#305

Not sure which 1U format you have. I recently picked up an Intellijel 7u case and 2 Quadratts. The Quadratts make a nice pairing for the ER-301. It’s nice to be able to add some control knobs in key places in a 301 patch without feeling like you’re tying up a more expensive module to do so.

Some kind of offset generator knobs feel like an essential, even in addition to grid ops faders. The grid faders are great, but for some things it’s still nice to have near analog resolution at least up to the capability of the ADC (scanning through phase or frequency modulation indices, for example).

5 Likes
#306

thanks
yes i’ve teletype and everything else…but my board of 301 is an old one, so i need to modify it :worried: and solder a resistance

#307

I did this after some deliberation. If it makes you feel better, and I only discovered this after the fact, the section that you mod is generic and can be replaced by an independent manufacturer (110 euro or something).
I would just take it to an electronics repairer if you’re worried though. I doubt it will hurt resale

1 Like
#308

Federico, you don’t need to solder any resistor, you just need to bypass a diode with a shunt (I used a spare resistor leg that I shaped like a C with my pliers) and it took 5 minutes. No worries, really.

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#309

My plan for modular gear changes in 2019 was this:

  • 16n Faderbank, to make Teletype a very happy hands-on sequencer and to add hands-on control for other stuff too
  • wait for the Clouds successor or Nebulae V2, to play with granular in modular.
  • probably pick up an uber-short delay for Karplus/physical modeling (CGP Delay1022 perhaps).
  • see whether I want to replace some of my mixing and sequencing stuff with u-he CVilization

But now I’m thinking hard about the ER-301 again. Overall it really seems like it’d be right up my alley, given how much I love Teletype and how excited I was watching Neil Parfitt’s tutorial videos. The flexibility of making it a sample player, “tape” looper, VCA matrix, complex oscillator, customizable waveshaper, etc. at will, not to mention weird experiments like I used to code awkwardly in messy VST plugins or Patchblocks, seems like exciting stuff.

Anyone have encouragement or discouragement or general advice about going for the ER-301? :slight_smile:

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#310

You can mix, sequence, karplus, and granulate with an ER-301. It’ll love a 16n playmate though!

Edit: Sequencing is perhaps not ER-301s strong suit, but it IS possible (with a little help).

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#311

Can’t overstate my love for the ER-301. Brian does amazing work on the user interface - it’s one of the only modules in eurorack with a screen where I feel like someone got it all right. It’s super easy to build even very complex patches and it’s getting easier and easier with every update Brian releases (e.g. recently the navigation system was hugely improved through the addition of the scope view).

I think that there’s nothing in Eurorack that comes close for working with audio buffers (i.e. sampling, delays, granular etc.) and FM (I don’t think that’s talked often enough - it’s great at just being a multi-op fm machine in your modular). It also has a lot of other applications, but even just for these two use cases, it’s absolutely worth it in my opinion.

edit: I had this weird feeling of deja vu as I wrote this, and now I realize I wrote basically the same thing in response to another post of you half a year ago further up in the thread. At least my excitement about the ER-301 is consistent :smiley:

10 Likes
#312

You should get it. There are no cons. Really.

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#313

I’ve thought about sneaky ways to get CV out of ER-301 instead of just using it internally. Unipolar CV interspersed with 0V pulses and filtered (which I then saw someone already was doing), or alternating + and - values through a full-wave rectifier, or some kind of filtered PCM… might all be kind of glitchy and weird, but might also be cool.

Getting into more complex and less practical things, maybe some kind of multiplexing that Crow could decode, or maybe even a MIDI Out custom unit… :grinning:

I kinda suspected as much for buffers. I wondered about the FM since, like you said, it’s not really talked about as much – I couldn’t find a demo of the Evil Twin complex oscillator for instance – but it also seems like a pretty clear winner there too.

Heh! I was thinking about it in the past and changed my mind, but didn’t remember that specifically until you pointed it out. :blush: I think I’ve pretty well decided on going for it at this point.

#314

Molten Modular discusses several methods for using amplitude modulation to push “CV” out of an AC coupled audio interface. It takes a bit of processing on the receiving end.

Edit: I haven’t tried this. Seems… Squicky?

#315

Yeah, depedent on getting everything just right and still not perfect. But it’s kind of a fun thought. :slight_smile:

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#316

I cannot imagine you not loving the 301 based on your (further) above post.

Also, based on other posts, it seems that you may enjoy a deep dive.

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#317

The typical method is to use an envelope follower to generate CV from loudness. Then within the ER-301 it’s as simple as using a VCA to control the loudness of a tone. I built a shoddy PID controller which sends the resulting CV back into the ER-301 for feedback… it was not really a success since I couldn’t get it tuned properly. But it was kinda interesting to have “ringing” CV output haha

I’ll put it bluntly: if you are proficient at Teletype, there is no need to get CVs out of the ER-301. The signal flow is beautifully designed but TT’s accessible, script-driven event processing is much more powerful for CV sequencing. Get a TXo if you need more CV output :smiley:

4 Likes
#318

The ER-301 is a great module, but I think you’ll be disapointed if your plan is to make it work for CV output. It seems that you know that it’s not intended for that, but I figured I’d chime in if you needed any validation there. You may want to also look into that Percussa SSP module, which I believe can do CV generation. There’s also a kickstarter for a smaller, more affordable version.

I had an ER-301 but ended up parting ways with it to pursue ‘less screens’ in my modular, if that makes sense. I’m finding that I don’t want everything in my eurorack system and Norns is also keeping me quite busy. In the beginning, my biggest frustration with the ER-301 was that it didn’t have a simple looper. That was added in later as the ‘pedal looper’ after many of the users kept requesting it. The approach to looping is not always what I would find intuitive, but that is the charm of Orthogonal Devices and the unique approach taken. The pedal looper buffer was also not accessible in real time, but had to be copied to the buffer pool manually. Around shared buffers - there are still some technical issues that the developer Brian needs to work out --clicks can occur when recording to and playing back from that same buffer.

All that being said, I have a great fondness for that module.

2 Likes
#319

I’m not really primarily worried about CV output from it, to be honest. It just seemed like an area of missing potential, not so much for specific applications I wanted to put it to

Thanks for your perspective on the buffer stuff :slight_smile:

1 Like
#320

Brian intends to resolve play/record head collision clicks by implementing a ring buffer.

I have little doubt that he’ll get around to it eventually (probably before 0.4 is done) and it will open new vistas for live processing.

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#321

I figured he would come up with something. Brian is a brilliant guy!

To reiterate, it’s a great module, just wanted to offer some other perspectives besides ‘buy it!’. :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#322

I think I’ve decided against selling my 301 and replacing it with a 4ms STS plus a Pico Drums or whatever, but the documentation sitch is just… :dizzy_face:

I’ve mostly figured out how to get my cheapo-MLR thing going, but seriously, having to go watch videos about 60% of the functionality is deeply annoying.

#323

Ahaha and I’m thinking to sell my STS for an Er301 :slight_smile:

#324

To be clear, you’re talking about the documentation situation with the ER-301?