the journey begins: starting a modular synthesizer from scratch
I am starting to put together a modular synthesizer from scratch and figured it was a good opportunity to share my experiences as I go, to hopefully help others in this same quest.
My last post “full circle: my return to modular synthesis” was about my desire to get back into modular synthesizer programming, which of course requires a modular synth, so I started trying to formulate a plan on how to get from nothing to a nicely complex modular with lots of capability. First was the research phase. I did web searches and blog searches for information on modular synths and decided to go with mostly Doepfer modules, but also try to get a Eurorack standard case, so I could mix and match modules from all the manufacturers making Eurorack compliant gear later on as I build from nothing, one or two modules at a time, since spending thousands all at once was not in the cards for my current music budget.
A-119 Ext In, A-120 VCF, A-132 Dual VCA, & A-146 LFO in Doepfer Minicase
THE CASE
This showed me one of the early hurdles in modular synths, which is how to build slowly when the cases are so expensive! The cheap options aren’t all that cheap, and the options that look like something you would want to build a long term infrastructure in, are $530 and up, so even buying 4 modules in a case like that puts you over $1000 and that was still too much for me at this moment. What I ended up doing was buying the tiny “A-100 Miniature Case black beauty version” which was only $140 but had some limitations. The limits are power and space. Power in the Doepfer suitcase model is 1200 milliamps (1200ma) and the minicase I had chosen was only 200ma. Space was new and interesting too, since I am used to thinking of rackmounted gear in terms of how many standard 19″ wide rack spaces. In the modular world, modules are 3U high by that measurement, so a “row” is 3U high but can be narrower or wider than the 19″ standard, so what is important is the width measurement, measured in units referred to as “hp”. So the Doepfer suitcase for example is 84hp wide and comes in 2 or 3 rows (6U or 9U in the old rack units of height), and the minicase I had chosen was only 32hp. Now with my 200ma 32hp limitations, it was time to pick out some modules.
My first goal was a functional synthesizer of 1 VCO, 1 VCF, 1 LFO & 1 VCA so I could have an oscillator, filter it, modulate the filter (filter modulation) or oscillator (pitch modulation) with the LFO and send the results to the VCA output, and potentially assign the LFO to modulate amplitude (amplitude modulation) at the VCA. This is how that plan mapped to my tiny case:
SPACE & AMP REQUIREMENTS WITH VCO BREAKS THE LIMITS OF THE CASE
A-110 standard Voltage Controlled Oscillator VCO 10hp 70ma
A-120 24db Low Pass Filter (Moog Type) 8hp 30ma
A-146 Variable Waveform LFO 8hp 30ma
A-132-1 dual linear VCA 4hp 100ma
A-110 standard Voltage Controlled Oscillator VCO 10hp 70ma
A-120 24db Low Pass Filter (Moog Type) 8hp 30ma
A-146 Variable Waveform LFO 8hp 30ma
A-132-1 dual linear VCA 4hp 100ma
30sp 230ma
out of a possible
32sp 200ma
At this point, I was a little discouraged, in that I could make the space requirement, but I was over the limit on the power consumption. I then decided I would go another route, of “if I can’t make a synthesizer just yet, then maybe I can put together a modular filter processing unit”, so I changed the architecture to this:
SPACE & AMP REQUIREMENTS AS CONFIGURED
A-119 external input / envelope generator 8sp 30ma
A-120 24db Low Pass Filter (Moog Type) 8sp 30ma
A-146 Variable Waveform LFO 8sp 30ma
A-132-1 dual linear VCA 4sp 100ma
A-119 external input / envelope generator 8sp 30ma
A-120 24db Low Pass Filter (Moog Type) 8sp 30ma
A-146 Variable Waveform LFO 8sp 30ma
A-132-1 dual linear VCA 4sp 100ma
28sp 190ma
out of a possible
32sp 200ma
Now I made the space and power limits, and would have something like a Moogerfooger pedal made out of Doepfer modules. When I placed my order, two of my module choices were out of stock new, so I did a little email tag with one of the sales guys at AH, and opted to purchase the following as used modules which saved me a little cash too. The VCO costs $100 more than the external input so that limitation was at least a cheaper alternative as well, and not being complete I figured would probably spur me to buy more modules sooner rather than later, so I thought that was probably a good thing too.
USED MODULE REPLACEMENTS
Qty 1 A-120 24db Low Pass Filter (Moog Type)
Qty 1 A-132-1 dual linear VCA
Qty 1 A-120 24db Low Pass Filter (Moog Type)
Qty 1 A-132-1 dual linear VCA
So now, the cool part. I get the little beastie home, and run it through an effects send/return loop on my mixer, and I start sending a deep house track through the unit, but found the input gain knobs on the external input to be very steep and touchy on the 1/4″ input at least, and realized that the LEDs on the module were also used as metering so I dialed it down to find the proper input level, but found it easy to overshoot in both directions of too hot or too quiet with barely a smidge of difference in the knob position, but I switched to the 1/8″ mono mini input and it seemed easier to dial in proper levels, and I was away. The Moog ladder filter sounded good, but too was not lively in a linear way on the resonance knob, but that’s cool, its analog and a little unpredictable which is cool creatively to help you find more unexpected creative territory. I quickly had some cool stuff going on, and toying with the LFO on different possible modulation points was fun too.
I then decided to think about all of the possible patching permutations, and was trying to go through them all, and was pondering if anything more was available, and decided I would try to make one of these non-oscillator modules act like an oscillator, and the LFO was the most obvious choice, since it had a L, M, H toggle switch on it, and on high, we have an oscillator. It was a lot stronger than I expected it to sound, especially on the big pulse width modulation square wave. Filtering that led to some really electronic sounding goodness, and bumping up my modulation routings since the LFO outputs all 3 waves at once from its 3 different waveform outputs, so that gave me some almost FM sounding sonic sidebands and that was getting pretty interesting. So I looked at the box again, and decided to try to see if the Filter would self oscillate with the resonance cranked, and sure enough it complied, and I was using down saw waveforms to make star wars blaster noises in nothing flat. This was pretty amazing really, since two of modules basically amounted to a preamp and amplifier, I was already getting a lot of mileage out of basically the sound generation abilities of two modules, so the slowly built future is starting to look bright.
WHAT’S NEXT
I figure I want to get the TipTop Z3000 VCO, so I have a legitimate oscillator, and I again need to wrestle with the case. I like the Monorocket Suitcase, but what I think I really want is the Plan-B Zero case, which is what of NIN uses on stage in their live shows. I looked into pricing one of these, and ended up frustrated, after going to the manufacturers page, the resellers pages, searching online forums, and even subscribing myself to a Plan-B email mailing list, I was disappointed to find out that even though they announced their Zero and Ringer cases at NAMM’09 in January and promised within a quarter to have these cases available, the reality is its now been as of the writing of this post 10 months since that hyped and hotly anticipated release, and it is still vaporware. So if the Zero ever comes available and is priced attractively in the next couple of months, I will consider it, but if not, I think I will end up grabbing the Monorocket suitcase, since its cheaper than the Doepfer and has solid space and power.
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16 Comments to the journey begins: starting a modular synthesizer from scratch
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New blog post: the journey begins: starting a modular synthesizer from scratch http://bit.ly/4r3ldd
RT @redvoid the journey begins: starting a modular synthesizer from scratch http://bit.ly/1DVykx
wow, making a modular synth from scratch is one great win! congrats.. and thanks for sharing your story.
RT @redvoid: the journey begins: starting a modular synthesizer from scratch http://bit.ly/1DVykx
RT @innerlightmusic: RT @redvoid: the journey begins: starting a modular synthesizer from scratch http://bit.ly/1DVykx
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