Moog Mother 32/Subharmonican/DFAM, as the center pieces of a Eurorack?

[synth.void]

I've already got Pamela on my list! Would you say the Disting Ex is inviting for beginners? Sometimes those digital screens give me pause.

Sure, it's great. It even ships with a freaking manual onboard.

[lilskullymane]

So you would recommend this trio of devices for someone starting out?

it’s a lot of the moog flavor, but if that’s what you feel drawn towards, then definitely. it really depends on what you want out of that investment, and what kind of experiences you’re looking for.

[booger]

and dfam just doesn't hit that hard.

I wholeheartedly disagree. I’ve teased out some pretty special patches on that machine.

[Fedor]

that's great, lets hear them!

[NightGoat]

and dfam just doesn't hit that hard.

I wholeheartedly disagree. I’ve teased out some pretty special patches on that machine.

I'm with you on this one. Dfam goes into attack mode really easily. It seems a little limited at first glance, but with a little external modulation/sequencing, it can be very versatile. Anything from full voice to percusion, even works as a basic Subharmonicon if you have Maths.
If I was starting out again I'd definitely go for that trio based on the mylarmelodies demo alone.

[TheDegenerateElite]

and dfam just doesn't hit that hard.

I wholeheartedly disagree. I’ve teased out some pretty special patches on that machine.

I'm with you on this one. Dfam goes into attack mode really easily. It seems a little limited at first glance, but with a little external modulation/sequencing, it can be very versatile. Anything from full voice to percusion, even works as a basic Subharmonicon if you have Maths.
If I was starting out again I'd definitely go for that trio based on the mylarmelodies demo alone.

I also agree. The DFAM can get lower and harder than any drum machine I've ever used aside from a Metasonix. It can do sub-basses that just crush anything else, even stacked triangles.

It's definitely there if you patch it well. There are two or three of the sample card patches even that illustrate pretty well how hard and low it can go.

[booger]

...

[RowanH]

2nd hand Grandmother and a subharmonicon would probably leave enough left over for a case and an interesting sequencer. That would be my route if I was starting out.

[NoLegs]

Yeah I’m honestly totally confused by the people in this thread saying the DFAM is “soft”. It was instant punchy, pounding mayhem for me when I had it.

[FletchNYC]

Yeah I’m honestly totally confused by the people in this thread saying the DFAM is “soft”. It was instant punchy, pounding mayhem for me when I had it.

Personally, I was referring more to the snare than anything else. I like a hard hitting, almost boom bap, type of snare, and I've never heard the DFAM produce that. It's very dynamic, and gives you a really bumping bass sound, but I've yet to hear that sort of snare sound from it.

I've also never really heard anyone produce a great combination of hi-hats, kick, and snare, with the DFAM. Seems like you have to sort of choose which elements you want from those three, as opposed to getting them all at once.

[bchampion96]

When people ask about modular at work and they're new to it (and don't have 2 grand to drop) I always recommend a semi-modular first. Other contributors to this thread have already gone into detail about the limitations of the M32, but crucially, you'll be making music/sounds immediately. Nothing worse than buying a nice new module like maths or something and not being able to explore in a traditionally musical manner IMO.

I'll be racking my Subharmonicon Friday where it and Instruo Cs-L will be the centrepieces with other modular toys. Should keep me going for a while!

[booger]

...

[SteeVtheRipper]

FWIW Lisa Bella Donna has done a few sets recently (which can be found on YouTube) where she used her gigantic Moog system which consists only of DFAMs and M32s with a Matriarch on keys. Sounds pretty dope to me and there’s no lack of movement or complexity. Very layered and musical.

[hermitpez]

This is my plan. I started in the Eurorack world to add things to my DFAM, and now I have the bug! I plan to get myself a M32 and a SHC and build on from these

[flashheart]

I think Mother 32 + DFAM is a great combo. I am not convinced of the value of Subharmonicon yet. It seems a lot for what it is and not to have a lot of CV control.

The biggest problem I have with playing M32 + DFAM is that there is no good way to mix voltages, no legitimate S&H, no bipolar VCA, no inverters, no comparators, no logic. Everything else is fine, but if your patching requires these kinds of techniques, you're out of luck.

That's what I'm concerned about. These three devices feel like a brilliant way to get the ball rolling, but I fear that a year after you've been using them you might have some creative ideas that you can't really pull off with them as the heart of your eurorack. It's sort of like Apple vs. PC. When you want to try new things, a PC is just much more flexible. But an Apple is great if you don't really want to experiment much.

I think if you buy the right modules to complement and extend them you shouldn't have a problem. Boring things like mixers, VCAs and logic are what make a modular as much as the fun stuff.

[Voltcontrol]

Yeah I’m honestly totally confused by the people in this thread saying the DFAM is “soft”. It was instant punchy, pounding mayhem for me when I had it.

Personally, I was referring more to the snare than anything else. I like a hard hitting, almost boom bap, type of snare, and I've never heard the DFAM produce that. It's very dynamic, and gives you a really bumping bass sound, but I've yet to hear that sort of snare sound from it.

I've also never really heard anyone produce a great combination of hi-hats, kick, and snare, with the DFAM. Seems like you have to sort of choose which elements you want from those three, as opposed to getting them all at once.

All Moog semi-modular examples I've heard that order its listener to dance have 2 D'sFAM in it or a DFAM and at least one other percussive element.
1 DFAM doesn't cut it indeed.

[NoLegs]

Yeah I’m honestly totally confused by the people in this thread saying the DFAM is “soft”. It was instant punchy, pounding mayhem for me when I had it.

Personally, I was referring more to the snare than anything else. I like a hard hitting, almost boom bap, type of snare, and I've never heard the DFAM produce that. It's very dynamic, and gives you a really bumping bass sound, but I've yet to hear that sort of snare sound from it.

I've also never really heard anyone produce a great combination of hi-hats, kick, and snare, with the DFAM. Seems like you have to sort of choose which elements you want from those three, as opposed to getting them all at once.

All Moog semi-modular examples I've heard that order its listener to dance have 2 D'sFAM in it or a DFAM and at least one other percussive element.
1 DFAM doesn't cut it indeed.

Using a DFAM as a drum kit is missing the point. Can it do it? Kind of, but that's not what it was designed for. To me that particular patch always seemed to be a novelty to me. I think it was always meant to be an interesting baseline (not bassline) for whatever track you're working on, not the entire track. After all, it's essentially just a monosynth with a two sequencers.

[Voltcontrol]

Yeah I’m honestly totally confused by the people in this thread saying the DFAM is “soft”. It was instant punchy, pounding mayhem for me when I had it.

Personally, I was referring more to the snare than anything else. I like a hard hitting, almost boom bap, type of snare, and I've never heard the DFAM produce that. It's very dynamic, and gives you a really bumping bass sound, but I've yet to hear that sort of snare sound from it.

I've also never really heard anyone produce a great combination of hi-hats, kick, and snare, with the DFAM. Seems like you have to sort of choose which elements you want from those three, as opposed to getting them all at once.

All Moog semi-modular examples I've heard that order its listener to dance have 2 D'sFAM in it or a DFAM and at least one other percussive element.
1 DFAM doesn't cut it indeed.

Using a DFAM as a drum kit is missing the point. Can it do it? Kind of, but that's not what it was designed for. To me that particular patch always seemed to be a novelty to me. I think it was always meant to be an interesting baseline (not bassline) for whatever track you're working on, not the entire track. After all, it's essentially just a monosynth with a two sequencers.

Yes, you choose some percussive elements but not combine all as stipulated earlier in the quoted post. I do not think that having two DFAM to produce a full bodied track would lack anything (with distinct limitations) , however the more sane choice would be a DFAM and a drum oriented sampler to me.

[_scm_]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I bought a Moog werkstatt about 3 years ago, picked up a DFAM and a M32 about a year later, and started picking up euroack modules about 8 months ago. Even though I've owned stuff for a while I'm still pretty new to synthesis. I got into late, have zero musical background, and only get to mess with them 3-5 hours a week because of my particular version of adulthood. I have everything in this rack https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/1025575 except the Disting that has been back ordered since December from Vintage King. What others have said about being able to make noise right out of the box with the Moog offerings is spot on. I would have ended up very frustrated in the sea of cases, power supplies, and not knowing what I needed if I had jumped right into euro as a total beginner.

I'm actually thinking about selling the M32 and getting a subharmonicon because it seems much more useful in a euro setup. The ability to patch to 6 oscillators on the Sub and get the poly sequences out independently presents a huge amount of possibilities. I'd never get rid of the DFAM but, pardon the pun, the M32 feels kinda one note to me.

TL;DR Watch about 50 hours of Divkid, loopop, mylarmelodies, and Andrew Huang on YouTube and it'll help you figure it out. It sure did for me.

[FletchNYC]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I bought a Moog werkstatt about 3 years ago, picked up a DFAM and a M32 about a year later, and started picking up euroack modules about 8 months ago. Even though I've owned stuff for a while I'm still pretty new to synthesis. I got into late, have zero musical background, and only get to mess with them 3-5 hours a week because of my particular version of adulthood. I have everything in this rack https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/1025575 except the Disting that has been back ordered since December from Vintage King. What others have said about being able to make noise right out of the box with the Moog offerings is spot on. I would have ended up very frustrated in the sea of cases, power supplies, and not knowing what I needed if I had jumped right into euro as a total beginner.

I'm actually thinking about selling the M32 and getting a subharmonicon because it seems much more useful in a euro setup. The ability to patch to 6 oscillators on the Sub and get the poly sequences out independently presents a huge amount of possibilities. I'd never get rid of the DFAM but, pardon the pun, the M32 feels kinda one note to me.

TL;DR Watch about 50 hours of Divkid, loopop, mylarmelodies, and Andrew Huang on YouTube and it'll help you figure it out. It sure did for me.

Out of all the modules you’ve bought, which ones would you recommend most to someone with a Mother 32? Are there any that pair particularly well?

[batch]

You would have a ton of fun. The v2 firmware on the M32 is great and resolves a lot of the minor annoyances it had.

A 9Ux 84 or 104 HP case gives you plenty of room to add the things you are missing.

Depends what you want but I would a disting, clouds and the Octocontroller versus Pam’s (which is +ve voltages only and seems unnecessary for clocking with the subharmonium) and the. Utilities (VCA, mixers, etc.). Agree that veils is great as does both duties. Get into sampling with the Morphagene.

Oh and keep it black!

I started with the M32 when it came out, have two love them both. Have the DFAM, it’s great, need to save up for the Sub which seems nuts.

[_scm_]

Lots of Mother 32 videos you see online have some kind of reverb or delay effect. For me that's the TipTop z5000 but there are tons of options in euro for effects. You'll see all kinds of guitar pedals used and others will add effects in their DAW. Another important thing mentioned by much more experienced people than me is figuring out what you want to do with your system before you start building it. Knowing what you want to do will drive what kind of modules you get.

[Licudi]

Out of all the modules you’ve bought, which ones would you recommend most to someone with a Mother 32? Are there any that pair particularly well?

Unless you say what type of music you wish to do it's hard for anyone to offer appropriate advice.

[synth.void]

Check out this channel, the author has a great mix of modules to complement M32:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDdDMh ... W3rVKswf5w

[booger]

Using a DFAM as a drum kit is missing the point. Can it do it? Kind of, but that's not what it was designed for. To me that particular patch always seemed to be a novelty to me. I think it was always meant to be an interesting baseline (not bassline) for whatever track you're working on, not the entire track. After all, it's essentially just a monosynth with a two sequencers.

This...

DFAM is by no means a perfect all-around drum box. Part of the fun is working within its limitations.

However, the sound is great IMO. It’s the the only machine that can compete against my 808’s kick and snare. Plus, there’s all of the percussive bleeps and bloops.