Looking for recommendations on my first modular

jbucks · Joined: Jul 30, 2011 Posts: 6 Location: Berlin

Hello hello, after a lot of research on this great forum and Muff Wiggler, and a visit to Schneider's Buero here in Berlin, I'm thinking of making the plunge into modular synthesis, but I'd love some more advice!

My idea for a setup is to have my hardware MIDI sequencer trigger the modular, and to have my external FX processor/loop sampler set up through either an external mixer or a mixer module (is this possible?). And that's it!

OK, if relying on a modular to be the only sound generator in the whole setup is asking a bit much, then I COULD use a softsynth as well, but the whole idea is to get off the computer as much as possible.

I'd like to spend between 1000 to 1500 Euros at first. My thought is to spend a bit more money on a good oscillator to have a good source sound to start with, especially if the modular is going to my sole tone generator.

Because I read good things about a Cwejman VM-1 I listened to it at Schneider's Buero and it does indeed sound good. Any alternatives I might consider? I'm attracted to the Eurorack format because it seems there are a lot of interesting modules available (but I'm not fixated on Eurorack). I suppose with my budget that I could then buy the rest of the modules I need from Doepfer.

So imagine I that I would need:

- A MIDI to CV convertor
- The oscillator (enough to have just say the VM-1, or better to get more?)
- A filter: the gentleman at Schneider's said that a good filter is also worth paying for, but I'm not sure what to look for in a good filter
- An LFO: I had lots of fun on my softsynth routing LFOs into different things, so I thought an LFO with plenty of options would be great, too.
- VCAs
- Multipliers (I've read that the value of having these and VCAs is not to be underestimated)
- A mixer

Is that enough for a starting setup, or am I forgetting something? I also listened to a Make Noise Maths module, which sounded great, but is optional at this point, and even though I have hardware sequencer it might be nice to have a sequencer module down the road later, too.

Thanks for any tips!

EdisonRex · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:34 am Post subject:

Hi and

jbucks!

I'm sure you will get plenty of advice. I'm happy to offer some too. Wink

jbucks · Joined: Jul 30, 2011 Posts: 6 Location: Berlin

Hi EdisonRex, thanks a lot for the welcome and for the reply!

That's great advice about getting one voice completely finished before adding more. Glad that you reminded me about envelope generators, I completely forgot. And good to know that I need a lot of multiples.

Thanks again!

wmonk · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 11:56 am Post subject:

Well, I don't have experience with any of the listed modules, but can give some advice on a basic starter modular. In your list something important is missing: an envelope generator. Depending on what style of music you want to make, being it melodic stuff or more soundscapes, I would suggest an ADSR and AD/AR envelope generator respectively. The Maths is an AD/AR envelope generator that can also do LFO duties. From what I see in the descriptions it must be good for soundscapes, drones, percussive things. For bass and lead sounds a ADSR might be better, voltage control is a nice feature.

For long I didnt have a filter in my modular, but now I have it, I can't do without the multimode filter. It doesn't have as much character as some lowpass VCFs, not crunchy, dirty, snappy. But it is very very useful. If you're more into weird sounds, take a look at (VC) waveshapers.

Multiples are as EdisonRex said necessary but also a empty panel space filler. If you're going to stay with Euro or Frac, stackcables from TipTop audio can be nice too, limiting the need for multiples and 'expensive' panel space. http://www.tiptopaudio.com/stack.php?goto=features

Cheers,
Woody