#21

I read that interview a while ago and I enjoyed it, but I can’t relate to the anti-analog stance. Maybe I don’t have enough digital in my case to appreciate it yet, or I’m just too much of a eurorack noob to get it. I’ve been working with digital synths for 20 years now, and it’s been really refreshing for me finding out what kind of horrible racket and emergent behavior I can drag out of gnarly analog feedback paths. For me, digital means predictability and latency and often I don’t want to have anything to do with those things.

The IME/Harvestman stuff seems really cool though. A few years back the Zorlon Cannon was almost the thing that made me get into eurorack, but it wasn’t the right time for me yet.

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#22

Ah, okay - got it now. Nice idea! The gate would have a minimal lag then due to the vactrol response, right? I have the original expander but the MKI seems to be the last module I am really looking for on the market because of the different circuit bend options and having gate control over that would be great.

I would not say that I experience a lot of predictability nor latency with the MKI and MKII modules. In fact there is quite a bit unpredictability within them and took me a bit to get used to it before I somehow fall in love.

The MKIII line seems a lot more controllable and also shows a bit of latency in responce to CV in some situations. They still have modes and feaures reminiscent of the older sound flavour. They don’t really get there, though in trying to be a digital replication of an imperfect digital ‘vintage’ sound lies the strange beauty of electric sheep.

2 Likes
#23

sorry, what is meant by the title “low-art enforcement”?

#24

Good question. I don’t get it either.

#25

correct, though, for my purposes (which are fairly abstract and generally lacking in tempo) precision isn’t required. its still fairly fast due to the led color and type of LDR i’ve chosen, but really, as long as it works, thats what matters.

from the IME site…

IME instruments are suitable for realtime low art enforcement. They provide immediate access to a musically useful way of sonic control, and they directly react to physical displacement in the form of control voltages. They don’t use narrow, menu-driven user interfaces or organ keyboards, and the arrangement of the controls is memorable. Preference is given to extreme and corrupt sonic character, but the devices are naturally able to produce most sounds due to their modular, analog/digital hybrid design.

5 Likes
#26

Well…Kermit MKIII… :thinking:

That’s right, of course. I did not mean to be critical towards your solution, just wanted to understand it. If I ever manage to find one without the expander, I certainly will try this and ask for more advice… :grinning:

2 Likes
#27

So, today I bought a Stillson Hammer mk ii and apparently it’s being awfully stubborn about accepting new firmware.

I suppose I decided to get jumped in the hard way. Hopefully I can convince it to be cool once it arrives.

#28

Added a second HD3 to the main case. Had the most beautifully breathy saxophones coming out of them this afternoon. Absolutely amazing sounding module…

2020-11-09-025537847
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4 Likes
#29

Welcome to the SH2 club. This video shows a great overview of how this amazing module works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajDtWHukOec

Press and hold the rotary encoder, then press the DESTINATION button to find out what firmware version is currently installed on the module. There is a lot of contradicting info about the firmware update all over the internet. Besides the info at the IME website I used these two sources and got the job done:


1 Like
#30

I find the look and a lot of the features of the Stilson Hammer MKII very appealing. The main thing that keeps me a bit reluctant is controlling the gates and CV of ofur channels with one set of sliders. I find this already a bit cumbersome on the Hertz Donut but at least independent gate buttons would have been great (though obviously no way to place them on the faceplate).

Of course it is very obvious, that despite of me thinking that it would be impossible to use it this way, a lot of people really like it and it would not have been designed and sold if it would not make any sense at all. But I still have a feeling that this conecpt only really works with digital encoders as compared to analogue sliders.

So I wonder how are people using it and how the design influences the way you are sequencing stuff? I somehow would expect me to use only one channel most of the time or try to build up something more complex and than hardly touch it again.

#31

I have a SHmk2 and I like it so much, although there are at least a couple of things I would love to be slightly different, like the non-ability to actually use a real probability function on ratchet (who gots one probably knows what I’m talking about) and a couple of bugs never fixed. Anyway I can’t get rid of it!
The immediacy you have using it is remarkable in my opinion! I use it for drums and to sequence sample slices on ER-301.
A month ago I bought a Monome Grid and a White Whale module by 2nd hand to use it while I’m waiting to Ansible being available again and I thought to sell the SHmk2, but once again I’ve not being able to get rid of it…

Now, This summer, on Scott Instagram Account, popped up a pic of something seemed a new sequencer, at the beginning I thought it could’ve an expander, but a week ago I’ve noticed SHmk2 was out of production… (anyone knows when the sequencer went out of prod. actually??)

So, doing i lil bit of “maths“, seems we will see a new IME sequencer ???

Shoot your shot please, let me know if you know something more clear than my conjectures.

#32

I see your point. I came from a Metropolis, so also had to adapt to the SH2 concept. First of all switching between the gate and cv pages is easy and I find the visual feedback more than sufficient during live use. I improv a lot and it is here the module really shines. I use it for tons of random generation on the fly. But the module is also great for further ‘micro editing’.

There are 3 features that help getting a grip on gate and CV while remaining on the CV page:

  1. press the ENCODER to reveal which steps have active gates on the slider LED’s.
  2. move a slider to change pitch, the display will show you note number and octave.
    3 you can always generate random gates by pressing the the RANDOM+GATE buttons, even if you’re on the CV page.

With the A and/or B assignable controllers routed to CV plus the 16 cv sliders, you can do two hand magic when it comes to creating transpositions, build ups and other melodic wizardry. Hitting INT+CV will take the entire sequence back to the root note. Great for break-down after a huge build up.

(PS: I learned this weekend that in August Scott posted a picture of what might a detail of an SH3 concept. Unconfirmed yet exciting.)

#33

big same. its really great to set up a totally random sequence (including direction) and then throw it into ‘cv tie’ mode or whatever its called where the cv only updates if there is a gate on the same step, and then, as volt mentioned there, micro edit. being able to chain gates is also really great when have a slow, prodding sequence…great for really looooong envelopes.

yeah, i’m not holding my breathe on a mk3 just yet (hell, some of us are still waiting for escalation dominance in 2020) but if and when it shows up, and to my point earlier up-thread, i’ll be curious to see if it replaces a mk2 or if i am going to have to find some way to get them side by side, though i imagine in 6U thats going to be nearly impossible.

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#34

So, you are using it more in vain of the MKI and Zorlon Cannon, right? Just with a bit more oppotunities for hands on interventions and occasional adjustments. I think from that angle it makes more sens to me. There are not too many sequencer modules where all pots are sliders and can be grabbed with on hand just so. I haven’t thought in that direction until now. I guess I am more of a controll feak with sequencing. For example I like the Zorlon a lot but also tend to meticulously control the clock input and how to devide it over time so the pseudo random gates all match just right before I AND combine them with a controll gate signal just to switch Tyme Sefaris modes or induce circuit bend crackles. It reminds me a bit of the old Turing Machine CV Expansion with the sliders where the bit pattern makes it basically impossible to really plan a sequence but you still can induce some kind of tendency when changin them.

#35

uThunder
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got this guy fully working yesterday for the tyme sefari. passive 2hp cv/gate control over the SOT pitch/circuit bending functions. the vactrol response is pretty damn fast all things considered. not perfect, but for the cost of a multiple panel, some jacks and some leds…hard to beat.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHgCyu5h7xn/
(second slide is a video demo)

8 Likes
#36

Would love to hear any thoughts from anyone who has a stillson hammer mk1 racked.

#37

I would be interested to hear about the SKI experience too. It looks interesting and I somehow adore its oldfashionedness but then I have a teletype and Meadowphysics and alwayss end up thinking that I have the functionality more or less covered. Looka like a nice partner for the Tyme Sefari though. It does not seem to be synchronizable to a main clock in all versions?.

1 Like
#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