I haven’t looked in quite some time. Dieter had put out some pretty nice modules a while back though. Through-Zero Trapezoid oscillator, etc. He used to go to some of the shows way back, but I haven’t really heard much from him these days.
I can’t even express how true this is
Same - getting a different answer than I expect could be expensive.
It wasn’t planned, but my modular has sorted itself out into three reasonably coherent systems with different characters. There’s a thread on MW about this phenomenon. I think it would be difficult, though, for someone new to Eurorack to start out this way, unless the smaller system is built around supporting a flagship module.
Sounds like Voltron
I had to websearch that. The age-appropriate reference for me might be Thunderbirds.
Context: the 1980s were a golden age of Japanese robot toys and associated cartoons in the US (and possibly elsewhere). Voltron was just one of many where you needed to collect a certain number of toys to assemble the big robot.
I can very easily draw a line from those collectible toys to Euro-mania.
Also, lots of synth music, FX, vocoders, etc.
As long as I get to form the head. I’m so tired of being the left leg all the time!
I agree so much on this point. I’m diving into modular, but I would never want to try to replace my A4 in modular. The A4 is best at being an A4. I find modular is great at the odd edge cases/niche functionality, like controlled randomness, weird types of synthesis, effects design, and really complex monophonic (or at most paraphonic) voices. I would never want to try to make very deterministic music on just modular.
Looks amazing, also your studio and organization, I have no organization, modular and still no camping table to connect some more semimodulars…
Sorry I have to ask does the picture on mirror cuir…ass show a fart in a gigeresque alien, is it the ultimate fart module?
I quite like interesting fart modular sound, also heard a lot of great modular sounds and performances here and yt. The jomox fm module quick demo sounded amazing for example…
Was this created by ChatGPT?
I recently got out of eurorack and back to single instruments/keyboards.
Away from the black hole, it discouraged me to approach… the thought of having to patch was the extra layer that prevented me from turning it on when i had time.
Edit: that’s actually not entirely true… ive kept some self contained modular stuff- but single manufacturer, non euro…
Yeah, after writing my response I realized what I had to do.
I VASTLY reduced my mod setup to a handful of modules in my supplementary case and its limited to the modules I have the most fun with- it makes it approachable again. Not going down that rabbithole ever again
I had a similar experience to many here, and I am in the process of selling most of my Eurorack. But perhaps counterintuitively, I went from Eurorack to Elektron to DAW!
Prior to Eurorack, I had no experience whatsoever with synthesisers. I don’t regret starting with Eurorack at all because that gave me an excellent primer in how synthesis works, from oscillators to envelopes to modulation to effects. And it informed how I approached everything after that.
Taking it slow going into modular sounds like sound advice, but it just didn’t work for me. It’s in the nature of the beast: most modules need other modules to come to their full potential. So I can’t really assess how a module works for me if I don’t have other modules to go along with it. I found that buying stuff in pairs or more allowed me to evaluate modules better.
Some things that never worked for me in modular: mixing (in terms of flexibility, routing send/returns and cost-per-HP), effects (not enough good-quality bread-&-butter effects combined with cost-per-HP – but that’s gotten a bit better now) and sequencing (tried many options, only the simplest appealed to me).
I’ve always wanted to create a modular groovebox with fixed patch cabling but enough routing options, in order to build muscle memory. It never worked.
One advantage of modular compared to other options: only one mains cable to worry about, everything else can stay patched.
With the knowledge acquired from diving into Eurorack I then went into Elektron boxes. I’ll spare you most of that story, but in the end they also felt limiting. The more I knew about synthesis, the more specific things I had in mind and the more I felt inhibited by the limitations.
And then I arrived at Ableton, me who always said he never wants to look at a screen when making music. Well, that piece of software is amazing. It’s actually a modular synth, only much much cheaper, with much better effects, sequencing and mixing. And polyphonic. And working with a keyboard, mouse and controller at your side is so much faster to getting actual music done, but it still retains that fun jamming quality when using Session View.
However, I would’ve never enjoyed a DAW had I not started with Eurorack and learned from its limitations. It’s those limitations that inform my way of approaching a DAW.
(P.S. I still have 6U of Verbos modules and a DFAM, for quick and easy sound creation.)
Similar case here. A DAW can do anything, but you need context and knowledge to use it… otherwise it just seems like a too big empty canvas with too many tools to choose from. My story is similar but in a different order:
Elektron -> DAW -> Modular
Elektron for really learning synths and making something fun. Started to run into limitations when I wanted more finished tracks and fighting with aligning projects. Started really using Overbridge, and that led me to a DAW. Actually started completing songs(!) in a DAW. It did start to feel too much like there was a need to produce something, so I started getting into modular to be more playful/abstract.
Ultimately landed on:
DAW for actually making songs, Elektron for Overbridge plus some groove box fun, and modular for designing effects and more niche experiments in noise/feedback/controlled randomness.
Also, I would never see myself just trying to create “normal” subtractive synths in modular. Seems like a waste, hassle, and honestly not sure what you get from it. It’s best for being weird, in my experience. Modular is great for designing your own effects pedals though! I no longer care about new pedal releases, since I can do pretty much anything via modular, and pedals seem like a preset of a modular synth.