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.