#1

I don’t see an existing thread about the Xaoc Batumi.

I’ve got one and like it so far, but can’t help feeling that there must be more to know about it.

I would love to hear any tips, tricks, insights or cautionary tales…

Thanks!

6 Likes
#2

My fave LFO collection.

Some things that are probably old hat but I love:

Divisi mode: feed it a 16th or 32nd and now you can set up simple drum triggers using square

Self patching for crazy waves, combine with a comparator or cv mixer for gates of interesting patterns.

Makes a fantastic janky VCO for a low/mid voice

Phase mode for adding and adjusting timing (swing, boom bap jank, etc)

Can’t wait to hear what others do with it. Love this thing. It’s almost up with Three Sisters in terms of desert islandness.

6 Likes
#3

My favorite modulation source! If you have a good handle on how to use it already I’d recommend the “individual wavebank” alt firmware.

5 Likes
#4

I still haven’t tried out the individual wavebank firmware but I’ll have to give it a shot. It’s also my favorite modulation source–so much potential in so little hp. I love the expert firmware, and it turns Batumi into a really excellent random source with a lot of nice tricks.

I also really love it as a quad oscillator! Using divide mode you can sequence the divided outputs through sub-octaves and get some really cool results. I posted this in the Latest Tracks thread a while ago but Batumi is creating all the synth tones here with a randomish sequence from Disting controlling the main oscillator and LFO’s from Frames modulating the other three through their divisions.

It sounds decent under FM, too but I don’t have any examples of that at the moment. If you rectify the outputs you can double its upper frequency limit which is nice since it will only remain stable up to about 500Hz.

3 Likes
#5

How hard is it to install the alternative firmware, and maybe more important, to restore the original firmware?

Thanks!

#6

i found it easy to install alt firmwares - usb cable, app from XAOC, done (i think one time i had to do it twice but success nonetheless)

i like the individual wave bank bc i don’t need 4x random shapes from batumi but 1 or 2 is nice

1 Like
#7

I love my Batumi. Very glad to see this thread start up. Still plumbing its potential, and will be for the foreseeable future. I have a WMD S.P.O. module (“a polarizing scaler and offset generator”; 4 HP) that I almost always use it in tandem with, and a Pequeño Interruptor module (a 1HP expander). There’s a degree to which I think of the three of them as a single unit.

7 Likes
#8

also sorry i haven’t reinstalled the orig firmware (just for clarity!) but i can’t imagine that’s trouble.

the nice thing about individual wavebank is using those 1-2 random shapes to self-patch (attenuated is my preference but go wild) and still have “normal” saws/tris on the other outs

#9

So the Interruptor is serving as a Poti!

Does it come with jumper cables?

1 Like
#10

Yeah, serves as a Poti and comes with jumpers. (If I’m not mistaken, it’s actually like two Potis.)

1 Like
#11

Is the 1hp size such that it’s hard to get your fingers in there?

I like the idea of a 1hp module which makes it conceivable to have another odd-number hp module!

#12

Works for me, but I imagine for some people’s hands it might be hard. It’s just a switch you flip.

2 Likes
#13

@jwm was making 2hp POTIs for a while, maybe he still has some.

1 Like
#14

yeah i’m 99% sure i still have some laser cut panels laying around in a drawer somewhere…

batumi since its release has been pretty indispensable for me (i am also using the alt firmware). with the notion that it can all be sync’d/self patched, batumi + maths + lets splosh is a slip & slide wonderland of modulation.

2 Likes
#15

Can you say more about Let’s Splosh? That looks interesting…

1 Like
Design, usability, theory, philosophy, etc. threads
#16

as @jwm got me sploshed i can confirm that it is interesting and with batumi and maths (or any other function generator, gate, clock…) is makes things quite interesting and definitely expands the possibilities of whatever you are cooking with (but relies entirely on the CV it receives).

this may not illuminate your interest very specifically but you should be interested

it does add another 20 patch points in 12hp so have cables handy.

3 Likes
#17

@eblomquist yeah for sure, it looks way more complicated than it actually is (the naming conventions of the jacks aren’t doing it any favors)

so its basically a 4 in, 16 out rectifier/mixer module. send it any four signals and it will spit out 16 unipolar variations of those 4 inputs. its basically broken up into two positive columns and two negatives columns (with one or two exceptions)

an example: if you feed “natto” a bipolar sine wave, and “batter” a unipolar positive random wave, the first jack marked “ct/nb+” is going to spit out a mix of the positive half of the bipolar sine, and all of the unipolar random wave, the jack marked “ct/nb-” is going to get just the negative half of the bipolar sine, and none of the unipolar random, etc. etc.—so with just two inputs, you get all kinds of weird variations—and it just gets more bananas the more inputs you add.

i don’t have any newer examples documented, but this was one of my first passes with a sine, two random waves from batumi, and a cycling maths envelope into lets splosh…

and @baleen isn’t kidding about the patch points. had to grip a whole new bag of cables once i racked it. and once you start using the splosh outs to fm the modules you are sending in, break out the pencil and paper…

3 Likes
#18

Thinking on buying a Batumi for my rack brought me here. I was pretty convinced until I saw øchd from Instruo released. I need more “organic” modulation for my rack. I have Pam’sNW, Maths, Voltage Block and Marbles, so just a few outs really free running. Fine tuning LFOs at odds divisions on Pam’ss gives great results but it’s not immediate at all. Of course without the waveshaping capabilities of øchd I wouldn’t even think about getting one. I’m wondering now if I’ll need batumi’s extra features (Individual wavebank looks great!) or an øchd would be enough.

I’m a bit tired of deep modules, I do have already tons of possibilities with my rack, adding more and more doesn’t help to get rid of the VST vibe from pc. I’m a junkie for having more options.

In any case I’ll be picking another Quadratt for them.

1 Like
#19

Ochd looks really nice!

1 Like
#20

It’s a bit reminiscent of Just Friends with the multiple A/D envelopes…

Definitely want to experience this…