After years of exploring the modular with weekly jams and experiments on my music channel (called ‘Monotrail’), I decided to start this channel dedicated to modular tutorials. My years of experience as a freelance graphic designer help to visualize and animate complex modular mechanics and concepts in a clear way. All my videos are deep-dives into modular concepts or modules with lots of patch-ideas and easy to follow flow charts. All in all, the perfect channel to get started with modular, or improve your patching skills!
Monotrail channel with only music content: kzread.info
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Love the double ONA's! What was the thought process behind two of them, do you just like their sound? Somewhat of a lesser known module but great little oscillator I love mine.
Hi there! I like them a lot. Think they are excellent oscillators for a competitive price. I wanted this setup to feel and patch a bit more 'classic' so like the same oscillators. It's very easy to tune, patch, and sound like a solid oscillator block. Might want a third :)
I like this. I had and idea to put together a patch programmable gate sequencer.
Hey, nice. Glad you like it!
I often watch your videos at least twice to complete the list of items I need to buy ;-) Great ideas again, thank you Sir.
Haha, thanks for that ;) And glad you like it!
Does this not track V/Oct?
Hello there and friendly greetings! Great tutorial! Also, for some reasons, this video made me ponder about one of my biggest limit in patching and exploring: I am almost "scared to dare" because something in my brain is wired (pun intended 😄) with some boundaries because of which I often find it difficult to think outside the box (and use, for example, an ADSR to modulate a low-pass filter). The fun part is that once I dare to move away from the "beaten tracks" I discover literally new worlds, like in a fractal musical prysm. Maybe that could be caused by the fact that so far I am only using softwares to build my patches and the software I use got thousands (literally. I'm not even kidding) free modules that emulate nearly every hardware modules around. Too many possibilities lead me to some sort of creative empasse and watching your videos every time remind me how, maybe, it's not really the gear that makes the composition "right", it's how you use it and the stories you can create with it (yes, that video also is seminal for me!). And sorry for yet another textwall! Have a great weekend! 👍
Hi there! Thanks for sharing :) Happy to hear you get some value out of these videos. And for sure think it's worth it to dive deep with a limited set of options/gear, and see how far you can push it. I do think a lot of creativity and good sounds come from understanding what's possible with restrictions, rather than having all the options. Cheers!
Your channel is a goldmine! I never would have thought about these possibilities. Thanks for the inspiration 👍👍
Glad you like it! Happy to make these as long as people are happy with them :) Cheers!
Sick! I feel so silly that I didn't realize before how complex sequences can be realized without a sequencer... 🤦 I may ditch my sequencer soon to make room for additional switches and mixers!
Glad to shine some light on the subject :) But take a second before you ditch the sequencer! ;)
the waveshaper trick is absolutely jawdropping 😮
Still one of my favorites. I try it with every delay :)
Thanks 4 the inspiration, cool, I swapped the mixer for a matrix mixer, so jou have a lot of voltage sources, I klokt it all with Pamela, peace
Nice, enjoy the explorations!
This is real talk the best YT channel on modular. Thanks so much much for the work you put in to these videos 🙏🏼
Glad you enjoy it! And thanks for letting me know, these kind of comments make it worth it! Cheers :)
Excellent video! I especially like your pacing and how you leave the overlays up long enough to actually read them! It's worth noting that if you have a Subharmonicon, you can do a lot of what's presented here with a couple of utility modules added.
Glad you enjoyed it! And the Subharmonicon is for sure a lot of fun! Already on it's own, but with some tools even more :) Cheers!
Happy to see people talking about modular sequencing!
Glad you like it! :)
A lot of super cool tips and tricks! Thank you so much!
You're very welcome :) Cheers!
Doepfer A-151 is a gem of a module. I just got A-134-2 as well. Gotta try these techniques more in depht with my 4ms RCD. Thanks for the inspiring video!
Very true! The switch is still on my list to make a full video about one day. And the crossfader is really fun to, made a video about that one a while ago :) Cheers!
Yeah, I have seen that video many times. Taught me the importance of utilities. I would love to see a full video about the mighty A-151!
Great video man! I like your voice, very calming.
Hey, that's nice to hear. Thanks for watching! :)
If you have a quad offset generator and a bidirectional switch such as the Doepfer, you can save the mixer in most of these patches and put the 4 offsets into the 4 switch inputs and patch the switch output directly to the quantizer. I use the intellijel quadratt and the Doepfer sequential switch for this. The quadratt sends out offset voltages when unpatched, but single steps can also easily be patched with other sources like sample and hold or LFOs to override the offset and add variation as you described in the video.
Hey, awesome! That's an idea that would have been worth mentioning indeed :) A lot of these offset modules like Quadratt are mixers as well, so you can use them both ways, but it opens up some new patching ideas. Cheers!
I like to use a 4 step shift register as an intermediate module. So a slow clock division pushes new notes to the shift register. Then a much faster division clocking a sequential switch that switches between the four outputs of the shift register. That way you get a repeating pattern that updates every N repeats, there is always continuity because each time the ASR updates, you get one new note, lose a note, but the other three remain, just in a different order. You can still do all the other fun stuff like modulating clock rates, switching between sources etc. I like feeding it with random sources, or from a pre-programmed pool of notes in a sequencer...
Nice, thanks for sharing! The shift register is a really nice tool. I'm having a lot of fun with the step-8 to create melodies with it's tricks. Very worth exploring for sure. Cheers!
This is great. I use these concepts but haven't pushed them as far as what you've demoed. I just discovered that a S/H signal can be used to control morph position on the Joranalogue Morph 4, turning it into a four step sequencer with tons of variation from level and position. Try it out. Pretty sure you'll like it a lot :)
Glad to hear it! And that's a great idea, love the morph 4, really unique device :) Cheers!
Nice!!!
Thank you! Cheers!
Great tips and tricks again. Great stuff! 😎
Thanks for watching! :)
Great video. Letting the box run itself.
Thanks, glad you like it! :)
Great! 👍
Thank you! Cheers!
If you like analog delays, make sure you try Xaoc Sarajewo, clock sync, hi and low feedbacks and is capable to make really long delays (for BBD). Anyway I like to use slew limiters to create sequences/complex arps, for example I patch like 4 step sequence to slew limiter. Then changing slew amount and slew type from linear to exponential to get variations.
Oh, yeah, the Sarajewo is lovely. Really like the Xaoc stuff in general :) Slew is a great way to add subtle variations to the sequence indeed! Cheers :)
Great stuff. Simple yet deep. Appreciate the super clear breakdown. Goons have to get patching…
Haha. Glad you like it, and thanks for watching! :)
Yes yes yes more like this
Nice, glad you like it! Cheers :)
Great ideas, and I want to wrap my head around them. Do you have this rack on modular grid? It’d be great to look at what’s there, coz it’s impressive to me to see/hear how you get such great patches out of what you have.
Glad you like it! And yes, you can find the modular grid of my setups here: modulargrid.net/e/racks/command_center/46250
@@MonotrailTechTalk cheers. Just signed up on your Patron!
Awesome vid. My favorite way of cooking up sequences.
Glad you enjoyed it! And let me know if I missed your favorite trick ;) Cheers!
@@MonotrailTechTalk Hi! One of my favorite things to do is to send various slow voltages to the Doepfer A-156 transpose input, most often using two of these quantizers. So, for instance, after setting up a random melody on each quantizer, I'll send pitch CV from two different sequencers, each to its own transpose input. If the sequences are slow enough, I can dial in nice changes that are harmonically pleasing. If I use, say, the two sequencer outputs from a Subharmonicon, it is easy to dial in pleasing complex transpositions that weave in and out, yet are still rhythmically and harmonically related. Sometimes, I'll instead feed one of the quentizers with two different cyclical wave forms free-running at different rates, then alternate between the two with a VC switch of some kind or a cross fader, or a manual switch for performance control. Or, I might opt to do that with both quantizers. Or, instead of sending pitch CV from sequencers, I'll send any number of processed voltages to the transpose inputs.
Excellent! A lot of neat ideas! I typically (basically) go Gates>Mixer>Polarizer/Offset>Quantizer. Regarding "skipped" gate input resulting in the base note: You can go: Duplicate of Gate Pattern>Envelope>Post-voice VCA. Then rather than constant rhythm you get rests in the output where the base notes would otherwise sound. Also handy if you want more than one voice sounding different portions of the same sequence.
Hey, nice! The polarizer is a great addition for sure, I thought of adding that too :) And adding rests is a great tip as well, didn't think of that. Enjoy!
For a quick generative sequencer, I like using a combo of shift register + XOR + DAC/R2R ladder (but you could easily use a mixer for that last bit). It's a relatively inexpensive solution, won't take up much space and you can patch all sorts of things with it, from turing machines to runglers and even noise. You can: adjust the length of the sequence by choosing the taps from the shift register; use them as a random gate generator; slew the output for a smooth modulation source and more. There are modules that offer that all in one package, like Ritual Electronics Amnis, Nonlinearcircuits Stochaos etc.
Nice, thanks for sharing! For sure a nice combo. And there are indeed some modules that combine functions in an easy to use way. But there is quite some fun in building these things with the 'bare' components. All the best!
More than sound design, ambient or other typical modular pursuits, complex sequencing has always been what I found most interesting about having access to CV
Nice! Let me know if you discovered fun tricks I didn't mention :)
Pretty awesome video, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it! Cheers :)
Hello everyone! I got some questions about a quick custom sequencer setup on my basic system, so thought I'd dive a bit deeper and tell the full story in a patch-packed video :) Cheers!
If anyone is on the fence about this one, get it. It sounds incredible and is so easy to get great sounds from even without a lot of modulation. But if you do have a Batumi or Zadar it really comes alive. One of my favorite analog oscillators, it’s exceeded my expectations.
Nice
Fantastic demonstration. Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it! Cheers :)
Amazing video dude, just picked this up the other day and has helped me tremendously, just wanna say I really appreciate all your videos, they have helped me so much on my modular journey, I would say you make the best tutorial videos out of anyone
Hey, thanks for letting me know! I really enjoy making these, mostly because people share things like you just did. That makes it worth the time and effort. Enjoy the module, this one still has a very solid place in my case, and use it all the time!
@@MonotrailTechTalk oh yeah absolutely incredible job on the 507 you did with Addac, such an awesome module man, it's bringing so much life into my system, cant say enough good things about it
A stupid question: at 13:27 what signals is the sequential switch exactly switching? if its only the clock isnt it just acting as a clock divider? i dont get this. please eloborate me, i want to learn what is going on there, the rest of the patch(es) is logical for me and easy understandable.
Not a stupid question, I made a stupid mistake! Forgot to show you need to send a constant high offset voltage to the input of the switch. Then that high steady voltage will be cycled through the outputs of the switch, and used to mix a sequence. I almost finished my video on custom sequencing, so will do a better job next week. Sorry for the confusion :)
@@MonotrailTechTalk Danke fürs antworten! Ich lerne bei dir wirklich sehr viel bzw kriege Ideen, um eigene zu erweitern. Top Videos und bitte weiter so! Zurück zum Thema meiner Frage: But isnt it then the case, that always just the same offset voltage gets to the mixer so that the switch doesnt do anything? Or do you mean in the inputs of the switch are different offset voltages and it cycles trough them, always at the moment when it gets the clocksignal?
Gerne! And that's correct. The switch distributes the same high voltage. But that's where the mixer comes in. If you feed the (for example 4) outputs of a switch to a 4 input mixer, you can use the channel input level controls of the mixer to attenuate the voltage coming in at each step. Then, when the high voltage cycles through the inputs of the mixer with different level controls for each input, you create a 4 step sequence.
@@MonotrailTechTalk Ah i now get it. Thanks a lot! Dir ein schönes Wochenende und fleissiges patchen! :-)
I wish this video existed when I got into modular in 2018 lol. Would have saved me a lot of inept flailing.
Glad you like it! And wish I started earlier as well, it's so much fun! But took till covid for me to go for it :) All the best!
just got mine today! can't wait to play with it
Awesome! Thanks for the support, and enjoy the module! :)
Very nice, but the flow charts are not standardized as to signal, control and logic.
Hehe, had no idea that you're Dutch speaking.
Glad to hear I don't have a horrible Dutch accent ;) Thanks for watching!
It’s on back order at Perfect Circuit for now but I look forward to getting my hands on one.
Hey, thanks for ordering! Sorry you have to wait, but it means they sold out again, that's always good :) Hope you'll enjoy the module!
Niiiice
Thank you!!! :)
Very cool. Love the diagrams. You’re one of the best modular educators on KZread. I wish more people used diagrams.
Glad you like them! Happy to make these as long as people leave comments like these :) Cheers!
I have browsed so much of the eurorack space on KZread, and it's hard to find a channel that will dive into technical explanations complex patching techniques as opposed to showing off more and more gear that a newbie like me feels like they need due to lacking knowledge on how to make patches with the stuff they already have. Thank you so much for these videos and those clean diagrams you show in them.
Hey, thanks for your thoughts! That's exactly the reason I started making these videos. Have to admit along the way I got tempted to work with some new and fancy stuff, but this year I am back on my old goals, making more content without any of the newest and latest. I feel that is an endless stream! Enjoy your journey, and thanks for watching!
The world of audio is magic
Truly is! All the best :)
Another fantastic video 👏 Best instructive videos on modular out there. Keep up the good work ❤
Much appreciated! Glad you like it, and will keep up for sure! Lot's of plans to come :) Cheers!
You always give so much to work on in a video, thank you for keeping us off the streets at night ;-)
Haha, glad to hear you get some things to do :) But no need to try out everything!
@@MonotrailTechTalk No that would take me way more time than you already put into these videos, for which I thank you a lot by the way.
Thanks for this very interesting video ! I have Batumi & Zadar. I think these two modules are the bests lfo’s and envelopes (in 10te size of course..). Your exemples are simple to do at home, even for novices (who can understood differents behaviours when you trigger a VCO, a filter etc..)… Good job my friend ! 10/10
Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear it's appreciated :)
Your work is unbelievable talented! Really good work.
Wow, thanks! Glad to hear you like my output :) Cheers!
@@MonotrailTechTalk those sounds are something i vould listen for hours ♥️