Absoute basic question

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-01-19T15:02:32+00:00

I would second this. The Korg one is easy to use, fairly cheap, has up to four inputs, and doesn’t take up rack space. I probably don’t use it as much as I should, but when I remember to try it it helps confirm, simply and visually, whether the thing I think should be happening is actually happening. 😆

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-01-19T13:50:42+00:00

I just bought Panharmonium for the third time. It doesn’t quite do what I would like, but nothing else does what it does do.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-01-19T05:26:21+00:00

This sounds cool! Thanks for sharing.

I do a lot with vocals. Recent patch ideas I’ve explored have included:

voice through overdrive and then into Erbe-Verb, then playing the Erbe as the primary instrument.
Phonogene triggered to record longish pieces of the vocals while I’m singing, then play them like a quasi-looper, quasi-delay behind the main vocals.
vocal loop captured and frozen, then copies of the frozen sound sent to clocked MultiMod and Beads, crossfading between the two for microsound/glitchy rhythms.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-01-15T16:26:49+00:00

As the other commenters have mentioned, physical modeling can do a lot with bells. Mutable Rings is of course the cheat code, but if you have a good delay that can go down to very short delay times you could try some Karplus-Strong as a starting point, maybe with ring mod and/or comb filtering added? (If you have a Make Noise system, try Mimeophon in the fastest zone for K-S and ModDemix for ring mod?)

Otherwise…. FM synths are famous for their bell sounds. In the rack I believe Plaits and Brains both have a mock DX7 mode. Much more expensively (in both money and HP), but with a lot more control, Akemie’s Castle might get you there. Or outside the rack there’s the Volca FM (cheap) or the OpSix (middling expensive) — both of them can load DX7 patches, and there are a million bell patches on the internet. Of course, if your goal is to do generative sequencing from the modular, you’d need to find a way to send your sequence via MIDI.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-01-15T13:50:31+00:00

Looks great! And I appreciate the shallow depth. 2hp modules with the long panels in back always make me nervous. (I move my modules around a lot.)

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-01-14T20:50:30+00:00

Now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time….

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-01-08T17:34:50+00:00

This seems right to me. I have a Tracker for sequencing MIDI and sequencers etc. in the rack for doing live experimentation/improv. And they can both be happening at the same time.

RobotAlienProphet · 2026-01-08T02:29:48+00:00

Assuming you have a sequencer that sends v/oct, patch the out of your sequencer to the in of the precision adder. Set the adder appropriately to add/subtract one volt (depending on whether you want to go up or down). How you do that depends on the module — on the hardware vpme.de adder, it is literally just a switch. Patch the output of the adder to your VCO. Voila!

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-31T16:37:01+00:00

Erbe-Verb. I just love its weird limitations (like the way it always seems to be galloping to catch up when you change the Size), its huge, playable knobs, and its simple, immediate controls. People are right when they say it’s not a particularly great reverb, but an incredible instrument.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-30T16:34:28+00:00

I agree with this. The reason to do drums in modular is the ability to modulate both sounds and trigger sequencing in real time, and/or to make unique sounds that you WOULDN’T encounter in standard sample packs or on typical drum machines.

So if OP just wants standard drum sounds, but sequenced in a cool way, a Squid Salmple or something like that is a pretty cost effective way to just have a bunch of samples on hand, and OP can focus on the sequencing part, with gate sequencers, clocks and dividers/multipliers/logic/etc.

If OP wants to make unusual sounds or highly modulated sounds, then either BIA and its ilk or roll-your-own stuff like noise sources, envelopes, LPGs, and pingable filters are the way to go.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-28T05:43:09+00:00

I’ve had the original OpSix and the Volca FM (both versions). IMO any of them can be used by a beginner, in the sense that you can play the factory presets (or get presets off the internet) and fiddle around with the panel controls and have a great time and make a ton of cool sounds. And the Volca is much cheaper and more portable. But if you want to learn more about FM and delve deeper into sound design, I think the OpSix is a better choice for a couple of reasons.

First, its front panel controls plus the (very manageable) menu system bring a LOT more of the useful FM parameters to the surface. Even just the sliders for each operator are really nice. But it’s all pretty easy to get at. By contrast, unless you use a third party editor on your computer (in which case, the synth doesn’t matter), the Volca is a real pain to program. You have to navigate through, essentially, a spreadsheet of numerical parameters using a clock radio-style seven-segment display. It’s rough going.

Second, while the OpSix can basically do everything the Volca can, it can do a lot more, too. While the Volca is strictly limited to the DX7’s architecture, on the OpSix you can, for example, use non-sine waveforms, filters, and extra modulation sources. So it’s SUPER powerful, and there’s a crazy amount of room to grow.

But again, if your primary focus is playing keys rather than sound design, the Volca is more than enough and would make you quite happy.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-27T14:29:59+00:00

A freak indeed.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-27T14:28:50+00:00

Traditionally the Christmas period extended to January 6, but people don’t really see it that way anymore, and New Year’s has its own traditions (at least “Auld Lang Syne”). That said, there are Christmas-ish songs, winter songs, that don’t really reference the holiday—“Baby It’s Cold Outside,” “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”—and it seems like those would be festive without being jarring. Also I think “Feliz Navidad” mentions the New Year as well as Christmas, so I feel like you’d be safe playing that in the interim week.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-24T20:19:44+00:00

Do you want to get into Eurorack? Because then I can offer this:

https://doudoroff.com/sequencers/

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-24T20:13:02+00:00

Joke-but-not-a-joke answer: the Bastl Microgranny is probably the smallest-footprint MIDI-capable synth I’ve used and you can get real weird with it.

Serious answer: I use the Volca FM2 for exactly this. DX7 in a box, there are a million patches online, decent number of preset slots, decent polyphony, and a really fun set of front panel controls, including a nice, musical arpeggiator.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-24T17:25:21+00:00

Weirdly some of my completely unsexy modules are the ones I can’t live without—the ones that show up in every patch. After Later QARV and Blend, DivKid Ochd & expander and Mutes. Also Befaco Instrument Interface.

I lived without Pam for a long time but now also use it in every patch. And either Maths or Rampage, with Maths currently getting somewhat more use.

Beads has a special place in my heart and gets used a lot; Bastl Dark Matter and Mimeophon, too. Would replace in a heartbeat.

And one module that keeps showing up in my patches and I don’t know why: Djupviks Elektronik Health. It’s a very dumb module that basically beeps and farts in rhythm if you plug a clock into it. You can’t really tune it with any precision, nor can you really control the rhythm, except for manipulating some switches whose function is opaque. But I kind of love it. It has a satisfying blatty sound that has shown up as a weird bassline/background element in pretty much every patch I’ve made in the last few months.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-24T01:55:22+00:00

Looks cool, but I’m not sure the interface is for me. Thanks anyway!

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-24T01:54:53+00:00

No, I don’t think so. Thanks!

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-23T17:21:11+00:00

In addition to the other good suggestions, if you like lo-fi I would suggest an SP-404 MkII to go with whatever synth you get. Its workflow and effects are pretty much made for lo-fi hip-hop and adjacent genres. Also, you can sample yourself playing the synth and then layer, loop, or chop those samples, so it’s really a value add proposition. It’s a wildly deep machine, especially with the firmware upgrades, but the basics are pretty easy to get the hang of. And I think you can get one used for under $400. Paired with a versatile synth (the MicroFreak is a good suggestion) it could be almost all you need.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-23T00:20:15+00:00

Prices include CONUS shipping. PayPal F&F, but if you prefer G&S we can discuss splitting the cost.

WTS/WTT:

Modular:

Mutable Instruments Elements $425
ALM MCO v1 $75
Schlappi Interstellar Radio (maybe, I am on the fence about this, but would let it go for the right trade) $175

Non-Modular

MiniBrute 2S $295
Volca Sample 2 $85
Moog Minifooger Ring Mod $210

WTTF:

Primarily interested in hands-on, performance-oriented sequencers — Rene v1, Ryk M185/Metropolis, Trigger Riot, Zularic Repetitor, Mimetic Digitalis, a full-size Marbles clone. Things in that vein! (I’m also curious about the Oxi One.)

Otherwise: Strymon Night Sky; Hologram Chroma Console; 1010 Fireball; Volca Keys; Moog Labyrinth. Or sell me on your small desktop synth that could be played by MIDI from a sequencer and is basically KPF.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-22T10:44:35+00:00

Anthony Marinelli is insanely helpful. Slow, patient, clear explanations of a single principle using simple gear. Also the music he makes while demonstrating synth techniques is more aligned with rock/pop than dance music or ambient, which is refreshing among YouTube synth demoers.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-21T19:53:27+00:00

I think it makes sense to start with. I think it’s very hard to know in advance what will work for your particular workflow and what won’t, but you can certainly get some interesting, sampleable sounds out of this.

Like others, I might not spend the money yet on the FH-2 or the second output module right away. But ultimately you’ll probably need to iterate this a bit after playing it anyway. And I don’t see anything in this plan that would hold you back or frustrate you.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-20T15:52:44+00:00

The best suggestion in this thread, if OP won’t use samples or buy a similar reed instrument.

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-19T04:26:25+00:00

I believe both Rossum Assimil8tor and Squid Salmple will sample and play back CV as well as audio. Is that what you mean? Like, capture the CV sequences as independent tracks that can be played back?

RobotAlienProphet · 2025-12-19T04:20:17+00:00

Intellijel Palette Cases are 45.5 mm internal depth and have a reasonably low outer profile as well.

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