#13

great! and what would i need to make the uZeus power the white whale?
i know there are connectors to share power between various modules or something like that
 :smile:

#14

@aevi_balti: for the drums no. But If you want to modulate a VCA, yes

#15

uzeus comes with two flying bus boards. they connect directly to the modules. this will provide white whale with the necessary voltages.

the grid will plug into the ext5v before plugging into white whale. ext5v provides the grid with power and prevents it from drawing from your uzeus power supply, which would otherwise cause damage.

#16

I am with you! I have been a monome user for years but am diving into Eurorack as we speak. Picked up a White Whale and Switch last week. I got a case from Pittsburgh modular its crazy nice. If you go to the web site store they sell them scratched and dented for a big discount!!! I just got mine and it looks far from damaged. I am now looking for some oscillators. I think Pittsburgh modular synth block might be a good start because it has a lot built in to one unit so you can get an understanding of things and you can add to it later. They also sell nice packages that are not that expensive. The mangrove and three sisters looks fun also! Check out control in NY web site they have tons of info and a great used section.

#17

Thanks everybody, i found plenty information to start looking around!

What about using White whale with semi-modular stuff? Like mother 32 or a much cheaper minibrute? :smiley: anybody tried that out?

#18

I’m using it since a couple of days with semi modular stuff, i only have sequencers in my small eurorack setup (Klee, White Whale and RenĂ©) Using them with Cwejman S1 MK2, Buchla 208r and some other CV in vintage synths


#19

the pgh synth box was my first module. a basic, but great sounding full voice that works without any patching, or you can completely break it up into separate functions as you add more modules. i like that they chose to voice it with a low pass gate.

#20

yeah, i was checking the pittsburgh synth box myself! good to know you had a good experience with that

i’ve also read great things about mannequin’s mangrove. does a single oscillator module require an envelope generator to modulate ADSR?

#21

Yes. A single oscillator will only drone. Normally you would need at least an oscillator, vca, and envelope generator, but the mangroves have a built in vca as part of their architecture, so you would just need an EG or function generator for your amplitude cv.

#22

Ok, got it!
So how does tehn modulate amplitude using just two mangroves and a three sisters in his last couple videos?
Is there some adsr function in the three sisters module which i’m not getting? :confused:

#23

Haven’t watched all the videos, but I believe he’s running an offset voltage and/or a pulse trigger from the teletype through a vactrol vca (the meng qi dplpg) in order to create a decay curve. Modulars are tricky like that, even small ones :yum:

#24

PS Honestly, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, the best thing to do is grab a few modules and start plugging things in. It only gets easier from there. And the only thing you can do “wrong” is plug an output into and output.

3 Likes
#25

hey everybody,
little bump on this annoying newbie post from a year ago :smiley:
after months of fiddling around with other gear and TRYING not to waste too much money on funky beverages, i’m finally ready to really dive into modularland.
i’m planning on buying one of the new intellijel 4U 42hp powered cases to populate with the following:
-monome switch
-monome ansible
-mannequins mangrove x2
-mutable instruments peaks
-wmd/ssf multi mode filter
-intellijel quadratt
-intellijel line out

any suggestion/opinion about the setup?
i read somewhere that plugging modules to busboards with ribbon cables could be risky and a pain in the ass. i’m still a little bit confused about the powering issue in general, so any insight on that part could be useful :blush:

thanks and wish me good luck!

1 Like
#26

Well, it’s a nice selection of things, although:

  • you have no dedicated VCAs. I know the mangrove has its Air control, but if you’re running it into a filter, you’re not going to be able to start/stop the sound very easily. (You could use the Peaks envelope into cutoff, but you’d never have true silence). This is probably the most glaring issue.
  • no multiples. Whilst stackables/passive mults are fine for splitting gates, if you want to FM that pair of mangroves, you’ll need to be able to buffer 1V/Oct to both of them. So you’ll need a mult. Most brands make them. MI Links is a handy mult/mix unit.
  • 42HP is really small. Are you definitely not interested in something bigger? You don’t have to fill a case, but you have no room to expand.

You could solve the above by I dunno, swapping one of the two mangroves for a Dixie or Doepfer Mini Pro VCO and a uVCA2.

As for power: it’s fine, especially if you’re using a quality power solution like the intellijel ones.

Plugging modules to busboards with ribbon cables is the only way to power them, so you just have to use your head: make sure the cable is in the correct way on the busboard; then, triple-check where the red stripe goes on the module, and connec them. Don’t just blindly plug “red to red”, or put your trust in a locking header - follow it along and confirm that the -12V on one goes to the -12V on the other - sometimes people get a power cable that’s been made ‘upside down’, which means your locking header is lying to you, and that never ends well


#27

hey infovore, thanks for the reply!
much needed insight on a couple themes that i haven’t completely figured out yet.

  • dedicated vcas: what if i lose the filter? is that the only reason why the integrated vca of the mangrove could not be enough?
  • multiples: again
 do i need those just to use one filter on two VCOs? (in my setup, of course)
  • i know 42hp is small, but i would still be able to expand by adding another case later. i prefer spending more money on a “starter set” of modules than on a bigger case that i won’t take advantage of in the near future.

regarding power: each module has its ribbon cable, right? :grin:

#28

Exactly. If you put an envelope into the Air control, which I believe is the VCA, you’ll be able to shape the duration of the Mangrove. Once it goes into the filter, though, there’s no VCA on that filter, so you’d need to be able to control it. (Some filters exist that do have built-in VCAs - the Mutable Ripples, for instance). The Mangroves have a lot of timbral shaping in them already, though; they’re not the kinda of oscillators that desperately need a filter after them. You’ll note that Mannequins don’t make a dedicated filter.

Well, you have two outputs and one input, so you’ll need a mixer to merge those to VCOs together into an input. For instance, the 3x1 or 2x2 on Links, or a different brand’s buffered mix. You’d need a mult if you wanted to send them both the same pitch CV.

Yes. Modules come with their own power cables.

#29

the intellijel quadra should function as a mixer, shouldn’t it?
its sum output goes to the intellijel line out and then to my audio interface

am i missing something?

a mult to send both VCOs the same pitch CV is something i could add to the top 1U row, though

thanks for the tip!

#30

I was just suggesting if you wanted to run both VCOs into the same filter you’d need some kind of mixer. But you’re right, you could run the VCOs into the Quadratt, the mixed signal into a filter, and the filter out into the line out module.

Yeah, pretty sure Intellijel already have a 1U mult, and if not, they’ll have one soon. Sensible place for it.

#31

What about a Cold Mac for VCA and mixer capabilities?

#32

cold mac is an option i already considered
 but then i had a really hard time trying to understand how it works without succeeding :grin: