Making stand alone modular instruments

[sellanraa]

Well, until I get a Sport Mod, I’m going to see if an Ultra Random Analog will be a sufficient substitute. Maybe it’ll even be great and I won’t miss the idea of a Sport Mod. Very different, but they’ll interact with the X/Y outputs of my Planar in interesting ways.

The idea is a more gestural case. Improv with small groups. Process external instruments (maybe a duo with my buddy Jim from Tropical Trash on sax/clarinet, duo with Tim Barnes on small percussion perhaps again in mAAs, Free Electronic Association of Louisville jams), etc. etc. I also can have the ES8 linked with MAX for some spectral filtering and granular sampling with a patch I’ve been developing. Don’t want to get too lost in the weeds of endless MAX tinkering, but that obviously opens up many possibilities

It’s always frustrated me having to decline opportunities because my main case is in development for solo sets or recording ideas - so this will be flexible, quick to patch, more gestural, etc. I’m excited to finish it up when the RIP and URA arrive.

C

[OHNE]

Obviously, this is really just the ER-301 with some helpers, but it’s a really fun unit and very playable. I keep looking for the ideal machine that is as capable as possible and at the same time as portable and couch friendly as possible. Not an easy task with euro, but this gets me very close. I’m sporting an Analog Rytm mk2 on the side so I’m pretty much covered. But still always looking for ideas on how to make it better. Curious to see what I can pop into the 1U hole for example. I want to build the Intellijel In/Out jacks into the case so that will open up even more space.

@sellanraa I’m jealous of that Planar.

[sellanraa]

Planar is tricky because it’s huge, but I feel like it’s sort of ideal for a gestural system. When I am rocking MAX I’ll have a Killamix controlling the patch so I’ll have dueling joysticks too ha. It’ll be fun if nothing else. .

[xenus_dad]

Well, until I get a Sport Mod

I am curious, because I’ve seen you looking for a Sport Modulator on a few threads (not stalking I swear ), what specifically you’re interested in about it. I have one, and I find it useful and capable, but also sort of mundane slew & triangle LFO & S/H & logic that I don’t see how to make much use of. I might be missing some magic though.

(Not bragging that I have a Sport Mod ! Genuinely curious.)

[xenus_dad]

1. Seeing I should read https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63175&highlight=
2. Feeling like I’m taking us off topic but I don’t know if there’s a Sport Mod-appropriate thread.

[_mark]

Looks fun. And how is the Ts-L?

[n-So]

decided to set aside half my system and trim down to essentials to finish a project. definitely enjoying the experience so far.

[sellanraa]

I actually have a Sport Mod in my main case, but I do NOT want to get sucked into constantly moving things from case to case. These are discrete and separate cases with no interaction. Main case - solo stuff primarily. Small case - other stuff…

I think a lot of people get caught up constantly rejiggering their layouts and I try to do that at most a handful of times a year. It becomes a serious distraction otherwise.

As for the Sport Mod, it is just a really interesting multi-purpose module that is very feature dense and it can quickly shift gears depending on what I want to use it for. When I was considering a Stages I was worried, while dense, it would take too long to shift things around in an improvisatory sort of situation. Still tempted by it, but not sure it’s right for the situation. So I remain unsold on it. Meanwhile, to make this connected to the core of this thread, I think there are certain modules that are great for smaller cases that are more ‘instruments’. Sport Mod is one of them for its feature density, versatility, and playability.

@_mark Ts-L is great. The internal wavefolder and weird other output (I have no idea how to describe it…trapezoid?) is interesting. I haven’t played with it too much because I’ve been in a holding pattern waiting for that last little spot (SportMod/URA), but I’m glad I picked one up. Lots of power in a relatively small package

[emenel]

I’ve been on a journey of formats over the last 10 months since starting this thread. Here’s my current situation with each unit being more or less a stand along instrument. For different projects and pieces I use groups of them together, or just one instrument and some effects.

Euro:

Euro fx:

Serge:

Bugbrand “Red” (not actually all in one case):

So far each of these can easily be played as an instrument. They also work well together in different combinations, and along side Ciat-Lonbarde and/or my Analog RYTM.

This is a big change from my one gigantic eurorack case from a year ago. Overall I find it much more productive, creatively intersting, and fun.

[mateo]

I was just watching this video of Surgeon describing his live setup, which has morphed into a stand alone instrument over the years

An image of his case:

[philmaguire]

having to decline opportunities because my main case is in development

Conversely, I played a show a few weeks ago with a very unfinished case and it was super helpful in informing what I needed to add!

[sellanraa]

Just to clarify, I don’t mean ‘still deciding on modules and putting my case together’, I mean ‘im working on a complex patch and these damn modulars don’t have ways of saving and recalling a patch’…

[prussian_zen]

A nice on-topic post on the Noise Engineering blog:

Modular Cases! Guest post...and the Blog lives.

[coreyr]

The thin and really cleanly routed 2 row briefcase in that post gives me gearlust.IMG_6975|666x500

I often wish my trogotonic case was just a bit slimmer, don’t really have many deep modules that need all that space. That said, the trogotronic 168 case has been great to me, tons of power and doesn’t break the bank for a 6u 84hp.

[Jonathan_Riley]

Here’s a fun little gestural monster I built, it’s great through a ct5 and BAM.

Edit: I also attached some piezos inside so I can tap the box and strike rings… lots of fun

[andrew]

How does the whole playing rings with contact mics work? Is it just the contact microphone output going straight into rings, and rings acting like a resonator? This technique always sounds super cool, I need to build a max patch that does something similar.

[bjarlstedt]

Yes, just like that. I love having my acoustic guitar plugged into Ears with a contact mic, having its output going into In on Rings while a random sequence is plugged into Rings v/oct and Ears env is going into the the sequencer’s trigger input. You’ll easily get a little orchestra playing just by this simple little patch.

[Jonathan_Riley]

There’s a few different ways I’ve done it, but I typically amplify the contact mic with ears, turn up the sensitivity and send the out or gate to the rings trigger or in. It’s pretty fun. Here’s @MengQiMusic doing some cool stuff with piezos and Rings.

[grey]

Would love to hear that.

[bjarlstedt]

Here you go:

https://instagram.com/p/BnLeCJpAw9J/