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Very familiar-looking to anyone who has been following the modular synthesizer renaissance. Modular synths are basically analog computers, just not well-optimiz

Very familiar-looking to anyone who has been following the modular synthesizer renaissance. Modular synths are basically analog computers, just not well-optimized for precision in most cases. All the basic building blocks of THAT are available as modules from a number of boutique manufacturers.

jcpst 3y ago
Yeah- as a long time modular synth user I practically drool over stuff like this. But for the money I can just get more synth modules.
DennisP 3y ago
And "not well-optimized for precision" is often considered a feature.
z5h 3y ago
I was looking for the modular synth comment(s). That's immediately what came to mind when I saw this. How can I integrate this with my synths.
- dreamcompiler 3y ago
  As long as everything is voltage controlled, your voltage ranges match, and your analog computer is set to generate voltages rather than currents you should be able to use an analog computer to generate very wild LFO-type control signals. It might not work fast enough to replace your regular (audio) oscillators however.
gatane 3y ago
It was so cool to realize that NIN used one for making a song. Caustic had an emulated one with a lot of features, but I dont know if there are other DAWs with similar ones...
- tern 3y ago
  The main ones are: - Bitwig - Softube Modular - Cherry Audio Voltage Modular - VCV Rack - miRack - Reaktor Blocks - Nord Modular - Max/MSP BEAP Can't emphasize enough how awesome Eurorack is though
dreamcompiler 3y ago
Yes but the emphasis is different. Modular synths typically come with oscillators; analog computers typically don't. But if you want an oscillator you can build one out of integrators in a feedback configuration. Modular synths typically come with filters; analog computers typically don't. Analog computers do come with integrators which could be considered very weird lowpass filters. Likewise a differentiator can be considered a weird and always imperfect highpass filter. Both typically come with adders, but a modular synth will call this a mixer. Both typically come with multipliers but a modular synth will often call a multiplier a ring modulator (and it might not multiply all four quadrants). (Just to make things more confusing, at RF frequencies the word "mixer" typically refers to a multiplier rather than an adder. In the audio range, mixers are adders.) Modular synths are designed for making sound; analog computers are designed for precise, much slower waveform generation. Its circuits might not even be capable of operating fast enough to make sound.

jcpst 3y ago

Yeah- as a long time modular synth user I practically drool over stuff like this. But for the money I can just get more synth modules.

DennisP 3y ago

And "not well-optimized for precision" is often considered a feature.

z5h 3y ago

I was looking for the modular synth comment(s). That's immediately what came to mind when I saw this. How can I integrate this with my synths.

dreamcompiler 3y ago
As long as everything is voltage controlled, your voltage ranges match, and your analog computer is set to generate voltages rather than currents you should be able to use an analog computer to generate very wild LFO-type control signals. It might not work fast enough to replace your regular (audio) oscillators however.

gatane 3y ago

It was so cool to realize that NIN used one for making a song. Caustic had an emulated one with a lot of features, but I dont know if there are other DAWs with similar ones...

tern 3y ago
The main ones are: - Bitwig - Softube Modular - Cherry Audio Voltage Modular - VCV Rack - miRack - Reaktor Blocks - Nord Modular - Max/MSP BEAP Can't emphasize enough how awesome Eurorack is though

dreamcompiler 3y ago

Yes but the emphasis is different. Modular synths typically come with oscillators; analog computers typically don't. But if you want an oscillator you can build one out of integrators in a feedback configuration. Modular synths typically come with filters; analog computers typically don't. Analog computers do come with integrators which could be considered very weird lowpass filters. Likewise a differentiator can be considered a weird and always imperfect highpass filter. Both typically come with adders, but a modular synth will call this a mixer. Both typically come with multipliers but a modular synth will often call a multiplier a ring modulator (and it might not multiply all four quadrants). (Just to make things more confusing, at RF frequencies the word "mixer" typically refers to a multiplier rather than an adder. In the audio range, mixers are adders.) Modular synths are designed for making sound; analog computers are designed for precise, much slower waveform generation. Its circuits might not even be capable of operating fast enough to make sound.