September 2024 Eurorack round-up
This month’s best new modules include a bargain 808 bundle from Tiptop, characterful echo from Knobula and another take on the classic Wasp filter from Doepfer.
Tiptop Audio Drum Bundle
First released over a decade ago, Tiptop Audio’s 808 series are already modular classics, almost certainly the go-to options if you’re looking for authentic analogue Roland TR-808 sounds in Eurorack. Bundled together here are the BD808, SD808, HATS808, RS808 and MA808, which are 808-inspired bass drum, hi-hats, snare, rimshot and maraca modules respectively. Put them all together and you’ve got most of the classic sounds of the 808 at your fingertips in modular form (the rimshot module also generates the classic clave sound).
All the modules have independent accent inputs as well as gate triggers, plus you’ll find a few nice little upgrades like CV-controlled resonance and bandpass output on the HATS808 and white noise output on the MA808. Sound is superb and the value is exceptional. At £361.99, the big advantage here is of course the saving over buying each module separately; we make it a saving of well over £100 compared to buying all five separately. Also available in white.
Knobula Echo Cinematic
Knobula continue to impress us with their output. The London brand specialise in polyphonic synth modules, but the Echo Cinematic is actually a little more traditional, being a 24-bit stereo delay module with complex EQ, two LFOs and lots of modulation options. Based on concepts drawn from dub reggae production and tape delay techniques, the Echo Cinematic is lush, playable and musical. You can sense that this is a module designed with real-time manipulation in mind, which is reinforced by the very clever inclusion of a 30-second knob-recording function, allowing you to create automated modulations of all the module’s knobs.
It’s a fairly pricey one at £379, but we think the price is justified by the superb sound quality and the unique approach, especially in terms of recording knob modulation.
Hexinverter Mutant Rimshot
Part of now-defunct Hexinverter’s Mutant series of analogue drum modules, the Mutant Rimshot has been revived by Erica Synths. Loosely based on the TR-909’s triple-oscillator analogue rimshot circuit, the Mutant take on the concept expands things for much more versatility. Three modes allow you to choose from a range of sounds: HI for classic rimshots, LO for tom and kick drum-style sounds, CLV for claves. An extended pitch range option allows you to explore even further, while a multi-mode filter allows you to shape and sound a much broader range of percussive tones than the ‘rimshot’ name might suggest. At just under £160, it’s a way to get quirky, versatile analogue percussion sounds into your arsenal.
Winterbloom Neptune
Winterbloom’s Neptune is a resonant diode ladder filter, which probably suggests it’s yet another Moog clone. That couldn’t be more wrong. Winterbloom describe the module as ‘salty’, which refers to the feedback-modulated distortion circuit that accompanies the filter core with separate high-pass and low-pass inputs.
That dual input is particularly interesting, allowing you to achieve a range of different effects. Feed a signal into just one input and you get conventional high-pass or low-pass effects. Feed the same signal into both and you can create an interesting shelving filter using the input levels, or create dual-band saturation effects. Feed two separate signals into the inputs and the cutoff knob acts like a spectral crossfader between the two, high-passing one and low-passing the other.
The Salt control is where things quickly get really nasty and reveal the character of the Neptune. There’s lots of fun to be had from pushing the distortion and saturating the signal until it breaks up then going even further until it turns to pure filth. You can even crank the resonance so that the filter self-oscillates and create kick drums with the Salt control ramping up the grit and intensity. Really good, creative stuff and good value at £220.
Doepfer A-124-2 Wasp Filter
Finally, the original Doepfer Wasp module is another bona fide Eurorack classic, now released in this new slimline format, available in silver or black. The Wasp Filter is a clone of the VCF found in the weirdo analogue classic Electronic Dream Plant Wasp, originally released way back in 1978. Conceived by British synth design royalty Chris Huggett, the Wasp featured a unique 12 dB/oct multi-mode filter. The Doepfer take builds on that original circuit with separate outputs for the different filter modes and CV control of cutoff frequency plus its attenuator.
The slim line version retains all the functionality of the full-sized module, and of course retains the same weird and wonderful sound of the real thing. The only downsides? The complexity of packaging the circuit into a smaller space means that the knobs for LP/HP mix and input level are small, and, as a result, the slim line model is slightly more expensive than the original. The trade-off is that you get an extra output for either LP or HP in addition to the mixed LP/notch/HP output, and at £105 it’s still a serious bargain.