SergeModular

Well, you really can’t compare the Doepfer to the Serge. Are they cheaper? Definately. Are they anywhere near the same quality as the Serge stuff, no way. All the Doepfer stuff I own is built as cheaply as possible and in *my opinion* complete crap. I’ll never buy another Doepfer product ever. You want to talk about service and support issues? Doepfer never finished the software for their Schaltwerk sequencer and other products as well. Those of us who shelled out the $1300 for the Schaltwerk are having to deal with the long list of problems (most notably MIDI sync) which never have been resolved. Sure Doepfer says they are working on it, I’ve been waiting something like 7 years now...

The jacks are crap, the knobs are crap, the pots are crap. Of course they are cheaper...

As far as the panels go...

Red Voice – Do you really need two NTO’s here? I find that I generally prefer the PCO over the NTO most of the time. If I really need square waves I have other ways of getting at them. I think you are going to feel cramped by having only 2 osc. While the DSG’s can serve as a stand in, their range is not sufficient to use as a real replacement. Hard choice as removing a NTO and replaceing it with 2 PCO’s means you are going to have to loose a module space in this setup. Maybe launch one of the filters and add a ring mod as well.

CV-2 – I think you are going to need a random source in this setup. I would suggest maybe something like this: RS, SSG, PRC, NCOM, DTG, ADSR, DSG, ADSR. If you don’t need the switches on the DTG, you can have them replaced with input jacks which gives you almost all the functionality of the DSG in 2 module spaces. Also, the NCOM is a must as is the RS.

Seq – I would agree with the dropping of the ASR. I have like three of them on my system and frankly I haven’t found them that useful. I’m sure I’m not using them to their fullest but there you go. If someone would like to share their favorite ASR tricks I’d appreciate it as I just stare at these things right now and resent their taking up 3 panel spaces! New thread? Please? You might want to consider replacing the clock with a DTG w/o the jack in mod as switches are more important when using the DTG as a clock. I don’t find the clock offers anything more than the DTG so you might get more functionality by going with the DTG here. A NCOM would be a good choice as well for the replacement of the ASR as well as the active processor. You probably wouldn’t need two but you should have one either here or on the cv-2.

Just my thoughts. Of course these things are so personal it is hard to give advise. The noise source is a good case in point. I always seem to need more S&H and noise than other people. That’s my style. So is needing more osc. Your needs will ultimately dictate what is the “optimum” configuration. There is no ultimate truth only what’s best for you. Rex is extremely helpful with this config stuff. Just keep in mind that if you are going to grow a system larger than 6-8 panles, that your panel choices need to be different as you will need for macro function blocks. These configs you are looking at I think are workable until the 8+ panel setup. Later.

I would get a Variable Slope Filter instead of the second VCFQ for the Red Voice panel. This will give you a little more variety.

Since someone asked about the random source versus the noise, I thought I’d patch something fun up to show some of the advantages of the RS over the Noise. Here’s what I did...

1. Patch up a clock to your favorite programmer and/or tkb. (I used both but it doesn’t matter)

2. Set them for one shot operation (Patch the last stage pulse out to hold. In the case of the TKB pick something in the middle since we will be going both directions. Or don’t... ;) )

3. Hook the TKB and/or programmer outputs up to the osc cv or whatever you plan to move around.

4. Use the random source’s pulse out to the reset of the programmer and random select on the TKB.

5. Send the random pulse to the trigger in on the random module.

6. Use the S&H out from the random to control the direction of the TKB

7. Send the smooth out of the random source to a filter cv control + (band pass is great here)

8. Send the smooth out of the random source to a filter cv control - (band pass is great here)

9. Blend and serve over ice...

If I didn’t forget anything the end result is that the random pulse chain will reset the sequencers to run once at random intervals the frequency (of when they run, not the steps but you could do this if you use the random pulse as your clock.) of which will be determined by the random rate. At the same time it pulses the trigger for the S&H which is used to select a random direction for the sequence. It also selects a random starting point. The smooth outs drift along in a related manner and sweep a couple of filters counter to each other. *Tons* of animation at the output which while random, is all interrelated timing wise (in a random way ;) ). Nice. Definitely reason in my book for a nice random module. I might need another one of these on my next panel. Random pulse trains are *really* useful. Especially since the Serge provides so many ways to interact with pulse logic. Combined with the BLOG module some really nice complex random but regular event stuff is easily attainable. I use it for randomy patches that managed to stay reeled in enough to sound organic without sounding like competing white noise.