Complex Oscillators

[Quru]

Now that I have played a bit with the DPO I would agree with aformentioned sound descriptions, adding ‘woody’ to the list. Seems very easy to find sweet spots, moving from woody to rubbery to very pleasingly buzzy. Having owned STO before I agree it sounds fatter, bassier and somewhat more aggressive as single oscillator with wavefolder.

Very happy with the DPO. The whole concept is so much clearer now that I have my hands on a complex oscillator. Virtual realm or having to patch stuff up from individual modules (while being more flexible, though) is very different experience and it’s amazing how much stuff can be pulled off from one/two oscillators.

[909one]

The whole concept is so much clearer now that I have my hands on a complex oscillator.

I totally agree with this too.

[manfromuncool]

http://frap.tools/products/brenso/

[AlessandroBonino]

Oh wow. I love everything they do, I need to buy a couple of BRENSOs

[Gexex]

I like the layout on Bresno more than other Frap modules (as much as I love my Falistri, using it in the dark is rather challenging).

[naxuu]

oh my. I’m in love already

[x2mirko]

That was a very welcome surprise to show up on modulargrid

I really like the design. I was also worried that a complex oscillator from frap tools would be too cramped and would have too many modes and tiny switches that you cannot find in the dark, but this looks nice. The layout is easy to understand for the most part as well. And the nice thing with frap tools is that you don’t need to worry about the functionality - i’m sure it’ll sound amazing and be one of the most well-engineered oscillators in Eurorack. Everything they touch is great in that regard.

But I assume this will take until late summer or so before it comes out? The last few modules were announced quite a while before they hit the stores. Time to find the space in my rack, I suppose

[AlessandroBonino]

Simone from Frap Tools said in the Eurorack Italia Facebook group that he’s hoping to get it out to retailers around if not before Superbooth 2020. They’ll be showing the prototype at NAMM, if anyone is around Anaheim next week.

[mateo]

Makes me wonder if we’ll see a complete system from fraptools next, all that’s really missing is filters/lpgs

[qwoned]

[naxuu]

I’m torn between getting a Joranalogue Generate 3 and a dual complex oscillator (I have my eyes on the upcoming Frap Tools Brenso, but that sounds like it could be delayed to August or later as Frap Tools are in Italy’s corona lockdown, and production has been delayed until May; meanwhile, there are good used deals on Verbos CO and Instruo CS-L at the moment). I’m curious if anyone has experience with the Generate 3 and can offer advice on this front? From what I’ve heard so far from videos, the Generate 3 is capable of an impressive range of experimental timbres and would seem to be about on par with the DPO’s range of timbres (the only complex osc I have experience with so far), while potentially sounding thicker than the DPO. But is it the case that any of the complex osc modules out there will run circles over the Generate 3 on this front? Or is that the wrong question to even be asking? (PS I don’t necessarily mind the extra effort of patching some of my other oscillators into Generate 3, but my understanding is a big part of the benefit of complex dual oscillators is the high degree of normalization and coupling of the two oscillators built in from the start)

[Gexex]

I have Generate 3 and a Cs-L. Generate 3 sounds great, but you have to work much harder to create interesting and useful timbres than you do with any CO (and, of course, it requires several supporting functions). The immediacy isn’t there in the same way.

I wouldn’t dream of replacing my Cs-L with the Generate 3, but it’s quite nice to have the phase modulation option in addition.

[naxuu]

Thanks for your thoughts, super helpful. It sounds like a CO is going to be what suits my needs the best.

[kbit]

I always thought those low amplitude spots in the DPO final output was kind of annoying when I had one, but they add so much character when used with the moddemix like in these patches. Super cool.

[naxuu]

A preliminary version of the Frap Tools Brenso manual is now up on their unified manual for all of their modules. Lots of good stuff to chew on.

[clams]

My Brenso arrived yesterday. Seems like there are some known issues with the packaging leading to bent jumpers on the back PCB but so far it seems to be purely cosmetic.

The manual linked above is a great resource — Brenso is my first complex oscillator, and I’m blown away by how intuitive and clever it is. The panel markings reveal the behavior of each I/O point and knob — compared to the other complex oscillators, I find the Brenso UI immensely easier to “grok” (not a dig against the others, but more of a personal preference or respect for the abstraction offered).

The internal normalizations are super clear and can be substituted in delightful ways, such as the “modulation bus.” It’s basically a VCA whose output is routed to modulate a bunch of other parameters, but even those routings can be overridden by an external source.

And of course it sounds just lovely. Has anyone else played with one yet?

[Zacillac]

I’m actually dying to get one but can’t decide if I’d rather get this or a Fumana, when it’s available again. Frap Tools are one of those manufactures that I’ve yet to be disappointed in when I play with one of their modules so it makes it difficult to choose what should be next.

[909one]

I’ve had the CS-L for a while and I decided to give the Verbos CO a try. I’m so much more into the Verbos I’m finding, even though the CS-L has way more functionality and is less HP. The wavefolder on the Verbos is sublime, every setting sounds great. Whereas on the CS-L, the range is so extreme it’s difficult to dial in subtlety. The Verbos sounds so much more like a vintage Buchla imo, whereas the CS-L sounds more modern. I also find the Verbos way easier to play. The sounds are so rich and 3d that I’m finding it’s pushing me to use less voices because I like listening to the pure sound of unit more. Its a keeper.

[Joseph]

Yes, the Verbos has a dusty richness in the low mids, and bandlimited highs. It is more immediately musical (the interface too), and the wavefolder is all sweet-spot.

The only annoyances are the unipolar modulator (a trade off for the AM tremolo if I remember right) and that you can’t sync the oscillators externally.

I find the Furthrrrr is a good compromise between functionality and sound (has a lower shelf than Verbos rather than low mids but still bandlimited highs). As mritenburg at Muffs said, sounds similar to 259 [with a faster non-vactrol modulation response], whereas the Verbos sounds a lot like the CO in the Easel.

The CS-L is very full mids and hifi. I think better for sound design.
If I were comparing them to microphones, I’d say the CS-L is like a Sanken and the Verbos is like a KM-54, FG is like an 84.

[Hovercraft]

My Brenso arrived today—beautiful module! Good design and playability, plus the sound palette is fantastic. Super flexible with a lot of deep level osc circuits broken out for patching and playing. The voicing is clear and rich—sits somewhere nice between brighter Cs-L tone, and the fuzzier vintage tones of the Sputnik and Verbos. Super wide range of timbres-very easy to dial in.