#1

all, i’d love to hear your opinitions about my first ciat-lonbarde acquisition.

a bit of context: i am significantly downsizing my setup, which primarily means almost completely getting out of eurorack (shedding about 9u worth of modules) and only keep a small control skiff with monome modules and some expert sleepers stuff. this skiff will then be used to control two things: a) bugbrand synth voice, b) ciat-lonbarde idontknowwhichyet. all of this is going to be integrated with a laptop both for audio as well as cv via the expert sleepers stuff. the laptop will also run software for fx as well as looping things like tpv.

now, i’m trying to decide which ciat-lonbarde device to get for this. candidates are the plumbutter 2 and the cocoquantus 2. i love the crunchy and wild looping sounds of the coco, but it seems that the plumbutter with it’s capabilities of being a quirky drum machine complements the rest of the setup better, especially because something like tpv does cover a bit of coco territory.

as the investment for any of those two machines is quite significant, i’d love to hear your thoughts on either of them and how you seem them fit into what i’m trying to achieve here. sorry for the long post, and looking forward to hear your opinions!

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Mobenthey/Ciat-Lonbarde (synthmall) thread
#2

One thing to be aware of… and Im not sure about Ciat Lonbarde devices… but check to see whether or not CL devices can handle negative voltages… some euro modules use negative voltages… also, Im not sure about voltage differences between CL and Euro… so double check that as well… If you are not careful… you could inadvertently fry some CL circuitry… An expensive lesson indeed… Just double check it, and maybe someone here has that answer!

#3

For me, the plumbutter is so unique sounding and interesting. That’s what I’d get. I spent so much time trying to imitate its stumbling rhtyhms and strange sounds with my own 12U eurorack (before I sold it all ;-)) without success. I know the coco is unlike any other sound mangler, but there is plenty of sound mangling/looping software (I’m exploring audiomulch at the moment).

Some instruments do things that no others can (and I’m really only thinking about the plumbutter and blippoo box here).

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#4

thanks, @strettara! this is helpful feedback, especially coming from you.
can i ask if you have any insights on the voltage requirement question that mark brought up above?
in any case, i will definitely do some more research on this myself before buying.

#5

No, I’ve never owned one, unfortunately. One day…

But I will say that I think the plumbutter is already interesting and chaotic enough (to my ears) without the need to feed it CV. That wouldn’t be an issue for me at all.

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#6

yeah, you’re probably right. might probably only want to clock it in some cases. that should not be an issue.

#7

I would totally go with a Plumbutter as well. The coco stuff is amazing, but it’s quirky delay stuff, whereas the PB gets you insane clock stuff + unique sound sources.

He’s also got a new one coming out soon, so depending on your timeline, that might be an option too:
http://econtact.ca/17_4/blasser_ovalsynth.html

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#8

i’ll echo everybody else and say plumbutter especially if you got the bug 1frame in the setup…cant even imagine the possibilities.

I use the baby brother (rollz 5) and it’s surprisingly playable . PB2 would be a dream

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#9

I would think Plumbutter makes more sense as well

although if you look at the coco as more of a modulation source (5 S&H/T&H / 5 FMable TRI outputs) that go from low and slow to high frequency things could really open up on your bugframe

2 iron cross outputs are funky organ sounds based on delay times
a strange stepy square wave

I almost bought one of the bug frames but I think I am going to try out the op1

if you are into programming I would say pick up a used shnth as it can digitally go to more regular and also Ciat-lonbarde territory.

but if you just got a bugframe you most likely want some more banana jacks

plumbutter was my first real hardware synth. I still feel that from the stuff I hear using these instruments most people don’t make use of the AUX input jacks that make the plumbutter a capable sound processor.

the plumbutter is just too much fun I’m planning on getting some minirig speakers to make a little portable setup

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#10

cocoquantus. fairly easy to integrate with other devices.

never tried the plumbutter, but i’m a big fan of peter’s work.

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#11

[quote=“wednesdayayay, post:9, topic:2925”]
people don’t make use of the AUX input jacks that make the plumbutter a capable sound processor.
[/quote]this

why I’ve considered trading up from the rollz…criminally underused feature

even the new shnths with the mic replaced by aux in are quite powerful

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#12

if you do get a plum butter and want to integrate it with eurorack cv, you should probably build a breakout box or something. one or two users on the muffwiggler forum have had issues with it (supposedly even broke a module).

https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=145918&sid=9d290903c261087ee3a6941bd8c0c5ef

#13

I still haven’t tried but for one time hooking a v1 shnth into a v2 through the aux input

a powerful system that could be so fun with two computers running Fish. After I get a stand built for the coco and plumbutter I’ll get some more experimenting done.

I just got a casio trigger to midi machine and someone recently donated a yamaha psr s970 to my wife and I’s after school programs so I’m excited to see what happens there

I am eager to see what the oval synth brings it seems like the decoupled nature of the “nobs” share some similar lines of thinking that the grid does

#14

yeah I heard your double shnth session and it has me seriously reconsidering the platform

I’d consider scaling back on euro to get two . some of the sounds you managed to coax out of them were absolute magic

#15

I cant recommend the plumbutter enough. I’ve had two V1s (one of them I think once belonged to you actually @wednesdayayay by way of Mike Muff). One of the most thought provoking instruments ever. I’d echo concerns about a euro CL handshake regarding voltages. These things are raw and primitive and rogue electricity wouldn’t surprise me. Part of the fun honestly! Having said that, I virtually never connected mine to anything else as I never felt the need. It’s a fairly complete sonic ecosystem in and of itself.

Otherwise I had a tetrax and shnth too. Loved the tetrax but never gelled with Fish.

In the end, I’d say with all honesty, you probably can’t go too wrong. If it isn’t for you, the mind-expansion will be more than worth it.

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#16

Oh, and AUX! So rad. And very much underrated.

Neat about the bug frame. I’ve got a big old school bug system and it’s the best. I love Tom’s new direction. Can’t wait for more West Coast expansions.

#17

ah, you’ve got the new 1Frame! congratulations, beautiful instrument!

i think really either option will work well, it’s more about what you want to do atm, and then maybe eventualy both. bug + coco + pb would be an incredible system. i used to cross patch coco and bug when i had both. one thing to remember, coco is a great chaotic sound source as well.

how are you planning to interface bug/ciat with euro? one of low_gain boxes?

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#18

[quote=“ppqq, post:15, topic:2925”]
I had a tetrax and shnth too. Loved the tetrax but never gelled with Fish.
[/quote]Nearly the same experience except I didn’t have enough cables when I had my tet and therefore enjoyed the shnth more.

I also loved justints and wished it was mobile.

If I had owned the v2 with line input I might not ever have justified selling the shnth

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#19

Ah yeah, justints. What an amazing thing. Peter’s world is a great source for inspiration.

#20

apologies for ignorance. What is Fish?