#63

there are differences of course. the DPLPG is obvs passive and iirc non resonant. the LxD is powered, reasonant, w different slopes on each channel, and the channels are normalled together, etc.

i’ve really been feeling my LxD lately, really enjoying its sound and response, plucked and modulated w cv. both are good values for the price.

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#64

thanks for taking the time out to respond! i’m leaning towards the LxD, primarily because it’s easier to buy. i need to look into what the sound differences are between the two, as that’s the most important factor for me.

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#65

small detail, but only the 12dB channel on the LxD is resonant.

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#66

generally youtube has yr back on this. plenty of videos for the LxD and Meng Qi did a really good demo of the DPLPG.

#67

thnx for the correction

#68

Can anyone recommend the Erica Synth Black Quad VCA? I’m thinking about trading in my Veils for one.

#69

i must admit i’m not sure what resonant means in this context?

#70

I built one of the Mystic Circuits 0hp LPG kits and really enjoy it! Can also recommend as a first soldering project–very few pieces, cheap, and useful.

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#71

resonance, in the context of any filter or LPG, is a peak at the cutoff frequency. my understanding is that it is a similar principle in the case of the LxD as any standard resonant LPF (most synth filters are resonant), but the resonance is fixed at what Make Noise describes as “mildly resonant”, so probably similar to a medium Q setting on a standard LPF, so just a small boost at the CV-controlled cutoff frequency.

edit: added image for clarity

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#72

cheers, that’s very helpful!

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#74

The Natural Gate does indeed look amazing, but I don’t think too many folks have actually managed to get them yet since they sold out so fast :slight_smile:

#76

I believe it. I’ve read about it and also his guides for Mannequins modules and skimmed his Octatrack guide. He seems to have a very, very meticulous way of working/thinking about things, and it’s helpful to learn about how things work from someone like that.

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#78

So I sold my Veils and somewhat blindly bought an Erica Synths Black Quad VCA. I was drawn to the sheer quality of the Black series. I immediately heard the difference and I love the sound of this thing but there is one major problem I’m have with it. When sending an envelope to the CV input at an optimal level the VCA does not close all the way. I’ve tried this with both Maths and Just Friends and you constantly hear the droning oscillators behind the signal affected by the envelope. Apparently this VCA also spits out some kind of offset after a certain gain level. I think this is the intended design and it’s seriously unappealing to me. It’s too bad because the sound quality is superb but I think I’m going to have to immediately sell this thing and get a Tangle Quartet. Maybe this is why I don’t see much written about this particular VCA. I definitely should have done more research before buying this but I figured all VCAs should be fairly straight forward. Has anyone else had this experience or any thoughts on the design?

#79

Not one mention of the MN MMG or the QMMG for that matter?

Thanks @Kel for holding off on a second Natural Gate as I’m one of those people that desperately want to grab one from the next batch.

#81

These two sentences do make much sense in the same paragraph to me.
Despite the more “aesthetic aspects”, which of course also totally have their weight, a VCA that does not fully close is not what I would call a “quality” design. Unfortunately there’s many VCAs (and LPGs) that have this problem, so it might well be that you’re stuck with it. But to be sure, I’d test it with an envelope generator that you know will go down to zero properly. Some envelope generators – if the curve is not linear – take quite a bit of time to really reach total zero and the Erica VCA might not make up for it. I had the problem with the Postman EG (an early Hexinverter design).

Anyway, going back to the “aesthetic” aspect, I’m really curious (for obvious profession-related matters), what does make this VCA sound better than others to you?

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#82

I ended up selling this thing on day 2 and opted for a Tangle Quartet instead, which does exactly what I would expect a VCA would do. I emailed Erica Synth about it and this was what they had to say:

“The Black Quad VCA is a logarithmic VCA (nonlinear unlike many other VCAs), so its response to the EG signals works different.”

I completely agree with you here and was totally unaware that this would ever be the case before purchasing it. I thought all VCA’s were pretty straight forward in their behavior but this one is apparently different. It also introduces an offset of the signal after a certain volume which I also found incredibly unappealing. (None of this is mentioned in the description of the module)

I totally get why this sounds a bit odd but there were a few things behind this comment. For one, I just generally like the sound of the overdrive Erica Synth modules produce when you pump the volume. I had a Veils before this and I found it would distort in a bad way very easily. More importantly, I’ve been having some noise issues within my system recently. Almost everything I record goes through a VCA at some point. So given their reputation, my previous experience with their modules and their claim to use “Only the highest quality components on all inputs and outputs” I felt a little more confident that this module wouldn’t exacerbate that current issue.

With all of that said, I can’t totally claim that the aesthetics, the solid feeling of the module, and the buzz words in their advertising (“Hi-Fi philosophy”?) didn’t have an effect on my decision.

#83

Ok, that makes sense. A Logarithmic curve will indeed mean that it might take the VCA will not totally close. Now, why somebody would want that is beyond me, but that is indeed just my personal view of things. There might be use cases where you’ll actually want this, which I’m not aware of.

Sorry if I gave you this impression, but no, I don’t think it sounds odd at all. These things are really a matter of personal taste and artistic vision… so nothing odd about it. I was really just genuinely curious to know what you liked about Erica and you didn’t about Veils. Because for example I really like the way you can overdrive Veils :slight_smile:

#84

I have a QMMG and I love it, but I’ve started leaning towards using it more as a filter along with non vactrol VCAs for better control.

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#85

I’m looking to swap out my veils (don’t need the mix functionality now). I’m tempted with either 2 x 2hp VCA or an abstract data triple vca. Anyone used either? Still have my MN lxd too.

#86

I’ve had one of the 2hp VCAs for a short time and have no complaints about it at all. It’s very good value and works well.
The only thing to consider with it (as with all 2hp modules) is that its ergonomics are quite affected by what it is racked beside.

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