#2012

Good luck with the system! You will have lots to play with for years. Check out Colin Bender’s performance on a full Doepfer system (Superbooth16 live) for some advanced inspiration ;-).

#2013

That was great! It would be nice to know which modules he was using!

#2014

I went from absolute novice to exclusively Euro (mostly Doepfer, Random*Source and Intellijel) in 8 years. Study the Doepfer manual, look for and study Allen Strange’s and Devarahi’s books (they are both out of print but there are pdf copies floating around the internet), maybe look at things like the Serge Gold Book too. I tend to be more book- than video-oriented, but both study techniques can complement each other. Take your time! It can be frustrating to begin with but every time you learn a little new thing it’s exciting. Not sure what type of music you make, but as I make experimental music, experimenting on the modular is exactly what I love (and I still learn stuff about it every day).

2 Likes
#2015

I was wondering if it’s possible/what’s required to run a rack from a portable battery/large powerbank.

Currently I’m using an Intellijel PSU (TPS30 MAX) and I’m wondering what would be the best approach. Figure out a way to get 15V directly from a powerbank (for example this one https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powercore--26800-pd-with-30w-power-delivery-charger/B1375112 support 15V via USB power delivery) or simply use a powerbank that offers mains voltage and use the powerbrick I normally use. I assume this latter option will be less efficient + it means I’d need to take the powerbrick with me as well so hoping the first option is somehow possible.

Also is this a good/bad idea in general? As in, does anyone have any idea if a reasonable battery life let’s say 2 hours) can be attained?

#2016

There’s a lot of good info and discussion about this in the Mobile Modular thread.

1 Like
#2017

Totally missed that thread :x thanks for the pointer! I’ve got a bit of reading to do it seems :slight_smile:

#2018

Hey all,

So…I’ve been feeling a little stuck and uninspired by my Eurorack setup as of late (viewable here, for reference)

I don’t exactly know what I’m hoping for or expecting by posting here, but I think I’m looking for suggestions of…possible next modules? Techniques for breaking ruts? Well-wishes and helpful hints?

I include the link to the ModularGrid for my setup in case anyone looks at it and can suggest things like “you have lots of oscillators, but not a lot of filters” or “have you tried CV’ing the FLXS-1 via the Cloud Terrarium?”

I feel like a lot of my patches end up relying on the same formula: FLXS-1 to an oscillator or two, mix those and send them to Rings, then that into Clouds. I do know that there are a few modules in here which I still don’t have complete mastery over (Teletype, Clouds, Rings, W/, and probably parts of the FLXS-1 and Just Friends) so there’s obviously in-depth work and research and experimentation to be done with those individual modules. I’ve started the Teletype walk-thru’s a couple of times and I’m finding that learning a new programming language from square one isn’t exactly where I want to be spending my time.

I’d like to be creating beautiful airy ambient pieces like @annannie’s pieces. The Eurorack recordings I find myself most attracted to all have an organic feel to them, and it’s something I have yet to feel like I’ve figured out with my own rig. It could be that I need to a) buy a reverb module and/or b) listen to the signal from my Eurorack processed by a software reverb only? Or something else entirely?

#2019

Well, my first suggestion is to forget that everyone says that “clouds isn’t a reverb or end of chain module.”

Clouds can be an excellent reverb! Rings can be a sound source on it’s own. Feeding rings with short pulses of other sounds can be nice, but so can using the internal exciter and modulating other parameters.

Looks like you have a couple pressure points? Are you finding them useful as a way to play your system?

Have you tried clocking your sequencer with a more complex trigger stream than a simple regular clock pulse? For instance using both sides of maths eor and eof outputs run through the mixer section (ch 2 + 3) and then taking your clock from one of the logic outs? I find getting away from a totally regular clock can give that organic feel. Or de-coupling your sequencer clock from your envelope clock?

6 Likes
#2020

@Hawthorn sometimes when i’m in a creative rut, i catch myself mindlessly re-patching the exact same signal path with my usual modules. when i run into this block, i force myself out of it by focusing on a random module i have and patch it in ways i’ve never done before (send a gate instead of a wave modulation, patch modules into themselves, re-sample, send white noise to an unlikely source, etc). ive found the possibilities nearly endless. afterwards, i find myself with the same modules but with a new perspective. then when i’m in that same rut weeks down the road… i do it again.

hope this helps!

2 Likes
#2021

I’d be hesitant to say more or different gear is the answer – you have a nice setup that’s probably good for several albums worth of material. You don’t seem to have any glaring gaps. My thoughts would be most process / method wise. There’s all sorts of things you can do with that rack…

• For a few weeks try and make something that’s not what you’re describing (The ann annie style of ambient).
• Don’t use Rings for a while.
• Create the same kind of ambient textures but instead of rings try multiple AM signals. You have a lot of VCOs. What if you had one VCO in the middle as the modulator for two different VCOs (the carriers) each of which is doing two different things? (Maybe one is sequenced and one is being played via pressure points.) And then modulated / sequenced the modulator OSC?
• How could you add to the performance aspect of a patch using pressure points but not controlling pitch?
• Take the wet output of the disting tape delay and use it on the FM input for an oscillator.
• Use Maths as your only audio source for a patch.
• Have you pinged the filters on the disting yet? Can you even ping the SEM filter? I don’t know!
• Have you krell’d lately?
• How about loading percussion samples into the disting?

8 Likes
#2022

My modules are usually aranged in little islands - the ones “logical” to patch together more often. But I felt a little bored recently and decided to construct new islands. Not sure how your brain works but you might benefit from reorganising spatially your modules. For me, I ended up with stuff like Maths, Disting, modDemix, Tallin, MMF, Morphagene, MI Shades, Rings, literally next to each other. I try not to think of each module in terms of what its function is since for me that’s a quick route to getting stuck, you could explore that. I’d also suggest you a random source and a scale quantiser. Krell when in doubt :slight_smile: I use an outboard reverb by Strymon. Insta-“nice” everything.

2 Likes
#2023

Weird, I ONLY use Clouds at the end of my chain…so maybe that’s something I should try first :stuck_out_tongue:

Great idea with the complex clock source, and thanks for walking me through an example patch!

#2024

This is a great list of questions and suggestions, thank you! I’ve seen krell mentioned in threads a couple of times, but had to Google it just know to know how one “krells”, so thank you for that.

#2025

you can sample from your oscillators into clouds and use that to excite rings. use rings as a filter for…whatever!

#2026

That’s a nice looking system, you seem to really love VCOs:)

I am also into @annannie type of ambient stuff and organic sound.
And the task i find particularily difficult for myself if programming sequences and generally having “music that i want to create” in my head. What i enjoy most is reacting to whatever the systems outputs, so i need a way to get some kind of musical result relatively fast. In my case O_c and Marbles help with that a lot. And Make Noise Rene also.
Having said that, do you enjoy working with FLXS-1? Does it provide you with happy accidents? I am asking that since it looks like the core of your system

#2027

Feed Clouds with something interesting like a random Trump word from Youtube (…yes, i did that), then freeze it and use Clouds as the start of the chain, try modulate position and size and trigger it.

1 Like
#2028

Have you played with the wavetable or TZFM VCO on Disting? It’s a pretty different source to what you’ve been using already.

#2029

You already said it, but you need more effects. You can do them in rack or out, but that’s a big deficit for the kind of music you’re chasing, me thinks. The other part is sequences, but that depends on how you feel about the FLXS-1 and Pressure Points.

I want to say you have too much stuff for what you want to do. It really depends on how you use it, but it sounds like you have too many things to consider and that’s created a problem for you. Maybe take some stuff out of the rack and work with less for a bit. Annie Ann’s stuff is definitely a less is more style, so I’d focus on how you want to reflect that in your own work.

1 Like
#2030

Seconding what @grey says about trying a subset of your modules here. I found a lot of inspiration by using only some of my modules (physically moving some out to a smaller case). Focusing on one voice for instance, not trying to do a multi-voice piece every time I sat down with the modular.

#2031

I used to have the Cloud Generator and often used it as a modulation source for FM’ing oscillators or filter cutoff. It was one of my favorite uses of the module, particularly when modulating the spread. I haven’t used the Cloud Terrarium, but I imagine using the cloud mode would be similar.