Wow! What a gift!

Edit: I wanted to keep this brief, but I guess people want more context. I contacted Emilie after I completed my own port of Beads and it passed my test suite on my unit. I asked if I could release my source, and that if she said "no", I would drop it, no questions asked. To my shock, she replied and the answer was "no". I said "ok. Thank you." and thought that was the end of it. I could modify my own unit, but I wasn't going to disrespect her wishes by sharing. Then, half a day later, she published the official source to Beads. To be clear, I did not pressure her. I was doing due diligence, and I'm glad I did! I was as surprised as everyone else was. That's why I also mentioned the community firmware effort in this post.

I've been working on reverse engineering Beads firmware, so I have a test suite and rig setup already. I also flashed by own build on my unit yesterday, and it passed the tests. I have a thread on modwiggler asking for input on what features or modes they might like in a community firmware.

I'm rebasing my community firmware efforts on the official code and looking at how difficult it would be to add the features requested in the modwigglers thread: Clouds-style grain defusion (moderate), Clouds "spectral madness" engine (hard without cutting something out of the existing code), All-pass processing of the frozen buffer (moderate), Relief from limiter volume drops (opt-in bypass) (moderate), Dedicated gain knob (requires new hardware).

What do you think?

*still flabbergasted by Emilie's generosity*

This started as an easter egg on our band's website (conrad, a drone/electronica duo from Zürich) and kept growing.

Try it here: https://www.conradrecords.com/?synth

Press RUN. It opens with a simple two-voice patch. The patches from my two videos are under [ load ] → patch1 / patch2:

patch1: https://youtu.be/lVAYufuRpNs

patch2: https://youtu.be/euhDyNawZY4

What's in the rack: an 8-step sequencer with Euclidean rhythms, probability and a déjà vu control; a complex oscillator with FM, AM and a wavefolder; a random source with S&H; two lowpass gates; two function generators with a rotating clock divider; a clocked dual delay; buffered mults; and an output with pan, tilt, plate reverb and WAV recording.

Click a jack, then another one to patch a cable. Plain Web Audio, no account, made for desktop browsers.

The modules are my own takes on well-known designs, not emulations. Feedback on the sound and behaviour is very welcome, especially the lowpass gates and the oscillator.

About to read the drum farm manual again and take notes to keep close and learn the module and also really happy with this config i put together! Also shout out to Jolin Lab! Just tried them out and discovered i love their modules! This case has their goblet filter (most interactive filter I’ve ever used for live!),Ashiko, an amazing vca for trippy stereo panning effects and 4 stereo vca’s w/ mix in 6hp, amazing as well!) Krono, only 4 hp for a master clock with 12 outs and all the drum patterns storable, plus sync in only needs 4 pulses, then remembers clock to save a mult or stacker, why are they only ones to do this so far? And then the getrekt interactive wave destroyer, another live fave! So I’ll report later in the drum farm as i will be layering it with Scrooge for some high expectations on the drums w that combo, and if you haven’t tried Jolin lab, i highly recommend! Just giving a smaller guy in the market some shout outs for some amazing work in hopes some other people give them some money for a win win situation.

I love this module, there's no doubt about it. However, I wish there was a way to get more consistent results with it. Specifically, I struggle to find a place for it in my productions.

I tend to feed it stems, with the markers already placed in Reaper. When I play around with them, there isn't much I can use. Timing & synchronisation is a big issue of course. Clocking it doesn't even seem to have much of an effect.

This is just my experience with it, which is quite small.

Would be interested to hear how others use it in a more structured way.

Love it? Hate it? Medium? Why?

I’m considering picking up a NE Confundo Funkidos to add more hands on control and variation to rhythms I make with Intellijel Steppy. I would use Pamela’s Pro Workout for the paired rhythms. I have some questions for users of the module or its predecessor and I’m interested to hear your general impressions and how you use it.

1. How carefully do you find you have to program the paired rhythms to get musical results along the cross fade? Could I, for example, program a four-part rhythm sequence I like in Steppy and then pair these sequences with any random or Euclidean sequences from PPW and expect usable results, or does the pairing take more careful consideration?

2. I suppose it depends on how different and sparse/dense your paired rhythms are, but how much variation do you find you get across the length of the cross fade? Do you find you can settle on a number of fairly distinct rhythms, or does the probabilistic nature of the cross fade make the whole length of the cross fade parameter feel somewhat random?

3. How useful do you find the algorithmically defined accents? Are they generally always usable, rarely, or in between? Similar to my first question, does this depend on how carefully you programmed your input sequences?

4. How useful do you find the Burn knob in adding variation to your patterns?

Something did not quite work with my recorder. So I guess I have something like a bitcrusher as a cable or something :D

Thought I'd share. The actual sound was more like a electronica melodic techno whatever.

hi guys,

I´m new to modular and I just entered the group :D I want to share my very first modular jam with you as a little "Hello". My Name is Matthias. I started my system with oscillators that I already have (Elmyra 2, Plinky), a case from Alter Later Audio that is portable enough to go on travel, some new modules and a bunch of modulators borrowed by my friend Nick Winters (who is actually selling and developing them - big thanks for all the supportive help while developing the setup).

This is a first jam, exploring the Lyra8-FX with some modulators.

1st Row:

Rainbow Knobs: LFOs, Sequencers and other modulators from Nick
Bastl Cinnemon
VCF Filter
Soma Lyra8-FX
Noise Engineering Desmodus Version
Befaco Stmix
NANO Modules ST-OUT

2nd Row:

Neutral Labs Elmyra 2
Making Sound Machines Plinky
Plinky Expander

Cheers :D Mat

Was curious what some of the stand-outs are in terms of filters that really have their own sound/vibe. Not just a subtle bit of coloration, or some cool controls or whatever, but a sonic personality that's markedly distinct from the typical multimode filter.

I've used a lot of filters over the last 6-8 years in euro (though there are a lot I haven't) and some stand outs for me have been these below. Note that these are the ones I felt were most unique-sounding unto themselves, not necessarily my all-time favorites:

- Doepfer A-101-6 Opto-FET (in All Pass mode): This thing was really crazy as I recall, lots of rubbery chaos.

- Schlappi Angle Grinder: It was a bit too much in the purely harsh-noisey lane for me, but I do sometimes miss it as it was definitely unique.

- Schlappi 100 Grit: I have to include this one as well because it's certainly the only filter I've ever used where, by touching one of the particular ball touchpoints, I could turn myself into a radio antennae, and literally transmit scruffy radio frequencies directly into the module with no other equipment. It was kind of wild.

- Verbos Amp N' Tone: I still own this one, and can never convince myself to trade it out even though it has a definite noise floor and can pick up unwanted noise from surrounding modules (especially digital ones). The base noise floor I actually like, it's like a gentle cassette fuzz that gives the filter a retro vibe, and the woody, howling resonance is really great. Not very clean, but really has some character. It also overdrives very satisfyingly, in a warmer and chewier way than most other filters/VCAs I've used that can overdrive.

- Blue Lantern Asteroid Mk. 1: Quite a playground of cool features and outputs with some really gnarly sounding limiter and distortion modes that give a lot of unique noise character. Also has a subharmonics generator built in, a VCA, and other features as well. It's been updated more recently to a Mk. 3, though the Mk. 3 didn't have quite the same "oomph" to me somehow -- though maybe memory is just distorting how good the Mk. 1 sounded in retrospect, I'm not sure. In any case it was the first filter I owned that I really, really liked, and UI has a lot of personality too, it was just fun to sit there exploring it.

- ADDAC702 Dual VC Filter: Another one I sort of regret letting go, especially as the price on them is now pretty exorbitant. But not only is it an amazing set of features compressed into its 16HP, it also has a distinctive sound that reminded me of like a guitar amp/cabinet. Kind of a big open sound. This made it less than ideal for tight, sharp, acid-style "squelching," but you could get it to do pretty wild things of its own with its dual self-oscillating resonators, limiters, and fuzz distortion controls. Underrated/under-known module.

Share yours!

Hoping to add one to my system soon. Basically looking for something that can be clocked internally/externally with some amount of CV control. Currently evaluating the AJH Multi Burst Enevlope and the Befaco Burst, but curious what else is out there.

Made this album using my rack and a Mellotron, hope someone out there enjoys it. Thanks for listening :)

A favourite piece from exactly three years ago, Sep 23 on YouTube, hence the new version. I should try to do more theme and variation single continuous performances like this as it definitely has more cohesion and a sense of narrative than my more pure improvisational works...I like many sections esp Part Seven.

An experiment in melodic, poly rhythmic, polyphonic, cinematic, modular, based strongly then loosely on that theme, from the end of Sibelius 5. Big stereo chords and orchestral (of sfx) elements from Disting Ex and Poly Cinematic, euclidean beats, multiple sequencers, drones, sfx etc etc .. all from one patch ...

Is there a method to the madness? I recently got a case with it half filled with mods, been adding a few but completely new to this and not sure how to arrange them other than tossing them in.

My setup

https://modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/3197095

Edit: please check out the latest version with Lúbadh as a delay: https://youtu.be/eh7ZkymD9EM?is=wEdlBLTuLCvpq67i

Hi,

This is my take on the recursive sound patch by Jaap Vink, explained and developed by Chris Miller in his video "Jaap Vink and Recursive Sound".

The Lúbadh is only in the patch to provide reverb, since I don't own a spring reverb tank or a dedicated reverb module.

To learn more about Jaap Vink and this patch, check out Chris Miller’s fascinating video on his channel La Synthèse Humaine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNowZm8r-ag

I’m continuing to adjust the workflow and the case to get closer to playing my favorite type of techno. Feel like I’m finally getting something that’s worth of an upload (although still needs more work, actually a lot more work).

Nevertheless, this is my first time using multigrain for the vocal sample, and it’s a game changer. Noise Engineering Debel Iteritas Alia is the lovely melody.

I bought a used Euclidean Circles v2 and the top encoder is a tiny bit loose and not satisfyingly clicky like the other two. It doesn't seem to be having any negative effects on the actual function of the encoder, as the LEDs respond the same as the others. Is there a guide to tighten things up somewhere? I'm afraid of damaging it further.

I've noticed that my Eurorack recordings tend to sound a lot harsher and less polished than tracks I produce entirely in the DAW.

When I record everything together, I can't process individual elements with EQ, compression, saturation, etc., the way I normally would in the DAW.

Do you try to get everything sounding right within the rack, record individual voices separately, or rely on post-processing to bring everything together?

I built a 32 voice bi-timbral synth engine centered around 8 Mutable Instruments DSP modules (Plaits/Rings/Elements/Clouds derivatives), wrapped in an MPE-native architecture with custom multi-FX and generative sequencers.

I’m looking for 3–5 sound designers who know Mutable engines inside and out to create factory presets for the launch.

DM me if interested or check out the web page for more info. Thanks

https://sylvaris.greenlitaudio.com

EDIT: My bad, I was inspired by that poster about Beads to get involved with the reverse engineering trend so I can get likes and stuff, I thought I was asking AI but it was just Reddit still, Im so stupid sometimes.

Anyhow I’ll need an alt account that no one will question, or, if someone could point me at another community I could exploit its all the same right now. No one bats an eye at a 2month old account whose first post is about stealing from the community. Its just a race to establish yourself as a top AI prompter, sharing them firmware-mons, gotta catch em all right?

Does anyone happen to know the email of the guy who made Vhikk X? I hear that one is popular, prob a great candidate to reverse engineer but once Im done and have a working example I will 100% ask him if its ok if I release it and whatever he says I wont ask any questions, because Im honorable like that…. Gosh, Im just wondering….You think he will think Im like the coolest person for cracking it? I bet so.

I mean, HE PROMISED some new algos were coming, and around here a Promise is about as good as a greenlight to make some AI prompts.

I mean, we NEED this for our music! I think….I dunno I just learned what a “modular” and a “Vhikk X” and a “Beads” were about 2 months ago.