Muff's Modules & More

porfiry · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:40 pm Post subject:

Yeah, all those patches are pretty stupendous. Excited to know how nicely it plays with the AO. Also excited that mine arrived today, and is officially the first piece for my new case! Do all of these R-54s contain what appears to be a US Navy mil-spec Raytheon tube on the right side like mine does? That just makes me fap fap fap...

HueMonContact · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 12:49 pm Post subject:

Thanks again for all the feedback guys!

I'm going to record some new compositions for Vol.2
I'm including videos and patch details for this one.
I'll upload one of them this weekend for you guys to checkout and experiment with if you have the same modules.

zerosum · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:00 pm Post subject:

porfiry · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 11:13 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I was getting more of a nostalgic kind of kick out of it than a technical one. Interesting information about swapping out tubes though...though I'm well aware of differences in 12AX7s and more guitar-related tubes, I hadn't really thought about it on a device like this. Figured Eric was probably putting the jankiest tubes he could find in his devices already. smile

I haven't even gotten my case and powered my R-54 up yet (less than 2 weeks to wait!), so I'll have to see how much magic is lacking before I start diddling.

EDIT: Still interested to know if all of these have the same tubes to begin with, or if they're just built with a variety of whatever's electronically equivalent and available.

metasonix · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 7:38 pm Post subject:

thetwlo · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 7:59 pm Post subject:

porfiry · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 11:49 pm Post subject:

metasonix · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 7:07 pm Post subject:

porfiry · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:28 am Post subject:

So you're saying I *could* potentially have an instrument that costs as much as a Buchla, made up of a single module, which will likely fail relatively quickly, and cost another $20,000 + labor to repair? Where do I sign up? What more could any self-abusing synthesist want?

Dead Banana

All very interesting info about the tubes. "Obsolete" technology is an endless source of fascination and melancholy for me. Glad you make shit with it.

porfiry · Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 12:45 pm Post subject:

I just got my new case set up. I bought a whole bunch of modules, some of which are really leaving me dry, some I had before and knew I loved, and some new surprises. And I have to say, the R-54 is in the I WILL NEVER GET RID OF THIS category...insanely gnarly module!

The ability to kind of combine the oscillator/filter functionality makes for some true stupidity...it's totally not what you'd normally expect out of either type of device. Jam some drummy stuff through it and share the CV you're pitching the "drum" oscillators with...tune it just right and it's auto-bassline/kick. Also, the morose sort of brass-like sounds you can get out of it used purely as an oscillator... MY ASS IS BLEEDING

Definitely ranks up there with the Anti-Oscillator for the unpredictable freakout factor. Love it.

I might add, I've gotten some very Plague Bearer-esque sounds out of it, but the R-54 is WAY easier to find the sweet spots on, and the tubes do seem to give it less metallic, brittle, nasal whine, and much more round, ear-pleasin' fatness.

metasonix · Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:02 pm Post subject:

Funny, how the solid-state stuff does the "metallic, brittle, nasal" bit, and the tubes never do? Now you know why guitar amps, high-end audio, and studio gear keep using tubes, in spite of the design misery they cause.

porfiry · Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:25 am Post subject:

Me and my Pro Reverb and Vibro-Champ have known for quite a while. Rockin' Banana!

Nothing against the Plague Bearer either, it's really fun, and everyone says two of them paired up are kind of spectacular. I think this hunk o' yellow suits my style a little better though.

porfiry · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 2:07 am Post subject:

So, little help here, from Eric or whoever else. I did "roll" my newly acquired R-51 with a set of Telefunken "selected" 12AU6s per the zerosum thread, and I have to say, a really good module is now even better, particularly the distortion section seems to have a noticeably larger usable range with more graceful breakup than I was getting with the RCAs that came in it. Funny how a pair of 12AX7s from that era would set a person back hundreds, vs. the $20 I paid for this pair of less-fashionable gems.

I've also got a few cheap 6AK5s en route to try out in my R-54, a Tung-Sol and a couple GE and Sylvania military JAN jobbies. My first question is...I've read that *only* 6AK5s will work in this circuit (haven't I?), but are the other designations such as EF95, E95F, 6AK5W, 5654 totally equivalent, or not?

The other question is a multi-part...what do each of the tubes in the R-54 do, what is the other non-6AK5 tube on the left (mine isn't labeled that I can see), is it worth trying other tubes in that socket, etc.? I looked back through most of the older R-54 threads for this info, but didn't easily find it.

EDIT: OK, after yet another read through the product page and a closer look at the module, I understand that it's a 19KG8, that it's the oscillator half, etc. Still would like answers to the other parts of the question, though.

It's good cheap fun messing with these substitubes for sure. Any info appreciated. It'd really be kind of nice if we could get a sticky thread going that discussed nothing but mods and rolling for the Metasonix stuff.

And sorry to rebump and re-rebump this thread a few times, but HueMonContact deserves it, because I can tell you that his album of tunes has sold at least one guy a couple yellow modules...the first of many, I presume.

k.rosakruz · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:08 pm Post subject:

metasonix · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 7:40 pm Post subject:

porfiry · Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:37 am Post subject:

Cool, thanks for the info.

Interestingly, the other 6AK5s I've tried so far, while different, aren't tripping my trigger as much as the Raytheon that came with the module. The Tung-Sol that I assume will be somewhat superior to these GE and Sylvania turds hasn't arrived yet.

I will say the Sylvania has a hard-edged jankiness to it that some people might really dig.

m0rb1d · Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:21 pm Post subject:

bumping this thread for its wealth of knowledge and awesomeness!
just got an r54 and it shed a lot of light on it.

HueMonContact · Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:34 pm Post subject:

I'm really lovin' all the awesome info in this thread guys.
I'm gonna go get me some different tubes for my R-54!