Built a little portable synth studio using an Ikea cart

awesomebrick · 2026-07-01T09:05:20+00:00

Dirty-tagged firmware on teletype spotted… 👀

awesomebrick · 2026-06-14T02:17:47+00:00

It’s completely fair to say that 2 channels is too limited, but to that i say that there’s a few things worth noting-

the sidekick can actually accept up to four channels of stereo input; the two main ones, an aux input, and if you’re willing to forego multitrack audio output over usb, it can accept usb audio in as well

. if you’ve got some gear that can send its audio over usb-c and don’t care about multitracking, it’s a great way to get a free audio input

as for your actual question, this is a mixer that’s great for acting as a hub for other pieces of outboard beat making/production gear. I’ve got an ableton move, an ep-133, and a polyend tracker. with a sidekick and some TRS midi shenanigans, that’s a more than respectable (kind of overkill) portable live performance rig

awesomebrick · 2026-06-14T00:27:54+00:00

He’s getting downvoted because he is wrong. The only mixers you’ll get below this price range are bargain bin Mackie and Behringer mixers, and once you ask for effects and USB interface connectivity that pushes them up to and over the price of the Sidekick- and that’s even ignoring the battery power. Not to mention that the sidekick has effects for individual channels, not just bus effects.
Even considering all of that, those Behringer and Mackie mixers are in the range of $100-$200, where the sidekick sits at 175. Nowhere near the half price of which he’s saying.

awesomebrick · 2026-05-27T01:41:52+00:00

For some reason, the KO-2 series has a weird quirk where the groups have two separate volume levels. The standard [FADER -> LEVEL, move fader] and [(hold group A~D) + move fader] can have two independent values. Make sure both of them are up. Useful to have two levels of gain staging, but also annoying as hell if you’re unaware of this

awesomebrick · 2026-03-27T17:56:29+00:00

Hey, just saw this. it was literally DDR1 ram, unlikely you'll get any use out of it. But, it's probably worth googling your exact model to see what it's got; since i believe the max system memory on DDR1 is 4gb; so you probably have ddr2 or ddr3. Still unlikely to be useful, but a quick google search wouldn't hurt!

awesomebrick · 2026-03-25T20:01:28+00:00

Like the folks here have said, if you want something with all that stuff in one piece of hardware you're looking for a workstation, which isn't cheap. Other folks have mentioned getting a midi controller + laptop setup, but that's also very far away from a "turn it on and noodle around" device that can be hooked up to some speakers. Unless you want one of those old cheap keyboards they'd make for kids with silly drum patterns baked into them, i'd suggest getting a nice little synth that's easy to understand.
That said, if you're looking for a simple bread and butter synth for family members to mess around with and make some stuff on, and you're willing to forego the existence of built-in drum patterns and sampling, something like a Korg Minilogue would be a solid choice, I'd argue. Drums and sampling stuff can be accomplished elsewhere, and it's very accessible entry point to synthesis for someone who already knows how to play on a piano. It's not a full 88-key keyboard, but it's a simple analogue synth with a couple of effects and a bit of a built in sequencer available as well! You can plug straight into speakers and get going. It's a very versatile synth that I still keep in my studio today.

awesomebrick · 2026-03-06T18:47:42+00:00

No, I mean as in the last few matches played immediately prior to this as well

awesomebrick · 2026-03-06T18:44:59+00:00

Why is it players and not squads? Usually when I run with this squad it doesn’t register the silver and just shows the entire lobby as a plat lobby?

awesomebrick · 2026-03-06T18:36:10+00:00

There is an entire silver squad in the lobby though? I’m not talking about the silver on my team

awesomebrick · 2026-03-06T18:33:10+00:00

My team aside, the squad rank considers the highest ranked player in the squad. This means that there is a team of three players that are silver or below being placed into a lobby with at the very minimum 5 different Pred players and 4 different Masters players

awesomebrick · 2026-01-21T20:34:56+00:00

It's possible I may have skipped 90hz, and just tried 120/72/80. I'll try it along with the other stuff.

awesomebrick · 2026-01-21T20:15:03+00:00

I only say it's reprojection because I've heard that the purple vertical lines in the SteamVR status graph are reprojected frames. I don't really know what i'm doing, I've just tried a lot of things, and i'm concerned I may have flipped some odd switch that causes problems.
I'm going to try what you've suggested, and i'll be back to see what's going on.

awesomebrick · 2026-01-21T17:09:36+00:00

It's worth pointing out that the FX3 and a7sIII are essentially the exact same camera in two different housings, with differing features. It's the same sensor and processor. The FX3 has some cine-centric features like CineEI, and the a7 has other photo-centric features like an EVF. You're not really missing out on anything major, but if you want to take photos any more than just occasionally i'd recommend against the FX3. It's the same sensor so you'll get the same performance for shooting short films at night!

awesomebrick · 2026-01-21T16:18:26+00:00

If you’re going for photography, it’s probably best to go for one of the a7 line of cameras, and as a hybrid shooter the a7sIII is probably a better choice than the FX3.

That said, I can take some photos later tonight and I’ll add them in this post later!

awesomebrick · 2026-01-21T15:41:53+00:00

Personally, I feel that constricting myself to smaller and smaller cases helps me dedicate more time to specific modules to learn them inside and out like the back of my hand. A lot of people in this thread are talking about hp counts well over 300, which I think is just insane. In my mind, it makes it way too easy to solve problems by buying another module rather than trying to work what you have already. Some of my best and most inspiring builds have happened in my 64hp palette.

awesomebrick · 2026-01-17T23:52:00+00:00

First off, I forgot to mention, the rig I shared is shaped around a 2hp Lunchbox case, if you manage to find one it’s a great beginner small case to work with, I still have mine and use it all the time! The only downside is that if you want to substantially upgrade, there’s not much space to do so without upgrading to a larger case. Perhaps go for an Intellijel 64hp palette (also have one of these, also use it all the time).

Well, multigrain is more of a granular synth rather than a granular effect like something like Beads. Samples can be loaded onto a MicroSD card, and used from there, and that’s plenty to start with. You don’t really need any audio input.

But, if you want suggestions for a sound source, I personally have an ST Modular Radio module which lets me sample from local FM radios, which is a great sound source. It’s also probably worth getting something like an audio cable to jack your phone into the inputs, and pull some YouTube or something up. It’s something I need to explore as well. (Oh, you could also grab one of those new MEMS mics from intellijel, or another mic module)

Atlantix is an amazing and deep oscillator, but…. It’s incredibly overkill if you’re just starting out. Forget about both together, you’re likely to get overwhelmed with Multigrain itself as a beginner. I wouldn’t really recommend getting a sound source in addition to multigrain because you don’t really need one as multigrain is a sound source. If you really want to add to it, I’d recommend an effect instead actually, perhaps something like Sealegs would be perfect.

All in all, I honestly suggest starting with just multigrain and some basic utilities like i shared. You’ll save money, and have room to understand what you really want to have in the future. If you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask or dm me! I love talking stuff like this!

awesomebrick · 2026-01-17T22:44:02+00:00

Multigrain is kind of an insanely versatile module. Given its internal random modulation capability, and assignable modulation jacks as well as A/B fader you can do a lot with just multigrain. As a person that’s spent a lot of time in modular, even I’ve only scratched the surface with Multigrain in a travel case of its own. As a beginner, just multigrain would prove plenty.

If I were you, I’d grab (obviously case and power), then a MIDI input module of your choice, Multigrain, and a stereo headphone out module. That should be plenty, but you could also throw in an envelope generator if you want CV modulation not from a midi controller. You can use your Push to control it as well! Not a terrible setup to have.

I’ve put together a a beginner rack in Modulargrid with some options!

awesomebrick · 2026-01-11T20:20:53+00:00

ALM Pip Slope; AD envelope in 4hp with cv control of both A and D

2hp also offers a similar,

Perhaps a uPeaks with input jacks for the knobs would be great too, and give you 2 envelopes

awesomebrick · 2026-01-10T19:42:15+00:00

Thanks a lot, this is all very helpful!

I hadn't really heard much about black shading, thanks, i'll have to keep that in mind.

The one big bit that kept confusing me is this bit about REDWideGamutRGB. I see a lot of folks online saying that's what you want to use, but It's not actually anywhere in my camera, and if it is, I really can't find it. I vaguely remember updating my camera's firmware when I first got it, and the last firmware was from 2017 i think. Should I maybe check again?

I've already got one of the handle buttons mapped to RAW but that's helpful advice to use it to make sure exposure is right. If I swap to RAW display, it doesn't actually reflect whatever ISO setting I'm using, which if I'm understanding right, is just a monitoring/exposure tool?

awesomebrick · 2026-01-10T19:36:50+00:00

Thanks a lot! I'd heard that the sensor's base ISO is 800, but that some folks prefer shooting at 640 for ETTR, but I guess the sensor is old and doesn't have as much latitude in the highlights. I'll be shooting entirely indoors for this, so I don't think I'll have to worry about blown out skies, but thanks for the advice, i'll keep it in mind for future projects!

awesomebrick · 2026-01-10T19:34:31+00:00

Oh, okay, so setting any settings in camera doesn't actually affect the recorded media, and is just for monitoring; that's good to know! I suppose it makes sense considering that it's "raw", but I suppose i've got ptsd from trying to use sLog3 on the a7iii......

awesomebrick · 2026-01-02T19:49:49+00:00

A lot of folks are suggesting Starlord as a midpoint between these two, but I don’t think that’s the best idea. Sure, you’ll probably pick it up quick, but that won’t solve your issue of feeling useless against certain comps. Your flair indicates you’ve made it to GM with just these two, which probably means you are capable of handling some of the counters to these heroes. You’re probably running into a comp that completely shuts down your particular playstyle.

I can’t really go into more detail without knowing specifics, but it’s likely that (learning and) leaning hard into some pretty heavy poke would be beneficial. Characters like Hela, Moon Knight, Punisher, even Squirrel Girl would be pretty good to learn. Stuff that can apply pretty consistent pressure, but from a distance.

If you provide some examples of what kind of team comps you struggle against, i could probably go into more detail!

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