I’m actually not super thrilled with most of the modules in my rack, many of which are compromises for cost. For example, I’d love to have a more interesting mixer (Vortices plz), but my Ladik M-610 gets the job done. There are only two that really sing to me:
3xMIA Happy Nerding
You need knives and cutting boards and stuff in order to cook. But if your knife isn’t sharp, if your cutting board is warped, the whole process becomes a pain. If your tools are well made, they feel like part of you. Suddenly you’re not just making dinner, you’re cooking. If you need something more playable, a Triatt or such like may be preferable, but 3xMIA is basically two of those in the same hp, for about the same cost, with a very modest trade-off in ergonomics. This thing is phenomenal.
Stages Mutable Instruments (qiemem)
Sooo much power. Emilie is a genius. Did you know she made the clocked LFO’s able to follow an 8 step trigger sequence??? Each stage has 12+ functions (3 colors x looping/not x gated/not, and then some depend on whether they’re a single stage or in a group), and qiemem firmware adds a fourth “color” with 4 new functions. I know that many people find this irritating, and even after owning it for 5 years I still use qiemem’s cheat sheet, but it’s just awesome. I typically use the stages singly or in pairs. My favorite thing to do with it is combine two Turing Machine’s either in series or sum. If you put a Turing stage in a multi-step sequence, it’s vaguely like having a Metropolix “accumulator” on that step where each pass through you get a different value.
I wish I had two more of each of these.
I’ll finish out with three that are highly satisfactory but I could live without.
e352 Morphing Terrarium Synthesis Technology
Lovely, versatile digital oscillator. It has some flaws, there are things I wish it did, but it sounds great and is very versatile, not least because it is easy to add your own wavetables. The 2-op FM mode is probably my favorite: you get CV over mod index, harmonicity, and wavetable position (simultaneous for both oscillators). So long as your modulator is not very bright, the modulation is well parameterized for timbral control. Main gripes: in cloud modes, the pitch goes to noise very, very quickly, with about 75% of the knob range sounding indistinguishable; only one mode has 2d wavetable morphing; it has a large panel and big knobs, and yet I am still occasionally jogging the main pitch while twisting the “X” knob.
Bitbox Micro 1010 music
Solid. No complaints. I only got this a month ago, so it may move up to “indispensable” in time. The Micro really needs midi control to get the most out of it, which is odd for a eurorack module, but fine with me since the DT is the “brain” of my setup.
Pamela’s New Workout ALM Busy Circuits
It’s a staple for a reason. It is a powerhouse. Easy to use but not playable (some are able to “play” it but not I). I’d happily switch to the Pro, which is probably the only way I’d get rid of it. If I had infinite money I’d prefer to break out its functions into fit-for-purpose modules, but even then, I’d hold onto it for a small case or just rely on it for simple clock divisions, LFO’s.
Looking at these choices, you can definitely see the preference for screens and dense, powerful modules over knob-per-function and patch programming.
