New Rack 2

Welcome here to the AE family! Decision between wavefolder/nyle filter/multi-fx:  Really difficult to answer; the modules are not really comparable. Wavefolder does subtle to medium changes in the spectrum / sound of basic waveforms, the nyle filter is quite aggressive and "crying" at higher resonance settings, and the multifx is for reverbs, quality delays and other digital fx. My personal decision would be the multifx because I'm a reverb junkie (the longer the better), but if you process the output of AE e.g. in a DAW (which offers digital fx too)  the priority might shift to the other two modules. My two cents so far...

Thanks Robert & Technobear. Multi mode fx is definitely on the future list. I'm hoping to keep some rack real estate free for a drum module sometime perhaps? Also interested in the Logic modules. Maybe try to make a mini boolean state machine to compliment SEQ16 and Triq164.

I've now added multifx, seq16 and hpamp to the rack2 order . The shimmer effect alone just sounded so good. It's going to be so much to take in, and it sounds like there are some pretty exciting new modules coming out.

I would wait for any announcements made at Superbooth .. your options could expand significantly

I am liking the word "significantly"...

Thinking about a few of the things in this thread...

When I bought my second batch of modules (and an extra one-row) case, I also bought a load of extra patch cables, including the really long green ones - so far, I've managed to get nowhere near running out. The really long ones have been useful in breaking out to my Bastl Kastle as I can put it a bit further away. I did consider the extensions, and I looked at the same ones NightMachines pointed out. They are great value-for-money and are cheap enough that if any don't work, you don't feel conned atthrowing them away. As I said, in the end I just went for extra (and longer) patch cables from Robert.

Using the KeyStep...? I had been using the AE Modular as a stand-alone as I wanted to explore it a bit more, although I did try the MIDI to ensure that it worked. I used my BeatStep Pro and I got a few oddities with sticking notes, also the MIDI connector was a bit flakey, to be honest. Having found the table noting which manufactirers use which TRS configuration (posted elsewhere), I decided that I'll just create a simple conversion and use TRS to TRS in the future.

That lead me to try CV/Gate outs from the KeyStep and although I was worried about the over-voltages, I had noted that admin was already doing this and hadn't reported smoke (yet). That worked just fine and took towards more melodic adventures, which lead to me positing my first "All AE Modular" track, even the pads were created with long delays and reverbs to blur the notes in time. That worked really well, except I found that getting the 2OSC in tune was difficult, especially across more than one octave, but that's well documented and the "D" variant helps (ordering one in the nect batch). The OSC was much easier to tune, not least beacuse it has a "fine" control 

Slightly more irritating was that when I attached anything to the CV input of either the 2OSC or the OSC modules, this pulled the tuning down, so I had to compensate. As I noted, I was trying a simple octave switch, but it happened with the SEQ16 as well. I'm still not sure if this is my system, or a general artefact. I can live with it, but it does mean that all tuning has to be done with the final patch, and no changing it live. My ear is good, but the adjustment live (espcially withe 2OSC) is not easy.

My conclusion overall, for what I was doing, was that the CV/Gate route was better than the MIDI route, not least because the BeatStep Pro then has separate outputs for everything, rather than one MIDI channel - and the AE Modular can only do one channel or omni. Not an issue, but something to bear in mind for more complicate sequencer setups from the BeatStep. The KeyStep also has a CV out for modulation as well, which adds a nice extra piece of control.

New modules...? Well, obvioulsy I want them all... and many of each   Seriously, and there are people way better qualified than me to talk on this, I always think about what I want to achieve (and why). For example, I wanted to do two things with my recent upgrade: improve my modulation possibilities and be able to do more advanced sequencing. I've been really pleased with the outcome (and the output), although experimentation has highlighted where a couple more modules would add even greater functionality for me. Luckily, the modules are so well-priced, this doesn't break the bank. Next, I am looking to increase the number of oscillators, mainly for tightly-modulated drone sounds, although sequencing with multiple oscillators is addictive, especially live.

One thing that I didn't think about was how self-contained I want the modular set-up to be. I wasn't worried about on-board effects or being able to listen straight off the modular - I use my external effects pedal farm and go to a mixer, which allows monitoring from there, if needed. Of course, now I'm thinking that it would be nice to just fire up the modular, with nothing else, and get effected sound straight into my ears.

One final thing that I thought about was building how I distribute the modules across the two cases that I have - and future cases, which will become necessary, no doubt. I took on board some of the advice here about making racks that could be swapped in and out, almost making them specialised for particular jobs. In the end, I just put the new modules in the new rack (I use a RACKLINK) as getting the new ones fitted was harder than I'd imagined and meant that I had to loosen all of the ones around them. For the future, I will start to plan my racks and we hav ethe excellent planning tool from Gaëtan to help with that.

Apologies for the stream of consciousness, hopefully some of it was useful. My whole personal philosophy is to make music through my experimentation, so I'm always looking for equipment and expansion possibilities that will add to that. This post has been fuelled by Tangerine Dream and some good coffee... time for a bit more of both.