Midweek Modular: Speakers, LFOs, Mini Pings and Singularities
3,8 / 5,0 | 
While filling our rack with Eurorack Sound System speakers, we play with some LFOs, and some adorable pingy envelopes and get sucked into a Midweek Modular Singularity.
This week saw the release of Andrew Huang’s Ghost module. It’s a collaboration with Endorphin.es and looks complex and versatile. It builds a lot of functionality around effects, filters and that all-important sidechain compression that’s so hot right now. It’s a toolbox, engineering for the modular musician by a modular musician. Read more about it here.
We also saw an update to the Korg SQ-64, which has struggled to be as awesome as it could be. The 2.02 update should set a few things right and increases its potential to be the centre of your modular sequencing. Read more about it here.
And in modular software, we saw a useful semi-modular bunch of blocks from Toybox. The Tangle Synth pulls the best workings from the Toybox collection and fits them together in a fascinating synth that will run in the free version of Reaktor Blocks. Read more about it here.
Midweek Modular
Here are some of the other modular bits and pieces that caught my eye this week.
New Systems Instruments Quad LFO
LFOs are always useful, and with the Quad LFO you get four in the one module (the clue is in the name). The Quad LFO is designed as a highly precise, accurate and consistent sine wave LFO ranging from nearly nothing to 23Hz. If you need a square wave for chiptuning the heck out of something or as a clock, then there’s a jumper on the back for each LFO to switch it to square mode. You can also control the frequency via the FM input for added interest.
New Instrument Systems Quad LFO and expander · Source: New Instrument Systems
There’s an expander in the form of the LFO Phase X module. You can have an expander for each of the four LFOs, and it offers three additional phases to the waveform. It could offer some interesting rhythmic variations to the original LFO. If the original is being used as a square wave clock then you have three more LFOs tied and offset to that pulse. Lots of modulating possibilities in there.
4MS More new modules
After spotting the SCM Plus last week, 4MS has snuck out a few more modules or potential modules. There appear to be three versions of an Envelope/VCA module on the way called the EnvVCA, Dual EnvVCA and Dual Shaped EnvVCA. There’s not a lot of detail, but these appear to be function generators and VCAs of increasing interest and complexity. You’ve got Rise and Fall, triggers, cycles, wave shapes and a shed load of CV control with built-in audio inputs and outputs.
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What 4MS has a bit more info on is the new Mini PEG or Pingable Envelope Generator. The original PEG has been a staple module for many years, and this shrinks down some of that cool functionality to only 8HP. Essentially it’s a clock-synced envelope and LFO set by “pings” or clock pulses. Lots of shapes, lots of divisions or multiples of the timing and lots of playability for $149.
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Eurorack Sound System V2
If you really want to drag your modular out to the park and play in the wild, then you’re going to need some speakers. The Eurorack Sound System from Beepboop is a fabulously looking and weirdly vertical speaker that gives you 1w of power in only 6HP.
Beepboop suggests that it’s not only great for personal use and portable performance, but it’s awesome in feedback experimentation with modules that feature microphones. There’s also a DC jack for running other speakers.
Beepboop Eurorack Sound System V2 · Source: Beepboop
It’s a great idea, brilliant for small modular systems and synth-club jams. You’d need two though, at least, or being true to the Sound System idea; you’d need a whole row blasting at you. Maybe, to save on space, you could have a stereo amp module and then separate speaker modules that could fit into a 1U row? I wonder if they sound any good.
VOID Modular Singularity
While it may be in the prototype stage, I couldn’t help by notice the awesomeness of the Singularity. It’s a full synth voice that packs in many of VOID modular’s greatest hits. It features a Graviton VCO, the Brutalist VCF and ridiculous amounts of overdrive and distortion. There’s a pair of looping envelopes, mixing, crossfading and a VCA. More importantly, it glows like a beast from the fires of creation.
VOID Modular Singularity · Source: VOID Modular
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