I’ve dipped my toe into Eurorack with some Behringer ARP 2500 modules that I’ve run through my Matriarch, hoping for Eliane Rodrigue, but coming up short. I recently missed out on Moog’s Black Friday pricing on Labyrinth, among others, so I now got a 4MS Ensemble Oscillator on order, which I think I can swap out one of the 2500 modules for. With all the potential combos I was wondering what Matriarch/GrandMother owners are finding success with.
The Eurorack modules I like to use with the Matriarch are The Intellijel Quad VCA, Tiptop Z4000 envelope, and Disting mk4. The Quad VCA handles some duties that the Moog VCAttenuverters are lacking, like adjustable CV amount and an easy way to set 0 modulation amounts. Also the mixer functionality is nice. The Z4000 has CV adjustable gate stages, which is cool, but also i like its envelope time adjustments better than the Moog’s, like more adjustable short decay settings and changeable attack slope. The Disting has dozens of fun things to try, but off the top of my head i like its MIDI clockable LFO and the delayed pulse generator (i think it is) that i’ve used to make a delayed vibrato or something like that. The filters and wavetable VCOs are cool too.
Interesting. Am I wrong to surmise that you suggest using a scalpel rather than an axe, perfecting inherent attributes rather than a wholesale change in course?
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I’ve been adding some modules that are complimentary to the Matriarch. I’m using Maths for all kinds of signal modification (especially for its LFO signal sculpting). I have a Mutable Instruments Clouds clone (Typhoon from Calsynth) for granular signal processing and waiting for a MI Rings clone, Rangoon from Calsynth, that specializes in bell-like timbres. I’m also waiting on Monitr from Bored Brains, a quad VCA with a combined output section to send line level audio the my mixer and headphones through 1/4” jacks and to do some of what ortho’s Intellijell does except in a dual VCA package. Not the flashiest module ever but will make my studio a little easier to navigate. The great side effect of putting together a eurorack system is how much more I understand about how the Matriarch works and all it can do.
MATHS and Clouds seem to turn up on a lot of rigs. (When I was living in Asheville, I dropped by Make Noise, but their walk-in was not near as interactive as the Moog Store on Lexington. Wish I had made more use of both, but glad I got out of town when I did. Poor Asheville. Like Shangri La being given Old Testament treatment.) Just got my 4MS today, and you’re right about new components revealing more of the Matriarch’s attributes.