r/modular

diff vibe of q for this sub i guess & ig there's no kind of music corresponding to modular, really, but let's power through~

what music is getting us amped to sit down at the box rn?

several reasons this is a dumb qs but i can't sleep & am looking for a listen from y'all~ feel free to direct me to a better sub

currently I'm using an online modular synth website (called audionodes online) I understand some of the basics: here are all my notes please feel free to tell me how I can improve them and if/where I messed up

Sine - the raw musical sound 
Amplitude (amp) - how loud or soft the sound of the synth is
Pitch - how high or low the sound is
Envelopes - how the synth changes the sound over time. Modified by ADSR
ADSR - Attack Decay Sustain Release

• Attack - the time it takes the envelope to get up to its peak 
• Decay - An envelope’s decay control determines how long it takes for the envelope to decrease from its peak to the sustain level.
• Sustain - The envelope will then stay at the sustain level as long as the note is held.
• Release - An envelope’s release control determines how long it takes for the envelope to decrease to its minimum level after the note is released.

Envelopes can change the pitch but they can also change other aspects of the sound such as amplitude imagine the above picture is instead changing the pitch think of it changing the amplitude 

Imagine you’re facing a spinning playground carousel with a speaker on it.
As the carousel spins, the front of the speaker moves towards you and away from you again, and you hear the sound getting louder and quieter accordingly — the amplitude is being modulated.
This repeating, back-and-forth change is called oscillation. Instead of envelopes, synthesizers use oscillators to create this kind of modulation.

These oscillators are called low-frequency oscillators (LFOs) because they move relatively slowly compared to audio oscillators

LFO - repeating back-and-forth modulation (change) like robots that make a repeating change to some aspect of the sound

Frequency - how many times the oscillator moves from its highest point to its lowest and back in one second (measured in Hertz (abbreviated Hz)) A frequency of one hertz means that a full oscillation (or cycle) happens once per second.

Amount - determines how much influence the LFO’s movements have on the pitch.

Semitones - the difference between one key and the next on a piano (abbreviated st) 

https://preview.redd.it/6vhho2w2k62h1.png?width=575&format=png&auto=webp&s=06c6cb667c016c223e99e248ef4514ecaad9ee00

Waveform - the LFO’s shape 

How does a synth make sound in the first place 

Imagine a buzzing bee. The tone we hear is caused by the bee flapping its wings quickly when the flapping is fast enough it will  start to produce a low tone. In general, we start to hear a tone when something oscillates faster than around 20 Hz. Most synths generate tones with audio oscillators

audio oscillators -  These are similar to the low-frequency oscillators used for modulation, but they move much faster so they can produce tones directly.

Timbre - character of the sound 

Square waves - some describe as woody or hollow
Saw waves - some describe as buzzy or bright

The height of the wave corresponds to its amplitude but not its timbre if you drag all the way to the bottom the amplitude is zero and the waveform is silent 

Pulse width - the amount of time the oscillator spends in the high and low part of its cycle
The wave has its “fullest” sound at the center where the waveform is symmetrical 

You can also modulate the square oscillator’s pulse width with an LFO
There’s a “full” square sound in the middle and a “pinched” pulsed sound at the top and bottom of the modulation curve 

We hear interesting changes as oscillators move from lower to higher frequencies. 

Similarly, we hear interesting changes as modulators become very fast. In this example, an LFO is modulating pitch.

as the LFO gets faster, the individual cycles of the LFO start to sound like they’re “blurring” together. The changes in pitch start to sound like changes in timbre, resulting in a “harsh” or “metallic” sound.

This is an important sound design discovery: slow modulations are usually perceived as changes to behavior (changes that are applied to the sound), while fast modulations are usually perceived as changes to timbre (changes to the character of the sound itself) 

Filter - A filter behaves a bit like a wall or door. It lets some parts of the sound through and makes other parts quieter

Cutoff frequency - the frequency the filter cuts off at
low-pass filter - blocks high frequencies and lets low frequencies through
high-pass filter - opposite of low-pass filter

More high frequencies make a sound brighter 
Less high frequencies make a sound darker

As you adjust the cutoff frequency slowly, you’ll probably recognize this effect. The sound of a filter being “swept” open or closed is a classic technique in many kinds of music.

Resonance - increases the amplitude around the cutoff frequency

Legato - smooth connected playing

Glide speed - controls how quickly the notes change when playing legato
Glide - makes the synth play legato (or smoothly)

Cent - a hundredth of a semitone (abbreviated ct)

Coarse detune - adjusts pitch by semitones or octaves 
Fine detune - adjusts pitch by cents

Subtractive synth - a filter subtracts frequencies from the rich timbre of the oscillators. Often in all-in-one keyboards 

I want to understand the theory, what all the types of modules do and the terminology beyond those

thanks in advance

Hey guys, I get that Swells is a newish module just wanted to check if any of you had this issue.
Any input I send to swells is super loud comparing to the reverb itself. Even worse, the input pot does not do anything when I turn it left or right, and trim function doesn’t work either. I send super loud signal into swells and it still doesn’t clip red, while the reverb is barely audible. Then, I crank the level attenuverter and add +5 v offset from Maths, and suddenly, reverb is stronger, which leads me to believe something internally is messing the amount of signal being processed, as well as disproportion between in and out, and absolutely no response of the input pot.
I have flashed the latest FW, reset to factory settings, but I still have this annoying situation where if the input pot is at zero, I still hear the signal loud and clear from the input. I believe it should not be heard, just like Sealegs- if Drive is at min, no sound comes into the module.

Hi folks
Two weeks ago i switched out my Joranalogue switch 4 for the Befaco and Divkid mutes mk2 since I only used the mutes part of the switch 4. I mainly used it to manually trigger a function of maths but i can't do it with my Befaco mutes. My guess is because it's a vca based mute, there are no sharp edges so the maths doesn't detect it as a trigger and therefore doesn't trigger the function. Does anyone have a workaround for this problem? I now use the mute out to cycle in of maths and i can trigger it that way, it works fine for long envelopes but for snappy ones it gets triggered several times which is not what i want.
Also i'm planning to buy a sample and hold module soon and i want to be able to manually trigger it with my mutes. Will this also not work?

Thanks in advance!

https://preview.redd.it/wkjno3pfdy1h1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86ab5d0b7f4cd9d7c9a9d53741ddcf27afd5d86c

Hey folks, just introducing myself. I have an extensive synth collection but nothing purely modular and nothing as exotic as Serge. I recently purchased one from someone in the area who is probably lurking here. My cables arrive tomorrow, and I have been trying to learn despite the surprising lack of documentation. I found some of course, but not complete. For example, Mantra 2 on Random*Source website, which is really nice docs btw, but no TKB or Edelweiss 3. It's been fun trying to piece it all together and tbh, relearn synthesis. I feel I have to unlearn a bunch. This is quite a place to start, I know. I'm about to get lost.

I'm pretty new to modular and have bought the Ghost thinking it would be a good fx pack with a bonus filter in not so many hp. The reviews online and on youtube seem pretty good also. Pre and post vca, Compression, Sidechain, LP and HP filter, distortion, reverb, delay.... on paper it has everything to be great
However after using it a few weeks, it feels that by trying to do everything, it does nothing great. Especially Reverb and Delay. I never manage to get a big room feeling from the reverb, and the echo is barely ok, it clips very easily and the feedbacks are getting very mushy when combining delay and reverb.
Was wondering what is your experience and if you have some good tips to make it sound good?

Hey everyone,

I made a rookie mistake: I accidentally went through the Oneiroi's calibration process without supplying the correct reference voltages. I just kept clicking through without actually patching in the right signals, and now the module is behaving all wrong and I can't get it back to a usable state.

My situation:

- Calibration apparently requires reference voltages of 2V / 5V / 8V

- I don't have a multimeter or any module that can reliably output those exact voltages

- My current setup is:

- Doepfer Dark Link

- Pam's Pro Workout

- Ableton Live

- Befaco Oneiroi

My questions:

1. Is there any way to reset or undo a bad calibration? Like a factory reset or something buried in the menu?

2. Can the Doepfer Dark Link or Pam's Pro Workout output precise enough voltages (2V / 5V / 8V) to use for calibration?

3. If not – what specific module or piece of gear would you recommend for generating accurate reference voltages?

4. Is there a practical workaround to get the Oneiroi working again without buying a ton of new gear?

I'd really appreciate concrete tips, module recommendations, or a step-by-step workflow. I just need to get this thing usable again!

BTW: im kind of new to modular!

Thanks!