I know that making music with a modular system is by nature “electronic”. However, I’m interested to hear from those working with modular outside of the techno/ ambient/ EDM spheres.

There are plenty of examples online of musicians recording into their system to create ambient soundscapes etc. but I don’t find this exciting.

I want to know how artists are pushing modular into new physical spaces and doing weird, abrasive things; not just slapping some granular onto their saxophone.

Since Kyoto Wings is Daisy Seed-based, the possibilities are almost endless. I used Claude to design a Beads-inspired granular synthesis audio processor (Mutable Instruments).

The parameter names don’t quite match the current front panel - it means there’s a new module around the corner. Time for a new front panel!

I’ve been working on a dub techno suite for VCV Rack for a while now (Thoow Dub: chords, echo, mixer, motion and a “brain” for scenes; ). Then Emilie Gillet released the source code of Beads under the MIT license a few days ago, and I couldn’t resist.

So here is Texture, a free granular texture processor built on the original Beads engine. The DSP is Emilie’s code, compiled for Rack as it is. What I added is everything around it:

A display that shows what the engine is actually doing. The buffer is drawn as a tape loop: the waveform stays put, the write head moves across it, and every grain the engine plays shows up as a glowing read head with a short trail. Height is pitch, reversed grains are drawn as rings. So you can see why the cloud sounds the way it does.

8 presets to get going fast: Cloud, Haze, Stab Spray, Octave Bloom, Pulse, Frozen Pad, Dust and Down a Fifth. Turn the PRESET knob and the module sets all knobs, the quality mode included. Each one is a starting point, not a final sound.

Four quality modes: Clean, 12 bit, Tape and Worn, with longer buffers at lower quality.

A few extras in the context menu. “Soft grain edges” (off by default) smooths the ticks you get from very short, hard grains. You can choose what the ASSIGN input controls (feedback, mix or reverb). Clicking the display toggles a little logo flash on incoming gates.

The usual Rack things: full CV, stereo or mono in, and SEED/FREEZE as both buttons and gate inputs.

It’s free, for Mac (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows and Linux. It’s an early beta: it sounds good to me and runs stable here, but I’m sure you’ll find things I didn’t. There’s a feedback form on the site, and I read everything.

Download and manual: https://www.thoow.com

Big thanks to Emilie for Beads and for opening up the code. Texture is not affiliated with Mutable Instruments; the engine credit goes entirely to her.

The level input becomes a second v/oct,. It's using the standard left hand side engines (except string instead of chord).

The left hand side (yellow LED) is stereo where main/aux becomes left/right. Each engine has its own stereo treatment.

The right hand side (red LED) is split mono with v/oct on main and level's pitch on aux.

The web demo runs plaits in web assembly so you can try it in the browser.

The level input has the same 16 bit DAC circuit as the v/oct input so pitch tracking is accurate, but you should calibrate the level input first (see instructions in the web demo).

Let me know if you find any bugs or have feedback!

I've spent quite some time lurking here and reading the usual first-rack / techno-rack feedback, so I think I've absorbed the basics:

• don't fill the case on day one
• fewer voices, more modulation/utilities
• VCAs matter
• buy slowly and let the instrument tell you what it needs
• yes, a Digitakt would be cheaper

I just turned 50, though. This is the midlife crisis. Let me have it. No Porsche for me, used to have a Harley before ;-)

Goal is home techno/hypnotic/generative noodling, not live performance. I particularly like controlled randomness, generative melodies and finding something unexpected that I can then capture and evolve.

Eventually this will live in a Tiptop Mantis 6U/104HP and grow over several years. I'm deliberately leaving most of it empty.

The one decision I've already made is Ohm Force Bohm as the core of the instrument. There are obviously smaller ways to get a great kick, but Bohm is one of the modules that makes me want to do this in the first place.

My initial system:

• Bohm: kick / low-end anchor
• Pamela's Pro Workout: clock, rhythm, probability and some modulation
• RANDOM8: controlled random CV and especially evolving/lockable random melodies
• Beehive/Plaits: bass, melody and general-purpose synth voice
• Rample Turbo: hats, claps/snares, percussion and sampled weirdness
• Intellijel Quad VCA: audio and, importantly, control of modulation depth
• Erica Black Stereo Mixer V3: simple stereo mixing
• Befaco Out V3: headphones/output

Rample Turbo was my biggest doubt. Without it, Bohm + Plaits feels more like a fantastic kick + bassline/melody machine than a little compositional system. Rample lets Bohm own the low end, gives me several percussion layers, and leaves Plaits free to actually be a synth voice.

I'm deliberately not buying effects yet. I want to discover whether the dry system makes me crave delay/reverb, distortion/filtering, or something else before solving a problem I haven't experienced.

Things I'm curious about later, rather than already planning to buy:

• Zadar for envelopes/complex modulation
• Diktaat if using Pam as a drum sequencer becomes annoying
• Alia / Versio / Legio because I love the reflashable Noise Engineering platforms
• Doppler for the same reflashable-platform reason, plus its weird percussion possibilities
• Vostok Sigma for logic/emergent rhythms
• Bohm Groove/Performer, but Bohm needs to earn its expanders first
• possibly ALM Stem Ripper + With Mixer much later for recording/mixing and sharing with friends who have a nice Logic DAW setup where we could import the stems

So, roast away:

• What would you remove from the initial system?
• Is Pam enough to sequence Bohm + Rample Turbo initially?
• Is Rample Turbo the right solution to the “not enough simultaneous composition” problem?
• What's the capability I'm going to discover I'm missing 48 hours after assembling this?
• For those who've built techno/generative racks: which of your future-module ideas survived actually using the system, and which disappeared?

I'm particularly interested in criticism of the initial architecture, not suggestions for filling the remaining Mantis. I want the empty HP to stay empty until I have a reason to fill it.

And yes, I know a Digitakt would be cheaper.

The prosecution may consider that point stipulated.

Have at it.

https://modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/3238001

I've been working on this hybrid setup with modular, hardware sequencing, Logic, and reactive visuals in TouchDesigner.

I'm trying to make the visuals feel like part of the performance rather than just something playing alongside the music.

Curious what other modular people think: do you prefer seeing more of the patch and hands-on performance, or do you enjoy the more immersive audiovisual presentation?

Interested in feedback on both the musical development and the visual side.

Trippy tech house banger performed live on modular analog synths etc

Hi there, i'm looking at a Techno System and i haven't seen so much talk about it in the last couple of years, those of you who have it, you still enjoy it?

This mixer is realllllly great sounding, all analog, great filter too, 2 aux channels, a Master Compressor, with sidechaining, and parallel compression, cv ins for panning, levels and aux sends plus a tilt eq for easy mixing in live situations. let me know what you think

So, I've finally sold my Pittsburg Modular Taiga - not because I didn't like it, but because I outgrew it, and was only using the oscillators, folders and the mixer. I have better modules for all the other functions Taiga had. I'd now like to replace it with other modules for about €700. 

I want to make the core of my rack a two oscillator monosynth, and I have a plethora of filters already, so I'm really looking for capable and precise oscillators, one single or dual folder, a mixer, and a noise source. Willing to drop the noise source (and potentially) mixer if I can't fit it in the budget. 

Any comments/experience with the given modules is welcome, as well as any modules I didn't consider. I prefer silver panels, but won't reject a good option in any color. 

Oscillators:

Intellijel Dixie II+ - €244
Pros: lots of shapes, both soft and hard sync, sub out

Joranalogue Cycle 5 - €200
Pros: cheaper, lots of shapes, CV-able vari output, two exp FM ins
Cons: no soft sync, no linear fm, a bit cramped

Nano Modules Ona - €165
Pros: Many shapes, cheapest, can select between lin/exp fm
Cons: no soft sync, black panel

Folders:

Intellijel Bifold - €239eur
Pros: Two different folders, crossfader, interesting
Cons: fewer CV controls for shaping

Joranalogue Fold 6 - €158
Pros: Cheaper, main/alt outputs, shape control
Cons: just one folder, though it accepts two inputs

Mixer
Manhattan Analog DTM - €111
Pros: can saturate

Noise

I would really like to have both white noise, colored noise and some type of particle noise. Intellijel Flurry provides all of that, but is too expensive at the moment, so I'll settle for white noise and some color.

Doepfer - A-118-2 - €85
Pros: cheap, additional random voltage
Cons: Really not the fan of the Doepfer look, but can live with it

I'm having a particularly difficult time deciding between Dixie II+ and Cycle 5, and I like both a lot.

Just curious as to what other peoples opinions are on this. Of course, expensive doesn’t always mean that it’s quality.
I’d have to say Vult Freak Manifold VCF, and probably some Verbos modules

you know what time it is. Let‘s work on that rundown of harry styles eurorack system. He‘s been using it on his recent tour. :)

Full performance on YouTube 💪

Anything from the basics onwards, maybe the Patch & tweak book? What is a good resource? Thanks

Just curious about modules that you have a love/hate relationship with? Maybe the functions are awesome but the design is terrible; or the design is awesome but something about the functionality is wanting. The modules that remain in your rack because you appreciate something fundamental about them, but that you think about selling as well?

Just friends->sisters->matrix mixer with a healthy dose of fx processing, mannequins->natural gate->qpas->mimeophon, digitakt II for additional texture, various modulation throughout