Earlier today, Chris from I, Parasite was fighting with Ableton, trying to get Volta to work. I offered up a template liveset that I’ve been using for a while, which got him unstuck. Figuring that it might be useful for others, I’ve put it up for download here. It’s configured for an ultralite, but it should work out of the box with any similar interface.

Tags: ableton, volta

Progress continued to be made on the next Synnack release. Last weekend, Clint and I got together to sort through the 10 gigabytes or so of recordings we made with the modular last year.

It’s been strange going back through and listening to them again with fresh ears. Things of note:

• We recorded so much material, that I have no recollection of swathes of it. This made for some nice surprises.

• I expected it to be a lot more work to find bits that worked together, but it seems to be coming together remarkably quickly. Last weekend we managed to get rough mixes of quite a few tracks done.
• Given I don’t remember a bunch of those recordings, I have no recollection what gear was used to create them. This will make for interesting live versions.
• Thinking back to when we recorded these tracks, I didn’t have a whole bunch of modules back then. I didn’t even have the AFG (now I have two), let alone the more recent awesome modules like the hertz donut, Z-DSP, and a slew of other fun toys. As tempting as it is to create a bunch more tracks using these, finishing what we’ve done so far has priority.

As all the previous guesstimates on when it’s going to be finished have been wrong, I’m just going to say that “soon” has never been closer.

Tags: synnack

I just bought a Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera, and wanted to try it out for recording some tweaking of the modular. There was some discussion on muffwigglers forum about the Metasonix R52 filter, so I decided to set up a simple patch, tweak some knobs, and record the result. I ended up with the video below.

I’m quite happy with how it turned out (for a first video). The camera has two modes (landscape and macro). I filmed the entire thing in macro. It starts out a little fuzzy as I was too far away whilst starting out. Around the 30 second mark, you’ll notice it gets a lot sharper. Audio was direct from the modular. (The built-in mic isn’t fantastic)

The patch was two Plan B model 15 oscillators into the r52 filter, into a metasonix r51 VCA/distortion (just to give it some volume, distortion was minimal) into a multiple which went to my speakers, and also the camera input.

One thing I noticed after uploading the video is that youtube has done something strange to the high frequencies. There’s some really strange aliasing sounds (more noticable towards the beginning) that don’t turn up on my original copy of the video.

Tags: metasonix, plan b, r51, r52

Tonight (Sunday September 27th 2009), I’ll be playing two sets with Synnack.
I’ll be playing modular synth, with an assortment of effects as backing to existing Synnack material, and misc noises as an improv 2nd set.

Tags: gig, live, synnack

When C-Thru music announced the axis 49 a while back, I treated it as an interesting curiosity, but it didn’t scream “buy me”. This changed recently, when they had a 50% off one day sale. For some, $250 may still be a touch expensive for a 49 key midi controller, but the uniqueness of the interface still made it at least worth trying. I figured I could always sell it, and make my money back if it didn’t work out.

The box contents are pretty sparse. The controller, a usb cable, and a sheet of stickers with the note names. The axis doesn’t require any special drivers. It’s just a generic midi class device. So it ‘just worked’ in ableton, logic, and standalone NI apps that I tried. When I first plugged it in, I loaded up a piano patch, and started experimenting, before I’d even put the note names on the keys.

One of the concepts with the axis is that chords are built from shapes. With the harmonic table layout, simple shapes yield interesting results. This pdf gives a basic idea, though there are many more. There’s a slew of videos on youtube demonstrating it, including some amusing ‘shred’ videos from Jordan Rudess.

The controller covers 4 octaves, with 2 transpose octave up/down keys to the left side. Each note from each octave appears on two buttons simultaneously. The action on the buttons is very satisfying, not requiring huge amounts of pressure, allowing you to play triads with a single finger.

After having used it for a week, I have to say you have to try pretty hard to make it sound ‘unmusical’. I wish I’d had this when I was first learning music theory. Intervals are a lot more obvious with this layout. The only gripes I have with it are firstly, that it’s pretty chunky. Not really something I see traveling with too much. Secondly, no midi out (though the axis-64 does have this), which makes it a pain in the ass to interface it with hardware synths.

Tags: axis, axis-49, c-thru, controller, midi

Six months ago, it seemed that the only alternative to doepfers cases on the horizon was the forthcoming offerings from Plan B. Fast forward to today, and there’s still no sign of the ringers, or the model 0 case. Things aren’t all doom and gloom however. In the same timeframe, the eurorack world has seen some newcomers arrive.

Modularworld, and more recently Monorocket.

Modularworld’s offering offers a number of features that the doepfer cases don’t have (built in multiples, attenuators, momentary buttons). Monorocket looks even more exciting. The interview on trash audio gives some clues as to the prices.

Lexington 600HP $1000
Rack6 168HP $250
Mission9 168HP $500

The Lexington may look quite expensive initially, but at 600HP, it works out at a per-HP cost at $1.66. The only other eurorack case with a ratio near it, is the wooden low cost doepfer. Comparing the two cases, the Lexington is a hundred times better looking.

The racks are also really appealing. With a per-HP cost of $1.48, they will be the best value available right now for eurorack cases.

All the current prices are preliminary and subject to change, but if they stay close to the prices already mentioned, Monorocket has potential to satisfy a lot of customers when they start shipping.

Tags: cases, eurorack, modularworld, monorocket

When I started building out my modular, I bought a single A100p6, which I quickly outgrew. So I added a second. When I got close to filling that one, I started down the path of buying A100G6 subracks. As time went on, I somehow ended up with two racks, housing a total of 7 G6′s, plus the 2 P6′s. I toyed with the idea of selling them, and getting two of the Doepfer monster cases a few times (and the thought does still cross my mind). The thing that became really impractical though with a modular of this size is that it becomes ergonomically difficult to start using something when it’s down on the floor.

A few weeks ago I spent a few days in the studio with Clint Sand from Synnack, working on material that should appear in the next month or so on his forthcoming release. After a few days of patch cable wrangling and knob tweaking, I had serious back ache. It was only then I realised just how unergonomic my work environment had become as it had grown.

Last week, I finally got around to solving this problem, by buying two Ikea Galant desks and moving the racks up on top. I was concerned at first that perhaps the desks wouldn’t take the weight, but the T-leg type are really sturdy.

The result is I can now sit down in front of the modular and patch stuff without bending at all. I do have to stand up to reach some of the higher modules, but standing/sitting is a lot more endurable than endless bending.

The current result:

Tags: studio

Most modules don’t really need any maintenance. Like every other module, the a112 is something that can screwed into my rack, and made noise with, without needing ever really looking at its circuits again. At least in most cases. In my case however, when I bought this module used from someone on ebay, he helpfully included a spare battery cell. Which it turned out was for the best, because the module started misbehaving, outputting nothing but harsh noise.

Examination of the board showed that the battery had started leaking salty rusty ooze.


Doepfer must have been unprepared for this, because they chose to use a battery that is soldered to the board rather than some easier to replace form.

The actual replacement procedure is pretty trivial thankfully. Unsolder three pads, pull the old battery out, stick the new one in, and add some new solder. I’m no electronics genius by a long shot, but this was even within my capabilities.

Tags: A112, battery, diy, doepfer, eurorack, repair

I’ve been using the Doepfer MAQ16/3 sequencer for a while now and for the most part, really like it. Something about it has been driving me nuts since I got it though. It has 3 CV outs, 3 gate outs, and a MIDI socket on the rear of the unit. So when rack mounted, you can’t get at them, which means they have to be permanently patched (especially annoying for the MIDI socket if you want to occasionally use it with different gear).
My solution to this problem has been to leave a 1U gap underneath it and route cables from the rear through that gap. The ugliness plays hell with my OCD.

I’ve hunted for a while for some kind of 1U panel that just proxies the rear connections out to the front, without luck.
The closest I found was something similar for the schaltwerk which look like this..

These images came from the doepfer yahoo group. I’m not even sure that they were ever for sale. I couldn’t find them on the main doepfer site. The lack of a doepfer logo on the panel also makes me wonder if this wasn’t someones (very well done) DIY project.

I might have to resort to attempting to DIY a solution to this myself, which isn’t a particularly difficult project, just time consuming, tedious and there are 1001 other things I’d rather be doing than soldering connectors.

In the meantime, I think I’ll get a 1/4″ patchbay, and use a bunch of those 1/4″ to 1/8″ converter jacks.

Tags: doepfer, maq16/3, schaltwerk

I’m running out of space for modules again, which got me thinking about buying another A100G6 rack.

Revisiting the earlier post about a “per-HP” cost of cases, I compiled a list of all the possible cases currently available from Analogue Haven, noisebug & bigcity, and worked out the per-HP cost of each.

I think I’m going to hold off on buying any of the above though, until I can add these to the matrix..

The ringers will be a little more complicated to really put a per-HP pricetag on, because I’ll need to factor in at least one power supply to go with them.

updated March 13th: Added the Cwejman. Ouch. That’s just crazy talk.

Tags: cases, eurorack