OffT..and maybe this topic of modular journeys should be given a new thread or added to the "am i modular person..." thread as a lot of crossposting?
It’s definitely a very slippery slope…but for me it’s because it’s so damn inspiring and fun. I got Samples From Mars Modular pack and as I was looking through them I came upon these sounds that were unlike anything I’d ever heard. When I looked I went “What the hell is a DPO?” So after a lot of ho humming I got up the nerve to sell my ASR10 to fund a 84HP case, a DPO and a few other choice modules. Glorious. So sold off my Mother 32 to fund a few more modules to fill the case. Gloriouser. Bought Beads without even having room for it. Creative heaven. Now planning to sell my Microvolt and Zoia to start another 84HP. Do I feel guilty? Absolutely not as it is a constant source of inspiration and nourishes my creativity and curiosity like nothing else (I have finally admitted to myself that I am no menu person). I don’t even really care if I never “finish” (whatever that means) another track. The journey is just too good.
But I think it’s also important to be self-reflective and not to go over board: plenty of testimonials in the modular world of that.
OnT: I am so glad I held off on a Morphagene/Mimeophon combo. Though arguably more powerful, Beads is incredible for only 14HP.
Shouldn’t do although extremely short envelope attacks or decays might I suppose. There does appear to be a crackling issue related to overlapping grain generation under certain conditions. I believe Emilie has already found the source and working on an elegant solution.
Haven’t read thru the full thread but the beads is one of many modules that can work standalone and it actually works with line levels. My first module was the morphagene which also accepts line levels.
And because of the attenurandomizers you don’t need external lfo’s or anything.
To be honest coming from the hardware world i prefer to twist knobs by hand but euro ppl swear by modulation. I think that’s where the whole world of bleeps and bloops come in which I’m not too much a fan of tbh.
There’s a lot of new gear popping up that can almost work stand-alone especially processing gear such as beads. You could simply run 1/8 to 1/4 cables and plug it into any mixer or device as you would an efx pedal.
I suggest a midi to CV mod. It’s AWESOME.
You can use VCV or Blocks to handle all kinds of stuff that isn’t the most exciting to have in your rack. Have a smaller rack, and just get the special mods you would like. Save a ton.
Sure the initial midi to cv is a little pricey. But cheaper in the end.
ZZZ - ES-8 [also I/O]
ZZZ - FH-2
Polyend - Poly2
Great options. And you can use the Elektron sequencers nicely with yer rack.
Personally, I’d keep the Moogs in their own cases. I don’t really see the benefit in putting them in a rack unless it’s huge. Also, more room for modules!
My mistake. I make the conversion in VCV or Blocks. But it seems to be a touch more accurate than the FH-2. [ive got both as well. +2 expanders and din expander for the FH-2]
I find it interesting that people don’t explore this nearly enough in terms of processing and treatments. People often forget I think that they can plug instruments into their synths too and use them to alter the sounds. I’ve always loved this aspect!
Beads and Instruo ochd (no idea how to pronounce) make a nice pair there! Lot of capability with just those two modules plus the obligatory input module for string instruments.
So my beads arrived, and it’s basically clouds with a slightly crisper audio quality. I don’t understand why it’s a different module rather than a firmware update.
Mutable site says " The hardware and software have been redesigned from the ground up , with several goals in mind: a crisper and broader sound palette, more control, better playability, and direct access to exciting new features."
It does what Clouds does. It can possibly go to more extremes in some instances like sample length etc and has the random LFO on the negative attenuator. Some of the randomness isn’t very noticeable on the shape knob and I seem to sometimes get overly loud crack sounds when I use the sharp attack shape.
It’s missing some modes which clouds has, the reverb sounds a touch better and spacious. The basic play a sound and it triggers snippets either in time or at random is more or less the same, just sync’d differently.
When sync’d to a clock the grains don’t trigger very fast, just on the clock. I was expecting it to do 1/64th 1/32 divisions etc of the clock and this doesn’t seem to happen (or I don’t notice it doing it)
If you had one of those ambient vids with the lush plinky plonky stuff, you know rings -> clouds/beads , I think you’d be hard pushed to tell which used which.
I possibly need to dive more, but so far it feels like 15% different functionality and a different panel layout rather than a “redesign from the ground up” ,
Clouds is very good at what it does, this is probably very good at what it does if you don’t already own clouds. But it’s like an alternative side step if you do.
