#589

I had planned on picking up a quad-VCA for mixing or whatever, but I didn’t realize they had uses like you’re mentioning!

Do you think Marbles be a better option for semi-random sequencing/quantizing than the combo I listed above?

#590

I would also invite other opinions here. I have Marbles but feel I haven’t really explored it properly. That said, I think Batumi plus a quantizer is more versatile & flexible. OTOH, Marbles contains a lot of musically oriented niceities, particularly in how you can manage and influence how note choices are being made. The custom scale ability also looks potentially very powerful if you take the trouble to implement it.

Have you considered Ornament & Crime? It is a menu diving module, but its quantizer and shift register modes are superb, and it can do other things besides if you are not using the quantizer.

#591

Thread on The Other Site about first sequencers right at the moment: https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=203162

#592

I have a Batumi + Quantimator and I’m finding that the negative voltages get snapped to 0, so the actual sequence is not as interesting as a source that stays above 0. I think I can get around this with full wave rectification, but figure it’s worth pointing out. I may end up with a Turing Machine into the Quantimator in the near future.

1 Like
#593

Ah this is true. Quantimator expects positive voltages. It may pair better with a function generator in that respect, or else need full wave rectification as you say, or offsets.

#594

Stages has positive only LFO’s so it would pair well.

Still love my Tangle Quartet. It’s a great VCA for the HP, and it’s easily usable for both CV and audio. Knobs are still tweakable with cables in place.

I’m looking at a uScale for a quantizer. I want something hands-on and immediate, so not an O_C. I’d love something 4 channel like the Intuitive Quantizer, but sadly it doesn’t seem all that intuitive.

Re: Marbles - If you have designs on one, expect to wait a while. There’s a hold-up in the production of the next run, and I still have a pre-order from day 1 unfilled. XD

#595

I have had my eye on Ornament and Crime. I was worried it might be too menu-y for me, but I’ll certainly consider it! Seems to be a pretty useful piece of kit. It’s another one of those things where I’ll never know until I can actually sit down with it. o_C can do two voices at once right?

Good to know about the Batumi + Quantimator voltage situation. Is that a problem specific to the Quantimator or would I run into that with other quantizers?

Many questions. The next run of modules will certainly require a lot more thought and research. Clouds, Rings, and Maths were all no-brainers :yum:

#596

i have a uScale and an O_C in my rack, and don’t really feel like they tread on each others toes too much. the uScale is awesome for quick jamming out, but it’s a pain to remember the stored scales for something more planned. The O_C is much better at that. The side benefit of the uScale is it allows me to guilt-free use other parts of the O_C like the bytebeats and modulation sources.

1 Like
#597

Welcome to modular :slight_smile: in brief, things that are "LFO"s tend to be bipolar. Things that are function or envelope generators tend to be unipolar. Those can often cycle, so they effectively act like LFOs.

I can’t claim to know the whole quantizer landscape at all. O_C does bipolar input I believe, Quantimator does not. I believe Marbles will if you set it to do so.

O_C can quantize 4 voices, or else 2 voices with a lot more CV control over the quantizer settings. I find myself using the 2 voice version more. It also does many other things.

#598

Traditionaly, zero volts is bottom C (C2 or 65hz), and most synths operate in the 5 octave range between 0-5v. Consequently, most quantizers and sequencers work with positive voltages only. Negative voltages get you into LFO territory pretty quickly

#599

Hello again.

Working on making satisfying drums. Kicks are going fine (sometimes great) but snares are a challenge yet to be unlocked. I have a three sisters, 2h noise, mangrove, maths, optomix, varigate 4+, and stages. Also an external reverb to add some poof. Comfortable tying up the whole system on just this sound, as I have a sampler.

Been multing a gate to a maths envelope and the gate in on nse. Nse out to formant of mangrove. Mangrove out to sisters, envelope multed to sisters FM or span, sisters out to vca with the same envelope.

Things are ok but generally thinner than I’d like/too thick/too snappy/not snappy enough.

Knobs rotate free in a manic haze, questing.

Paging @alanza if it’s not too much trouble :slight_smile:

#600

oh man, being paged! how exciting.

snares are hard! since I have most of the same modules as you, I tried to build my own snare patch. I got a really crunchy industrial one that I like, and I think the patch is really amenable to twiddling.

so: for the basic patch, noise is hitting the fm input on Sisters and the v/8 input on Mangrove (I tried fm input and formant on Mangrove as well—they worked, but I felt like v/8 gave me the most punch) and the formant out on Mangrove is hitting span as well as low on Sisters (kind of chosen arbitrarily, other inputs might work well too). I used both channels of Maths to generate envelopes, one for the VCA (LxD in my system, probably Optomix in yours, I guess?), and one for the v/8 input on Sisters. I have quality all the way up, span and freq pretty low and the FM attenuverter all the way up.

some observations:

  • the quality of the noise makes a huge impact on the sound you get. my “noise” source for this patch is a self-patched Just Friends, and changing its timbre really affects the final sound.
  • no white noise directly in the signal path makes for a bit of a darker, less “obvious” tone, which I tend to like, but might not be the best for a certain kind of snare.
  • feedback could be an interesting addition to this patch.
  • I like to think of complicated timbres as built up out of a bunch of different “layers”. for a snare, I’m thinking of the transient thump at the start, the “character” frequencies of the drum (you know how some snares can almost have a pitch? that), and then the noisy rattle. So when I’m patching, I try and think how I can bring out each of these elements.
  • most snares you’ll encounter in sample packs and songs and such are heavily post-processed. don’t be afraid to do this to your own samples.

oh dear… I wrote a book again, didn’t I

12 Likes
#601

If it were a book I would publish it. Thanks so much :slight_smile:

1 Like
#602

this patch sounds great, emailing this to myself now to hopefully remember to try later!

@yams if you haven’t tried this already try mixing a very short snap of noise overtop, or piggybacking off @alanza mix a slewed or filtered square from mangrove to a vca or optomix with a very short envelope to give you some approximation of the “shell” sound prior to the rattling snares/(noise) - also a little eq can get you places, too, if you feel like it’s almost there.

I love patches like this though the sounds I tend to like making I have trouble labeling when I sample - clap? snare? hat? hmm…

2 Likes
#603

You may find it useful to look at the Sound on Sound Drum Synthesis archive. Here’s a link to the Snare section:

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/synthesizing-drums-snare-drum

5 Likes
#604

Vector Rails TS169
Digikey:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/vector-electronics/TS169/V2002-ND/280464

1 Like
#605

I wound up snagging an O_C for some multichannel quantizing!

I may or may not have just picked up a PNW as well. :sweat_smile:
As soon as I realized that it could function as a clock/gate source and LFO bank I realized how powerful and useful it would be. More sources to feed the O_C and a way to trigger the Contour section of the 0-Coast.

So in a bit of a whirlwind, I filled up my Happy Ending Kit with some very flexible modules, but I still don’t have a VCA or other practical way to control the mix of my two voices. :woman_facepalming: I can plug them into the left and right channels of clouds, but it’s really not ideal.

I reckon I’ll be picking up a Mantis when I can sell some of my unused guitar pedals, along with a quad VCA.

1 Like
#606

Concerning smaller / single row (3 / 6U etc.) systems… how do y’all determine your module placement / proximity to one another. Is there any particular order you prefer (EG next to a VCO etc.) – I suppose signal flow is highly variable, just curious if people have certain preferences. Any thoughts are appreciated :slight_smile:

#607

I’m an absolute noob, but my method so far is to put things that I know patch each other a lot close together, and loosely try to get a signal flow going from left to right, with Clouds and my output module on the right.

Holy crow Ornament and Crime is an absolute mind boggler! Between it and PNW I should be good on modules until I can make sense of this mess! In my brief time just goofing around I realized some extra clock and modulation sources will really open things up!

Is there like an o_C tutorial video series I can watch or something? I’m making some sense of the dual quantizer, but it’s a very daunting module!

1 Like
#608

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ornament+and+crime+voltage+control+lab