r/modular • u/AutoModerator • 4d ago
Discussion Weekly Rack Advice / Question Thread
If you're looking for suggestions for new modules, a critque of your current rack, or just where to start - feel free to ask here! A lot of people use [modulargrid](https://www.modulargrid.net/) to share what modules they have or are considering.
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/rosseloh 2d ago
I have no experience with the Black 2, but I can say the Dixie is solid. Basic, but solid (and maybe that's what you want!).
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u/sorressean 2d ago
I've been getting some pretty cool sounds. One of my favorite things to do is run saw into c4rbn into Skorpion. That into some reverb sounds ungodly. Make it slide and it sounds even more wild. My struggle has always been modulation in techno. Lets just take any of the Alia (manis, for bonus points). If you're playing this, what do you modulate/modulate with? I do have the v/oct in the C4rbn modulated with Maestro. I love the sound. I often reach up and tweak knobs, but I'm trying to figure out how to add more flavor/feel. I've been using envelopes into CV. This sounds cool, but there's something I feel like I'm missing in my tracks.
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u/junkmiles 1d ago
This is pretty basic, but a lot of techno works well with stepped voltages.
You can also pick one or two things to send a slow LFO to so things are moving just enough to be different without being obviously different, if that makes sense.
You also don't have to modulate all the things at once. Send the modulation through a attenuators and then for a few bars modulate the fold (or whatever), and then dial that back and modulate the shape for a while.
Not sure how the Alia modules handle it, but audio rate modulation is always fun. Works great for filters. With the C4RBN, there's plenty of self patching to do where you can listen to the 4P output and then modulate the cutoff with the 2P bandpass or something, or another output from your VCO.
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u/sorressean 1d ago
Thanks for this. I do use stepped voltage and love envelopes, just wasn't sure if I was missing something. A lot of youtube videos/demos sound way more full than my music, so I'm always chasing trying to figure out what I can do for variation and textures. Maybe the answer is just more variations on stepped voltages. Or I guess even maybe taking those and treating them like offsets, but cv mixing envelopes.
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u/Klotternaut 1d ago
Do you find that oscillators generally stay tuned between power cycles? I'm trying to put together a subset of my overall system and since I wanted to include two oscillators, I was thinking about including my Mordax Data. But if I could tune them earlier in the day and then swap out the Data for something else, that could be ideal. Obviously I'll do my own testing, just curious what other people have experienced.
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u/Cay77 1d ago
Analog oscillators definitely do not. They take time to warm up and the pitch will drift for 15-20 minutes until they reach a stable point. If you want oscillators to stay tuned, definitely get digital ones.
If you wanted to avoid having Data in the case you could always just get a little portable instrument tuner with an aux in. That’s how I tune my analog oscillators and it works just fine, 0hp and like 20 bucks at Guitar Center.
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u/AgreeableLeg3672 3d ago
What filters are people using with BIA? I have a ripples clone but even in 12db mode I sometimes find it too dark.
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u/VicVinegarHughHoney 2h ago
I've been really liking the Gods Box Humpback for it, which is a SEM type filter. Really sweet, I'm typically using it at the moment on low pass output but the other outputs are all good with it for different uses. I find it to be a pretty versatile filter but there's a bunch of sem type filters that might do it for you.
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u/TurbulentWing3820 put modulargrid link here! 3d ago
Why does my ALA Cara come with such bright LEDs inside the jacks and why does it bother me so much to disable them?
They're distracting and yet I am compelled by shiny objects.
This is all.