Tag: modular

Review: Endorphin.es Grand Terminal Eurorack Module

 It takes only a glance at their website or any one of their products to realize that Endorphin.es has a distinct and unique sense of style. The panels of their modules are a striking golden yellow, with red, blue, and black knobs. They call themselves Endorphin.es Airways and list their company on Facebook as a cargo and freight company with the tagline “life is a trip”. The Grand Terminal fully embraces the retro airline aesthetic and even opts to label its features with thematic terminology. Endorphin.es was kind enough to lend me not only their Grand Terminal, but their Furthrrrr Generator and Shuttle Control as well. Therefore, this will be the first of a three part travelogue. So buckle your seatbelts ladies and gentlemen, we’re about to take off with Endorphin.es Airways.

Continue reading “Review: Endorphin.es Grand Terminal Eurorack Module” →

Review: GMSN (Glasgow Make Some Noise) Pure Modular Synth

This month I had a special treat. Instead of being sent a module to review, I was sent an entire system! Glasgow Make Some Noise was kind enough to loan me one of their Pure Modular synths to check out. The Pure Modular is an 84 HP Eurorack synthesizer in a rugged, wooden, lidded case. From left to right, it’s made up of an LFO, Noise Generator, Sequencer, Quantiser, two Oscillators, a Low Pass Filter, Envelope Generator, and VCA. This provides everything you need to get started putting together a wide range of sounds, but it also plays nicely with any other modular gear that you might have. Continue reading “Review: GMSN (Glasgow Make Some Noise) Pure Modular Synth” →

Review: Intellijel JellySquasher Analog Compressor & Tone Shaper Eurorack Module

I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly interested in this module when it first came out. I suppose this is partially because I have grown used to getting my compression from software plug-ins rather than hardware. There’s some great analog emulations out there, and software has a level of precision that is hard to beat. At least that’s how I felt until Danjel gave me a demonstration of an Acidlab Miami running through the Springverb into the Jellysquasher. He was able to quickly dial in this gritty, breathing, monstrous, dub techno tone from a simple drum groove and I was blown away. Toms transformed into growling synth swells. After that abrupt about-face of opinion I was eager to get my hands on one. Continue reading “Review: Intellijel JellySquasher Analog Compressor & Tone Shaper Eurorack Module” →

Synthesis Essentials: All About Oscillators

Oscillators. The raw sound source that spawns the diverse range of tones and timbres spewed by all synthesizers. They come in different shapes and can be produced by a variety of techniques to make your imagination audible. If you consider the fact that all of the sounds we hear are vibrations in air, oscillators are creating synthetic vibrations that become sound once connected to a speaker. Instead of moving back and forth like a guitar string, the oscillator cycles between positive and negative voltages. Continue reading “Synthesis Essentials: All About Oscillators” →

Review: Soulsby Synthesizers Oscitron

The Oscitron from Soulsby Synthesizers is a lot of things. It’s their first Eurorack synthesizer product. It’s an 8-bit digital oscillator with wavetable sampling, selectable audio engine resolution, multiple filter types, scale quantization, portamento, bit reduction and preset memory. Amazingly, they managed to squeeze all this functionality into just 14HP. This is achieved through the clever use of two knobs that also function as buttons. Continue reading “Review: Soulsby Synthesizers Oscitron” →