Mattson Mini Modular VCO
Thursday, September 20, 2007
52 comments:
To reduce spam, comments for posts older than one week are not displayed until approved, usually same day. Do not insult people. For items for sale, do not ask if it is still available. Check the auction link and search for the item. Auctions are from various sellers and expire over time. Posts remain for the pics and historical purposes. This site is meant to be a daily snapshot of some of what was out there in the world of synths.
PREVIOUS PAGE
NEXT PAGE
HOME
© Matrixsynth - All posts are presented here for informative, historical and educative purposes as applicable within fair use.
MATRIXSYNTH is supported by affiliate links that use cookies to track clickthroughs and sales. See the privacy policy for details.
MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH
© Matrixsynth - All posts are presented here for informative, historical and educative purposes as applicable within fair use.
MATRIXSYNTH is supported by affiliate links that use cookies to track clickthroughs and sales. See the privacy policy for details.
MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
meh
ReplyDelete"meh"
ReplyDeletefuck off tosser.
George - what is the range of this oscillator. I know you mentioned you won't guarantee it to track 5 octaves, but I personally don't see that as a problem.
I think Mr. Meh is secretly very interested in this. He sure gets his replies up fast. I picture him sitting around hitting F5 every few seconds and thinking "oh please let the next module be up. I just have to see it!"
ReplyDeleteIn my mind you're a guy. If you're really a girl, I'm sorry I called you "Mr."
No sync or PWM? Meh indeed.
ReplyDeleteAnd we now have mister sync in addition to mr meh. "what? pink noise without sync, that sucks. What, a buffer with no sync, meh" You guys need to get a life. George is doing a great thing here.
ReplyDeleteLin KB CV in? Hmmm. No 1/v per octave in? Interesting...
ReplyDelete"I think Mr. Meh is secretly very interested in this. He sure gets his replies up fast. I picture him sitting around hitting F5 every few seconds and thinking "oh please let the next module be up. I just have to see it!""
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'm inclined to agree. I picture some acne covered 14 year old dungeons and dragons type geek sitting in his mothers basement hitting F5 all day long just waiting so he can post his next retarded "meh" comment.
The Lin KB CV in is the 1v/octave in.
ReplyDeleteor some acne covered 20-30 something loser sitting in mothers cellar! LOL
ReplyDelete"The Lin KB CV in is the 1v/octave in."
ReplyDelete...and the expo out is converted for keytrack of the filter or other destinations? Yes? No?
I think it's more likely Mr. Meh is in his 40's sitting in front of a giant DotCom system.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the Octave Switches for the individual waveforms is unique!
The people complaining about the shortcomings of these modules do bring up an interesting issue.
ReplyDeleteAt some point when you sacrifice features like PWM, sync, and other VC parameters you may be better off with a fixed architecture synth (mono or poly) with a good modulation matrix, or 'upgrading' to one of the other modular formats. What's the point of a modular with limited modulations?
"I can teach you how to do things with analog that you never dreamed you could do."
ReplyDeleteOh synth-god please teach us how to do Osc Sync, Linear FM, and PWM.
Peter Granader...why haven't the EVIL TWIN BANDPASS FILTERS arrived at Analoguehaven yet??!?!?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteCatastrophic failure of the exxxtreme highest order!
To me, Lin CV in implies V/Hz, not V/Oct. It may just be some quirky nomenclature, though.
ReplyDeleteThe octave stuff on the various outputs is really cool.
And while I don't understand the "meh" commenting philosophy, I too would miss sync, Lin FM, and PWM.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/8753/
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing the mod is for PW. For $105 this is a pretty cool vco.
ReplyDeleteRemember, these are the phoenix series - clones of the syntar designs. Who's to say there won't be other series.
ReplyDeleteFor linear FM...use the mixer.
ReplyDelete"I think it's more likely Mr. Meh is in his 40's sitting in front of a giant DotCom system."
ReplyDeleteI doubt it, Mr. Meh doesn't seem to know much about synthesis. Unless he just bought the giant dotcom system because it looked pretty.
Saturday...in the park....I think it was the 4th of July....
ReplyDelete> Anyway, the Octave Switches for the individual waveforms is unique!
ReplyDeleteYes and no. The master octave switch affects all waveforms, not just the tri. The square octave is a plain/suboct/subsuboct selector, not all that unusual. The +1/0 saw octave, now that is unique!
Maybe the non-sub square could be brought out on its own jack.
Is "Mod" linear or expo?
While everyone is still chewing on each other back at the double LFO I'll post a comment.
ReplyDeleteI really like the panel concept where you punched all the holes so you can add components wherever you like. It's got to help with assembling the modules.
You said you printed the front portion of the panels?
I think the ones pointing out all the shortcomings are a lot more knowledgeable than all the fan-boy sheep.
ReplyDeletei just wanted to chime in and say i'm glad to see Mattson get this thing going. it looks like a fun collection.
ReplyDeleteAbout PWM and waveshaping...
ReplyDeleteRemember the other modules and what makes this one unique... the module has various shape outputs with different octaves. With a VCA and Mixer you will be able to somewhat simulate PWM by adding or removing harmonic content.
I like this oscillator. I wish I could buy a bunch for $105 each.
"I think the ones pointing out all the shortcomings are a lot more knowledgeable than all the fan-boy sheep."
ReplyDeleteYeah, like the guy that wanted to know how many seconds the s/h could handle?
They don't have some of the functionality of Brand-X modular but they have some functionality that Brand-X dosen't have.
Like it or lump it, don't complain.
There are other choices out there and there are still some unique things about this system still unrevealed.
>>"I think it's more likely Mr. Meh is in his 40's sitting in front of
ReplyDelete>>a giant DotCom system."
>
>I doubt it, Mr. Meh doesn't seem to know
>much about synthesis. Unless he just
>bought the giant dotcom system because
>it looked pretty.
You guys know that Mr. Meh is Elhardt, right? :)
Who is Elhardt?
ReplyDeletemeh
ReplyDeleteWhere does this elhardt fella live? Maybe we should just go over there and deliver a little rough justice. lol
ReplyDeleteOnce again, it seems to all hinge on price. At $105 this VCO is probably a good deal. I have no doubt that a nice little system can be put together economically with these MMModules.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it isn't for everybody, and I'm sure wasn't intended to be. The Doepfer 110 is a little less than twice as much at AnalogHaven ($199). Is it twice the oscillator? If you need a sine, sync or PWM, the Doepfer, for a difference of 94 dollars, is probably is. Do you want Linear FM and a triangle core, the Plan-B 15 is $289 at AH. You want an integrated circuit solution? The Doepfer 111 is $349. This list of VCOs is not meant as as a dig at MMM at all. I'm just trying to point out there are a lot of different choices at different price points. It's a good time to be into modular synthesis.
As a footnote, one thing that I find amusing is that the same Britney Spears, er... I mean anonymous posters, that are dissing this system for being too cheap and feature poor, are probably the same ones that diss the Buchla as too expensive. All hail the middle of the road!
Put me down for 8000 ish oscililators to use up my arts council grant.
ReplyDeletewe want a filter!
ReplyDeletewhether it be 4 pole, svf or whatever, just bring it on...
regarding pwm and sine - the old paia series stuff have a separate module for pwm and sine - the same could be done here.
btw, i have no problem with Elhardt. he's a guy with an occasional opinion and is way more verbose than mr. meh.b
ReplyDeleteWho the F is Eldhardt? Nobody has said yet. Is he just some guy that occasionally comments on matrixsynth or is he actually someone relevant to the synth community?
ReplyDeleteHats off to George Mattson. Really.
ReplyDeleteI've been in [modular] synthesis since the late seventies, and I've rarely seen such genius at work (in this field)... The MMM simply is a brilliant idea and concept - obviously there's a lot of thought gone into this, as well as craftsmanship and knowledge.
The idea of assembling a modular synth with basic building blocks for a very reasonable price is very compelling indeed. Whatever isn't built-in that system, can easily be obtained from other sources. If I really would need VCO sync (I don't - I rather use audio modulation) or PWM, I'd buy such a module from another vendor and hook it up to the MMM. Simple. Efficient. Cheap.
It seems to me that George Mattson's philosophy about synthesis adheres to the "less is more, simple is better" adagio. I couldn't agree more... I'd rather have a few good but basic oscillators, a few mixers, vca's and buffers than a fully fledged I-want-to-be-everything VCO which costs almosts as much as my entire MMM system. Furthermore a relatively basic system [like this] kinda forces the user to be more inventive and innovative, which, imho, is better for creativity than all those preset-ty things... Synthi A anyone ?
Can't wait to see the rest of the modules.
That said... meh, and $20.
Hehe you fanboys crack me up. I could come out with a resistor in a module and you guys would praise it.
ReplyDeleteFor dog's sake, peeps, the Elhardt comment was a joke/troll.
ReplyDelete"[Is] he actually someone relevant to the synth community?"
Yes, in fact, he is relevant. Aside from allegedly creating the Bahn Sage hoax, he may be the best imitative synthesist on the planet. The guy can make some seriously convincing imitations of real instruments. Like, wow!
OTOH, he is not much of a diplomat, often finding himself in heated debates. But he sure knows his synthesizers.
> I could come out with a resistor in a module and you guys would praise it.
ReplyDeleteOooh! What format you thinking, and what tolerance?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePeter Granader...why haven't the EVIL TWIN BANDPASS FILTERS arrived at Analoguehaven yet??!?!?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteCatastrophic failure of the exxxtreme highest order!
Better question: Why haven't the Vactrols which were due into Allied Electronics form Perkin-Elmer on September 5th arrived yet?????
Sorry guys - still no vacs. I've got 15 of them here built, enough vactrols for only three. Can't ship only three to dealers. They told the balance would be in my hands with week, for the second week in a row now I've got this info -- it's Thursday and they've not arrived.
- P
I feel your pain with Allied, pricey bastards.
ReplyDeleteso...the syntar had a multimode filter and a ring mod.
ReplyDeletehaven't heard George say anything about a ring mod.
George???
Good question. With ring mod you could do some chorusing type sounds. A 1-osc synth cuold use something like that.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't seen the VCA. Maybe it can do ring mod.
The VCA was posted a couple days ago. Mr. Mattson explained the amplitude/ring mod input
ReplyDeleteDoh!
ReplyDeleteThis is what George wrote:
ReplyDelete> The modulation input on the VCA starts out as amplitude modulation and morphs into ring modulation as the control is turned clockwise. Just like the Syntar
More info on this AM/RM business would be nice. In due time, naturally. :)
ok, i withdraw the ringmod. bring on the filter
ReplyDelete...bangs knife and fork on the table...
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain with Allied, pricey bastards.
yeah... and there's four of the f'ing things in each filter. We're talking a lot of pain here.
But ALlied is uniqe in that you can counteroffer their staed price and many times they'll go for it or worst case bump you up to the next quantity break
"I think it's more likely Mr. Meh is in his 40's sitting in front of
ReplyDeletea giant DotCom system."
I thought Mitchell was in his early 50s.
hi
ReplyDeleteit would be good to make the cabs to host the mini modular in perspex with leds mmmm ?? or what would you want ,interlocking bricks like lego ?? , i guess wood is old hat but could look good , think funky and let me know , if you can think it we can do it , funky ball suspended from the celling ?? ok but interesting ,
jeff
www.customsynth.co.uk