2021: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2021)

[vurt]

ooh that's a good few to check out, had seen chance in passing, was going to have a look at that, but the others are new to me, well ive heard of o and c but never actually looked at it

don't know how i feel about menus myself yet not something ive really had much experience with?
but im usually ok with anything that does something useful and well
ill have a look at some videos and see how it looks i guess

[elxsound]

That WMD Modbox is hard to find without a 2nd hand upsell market. I hope they make more.

I've had that one and the E355 module on my list since they were mentioned before, but haven't had any luck picking one up and I'm wondering if the E355 is discontinued?

**I hadn't heard about Ornament and Crime before. Is there and downside to picking up one of these µO_c modules? 8hp makes it intriguing.
I have to watch more videos. I have gotten along well with Pamela, but the menu diving is not deep, just a little tedious at times.

[foosnark]

need some interesting modulation bits me thinks!
any suggestions for something a bit "different"?
random cv type stuff maybe?
all suggestions welcome for research purposes

My personal favorite random source is Marbles, because it's so good at taming the randomness -- the quantizer is extremely clever, and looping/mutating works very well for me as a sort of inspiration generator...

Speaking of which, Stochastic Inspiration Generator? I haven't tried it myself, but it seems like on a basic level it could be a lot of fun (though it does seem like there are a lot of extra features crammed in and I'm not sure how intuitive they are to use).

[vurt]

need some interesting modulation bits me thinks!
any suggestions for something a bit "different"?
random cv type stuff maybe?
all suggestions welcome for research purposes

My personal favorite random source is Marbles, because it's so good at taming the randomness -- the quantizer is extremely clever, and looping/mutating works very well for me as a sort of inspiration generator...

marbles i have, and do love too. need "moar!!!" modulators though, i can also use a cvlization for mootating cv, but again "moar!!!" and also, nice to feed something to both of them for looping/mutating...

Speaking of which, Stochastic Inspiration Generator? I haven't tried it myself, but it seems like on a basic level it could be a lot of fun (though it does seem like there are a lot of extra features crammed in and I'm not sure how intuitive they are to use).

that one, i didnt know!
will add to the list cheers

[justin3am]

**I hadn't heard about Ornament and Crime before. Is there and downside to picking up one of these µO_c modules? 8hp makes it intriguing.
I have to watch more videos. I have gotten along well with Pamela, but the menu diving is not deep, just a little tedious at times.

For a while DIY was the only option. I built a couple of them. They are supremely useful. Before I got CVilization, I had one O_c set to Quantermain at all times. I mostly use Piqued, Quadraturia, Low-Rents and CopierMaschine these days.

The fact that each one of these modes is so useful, means that I kinda want a module devoted to those functions. But things like the ASR mode (CopierMaschine) and Lorenz Attractor mode (Low-rents), I don't use frequently enough to warrant a module just for those functions. So it's nice that it can be a bunch of extra envelopes or LFOs, when I don't need the more esoteric stuff.

There is also the alternate Hemispheres firmware, which splits the module in two, so you can select two different applicactions/functions.

Some of these modes are really deep and some of the parameters are not immediately obvious. It took me a while to get the most from it but it's definitely a staple in my system now.

[vurt]

well, ive just checked and i have 26 hp in one rack and ten in another.
things can be moved if needed to get 36 in one rack...

[elxsound]

well, ive just checked and i have 26 hp in one rack and ten in another.
things can be moved if needed to get 36 in one rack...

36hp... does that mean you're getting one of each?

[vurt]

no idea yet, still collecting options

im leaning towards chance, as a probable, from what i remember from the knobs video...
but ill have to have another look to be sure.
then theres always room for something else, as i like to have things out of time, so its nice to have a few different things running in to eg one sampler, so all the different controls change at different times, you get a wider sound pallet

[elxsound]

**I hadn't heard about Ornament and Crime before. Is there and downside to picking up one of these µO_c modules? 8hp makes it intriguing.
I have to watch more videos. I have gotten along well with Pamela, but the menu diving is not deep, just a little tedious at times.

For a while DIY was the only option. I built a couple of them. They are supremely useful. Before I got CVilization, I had one O_c set to Quantermain at all times. I mostly use Piqued, Quadraturia, Low-Rents and CopierMaschine these days.

The fact that each one of these modes is so useful, means that I kinda want a module devoted to those functions. But things like the ASR mode (CopierMaschine) and Lorenz Attractor mode (Low-rents), I don't use frequently enough to warrant a module just for those functions. So it's nice that it can be a bunch of extra envelopes or LFOs, when I don't need the more esoteric stuff.

There is also the alternate Hemispheres firmware, which splits the module in two, so you can select two different applicactions/functions.

Some of these modes are really deep and some of the parameters are not immediately obvious. It took me a while to get the most from it but it's definitely a staple in my system now.

I know that I was a bit worried after getting CVilization, that maybe I had gotten away from what makes Modular fun, but I don't mind switching modes as needed (it's still fun). I think for me the biggest thing is knowing it'll get used even if you don't use every mode all the time, or on something with that many options, some of the modes none of the time.

[pekbro]

Heh, the Ornament and Crime is always touted by pretty much everyone I know that has one.
Super useful and versatile, personally I have skipped it so far, as I don't really want any more fully
digital utilities. I have enough computers in my rig already. But that's me, definitely it comes well
recommended.

[foosnark]

I just had a flash of insight.

I owned O&C twice -- once in the original hardware design to run the original firmware, once in the (better) micro version for Hemisphere. I've owned both Disting mk4 and EX. And I bounced off of all four of them, finding them no fun to work with.

But I like CVilization for the most part, and I like Stages a lot.

The difference is navigation. With CVz there are menu-ish pages for some features, and they do require either a cheat sheet or a much better memory than mine. But there are 8 knobs and it still feels very hands-on, especially in mode 1. With Stages (official firmware) there are zero hidden parameters or combos at any time, no menus.

This is probably also part of why I like Shapeshifter more than E352. Navigation is with dedicated buttons. (It's really more about Shifter being a complex oscillator with so many dimensions of timbre, which suits me better than what I consider the best of the "pure" wavetable oscillators.)

And part of why I didn't like PNW either. (Although the main issue was I didn't want 8 outputs derived from one clock, I wanted more flexible processing of arbitrary incoming gate streams and rhythms and Teletype suits me a lot better). Or the DAFM Genesis synth.

I've never thought the phrase "menu diving" really captured the problem -- it was never menu depth that bugged me, as much as going back and forth (relay racing in the Olympic pool instead of diving!) But now I see, I just don't really like using an encoder to choose what to edit. I especially don't like using the same encoder to navigate and edit, but even one to choose and another to edit kind of annoys me.

[whyterabbyt]

need some interesting modulation bits me thinks!
any suggestions for something a bit "different"?
random cv type stuff maybe?
all suggestions welcome for research purposes

this might be off-piste depending on what you're thinking about but....

music thing turing machine.

[vurt]

need some interesting modulation bits me thinks!
any suggestions for something a bit "different"?
random cv type stuff maybe?
all suggestions welcome for research purposes

this might be off-piste depending on what you're thinking about but....

music thing turing machine.

nothing (unless it's bigger than 36 hp for now) is off the table!
if it modulates, it gets added to the list (unless its unobtainium as well i guess, not much point looking at things id have to kill someone for )

[justin3am]

Oh yeah, that's a good one. I've been strongly considering building one of these: https://synthcube.com/cart/phonemes-ala ... ds-rev-2-1

I keep wanting to get a Noisering again too. It was one of my favorite stepped modulation generators (only sold it to fund my Shared System).

[whyterabbyt]

The main module is only 10HP, but you can kit it out with expanders. My Mk1 setup, with all the Music Thing expanders (VactrolMix = 'random mixer', Pulses = individual gate outputs, Voltages = individual CV outs) comes to 36HP(*) in total but you dont actually need all of them...

(* eventually plus 4HP for a Bytes module but you dont need that for a Mk2 TM.)