Compact ish modular - What it sounds like? - Intellijel 4u104hp Case 

Thanks Mark! Love your stuff and that’s exactly right! I couldn’t break the bank. Too scary. It’d get out of hand too fast. You’re right! I do need to spend some more time with Steppy making use of the shifting and loopy mode. I think I’m going to do some more extensive programming on it soon to intentionally link up kicks and bass line progression and trigs. I really could use a clock divider in the 1u also to free up things a bit more too. Then again, the interlinked stuff in the small cases really makes it fun and brings about the joys of patching.

Thanks so much for watching! Yeah, the smallish size makes for shorter cable runs and a lot of freedom in the patching. Not too much worrying about loosing my place too. I’ve had patches in two cases where I’ve had to move them and goodness, that was stressful. I like that I can pick this up all patched up and move it around. Glad you enjoyed the jams! It was a fun one!

Thanks so much! I really love how Six Eyes works in this small rack! It’s fun and very playable encouraging exploration vs being worried about going too far off course. It’s a very musical algorithm there and in this patch I haven’t even done any interesting resetting etc.

Goodness! Thank you so so much! I’m happy to keep making em! So many more ideas! Take care!

Thank you so much! Glad you also have that same feeling as to the expense. I feel like modular can leave a bad taste because of that but yeah, sort of comes with the territory. I love that VCVRACK is so accessible to so many that hardware just wouldn’t be possible for. And yeah, Tony Rolando’s fault for making the 0-Coast so compelling and beautiful.

Thanks so much! The music I typically listen to has lots of changes in variation and beat so I wanted whatever I created in modular to have similar elements of flexibility and playability. I continue to be excited about gaining more playability in variation and control in the case. That and learning how to play patches for wider dynamics. So glad you’re liking what I’m putting out! Thanks for watching!

Thank you! Thank you! All I want to do is share the fun of this stuff I think. I’m not the most tech but my fave is problem solving with performance based results. Appreciate all your kind words and you watching! Pizza is a heck of a voice. I love how quickly it can chill out or go wild. Bastl did an incredible job on that one and the trend of an octave switcher has caught on which I think is brilliant too! I’m excited to work on a few shorter vids like this in the 4u. I couldn’t agree more that modular was the right path for me.

Haha. I was laughing at myself for that watching that back haha. It’s fun to appreciate some of the sillies. Glad you liked this one too! Hopefully I can keep a few in this length, definitely more manageable.

Thank you and I agree. A really powerful module!

I will for sure! I like this shorter format. It’s much more manageable and it can get out into the world quicker. Think I know what the next one will be focussed on, probably just these modules and more the how and why. Thanks for the feedback on the captions. Did you find the captions for the patches too fast or just the talking bits? For the talking bits it’s more for fun little notes but yeah, don’t want to make a stressful experience haha. Thanks for watching! 🙏🏼

Captions on mushrooms!

@@raktNewsletter haha whooops! I think maybe I’ll edit my asset to be longer then haha.

@@turbotambourine at the same time, it makes it more engaging. The same reason why movies have quicker and quicker cuts. It sucks you in! aha Double-edged sword.

@@raktNewsletter haha true! The really important captions will always spend a bit more time up on screen. I think for explaining more patches in voice over will happen as well. Always things to be aware of though for sure so the videos van be both engaging and helpful!

Thank you! I’ve definitely spent a lot of time sweating each purchase because of knowing there’s a long gap till I could buy another one so the goals are most often figuring out what I may be missing. Thanks for watching!

That’s amazing! Very fun that the list kinda lines up like that. Thanks so much for watching so glad it’s helpful! I say everyone’s exact modules should vary as to what you’re interested in. Atlantix has a lot going for it and really, if you break normalizations from time to time you stand to learn a lot. If Atlantix has your vibe and it fits with budget and space, go for it for sure. I’m kinda betting that the 1u choices I make won’t be the same as others may make. Excited to figure more of that out though it changes a bit each orientation I present in these videos. Thanks so much for the sub! Lots of ideas to come, some similar builds to this and likely one or two quite different for kicks.

@@turbotambourine your percussion game is very solid - nice job there. I haven’t really gotten my mind around what’s required to make a drum experience that rivals a specialized drum machine.. another conundrum 🙂. how you’ve woven synth and percussion is really well done, however - had to watch a couple times just to keep up! looking forward to unpacking your other videos over the weekend! 🍻

@@crtzmo thanks so much! This is a continual fun sort of challenge for sure! Drum stuff often takes up a lot of space and when space is limited, you have to get creative or at the very least choose very wisely in building out the case. I found it really helpful to think about it from a need’s perspective. Bare minimum, a kick, snare and hats needs to get sequenced so really that’s only 3 sequences. Then you can pick and choose what fits best for that patch. Steppy would be more like that drum machine sequencing experience and Knight’s Gallop would be Euclidian. You could even take clock for the hats if you needed. Once you have some sequencing, you kinda have to figure out what works. There’s more things that can be helpful to add to the case like a Bernoulli gate like After Later Audio Flip (Branches clone). This could add some more playable probability or to go back and forth between open and closed hats. Anyway, my approach at this point may seem layered and complex but really, start one sequence at a time and learn what you have to work with and make the best of it. Going slow helps to iron out parts that work and don’t and it can be tricky to sort out modular needs based on rhythmic feelings etc (tricky for me as I’m just more used to playing drums vs sequencing them). Let me know if you have any questions! Happy to help!

Thanks so much!

Oh yeah! There are so many little bits to learn that it’s hard to jump into a whole system at once. The East Beast is great! And that Softpop is also incredible! Great things to learn on or to be a whole setup. Semi modular was so helpful for me to give the opportunity to try out so much right away with some basic building blocks. Understanding a whole system is tricky for sure. Keeping it in one case I think will make things a touch easier to understand.

Thanks! So glad you dug it!

Thanks so much! I bought really slowly and looked for what I was missing at each step! Sometimes I strayed from that if there was a good reverb sale on something I was interested in but mostly I thought about how to make the 4u a solid instrument so that if I could move to a 7u later, it would extend those capabilities. The 0-Coast helped me out a lot to understand many things and still have yet to buy a lowpass gate or proper dual envelope. There were many different stages and goals along the way. A lot you can see with the older videos of the jams with the beatstep pro. After that it was getting some sequencing in the case then figuring out how to sequence within the case without getting a very large sequencer. But yeah, if you do it that way, you’ll definitely find a purpose for most modules in each patch. I’ll likely go over more detail about combinations and what might be missing and found in 1u to fit in the case in future videos. Thanks for watching! Ghost is amazing and was actually a gift! I honestly couldn’t afford to put it on my to buy list so it was a huge surprise to receive it. I also have a Mimeophon. Ghost has so many uses and offers reverb that is big with long tails and and interesting delay and a filter. I tend to use the filter as performance vs a typical filter fed by an envelope. I love the combination of distortion and reverb though and use it all the time.

Thanks! I agree! The 62hp is a puzzle even after having a number of modules now. I could do it if I were to pick up an FX Aid but the case mults and also the adder offer a lot to me atm. The only downside is it really doesn’t fit into a backpack or carry on suitcase (at least the one I have). Not a huge deal with the matching lid and bag which I’ll put into a video eventually but definitely a consideration. I should have done a size comparison of this to a small groovebox. It’s kind of comedic! Thanks for watching btw. Looking forward to what you have next for us!

@@turbotambourine I’m just going to say what we’re all wondering - why isn’t there an IJ 84HP palette? And I’ll say the second thing we all acknowledge - we’re going to need two 🏴‍☠️

@@crtzmo haha yeah! With one row, I feel like the gap between 62hp and 104 isn’t as big as you think. But realistically it’s probably so they don’t eat into their own sales. An 84 would be a backpack-able size still which would be nice! Then again if you don’t need 1u, there is the 6u 84hp by ALM I think.

@@turbotambourine yes, true! I was thinking on a more basic matter - two 84’s would fit into a backpack, but as you pointed out, the 104 is just a bit too long. The palette’s 1U offerings will hopefully just get better, and built-in tools pay for themselves IF you use them.

@@crtzmo and good call on the need for two. I often bounce between the idea of having two 104hp cases or just one 7u 104hp case. Not sure which way I’ll go when that happens but either way I don’t have to figure it out today. I have that 1u space I’ve told myself I want to sort out.

Thanks so much! It’s so much fun! Now to figure out that 1u space. I have a couple ideas so far but not settled 100% yet.

So sorry I missed this comment! That's so fair! Modular isn't for everyone and workflow and ergonomics play a big part in synths and eurorack as well. Some modules are really considered having their jacks all in one spot and others have them scattered (equally considered but a different purpose). I think that's great that you have a sense of what you need in order to do music. I definitely could go for either. Sitting in front of a case without any patches made feels like if I were to try to draw or paint and you're making that first mark. Something that influences the other things after. Before I know it I have a patch. My enjoyment often comes from the forming of the music and then also the playing of the patch so all of it is time well spent. I definitely am a person where I don't have to produce to pay bills or anything like that and music is a hobby. I guess that's to say that if I play on the synth for an hour and have nothing recorded it's is still a success. I've taken a lot of the productivity out of it. Mind you, of late, making more videos, I do have to produce something. But similar to committing something to tape - so I've heard - I just play it through and it's done, I've captured all I might need. That Minibrute 2s is sweet! My housemate has one! I definitely went the route of modular after they got that, part strategy to keep the setup smaller and to really get into mixing and matching source and destination and the sequencing possibilities. Thanks for watching and glad you're liking what I have going on. Happy patching and playing!

Thanks! And thanks for watching! Glad I can be helpful haha. Wow, yeah that’s a lot of work and learning and dedication. I hope it’s going well and you have all the support and such you need. Wray from Swamp Flux was saying that’s been so good to have a group of peers to rally around. You definitely have me curious as to what you’re working on. If you ever post about it, let me know. I hope you continue to have lots of momentum as you get further in the process. I can imagine the first one is really hard especially.

@@turbotambourine the branding is especially hard! to be honest I have no idea about that. it's always easier when there's a theme to build on, you know?

@@katelikesrectangles goodness! Yeah I get what you mean. That’s a ton of work too cause beyond just functional hardware the whole vibe will dictate so many things. How aligned everything is or if you have all the jacks grouped together or on the top or bottom. Are you trying to have things very compact or with lots of breathing room, black panels or aluminum? I think in a lot of details and making a module is a giant project of so many parts. I truly truly appreciate the work that goes into it. Even after figuring out the faceplate, you have the engineering task of locating all the components just right to make it possible. Some of the density of modules out there with lights and pots and buttons amazes me. Do you have design in your background to aid you with some of those branding questions? I’ve seen some really cool content from Instruo and Uknwn (sp?) that spoke well about the process of figuring that stuff out, at least in context of the module itself.

@@turbotambourine I don't have any background in design, just engineering. Instruo are actually pretty close to me, here in Glasgow. I should go and visit sometime!

@@katelikesrectangles oh I’m jelly they are so close! I wonder if they have any events with the Glasgow Synth Guild also? You should definitely! There’s a podcast with Papernoise and also some with Tony Rolando talking about some design elements that are kinda nice that could be helpful! A positive thing is there are lots of modules to look at and pick through to figure out where you might want to land on a number of basic design things. For the fine detail, it could be down to a little research etc. I’ve never designed a module but I am a graphic designer so if you ever want some pointers on where to start or what to research or even fonts to use, feel free to reach out on my insta. Not sure if I’ll make a patreon tier for that kinda stuff if it gets really involved or something but yeah so happy to help. I know of some other manufacturers that work off of each other helping with circuits or design based on their strengths but keeping independent brands.

Thanks! I definitely will! Think I have a sense of what to start on for the next one!

I agree! First getting into it, it offered something so singularly focussed that kind of allowed me to drift off to space for a little while! Glad you also share that meditative feel!

Thanks so much! Yeah! I’m liking restricting to just the 4u format for the moment and having everything gelling really well. Definitely could use a couple little things in that 1u space. I don’t think when I started into modular I thought a 4u case could do as much, the joys of building up slow I guess.

@@turbotambourine yeh, I think the 1u stuff has grown a lot in the past couple years, one thing you might want to look into are 3u to 1u panels, I have 2 in my case, and have my two Ochd’s sideways up there, a great place for them, if you have the room (also probably my favourite lfos!)

@@megamodularis that’s an interesting way at it for sure! OCHD is a great module to go sideways like that! I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you!

Thanks so much! Yeah! Big fan of Shakmat’s approach and a company to watch close! I’ve thought about a crossfader! The Intellijel one has a bunch you can patch up and it could be quite fun! I always thought having pitch cv going through a crossfader would be great as you could have one sequence, the other, or many options between. I’m not currently using the side chain in this patch because the bass actually isn’t going through Ghost (I don’t think). What I could have really used was an inverted envelope especially as I already have the bass going through veils! Creyspace (I think that’s it) has 1u2hp inverters that might be a good add to the case. I could also just apply the sidechain and take the envelope out. I think it’s attenuated by the knob though so it would need to be on whatever’s going through the effects as well. I should look closely at the latest firmware though to see if they’ve expanded that capability. Thanks for the feedback! I think that could have helped the patches a bit for sure!

@@turbotambourine Don't you have attenuverters? To me, a single inverter module is wasted space unless you use it all the time. An attenuverter will always be useful. But at the same time, you have Ghost which allows you to do exactly that! :) Your music will always sound greater with a kick sidechained to the bass. Cheers!

@@raktNewsletter so fair! Thus is the tricky bit in deciding on the rest of the 1u here. I forgot to reply as to quadratt! I think that’s a good move but I do have 3xmia so I don’t necessarily need all 4 channels. I was thinking the middle ground of a Duatt though would be great. That way I have a little more room for something else in the 1u. I was looking at After Later Audio Flip. It’s a Branches clone and would allow for some performable boolean probabilities and also interesting latching of I can remembering correctly.

@@raktNewsletter the 1u2hp inverter is an interesting ideas as I might already have an envelope for bass not running through ghost and then could use veils to apply the ducking. High cost per hp but also I may have 2hp to slide that into as 1u modules tend to be wider.

@@turbotambourine take your time. The right module will reveal itself as if by magic. The idea is to get a module that does something you can't, and that something should be something you want to do frequently ideally.

Haha thanks! Yeah! I think there’s lots of that to be had. I’ve been listening to a bunch of stuff with lots of breakdowns so I gotta mess with some of those fun rhythms in the next one.

Thanks so much! Pizza and Plaits would be an awesome combo and that sample drum is so cool! Yeah! Steppy is pulling a lot of weight in the patch but definitely missing a beat. I wonder if it’s during the reset or if it’s when all triggers are going at once? I haven’t dig too far into it. Have you figured out any solves? It’s getting clock from noisetools so I wonder if the signal is high enough or what exactly is up. I think this is the first patch where it’s been more prominent and being mid jam I wasn’t sure if it was Steppy or Knight’s Gallop.

I haven’t worked out if it’s because of the clock or reset but it seemed very similar to how its skipped a beat in your video. I’m clocking from Pam’s. If I find out I’ll post here. I’m really enjoying the content please keep it up.

@@lofido_music yeah! I feel like partially it could be the reset. I’m having it reset itself so maybe a voltage thing, Pams only sends out 5v so maybe why you experience it too. How often does it skip?

Thanks so much! It’s a fun one. And a funny question haha.

@@turbotambourine 😊

Thanks so much! I agree that there’s lots of drone or atonal bleep bloops out there. I really like digging into that melodic side. I think it’s cause most of what I listen to is highly melodic. Makes me crave creating that stuff. Thanks for watching!

Hard not to be eh? I ordered that right after it was announced! Big turning point in terms of how fast timbres can get switched up. So much fun to be had!

Have you dug unto Basil at all?

@@turbotambourine not in any depth. I tried it out but it didn't really stick for me. Have a million delays so I just missed pizza.

@@bluenautilus same! I need to give it another go because at the time I had a tiny case at a cottage and my module selection did not work well for it.

Thanks so much! And not really. This room has slowly morphed from a spare room / storage to an office and shelving has made all the difference in making it a functional space. At some point, maybe even over on Patreon, I’ll show the whole room and how it’s setup. My synth area is really just one opening and a flat surface in an Ivar 3 wide unit. It’s adjustable and fairly strong especially after you add some leveling out of the feet. (Super slanty floor in this house!) But yeah, it’s enough to hide away clutter and lots of things unrelated to synths and videos and over time I’m getting more comfy in using more of the space. You see a little more of the space in the video about the Biggest Foot. I do kind of want to add one more unit in the room for surprise, more storage, and to make that a cart that I can move about in the room offering up more flexibility in angles. Because of the little nook and having a bin right above where I film, I can’t zoom out any more haha. I think it’s an example of making the most of what you have for sure! I’ve been liking how it’s setup for the most part as the topdown stuff is always setup or very close to. Glad you liked the jam at the end. This case is so fun and the Bard is really great! Gamechanger for me!

I was the same! I was searching a while till it was announced and knew that was the one! Whats your fave feature in the Bard Quartet?

@@turbotambourine Love that it has 4 channels. I didn’t care much about the arp feature when I bought it, but have come to love that addition as well. And of course the harmony knob is great!

@@sonixivous agreed! The 4 channel was the main draw, the harmony presets have made a profound difference in my patching especially when that can effect the way the arp is set up. Kinda like all the extra uses I find for it like using it as a stepped lfo.

@@turbotambourineHave you figured out a reliable way to cycle through the harmonies using CV, like moving through chord progression? Was going to see if I could figure this out in the past then never got around to it.

So true! I had looked at both AE Modular and Midilar as options instead of going into eurorack but because both had small limitations, I decided to save slowly and go for eurorack. AE is really compelling and they had a bunch of classic modules at the time, some Roland style sequencers, grids, etc. Eurorack had an allure of the regular size patch cables and it being apart from a computer which I was definitely going for.