2 x Mangrove vs complex oscillator

Two Mangroves is special. Two Mangroves and Three Sisters filtered through a Cold Mac is magic.

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100% 2 mangroves. I’ve had a pair for ages and I’ve seen pretty much every complex Osc (bar the dpo - never tried it and never will) come and go and the groves plus cold Mac gives me all the “complex” Osc one could wish for. Fucking with the sync is glorious

Malekko Osc Ii is a great pairing with the Magrive as well. The phase mod seems to really get the best out of the mangrove and cold Mac

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Well just scored a Verbos CO for a good price but I’m definitely getting a second Mangrove soon based on all the praise it’s getting here for suere, thanks for the answers all, @Dogma we should catch up soon :wink:

I traded my DPO for a second Mangrove a little while ago and haven’t looked back. I thought I would miss clean(er) sine to sine FM, but I’ve just moved to doing it with my Sisters and a uVCF. Using the formant outs on the Mangroves and sending each module’s square output to AIR on the other is something I’ve had a lot of fun with, and is something I never really got to explore with the DPO (on its own, anyway) because vactrols. I definitely agree with @Larrea about doubling up on the Mannequins stuff. I want to get another Cold Mac (one for audio, one for CV) and another Sisters (one low pass isn’t enough) now.

Would love to hear some other patch stories for a Mannequins complex osc-sequel set up… maybe we should start a new thread.

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Slightly OT, but curious why you would never try it.

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Let’s please do that. I have a pair and would love to know how others are enjoying cross modulating them, patching them with Cold Mac, etc. :slight_smile:

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I’ve been thinking of adding another oscillator to my Mangrove as well. What would the benefit of a double Mangrove setup be over something like a Mangrove and Tides? I could see the value of easily getting down to LFO range on the modulator without tying up an offset.

ooo you too? Now I’m thinking of trading my DPO for a pair of 'groves…

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I just got two mangroves (bought from @kbk in the trade section) and they’re really deep. I’m thinking about selling some complex oscillators for real.

Here is a patch without external pitch input that I’ve tried last night. I had to film it because it’s mind-boggling (to me anyway):

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This patch is glorious and shows off Dual Mangroves sonic palette nicely. Any details to share? Great work. :raised_hands:

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Since my original post on this thread I’ve added a second Mangrove, sold the DPO, and moved on to other types of complex and digital oscillators. Very happy with the choices.

I’d be curious to hear what types of complex & digital oscillators fill in for you what the 2 Mangroves are not able to do?

At the moment my main oscillators are 2 mangroves, Intellijel Shapeshifter, and Orgone Accumulator. I’ve also got some dedicated drum oscillators and and modules that sometimes play as oscillator - Just Friends, Three Sisters, etc.

They all have their place, and in complex patches I might even use all at once.

The 2 Mangroves are my main “complex” osc.

Quick addition: I’ve also got a Er-301 on the way and the TXo waiting for me at home. Both of those can also play osc duty, so we’ll see how it all fits together and if anything ends up going.

Thanks @kingcons and @saintcloud. The patch is simply maths in quadrature with the two unity outs into the formants of both mangroves in constant wave mode. Barrel CCW and formant at nine/nine something to trigger pitch divisions. All outputs from the mangroves go to the sputnik mixer while the square of the left one is multed to sync of the right one. The harmonics are generated from an unsynced triangle LFO that comes from an o_C (one channel of quadraturia) and goes into the pitch input of the right mangrove. I think I have said everything. Love this module, but now I want the others. Too bad that in Europe they cost so much!

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Hi, old thread, but I’m curious if anyone has an opinion on @rainlet 's question of the about the utility of two Mangroves vs a Mangrove and another oscillator? Specifically I’ve been using a dixie for complex oscillator duties but I’m wondering if I’ve been missing out on something special and would benefit from adding an additional Mangrove?

i’m quite happy with two Just Friends ahahahah

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My current go-to complex oscillator is a pair of mangroves. But all great options regarding mixing a mangrove with a dixie, sto, friends etc. just different flavours. Mangrove is definitely my favourite modulator though.

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I’ll be the odd one out, and say that when I had a Mangrove I just didn’t feel like it dealt with audio rate modulation all that well; the FM depth in particular seemed quite shallow.

I’d take the complex oscillator any day. I don’t have a DPO specifically, but I do have a Hertz Donut and a Double Helix; my two favorite VST synths are Aalto and Buchla Easel V, and E370 and Plaits and Rings all do FM.

I thought Mangrove had a lovely sound on its own, but also found I could almost replicate it (not quite so sweet-sounding, but close) with a squarewave VCO, Function, and a saturating VCA. In a rack already crowded with sound sources, I felt it wasn’t making a unique enough contribution.

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I wonder how this compares to the more established complex vco’s soundwise. Price and features are great in comparison

The Double Helix is a bit weird:

– Most COs have triangle-core oscillators, but this uses saw-core. It has no triangle outputs, and FM is exponential only (no linear). Using the secondary’s saw output, instead of the default sine output, for FM can give some lovely results. But for some reason, they didn’t provide sync inputs though saw-core VCOs are particularly good at that IMHO.
– There’s no “follow” circuit built in; the secondary and primary VCO pitch inputs are completely separate. I usually use a Stackable for that.
– They didn’t provide a control to offset the pulse width, just to modulate it, so sometimes you have to patch that separately and a bit awkwardly.
– The modulation routing system otherwise is pretty great.
– The built-in wavefolder and LPG complement each other, and the tone of the module as a whole, very nicely; they have a unique, unusual sound.
– There’s a lot of crosstalk and unexpected interactions in the module. It can feel kind of broken and wrong at first, but I’ve come to embrace it as part of its charm and character.

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