In my quest to find a place in the NYC area to buy Modular synth modules I came across MeMe Antenna. It seems they recently started carrying an interesting collection in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Sometime next week I will head over there and check it out! They are located 218 Bedford Ave (Corner of N5 inside Mini Mall) Brooklyn, New York 11249.

“MeMe Antenna, annex of Concent Productions Inc. , is a gift & music store, located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. We carry vintage jewelry & furniture, idea stationary, vinyl record & CD, rare synthesizer, local brands merchandise, and more….” – memeantenna.com

For more info: memeantenna.com

I’ve started to plan a modular synthesizer. I really like the Monorocket cases and I’ve picked out some modules to start with: Doepfer A-190-3 Midi to CV interface, Doepfer A-155 Analog Sequencer, Doepfer A-198 Ribbon Controller, Livewire Audio Frequency Generator (AFG), Harvestman Hertz Donut digital oscillator, Doepfer a-118 Noise Module, Livewire FrequenSteiner Filter, Doepfer A-140 Envelope Generator (two of them), Doepfer a-147 LFO, Pittsburgh Modular Analog Delay and a Doepfer a-199 Spring Reverb.

I have some questions: Do I need to know anything about powering these? If I got the Monorocket M9B could I just plug the above in and expect it to work? Is there a shop or meet up in the NYC are where I can try out some modules? What about my choices above? For example I picked two Doepfer A-140 Envelope Generators because I have two Oscillators. I assume I need them otherwise the Oscillators will just drone on. I know there are a lot of other exciting modules out there but any recommendations are welcome.

“Combining the signals generated by multiple modules into a common audio output allows a potentially infinite number of configurations, leading to a potentially infinite number of sounds.” – Wikipedia

For more info: modularplanner.co.uk

Have you ever been watching modular synthesizer videos and wondered what the touch “keyboard” was you were seeing? It most likely was the Make Noise Pressure Points. A module like this makes you part of the CV circuit. Don’t you want one? $215 USD.

“Pressure Points is a controller in which 1 of 4 sets of 3 tuned voltages are selected by touching the corresponding printed copper wire at the bottom of the instrument (aka the Touchplate). Touching Pressure Points, you become part of the circuit, generating a gate signal (Gate OUT), a control signal proportional to the amount of pressure applied (Press OUT) and activating the corresponding Stage. The Tuned Voltages for the activated Stage appear at their respective OUTs along the right side of the module. In this way, Pressure Points is like an analog sequencer that is played by hand. 2 pots allow the circuit to be adjusted for desired playing response.” – makenoisemusic.com

For more info: makenoisemusic.com/pressurepoints.html

Nitzer Ebb’s early and wonderful EBM track Isn’t it Funny How Your Body Works? reproduced by a DIY modular system. So here’s my proposal to the builder Henrik Nydell… make me some original patterns and I’ll scream for you! Imagine taking that beast live?

“My DIY MFOS modular – the Modulator – playing Isn’t it funny how your body works by Nitzer Ebb. The 16-step sequencer’s gate outputs trigs two ADSRs for bass drum. Clock out is sent to slave 10-step sequencer and to two ARs controlling filter cutoff and VCA. 16 step seq CV out gets patched to both VCOs. The stereo auto panner is used during the last few seconds.” – hnydell

For more info: nydell.se/projects/modulator

Under Sea from David R Ryle on Vimeo.

I went scuba diving a few times in my life. The last time I went was in the Florida Keys. I happened to have a high fever but still decided to take the trip. We went out to sea much further than I expected and under the water our group went. The water was deep and then I came upon a ridge. The ridge was really an underwater cliff. I never saw anything so deep or frightening. I’m not sure if it was the fever or not but I’ll never forget that scene.

“A live modular recording. Three CGS01 Harmonic Sequencer modules from Catgirl Synth were used to generate melodies automatically. This generative piece reminded me of the virtually unlimited species of creatures under the sea.” – David R Ryle

For more info: bubblevision.com

Jason Duerr the Director of Engineering at the Aimtron Corporation contacted me. His company build circuit boards for many of the companies on display at this year’s Namm. He let me know about a modular synthesizer module he thought was full of fun stuff. His choice was the Lunar Experience 569 Quad Sequential Voltage Source. I’m very much of the opinion that if you create electronic music you should own at least one hardware sequencer. Lunar has a YouTube channel here: youtube.com/moonmodular. Do you guy agree? Anyone know of Lunar Experience and used their modules?

“This was a lot of fun to use: Switch up, note on, turn the knob for your CV. Switch middle, note off Switch down, now it’s the loop point for all the steps before it!” – Jason Duerr

For more info: lunar-experience.com

Check out this fantastic case for modular synthesizer modules from Tiptop Audio. It’s all aluminum, comes in black or silver and fits in the overhead luggage compartment in any airplane. $1100 with power supply.

Is there a better/cooler case than this one?

photo credit: gur_x

wimp whamp from Nick Ciontea on Vimeo.

Nick Ciontea is living in Chicago, IL. Here he happily performs a sequence using some very nice modules. I like how the rack is a little too high for him as he twists dials. That, the beard and the sound make this a good Saturday synth video.

“all modular, beat repeat and reverb in ableton, tip top oscillators, harvestman, tiptop, makenoise filters/lpg, rene and z8000 sequencers” – Nick Ciontea

photo credit: analoguehaven.com

I love early Soft Cell demo tapes. There was a CD compilation called Science Fiction Stories (Discogs link) that had a collection of these early Soft Cell treats. If you like that super analog, detuned, noisy madness than you will love the new Analogue Systems rs440 delay. Liquid Sky music fans would also get along with this unit too. If your still reading and get what I am talking about AND lust as I do for such sounding things then watch the above video and find $325. Got the cash? Here’s the link: bigcitymusic

“Analogue Systems has just released a brand new module, the rs440 BBD Analogue Delay. This is an awesome sounding delay, utilizing a Panasonic 3011 BBD chip. Analogue Systems has done a great job keeping the price down on this voltage controllable delay. There is some clock noise at longer delay times but the use of a low pass filter after can easily rid you of it. Actually, the clock noise is pretty fun. You can use it as an effect!” – bigcitymusic

For more info: www.analoguesystems.co.uk

Here’s a video preview of a new software modular synthesizer from Urs Heckmann called Bazille. He’s the Berliner known for the acclaimed Zebra and Filterscape plug-ins. Bazille definitely adds something new sonically to the software landscape. For an example, take a listen at 1:06 to the when he uses an Oscillator on the Filter Resonance. In case you were wondering Bazille is the German word for bacteria.

“This synth combines FM-Synthesis, Phase Distortion and subtractive in a rack-like appearance. Here are some early examples for unusual patches. Note that the sound quality here is really bad, but I guess you catch the drift. No fx used of course, just raw output of the synth.” – UrsHeckmann

A few more videos of Bazille are on the UrsHeckmann YouTube channel: click here

For more info: www.u-he.com