when i first built my case, not too long ago, i mainly wanted to be able to use a eurorack granular module. that’s what finally convinced me to go this route. after thinking about it, i decided it would be fun to use one of my favorite sequencers also now that i have the case to use it with. so i got rene, and since i would need a voice to make use of that, i got rings. I have also wanted rings ever since i used the vcv rack emulation.
I really love rene, but i almost never end up using the rack for sound generation or melodic things. rings has become almost entirely useless as far as big picture production even though it sounds beautiful. and so i feel like i don’t really need rene anymore either. I would have liked to use rings as a resonator, but i really don’t find it very useful in that case. I have a digitone and a Fates for sound generation and sequencing so the rene and rings, while they do add more organic and unique possibilities are essentially redundant. If i had a bigger case and could justify buying more modules like a Piston Honda, Mangrove, sequential switch, maths, it would make sense to use the eurorack as a sound source, but in my case, it doesn’t really make sense.
I do really love the o_C for modulation mostly (low rentz & quadrature), sometimes piqued, and sometimes the hemisphere suite. and i like the Tilt for more organic modulation and nice ADS envelopes/slewing. Blends is good as a vca and logic/mixing. and I like my little filter. Obviously i love the Nebulae, it is one of my favorite pieces of gear i’ve ever owned.
So im thinking, I should get rid of Rene and nRings and turn this into a audio manipulation unit. bring in external audio and warp it here. I would like to have some audio generation, maybe a noise source or something like dinky’s taiko. like something to add to external audio signals that are brought in, to layer textures, but that’s not as important. I used to have a Thyme, which i loved but wasnt practically useful for the digitone, which is how it was routed in my signal chain. But im thinking maybe the Mimeophon would be good in this case. More experimental, hands on processing for sound design. Phonogene and Echophon sound cool too. I was thinking of the Modcan Frequency shifter, kamieniec, maybe Cold Mac, Three Sisters (to replace the 2hp mmf possibly), Warps. The type of audio mangling modules that can process audio in a way that my octatrack cannot. Any ideas for that?
If i sold nRings and Rene, i’d have 42hp free. I wouldnt really need more modulation sources, although Ochd looks very cool. I also have the Warped Circuits 0hp Lpg, so thats another sound design aspect that i enjoy covered. The makenoise systems usually have a lot of these bases covered i guess.
Do any modules that can do creative experimental audio signal processing especially well or originally come to mind? tyme sefari? tahn? I find that when i am processing my field recordings in ableton for sound design/ambeint soundscapes/concrete style arrangements that i use a lot of the utilities like transient processors, saturation, freq shifters, eq, compression, filters. but i also like to throw in the more interesting plugins like puremagnetik’s newer granular type plugins and the plugin alliance Unfiltered Audio series and a lot of m4l stuff. i like being able to deconstruct, smear, re-layer/piece back together, stretch, spread out. I assume mimeophon is good for this. I’d have close to enough money if i sold both the rene and nrings. I think that might be a good start. maybe a zoia would be a good idea? thoughts?
