I would have thought Metropolis Sequencer into Braids would yield dozens of great sounds (without a filter being involved)?

Yeah, I kinda live in the middle of nowhere. Only people I know that know things about tech are my imaginary internet friends.

So say I figure out how to decipher all this gobbelty goop, how does one go about converting it to an audio file?

The guy I bought it from only had Grayscale anything. He seemed shocked that anyone would dare even ask for an original panel. As for whether it's genuine or DIY, I'm going to guess it's the retail version because the guy was parting out a whole system (one of those guys that thought he wanted to get into modular, bought a whole system with little to no research, paid extra for Grayscale everything, and then figured out he had no idea what he was doing.) The PCB is labeled 'Elephants' if that helps any?

As an aside since we're now talking about different modes of the Mutables, have you tried the FM drum mode yet? I toyed with it a little last night and it's pretty darn cool, actually. Oliver unintentionally crossed the Neuron off my list with that one. (Thanks Oliver!)

It does- but it's all rather vanilla sounding when just straight up sequencing it (not modular wierd!) But perhaps that's a good thing!

Here's an example of the Metropolis at work:
notes: playing a 4 note pattern -square wave from the Malekko richter VCO 2- sequenced with my Metropolis. Being transposed by the Cyclebox ii in LFO mode. synced with my TR8 and LXR and TB3.

https://soundcloud.com/androiddreams/modular-space-jam

it does sound unlike anything else I've ever heard...

But i just realized that if I sell all my modular gear I could buy an Oberheim SEM, Elektron Monomachine and Machinedrum (all used) and still had some money left over!

And I have exactly 16hp left in my case before I have to get a new rack. WHAT ARE THE ODDS!?

Derp beat me to it, but yes, the expert mode is where you can get full control of the dual ENV... what I haven't tried (on my way to work now so can't till I get home) and what I am hoping Olivier can maybe answer is, can expert mode be used to have the ENV on one channel and the LFO on the second channel of Peaks? That would be awesome! Otherwise, I'll have to buy a second Peaks... which I was planning on anyway, just don't have the room for it at the moment.

Elephants = DIY

Can't imagine Braids being 'vanilla'.

I'm about to list my Cyclebox II and Expander on Ebay.

1.) Tempting, but with you being in the UK, that complicates things with shipping, the conversion rate, and how everything is just generally more expensive on your side of the pond.

2.) I thought you said in either this thread or the last one that Cyclebox was one of your forgotten treasures? I thought it was never leaving your collection.

Unless someone knows something I don't (which with the depth of Mutable modules, that's very likely), you can't have different modes on different channels. If you're looking to add LFO's and Envelopes anyway, maybe you want to consider the CV Trinity? $300 and you get six channels of awesome!

I feel like such a pusher.

"Hey kids, ya wanna try some BASTL!?"

The fact that their accent reminds me of stereotypical tough guys in bad action flicks doesn't help that image at all.


"You try Popcorn or I break kneecaps, da?"
(Yes, I know they're Czech and not Russian, but the heart wants what the heart wants, ya know?)

yep.

Yes, you are right.
I'm in the mood to downsize further though.
I'm hooked on Erica Black series, so I'm thinking of selling most other things i own.

If the PCB says "Elephants" then it's not "Elements", it's a DIY version / clone. Looks like you got ripped off... :(

As for Peaks, yes, it can run different functions on both channels in expert mode (except the mini sequencer, which takes control of both inputs since it needs clock + reset).

Of course you can!! Each channel can have a different mode.

In expert mode, you can have channel 1 with Envelope and channel 2 with LFO, for example

It seems like some must spend considerably more time discussing their modulars than they do using their modules too. Hey, to each his own. There seem to also be collectors who get very little "musical" action out of their modulars (that's not even a criticism about 'modular music', talking about people with literally zero output to their name willing to tell you how much better their Cwejman and Macbeth modules are than anything else for running through Clouds [just don't ask them how to actually patch something]); but as long as they are enjoying themselves I don't see why that should be a problem for me.

Personally when I started I drew up what was basically a 3 case (each at 6U) plan. The plan has changed somewhat but that's a positive as it has all been informed by actual use of the instrument and what I feel I'm missing at different points in time. It's now a 4 case plan and I'm somewhere around the 60-65% mark after a touch less than two years, a little ahead of the five-ish year plan I envisioned. We'll see if a fifth case gets launched as housing for "new modules" that make my list after the plan is completed but right now keeping things manageable is about as important to my live act as having more and more choices.

So somebody built one using your PCB. How is that a ripoff? Did you limit the functionality of the DIY version to punish those pretentious snobs? ...is Elements really supposed to have that Fleshlight attachment that I've always dreamed of for my system?

Well **** on me and call me a sundae. That's pretty awesome!

Yeah, my bad. I've got a lot of down time at work, so you poor souls have to suffer.

I wouldn't call that "bad", maybe it just makes some of us a little jealous. Anyway as I followed it all up with
"as long as they are enjoying themselves I don't see why that should be a problem for me." And indeed it is not!

While I personally would not embark on a collection style hobby I don't think it's a lesser goal or something; just not mine. Part of my live show involves starting with a totally unpatched synthesizer and, as a result, organization and planning play a pretty big role in my set being exciting and moving along versus long stretches of repeating patterns while people wait for me to find stuff and get it patched up. And knowing that I need to keep things somewhat neat and clear for that keeps my GAS under control in the studio (where, believe me, I'd love to have one of each and two of the stuff I really love).

So speaking of punishing DIY folks, I think I want to try again with the kit assembly one more time. I just got this message back from the guy I gave my last two DIY attempts to:

So here I thought I had fried it with too much heat when in fact I wasn't getting it hot enough. So that 'fancy' temperature-controlled iron I got was obviously bull****. I think if I take my old Radio Shack iron and crank it up to max, I'll be fine. It says 50 watts but, is it really? Only one way to find out!

Any recommendations for another cheap kit to butcher?

I love my Turing Machine...

I don't sell those PCBs.

With the real thing, you get warranty and support from me. You're 100% sure it's working as intended and every I/O port has been tested.

And in one or two years those hand-soldered joints might start breaking. If you've built it yourself, fine, you'll know how to fix it, but if you bought it assembled from someone else, ahem.

I don't punish anybody. The DIY scene surrounding my modules is something people have the freedom to take part in, but I certainly don't encourage it.

People getting into this game are just punishing themselves.

Nice line to be hooked on. Their new DSP module looks like another killer one.

So was noodling with the new modules last night and had this sequence running.

Audio path is Loq Iteras -> MiniMod -> Amp

Modulation/Sequence is Shapers, Tides, Batumi, Noise Ring, Turani, Verbos Multi-Stage.

I click through the modes on the Loq and twiddle the knobs a bit, and cycle through the Batumi modes later, but otherwise it's running on it's own.

Buuuuut... it's got your logo on it. It's even got your name on it. So somebody's running around slapping your name and logo on a PCB with your design on it!? Are you gonna sue the guy doing this?

Well if it makes you feel any better, and I'm embarrassed to admit this, but since you're all strangers on the internet to me, you should know that you're only getting a third of the story. Some of this was entailed on that thread about how people are able to afford rooms full of gear, but I've dropped my quality of living significantly to make where I'm at possible. I only get $16/hr, but I live like I'm in the ghetto. On top of that, I've sold and am selling a lot of gear to afford this. And all of my credit cards are maxed out. And because I decided to go on this binge before I actually sold my Vostok, my bank account is in the red. Not just for the total estimated sale price of the Vostok, either: I'm currently in the hole $3500. The wife has started to cover groceries while I sneak in the important bills between modules. So yeah, I'm buying a lot of modules right now, but there's also a lot of self-inflicted punishment going on.

Buuuuut...

I get where you are coming from with the time thing, luckily in this thread that isn't really the case, unless you mean me. For example, Derp talks more than anybody, but he also seems to record more than anybody as well. I follow him on soundcloud and he posts something every day, sometimes multiple things in one day, which is more than anyone I subscribe to. Others here have healthy soundclouds and youtube channels as well (I stalk you all bwahahaha) For my part I record every day, but I wouldn't call most (99%) of what I record "soundcloudworthy" since I am still learning my modular I mostly experiment with sound instead of riff on "songs", so it isn't worth posting. Personally my output will pick up this summer when I finish college. Others here might be in similar "R+D" phases of development as well. Also, in reference to "zero output to their name", not everyone here uses their "name", I am involved in at least 3 collaborations with different names, and I operate with a few different psudonyms personally. I'm sure I'm not the only one like this. I don't feel defensive towards your post (you said it wasn't a problem for you) at all I just thought it was worth mentioning...

I do have to ask how you can reconcile the words "manageable" and "live" in something called a "5-case plan". From my perspective that is a broken back and an insane amount of money to tote around. If you come to Portland I'll be in the audience though!

I doubt it bears the Mutable Instruments name or logo, but if you insist it has, can you send me a picture? The Mutable Instruments name or logo should only be present on things I sell, support and get compensated for.

As for the design itself, it is released under the cc-by-sa licence, so anybody can print it, modify it, make their own, sell it, I don't care. Leaving an "attribution" mark (my name), and removing any reference to Mutable Instruments is part of the rules.

Mutable Instruments is 100% open-source / open-hardware in case you missed the point.

Tiptop 808 hats and Dinky's are my only dedicated drum modules but the I think all of my SC recordings also use Peaks in drum mode for kick and snare. I often patch up kicks using a sine wave out of a osc or filter. Maths is a great snappy EG for drums patching to the v/oct of just about anything. Also sending noise, nasty FM'd VCOs or anything harsh through the Optomix and triggering strike is instant electro percussion. I don't think I have any recordings of it but Rings makes an excellent drum module, lots of congas and doumbeks in there. It's hard to keep it in that humble role in my small system though. All of my recordings also go through a 500 series channel strip (neve EQs + SSL comp clone) which really helps smooth things out especially in modular where I don't have dynamics/eq controls on every channel.

Nah, I was just being snarky for a cheap laugh. The truth is that I am the last person in the world who should be hurling insults about wasting time reading about modulars, I also have stretches of downtime at work. As far as having output or not, in the end I might not know any of y'all (well believe I know who Chris is) and I'm quite certain y'all don't know me. But I've encountered some instances of this weird collector sub-culture with insane $$/hp and seemingly little to no clue what any of their modules actually do. I guess I assume that other people are fanatical about their instruments like many of us in this thread seem to be which is not necessarily the case (nor is it a requirement).

Hah! Fair question. Well my longest cables are 3' and my goal is to not need to buy longer cables. 4 cases keeps everything at arm's reach (the 5th case would be extravagances so it wouldn't have to be at arm's reach; though to be fair I'm going to at least *try* to stop at 4; it COULD happen!!!!!) and makes patching from case to case a breeze. Keeps the MOTU CV snake able to reach everything without using strangely long cables (I also use a laptop, Spark controller and iPad with the modular). The equipment is all insured, only way I would carry that stuff out of the house (hell it's required here just to keep it in a house, lots of breaking).

As to the broken back, it's not a coincidence that each case has gotten physically smaller and lighter lol. Started with a pair of road case amp racks with Z-rails and DIY'd power solutions into them; large, heavy, very sturdy and safe, good ventilation but not suitcase sized. Next I shrunk down to the Synthrotek 104hp waterproof portable. Much smaller, wheels and handles, almost a suit-case-able carry at its size too from the middle handle. Next case (which I'm scoping now) will either be the Intellijel 7U Performance Case or a Dark Modular (if I could talk them into hooking up a 1U row; I just can't live without a tile row in that case).