Need Help: Best modules for ES-8 + Audulus Demos

Here are some topics I’m thinking about starting off with - each would be its own video potentially. Would love to hear feedback and other suggestions. These videos assume this basic configuration:

ES-8

Why ES-8 is the superior choice for Eurorack (and what are your alternatives)
Analog vs. Digital vs. Hardware Digital - making the most of each
Latency and how to deal with it
Planning your rack around ES-8

VCO

1/oct to VPO
Oscillator Sync how to
FM/AM/PM - linear vs exponential
PWM and you - how to make the most of PWM
Creative mixing
Suboscillator
Supersaw creation
Polyphony
Animated vibrato
“Tape warble” and the importance of detuning
Analog vs. Digital Oscillators
Waveshaping in Audulus

Mixer

Why mixers are important
Feedback configurations
VCAs pre-mixer and what it can do

VCF

Beyond the envelope - adding more modulation
Modulating resonance - when and why
Why VCF before VCA? Different configurations
Keyboard tracking and why it’s important
Stuck in LPF - when and why to use other filter modes
Dual VCFs and duophony
Integrated VCAs vs VCA in Audulus vs External VCA
Turning your VCF into a VCO

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Yeah definitely I hear you - just trying to think ahead and also window shop while I wait for my new modules to come in hah! I used to think I wanted a rack to play live with but I think I’m more into something that is versatile and I can repatch a lot. The way I had my rack previously, it stayed patched the same way all the time, and though that’s an interesting way to approach it, it doesn’t really offer a lot in the way of versatility and sonic exploration - not to mention videos that people will keep coming back to :slight_smile:

Yeah they’re great people and certainly willing to help!

It’s also worth experimenting moving it around in your rack into a different position away from your other digital modules - it might just be picking up some stray noise for being near something else.

20+ videos?! That ought to keep you occupied.

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I plan on them being as short as possible to be digestible - no 20m+ deep dives. I’ll script them too so they’re quick and less meandering.

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Just to continue with my 2 cents. One of the things I liked about the documentary I posted on desert rock, is you get the sense that in that scene it was all about the fact that if you are the only band all night long in the desert, you have to make some room in the middle of your songs for about 15 minutes of exploration with the other band members. Organized disorder.

With the whole youtube music producer tips genre, it is heavily influenced by office culture. You hear of people with creativity plans, and goals to produce one track a week or whatever. The thing is, and everyone is different, I think there should still be something a bit badass about making music, a bit mysterious, underground, heady, difficult and spot on forward focused.

Forget the intro stuff! Give me a sightline on the cutting edge – I’ll handle the fundamentals when they occur naturally. This is the school of thought founded by, among others, John Dewey. When Dewey helped to found the first experimental school of education at the University of Chicago, he was hoping that we all might head off in idiosyncratic directions with the understanding that, for example, we like Bob Dylan because he is weird like us, not because he is the same.

“You all understand drums well and fine. Here are some techniques for being able to sequence drums over an hour and not loose your audience while managing other changes. This is why Audulus is indispensable for me in my performances…”

If you approach it this way, Audulus 4 can start to take on some new shapes since you will be actually facing routing, sequencing, quantizing, compressing, monitoring, tuning, mixing, and all of the other duties.

Again, instead of imagining that you “need to buy some modules to convince people that Audulus is a product they should take a look at,” you go with the midset, “I really want to work on some drum and bass fills, how would I use Dinky’s Taiko and get that nice fast gated effect.” But when you solve it, you don’t stop there. You move on to figuring out how you can get those fills to sit right with the kick and bass drums. To me, it is the difference between the guy who works all year and actually shows up to the craft show with wares, and the guy who follows his wife around with his hands behind his back, smirking from ear to ear, whispering that “he could make that,” every other time she lifts up a nicnac to admire it.

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For example

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Love the list of possible video topics you’re planning. I’m looking forward to these!

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The Xaoc stuff intrests me. Some of the “computing” is interesting. I think that sequencing is the elephant in the modular room. Their envelope module looks killer.

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The ES-8 is amazing! I literally got one just to use with Audulus, so the videos you’ve done in the past have worked in that respect. (Just want to acknowledge that in case you felt like you hadn’t hit the mark.) That said, more ES-8 videos plz!!

Lots of good points made already. I like the video ideas you’ve gathered already. I think there’s room to do “instructional”/set-up time videos as well as more performance ones that take the viewer’s knowledge and enthusiasm into account, like what futureaztec mentioned.

I think you should pick up a few modules that are really popular, as that’s what’s going to catch a lot of people’s eye and open up Audulus to them. The Erica Pico Drums is one that immediately comes to mind. Just Audulus/ES-8/Pico Drum/maybe a filter… just whack it up with modulation/sequencing from Audulus. Rings is another good one.

I don’t know if you want to go down this route, but Audulus works amazingly with Eurorack video modules, specifically LZX Industries modules. These run on a -1/+1 modulation range but accept higher levels to accommodate Eurorack audio modules. The built in attenuators on the ES-8 module in Audulus are just perfect. I use Audulus A LOT to modulate video. I would be happy to make a video demonstrating it.

Other things I’d like to see touched on:

-The “infinite VCA” idea you mentioned earlier in this thread
-Using the inputs on ES-8 (admittedly I tend to only output from Audulus and haven’t explored the inputs)
-Instructional vs. Play videos (you’ve done this a bit already in the past. I think short, standalone play videos with minimal instruction/talking are really effective.)
-Using Audulus/ES-8 in conjunction with a more experimental system, not just sending v/Oct or modulating filters. Phonogene and two Noise Reap delays are the center of my system… Audulus allows me to do many different things within this framework.

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@robertsyrett - where is that little VPO module you posted?

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o2VPO.audulus (5.1 KB)

Boop

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3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Considering a Fully Portable Modular

I just made a nice module last night that helps you tune your VCOs more accurately using a spline. It’s actually pretty quick to use since I added some new features to it. My suspicion is that the ES-8 isn’t like a scientific-grade piece of equipment that exactly outputs a 1 to 1 representation of the voltage, and it needs some compensation to adjust. The Silent Way has a similar utility called the Voice Controller.

http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/silentway.html

I’ve observed it from just routing a patch cable out of the ES-8 and back in and measuring the voltage difference. I seem to remember @robertsyrett you having a similar issue. Anyway, I fixed it and now you can tune within your Audulus patch, create a “profile” for your oscillator (or even self-oscillating VCF that doesn’t have a VPO input), save that profile and use it to compensate when you’re driving it with sequences from Audulus.

I just need to make a better UI for it and I’ll be posting it today in a separate post.

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It would be nice if there was a process someone like me could go through in order to have everything calibrated and whatnot.

The first time I ever saw a eurorack module in person was when it came in the mail a few months ago. The only people who know I have a modular are the people on this forum.

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Your secret is safe with us :robot:

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same, and I’ve been using various modular systems for 8-9 years. never really needed to calibrate anything but I’ve always wondered how to do it, and what the results would yield.

if you’re looking for more modular info you could check out the muffwiggler forum (but as a disclaimer… stick to the main sections, there’s lots of BS in other parts of the forums. I spend less and less time there as time goes on. It does have a nice meetups/gatherings section though, you may be able to find something happening in your area.)

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My measurements are that the outputs are less than 0.5% off of perfect -10V to 10V scaling. This means that the intuitive math works just fine.

Inputs are not as spot on. I use the following formula ADC*α + c, where ADC is the channel input, α is the scalar (scaler?), and c is the constant offset.

You can calculate the c just by making an ADC node pointed at an ES-8 channel with nothing connected to it and taking the inverse. It is important there is no cable connected to the relevant input.


In the above example, the adc is steady at -.0015 while after that we hit the noise floor which is flusuating. So the c value is .0015.


The α is calculated by routing a value of 1 out the ES-8 through a DAC node and back into the ES-8 on the channel you were using and taking the reciprocal.

And by that point I am back to less than 1% error for incoming pitch CV.

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This is similar on mine - it’s probably more the oscillator, but if you don’t tune them, the oscillator I play in my system will diverge from an Audulus oscillator I’m mixing in.

With the (o+4)/10 have you just used your system’s oscillators or have you had a similar problem I’ve had?

The deviation in volts is small for me but it ends up making a big difference to the oscillator especially the higher up it goes.