Pittsburgh modular Patch Box

[bob the r0bot]

What is a good small sequencer module? I have like 10-12hp left over after the Clouds and Tides modules.

If you get a peaks it has a 4 step sequencer mode, so you'll get all the crazy functionality of that and still have room for a disting.

[oscillateur]

Do not plan something with only effects and nothing to modulate them. Seriously, you'll regret it. Add some LFOs at least. Peaks is indeed a good module for this as it's got 2 channels in 8HP and you can use it for many different things. A nice envelope follower that extracts both an envelope and a gate from the signal would be useful to control the patch dynamically from your instrument too.

But basically, the whole point of modulars is that you can control tons of parameters with almost anything you plug in them. Having just several effects in there only controlled manually would be losing a lot of functionality.

[Jwar]

So any word on price for these?

What I meant by plug and play too was no soldering. Just plug shit in and you're good to go. I've never used anything like this, so I don't know how it works. lol

So let's say I get this.

What's the best place to start? What would you get? I'm clueless with these but have always been curious.

[phantasmagorovich]

So any word on price for these?

What I meant by plug and play too was no soldering. Just plug shit in and you're good to go. I've never used anything like this, so I don't know how it works. lol

So let's say I get this.

What's the best place to start? What would you get? I'm clueless with these but have always been curious.

I'm strongly considering driving to Frankfurt two weeks from now and bugging the shit out of them. Official presentation is supposed to be at Musikmesse. If I do I will be able to report back about pricing etc.

The thing about these modules is that it's really hard to give general advice. It's a little like someone posting an empty PT-Pro in Gen and asking what to put on there. People might either advise you to go for their personal faves or the flavour of the day.
But the sensible thing to do is plan ahead and ask yourself what you want to achieve. The possibilities are nearly limitless. There are nearly any kinds of effects we know from pedals in Eurorack, but dirt is a little limited, usually Eurorack would get the dirty sounds as a byproduct from other modules or from the Oscillator itself. Also some of the stuff that only makes sense in the realm of physical instruments doesn't exist. There is simply no need for a Compressor Module.
But there is a plethora of Ring Modulators, there is Reverb and Delay. You could build a synth or sampler in this thing that would be able to react to your playing in various ways. You can build a tremolo that puts the Goatkeeper to shame. The thing that is hardest to understand for the regular guitar Joe is the use of CV.

Let me explain this with a tremolo for the example. We all know that trems sound vastly different depending on the waveform. There is choppy/square (Idiotbox Stutter) and sawtooth (Spacemen 3) as well as sine (Fender amp). What happens is that the volume of the signal is modulated by these low frequency waves. Rate makes the waves faster etc. But in the modular realm trem doesn't exist as an effect of itself. Because what you do is take an LFO that generates a wave like these, say square wave and patch it into the module that makes everything loud or quiet. As if you would connect it directly to the volume knob of the amp. The big advantage of modular vs non-modular is that you can exchange these waves. And there are modules that make any imaginable wave. For example there is a module that would "record" the turning of a knob and loop it. Connect that to the volume and you have a simple version of the revered Hollow Earth.

tl;dr:
You can do anything* in modular, think about the sounds you want to make, then people might be able to assist you in achieving them.

*some stuff, mainly dirt is better in pedal form

[Jwar]

Ok. I want my bass to sound like two robots fucking each other in a non friendly way. How do I do that?

No but really I know there's no easy answer. I just don't know anything about it. lol

[Strange Tales]

No but really I know there's no easy answer. I just don't know anything about it. lol

This is my biggest problem. I have to learn all the modules now and watch enough videos to try and understand what they do.

I see a lot of posts about the Make Noises Maths module though, seems like a really interesting one.

[ApeLincoln]

You just have to remember with the Maths is it's really for modulating parameters on other modules not so much for direct audio processing. It is really really amazing though if you pair it with an effect that makes good use of those modulations.

[Jwar]

I'm just going to wait until someone else buys stuff and posts pics, then copy what they bought. LOL.

Learning is fun, just sometimes my brain can only handle so much...like not a lot. LOL

[D.o.S.]

So any word on price for these?

What I meant by plug and play too was no soldering. Just plug shit in and you're good to go. I've never used anything like this, so I don't know how it works. lol

So let's say I get this.

What's the best place to start? What would you get? I'm clueless with these but have always been curious.

I'm strongly considering driving to Frankfurt two weeks from now and bugging the shit out of them. Official presentation is supposed to be at Musikmesse. If I do I will be able to report back about pricing etc.

The thing about these modules is that it's really hard to give general advice. It's a little like someone posting an empty PT-Pro in Gen and asking what to put on there. People might either advise you to go for their personal faves or the flavour of the day.
But the sensible thing to do is plan ahead and ask yourself what you want to achieve. The possibilities are nearly limitless. There are nearly any kinds of effects we know from pedals in Eurorack, but dirt is a little limited, usually Eurorack would get the dirty sounds as a byproduct from other modules or from the Oscillator itself. Also some of the stuff that only makes sense in the realm of physical instruments doesn't exist. There is simply no need for a Compressor Module.
But there is a plethora of Ring Modulators, there is Reverb and Delay. You could build a synth or sampler in this thing that would be able to react to your playing in various ways. You can build a tremolo that puts the Goatkeeper to shame. The thing that is hardest to understand for the regular guitar Joe is the use of CV.

Let me explain this with a tremolo for the example. We all know that trems sound vastly different depending on the waveform. There is choppy/square (Idiotbox Stutter) and sawtooth (Spacemen 3) as well as sine (Fender amp). What happens is that the volume of the signal is modulated by these low frequency waves. Rate makes the waves faster etc. But in the modular realm trem doesn't exist as an effect of itself. Because what you do is take an LFO that generates a wave like these, say square wave and patch it into the module that makes everything loud or quiet. As if you would connect it directly to the volume knob of the amp. The big advantage of modular vs non-modular is that you can exchange these waves. And there are modules that make any imaginable wave. For example there is a module that would "record" the turning of a knob and loop it. Connect that to the volume and you have a simple version of the revered Hollow Earth.

tl;dr:
You can do anything* in modular, think about the sounds you want to make, then people might be able to assist you in achieving them.

*some stuff, mainly dirt is better in pedal form

What a great post, and I say this as someone who doesn't fuck with modular gear.

[phantasmagorovich]

Ok. I want my bass to sound like two robots fucking each other in a non friendly way. How do I do that?

No but really I know there's no easy answer. I just don't know anything about it. lol

This might be able to make that sound.
At least if you mean to have a fucked up synth voice in unison with your playing. Using a different oscillator could give you a synth voice at an harmonic interval. Or you use a PLL for that.

left to right:
Disting, in the patch I had in mind this would be used for picking out the pitch and envelope of your playing. (there are shittons of uses for this though)
Korgasmatron, cool name and also a very powerful double oscillator with tons of possible interplay and two filters all built in, we use this to make fucked up sounds.
Dixie I, this is also an oscillator but it would be used as a variable waveform LFO to give the whole filter thing some movement. (I'm cheating here, this is the old version, the current one is wider and wouldn't fit.)
Function, This could be used as a looping ADSR for some more movement, but I'd suggest using this to mangle the envelope, you could make the synth voice sustain longer than your playing, fade in late or even fill in the silence when you don't play (by inverting the envelope)
Moddemix, the "amp" part of the equation, we need this for the envelope tricks to work. I chose this one, because it also ring modulates or mixes two signals. Always handy.

What a great post, and I say this as someone who doesn't fuck with modular gear.

Thanks man! I had the feeling I was obsessing, but it's all for the cause!

[moogboy]

My time on this planet has come.

Yeah, I'm not very talented at maths. 42hp should be correct.

This is what I think they had in it on the pictures:





This is an idea of what I would slap in there.
Deflector shield is a combination phaser, pitch shifter or ring mod.
Pip Slope can either act as an lfo or an envelope triggered by the input.
Erbeverb is the shit when it comes to reverb and the mangling thereof.
Disting is a digital swiss army knife that could act as lfo, envelope&pitch follower, ring modulator and echo among a bunch of other things of which I'm not so sure if they are useful in the context. Anyone ever tried wavefolding a guitar signal?

I've used wavefolding on guitar many many times. When I got into eurorack, I got into it super hard with the idea that I'd be attempting to create massive, complicated effects chains that were impossible with guitar pedals. To that end, I have tried a ton of wavefolders. The best ones, in my experience, are the Suit and Tie Guy Wavefolder, the Expert Sleepers Disting, and the Doepfer Wave Multiplier II.

This is about to be the coolest fucking pedal ever. I've been using giant modular rigs for a couple of years for guitar processing (and I most likely will continue to do so-all my patching uses a 4MS VCA Matrix for maximum routing flexibility, which would be impossible/pointless in this pedal) and HOT DAMN DO I WANT THIS BAD BITCH. MULTIPLE TIMES OVER. The possibilities with something as simple as tremolo are mindbending, and I WANT THEM ALL.

Here are 4 setups that would be unbelievably rad in this pedal:

Shameless self-promotion: https://juggableoffense.bandcamp.com/tr ... n-campfire
That track is basically me fucking around with a Flight of Harmony Plague Bearer and Suit and Tie Guy Wavefolder running in parallel for distortion, and then into a Make Noise Erbe-Verb being modulated by a Wogglebug for the weird percussion-y shit in the background. By far my favorite patch I've ever concocted on the modular for guitar processing. Shit like that is now SO MUCH EASIER DAMN.

[Bellyheart]

Glad I opened this.

[Jwar]

Man this is going to be so fucking fun! I could see this being very addictive. hahaha

Aren't their DIY euros too?

[bob the r0bot]

Yeah, Euro has a pretty strong DIY community.

[cedarskies]

modular is so fun to think about.

but i just can't get myself to actually go for it.

perhaps in another life...