#493

Epic thread.

Maybe it’s just me. Started with Make Noise and maybe as a result of that I find the layout of their modules to be MORE intuitive than pretty much any other modular company.

Not to mention that their YouTube/Instagram presence is for me the single most educational resource on the web. Not to mention inspiring. Oh yeah, and they answer emails quickly and are always super helpful.

Honestly I think I’d rather listen to their demos than 90% of the modular based records I have found so far. So there you have it…ride or die fan.

19 Likes
#494

Have an extra seat in your boat? Starting out in their environment was my first exposure to modular and therefore was the ‘language’ I learned. I still don’t speak fluently BUT it’s familiar and I can converse in it comfortably :slight_smile: The graphical elements resonate with me and are as familiar as street signs across the world…you know what they mean you see them even if you can’t necessarily read them, or something.

I know lots of people rag on them but to me it’s very reminiscent of skate culture somehow. Like, it is a club and the club is ‘cool’ but you don’t have to be ‘cool’ to be in the club. I like that. Also, being from the South I dig that their base is in Asheville and only a few hours away from me when they do events like the 10 year anniversary :slight_smile:

Totally agree on the learning/instructional/responsiveness as well…nothing but praise from me.

Last thing, this is my first post here and I really dig how this community functions. PEACE

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#495

In retrospect, the biggest mistake I made when I got into Eurorack was not just starting out with the Shared System. That’s me, in retrospect, not advice for anyone else! I actually felt like I did my homework, but some faulty assumptions led me to the wrong conclusion, and there were too many things I still didn’t yet understand. (The way that availability works in Eurorack is one of those things I didn’t understand.) I went with stuff I already understood pretty well. Too well. Too limited. In the end, I wound up buying every module in the Shared System separately, except the DPO, and selling off almost every module in the starter system I began with. I can see now that I would have learned much more, much faster, with the Shared System and wasted a bit less $$$. Oh well!

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#496

I 100% agree with this. I skated/still skate and resonates with me really well. Also, fyi… Tony, the owner, skates. So there ya go.

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#497

This definitely resonates with me. Someone reached out to me recently to ask what they should do to get started with in Euro and I suggested a shared system because it’s what I wished I would have done. Sure, it’s missing some things but you can still do so much with one.

1 Like
#498

This may have been answered before in this topic but I’d be interested in some thoughts about Pressure Points vs. Rene. I know they’re very different beasts, but beyond the obvious (X/Y, pressure, 3 channel etc.) I’d be keen to know some thoughts on using each as a preset voltage control source.

#499

This sounds familiar. I started with 6u of mostly Intellijel, and then bought a shared system. I think at that point I felt like I had the best of both worlds. Something fairly standard, and very precise, with the IJ case, and something less conventional with MN.

#500

I use pressure points a lot when I’m setting up a patch as a controllable CV bank with the intention to replace it later with other Gates and CV, though it usually stays. Have Brains, but it’s in the closet, couldn’t figure out how to make it worth the 4hp with Rene 2 also in the case.

I’ve got Rene 2 but can’t decide if I preferred Rene 1. With Rene 2 you can do a lot more on paper but there’s something about 1 where I felt myself using it a lot more in patches. Maybe someday I’ll have both again and can explore the contrasts in greater depth, though at the time of purchase Rene 2s specs won out. I use Rene 2 when I think a patch calls for a sequence, and it can do a lot (the sample and hold is really cool) but I miss the MPC mode of Rene 1 and the wysiwyg knobs.

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#501

Yes, this was me too! I got a shared system and then I was thinking ‘wheres the filter, where’s the adsr?’ so I built a sad skiff around subtractive synth principles with a few wild cards. Every single thing in the skiff was gone in a few months as I read through the MN manuals, learned to love the SS and as the new monetary value of patience revealed itself (lesson learned: don’t buy an entire skiff based solely on your modular grid searches for ADSR, VCO, controller, etc)

8 Likes
#502

Yes, I kind of wish they had just done Rene 1 with two voices and more stored quantized values. Version 2 was a bit unintuitive for me at first with states reflecting current and recalled values or not. And the old latch mode is missed.

I really wish they had added external keyboard input for stored voltages too, since they already have FUN.CV.ADD, oh well.

Overall though, it’s still the only truly modular-voice sequencer I’ve seen in eurorack. With multi and arbitrary tempi and fully separate cv control of movement on tracks, and direct knob access to the tracks values.

Other than ones people make from scratch with S&Hs and quantizers, etc.

3 Likes
#503

Have you tried the a155/154 combo? That is the pinnacle of patch programmable sequencing in Eurorack.

1 Like
#504

No, I will check it out thanks. Have you used it for polyphony or is that not possible?

#505

I get polyphonic melodies out of it all the time in combination with other modules, but we may not be talking about the same thing. If you’re talking about sequencing chord progressions, it is a two-channel sequencer, so limited to two-note chords.

1 Like
#506

No, not chordal, I meant what you describe. Looks cool!

#507

You can make polyphonic melodies with any sequencer, using some combination of S&H, inversion, transposition, etc.

#508

That’s not really polyphony, though, the parts are not independent; but more so the “fugues” as such in modular are not even close to real thing. Rene can’t really do rules based counterpoint only a simulacrum (actually that’s not strictly true, you can, I’ve done it, but it takes forever to program in 16 coordinate blocks without a keyboard), but can do true polyphony with separate cv control over each voice, including direction. USTA can do whatever but lacks control over direction I believe. ER101 can’t do true multitempo. I think Five12 Vector can with expander, but it’s also a bit menu driven, and lacks a state switching modulation destination like Rene 2’s z mod (I think). My dream sequencer is one as modular as Rene but with keyboard input for recording values and full part composition.

5 Likes
#509

True, you’d need multiple sequencers for truly independent polyphony. I like having them influence each other in feedback loops.

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#510

I always thought that Rene 2 with Pressure Points would be pretty close to that. In fact I sold my Rene 2 because I thought it needed PP to get its full potential and I didn’t have an extra 20hp to spare, and also found blindly tuning 16 encoders to be tedious and lacking precision.

#511

My SS came with Rene 1, I upgraded to v2. Played with it for a few months, then went back to the v1. Sold the 2. I’m considering getting a second v1… which might really be the ticket.

3 Likes
#512

I’m also considering going back to the v1, but one of the features I miss the most - “MPC mode” - would really benefit from the better pad response of v2. So I’m a bit conflicted there. I sometimes wish Rene v2 had lot of the upgrades (better menu navigation, improved FUNC modulation options, more responsive pads, octave switching) but was just a single channel and WYSIWYG knobs.

1 Like