Products of Music Thing Modular
Eurorack Modular Synth format. They are designed in Herne Hill, London by Tom Whitwell.
I’m a former journalist and magazine editor (Mixmag & The Face). In the noughties I ran the Music Thing blog, before working at The Times. Got into DIY electronics after attending a workshop with Tom Bugs, reading Handmade Electronic Music, playing with Arduino and building guitar pedals.
Contacting me directly is rarely a quick way to get help with a project or a technical problem. GitHub issue lists are a good place to start (Turing Machine, Radio Music), a search of MW DIY will often find answers, as will looking at the Facebook Synth DIY group.
You can read more about Music Thing Modular and open source in this article: Why Open Source Music Hardware works for Music Thing Modular.
Music Thing Modular - 8mu MIDI-Controller
sold out at the moment
Pocket-sized MIDI controller with built in Accelerometer!The 8mu is a pocket-sized MIDI controller (slightly smaller than a credit card!) with eight faders that can send messages via MIDI. The 8mu also has a built in accelerometer which measures how the device is being held. This creates eight more control signals, mapped to gestures like “lift the front” or “turn me over”. There are four tiny buttons along the top edge, which can be configured to send MIDI notes (like a keyboard) or control signals.MIDI data is sent via a 3.5mm TRS MIDI output, which can be Type A or Type B, and via USB-C. Only standard USB data lines are used, so it should work on any USB computer with an adaptor. The device is also powered via USB. 8mu can store 8 banks of CC settings which can be accessed using the left and right buttons on each side of the device.8mu has a web editor where you can edit all the settings: Launch the 8mu Editor, and there is a quickstart guide printed on the back or get a quickstart PDF by the buttons below.The 8mu design was inspired by the 16n project but the hardware is quite different. The editor is a modified version of the 16n editor by Tom Armitage. 8mu cannot send i2c or CV, but it’s designed to be open and hackable and can be re-programmed in Arduino or Circuit Python code.Features:• Size: 81 x 47 mm• The body is 13 mm tall, or 24 mm with the faders and fader caps• It weighs 65 gDIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. All SMD parts are pre-soldered, only trough-hole parts to solder. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€138.00*
Music Thing Modular - Chord Organ
sold out at the moment
Chord Organ is the easiest way to get chords from a modular synth!• It's perfectly possible to create chords on a modular synth, but its a pain - lots of tuning and messing about. I wanted to create something as simple as a home organ with chord buttons. Chord Organ is exactly that; the top knob chooses a chord shape, the bottom a root note.• The full story of Chord Organ, including how it was inspired by a Bontempi Organ found in the street, is in this article over on Medium.• Chord Organ and Radio Music are identical modules; you can convert one to the other by installing new firmware over USB - details on how to install the firmware - and go back just as easily.• This video shows what you can do with a Chord Organ in a simple little case. Here the chord shape and root note are sequenced by an expanded Turing Machine and filtered through a God's Box Humpback Filter.• The top knob chooses the chord shape (Major, Minor, Drop 3 9th). The bottom knob chooses the root note. Both can be CV controlled.• The latest firmware now includes:• A choice of 12 waveforms (the original just had four) Program chords by uploading MIDI files Easy to use configuration page. Alternative tuning support by dropping standard Scala files onto the SD card (installation details).• There’s a long history of press-button-to-get-chord instruments; accordions, the Suzuki Omnichord, the Autoharp, or all those auto-accompaniment electronic keyboards that you used to see.Basically Chord Organ is a new firmware for the Music Thing Modular Radio Music module. It gives the module a completely different function. Instead of playing samples from the SD card, it synthesises chords. This is the full Chord Organ kit with dedicated Chord Organ silver Alu panel and button.Note: you need to purchase a MicroSD card and a Micro-B USB Cable elsewhere to set up this module. The Micro-B cables are the smallest type shipped with Kindles and many Android phones. You also need a card reader to write files to the SD card, many laptops and desktops already have them built in now. The very cheap $2 MicroSD cards are not worth the trouble they will cause you, buy genuine SanDisk or Kingston branded MicroSD cards from Amazon or elsewhere. 32Gb maximum… that’s 108 hours of lossless audio in 16bit 44.1khz. Total file limit per card is 1200 files.Features:For the build guide the process is identical to Radio Music, you just program with a different hex file – http://github.com/TomWhitwell/RadioMusicChord organ now tracks 1v/Oct if you use the latest software downloaded here! – http://polyfather.com/chord_organ/Details on how to load firmware onto the module can be found under the Software header here – https://github.com/TomWhitwell/RadioMusic/wiki/Preparing-the-TeensyDIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€99.90*
Music Thing Modular - Control
sold out at the moment
Control is a 18hp Eurorack controller module designed to improve the ergonomics of a modular system. Control allows the user to provide precise but also creative manual control voltage over many elements at once.Control has four big knobs that output voltages. Connect those voltages to modules, and you have high-precision, intuitive control. Connect those voltages to several modules, and you have interesting, repeatable confusion.Features:• The first two channels (top two knobs) are also attenuators if something is plugged into the leftmost sockets.• The voltage on each channel can be adjusted via the switches: 0–5v (middle), 0–10v (up), or -5v to +5v (down). When using a channel as an attenuator, keep it in 0–5v or you’ll get weird gain or offset (which you may want).• There are two extra outputs. The Change output will output just the changes as they happen. If a knob is turned quickly to the right, it will output a little burst of positive voltage. If a four-handed performer turns all four knobs quickly anti-clockwise, it will output a chunky pulse of negative voltage. Patching Change into an input creates a primitive clock.• Diff is a difference rectifier, inspired by NonlinearCircuits, but with a slightly different circuit. It compares the difference between 1&2, and between 3&4, and will then finally output the difference between those two differences. The aim with this output is to create a bumpy, unpredictable positive only voltage between 0 and 10v. It’s not random, but it’s not easily predictable, either.• Each knob has its own bi-colour LED to provide visual feedback on how much voltage is being output. There are also LED indicators for the Change and Diff outputs.The circuit is a stack of LM324 op amps, and the pots are nice high quality TT Electronics P260T – as used in SynthTech modules and many 5U synths. They have steel shafts bolted to the front panel and they feel great.DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. All SMD parts are pre-soldered, only trough-hole parts to solder. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€130.90*
Music Thing Modular - Graphic EQ
only 2 left
Full DIY kit for a seven-band Eurorack Graphic EQ inspired by the classic Boss GE-7 pedalA compact and high quality seven band graphic equaliser for Eurorack. Inspired by the Boss GE-7 pedal, but with pristine low-noise circuitry and a much broader frequency range. Push the faders up and to the left to boost, down and to the right to cut. Works great in feedback loops or as a tone control for individual voices. The kit comes with silver alu panel.DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. All SMD parts are pre-soldered, only trough-hole parts to solder. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€83.90*
Music Thing Modular - London Drive
sold out at the moment
The London Drive is a 4HP Drive/Distortion module inspired by the prestigious EMS VCS3/Synthi input gain. London Drive has two inputs and two outputs. Output 2 is a reverse phase version of Output 1, with a slightly different sonic character as well. Unlike its sibling Mini Drive, the London Drive gain knob never goes completely silent, but instead ranges from a clean signal to warmly overdriven. The module works as a gritty drive for modular level signals and works well with line level inputs as well – like a drum machine. It’s not suited as an external input for guitar.Using this module is a great way to make a polite sound source into something less polite, but always experiment with the levels! – the output can sound completely different depending on the settings and it can also be used to just add a nice bit of warmth to your input. London Drive also works very well with feedback loops – the dual inputs and differently phased outputs are designed to encourage experimentation with feedback patching.While this module doesn’t have CV in, you can either put a VCA or a filter before to modify the amount of grime, or get more experimental and try blasting an LFO or a sequence into one input to see what it does to audio in the other input.DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. All SMD parts are pre-soldered, only trough-hole parts to solder. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€59.00*
Music Thing Modular - Magnetophon
available
1) Magnetophon is a cassette player without the transport mechanism — a mono cassette head in the panel and a NAB equalised amplifier circuit, this is a tool for experiments with tape.2) Magnetophon is a tool for experiments with tape. Try rubbing old cassette tapes on the panel, or attach a head on a wire to recreate Nam June Paik’s Random Access or Laurie Anderson’s Tape-Bow Violin.3) NAB stands for National Association of Broadcasters. Their Reel-to-Reel Standard of 1965 specifies how tape heads should be amplified. If you plug a tape head into a microphone pre-amp, you get a very tinny sound with no low frequencies at all. Tape playback amplifiers (like the one in this module) boost bass by up to 10dB at 16Hz, while cutting highs by up to 20dB at 20kHz. Tape recorders apply the opposite curve when recording to tape.4) Don't expect a handheld cassette head rubbing against free-running tape to sound very hi-fi. It turns out all that head alignment and bias adjustment stuff wasn't BS after all.5) When experimenting with normal cassette tapes, a few things to remember: Stereo tapes carry four signal tracks; Left & Right Forward, and Left & Right Backward. So expect a bit of chaos.6) I've experimented with spoken word and language cassettes, forgetting that a decent proportion of them is just silence between words.7) If you have a reel-to-reel tape recorder, you can use an external tape head in a binder clip as a holder for tape loops. This will create a second output from the loop. It's likely to be MUCH lower fidelity than the main tape recorder output, but can sound really interesting mixed with the original signal (very Brian Eno tape loop-ish). Here's a quick demo of this technique from Brighton Modular Meet.8) The tape head inside the panel is fairly impractical for tape use, but can potentially be used for playing the magnetic strips on credit cards, MetroCards and the like. It will also pick up any electromagnetic noise and interference within your case (from switching power supplies, digital modules, colour-changing LEDs and the like).9) This is a fairly primitive and very high-gain circuit. In some situations, particularly when using the internal head, the circuit can oscillate. At audio frequencies this will sound like a whine. At frequencies above human hearing, it can just sound like silence, which drowns out whatever signals the tape head is trying to amplify. There is an empty spot for an extra capacitor on the PCB (C7). If you're having problems, try a small capacitor there; maybe 470pf, 1nf or more. Higher values will reduce the overall high frequency response. When using the external head, the capacitance of the cable seems to reduce the problem.10) This is a fairly simple build, but a rather exotic module. If you have any issues, the best way to get help is to check the GitHub Issue List, and remember to check closed issues as well as open ones.DIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€58.00*
Music Thing Modular - Mikrophonie v3
sold out at the moment
New and improved version of the classic Mikrophonie contact microphone module. This version incorporates the features of the (now discontinued) Mutable Ears module but allows you to push the preamp into dirtier territory. The kit also includes a choice of 2 x frontpanels allowing the builder to choose whether to have the scratchplate at the top or bottom of the panel.Tom Whitwell the designer of Mikrophonie describes the original thus:“Mikrophonie is a microphone preamp with a piezo contact mic built into the panel.It is an easy way to bring environmental noise and feedback into a modular system, inspired by the early days of electroacoustic music in Paris and Cologne, and by the contact microphone and phonograph cartridge experiments of John Cage, Gordon Mumma, Robert Ashley and Nicholas Collins. Here is a wonderful film from 1966 of Stockhausen & Co performing Mikrophonie 1.The panel scratchpad has quite a nice rough texture – rubbing it with a finger or a plectrum creates quite a wide range of sounds. The back of the panel is plated and grounded for shielding; the peizo microphone can either be soldered directly to the copper or stuck on with epoxy glue.”This new version of Mikrophonie improves the amplifier circuit and adds the following features from the Ears version by Emilie Gillet• An envelope follower, translating the decaying amplitude profile of a tap into an envelope CV.• A gate detector, translating taps into gate signals.• The envelope follower and gate detector can process external signals as well as the built in contact mic.Specs:• High quality Audio Amp with extended gain range over Ears.• External input bypassing the built-in contact microphone.• Envelope follower with 3 preset attack and release times (adjustable by jumper).• Gate detector with 3 preset sensitivity levels (adjustable by jumper) and +8V gate output.• Three indicator LEDs for amplifier clipping, envelope follower level and gate detector activity.This kit contains all parts to build the module, right down to the power cable and the screws. Internal contact mic is included.The module will work with a range of external contact mics including DIYed creations made from inexpensive piezo transducers, and off the shelf contact mics. We recommend to use it with LeafAudio's contact mics which are known to be very good.DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. All SMD parts are pre-soldered, only trough-hole parts to solder. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€48.50*
Music Thing Modular - Mini Drive
available
The Mini Drive is a 4HP Drive/Distortion module inspired by the classic Minimoog input gain. Mini Drive has two inputs which are higher and lower gain - but if you use both they’re the same level mixed. The Drive knob goes from zero/silent to lots of gain. It’s a dirty gain for modular level and works well with line level inputs – like a drum machine. It’s not suited as an external input for guitar.Using this module is a great way to make a polite sound source into something less polite, but always experiment with the levels! - the output can sound completely different depending on the settings and it can also be used to just add a nice bit of warmth to your input.Mini Drive also works very well in feedback loops. The classic minimoog trick is taking the audio output and adding it back after the oscillators, before the filter through this circuit. So the filter is in a feedback loop which will add resonance and fuzz. If you patch one output directly to an input then you can achieve feedback tones. Another idea is to patch sound (radio music, or a Osc/env/filt voice) into ‘low’ and one output to the main out. Then patch the second out to a filter, or a delay or reverb, and the output from that back into ‘high’ then turn up and add what happens. If the feedback isn’t wild, invert it with an attenuverter before going back into high.While it doesn’t have CV in you can either put a VCA or a filter before to modify the amount of grime, or get more experimental and try blasting an LFO or a sequence into one input to see what it does to audio in the other input. the outputs are passive multed together.DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. All SMD parts are pre-soldered, only trough-hole parts to solder. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€59.50*
Music Thing Modular - Pulses (Turing Machine Expander)
sold out at the moment
Eleven rhythmic outputs for wONkY drum patterns.• Pulses turns the sequence from the main Turing Machine into a series of repeating rhythmic semi-random clock signals, that are based on the main clock input.• Seven of the 11 outputs are just the binary steps of the sequence on the front panel of the main module. The other four are derived from those pulses - so when steps 1+2 are active, the 1+2 output pulses.• As with most of the Turing Machine features, it is hard to explain, but very easy and intuitive in practice: send pulses from the module to anything that takes a rhythmic pulse; envelope generators, FM Index inputs, drum modules or other sequencers. Very complex polyrhythms come easily.• Because the Pulses are all related to the main module, they randomise, lock and change with that module. With the main module's big knob at 12 o'clock, the pulses are random. At 5 o'clock, they are locked, and at 3 o'clock they will 'slip' slowly over time.• You can try out a fully operational Turing Machine + Pulses + Volts in the free VCV Rack software.• Pulses connects around the back with a 16-way ribbon cable and works with any Turing Machine (Mk2, or Mk1 with the backpack).• Pulses uses Surface Mount components but is still a very simple build for anyone who has done a bit of through hole soldering beforehand.• Here is an epic series of videos from mixolydian2010 that documents the whole build process• Here's a very old audio demo from when I was developing Pulses, which shows the kind of polyrhythmic craziness it can create.• Despite involving SMD components, Pulses is a very straightforward DIY build, that most people complete without any problems. If you get stuck, the Pulses Github Issue List or the main Turing Machine issue list are probably the best places to start.DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-2. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. It includes SMD and through-hole parts! For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€52.30*
Music Thing Modular - Radio Music
sold out at the moment
1) Radio Music is a virtual radio module, so it behaves a bit like a radio. It is designed to be a source of unexpected audio, not a drum loop player or a sample mangler. That said, plenty of people enjoyed it for playing drum loops or mangling samples.2) Radio Music has been a popular DIY project since 2014, and has been used by Chris Carter, Russell Haswell, Richard Devine, and Robin Rimbaud.3) In 2017, the module's firmware was completely rewritten and updated, bringing new features including pitch shifting, .wav file support and a new way to configure settings on the module. You can download the latest firmware here, which will run on any Radio Music module.4) On the same site you can configure your Radio Music, changing various internal settings.5) It's a well documented project, with a lengthy Radio Music Wiki and an active issues list for people seeking help with a build.6) The wiki also contains a huge suggested audio bank containing lots of interesting things.7) Like a radio, the module works on a series of banks and stations. Each of the 16 banks can contain many different stations. Each station is an audio file stored in a folder on the SD card. Choose a bank by pressing and holding the RESET switch. Choose a station by turning the STATION knob or plugging a voltage into Station.8) Because the audio streams from the SD card, it can handle long files easily. In the default setting, it switches between long recordings just as if they were radio stations — as if the audio was playing in the background.9) Radio Music runs on a Teensy 3.1 (or 3.2) microcontroller, which is programmed by USB and runs a very well documented Arduino-like language, so it's easy to hack.10) There are multiple alternative firmwares for Radio Music documented in the github, and on Voltage Control Lab including:- Chord Organ is just an alternative firmware for Radio Music, but is also available as a separate module. You can turn a RM into a CO (or vice versa) at any time using a normal Micro USB cable.- Telharfauxnium is an additive synthesis firmware.- James Carruthers has written several different firmwares, including a cool 808 drum machine- I often use this Loop Divider firmware to sync everything to loops in a small case.Note: you need to purchase a MicroSD card and a Micro-B USB Cable elsewhere to set up this module. The Micro-B cables are the smallest type shipped with Kindles and many Android phones. You also need a card reader to write files to the SD card, many laptops and desktops already have them built in now. The very cheap $2 MicroSD cards are not worth the trouble they will cause you, buy genuine SanDisk or Kingston branded MicroSD cards from Amazon or elsewhere. 32Gb maximum… that’s 108 hours of lossless audio in 16bit 44.1khz. Total file limit per card is 1200 files.Download the latest software here – http://polyfather.com/radio_musicDIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€99.90*
Music Thing Modular - Simple EQ
only 1 left
This full kit is great for learning SMD/Surface mount soldering. Build a super skiff friendly and great sounding EQ module. Music Thing have produced a new revision of this MTM board which includes a few through hole parts such as the electro caps to make this an easy way into surface mount soldering. It’s really not a hard kit if you’ve done a handful of through hole soldering projects previously. It includes a full and in-depth build doc for complete SMD beginners too. All parts are individually bagged and labelled and we’ve included extra parts for practice.Simple EQ – Learn SMD soldering by building two channels of the kind of tone controls you’d find on an old hifi. No voltage control, but just enough range to push sounds into distortion. Works well in a feedback loop.DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-2. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. It includes SMD and through-hole parts! For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€57.10*
Music Thing Modular - Spring Reverb
sold out at the moment
This is a full kit that for the MTM Spring Reverb main module, except the spring tank or digital brick. The Music Thing Spring Reverb mk2 is a flexible, easy-to-build voltage controlled DIY mono spring reverb module. Traditional guitar reverbs are tuned to the sound of the guitar and the amplifier it is played through. This circuit is different; designed to be relatively clean and hi-fi, with a lot of bass response. Use real spring reverb tanks, or solid state reverb bricks.New Features of the Spring Reverb mk2 include:• Internal Feedback control with CV input, dedicated attenuverter and with invert switch for maximum feedbackiness• Wet out and feedback in sockets for more flexible patching• 3HP Expander – allows for instant switching between reverb brick and spring tank – or set a blend between the two• Expander also allows for front panel send and return to spring tank.• New improved circuitMore Features:• Works with a variety of spring reverb tanks (optional), or with the Accutronics BTDR-2 reverb ‘brick’ designed by Brian Neunaber (optional)• Vactrol (VTL5C3) crossfade between dry and wet (vactrol circuits are variable in their ability to go completely 100% wet, like the Make Noise Echophon for example)• Tilt EQ on the reverb send to tune the voice of the reverb• X-Fade input so the module can also be used as a standalone vactrol crossfader (crossfade demo)• Feedback circuit with positive and negative phase• Attenuverter on the crossfade CV input• 6HP wide (NB: If using the brick, mounted horizontally, the brick extends 5mm over the PCB to the left of the module, around 25mm back from the front panel, so mount the reverb next to a shallow module)• Expander with Front panel mount Phono sockets & Crossfade between reverb types.Instead of the reverb tanks you can use a digital brick, which you can find at Banzai Music http://www.banzaimusic.com/Belton-ReverbsFeatures:We provide genuine Accutronics/Belton Spring Reverb Tanks separately, have a look in our shop. They produce high quality and springy responses!Medium – 8EB2C1B Springs: 3, Delay Type: Medium, Tank Dimensions: 23.5 x 8.5 x 3.3cm, Input Impedance: 800 Ohms, Output Impedance: 2575 Ohms, Mounting: Horizontal Open Side Down, Connectors: Input Insulated – Output GroundedLarge – 9EB2C1B Springs: 3, Delay Type: Medium, Tank Dimensions: 42.5 x 12 x 3.3cm, Input Impedance: 800 Ohms, Output Impedance: 2575 Ohms, Mounting: Horizontal Open Side Down,DIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€117.90*
Music Thing Modular - Spring Reverb Expander
available
The passive Spring Expander adds phono sockets on a separate front panel plus adds a blend knob for brick/tank.• This is a very simple passive expander for the revised Spring module, which brings the phono connections to the front panel — ideal for smaller cases — and adds a simple mix control to blend real spring tanks with the solid state reverb 'brick'.• The main reverb module has phono sockets on the back, so you can put a reverb tank inside your modular case. Often, you might want to mount the spring tank outside the case; for small cases, or for access to the springs — stroking them or muting them or ‘preparing’ them in some way. This little 3hp expander makes that simple.• The panel is designed to be reversible, depending how you want to arrange the cable to your spring tank.• The expander also has a simple mix pot to blend the spring and brick reverbs together — this is a really nice effect, particularly when using feedback.• Weird patch trick: If you use the expander with a brick, but without a spring connected to the front or back of the module, the spring drive circuit will overdrive massively (the spring pickup is part of the feedback loop of an op amp, so without it you get open loop gain). Fading across to spring and playing with feedback and EQ can get some really crunchy, squeaky extreme distortion that can be quite controllable with the blend control.• If you want to know more about spring reverb than you ever thought possible, enjoy my Medium post Everything I know about spring reverb.• This is a very simple build - just a potentiometer and a couple of wires soldered onto the PCB, but if you have any trouble the best place to find help is in the Spring Reverb Github Issues List. Remember to search for closed issues as well as open ones.DIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€34.50*
Music Thing Modular - Startup
only 1 left
Startup is a headphone amp, six-input mixer, tap tempo clock, divider & multiplier in 4hp. It's the perfect way to start a small Eurorack case. Full DIY Kit.Startup is designed to be the best way to start a small Eurorack case, featuring a Mixer, Clock & Headphone Amp. This is a really easy project for DIY newcomers, all the SMD components come pre-soldered and the PCB is programmed and testing prior to shipping. You just need to solder the buttons, jacks and pot. The Music Thing Modular ‘Startup’ is designed to be the best way to help start a small Eurorack case.This 4HP module does three things:1) It’s a 5 channel output mixer, with a spare channel for stereo signals (like a Korg Volca or a phone).2) It’s a nice clean headphone amp with two outputs.3) It’s a useful tap-tempo clock, with a second channel giving divided or multiplied clocks.The best way to understand Startup is with with the Quick Start Manual. (Use button below)DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. All SMD parts are pre-soldered, only trough-hole parts to solder. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€90.00*
Music Thing Modular - Turing Machine mk2
available
1) The Turing Machine makes music for you. It's a binary sequencer, based around a 16 bit memory circuit called a shift register. It’s a sequencer that you can steer in one direction or another, not one that you can program precisely.2) You cannot program this sequencer to play specific tunes. You cannot save sequences. You can never go back to a sequence that has changed.3) To put it another way: the Turing Machine produces clocked stepped randomly changing control voltages. In other words, melodies, basslines, sequences. Unlike many random voltage generators, these sequences can be locked into loops that repeat according to the length control.4) The Turing Machine has become one of the most popular Eurorack DIY projects since June 2012. The #turingmachine tag on Instagram contains lots of great demos (and a certain amount of the real Alan Turing).5) This 27 minute video from DivKid explains everything you need to know about the Turing Machine and the expanders.6) And here's me talking for 20 minutes about how the Turing machine works and how it was designed.7) Here is a nice review of the Turing Machine from Sound on Sound Magazine8) Turing Machine Expanders connect to the back of the module, and take the sequence from the main module and use it in different ways:- Volts adds an extra voltage output, with the sequence set by five pots.- Pulses turns the sequence into beats: eleven rhythmic pulse-train outputs.- Voltages adds two CV outputs controlled by 8 faders.- Vactrol Mix is a sequencer controlled matrix mixer. It's fantastic for rhythmically cutting up audio, stereo panning and feedback loops, but a little hard to explain.9) In the Turing Machine, looping is controlled by the big knob.- At noon, the sequences are random.- At 5 o'clock, it locks into a repeating sequence.- At 7 o'clock, it double locks into a repeating sequence twice as long as the 'length' setting.- At 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock, it slips; looping but occasionally changing notes.10) You can try out a fully operational Turing Machine + Pulses + Volts in the free VCV Rack software11) Electronically, the circuit was inspired by the long history of shift register pseudorandom synth circuits, including the Triadex Muse, Buchla 266 Source of Uncertainty and Grant Richter's Noisering.12) Musically, the module was inspired by 60s and 70s minimalist process music by people like Steve Reich, Terry Riley or Philip Glass: “I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the music.To facilitate closely detailed listening a musical process should happen extremely gradually.” Steve Reich, Music as a Gradual Process, 196813) While designing the Turing Machine, I compiled this Random Reading List which includes notes on the history of random sequence generators from Marvin Minsky's Muse to Don Buchla's Source of Uncertainty to Doepfer's A-149 module.14) Tony Surgeon is a long-time Turing Machine user. In this workshop from 2016 he shows how he uses it to generate sequences which are then looped on an Octatrack.15) Turing Machine is open source, which has inspired many offshoots, alternative panels and third party expanders, including:- Mystic Circuits' Vert and Leaves- Grayscale Modular's Permutation- Magpie Modular's crazy combo panels- Software Turing Machines inside the Ornament & Crime module, Frames Parasites firmware, Reactor Blocks, VCV Rack Modules and even Mutable Instruments' Marbles.16) The Turing Machine is not a real Turing Machine the way Alan Turing explained it. The name is vaguely relevant because the module uses a loop of data being changed, but the similarity ends there. It's certainly not a 'probabilistic random sequence generator based on the research of Alan Turing' ;-).17) The original Mk1 documentation contains more detail about how the Turing Machine works, including a block diagram.18) The Turing Machine is a fairly straightforward through-hole DIY build, but it's fairly dense and takes a while to complete, so probably shouldn't be a first DIY project (I always recommend Mikrophonie or Mini Drive as first builds). Build documents are available from Thonk. If you get stuck, the Github Issue List is probably the best place to start - remember to check closed issues as well as open ones.Features:Turing Machine has the following expanders available:• Pulses MKii• Voltages• Volts• Vactrol MixDIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€129.90*
Music Thing Modular - Twin Drive
sold out at the moment
The Twin Drive is a 4HP Drive/Distortion module inspired by the classic Minimoog input gain. Twin Drive is a stereo version of the Mini Drive, with left and right inputs – the left input is normalled to both outputs so the module can be used with mono signals as well. The Drive knob goes from zero/silent to lots of gain. It’s a dirty gain for modular level and works well with line level inputs – like a drum machine. It’s not suited as an external input for guitar.Using this module is a great way to make a polite sound source into something less polite, but always experiment with the levels! – the output can sound completely different depending on the settings and it can also be used to just add a nice bit of warmth to your input.While it doesn’t have CV in you can either put a VCA or a filter before to modify the amount of grime, or get more experimental and try blasting an LFO or a sequence into one input to see what it does to audio in the other input.DIY-Kit-Type:SMD-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. All SMD parts are pre-soldered, only trough-hole parts to solder. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€65.30*
Music Thing Modular - Vactrol Mix (Turing Machine Expander)
sold out at the moment
• Vactrol Mix combines four audio or CV signals into two channels, determined by the random sequence. It’s a great way to create stereo effects, complex waveforms or feedback loops.• This expander is 4 in, 2 out vactrol matrix mixer controlled by the Turing Machine, connected around the back by a 16 pin ribbon cable.• There are four inputs, for audio or CV sources. The four knobs set the level for each input. Next to each knob is a pair of LEDs. When the LED on the left is lit, the signal goes to the left output. When the LED on the right is lit, the signal goes to the right output. The LEDs are controlled by the Turing Machine module. The two outputs are both doubled (mult-ed) to make it easier to patch feedback loops.• Despite being less popular or widespread than Pulses or Volts, this is my favourite Turing Machine expander. It is a unique device that turns mundane source material into wild, unpredictable but rhythmically accessible patterns of sound. It’s a great way to create stereo effects, shifting drones, complex waveforms or feedback loops, and can be the heart of small (but chaotic) system.• Vactrols are electro-optical devices; a light shining on a light-dependent resistor. They have an extraordinary history, from powering the optical soundtracks on the first sound films in the 1920s to studio compressors, the tremolo in Fender guitar amps, and many of Don Buchla's 1970s synth designs. Modern vactrols are an LED pointing at a cadmium light dependent resistor, sealed together in a little black plastic box. Because the LDR reacts relatively slowly, the signals cut together smoothly, with no clicks or pops. Unfortunately, the cadmium in light dependent resistors is banned in Europe, so Vactrols are becoming harder to find.• Feedback is where this module gets really interesting. Try sending the (bottom) left and right outputs to your output mixer, and the (top) left and right outputs to spring reverbs or delays, patching the delay/reverb outputs back into input channels. Carefully ride the input levels, and you'll get snippets of feedback. The main clock speed can have a huge effect on feedback levels, because it takes a while to build up.• There are lots of Vactrol Mix audio examples in my Soundcloud: Twenty Minutes of Madness, Contact Mic Feedback and this ancient track recorded using the breadboard prototype.• The Vactrol Mix is DC coupled, so you can also rhythmically cut up DC sources; mix LFOs at different speeds with audio rate oscilllators, and frequency modulating a pair of oscillators using the two outputs.• This module was inspired by Grant Richter's Cadavre Exquis voltage controlled mixer, which was inspired by André Breton's surrealist game Exquisite Corpse. Richter's mixer also inspired the RxMx module by Make Noise.• Jonathan Higgins, on Facebook: 'There isn't a patch I don't use it on. People often thing you can only use it for crazy stereo percussion (which it is amazing at). But I also often patch all four outputs from the humpback filter into it for evolving stereo drones.'• The Vactrol Mix is a very straightforward through-hole DIY build. If you get stuck, the Github Issue List is probably the best place to start - remember to check closed issues as well as open ones.DIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€99.90*
Music Thing Modular - Voltages (Turing Machine Expander)
sold out at the moment
• CV expander with 8 faders.• This is an eight stage random looping sequencer with illuminated faders, controlled by the main Turing Machine. Unusually, any number of stages can be active at once, creating unpredictable results.• It has two outputs, one normal – with a scale control that works in the same was as the similar control on the main module – and one inverted. The inverted output has a ‘shift’ control which raises (offsets) the voltage by up to 9 volts. This means you can drive positive-only modules (i.e. quantizers) with the inverted output.• In some ways, this module has been replaced by the smaller Volts expander, but some people still enjoy it. It's bigger and more tactile, and the two outputs interact in interesting ways.• Volts is a shrunken version of the original Voltages expander, and was designed in one day while on holiday in Cornwall.• This module is compatible with all versions of the Turing Machine. With the older Mki Turing Machine the Backpack module is also required.• Voltages is a very straightforward through-hole DIY build, that would be a good first DIY project. If you get stuck, the Voltages Github Issue List or the main Turing Machine issue list are probably the best places to start, although very few people have ever had difficulty with this module.DIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€77.35*
Music Thing Modular - Volts (Turing Machine Expander)
only 1 left
• Tweak five potentiometers to set up another voltage output from the Turing Machine. This can be a different melodic sequence, related to but different from the main output.• This is a simple, low-parts count, low-current expander for the Turing Machine Random Sequencer in 4HP. It connects around the back with a 16-way ribbon cable and works with any Turing Machine (Mk2, or Mk1 with the backpack).• It acts like a variable 5-bit digital-to-analog converter, taking 5 bits from the Turing Machine GATES expansion port, running them through five potentiometers and giving one summed voltage output.• Multiple Volts expanders can be daisychained from one Turing sequencer to give melodically different outputs that are all related to (and change with) the main Turing sequence.• You can try out a fully operational Turing Machine + Pulses + Volts in the free VCV Rack software.• Volts is a shrunken version of the original Voltages expander, and was designed in one day while on holiday in Cornwall.• Volts is a very straightforward through-hole DIY build, that would be a good first DIY project. If you get stuck, the Volts Github Issue List or the main Turing Machine issue list are probably the best places to start, although very few people have ever had difficulty with this module.• Multiple VOLTS modules can be daisy-chained on a single Turing Machine to give a ‘polyphonic’ CV output.DIY-Kit-Type:THT-Kit-1. This is a Do-It-Yourself kit, not an assembled module. The kit includes all parts to build the module. Only trough-hole parts to solder. Make sure to check the build guide before you buy. For build guide, more info, videos etc. please check the buttons below.
€65.45*