Midweek Modular: Panda Particles, Facehuggers and Castor & Pollux II
4,9 / 5,0 | 
This week we run from the Facehugger, ponder the Panda’s Particles and gaze upon the constellation of Castor & Pollux II. And check out a dual filter for good measure.
We saw a couple of new modules from Intellijel this week. Flurry offers a centre for noise and utility, whereas Amps is a straightforward VCA designed for perfection. Read more about them here.
The big news is that Behringer has slashed prices on a lot of their synths and modular. There’s no better time to get into Eurorack via the great value of the Behringer Moog, Roland and ARP modular reproductions and the Eurorack Go case is now on a great deal. More information here.
Midweek Modular
Here are the bits and pieces of modular that caught my eye this week.
Patching Panda Particles
This looks really interesting. Four sliders that pull in patterns and possibilities to run percussion and rhythms within your rack. There are interesting terms such as Shifting and Absorbing knocking around that indicate how the patterns are manipulated. It’s designed to take an idea and then run with it without completely losing where it started.
I certainly like the fact it has mute buttons; I find those essential in performing with Eurorack. It makes Particles a very playable little module. The demo video doesn’t really dig into what’s going on, but I am fascinated to know more.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
- Patching Panda website.
Flight of Harmony Facehugger
The award for the best module name of the week undoubtedly goes to Flight of Harmony for Facehugger. Facehugger is an 8-channel voltage generator that’s designed to run sequentially but not necessarily in a linear fashion. It is able to generate sequences, trigger patterns arpeggios, envelopes and also LFOs. And, of course, it offers a lot of manipulation.
Facehugger is a Kickstarter project with an ambitious goal of £20k in the hope that it will enable further development past the prototype stage. I think it’s really interesting, and I’ve pledged to buy the kit version and would encourage you to do the same as there’s something brilliant in here.
Flight of Harmony has posted a bunch of short demos of different functions. None of them looks particularly impressive at this stage, but you’ve got to look at the potential of using it in a creative environment rather than on a test bench.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
Winterbloom Castor & Pollux II
A new version of the Castor and Pollux oscillator is coming in May. Castor & Pollux is a twin oscillator that offers some juicy interplay between waveforms for some fat, detuned and phasing sounds. I thoroughly enjoyed the original; it’s a great concept with a beautiful front panel.
My only criticism was the fiddliness of the knobs. In version 2, Winterbloom has redesigned the front panel to accommodate some larger knobs, which are enormously welcome. But it’s more than just a tactile change. Winterbloom has expanded and revamped the internal LFO so you can control it better. There’s an option for hard sync containing a quantised pitch function so it can play itself.
The individual waveform outputs have been bumped to a little expander module to give a bit more room for the knobs. Apparently, the expander is included with the module, which is great news.
Winterbloom Castor & Pollux II · Source: Winterbloom
- Winterbloom website.
Skull & Circuits VCF-4
Finally this week the VCF-4 is a dual multi-mode stereo or serial filtering filter with some unique technology. According to the website the switched capacitor design is not found in any other Eurorack modules. I’m not sure what it means, but it sounds like an impressive idea.
The two filters sit side-by-side and can be used completely independently or linked via a configuration switch. I like how you can move between high and low pass filtering, like on a Wasp filter, but also how you can mix in bandpass as well. It looks very versatile.
It’s undoubtedly sounding good in the demo video.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
- Skull & Circuits website.
This might also interest you
