Supposedly Pittsburgh is coming out with a VRL2…eventually. But, yeah, Eurorack or Easel, if not the OC.
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agree
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The West Pest (by pittsburgh too) seems like a good candidate
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Out of interest, have you tried the Volca Modular? It certainly has the flavour while lacking somewhat in depth, though that’s partly my fault, I’m sure.
0 coast midi B CV question.
When trigger my P23s bass module from the 0coasts midi B cv gate and pitch out; works perfectly.
When i trigger some other synths (sh1000, monotrons) no dice.
However when i trigger the same synths from a TD3s CV outs works as expected.
Is it something to do with amount of voltage 0coast is pushing out? or a setting in 0coast i need to change? polarity stuff?
any insights appreciated. 23edit: shit cables = cv not sent. midi B is such a useful and weird addition. typing this feeding midi b back into main synth could be interesting.
Agree on kicks, wowsers. Once you grok it, they just spew out of it.
As far as 0-Coast reverb, for me it’s Erbe Verb. The lovely little snack plate of modulation they share makes both of them even better.
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For those who wants to hear a 0-coast in action. On this minimal piece with an improvisation-trio of mine together with a percussionist and bass-player i mainly play the 0-coast through Mimeophone.
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Good idea! Gonna do this when I get home today.
Recently had a delightfully unexpected chance to borrow a 0-Coast, so here is a review, well past the initial flurry of release-day excitement.
It’s interesting to come from the Strega to 0-Coast as there’s a lot of contrast. From my Strega experience, I expected a cryptic manual. However, the 0-Coast manual has a lot of in-depth explanation of synthesis concepts and its workings. In the ‘default sound’ mode from the patchsheet in the manual, it somehow inspires me to play peppy little tunes, defying its edgy, 1990s goth/industrial club night flyer aesthetics.* (Think about those old ‘Spotlight on Moog’ type of synth albums you’d find lurking in the record bins.) I have been making a lot of generative drones and it was a good reminder that playing a keyboard can be pretty fun. The sound seems pretty clean, especially compared to the (intentionally) noisy Strega, though I noticed a ‘clicky’ attack to the notes on the ‘default’ patch sheet settings. I can see how this would be desirable depending on what kind of sounds you are trying to make, though, and you can soften this by adjusting the ‘contour’ section to taste.
I can sometimes find the added harmonics of West Coast synths (like the timbre control of the Buchla Music Easel complex oscillator) to be a bit much on their own, but I do really like the richness they add with a nice reverb. That is definitely true here, too. The overtone and multiply controls give a ‘tooth’ to the sound that makes it a great ground for effects. If I were in charge of 0-Coast v2, I’d look at including a simple Music Easel-style reverb on board.
The patch sheets in the manual give a nice jumping-off point. Even if you are someone reasonably familiar with synths, following along will help you become familiar with the 0-Coast UI and get some cool sounds you can customize for fun and different results.
I rushed into trying to patch the 0-Coast and Strega together since I have 0-Coast for a limited time, but this was a mistake. Understanding the parts of 0-Coast better on its own led to a more satisfying experience joining the two up and I got much better results after taking the time to learn both. You can, for instance, try the ‘Krell’ patch from the manual, adjust to taste, then feed the audio into the Strega and experiment with how different outputs from 0-Coast affect Strega. As the ‘Contour’ section is unused in that patch, the ‘End of Onset’ and ‘Contour’ outputs can be freely employed. (Use tap tempo to set the clock rate to your liking, then trigger the contour gate with the clock.) Add a big reverb (plate works especially well), turn knobs, and drone away!
Overall I found this to be a fun and enjoyable synth that would serve well for someone curious about a more West Coast-influenced approach who would prefer hardware and doesn’t want to pay Buchla prices. I haven’t tried the West Pest but it would be interesting to compare the two, though I feel like I would miss the slope/contour and the ‘Voltage Math’ from the 0-Coast.
`* I have nothing against goth/industrial club nights from the 1990s and it would do me a lot of good to have an ol’ fashioned floor stomp to ‘Assimilate’.
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last year I made a few tracks highlighting the 0-coast. it’s exactly instantly the bass tone I want sometimes.
“stinky man jam” — wangus WEEKLYBEATS 2022 week 22 (0-coast, M8 tracker)
“duck 826” — wangus WEEKLYBEATS 2022 week 23 (0-coast, M8 tracker)
“clown car trolley problem” — wangus WEEKLYBEATS 2022 week 24 (0-coast, M8 tracker)
with those and other tracks I made last year, I was a little surprised how smoothly the 0-coast sat among other synths. feels at first like it’s always going to stand out, distinctive. but it’s easy to complement it against other tones.
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Wow — this isn’t remotely the style of music I listen to but mad impressed at the awesome concoctions!
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“clown car trolley problem” I had to listen with a title like that, all of these are great, visuals too
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I bought another one. My sixth or seventh 
This one has some slightly loose/wobbly knobs, however. Does anyone know if they can be tightened up if I take it apart? Also, would deoxit spray be safe for a scratchy Dynamics pot?
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You have 6 or 7 now? Or bought/sold/bought again?
When I bought my used 0-Coast in 2021, I just asked them how to clean it.
Here was their response:
Here at the shop, we clean our module faceplates and circuit boards with a microfiber cloth and Isopropyl Alcohol (at least 90%)
and it is best to clean knobs and other panel controls lightly with a cloth moist with soapy and water.
I don’t know about using deoxit for the scratch pot, but again I’d just email them. They’re good people
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You could try to blow out the pot with canned air first, generally deoxit will work but depending on the grease used on the pots it might give it a different feel over all.
The latter, though I’ve been tempted in the past to have three or four for chords or crushing walls of sound. This time I’m sticking to one unit and recording parts one at a time in Bitwig.
Thanks for quoting their advice. I will email them about the knobs/pot to see what they say.
Yep, thanks, I’ll get down the hardware store to source a can. I might sample the scratchy pot for snares/glitches first through 
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Had much fun yesterday evening with the square wave and dynamics low pass gate! What a bold sound!
Just playing with the envelope led to impressive bass sounds, can’t wait to get back to it
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getting this thing for a step between my dfam and my m8 since im selling all my other modular. feeling excited.
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Bleep ride improv with Korg SQ-1 and Fors devices joining the party.
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