If you are curious about what types of music / sounds people create with modular synths, and especially the Doepfer system, there’s a Soundcloud group you might be interested in.
In this moderated group you’ll find everything from melodic tracks to drones, space, ambient, Berlin style and techno. Check it out to learn more about the infinite sonic possibilities of the world of modulars.
I’m about to embark on a 2 week trip away from home, but against all odds I wont be bringing my modular synth with me. Naturally dust is a concern when leaving gear unattended for extended periods of time, so I wanted to find a good way of covering up the modular.
At first I tried cutting out paper bags. Turns out the standard Safeway / Whole foods paper bag as just about the right depth and height to be slid over a Doepfer 9u case (that’s the LC9 one, not the portable). However, this not only looked silly, but the paper bags have a tendency to give off this foul smell that I did not want to imbue my gear with.
Instead, I found these really nice and stretchy iMac covers on Amazon that are just about the right size to be stretched across a 9u LC case. It’s a tight fit, but it works pretty well. Check out the photo below.
That’s two Doepfer LC9 cases side by side, each covered with a 27″ iMac stretch cover. If you have any better suggestions on how to cover up these cases and protect your modules from dust, please leave a comment and let me know!
Ableton Push is now available for order from Amazon! If you want to support this site, please consider ordering it via the link below :)
Ableton Push Controller for Live 9 with 11 Touch-Sensitive Encoders
Here’s a walkthrough / review of the controller and the workflow it enables:
If you are serious about music production / composing in Live 9, this should be a no-brainer!
Today I installed the XAOC Devices Moskwa, an 8 step, bipolar, rotary sequencer. I got the module yesterday from ctrl-mod in Brooklyn, and the packaging was as always excellent.
The Moskwa may look like a simple 8 step sequencer, but it has some built in features rarely seen on a compact (20hp) module like this, which set it apart from many other sequencer in the same price/size range.
On the front panel you will find dedicated knobs for Rate (internal clock), Slew and Reset. The Reset knob can be dialed back to shorten the length of the sequence from 8-1 step. You also get a Direction, Clock, Reset and Pause CV in, that allows for some really interesting performance options. On top of this you also get 3 different playback modes, Standard, Random and Pendulum.
As for outputs you get your standard CV / Gate out.
The red LEDs that light up to show you which step you are on also double as switches. Tap them to ‘mute’ a step, or hold them for 3 seconds to set the gate length for the steps. There is no way to change the gate length for each individual step, but you can switch the length between 1/1 to 1/8 by holding down the corresponding step ‘switch/LED’.
Switching the unit between Unipolar and Bipolar means you can use the Moskwa either to drive sound sources such as VCOs, or as a modulation source. (E.g. set the Moskwa to Bipolar, run the output to the Warna and multiply the signal to both multiples. Switch one of them to invert the incoming voltage and then drive different filters or EGs with the result. Consider adding a slew limited to one of the paths, or a clock divider or… :D )
There is also an expander module in the works that will give you access to a Trigger out for each individual step, new playback modes and the ability to chain two Moskwa modules for a total of 16 steps.
Check out the pictures below that shows the installation:
The module arrived well-packaged in the beautifully designed XAOC box. It comes with a sticket, the manual, mounting screws and a cool retro looking postcard :). The attention to the details is really great, and shows how dedicated the XAOC team is to the quality of their products.
Time to retire one of the big blind panels :). What is it they say? ‘I can stop at 9u. Really!’
Plugged in to the system power bus of the a100lc9 case from Doepfer. Pay attention to the orientation of the cable. As with most Doepfer compatible modules, the Red stripe goes on the bottom 2 pins, but please check the markings on the module PCB and the cable to make sure you align it properly.
Mounted and ready for use! I will cut out some Balsa wood to cover the gaping hole to the right, at least until I can’t control myself any more and order more modules! ;-)
Jus to give you an idea of the size of the module, here it is mounted in the rack.
Check out my post on installing the Warna as well!
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!
Tonight I found the time to install the Warna module from XAOC Devices, and I took some photos of the process :). If you’re curious about the module itself it’s a Buffered Multiple / Mixer utility module with some nice additional features:
warna is a quite self- explanatory yet extremely useful utility module that helps you to work with control voltages in your system. you can use it to distribute voltage sources precisely, to swap their polarity and to mix your cvs and audio signals together.
Check out the pictures below.
Here’s the module, fresh out of the box. The build quality is really awesome!
The gaping hole in my setup where the Warna will be installed. Warna is a 6hp module so the 2hp Pittsburgh multiple will have to move over.
To install the ribbon power cable I had to also remove one of the blind panels. The ribbon cable should be installed with the red strip facing downwards (as is the case with almost all Doepfer compatible modules).
Installed and good to go. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about this module, it’s features or performance.
Glitzerstrahl 