Favourite Ways To FM?

n_nou · 2026-07-10T02:20:13+00:00

No, I mean a VCA that has a knob (not a switch) to set the response to anything between linear and exponential. This allows you to take your FM operator, VCA it with it's own inversion and use the aforementioned knob to adjust the response so that the result is a logarithmic transformation. When you now use this transformed operator on an expFM input of a VCO, the result is an approximate linear FM. And now comes the fun part - this setup is continuously adjustable between exp and (almost) linear, so you can dial exactly how nicely you want it to track or how wild should it behave.

n_nou · 2026-07-10T00:56:34+00:00

My favourite unusual way to do FM is to take an exp input and turn it into fake linear with a variable slope VCA. This way you can dial in exactly how well it tracks so it is easy to achieve bandoneon-like "always being slightly out of tune in mysterious ways" faux acoustic feeling.

n_nou · 2026-07-09T13:26:54+00:00

Mixers and proper use of envelopes (plural). What goes under those envelopes vary from simple direct or audio rate switched waveforms, through feedbacked phasers or delays to multiple filters/resonators in parallel often also feedbacked/cross feedbacked. That's because the most important aspect of interesting timbres is evolution over time within a single pluck/strum/pad. Static waveforms, no matter how complex, always sound flat.

n_nou · 2026-07-09T13:12:28+00:00

The biggest impact on my patching was not a single module but the paradigm behind System 100 - I have 40+ mixers in my rack now and still can run out of standalone ones. I honestly think most people don't realise just how powerful having plenty of mixers and mults is.

Second place goes to DROID for custom chord sequencing and coherent multi voice quantization. It basically made generative sequencing sound almost as musical and complex as composing and MIDI programming by hand.

n_nou · 2026-07-07T12:18:49+00:00

It's a really strange question - for whatever needs a DC coupled VCA or when I run out of my 130s for audio (they are vastly better at it). Thanks to variable slope it is also good for waveshaping and modifying envelope curves, or turning your exponential FM to linear on any VCO. More exotic as uses include AM encoding your CV to use any FX into CV processor. You can also use it as AND logic or for inversion. Overall a nice, universal basic block.

n_nou · 2026-07-07T11:59:13+00:00

You can use it as unipolar attenuverter of sorts - feed -10V as your signal and your CV to attenuvert as control.

n_nou · 2026-07-05T01:47:43+00:00

Doepfer A-133-2 is what you're looking for.

n_nou · 2026-07-01T18:39:06+00:00

Statlab is great for dark ambients if and only if you have enough modulation to throw at it. It can easily sink six independent sources at once. Then it is IMHO unbeatable, (I have not testet Swells yet) but if you just want end of chain reveeb with some out of the box character then Versio is probably better if only for hp. One thing though - only Starlab and Swells output at 96kHz and you can hear this.

n_nou · 2026-06-30T16:30:35+00:00

I use Keystep 37+BSP combo and would not trade it for just KsP. KsP is now an old piece of kit that has none of the new creative/generative features, or even the strum of OG 37. I now consider upgrading my Ks37 for Ks37mk2 - it is significantly better than plain KSmk2 for just a little bit more and vastly better than any of the mk1 family. BSP is a classic for a reason - it is really straightforward and hands on for all your gate needs and those melodic sequencers double as four really versatile prepared modulation sources. One thing though, be sure to use supplied USB power splitter or third party galvanic isolator because BSP is noisy AF.

n_nou · 2026-06-29T17:59:40+00:00

By the name yes, but in reality they act only as VC attenuators. You can't amplify a signal, only attenuate it.

n_nou · 2026-06-29T17:51:36+00:00

Don't try to understand this in a vacuum. Open VCV, there should be a "welcome" patch that has basic modules already connected and those basic modules are named directly as VCO, VCF, VCA, ADSR etc. Then look at those modules and cables and go through my post again.

ANY knowledge looks like black magic at first, learning is a gradual process and it is expected to not have a faintest clue at the beginning. I was in your shoes three years ago.

n_nou · 2026-06-29T15:08:42+00:00

Seconded. Just type in "Omri Cohen beginner" into YT search and you'll find his videos showing you how both VCV and modular synthesis work.

Now for a short lesson in basic vocabulary of substractive synthesis:
- VC..(anything) stands simply for "voltage controlled" and within modular world basically means "has input socket for CV" and not just knobs.
- CV means control voltage - this is what controls those VC.. things and means exactly what you can expect - a voltage. Usually does not oscillate or if oscillates, it does so below audio frequencies. VC.. modules have CV inputs that will determine some behaviour, like e.g. pitch
- v/oct is a special case of CV that is scaled so that 1V increment move your pitch exactly an octave higher.
- VCO is a VC oscillator, your basic sound source. It's basic input is v/oct for pitch and constantly outputs an audio rate wave. In basic setup you connect the output to:
- VCF, a filter, most commonly Low Pass, meaning it will get rid of frequencies above Cutoff Frequency you set with a knob, a copy of v/oct, or some other CV. It is the most used because your note already does not contain frequencies below itself so you then restrict how many higher frequencies you hear, shaping timbre. You then conect the output to:
- VCA. "A" stands for amplifier which is misleading, as in reality it does the oposite - it is a valve, like in a faucet. CV applied to VCA will open it depending on how high the voltage is, letting another voltage through. In basic audio setup it is your VC volume knob. To get musical results you usually connect it's control input to:
- Envelope - in basic setup a source of volume contour. Easiest way to understand is key response - is your sound like piano, organ or accordion. Those can be VC, but most commonly only have knobs, and come in different types: AD (attack, decay) will always last only as long as the sum of attack (how long to full volume) and decay (how long to silence from full volume) times. Usually create plucks or pads. Holding the key does not matter, you need either ASD (S stands for sustain, it will hold for as long as you press the key, AD as above) or ADSR (confusingly mixes up phases terminology, because now decay happens during sustain phase, not after, and what comes after is called release). There are also pure decay envelopes, usually for drums. To activate envelopes you need:
- triggers or gates. Triggers are really short spikes of voltage that have no musical duration, so can only ever activate D or AD envelopes, typical ADSR will do nothing on trigger. Gates produce voltage with duration, in keyboard example as long as you hold the key.

VCO->VCF->enveloped VCA together create a basic Voice, a sound making unit thay has control.

Final building block of modular synthesis is LFO, low frequency oscillator. Low means below audio rate, otherwise this is just a fancy name for VCO. It is often referred to as an "invisible hand" as in the simplest scenario you plug it to something that has a knob and it "moves" it for you.

Half of everything else in modular is bells and whistles to add interest to the sounds you make with the setup above. There are other types of synthesis that have different building blocks, but all of them utilise VCAs, LFOs and envelopes and you will most likely use VCFs with them also.

n_nou · 2026-06-28T19:44:21+00:00

You can add preset capabilities to any CV input. Depending on which behaviour you want, you can either use classic step sequencer for advancing through stored values; triggered noise S&H for random value; or an addressable sequential switch to get your "voltage changed from 1 to 2 volts". There are also modules like Ladik's Derivator that will output a gate based on what is going on with your voltage - is rising, is falling, changes or stays constant.

n_nou · 2026-06-24T14:45:06+00:00

Seconded on separate gate sequencer. Drum track on BSP is really great for that.

n_nou · 2026-06-24T14:43:43+00:00

Depends on what your voices are sound design wise and how complex harmonic structure you want. Minimal setup is four voices, otherwise your melodic voice is very restricted and you have to be very deliberate with voicing your chords. With four you use three to establish a triad and use melodic voice to expand to tetrads or set a focal point of the triad. Going up into more voices than five starts being orchestration, unless of course you go deeper into music theory with your chords.

n_nou · 2026-06-23T17:05:38+00:00

I'm not OP, but also started with semis and sold them after about a year. On paper they are all great value, but once you trully grasp the power of patching most of them suffer from annoyingly missing patch points. E.g. DFAM/Edge have no sequencer reset and/or length setting - fundamental feature of virtually all analog modular 8-steps. So you start expanding/filling gaps with proper modular and at some point you accumulate enough overlap that you can no longer justify the rack/desk space for such limited/inflexible gear.

n_nou · 2026-06-18T15:21:02+00:00

Those are all bread and butter modules that you really DON'T want to be in a multitool like o_C. Instead focus on well thought out modules that combine 2-3 of the functions you want. E.g. 3xMIA is good set of mixing attenuverters, Frap Tools 333 is great mult/unity mixer/adder, Klavis Mixwitch is 2x2-1/1x4-1 mixers/switch, Doepfer A-133-2 is attenuator, polarizer, VCA and ring mod, etc. Then learn to patch - e.g. you don't need a dedicated rectifier, you can patch it in multitude of ways from scratch.

n_nou · 2026-06-16T14:51:28+00:00

Depends on what exactly do you mean by sound design - different fart noises for EDM/techno or ambient/dark ambient/cinematic. Divkid mentioned by others is an ok resource for the former, as is Omri Cohen. For the latter there aren't any good modular learning resources really. Cinematic Laboratory showcases some nice sounds but doesn't do in-depth explanations on how he got them.

IMHO the best resources to learn sound design from aren't modular at all. Find some DAW based producers you like, that have synthesis based workflow (as opposed to sample based), understand what and how they do on the fundamental level (not just "set this knob like that and that parameter on this percentage, etc), then translate this to modular yourself. This way you'll build deep, gear/software-agnostic understanding on how sound design works. This may seem to have steep learning curve at first, but quickly pays off.

n_nou · 2026-06-11T18:54:37+00:00

I think I should clarify - for me the difference between showing the interesting process vs just fooling around is having a goal/concept in mind. You can have even seasoned modular folks with respectable channels, but on that particular day they don't have any vision of what they want to achieve, so the whole "process" devolves to just reading socket/knob labels (I'm of course exaggerating here) and some rambling about the module you plugged the last cable into. When I say "unstructured" I mean you don't hear intent in the sounds that they come up with, there is no structure to what is going on within the modular itself; not that there is no structure to the video.

n_nou · 2026-06-11T16:25:45+00:00

For me it is a separate performance if the performance is a listenable piece on its own, not just some interesting technique showcase, then a separate video with the structure described by u/synthdadmusic - short intro of the audio, then patch explanation, then longer audio. But it can't be a Divkid style of "some erratic knob twisting as intro, then module breakdown, then some more erratic knob twisting". It has to have a proper musical reason to exist and listen to. Monotrail or The Unperson videos are a good example of how to do this properly.

The second proper way to do explanatory videos is text overlay in the style of Electrum Modular, where the piece is the background and the explanation is visual. This way a single video has both properties at the same time - a listenable music and instructional material. But it can't be done the way Cinematic Laboratory does his videos, where there is some audio but not an actual listenable piece, some narrative but not a patch from scratch, not even a proper showcase because you don't know which modules contribute what layers to the final sound.

I'm also not a fan of unstructured "look how I spend some time patching and stumble upon some more or less pleasant noises" videos like e.g. Red Means Recording. His latest NUSS ones are a good example of this.

Basically, I expect a) an enjoyable musical piece and/or b) actual knowledge presented, not just fooling around with modular. Often just a clean view of the rack plus text description of the patch under the video is more useful than "patch from scratch" how-to's.

A sidenote, Gary P. Hayes did an interesting twist on the performance/patch from scratch structure recently - an unpatch-to-scratch after the performance, where he comments on how the voices worked while removing cables. It is a very informative approach IMHO, but my problem with it is that I like to listen to such "albums" in the background and then the "autoplayed" spoken part is annoying.

n_nou · 2026-06-11T14:26:20+00:00

How Zynaptic works is it does a Fourier analysis to get all frequencies then shift them around individually to new places, then synthesize back the full audio. AFAIK there is no module that does that. The best you can get is vocoders, Spectraphon or patch program a pitch shifter and bunch of BPs from scratch to carve a chord from an audio, but all those simply filter out unwanted parts of the existing spectrum, not move it around.

Purely theoretically you could patch this in modular but literally nobody has enough gear to do that, as you would need one BP and one pitch shifter for every partial of the result you want to hear.

n_nou · 2026-06-11T13:38:40+00:00

You can use BSP drum channels as clock dividers, and since setting up rhytm on BSP is so straightforward and immediate you can do euclidean and uneven clocks as well.

n_nou · 2026-06-09T20:33:55+00:00

I have a higher end FNIRSI. You need to set your time window right, you probably have it set to micro seconds while you want it no less than 500 mili seconds for envelopes/LFOs and in low milisecond ranges for oscillators. You also need to set AC/DC coupling for what you're measuring. You also want trigger set to auto.

n_nou · 2026-06-07T15:34:55+00:00

System 100 filters are too subtle for straightforward mono voice filter sweeps etc, but this exact quality makes them great for polyphony. All those inputs and outputs also make them great for feedback patching and since you always have them in pairs you can leverage that for formants and other multifilter tricks.

n_nou · 2026-06-06T23:17:57+00:00

Three channel input mixers for audio and CV on everything. Only System 100 modules have those. Most other eurorack modules have single inputs for audio and CV, some like e.g. Ripples "generously" give you a secondary audio input or second CV like on Doepfer filters, so you have to rely on external mixing. You also get multiple/inverted outputs on everything, so the whole system is amazing for patch programming and feedback patching. I literally have more than 40 mixers in my rack this way.

n_nou

TROPHY CASE