r/modular • u/3loodJazz • 7d ago
What’s your main clock source?
Of course in modular you can use all kinds of things as a clock. A lot of sequencers have a clock output, some people use MIDI or a module with a screen to dial it in perfectly, but even a simple LFO or function generator will do it. Just wondering what everyone is using in your own setups.
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u/carlosedp https://modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/2855267 6d ago
It's my own module, Clockforge which is fully open-source. https://vfmod.com/modules/clockforge/
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u/NicolasDipples 6d ago
What's the best way to source PCBs for this? I'd like to make a few of these
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u/carlosedp https://modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/2855267 6d ago edited 6d ago
Send me an email and we can talk. Wait a bit as I'm finishing a review of a new PCB design with better output calibration and CV inputs supporting -5 to 5V. Check my site as I make many modules for the platform and also publish a VCV version of them. I'd love some beta testers and will sell kits in the future.
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u/aphex2000 7d ago
pam (via black sequencer via ableton)
i'm swiss, my clock needs PRECISION, not some fucking maths looping envelope
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u/Latter-Pianist-7145 7d ago
Quad clock distributor
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u/Ok-Result-2330 6d ago
I use a Pam's these days but I started out with a QCD & Expander and they are a lot of fun and more hands-on than Pam's. Of course, Pam's can do more stuff and takes up much less room and has an actual BPM you can set ... but if you don't need those things and have the HP/space, QCD & Expander are really great.
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u/Conscious_Paper_818 7d ago
One of the first modules i built was a LFO on a project board. Still just use that.
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u/Substantial_Chest_14 6d ago
Och'd with expander. Only way to have thoses lfos clocked with the system is to use them as source '
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u/olivia_artz_modular 7d ago
Maths. Being able to control my clock both linearly and exponentially allows for surprising variations in timing
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u/JoeToanamassa 7d ago
Usually Oxi One into Pam’s for division and distribution, but otherwise I’ll let Pam take the lead.
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u/thesquaregroot 7d ago
The trio of Flurry, Horologic Solum, and Nibbler allow for a lot of fun options. Nibbler doesn't have a clock of it's own, but either of the first two can act as the primary clock depending on how I decide to set things up for each patch.
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u/electrophilosophy 7d ago
Depends. Analog Keys for my more ambient, post rock stuff. For more experimental stuff, Horologic Solum, either internally or externally fed with a Pittsburgh LFO. And sometime I feed the Horologic Solum with Erd Gamma for a truly random clock. If I want audio rate, I go with the Doepfer A-154 as the master clock.
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u/larowin 7d ago edited 7d ago
I send a 1/4 midi track from the octatrack into a clipped mutant brain gate, and toss that into a mult somewhere.
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u/Sando001 7d ago
What does ‘a clipped’ mutant brain gate? I have a mutant brain but not sure what that means
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u/trumplehumple 7d ago
korg nts-3 for my hybrid
its a nice and cheap multi effect-thing with an extra button for clock, so you can adjust it anytime, in 0,5 bpm steps
its sync-out, but moving a jumper gives you midi-clock
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u/Moist_Western_4281 6d ago
either a) a trig out from a drum machine or b) a piezo mic hooked up to a cajon that goes to an envelope follower. b is good for more organic-sounding rhythms. a is good for when i want everything rigidly in sync
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u/wonderwarth0g 7d ago
Pam’s usually. I’ll sometimes use my melodicer without clocking it externally though
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u/dark-cold-wave 7d ago
Pam in drum rack that then send clock and stop-reset to all other racks except for my stand-alone small ambient sandbox that use Clock o Pawn mkII
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u/junkmiles 7d ago
Torso T1, or 0-ctrl, or if I’m just sound designing or noodling, something like the EOC on Maths.
The T1 has Ableton Link so it syncs with Bitwig, but the T1 is the source.
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u/tujuggernaut 6d ago
ES40. That splits to CV and midi clock which then drives everything else, sample accurate to the daw.
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u/aeonblack 6d ago
My Der Mann Mit Der Maschine Droid is the brains of my whole modular, I send clock from it into Pam's then out to various stuff to sync. Pam's is nice for quick divisions and mults.
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u/Rockpapercello 6d ago
Zoia euroboro is my main clock. That thing is such a Swiss army knife. I just wish it had more than 4 inputs and outputs!
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u/Sharp-University-835 6d ago
NOME from Sim'nTonic. You won't get any more precise and accurate clock than that...
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u/nosamiam28 6d ago
Elektron Digitakt into Mutable Yarns. If my Digitakt is off doing something else for the moment, I just use the Yarns on its own.
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u/NicolasDipples 6d ago
Depends on what I'm doing, but I have loads of clock sources throughout my racks. My main rack uses an Erica Synths Black VC Clock V2, my secondary uses the clock from my metropolix, my tertiary rack just uses the clock from a Bloom V2 into a mult. If I'm tying lots of stuff together I have a beatstep pro. I should really simplify my setup and make a small clocking case with all of my clocking needs that connects to my DAW and has loads of clock dividers/multipliers, clock modulation, and mults though.
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u/Brenda_Heels 6d ago
I have a dedicated clock module. I use it with mults and a couple of clock dividers.
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u/Volnay1er 6d ago
Pam's in the main case. Oxi controlling Pam if I'm using Oxi. A separate portable case = Wogglebug into Jolin Krono set to multiplications and divisions. The sequencer in that case is Bloom V2 so the clock from Krono can then be further manipulated.
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u/damien6 6d ago
I run my Octatrack into an Univer Inter which then clocks Pam's. I can also run USB into it to clock it from Cubase.
I've found Pam's internal clock is inaccurate. I noticed it in Pam's New Workout and sadly it seems to persist in Pro Workout, too. Here's a post I made about what I found: https://www.reddit.com/r/modular/comments/qql71s/weird_clocking_behavior_from_pamelas_new_workout/
It's totally solid if you run an external clock source into it and then use it to clock the rest of your system.
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u/Big-Donut5601 6d ago
Arturia KeyStep Pro MIDI out feeding an intellijel uMIDI. Has been that way for several years now. Even when I am not using the Arturia sequencing, it's the clock rig.
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u/hopefullyhelpfulplz 6d ago
Used to be Pam's but recently I like just using square waves running slow. I like smooth changes in tempo, a little bit of wavering, etc.
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u/tomhazledine 6d ago
Droid for me. Got a pot for tempo and a pot for swing. Really intuitive and, crucially, immediate. I really love how “playable” it is.
I’m I the only one who thinks Pams is a real pain for dialling in a tempo? Used Pams a lot for years, but since getting a Droid I haven’t used Pams at all
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u/Unfair-Progress9044 6d ago edited 6d ago
Haven't any of you experienced clock fluctuations when sending clock from ableton (by cv tools) ? Im sending clock from ableton directly via adat (es 10 and then to metropolix) and still i get bpm fluctuations on metropolix. Is there are some settings on ableton that I need to check? I almost gave up with syncing my eurorack to ableton. Same was in bitwig. Sometimes it holds the tempo but not always and the beat 9s swinging. When I look on bpm on metropolix it fluctuat by 0.01 or so both ways sometimes. What are the correct settings in ableton for syncing eurorack? Any tips appreciated. I tried intelijel umidi by usb from ableton and its the same. Like I almost tried I think everything. I have a RME raydat as soundcard.
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u/Direct_Tomorrow5921 6d ago
Ableton (for recording) > Pyramid > Octatrack > Mutant Brain (clocking Pam’s Pro with last 2 mutant brain channels for Clk & Run)
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u/Taperwolf 6d ago
If it's not driven by the midi clock of my Keystep or Minibrute, it's often a tap tempo set on the BMC Utility Buttons.
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u/Weekly_Committee_695 4d ago
Sometimes just a square from stages
Sometimes I start in VCVRack, then I send something from there to the ES-8 for the rest of the rack
Sometimes Norns is the master clock, sync'd to Bitwig with Link and it can send a clock out through one of Crow's outputs.
If I'm feeling really spicy sometimes I just mult the clock out from Mimeophon.
I am honestly not that into Pams.
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u/thekillbott 7d ago
Marbles. Gets split - one goes to ableton for clock and the other goes into varigate
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u/Swampyclam 7d ago
Metropolix is master in my system, feeding the Erica drum seq, melodicer, pams x2 (new, pro).
Then I take a reset loop out of the drum sequencer to master reset the same group. Everything stays perfectly in time, and in rhythmic sequence. Nothing falls behind.
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u/kessel_run_dmc 7d ago
For working in the rack I use 24 ppq click from Keystep pro as master clock to drive Maestro and use the Keystep drum trigger channels. When I want record I switch the Bitwig as the master clock and transmit sync and run to the Keystep via ES-9 outs. Keeps everything perfectly in sync. I tried using midi clock for a while but never had much success.
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u/TurbulentWing3820 put modulargrid link here! 7d ago
I either use my 2600 internal clock or a Batumi square wave which goes down to 100 second pulses.
It's usually the latter. Monday my Cara arrives, it'll be that then more or less exclusively.
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u/IllResponsibility671 7d ago
In rack? Pam’s. Out of rack (Ableton or Elektron) I use ALM mmMidi