My experience, having both, is similar to what @shellfritsch described.

With the right control modules, you could probably build the functional equivalent of the squid with the 301. It would take some work, and more HP, but in the end it would be more customized, the sound wouldn’t degrade as much with pitch changes, you’d have more sample time, and more cv control. But, it would take a lot of time not patching or performing to get there. Once it was set up, though, you could save it as a custom unit and bring it back whenever you wanted it.

That said, I have both and am glad I do. It lets me focus on using the 301 for more hi-fi or esoteric tasks, and encourages me to go deeper with it, rather than using it as a replacement for a module that might already exist, while the squid is ready to take on more immediate sampling and drum duties without requiring so much planning.

Thank you all for the insight, it confirms some of my thoughts after reading the manual and thinking about how I used the er-301. Some of the things that did bother me about the er-301 were lack of immediacy at times and too many options. In a way it’s nice that there are only 3 CV’s for the assignable modulations on the squid. The trigger out and cv capabilities seem deep and it may interact more with other modules rather than just receiving modulation and sending audio.

1 Like

Im really interested in this for a few reasons. I have a couple queries that were touched on above but I don’t think we’re conclusively resolved. Do the sample slice points stay when replacing the contents of the buffer when live looping ? ie if I have a loop sliced up and then replace the sample in that location with a live recording, do the slice points exist in the new loop? Also, can you have a loop(s) playing in some channels and trigger samples from the other channels at the same time? (This seems obvious so I guess I missed the response). My friend had squid and was unable to tell me for certain last night. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to check out these things myself

no, cue points are overwritten when audio is overwritten (“replace”). if you use BPM-based features to place neatly divided cue points, then they should be in the same place but that’s a “please read the manual” tip from me.

all channels can be independently controlled, so yes.

Thank you Baleen. Working through the manual again now

the manual is good and reading a manual before one buys a thing is a very good habit.

4 Likes

Yes with key pieces like this. Although there is something in going blind into a device or a process especially in a swap or trade. The absence of expectation can lead to a more positive engagement. Even if I’m just discovering something in the manual it can feel like my own discovery and is very rewarding. The opposite is true

1 Like

Has anyone found that their Squid Salmple will refuse to boot (screen never turns on, etc.)? I’ve had mine for about two months, and as I’ve expanded my system, it’s gotten more and more finicky.

In my experimentation, it seems like it’s a power problem, and/or a problem with other digital modules (which tend to also be my bigger power draws). At 300mA on +12v, the Squid is my biggest draw right now.

I don’t feel like I’m really pushing the power budget of my case. This is my setup: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/1311117 The top two rows of that rack are in my TipTop Mantis case. The third row is not in the same case. My understanding is that the Mantis divides its power supply into three zones (top left, top right, and bottom row.) I have the Squid plugged into the top left zone, grouping it with the Marbles, Rings, etc.

The last time this happened, I got things working again by moving the Morphagene out to a Pod case. Has anyone else run into this?

I’ve had no trouble with the Squid on my Jel 80w board BUT on my older TipTop Studio Bus, Squid won’t boot initially, I have to power up, off and back on. This behavior did not change regardless of how many modules I had powering up. maaaaaaybe give that a shot? it’s not “better” - but preferable?

Hey, thanks for the reply! It’s good to know that others have seen this, at least.

Interestingly, I’ve seen both behaviors. Sometimes it feels “borderline”, and successive power cycles will feel like a coin flip as to whether it boots. Other times, it will not boot no matter how many times I power cycle. :thinking:

:exploding_head: new firmware: multimode filters on every channel with cv control of freq and res

I hope a CV expander is around the corner :crossed_fingers:

12 Likes

This is very cool. I am super excited to install the new fitmware. It will make the module so much more flexible.

i’m not one for feature creep but this is an undeniable feature

Does anyone know if the default sample banks for the salmple are available for download anywhere on the ALM website? OR… alternatively where ALM pulled their samples from? I do recognize the Roland drum machines from the demos but it seems like there’s a lot of other stuff in there too. Sadly a salmple is outside my budget range right now but I love the character of the samples from the demos and would like to mess with them. I do see those physical USB sticks you can order which is cool!

Couldn’t find the samples, but there is the PDF that at least gives some clues to their source: http://busycircuits.com/docs/alm022-banks.pdf

1 Like

Wow thanks! This is so helpful. I love seeing that they sampled from modules by other Eurorack manufacturers.

Not sure if it’s illegal as such… but ALM sell the sample bank (on an ALM USB stick) for £20.00.

Doesn’t sit right/well with me to upload them when you can buy the banks (from a small company) for very little outlay

Might be worth at least checking with them to see it they mind the upload :man_shrugging:

1 Like

Ah fair, I think that the silver USB on the site is mainly just to have a nice usb for the squid as it just comes with a generic tiny usb, where as the Getaphix ones are actually samples for sale.

Have messaged them just in case though.

3 Likes

My squid came with one of those silver USB’s. Honestly would have probably preferred a generic low profile USB stick though.

I bought mine second hand so maybe they just decided to keep the nice USB and give me the other one.

1 Like