Starter Kits | Episodes 03 - 05

Starter Kits | Episode 03 | Production Value
video by Cinematic Laboratory

"In this episode I'll give Plaits a final run, teaming up with Frames, Blades and Beads. I wanted to try and create a full track using Beatstep Pro & Ableton Live with Plaits as the only oscillator (and Beads for some effects). It's a weird futuristic track, but hey, it must sound 'minimal modular'. Uploaded earlier today, but I wanted to take out some things I am not sure about yet."

Starter Kits | Episode 04 | Bloom, Pico System III, Desmodus Versio

video by Cinematic Laboratory

"After three episode of Plaits it's time to go analog with the 'westcoast' inspired Erica Synths Pico System III, Qu-Bit Bloom sequencer and the insane Desmodus Versio reverb. The workflow is completely different and you'll have to make your sounds from scratch. It sounds completely different too! Technically, it's three modules, but Pico System III has 13 'pico' modules stacked away under one faceplate. So it's definitely a mini-modular with huge potential, but you have to discover it yourself!"

Starter Kits | Episode 05 | VPME Quad Drums & friends
video by Cinematic Laboratory

"In this episode I've joined Pamela's new workout and Mimetic Digitalis with the 'canned fun' Quad Drums module from VPME. If you have to start small, this is a great module to get totally eurorack addicted. I also makes it very easy to explain why modular synths are so cool.

There's a snippet of WMD Metron in the video to explain the difference between Pam's clock magic and a full rhythm sequencer. If making beats is your true love, then Metron will help you to build your ultimate modular drum machine patterns."

All episodes here

Starter Kits | Episode 06 | First Harvest

video by Cinematic Laboratory

"You could do a show with just Arbhar and a few found sounds like pots, bowls and pans. If you're into granular synthesis and your PC/Mac is grinding to a halt, you may consider to take a modular path. Best known granular modules are obviously the Clouds family and clones, but - in my humble opinion - the Instruo Arbhar is in another league. It's a great starter module for exploring modular synthesis. You may get great results with no effort (except reading the manual and learning how to operate the many things it can do). I've been 'harvesting' all kinds of stuff in a dedicated series (I'll add this one to the playlist), but this episode keeps things simple."

Starter Kits by Cinematic Laboratory

After Later Benjolin V2 on the left.

MidCoast | VPME Quad Drums in the Shared System

video by Cinematic Laboratory

"After making Starter Kits Episode 5 with the Quad Drums I wanted to do a jam with QD and the Shared System. I had no plans recording it, just jamming. But it went really well (you never know upfront) so I decided to film and share it. There are hardly any patch notes, because you start anywhere and suddenly come up with something cool. But it's basically gate patterns from Rene and one simple melodic element from Rene's X channel. Star of the patch is obviously the Quad Drums, but Mimeophon is awesome as always. Don't forget to experiment with that 'hold' button!"

Cinematic Laboratory Shared System posts

Starter Kits | Episode 09 | Getting somewhere with Noise Engineering

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"I know this isn't really a starterkit episode, it's more 'get as many modules from one brand as possible'. But a starter kit needs to go somewhere. If you love techno, grime, drum & bass, industrial or dark ambient, Noise Engineering offers a lot of modules that can make you happy. But when you're about to make your first picks, make sure your voice (iteritas module) has a trigger input, otherwise you'd need an extra VCA and envelope. In my humble opinion, the Basimilus and the big Percido's are the best starter oscillators in the portfolio. Desmodus can handle your FX and Mimetic Digitalis is a great starter sequencer. NE also provides a small gate sequencer (the Bin Seq) to drive it."

Starter Kits | Episode 02 | The ModularGrid top 5 vs. a system.

video by Cinematic Laboratory

"In this episode I extended my Top 3 combo with Disting Mk4 and Pamela's new Workout, upgrading it to a top 5. Needless to say this is an insanely powerful combo, but it also gets complicated very quickly. As a starter, you should always focus on the result - the music you like to make. So i ended up with a great 'starter kit 02' combo, a small Mutable Instruments 'system' with Marbles, Plaits, Stages, Ripples and Clouds. Costwise, it adds up pretty close to the Top 5 configuration, but it's much easier to get cool sounds and music out of it."

Starter Kits | Episode 11 | Pizza, PolyEnd Preset, Maths, Lapsus Os, Delta-V, Marbles, Beads

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"It's always fun to make a Starter Kit video, trying new combinations and hopefully discovering new things. And they don't always require new modules. Which is good, because my collection is becoming very hard to manage. My last video was about Bastl Pizza, and this one could be a Part 02 if you're interested in a deeper dive. In Part 01 I did not know Pizza also features a built in VCA, so this video covers that too!
I am also appreciating Beads a lot more since I stopped seeing it as a Clouds 2. It's a very cool module to have in your starter case, and an amazing voice on its own. I am also going to 'abuse' Lapsus Os, the performance controller from Noise Engineering. It can also be a great 'mixer' for feedback patching. After all, there's no difference between control voltage and audio in Eurorack and you'll be entering a dark parallel universe before you know it. I hope you'll enjoy."

Eurorack Starter Kits | Episode 01 | Greatness in Small Steps

video by Cinematic Laboratory

"I think it's time to offer some help to people who are thinking about eurorack but don't know where to start. Well, there's a 'no brainer starterkit' containing the top 3 of most 'racked' modules in modulargrid, which also happens to be an insanely powerful combo: Maths, Plaits & Clouds (clone). In this episode I'll just use the three modules with no help from external stuff. In the next episodes I'll add some more 'no brainers' from the top 10 and explore other cool, small and relatively affordable kits. I hope this helps you find your way!"