#38

i could go on and on and the mk1 for a while, its definitely an unsung hero in both the harvest lineup, as well as euro in general. yeah, it’s called a burst generator, but thats not really doing it any favors. its crazy flexible as clock divider, burst generator, sequencer (when paired with a bipolar mixer) and random trigger source. i would even go so far as to say that i could easily throw out my zorlon mk1 and replace it with a second hammer, as i don’t get much milage out of the noise section as i thought i might and the hammer’s offers much more complex output randomization than the cannon, imo.

the playability of the manual burst generator is one of its important selling points (as demonstrated in that video link i posted above) and i can’t really think of its equivalent in euro… but the fact that it will accept a clock in OR a dummy cable (coughstillsonnailcough) to get it to run kinda puts it over the top in terms of adding to the versatility. the threshold mode is also pretty wild when you pair it with a wonky modulation input, and works very similarly to how the xaoc drezno works in terms of gate derivation, but doesn’t have all the noise on lower bits like drezno does.

anyway its comes highly recommended from me if you can find one, but if you have a more specific use case i’m always happy to test whatever.

stillson mk1 did have an update along the way that allows it to sync to external clocks. flick the mode button till all the lights are off, turn the clock freq knob all the way CCW and insert the clock in to the clock freq cv with the attenuator all the way CW

#39

I have heard of this but was not sure - is it a firmware update or was the hardware physically updated?

#40

i am not 100% sure, but i believe it was fw oriented…but it happened so early on that there are probably very few out there that don’t have the upgrade already done by scott before distribution

#41

serendipitous trade this weekend has led to my first jump into ime with a stillson hammer mk2!

all the buttons on it are pretty loose and jiggly - wondering if this is just how they are? couldn’t find anyone talking about this anywhere.

more importantly, if anyone has some favorite tricks they’d like to share i’m all ears!

#42

yeah the led button jiggle is standard on all harvest-tech for sure.

while its not exactly a novel function any more, the cv/gate tie is great, as is the ability to divide the track speeds down into what is basically sloth territory for slow sequences/long envelope times.

if ever you find yourself in need of an offset, have an unused track, and you wanna drive a ferarri through a school zone, you can set one track to 2 steps and set both gate sliders to max, tying them together…then output that track’s gate out to an attenuator/verter and boom, offset.

also you can get things really into left field by sequencing one or two voices and then using one or two other tracks to use as modulation sources for the assignable cv controllers for the first two tracks

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#43

Tricks to perform two hand magic when it comes to creating transpositions, build ups and other melodic wizardry:

  • Route the A (and/or B) assignable controllers to the CV of one or more channels. Route cv to pitch of osc.
  • Use left hand to control A/B controller(s), or use external cv to control these parameters (I use the Lightstrip module a lot for this).
  • Use right hand to control the 16 cv sliders.
  • Use both hands to transpose/manipulate/mangle the cv to manually create variation in the melody.
  • Throw in some further live manipulation (random gates, bursts, clock divisions, sequencer direction variation, etc) and you’ll be able to keep stuff interesting for a very long time.

And hitting INT+CV will take the entire sequence back to the root note (provided A/B levels are set to zero). Great for a break-down after a huge melodic build up.

Curious to learn what stuff you come up with. Please share!

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#44

Yeah, they’re all pretty jiggly…

#45

After a brief trip home to meet its maker, my Stillson Hammer is headed home. I have the week off to get to know it. If I do not check in here, throw a bucket of food and water into the studio…

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#46

even tho i now have only the zorlon cannon mk2 and hertz donut mk2, IME\harvestman is my favourite single eurorack manufacturer, and if i had to build a single brand system it will surely be IME (doepfer would be my second choice). i sold a couple of ime modules and now totally regret it. pretty sure sooner or later i’ll buy back the Tyme Sefari mk2, even if i have an er-301 that can cover that ground and tons more, there is an esoteric appeal to the sefari that’s not present in any other module i found. i recorded a series of improvisations (titled “music for scrying”) based on the sefari, in each of them it managed to conjure up really eerie sounds out of thin air, especially very haunting voices. i swear it was scary at times :slight_smile:

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#47

… but totally solid in my experience. Never had an IME LED button fail on me in many years of use.

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#48

do you have recordings of those improvisations available online? i really like the title and the approach you described :+1:

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#49

I always felt like if i were to make another attempt at modular I would want to try an all IME configuration. Love the idea of new versions being a variation on a theme, rather than a replacement product.

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#50

Thanks for the comprehensive write-up josh, much appreciated. It definitely sounds as interesting as I thought it might be, especially beyond just being a ‘burst generator’. I also struggled to find an equivalent, as you mentioned.

If I think of any specific use cases I’ll hit you up. It’s definitely now on my radar.

1 Like
#51

I’ve been super into the Kermit Mk3 recently. The oscillator modes are wonderful and even pretty sometimes. 8-bit mode is the chiptune synth I never knew I needed.

#52

i have the recordings but never uploaded them, yet…
probably i’ll put them on my bandcamp. when i do i’ll send you a message so you can check them out!

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#53

much appreciated. looking forward to it!

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#54

I sat down to learn the hammer three hours ago a disappeared into some kind of wormhole. What a lovely machine.

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#55

not a fan of menus / screens

#56

while waiting for volkmire’s inferno to surface, i decided to change things up for a little bit and goof around with a rossum panharmonium, which seemed like an interesting combo with all this stuff, given its ability to dip down into ‘crappy mp3 encoding’ type sounds and the like, but still just scratching the surface it feels like. patch notes in the description for any who are interested. heavy use of piston mk3, kermit mk3, stillson mk3, sefari mk2…and panharmonium, obvs.

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#58

I have sold: Stillson Hammer MK1, Tyme Sefari Mk1 (sold one, kept the other), Bionic Lester MK1, Double Andore MK1, and Hertz Donut MK1. I regret every single one. I think in 2021 I might try to reacquire them because I keep reaching for Harvestman modules that aren’t there. Sorry this isn’t adding anything to the thread, but, yeah, the MK1 stuff is really special.

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