Friday July 15th at 7pm PST, Make Noise founder Tony Rolando will introduce their latest Eurorack module design in a livestream event via Perfect Circuit. It’s their first new Eurorack module since 2019’s Mimeophon.
Long-time modular artist Rodent will join Tony in the announcement. The stream will feature a module overview, Q+A, and live examples of the new design.
You can watch the introduction via the embed above or via Youtube.
Excellent company name.
terrible front panels though.
Just watched the vid, JMO but to me the panel looks too weird. Again, JMO but don’t think I would enjoy looking at this everyday. Major props to those that would use this, but not my cup of tea.
I got a Mimeophon and a Morphagene. They’re the best looking in my rack, and the most fun to interact with. I would go out of my way to get my other panels that black and gold look.
Actually their panel design is pretty brilliant. After short use you start building up a sort of sonic muscle memory and patch in a breeze. When you first look at the modules the layout appears puzzling, but as soon as you start working with them it all flows.
Agree, I think their front panels are great. I believe Tony once told how they were inspired on the Buchla panels its functional layout. Usually the organisation works in mulitiple ways: clock related outputs usually have the circles, inputs are white, etc. I like how their pots are always thought of as a musical control too. The movement always feels safe to manipulate while playing live: they can be dramatic, but the values always make musical sense too. The panels also invite crosspatching and plugging in to see what happens. At the same time I can still understand intellectually what the module ‘does’, so the experience with them often leads to new ideas, even while not being in front of the synth.
Even worse you are paying for PCB material as the ‘panel’ vs. metal. I can’t understand that design choice for hundreds of dollars. Find a local CAD guy and a machine shop and build it to last.
weird demo
its like we haven’t figured out what to do with it?
stereo drones, ok
but stereo bass screams mixing trouble …
Loved it. Love Tony. Love Make Noise. Love the faceplates. Love what they contribute to the synth community.
Grab a Mavis or Crave if you need things spelled out for you in Helvetica.
if one tries being more critical (in a sense: reflective, not negative), one would notice MN didn’t actually do much in terms of innovating. a few modules are, but most rehash of what was there for ages. and many digital modules have outright bad SQ. panels are great though.
Make Noise has created a comprehensive line of modules, designed with a unique aesthetic and perspective, that have proven to be inspirational to a huge number of modern synthesists.
How many synth makers can you say that about?
first of all, I do respect them. judged against the overall conservative landscape of the industry, MN looks cool, sure. but I stand by what I said: some of their modules are great, most are not. and one can realise the overall vector: they rehash Buchla & Serge principles, and worse: they sell you an experimental vibe, meaning: packing what was once discovered as innovation as ‘presets’ of that. it’s a long and sad talk, actually. I used to love them too, but had to come to terms with facts. not open ended enough, not controllable enough, not enough quality in pure technical terms (like most eurorack actually), not contemporary enough. the more you study the past innovators, the more you see this.
and when you say ‘synthesists’, I’m already losing you: is there such a thing, ‘synthesist’? it’s so limiting, don’t you see? a composer, a musician, an artist — okay, but a synthesist? who’s that? someone who synthesises sounds, what’s that about?
their best modules are what? Maths is great, but you’d agree it’s mostly copy pasted. Rene is one. Morphagene is another, but it’s too limited due to the lack of control. Phonogene and Erbe is plain crap SQ, Tom should be ashamed of those, but up to him, I’d have been. Mimeophone is great in certain concepts, maybe their third great original product, but half-baked in terms of control, and suffers from noise issues. Woggle is great, but merely a copy. Qpas is another great concept, but sounds plain crap in terms of stereo field and annoyingly recognisable. I’d say 0-ctrl is the best, together with Rene. 0-coast is another cool all-arounder, but nothing spectacular, just a very good, strong combination.
the aesthetics of instruments is there. I love their panel designs, respect their westcoast mojo. but I’ve never seen anything too convincing experiment-wise in either Serge or Buchla. let’s say Subbotnick was never anything as important as Riley or Parmegiani was, and that’s what I’m pointing to. yeah, even Riley, or Reich, not to mention Cage or Stockhausen. it’s not about instruments per se, it’s about the overall concept and method. the entire MN like isn’t worth a couple of anonymous MAX/MSP patches, or a Bitwig, or an Octatrack. thats the point. it’s a snake oil to make one feel good against the backdrop of the tired ‘electronic scene’. the fresh air is not there, pal. any fully functional sampler, hw or sw, will get you further. from the Eurorack land, it’s more difficult to compare, but a good old Doepfer is still more than enough (and there’s a lot of Serge vibe in DD’s modules already).
sorry for the long post.
In that case, I’ll just stick to Rings into Clouds. Nothing wrong with that.
Do any of you get depressed thinking about the lives of our fellow synthtopians? Are they lonely? Do they have a loving family? Do they need some form of validation they aren’t getting? Perhaps they could they spend less time on internet and more on making music/noise. Do they actually think anyone cares if they are not going to buy a productt? I mean, great for you, you saved yourself some money, but do you really need to scream it from to the mountaintops of synthtopia?If so, that’s fine, too?
Having said that, Erbe-Verb is one of my favorite reverbs of all time, up there with Lexicons and Bricasiti. Yeah, it’s mono, but I don’t mind. It’s one of the most playable reverbs I’ve ever used. Morphagene is another one that has brought me hours of endless joy. Isn’t that what all these products are for in the end? To bring us joy?
Also, I think it has too much control, so I don’t need more.
Yes, they have taken inspiration from Serge, Buchla, Moog (I even hear a bit of Oberheim in the XPO’s spike wave), but they aren’t out-right stealing like so many others.
If you enjoy making music using software or taking a few years to learn an Octatrack’s workflow, enjoy!
I have never understood the “this is not what I want and I am not buying it” posts. Ok. Great?
not sure if I like the stereo ideas here.
PWM was allright, the other stuff well sure made noise but way to drastic for my taste.
Was hoping for something else soundwise like Strega or the discontinued Mysteron and Telharmonic. I need to hear more, but I have a DPO and a STO and combined with QPAS and Mimeophon these add already more than enough stereo and exploration for the same kind of sounds and timbres.
I’m wondering what their thought process was when they decided to wait 4 days until releasing proper audio demos of the module. Building up a hype? That would explain the kind of underwhelming patches they showed so far.