Attitude & Sound

Extending Metropolix

The Intellijel Metropolix is my main and favourite sequencer for a lot of reasons. But one limitation I always bump into with this thing is that it has far too few outputs for all the stuff it can do on the inside. It is possible to extend it with the Gx/Qx, but those only can do on/off signals (triggers or gates), no graded control voltages (CV).

Figure 1: Schematic of connecting a Adafruit Trinket M0 to MIDI In of an Intellijel MIDI 1U

In August 22 I posted a request at the Intellijel forum to get a Metropolix CV expander. A fairly long time after that, I started to feel a bit dumb about it, because there was a firmware Update for the Metropolix in...

nucleus - How to build eurorack modules fast

A more or less chaotic pile of PCBs

I like to build simple modules for my eurorack synthesizer myself. There is some stuff that is always the same. Mostly power related. Or the part where you need some sockets to plug your patch cables in. I’m just too lazy to start it every time from scratch again. So, after a bit of experimenting and building generic PCBs for the sockets part, I found out about the P-0+o prototyping board by Kristian Blåsol.
It is a really nice board to build little modules with. It has a dedicated place to put your power connector and three busses in the middle of the board for distribution.

I took this very good idea and designed a board fitting my personal needs. The P-0+o board seems to be more about real prototyping and tinkering around...

Eurorack Minimal-Setups für Einsteiger*innen

Screenshot des 'Beginner Generative' Setups auf Modular Grid

Freund*innen von mir betreiben einen kleinen Laden für modulare Synthesizer (unbezahlte [aber] Werbung), hier in Köln. Und es kommt immer wieder vor, dass Personen in den Laden kommen, die interessiert sind, in das Thema einzusteigen und die Frage stellen, wie sie das am besten machen können. Die Frage ist wirklich schwer zu beantworten, weil modulare Synthesizer einfach so vielseitig sind und es total davon abhängt, was Du damit machen möchtest. Außerdem sind sie nicht ganz Preisgünstig, da ist es für die meisten nicht möglich mal eben voll zuzugreifen.
Wir haben jedenfalls darüber gesprochen, was man diesen Menschen wohl empfehlen könnte und das Thema hat mich danach nicht so recht losgelassen. Nach ein paar Tagen habe ich den Discord des Ladens mit meinen Gedanken vollgespamt. Um das ganze ein bisschen zu sortieren und vielleicht auch...

How to connect a HEXMIX to the audio jacks of an Intellijel case

The rear of an Intellijel case with cables plugged into the audio out jacks. Mounted in the case is a Befaco HEXMIX (HEXPANDER) and hair of my cats.

I got a new case for my Eurorack synthesiser. One of those fancy Intellijel Performance ones, with audio In and Out jacks on the rear panel. I like the idea of having at least those cables out of my way very much. Of course, like maybe every Non-Intellijel mixer, my Befaco HEXMIX has no connector for this. But blessed are they who do have a soldering iron and are not afraid to use it on their precious gear.

It is not very difficult to make your own connection cable and attach it to your mixer. I will describe in this text how I did it with my HEXMIX respectively HEXPANDER, but this should be possible with...

Chord Organ Chamäleon

Chord Organ module on a desk, cable atached.

Getting chords out of a modular synthesizer is not fun. At least not for me. Maybe it is for people with more skill or bigger systems or a stronger masochistic streak in them than I got. But for me, it’s close to impossible. I have a Plaits which can do chords, but I like and use it for other reasons.

What I really like and what gives me a warm feeling is the sound of (maybe a bit jazzy) chords consisting of a bunch of simple sign waves. Not a difficult thing to do on your favorite polysynth, but as I said, not fun on a modular. And when I saw the Chord Organ by Music Thing Modular do it in the easiest way ever, I wanted one.

About the Chord Organ?

The Chord...