Okay! I’ve been messing around with Rings for a little bit and I’ve learned two things:
Wow these cables seem so short all of the sudden
I need more of them!
I’m having some trouble wrapping my head around it, but that’s okay as it gives me something to experiment with! I learned the hard way that the Midi 2 CV output of 0-Coast defaults to an lfo. Rings kept dancing around the pitch I was playing and I was really worried that something was wrong with the module! Fortunately I was able to deduce the problem thanks to the CV outputs of the Keystep.
I’m really glad I started with a Keystep and 0-Coast. They’re both so flexible and useful in the learning process. I’m happy to have all the modulation options of the 0-Coast, but I’m also very glad to have a Maths incoming so I can free up some of those patch points. Looks like I’ll be picking up some stackables or a multiplier for my next purchase…
I just can’t get over how immersive and personal of an instrument modular is! Even though I’m just fumbling around at this point I still feel like the sounds I’m making sounds unique to me. I suppose it could be because this is my ‘nice’ hardware synth, I’m sure I would have similar feelings if I sat down with a Prophet or Sub37, but it’s a warm feeling to know that my instrument will grow and evolve with me. I suppose part of the reason it feels so personal.
That’s what gave me the modular buzz too! Any patch that you build is put together piece by piece, giving a real personal connection to what your creating. It’s almost like audio Lego’s for grownups
Yeah - two straight-up analogue oscillators, ideally identical ones, can lead you to some fun places. I’ve greatly enjoyed a pair of fairly straightforward 3340-VCOs in my system, not just for the rich analog tones, but also for the FM and sync tones they unlock.
Yeah, mults/stackables are pretty much a necessity, if only to explore the notion of “related things happening simultaneously”. The cheap little Intellijel Hubs are nice passive multiples.
Shouldn’t be necessary to point out, but just to be safe: Turn it off, pull the plug and make sure that it’s off for a while before removing those screws and looking around.
Maths and 10 more patch cables showed up today. For a while I had a sequence running on Rings while Maths and 0-C (err, could be interpreted for Ornament and Crime, what’s the agreed upon acronym for an O-Coast?) provided modulation for everything else.
I’m very content with where I’m at sonically, but I would like my next module to be a sequencer with some non-linear options. The Keystep works okay for auditioning patches, but I’d prefer something that I can mount in the rack that can sequence both the 0-Coast and Rings. Keystep does only one at a time, with the other source being played by the keyboard.
Is Marbles a good option for this sort of application or am I off base? From what I can tell it would be almost exactly what I’m looking for, but I’d like to be sure before I commit!
Marbles is not strictly speaking a sequencer. It generates ‘musically interesting’ gate and CV patterns with an orientation towards pitch control, which you can have influence over. But you can’t create a determinate sequence with it.
Most eurorack sequencers have nonlinear options. Rene is probably the most popular in that vein but certainly not the only one.
I don’t know about Marbles but Rene has a quantised output that lets you pick the notes as well as an unquantised output. It’s a really good sequencer and the ability to clock the axes separately gives it a lot of flexibility. Also the touchpads add a lot of options.
Marbles has a quantizer yes, with 6 scales built in and the ability to set your own if you choose. You can set the degree to which the notes are chosen, ie on the installed major scale you can tell it to lean towards octaves, fifths, thirds, or filling in all the notes, and then into semitones.
It’s very flexible and could be just want you want… It’s just not a sequencer on its own. But it can produce pleasing melodies that you can have a fair amount of influence over.
Mimetic Digitalis is another option to look at – it’s sort of like a 4-channel Rene, minus the touchpads, in 10HP. You can’t program skips in it like Rene, but the 5 triggers and 4 CVs to address it, knob recording, etc. all work together nicely if you have a source of multiple clocks/gates (like Teletype, Marbles etc.)
