size if you’re looking for a more “normal” xox step sequencer.
Euclidean Circles is great, very hands-on and quick to use. Basically gives you instant techno beats.
I like it best in combination with something else to vary the rhythm/dynamics in some way — maybe an envelope or LFO on your drums’ VCA to give you varying velocities, or a gate or switch to interrupt/change the beat periodically.
Ive found using one Grids output to Clock Marbles is alot of fun. If in yellow mode on Marbles the 2nd output is a direct Transaktion of the Clock and the 1st and 3rd becomes multiplication or a division of the 2nd output based on the bias knob. Some really cool ratschets can come out of that…
Which is great for generating a range of different patterns. Easily modulatable and tweakable in a live situation to move things along. I used to blend it with more “straight” rhythms through a Noise Engineering Confundo Funkitus, and it’s a lot of fun.
I’m going to second Euclidean Circles. It was so much fun it convinced me to get a Quad Drum, despite my earlier decision to not have percussion in Eurorack.
I would find Marbles frustrating for rhythm in live performance, it’s hard to tell what it is doing and the options are limited. (Random melody is another matter, and I haven’t tried Grids.) EC has loads of the right kind of feedback and is much more tweakable.
Right?? The type of setup that you really wonder how someone can fit so much in a small rack. It all seems to work together pretty nice too. But seems pretty complicated if you don’t know the modules really well, how he combines some things.
I’m coming from wanting to make three genres: techno, idm/glitchy stuff, dare i say jazz-type lofi instrumentals?
Keeping my own personal goals in mind…
Grids is a keeper. I end up using it mainly for basic beats. You can change it on the fly but for me it still never really hits what i want in terms of techno or glitchy beats. I really need to give it more time. Keep in mind the accent outs can be used in ways other than accent.
For drums I just stick with grids. I like marbles but grids would get you faster quicker.
Really is great for a lot of genres. Interface is the key. I’d give the vpdm one a try (not tried it myself). Keep in mind Grids has an alternate mode that does Euclidean. Squarp pyramid and Hermod can also give you a nice interface.
Great module all around. Great Vermona build and design. Fun to use. Great for normal beats but also more exotic things.
My biggest discovery is probably that my best system would be a lot of Euro triggers going from a gate to midi and triggering the Octatrack or other sampler. I really don’t need audio so much from Euro. A related option that skips euro would be Norns plus a 16n.
Four Bricks Rook can probably do exactly what you are looking for but you’ll need to give it some time. It is a bit frustrating at first.
I bought the Befaco CV Thing for this (it also handles V/oct to MIDI) and have used it with EC and Compare 2 on the gate side and M:C and TR-6S on the receiving end.
