Modulus 002 --- new synth from UK

[Kenneth]

I kind of tuned out once he likened it to a PRS guitar.

Same here.

[zoomtheline]

Means only rich, old past it types will buy it. Sums it up perfectly then I think.

[pflosi]

Sounds pretty nice in this demo methinks:

[mantrak]

But I am waiting for the poly synth that will offer sophisticated detuning possibilities. All this fantastic new synths sound too much in tune, and that makes their sound so cold and clinical. When you listen to vintage synths, it's all very detuned, and that's why we like it so much. Now that we have these super precise digital oscillators we can do whatever we like regarding tuning, with 100% control. How come nobody have thought of that, yet?

Sample and hold to osc 2 freq

Sure it helps, but random detuning is not enough. Think of CS80 where one osc board is always a bit flat. Or think of slightly detuned guitar. Or think of ethnic tuning. Drifting out of perfect equal temperament adds life to music. Perfectly tuned instruments (equal 12 tone scale) are perfect for some types of music, but there is whole world beyond that.

[mantrak]

Mostly all modern synths have some kind of "drift" or "slop" knob that randomly detunes the voices to emulate vintage synths. So yes, they did think of that already.

See my post above. Slop is random. It drifts around perfect tune. In essence it is just like a more pronounced chorus. I am talking about deliberate and systematic voice detuning.

[pflosi]

But "deliberate and systematic voice detuning" is achieved easily as well. For example, to have one osc a bit flat, just attenuate your V/Oct... And so on. Assuming your synth is rather flexible of course (I'm thinking modular here actually).

With stable stuff you can always introduce wackiness; but it's hard to get something unstable to perform reliably

[mantrak]

Sure, I agree that controlled wackiness is better than wackiness without control. That is why I miss voice detune in modern hybrid synths (like my Prophet 12).

If you change V/Oct you can get some very strange scales but that is just a special case. And it is still precisely EQUALLY tempered, just not 12 notes per octave. I would like to stay near regular 12 tones, nothing too exotic.

What I would want to have is controllable voice detune (pre note or per voice, not per oscillator). I have seen that as a simple knob in Arturia Jupiter 8 (VST). Would want more control, but that is the right starting point.

[pflosi]

Check some of the more advanced quantizers in Eurorack, for example the Addac 207.

Re: polys, I don't know about the P12 but on the Andromeda for example you have the Tracking Generator (at least if you have the latest, unofficial firmware version) that (among many other things) lets you alter the tuning.

[jaypodesta]

Just had a very very quick noodle on one of these. Lovely looking synth with an intuitive interface. Sounds nice - only really messed with the presets and the on strings/pads with plenty of movement really sounded nice. One of the best things was the modulation section too left of the front panel - was super fast to add intrest to the sounds.

If you are in London and want to try it - Red Dog music in Clapham have one on display. Really nice and helpful staff and plenty of other gear to check out too.

[zoomtheline]

Cool, i'm in the smoke next month so i'll pop in.

[jaypodesta]

Well worth it. Seriously made me wish I could actually "play" keys.

[AlanC3]

For the UK folks, The Chairworks studio in Castleford are also a dealer, as are Kasbar Systems in Bedfordshire.

I had a play at The Chairworks and ended up buying one because this is a synth with a particularly pleasing sound. Using the standard saw and pulse waveforms with the filter in 24dB/octave mode to create conventional analog polysynth patches gives you a big and fat sound with an amazing bass response (it's actually difficult to make it sound weedy ). But it can also go off into completely different territory with the other waveforms - i've been getting some nice vocal effects, some etherial bells and chimes, etc, plus the continuously variable filter slope (yes, you can modulate it) opens up another range of different sounds. I'm also impressed by how 'alive' it is: you can really tell the numerically controlled oscillators are free running and not locked to a central clock.

If you're interested then just be aware that Modulus are still working on the OS and some of the features aren't complete yet. They're working really hard on it, though, with updates coming out just about every week.

Personal opinion: they've built an absolutely terrific synth, and I really hope they'll get a lower cost version out using the same voice architecture. If they do then the likes of DSI and Moog are going to have some serious competition.

[droolmaster0]

Can you comment a bit on the sequencer and the animator? From what I've been able to gather, each sequencer line is independent - but I'm not sure to what degree. I assume that they must be at least at the same tempo?

And what about the animator? how much can you record, and can the lines be of different length?

I was told that there should be a manual soon, but last I looked it wasn't up on the site.

For the UK folks, The Chairworks studio in Castleford are also a dealer, as are Kasbar Systems in Bedfordshire.

I had a play at The Chairworks and ended up buying one because this is a synth with a particularly pleasing sound. Using the standard saw and pulse waveforms with the filter in 24dB/octave mode to create conventional analog polysynth patches gives you a big and fat sound with an amazing bass response (it's actually difficult to make it sound weedy ). But it can also go off into completely different territory with the other waveforms - i've been getting some nice vocal effects, some etherial bells and chimes, etc, plus the continuously variable filter slope (yes, you can modulate it) opens up another range of different sounds. I'm also impressed by how 'alive' it is: you can really tell the numerically controlled oscillators are free running and not locked to a central clock.

If you're interested then just be aware that Modulus are still working on the OS and some of the features aren't complete yet. They're working really hard on it, though, with updates coming out just about every week.

Personal opinion: they've built an absolutely terrific synth, and I really hope they'll get a lower cost version out using the same voice architecture. If they do then the likes of DSI and Moog are going to have some serious competition.

[AlanC3]

Can you comment a bit on the sequencer and the animator?

If you're interested then just be aware that Modulus are still working on the OS and some of the features aren't complete yet.

Unfortunately I can't tell you anything at the moment because the sequencer and animator are the main features that aren't complete. The next update will enable them, and I've been told it will be arriving very soon.

There's no manual at the moment, either. And the operating system is... different. This caused a bit of fun when I first got the synth because it took me a while to figure out how to save patches.

It's somewhat "early adopter" territory right now - Modulus are a new company and this is their first product - but I knew what I was getting into when I bought the synth. That said, they're being incredibly helpful and any problems get fixed fast.

[AlanC3]

The update with the sequencer was released two days ago so I'm still finding my way round it, but here are some basic specs (hopefully I've got this correct ):

• Storage for 10,000 sequences.
• A sequence has 12 tracks that can be sent to the synth voices in multitimbral mode (not available right now) or to external MIDI devices.
• Each track has 12 rows; a row can play notes (you can set the velocity), send MIDI controller data or modify any of the synth parameters.
• A row has a maximum of 32 steps; you can set the start and end points anywhere within those 32 steps, and set note length and gate time for each step.
• The sequencer provides the same playback modes as the arpeggiator: forwards / backwards / pendulum / random

There's one master tempo controlling all that.

There's some other stuff I'm still figuring out: a Legato mode that allows you to overlap notes (so you can use portamento, I guess) and some secondary values that let you skip steps.

The animator is coming in next week's update.