Is it worth going modular?

Anything about hardware musical instruments.
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Its a shame Roland stopped making the AIRA modular effects.
I picked up a Scooper for £169 just before they did so and prices have now rocketed for that model.

They are modular in themselves with 16 sub modules, can do CV over USB as theyre recognised as an OS sound device and can be reconfigured to do a shit load of stuff.

Plus they can be used standalone with a supplied wallwart, so no need to take up rack space/power, and accept normal line levels so can be used as a studio effect.
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SLiC wrote: Fri Nov 16, 2018 4:48 pm Start with VCV rack (its FREE) and see if you like the sounds you get and the pathing methodology....

https://vcvrack.com/
Absolutely. If VCV clicks with you then maybe go Eurorack, or a cheap(er) semimodular like the Arturia Brutes.

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VariKusBrainZ wrote: Sat Nov 17, 2018 2:49 pm Its a shame Roland stopped making the AIRA modular effects.
I picked up a Scooper for £169 just before they did so and prices have now rocketed for that model.
Sometimes you can find the AIRA FXs for around $200, though Scooper seems to have higher prices than the others. I thought about it for a bit but am holding off due to general lack of space and realizing I've probably spent enough for a while :D

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foosnark wrote: Sat Nov 17, 2018 1:33 pmThe alternative I would recommend is a micro Ornament + Crime (uO_C) with the Hemisphere Suite firmware.
What's the advantage of that over the regular firmware?
my other modular synth is a bugbrand

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foosnark wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 4:33 am
VariKusBrainZ wrote: Sat Nov 17, 2018 2:49 pm Its a shame Roland stopped making the AIRA modular effects.
I picked up a Scooper for £169 just before they did so and prices have now rocketed for that model.
Sometimes you can find the AIRA FXs for around $200, though Scooper seems to have higher prices than the others. I thought about it for a bit but am holding off due to general lack of space and realizing I've probably spent enough for a while :D
Regards space, this doesnt need to be racked, can use included wallwart :)
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I second the suggestion of trying out eurorack in software form before eventually going for the real thing. As VCV instacrashed my computer I picked up a license for Softube Modular in the Marketplace. So far it's fun and frustrating in equal measures :)

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aallvor wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:40 am I second the suggestion of trying out eurorack in software form before eventually going for the real thing. As VCV instacrashed my computer I picked up a license for Softube Modular in the Marketplace. So far it's fun and frustrating in equal measures :)
But we all know it's just not the same :borg:
Amazon: why not use an alternative

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VariKusBrainZ wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:52 am
aallvor wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:40 am I second the suggestion of trying out eurorack in software form before eventually going for the real thing. As VCV instacrashed my computer I picked up a license for Softube Modular in the Marketplace. So far it's fun and frustrating in equal measures :)
But we all know it's just not the same :borg:
Totally agree! But I guess if you don't enjoy patching modules on a screen you won't enjoy it in real life either 😏 Would be shame if one found out after buying the real thing...

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aallvor wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:46 pm
VariKusBrainZ wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:52 am
aallvor wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:40 am I second the suggestion of trying out eurorack in software form before eventually going for the real thing. As VCV instacrashed my computer I picked up a license for Softube Modular in the Marketplace. So far it's fun and frustrating in equal measures :)
But we all know it's just not the same :borg:
Totally agree! But I guess if you don't enjoy patching modules on a screen you won't enjoy it in real life either 😏 Would be shame if one found out after buying the real thing...
Doesn't hurt to try software cause you can do it for free... and get a taste... but patching hardware is different. It is more hands on and kinesthetic. It is easy to tweak two parameters together. So some people might not like one and like the other... either way too

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aallvor wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:46 pm
VariKusBrainZ wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:52 am
aallvor wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:40 am I second the suggestion of trying out eurorack in software form before eventually going for the real thing. As VCV instacrashed my computer I picked up a license for Softube Modular in the Marketplace. So far it's fun and frustrating in equal measures :)
But we all know it's just not the same :borg:
Totally agree! But I guess if you don't enjoy patching modules on a screen you won't enjoy it in real life either 😏 Would be shame if one found out after buying the real thing...
I don't think that's true. I'm mostly ITB even though I own modular hardware, but, I think that there is something fun about hardware that you don't get from software, especially when it comes to modular.

However, and it's a big deal. Maybe it's better to say "if you can't get sounds that you like out of software, you might be equally frustrated with hardware."

I think that there's some truth to that. People think that modular is going to be the greatest thing until sliced bread until they get frustrated because there are no presets and they realize that there's some challenge involved in getting usable sounds.

I think that it's important to have a goal and a reason for modular. It's an expensive way to realize that more gear is not necessarily going to make your music better.

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ghettosynth wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 6:35 am usable sounds.
This is where we all differ, one man's modular fart is another man's eargasm.

I can sit and tweak my Triple Wave Folder with just a Sine wave input and some modulation and get lost....
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VariKusBrainZ wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:29 am
ghettosynth wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 6:35 am usable sounds.
This is where we all differ, one man's modular fart is another man's eargasm.

I can sit and tweak my Triple Wave Folder with just a Sine wave input and some modulation and get lost....
No doubt. Don't get the wrong idea, I mostly make modular farts, just long smooth wet ones, you know, the kind that pack some heat. I think I jammed for about four hours straight once on a friend's 0-coast and that was the first time that I laid hands on it.

You have to decide if what you're creating is what you want and I've often seen that people get into modular and get out because the sonic value gap between hardware and software is much smaller than the financial gap.

I will admit though, that I would probably get bored with just a wavefolder and a sin wave.

Someone else likes doing that as well, it seems, I mean, it kind of reminds me of the simple 555 synth craze a few years back. I'm not sure that you need modular hardware to get that kind of sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IstptPjpSKQ

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ghettosynth wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:52 am
VariKusBrainZ wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:29 am
ghettosynth wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 6:35 am usable sounds.
This is where we all differ, one man's modular fart is another man's eargasm.

I can sit and tweak my Triple Wave Folder with just a Sine wave input and some modulation and get lost....
No doubt. Don't get the wrong idea, I mostly make modular farts, just long smooth wet ones, you know, the kind that pack some heat. I think I jammed for about four hours straight once on a friend's 0-coast and that was the first time that I laid hands on it.

You have to decide if what you're creating is what you want and I've often seen that people get into modular and get out because the sonic value gap between hardware and software is much smaller than the financial gap.

I will admit though, that I would probably get bored with just a wavefolder and a sin wave.

Someone else likes doing that as well, it seems, I mean, it kind of reminds me of the simple 555 synth craze a few years back. I'm not sure that you need modular hardware to get that kind of sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IstptPjpSKQ
I've yet to hear a software wavefolder as good as hardware, and triple is better than 2 :hihi:
Love just tweaking my Furthrrrr, self patched and straight to mixer.
I am talking at the extreme end of 'as simple as it gets'

My ears just love all that lovely waveform movement and phasing, or maybe it's my shit room acoustics and very dodgy hearing that add these qualities!!!!
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VariKusBrainZ wrote: Mon Nov 19, 2018 10:04 am I've yet to hear a software wavefolder as good as hardware, and triple is better than 2 :hihi:
Love just tweaking my Furthrrrr, self patched and straight to mixer.
I am talking at the extreme end of 'as simple as it gets'

My ears just love all that lovely waveform movement and phasing, or maybe it's my shit room acoustics and very dodgy hearing that add these qualities!!!!
Yeah, I suspect that there's some bias there. It's hard to know. When I listen to those sounds I'm not hearing anything that makes me wet for hardware. Then again, I have two DIY oscillators that I think sound great droning against each other. They're nothing special, I'm pretty sure that they're very similar to the Thomas Henry xr2206 based VCO with a few mods of my own. I should make an album of one note drones with just those two VCOs.

It's pretty easy for the bias loop to convince you that your beliefs are real. Ask any former audiophile.

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whyterabbyt wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:23 am
foosnark wrote: Sat Nov 17, 2018 1:33 pmThe alternative I would recommend is a micro Ornament + Crime (uO_C) with the Hemisphere Suite firmware.
What's the advantage of that over the regular firmware?
O_C has something like 13 apps and you can run one at a time. A lot of them are some weird music theory stuff I just don't have much use for. (When I originally had O_C, I almost exclusively used Piqued.)

Hemisphere Suite has something like 60 apps, and it runs two of them simultaneously (side by side on the screen). They're generally simpler, lots of small utilities, but a few more unique things. I'm really fond of the new vector modulators, it's kind of like a mini Zadar.
VariKusBrainZ wrote: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:29 am Regards space, this doesnt need to be racked, can use included wallwart :)
I know, I don't have much space outside my rack either at this point. :hihi:

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