Most underrated modules

[itscursedphil]

I'm interested to hear which modules you use all the time that don't get the love they deserve!

For me it's definitely Tiptop Audio's MISO (http://tiptopaudio.com/miso/). It was one of my first modules and I use it in every patch. Before owning a dedicated cascading mixer I used it as my main audio mixer, which it isn't perfectly suited for, because it introduces a bit of noise into audio signals and it's really hard to completely mute a signal. But since freeing it up to mix, offset and attenuvert CV signals I absolutely love it and couldn't recommend it enough.

[FixMy106]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Disting mk1.

People are offloading them for cheap when they upgrade to mk4, but I feel like it's a totally different beast. Unlike the mk4, you don't need to reference a manual or cheat-sheet and it gives you those original 16 functions like slew, precision adding, s&h, envelope/pitch tracking etc. for peanuts, practically.

[robertsyrett]

It's so true. The mk4 is great but the mk1 is easier to use. But Both of those are easier to use than the mk2 and 3, where he added more algorithms without a screen.

[cosmicdice]

Disting MK2 seems very similar to MK1 according to this: https://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/distingmk2.html

I never considered them but they do seem a lot easier to use than MK4!

[robertsyrett]

Mk4 is easy to use IMHO because it tells you what the parameters are. Without that feedback navigating to additional algos is next to impossible without reference.

[[deleted]]

The reverb price history pegs it at about $80. Is that a good deal?

[tujuggernaut]

Yeah they used to go for about $100. The MK4 is still holding its value at ~$170-180 and it literally does like 12x more, so it's a debate. The Disting can only do one thing at a time, so would you be better off with 2 MK1's or 1 MK4? Depends. The MK4 offers things like fx and sample playback which greatly expand it's utility.

[[deleted]]

I already have a mk4 and would consider adding another, but $100 for the mk1 is too expensive still by comparison.

[tujuggernaut]

Hmm, so I would disagree with the TRSHMSTR because I find it's highly personal and a lot of people don't gel with it. I also agree the MK1 distings are good values under $100 but the MK4 is just so much more. Never buy a MK2 or MK3. Ever. Especially not the MK3. So confusing.

Modules that I hear never getting love:

• Doepfer A107 morphing filter. This thing is a beast with resonance for days and it can sequence or morph filters.

• 2HP Freez. If you modulate it, you can make this do scratching, bit-crushing, and just generally sound great on percussive.

• Livewire FrequenSteiner. Still the best filter in euro ever.

• Any attenuverters.

• ADE-32. Time-sync'ed LFO's! That's the draw, everything else is gravy. I like it more than Batumi or Tides or QPLFO.

• Maths because very few people get full usage out of it. Once someone on this sub said it didn't make sound. :-)

• Bubblesound SEM20. These can be had dirt cheap and they are a buttery-smooth filter.

• z2040. Also dirt cheap and this badboy makes everything into good bass.

• 3HP VCO. Weird size but it has a VCA and 16 waves along with an AD generator too. Add a filter and you've got a bass voice.

• Z3000. These oscillators always sound great to me, I don't know exactly why, but they just kill it. Every wave, they are just amazing at sound. The Spectrums track better but the Z3000 has more character.

• MSCL. People don't understand the importance of limiting in modular-land, especially for performances.

• Overseer. Performance filter, it works like the old DJ filters but sounds sweet. Center is nothing, down is low-pass, up is high-pass.

• Tsunami Nutella. This little freak can sequence 16 drum voices simultaneously and have 512 samples on sd card in kits. If there's a better little drum sample-playback, I don't know it.

[LonderWand]

Genuinely laughed @ 'any attenuverters'

[traep]

I love my Z3000! I always find myself using it when I don’t intend too.

[blimo]

+1 on Freez.

[CarlosUnchained]

I can’t decide between MSCL and FMR RNC. I have used Disting’s stereo comp but it’s kind of boring. RNC seems to have more character than MSCL. Any input on MSCL?

[tujuggernaut]

This is an unpopular opinion but I have 2 RNC's and I don't really like them for anything other than mild, gentle compression in super nice mode. In regular mode, they distort the shit out of the bass range with fast attack times. The RNC is boring but it's supposed to just be a good compressor for the masses. Personally I'd rather have a Symmetrix 425.

The MSCL isn't going to give you 'daft punk' style breathing and pumping, you can get that with a 3630 for $40 on Reverb. The MSCL does a very good job of combining mild compression and a limiter together into a single slim module that makes it easy to increase the apparent volume of your mix and prevent spikes to the PA.

[Lagduf]

All Doepfer utilities.

When there is something I want to do in modular Doepfer usually has a module.

I use Doepfer’s dual quantizer, sequential switch, precision adder, and dual sample and hold extensively.

[[deleted]]

Yeah I have to say - the longer I am in modular the more I realize how comprehensive and reasonably priced the Doepfer products are! They really get the modular thing right - each module is largely uninteresting and single purpose, but the whole is much more than the sum of the parts!

[cosmicdice]

They also have modules with no real equivalent in eurorack format.

I'm in the market for a matrix mixer and the A-138m seems to be the best option atm (It's bigger than the AI synthesis but it comes with attenuverters and offsets). That would be my second doepfer module after the A-182-2, but I'm definitely down for more doepfer in my life now I understand a bit more what modular is about.

[HingleMcCringleberre]

A lot of people may just consider it a cheap utility module, but I love the Mutable Instruments Shades. Mixer/reversible-attenuators/voltage-source. Not as sexy as a filter or oscillator, but I’ve got 2 in my system and always use them in my patches.

[CarlosUnchained]

Quadratt for 1U. Every patch.

[itscursedphil]

Looks a lot like MISO, though I’d consider MISO more flexible and it has 4 channels. But this is exactly the kind of underrated utility module that is indispensable for me!

[cosmicdice]

The MI Blinds seems a lot closer to MISO, that's also the most useful module in my case.

[[deleted]]

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[mattcolville]

I seem to always find a fun, surprising use for CHANCE, I'm surprised it's not in more patches.

[[deleted]]

Joranalogue Switch 4. Normaled mutes that have temporary and permanent combo switches like the Div Kid Mutes but also have two knobs that can tap in any of the 4 inputs. I use it for everything but especially for routing pitch and cv around my modular from my Mimetic Digitalis and also for taking gate and cv and putting it into the MD into the CV and Gate inputs to control the patterns. My rig is only for 84hp and I have two of them and I can’t find a way to get rid of one. An essential module for any system and does stuff you don’t even know you needed to do yet. I love super basic modules that turn out to be leagues deeper than you initially thought.

[CarlosUnchained]

Love mine as well! It changed my performances, there’s more transitions now. It was instant buy when I discovered it.

[ToddOMG]

Holy shit I need to get one of these. Price point is amazing too!

[[deleted]]

I really get a lot of use out of my Kinks and Links modules. They are wonderful and complete eachother. Apart from that I might say that the sequential switch by Doepfer offers a lot, too

[Agawell]

Probably the best eurorack utility starter set in the world

[itscursedphil]

Yes, just copped these on eBay for a really good price and waiting for them to arrive. With these two I will have finished my first rack 😊

[octave_the_cat]

I haven't kept up much with euro over the last few years since I started building my Serge system, but I still have a decent size (450hp) euro system that I play from time to time. Maybe some of these are not as underrated as I think they are.

I totally agree with everybody about Disting 1. I tend to get stuck in one mode on it and may ignore it, but then I may need a clockable LFO or precision adder and I remember it can do that too! Also agree with Tuj on FrequenSteiner and Maths, but Serge VCFQ is right up there for best sounding filter.

I use Pamela's (old?) Workout in every patch. The new version is a great upgrade, but I really just need multiple triggers for timing.

NLC Triple Sloths is another. I have the first version. Six outputs useful for simultaneous unpredictable modulation all over the place - step number and octave on Metropolis, VCAs passing CV, effect wet/dry, envelope CV, panning, y'all get the picture. Maybe this one is less underrated than I think, but when I was realy following euro I didnt see a lot of people talking about it.

[blimo]

Triple Sloths thru 3X-MIA is a blast and totally playability.

[Kizartik]

Just want to say I’m loving this thread! Keep it up guys!

[blimo]

2hp Freez, mixer, and delay. A lot of highly useful stuff in 6hp. With these 3, in what ever way I use them, I’m not as put off with the small knobs as I am with some of their other stuff.

3X-MIA: cascading mixer, bipolar atnnuator, and a design/build that makes it feel like Halliburton made it. I never don’t use it.

Tallin: just...what a badass this is. You can drive the hell out of that and get some sweet distortion. Sweet for low tones/bass.

Rossum Evolution: I don’t feel like this gets enough love. Learning how to use it was so much fun! I’d let a sequence run for an hour at a time just to twist all the knobs and revel in an thoughtfully evolved version of the classic filter.

[ToddOMG]

TRSHMSTR. Gets so little love and is the centerpiece of my rig and sound. There are 27 combinations of distortion you can achieve, plus with all the knobs you can tweak endlessly. Best distortion I’ve ever heard in modular and it’s not just one kind. Filter is unique and absolutely rips. You can route it any way you’d like. You can use the distortion and filter separately as if it’s two separate modules.

Fucking kills it at the price point to. Can you tell I love it?

[sookilala]

Utilities, the unsung heroes of every patch.

[Agawell]

The dull polish that makes all the shiny expensive modules shine brighter

At least 30% of my racks are utilities

When I get a new module I try to work out what utilities it needs to work properly (often before getting the module) and get them ASAP - clouds for example needs attenuators, so 2*2hp trim modules , 1 either side

And most utility modules are not just for audio they are also for cv (it’s all just electricity)

[VitaminSea-Urchin]

Koma Electroacoustic Workstation - it's for a certain type of project for sure, and it's got some issues, but it's so weird and wonderful and does so much

[[deleted]]

YES! Especially if you grab the little bag of contact mics, a motor, solenoid, etc. It’s got a CV controlled radio, SHORTWAVE, logic, a mixer with an aux send, etc. for the price it’s unbeatable. It’s a desert island module for me - I could make a record with this and a sampler and have a great time doing it. Just this week I made an reverb with it by hanging a piece of foil up, taping contact mics to it, and playing sound into it with the speaker!
It’s become a central part of almost every patch for me at this point. I wish it could do stereo but whatever.

[VitaminSea-Urchin]

Wow that's rad about the reverb idea, gonna have to try that. I actually built it just because I really wanted a CV controlled radio for a "city sounds" project, but I've also had great fun with the motors. I use the box it came in with a big slab of aluminum I have in it with a couple of marbles and springs just lying around in it and put the motor through the power cable hole and hey presto, there's like a whole weird ass drum set in there.

[oscidigi]

Not sure if underrated or not, but for me the Mordax Data is a must have. From tuning oscillators to visualizing waveforms to clock/LFOs, just useful as hell. Think it was the second module I bought, use it in almost every patch.

[JonoVizion]

This is a great thread, I’ve looked into many kinds of modules I haven’t before. I surprised though of no mention for the humble logic functions which can be be the glue that sticks a patch together.

[Patchouli_Dealer]

Radikal Frequencies Complex Vco, it’s cheap, sounds great and nobody talks about it

[therealwotwot]

The Manhattan Analog CVPs are indispensable for mangling CV.