#1

These look mighty impressive. Had my eye on them since they were announced but yet to see or hear any demo material. Anyone here using one?

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#2

I got in on the early birdsā€™ batch. Pretty insane. What would you like to know?

Edit: just the 506, not the expander.

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#3

General impressions, I suppose. What sorts of things are you doing with it? Iā€™m interested in how useful the max/min idea is.

#4

Hmmmā€¦where to begin?

First off, the build quality is exceptional. Secondly, it is physically very dense. To the point where itā€™s hard to flip switches, turn the lin/log/amp/offset pots, or read the labeling (tiny). But Iā€™m over that now, because functionally, it is really fun.

To be honest, I havenā€™t delved too deep into itā€“really just firing off quick stochastic envelopes or using it for normal quad envelope functions (min being higher than max for the latter). I need some more time to play around with cascading envelopes and sending it more cv. Iā€™m sure itā€™s a drone beast, though I havenā€™t explored that aspect of it yet really. I think its stochastic nature is most apparent for relatively short envelopes. In fact, it can have a pretty natural, almost electroacoustic. feel depending on how narrow the min/max are set.

Iā€™ll try to remember to record a simple rhythm tonight with it and post it here.

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#5

Iā€™m curious if its a Maths replacement.

#6

I have both in my rack, if that tells you anythingā€¦

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#7

It tells me youā€™ve got a big rack!

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#8

Iā€™m mostly interested in it for an electroacoustic(ish) application. I did wonder that about the switches etc., though it seems like you could easily get a lot out of just tweaking the min/max dials and patching it really densely.

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#9

It looks especially useful for generative stuff (I saw Keith Fullerton Whitman praising it recently on his Instagram page) but I canā€™t help but think it would be more useful as a smaller module with a series of expanders / companion modules, rather than being jam-packed with a 2HP expander for the stuff they couldnā€™t squeeze into the main panel.

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#10

Canā€™t say if could be a replacement, depends on the context. Obviously they definitely have overlapping capabilities. This is something Iā€™m currently exploringā€“for the record, Iā€™ve never been in love with Maths. As a patches control source, Maths is probably more readily tweakable, especially because of channels 1 and 4 controls. The lock/unlock feature of the 506 is key.

#11

Early adopter here. I may be a little biased because iā€™m a long time fan of ADDACā€™s designs, but i must say they crafted a pretty insane module here.

@b_w said it : outstanding building quality, a lot of functionalities to be mastered in a small place. I agree the switches feel tiny at first, specially the oneā€™s about the enveloppeā€™s range (the fastest are in the middle, slow on the right, mid on the left). That being said, the little pots for scaling and the leds help a lot : you can always figure where you are.

I havenā€™t dig that much in it. For now iā€™ve used it in percussive patches, where the random lengths, carefully wrapped around close values give a very natural and acoustic feel to a beat. With the lock function and the option to put the random out of the way (when MIN>MAX), i use it as four enveloppes packed with gates (EOR and EOF). I used also the slew to have two versions of the random CV spitted by the expansion (the gated one and a slewed one derived from the first).

All in all, the possibilities are huge.Iā€™ve owned a Maths and the 506, clearly, is much less immediate at first, less ā€œopenā€ in a sense. But itā€™s a module that make you think about what you want, and approach a patch in a reflexive way i tend to appreciate.

Sure, not everybodyā€™s cup of tea, but itā€™s a thing to be tried.

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#12

Agree wholeheartedly. As an owner of one, I was wondering if you had this issue: My channel 1 lin/log pot is very tight. Iā€™m hoping it will loosen up. Do you have any like that too?

#13

stochastic_redesign
stochastic_redesign.png1024Ɨ768 21.7 KB

I made a mockup of a redesigned Stochastic Function Generator, which would break the center portion of ADDACā€™s design into individual modules, with anywhere from one to four expansions able to be chained to the main 506 controls. It would take up a few more HP if fully expanded, but I think itā€™d also be a hell of a lot more playable.

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#14

No, in my case the pots show no problem.

The offsets are very sensitive, but itā€™s just the consequence of their function. When you offset an enveloppe, the result is immediate (for example, with a VCA a perc can turn drony etc.) and the tiny size doesnā€™t help that much!

Build quality wise, beside having a 709Mel with the Dry/Wet inverted (a common mistake in this batch i think), i havenā€™t had any problem with Addacā€¦

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#15

Where did this come from?

#17

I made the mockup in Adobe Illustrator.

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#18

I think the ADDAC506 looks excellent. Currently waiting on mine to ship :slight_smile:

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#19

I received mine a few weeks back. I also own the ā€œoriginalā€ design made by the collaborator of ADDAC Systems, and I can say I absolutely love where they went with this design. The UI is a non-issue for me, but then again I never mind small modules that others do.

Iā€™m also in love with the Min/Max concept that ADDAC have been using in their random modules. I like how you can define where you want your random changes to take place.

Currently trying to figure out a case build around the stohastic functions. This is like an extremely pimped Doepfer a-143-1/a-143-2.

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#20

Originally, I was concerned with the UI, but after a few months i can say that the 506 is the heart (ok, maybe lungs?) of most of my patches. It has been long enough that itā€™s become second nature to operate.

And I formally amend my previous exchange with @bobbcorr. I sold the maths what seems like ages ago. Just the 506 now. Not looking back at all.

#21

Your amendment to our previous exchange is noted and appreciated. I refer the honorable person to the reply I gave some moments ago. Cough.

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