Ooh, I like This Modular Rack...

[ghettosynth]

My core synth voice consisting of Hertz Donut, Maths, Woggle Bug and QMMG have largely been the same since 2010/2011.

'
I see you have the first Make Noise Woggle Bug. I have the Richter variant. TBH, it goes into live instrument cases only to be removed. I think my sensibilities about that sort of thing are more aligned with Marbles.

[justin3am]

It's my favorite random source. It's also one of the modules I've had for the longest time. I think it's number 089 or 099. There are lots of more capable things in that category but the Woggle just feels right to me. I use the audio outs a lot. When I said that to Tony he was surprised. He said he thought most people don't use them and you could just as well patch oscillators to the smooth and woggle outs. That's fair enough.
...But it's kinda part of the way Wiard modules work. Each Wiard 300 module has a number of sub-modules with normalled connections. The filters have built-in lfos, the oscillators have built-in envelopes, and everything has built-in mixers and VCAs. In some ways, it's a little limiting because the envelopes and LFOs aren't the most flexible, but it forces you to come up with creative solutions. I like the puzzle aspect I guess.

[seafire]

Little offtopic here but Will this be a great starter setup?

Serious question? I wouldn't start there today.

Yes
I have them in my cart while i wait for Thomann to get them in stock
Is there a reason why i shouldn't go for it?

The demos i have heard of the surges filter is exactly the type of sound that i like.

The Surges filter is fine. I have a chunk of the B.Roland modules, but, I don't really like them that much. I would buy Abacus(Maths) and Chaos(Marbles). , the B.Arp.1047 filter, A Brains (plaits). After that I would consider what I wanted from a VCO, but, I really love the TipTop 258t. From Behringer I think that the Moob 923 is fun. I really dislike the tiny controls on the Roland stuff. But, I do have one of the dual VCOs and two of the synth voices. They just don't get much use.

That's for a basic kind of system that is mostly traditional analogue with some modern twists. I started a thread in this a year or two ago. Feel free to bump it, or I will. Then put your system together on Modular Grid and people will give you useful feedback. At least that's what was happening.

Thanks for the tip
The reason i went for this setup was because they sell the system 100 as a bundle for cheap and i wanted to add the other stuff to it to expand it a bit beyond the Broland theme

Responding here to be on topic. What do they want for the bundle. That said, if it's cheap enough, you can't really go wrong. The B stuff is almost like cheap guitar pedals at this point.

Thats a perfect starting point. I have all those. The great thing is the duality of most modules, so lots of options. The Surges filter is really nice too. Hard sync on the osc is very cool.

[ghettosynth]

It's my favorite random source. It's also one of the modules I've had for the longest time. I think it's number 089 or 099. There are lots of more capable things in that category but the Woggle just feels right to me. I use the audio outs a lot. When I said that to Tony he was surprised. He said he thought most people don't use them and you could just as well patch oscillators to the smooth and woggle outs. That's fair enough.
...But it's kinda part of the way Wiard modules work. Each Wiard 300 module has a number of sub-modules with normalled connections. The filters have built-in lfos, the oscillators have built-in envelopes, and everything has built-in mixers and VCAs. In some ways, it's a little limiting because the envelopes and LFOs aren't the most flexible, but it forces you to come up with creative solutions. I like the puzzle aspect I guess.

Indeed, I'm surprised. I studied the block diagram of the thing, the two interacting PLLs is strange. I see other people using them to, I just haven't found the sweet spot that works for me.

I was mostly asking your for suggestions on where you think that it works best. Also, I really wish that I had a light color panel for it. I think that the Make Noise gold on black style PCB panels with their "cute" graphics is among my least favorite. I liked my silver faced Maths, but, I sold it when I got the black face one with the tape and microsound system. Now I think I should probably sell about 1/2 of that system, at least in terms of module count.

Now though, I find it very hard to reconsider a silver faced Maths when B.Abacus is < $70.

[D-Fusion]

Serious question? I wouldn't start there today.

Yes
I have them in my cart while i wait for Thomann to get them in stock
Is there a reason why i shouldn't go for it?

The demos i have heard of the surges filter is exactly the type of sound that i like.

The Surges filter is fine. I have a chunk of the B.Roland modules, but, I don't really like them that much. I would buy Abacus(Maths) and Chaos(Marbles). , the B.Arp.1047 filter, A Brains (plaits). After that I would consider what I wanted from a VCO, but, I really love the TipTop 258t. From Behringer I think that the Moob 923 is fun. I really dislike the tiny controls on the Roland stuff. But, I do have one of the dual VCOs and two of the synth voices. They just don't get much use.

That's for a basic kind of system that is mostly traditional analogue with some modern twists. I started a thread in this a year or two ago. Feel free to bump it, or I will. Then put your system together on Modular Grid and people will give you useful feedback. At least that's what was happening.

Thanks for the tip
The reason i went for this setup was because they sell the system 100 as a bundle for cheap and i wanted to add the other stuff to it to expand it a bit beyond the Broland theme

Responding here to be on topic. What do they want for the bundle. That said, if it's cheap enough, you can't really go wrong. The B stuff is almost like cheap guitar pedals at this point.

Thats a perfect starting point. I have all those. The great thing is the duality of most modules, so lots of options. The Surges filter is really nice too. Hard sync on the osc is very cool.

i was thinking of the wasp filter but that one is always out of Stock and the surges do sound great too.

Wish it was 10hp wider so i could add a second oscillator for even more variety like brains or something similar.

I think i will go for this setup first and maybe add a second 104hp later if i want more and maybe sell the broland vco on the second one and add brains in it"s place instead.

I want something that can sound like multiple different synths without taking up to much space when i first are going to get a modular setup

[seafire]

i was thinking of the wasp filter but that one is always out of Stock and the surges do sound great too.

Wish it was 10hp wider so i could add a second oscillator for even more variety like brains or something similar.

I think i will go for this setup first and maybe add a second 104hp later if i want more and maybe sell the broland vco on the second one and add brains in it"s place instead.

I want something that can sound like multiple different synths without taking up to much space when i first are going to get a modular setup

I have the wasp filter too, got it the day it was released tho. That's the only problem with behringer stuff, out of stock often.

I use mine as a flexible synth, for 'normal' sounds at the moment, and those modules are great for that. Will no doubt adventure into the weirder realms later.

Top tip. Sample any sounds you find/make. I have a template that records 5 notes per octave. I then edit into sfz files. That way you never lose a sound, and you can play it polyphonic

[vurt]

the doepfer wasp filter won't break your bank either tbh.

[seafire]

True. Lots of their stuff is under 100, cheaper on ebay.

[ghettosynth]

the doepfer wasp filter won't break your bank either tbh.

Also, this filter is known to be hard on the CMOS chip that's being abused, so, this is one of those times when I would buy Doepfer over Behringer for what is essentially the same product because the Doepfer is thru-hole (AFAIK, this is still true in 2025) and the chips are socketed.

[Constructed Identity]

That is lovely, and so stylish. I can't unsee the Marshall amp knobs though.

Most of the small companies use off-the-shelf knobs, some don’t even use the same knobs consistently. So, ya I agree, but that’s how it is.

[ghettosynth]

That is lovely, and so stylish. I can't unsee the Marshall amp knobs though.

Most of the small companies use off-the-shelf knobs, some don’t even use the same knobs consistently. So, ya I agree, but that’s how it is.

Of course. I buy the same knobs for my own stuff, or, I use salvaged knobs from old gear. I have a CEM VCO with Korg PolySix knobs. It's just that those gold/brown knobs jump out as Marshal amp knobs. Also, I get it, they match the aesthetic in terms of color, but, the underlying association to Marshal amps kind of betrays the context.

[seafire]

Moog knobs are the worst imo, give me the willies

[justin3am]

I was mostly asking your for suggestions on where you think that it works best.

There are a lot of interesting ways to use the WoggleBug. I often use it as the main clock in a patch and in that case it's really handy the the clock of the Richter Woggle Bug can be used independently. You can connect it's clock out to modulatable clock divider, then route the clock divider's output to the Woggle's clock input, then modulate the clock divider with one of the CV outs, so that you can get rate changes which are always related to the main clock. I may later switch to a MIDI clock so I can sync to other things, but using the Woggle's clock is an easy way to start a sequenced patch for me.

The Woggle CV otput is great for modulating FM index and playback position of things like Phonogene/Morphagene. Instead of sending a clock to the Woggle, I'll use the same gate that triggers my voice envelopes, so that it just changes states when a new note is triggered. Logic, clock dividers and things like Branches are useful if you don't want it to trigger on every note event.

I use the Audio outs to drive the Gene-Shift input on Phonogene, the Seed input on Clouds/Beads or the trigger input of a sample and hold (equally good for making modulation more steppy and for sample-rate reduced audio processing).

I also have a Tape and Microsound system, which I mainly use to expand 0-Coast, Strega, 0-CTRL. I don't mind the black and gold faceplates much. At some point, I don't think I really even "see" the front panels anymore. Of course I'm using visual cues but it's more muscle memory than reading and processing, if you know what I mean.

[justin3am]

Moog knobs are the worst imo, give me the willies

+1. I'm not sure what it is. They are fine of course but Davies knobs are my favorite.

[foosnark]

I mostly prefer the Rogan soft-touch knobs that Mutable Instruments and Make Noise use(d). With the high contrast white/black they work well on any color of panel and aren't dependent on lighting, and they just feel good.

Davies knobs are pretty decent too. I used to think I disliked them, but I just disliked some of the cheap-looking colors on Davies clones. They're fine in black or red.

My least favorite knobs:

- the ones where light glares off the top surface in a line that looks exactly like the pointer. Noise Engineering knobs do this, so I've replaced most of mine with Rogans.

- rounded plastic knobs without much grip texture. IIRC, Algo had those.

- any plain black knobs on a black panel.

- aesthetically, I'm just not super fond of the kind of knobs Synth Tech and Pittsburgh Modular used to use, similar to Moog knobs with that aluminum-looking round insert. Or chicken head knobs of any kind.