Comparing DivKid's Instruō øchd with Doepfer A-145-4 Quad LFO

Here are two seemingly similar modules that couldn't be more different, but are both incredibly useful.

DivKid's øchd from Instruō

øchd offers eight Triangle Wave LFOs, running from +5V to –5V, arranged from fastest on top to slowest on bottom, deliberately unaligned (chaotic, not synchronized), all controlled with a single speed knob and attenuated CV input.

If a sufficiently negative CV is applied, the module enters a "hold" state, freezing the values of all eight LFO outputs at their current voltage.

This module does what it does very well, but it does have a few weaknesses depending on your use-case:

• The rate of all eight LFOs are controlled in tandem.  You can't keep one of them steady while adjusting the speeds of the others.
• The LFOs are all 10vpp, so you will need to attenuate the outputs before applying them to control other modules.  Some modules have attenuators built into their CV inputs, so depending on what you're pairing it with, this may not be an issue.
• The LFOs are all triangle waves.  This is a very useful shape, but it is incapable of performing one very important task often assigned to an LFO—acting as a trigger.

At the time of writing, Perfect Circuit has this module available for $199.

Doepfer A-145-4 Quad LFO

A-145-4 offers four LFOs with separate manually adjustable speeds.  Each of these LFOs is also configurable via a jumper on the rear of the module between two speed ranges, and these two speed ranges do have a significant amount of overlap.

Each of the four LFOs has two outputs: a square wave, and triangle wave, which makes it perfect to generate triggers or use as your master clock signal.

The main weakness in this module is its lack of CV control.

At the time of writing, Thomann has this module available for $73.

Drums in 10HP (Erica Synths Pico Trigg+Drums and Momo Modular Pique)

 

I'm presenting these three modules together because I think they form such a powerful group:

Momo Modular Pique (µPeaks, Clone of Mutable Instruments Peaks)

Erica Synths Pico Trigg (Trigger)

Erica Synths Pico Drums

Let's examine these one at a time:

Pique

Peaks, or Pique, is a great multi-function module in its own right, usable as an LFO (or Tap Tempo LFO) or an Envelope Generator, but in this application it Drum modes are the star of the show.  When used as a drum module, it has two channels, each with a trigger input and an audio output.

At the time of writing, it is available for $145 at the Momo Modular Etsy Store.  I really love the look of Momo Modular's black textured front panels, and the micro 4HP size pairs well with the Erica Synths modules while not sacrificing any functionality.

Trigg

If you have to choose between a Clock Divider or the Erica Synths Pico Trigg module, Trigg wins hands down purely for being programmable:  You can populate it with your own rhythms so that every option is a win for your chosen style(s) of performance.

It can follow an external clock, or operate on its own internal clock generator.

At the time of writing, Trigg is available for $129 at Perfect Circuit.

Drums

Erica Synths Pico Drums is a sample-based two channel drum generator with a ton of great features.  The first channel has one configurable CV controllable feature.  You could use this for example, to change the pitch of a tom drum, or to entirely change which drum sample is selected on that channel.  Pico Drums has a CV input, two trigger Inputs, and one audio output.

At the time of writing, Drums is available for $149 at Reverb.com

Mixing it Together

If it isn't obvious, when using these three modules together, you will need somewhere to combine (and probably attenuate) the three outputs on their way into your final mix.  If you don't have another solution, Erica Synths Pico Mix could be perfect for this.

Plaits

 

I own the beautiful Momo Modular clone of Mutable Instruments Plaits.  I really like the textured look of these clones by Momo.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about Plaits, but I also recognize it as being nearly indispensable in my setup.

The recent firmware update, at the end of 2022, as a farewell from Mutable Instruments, really added a lot of value to this module by providing a third "orange" bank of models.

One of these, in particular, the Arpeggiator, attracted my attention.  I should note that this isn't a CV arpeggiator, it's a complete voice, providing audio output.

Without using the TRIG input, it behaves much like the Chord mode from the green bank, except with a slightly chiptune quality to the sound.

At the time of writing, this module is available for $190 on Momo Modular's Esty store.

Doepfer A-137-1 Wave Multiplier I.

Be careful!  This module is very deep—65mm!  It won't fit in a skiff case.  It won't fit in a NiftyCase.  It will fit in only one row of an Arturia RackBrute 6U—the row where the bus board isn't located, the other row might be a possibility depending on precise alignment with the bus board.

That being said, the module's functionality is great, and you can really get a lot of character out of it with so many attenuated CV inputs.

It's $120 over at Thomann at the time of writing.

2HP Arp

From twohp.com, 2HP Arp, which seems to be low or out of stock in most places at the time of writing, is a lot of bang for your buck, retailing for about $109.

This is the simplest way to go from something completely abstract to something more "traditionally" musical, if that's what you're looking for.

I don't like the hole placement on the front panel of mine.  I'm assuming I just got a bad cut, but it seems to be off by about a millimeter, causing it to not set properly next to other modules, unless I flip it upside down.  The text is also printed vertically-off so that the labels feel like they're closer to the wrong patch point.  (So, unlike the one pictured which looks good, ROOT on mine is written so that it is almost touching the patch point below it, which is actually the point for selecting the arpeggio type.)  That being said, the layout is simple enough to learn without relying on the panel text, so it isn't that big of a deal.

At only 2HP there's not really a way to beat this.  Even if you have another sequencer, slowing that one down and patching its Gate out into the Reset input here, and patching its CV out into the Root input here, and running a multiplied clock into the Trig here, will turn a simple sequence into something so much more sparkly and extravagant.

Doepfer A-134-1 PAN: VC Panning Module.

The Doepfer A-134-1 PAN module is something I have in my "permanent" output chain for every patch.

I have a stereo mixer as well (Doepfer A-138s), for times when I want to get more specific, but everything coming out from my mono mixer (Rides in the Storm XXM) gets routed to potentially two different places:

First, a portion of my signal can be routed to my DSP effects module (currently Erica Synths Pico DSP), which itself has a stereo output that goes into the final mix.  This has nothing to do with the Doepfer module, but it created some complexity in the final mix to do this, so that the stereo panning doesn't seem like a mere parlor trick.

Whatever portion of "dry" signal I wish to have goes into this Doepfer VC Panning module.  I usually leave it tuned to the center and don't touch it, but when I want to create some dimensional movement, I can simply patch into the CV or CV2 input and pan the dry portion of my signal left or right.

Thomann has this listed for $85 at the time I'm writing this.

Rides in the Storm XXM

Rides in the Storm XXM is a great simple mixer for the price, and it does more than meets the eye.

Although this isn't listed anywhere in the documentation: A1 is normaled to B1, A2 is normaled to B2, A3 is normaled to B3, and A4 is normaled to B4. At first this "surprise" slightly annoyed me because I wanted to treat it like two separate four channel mixers, where I could leave the levels set, and have the outputs go to two different effect chains, but when I plugged into A1, it would leak over to B1 unless I turned that knob all the way down.  But, after realizing this, what I actually use this for now is sending Channel A to dry output, and Channel B to my DSP effect (usually some sort of reverb.)  This lets me adjust the dry and wet signal separately on up to four sources.

For some people, the presence of the Inverting output on Channel A could be incredibly useful.  Channel A is DC Coupled (will retain a voltage offset, for LFOs or Control Voltages), and Channel B is jumper configurable to be either AC or DC Coupled.

The build quality is nice.  The front panel is thick.  The oval holes give it some wiggle room which is nice if it ends up adjacent to any slightly off modules.

If I could change one small thing, I would re-arrange it so all the patch points were on the bottom end instead of split between top and bottom.

Thomann has this listed for only $52 at the time I'm writing this.

I'll probably get a second XXM in the future.