|
Words from Robert The last two months have been challenging. You’ve heard me write this a few times now over the years, but it’s true, operating a small manufacturing business is quite a challenging thing and sometimes the problems tend to become overwhelming, especially in these crazy times. We’ve had to deal with illness, delays in receiving parts from China and lately the soaring US Dollar (or falling Euro?). We are now paying almost 20% more for parts than before, however we’ve decided to not pass this extra cost on to our customers. The wait list still stretches back to orders from May, but we’ve again re-organised our production workflow and are quickly catching up. As always, we are very grateful for the patience and support of our customers! Those challenges notwithstanding, we are as happy as ever to create synth modules and to see how they are being used by our incredibly creative community! Good News and bad News The HEARTBEAT module was advertised a bit too early and it took me a very long time to finish the firmware, but it is now finally done and all orders will be shipped as soon as possible! This taught us a very valuable lesson to never again promise a module again before it’s not absolutely complete and ready to ship! Inspired by the current energy crisis which is the result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, I have been thinking about energy consumption and have started development on a solar power / accumulator module! More info on this once it gets past the prototype stage. The KUZMIN Filter has sold reasonably well and we have been able to donate close to 1500 Euro to UNICEF to help children who are affected by the war in Ukraine. The ORNAMENT & CRIME module is currently on hold. Due to the global chip shortage, we have not been able to source any more Teensy 3.2 boards, which are absolutely essential for this module. This means that for the time being, we can’t produce those anymore! New Products Micro Modules After the announcement at Superbooth in May, I had to change the layout of the base and micro modules a bit and now finally the boards have arrived ready from production. The following modules are now available for purchase from our online shop - a whopping 14 new modules! (ok, some are shrunk versions of existing AE modules, but anyway…) You can order these modules now in our shop. I'm also thinking about a case for one row of these micro modules in the usual case widths that can be attached the same way as cases are already connected, via the hinge kit. Let me know what you think about this idea!       
Just a reminder, that both Wonkystuff and Keurslagerkurt are currently developing their own micro modules which will fit into this base system! Stay tuned for their announcements!        Music made by the Community AEtherwaves on Internet Radio This internet radio show dedicated 2 hours of play time to showcase the awesome tracks made by our community for the AEtherwaves Albums. This is a great way to reacquaint yourself with a collection of the songs from all 3 albums: https://www.mixcloud.com/RtSRadio/6-14-2022-harris-king-elektro-kultur/ The Demo Patch - This is Robert himself playing the “Demo Patch” at Superbooth 2022 Superbooth Interviews - Not really music, but The 5th Volt has interviewed various members of the AE Modular community while at Superbooth and you can see all those interviews in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj8Sv1wV_p3OW2VAJNpEzzXp6qP9LzGEv Ole Cane Pole - a new album by @funbun which is a collection of tracks which were originally made for the Black Warrior Lures YouTube channel. Imagine yourself on a boat on a river with a fishing rod … https://blackwarriorlures.bandcamp.com/album/ole-cane-pole  Live set by @madonpoliris - this was presented at a meetup in Wollongong, Australia: https://youtu.be/LUVhvKsp17c Threnody for Titan - This one is a collaboration of our two most prolific artists. @pt3r and @maydonpoliris. True to their form it is both interestingly weird and extremely atmospheric! https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2180/threnody-titan-collab-maydonpoliris River of Electrons / Embodied Synthesis #1 - A debut from our newest artist on the forum @interstar: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2179/river-electrons-embodied-synthesis-1 Open Mic in York - This is a live performance at the Electronic Open Mic in York by our very own @namke aka Wonkystuff! https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2175/open-mic-york Open Mic in Salt Lake City - This a short excerpt from a live performance by @matthewd: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2172/second-open-mic Starter Rack 2 Jam - @maydonpoliris showing what can be done with “just” a starter rack 2! Pretty impressive stuff! https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2163/starter-rack-2-jam Wellen unserer Zeit - a music video of spoken word (in German) and sounds made with the AE Modular … very mysterious and very beautiful track made by @glitchyfrog: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2134/wellen-unserer-zeit-waves-time Of sweet Dorian - it’s great to hear from @chmeee5 again, this time with this “banger” recorded with Bandlab: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2159/sweet-dorian Vanishing tower - This is a beautiful duet between a bass guitar and the AE Modular by @101: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2142/vanishing-tower DIY Projects 4COMP - This is a new module made by @pt3r who is our master drone expert (see and hear his new soundscapes above). Hopefully he will make this module available for sale at some time! https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2155/4comp-ins-outs-why
Mixer Comparison - This is not a hardware project, but a great resource for anyone who may be confused by the many different mixer modules of the AE Modular. This is a great comparison matrix made by our Wiki Master @pol: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fAnq_wG-IyTYt36PenXePDh8rkmY4QD_vg1J5mIdU64/edit#gid=0 Filter Comparison - Again the works of @pol this sheet gives you a comparative overview of the different filters of the AE Modular system: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1250AgqWtZNNn6CccfdCI1xfppCxsX0bYZD0i09BeYSI/edit#gid=0 Meetups and Events Hopefully we will see some kind of AE Modular presence at these upcoming events. If you plan to go to any of these events and would like support with presenting AE at the event then please contact us! Leeds Synth Fest - Leeds, UK, August 14th This meetup has free entry and is organised by DivKid. If you’re nearby, you should definitely try to attend! More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/460328272613452/ Knobcon - Chicago, USA, September 9th - 11th https://www.knobcon.com/ This year we will have Toms aka Kyaa manning a booth at Kobcon and showcasing the AE Modular and his own amazing modules! If you’re in the area, please visit him and say hello! Synthfest UK - Sheffield, UK, October 8th https://www.synthfest.co.uk/ Please make sure to visit John at his desk with Wonkystuff and say hello when you're in the area! This month was of course dedicated to Superbooth in Berlin which was again our highlight of the year. This year was very special because I was so lucky to meet (almost) all 3rd Party makers of AE Modules in person for the first time! We spent a lot of time together at the tangible waves booth and discussed many new ideas for new modules.  (from left to right: John “Wonkystuff” from UK, Toms “Kyaa” from USA, Zeno “Keurslager Kurt” from Belgium, your’s truly from Bavaria and Felix “Tuesday Night Machines” from Cologne) Superbooth is always a great way to connect with our customers and also to show and demonstrate the system to people who have never seen it or who just couldn’t believe how small the modules are and how good they sound. We were also very happy to be interviewed by Sonicstate and Gearspace which gives us very welcome exposure on the internet:
All in all we had a great team with Tamara, Toby and Carsten, all of whom were in great spirits and helped field the myriad of questions from interested visitors. Here we are saying goodbye after 4 long days:  New Products - Micro Modules The biggest surprise for visitors to our Superbooth stand was the new tiny format for AE Modular. This consists of a base module which can hold either 2 ½-sized modules or 3 ⅓-sized modules. This is currently a prototype and modules are in development from us, Wonkystuff and Keurslager Kurt! Here are a few photos of those prototypes to give you an idea: Currently the following micro modules are in development (partially finished already) from tangible waves:
You can expect them in the shop… …as soon as they are finished and produced ;-) Keurslager Kurt is also developing a micro module called "What's Sub?" which is a DIY kit for a sub oscillator. However this module is in the early prototype stages. Wonkystuff has been in on this new format from the start and has the following modules in the works:
These modules are still in prototype phase and we will let you know once they are available for purchase from the Wonkystuff online store. New Module by Kyaa - 2AUTO Kyaa has already taken the AE world by storm with the ingenious Euclid Grid module. This new module is also an amazing piece of hardware and software engineering. The 2AUTO module is a dual envelope / LFO with a twist - it records the knob movements of the CV knob and replays those movements, either as a one shot envelope or looping like an LFO. You really have to see and play with it personally to understand how incredibly cool this is. The moment your fingers touch the knob, it immediately and magically switches into record mode and then records any twist and turn until you let go. There are many more features like syncing to an external clock and locking among others, but this simple idea of recording knob movement already adds a new playable dimension to your modular which is truly magical. For now it is only available for pre-order and you can find out more about it on the forum: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2083/2auto  Early Teasers ... We also saw prototypes of almost production ready modules from Keurslager Kurt and M4vrick, a newcomer to the 3rd party maker group. Keurslager Kurt will soon release a new oscillator which is based on the 555 timer design by Thomas Henry. This module is very feature rich and can produce a true sine wave, sawtooth and square waves. M4vrick has provided us with a prototype of a very beautiful chord oscillator. Stay tuned for more information! Accessories As more people are buying the VMIX-10 mixer and using it for connecting their Volcas, they have found that sometimes an audible noise floor can be heard. This has been reported for Volcas with other mixers as well, so it’s not necessarily a problem with the VMIX-10, but we found a solution anyway with this nifty little audio cable which has a noise filter built in (technically, it does a ground isolation for the audio connection). We also now sell a power cable for connecting power to Korg Volcas directly from the VMIX-10. You can find the Volca power cables here in the shop. And the noise blocker audio cable is here. Additionally we have made a very simple power cable for your AE Modular which includes a power switch! You can purchase it here. Music made by the Community Every month our incredibly talented community produces more synth gems and it’s not always easy to follow it all on the forum. Therefore we are listing a random selection below. This first patch by @glitchyfrog shows that you can turn a filter into a whale if you just add a delay and lots of reverb: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2098/space-orca-recorded-real-habitat And here is a very fun and groovy video by the same artist: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2103/sunrise-surrection-official-video Our resident Jazz musicians and fishing expert @funbun has made another video which mixes the love for nature (and fish) with groovy AE synth tunes: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2097/cane-pole-cat-trolls This is a wonderful jam with the AE Modular and the venerable MS2000 by @martynaudio https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2091/ae-ms-2000-live-jam Orca is a very powerful, albeit cryptic software MIDI sequencer. We have no idea how it works, but it looks beautiful and sounds very pretty in combination with an AE: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2087/refilling-heart-containers User @nols has released this really nice bandcamp album: https://nols.bandcamp.com/album/atop-kilvey-hill DIY Projects This project describes a comparator circuit which can be made with the BrAEdboard module and user @pt3r not only describes how to do it, but has also posted a video and sound demo of its use: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2109/indispensible-braedboard-project-comparator https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2096/patch-challenge-bring-braed-table This post describes a very simple oscillator circuit and there’s also a video that shows how it can be used very effectively in a 1 minute sound challenge: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2104/simple-oscillator Meetups and Events Hopefully we will see some kind of AE Modular presence at these upcoming events. If you plan to go to any of these events and would like support with presenting AE at the event then please contact us! Leeds Synth Fest - Leeds, UK, date TBA Knobcon - Chicago, USA, September 9th - 11th https://www.knobcon.com/ Synthfest UK - Sheffield, UK, October 8th https://www.synthfest.co.uk/ There is not much to report for April except that everyone here at tangible waves was hit with the Corona virus recently. It knocked us all around quite a bit, but we are all fine now! We are busy with preparations for Superbooth and also with assembling, packing and shipping the absolutely amazing amount of orders which we’ve received over the last 2 months. The VMIX-10 has been especially in high demand since it was featured and shared on a multitude of Facebook groups (most of which we didn’t even know existed!) and lately it was even featured in the print edition of FAZEmag, one of Germany’s largest DJ magazine. No new modules were released in April … but do stay tuned for news from Superbooth which is only a few nights away now! Music made by the Community The forum was abuzz with new releases in April and now we have the space and time to feature most if not all of the cool tracks which were posted. If you make music with the AE Modular, then we want to know about it and listen to it and cheer you on! Please make sure to post a link to your track on the forum so we can pick it up and feature it in these monthly blog posts. On Bandcamp
From the forum
Almost every day there is a post about a new track or composition for and with the AE on the forum. If you don’t read the forum every day then you can find a selection of these below for your listening pleasure. @matthewd - Cosmic Urple https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2073/cosmic-urple @maydonpoliris - Scratching an itch https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2072/scratching-itch @glitchyfrog - Dark Clouds and Fresh Berries https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2037/stream-snippet-clouds-fresh-berries @ampersand - Lo-Fi Raving - experiments with minimal rhythmic patterns https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2065/lo-fi-raving @namke - Back to Basics - Playing with a minimal setup: Euclid Grid, a kæstle drum, and a pair of mystery modules with the multifx. https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2053/back-basics @glitchyfrog - COVID Live stream - over an hour of live jAEmming! https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2036/covid-livestream @pt3r - Quarantine Drones (this is scary good) https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2054/quarantine-jam @rami - Jungle DnB (-ish) https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2044/first-composition-jungle-dnb-ish @pt3r - Bite Beets (making the Algodrone do most of the work) https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2031/bite-beets Meetups and Events Superbooth is just around the corner! It’s not too late to grab one or more day tickets: https://www.superbooth.com/en/tickets.html Meet the Makers! It is our absolute pleasure to have all AE Modular makers in the same place at the same time at Superbooth! Meet John aka Wonkystuff from England who brought us the incredible RBSS and CoreAE among other cool modules. You can also meet Zeno aka Keurslager Kurt who has created Quadboost, Sloth and other instant cult classics. And last, but definitely not least, you will be able to meet Toms aka Kyaa the creator of the de facto standard module for Euclidean Sequencing “Euclid Grid”. He will come all the way from the United States to present his newest creation. We hope to see many of you at the tangible waves booth soon! The past weeks have been a bit overwhelming and challenging for us here at the tangible waves workshop. For one thing we were absolutely inundated with orders for the new VMIX-10 which has become a best seller in only a few weeks without much advertising even. The initial batch was sold out in a few days and we have now ordered many more for the next batch to keep up with demand. The first batch is now (finally!) shipping and I dare say it is looking quite stylish in its packaging.  We also had great success with the sale of the KUZMIN filter. We declared in this blog post that we would donate 70% of the sales of this module to UNICEF to help the children of Ukraine who are most affected by the brutal war inflicted on them by Putin. So far 32 modules were sold over the last 2 weeks which generated more than €960 which we’ve donated to UNICEF. If you haven’t yet decided to make the purchase, don’t worry, we will keep up with the donations in the future, as surely help will be needed even after the war ends.  We’ve decided to suspend working on new modules for a while. The process is more time consuming than I often expect (although I love it!) and made especially complicated and exhausting with the worsening chip crisis and delivery delays from China due to renewed COVID lockdowns that affect factories and delivery companies. We started the year with an almost clean order book and unfortunately have slipped behind in the production and shipping of orders due to the mentioned issues, but also because Antonia (who manages all the packaging/shipping) fell quite ill with Covid for a few weeks. Now we will all work focused hard to “close the gap” again. We will also focus more on improving the quality of existing modules, some of which may soon see improved versions. But don’t worry, we do have a special surprise planned for release at Superbooth ;-) New ProductsWhile there’s not much to see from tangible waves this month, our friend John from Wonkystuff has caused quite the stir with the release of two very exciting modules.
Wonkystuff - Kaestle The Kaestle is a clone of the famous Bastl Kastle mini synthesiser from Bastl Instruments. As you can see in the photo above it breaks the “rules” of where patch points should be in the AE Modular system. But as this module is almost a complete synth voice in itself, it makes sense and allows for easier patching. You can find more information about this module at the Wonkystuff shop here: https://wonkystuff.net/product/kaestle/ Wonkystuff - Drum This is another clone from Bastl Instruments, this time for the relatively new Drum module, a very complex, glitchy and fun way to explore lofi drum patterns and sounds. Find out more about the drum here at the Wonkystuff online shop: https://wonkystuff.net/product/kaestledrum/ Patchwire Fabrication - Angular Brackets
These new 3D printed brackets are a great and very sturdy way to connect two AE Modular cases to each other. You can either buy the finished product from the Patchwire Fabrication’s Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1192247163/ae-modular-desk-brackets Or you can print them yourself if you have a 3D printer at home. You can find the instructions and other information in this thread on the forum: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1995/new-brackets-patchwire-fabrication-available S-Trig converter cable So we couldn’t help ourselves and had to throw in a tiny, specialised product which we developed for a customer a few months ago. With this adapter you can convert gate/trigger signals from AE modular (or other synths) to the so-called S-Trigger. S-Triggers are used in Moog synths and its Clones, e.g. in the 911 envelope generator, and Korg synths, like MS-10, MS-20 and others.  This cable is now available from our online store. Music made by the CommunityMax Richardson, Here but not here  This is a truly special album even though it’s not per se made with the AE Modular. Max has asked many people from all over the world to recount their experiences and challenges throughout the pandemic and then assembled it all masterfully into a series of collages with subtle background music and sounds which provide just the right atmosphere for each segment. To be honest, it can be challenging to engage with it as it is very personal and may open some wounds that are now slowly healing after the global craziness of the pandemic. However throughout all the accounts of hardship, there’s also always the element of resilience and strength to move on. And that is what eventually instils hope in the listener. Please listen and purchase this amazing work on Max Richardson’s Bandcamp page: https://maxrichardson.bandcamp.com/album/here-but-not-here Max was also interviewed about this project on BBC radio and you can listen to the interview here (forward to 02:22:00): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bs0rx5 Black Warrior Lures User @funbun is so productive, it’s almost scary, but in a really good way! Here are two new albums of electronic experimentation in rhythms and sounds.
You can find both albums on his Bandcamp page: https://blackwarriorlures.bandcamp.com/album/xenharmonique-2 https://blackwarriorlures.bandcamp.com/album/beccas-dreams Meetups and EventsSynthfest France, 1st - 3rd of April in Nante Our forum user @moruial is going and if you are also there, then maybe meet up for a mini AE Modular meetup! More information in our forum: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2020/synth-fest-france Superbooth, 12th - 14th May in Berlin We’ve talked about this a lot and are looking forward to seeing many of you there at our tangible waves booth. A small group of people has already started planning to meet up for a group event of some sort. If you would like to meet other forum users at Superbooth, then please add your name to the growing list here in the forum: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/2014/superbooth-2022   The unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Putin is shocking, a tragedy and most likely a crime. However it is easy to fall into the mentality of “us against them” and to succumb to hate directed against the innocent. As Sting has put it so perfectly in his song which he never thought to have to sing again: “The Russians love their children too”. So we should not mistake the madness of one man and his criminal cronies with the people of the country. While the Ukrainians fight for their lives, their freedom and their country against an overwhelming and brutal war machine, so do many Russians risk their freedom and maybe even their lives by protesting against this war on the streets in Moscow, St. Petersburg and many other cities deep within Russia in an increasingly oppressive regime. How does this affect us as artists, musicians and small manufacturers of electronic instruments? How can we help end this war and how can we give real, meaningful help to the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are leaving behind everything they love, their homes, their jobs, their families and their fathers, husbands and brothers who have to stay back to fight against Putin’s army? In my last blog post I wrote about the filter which I have designed and which was almost ready to go into production but for the fact that its design was inspired by a Russian inventor who also developed the Polivoks synthesizer a long time ago (maybe even when Sting wrote that song?) I asked you, the community, what the name should be for this filter, and the overwhelming majority voted for “KUZMIN” in honour of this great man, an inventor, an artist, a Russian who put his mind not to subdue people, but to give them the tools to express themselves musically, a kind of freedom towards the end of the cold war and the soviet era. So here is the new KUZMIN FILTER in honour of Vladimir Kuzmin: It offers a unique sound and some additional features:
And to directly offer my help to the people of Ukraine I will direct 70% of the revenues of this module to UNICEF, especially for the support of children affected by the war. So please buy this filter, it sounds great, it is inspired by a great heritage and it will make a difference to the children of Ukraine. You can purchase this module here in our online shop. Thank you, Robert. These are strange times and as I’m writing this, my heart goes out to all the people who fear for their life and their loved ones as they are being dragged into war and violence. The current crisis in the Ukraine is a terrible situation and I don’t want to make light of that at all, but it has also, to some extent, affected the release of one of our new products. Let me explain … For a few years now, as I’ve been dreaming up new modules and researching electronic music circuitry, I’ve been inspired by the invention of one man who created a beautiful filter with a very distinct sound. This filter, and the whole synthesizer it was part of, was designed and built in 1982 in the USSR at a time when the country was mostly shut off from the western world. Some of western music did find its way behind the iron curtain though and the inventor of this filter wanted to create an instrument that gave his fellow countrymen (and women) the same sounds as what the Beatles and other western bands had. This synthesizer was called POLIVOKS which in Russian means multi timbres and although it could only be played duo-phonically, it was revolutionary for an electronic instrument built in the Soviet Union at the time. Some people even called the POLIVOKS the Russian Minimoog, because of its sound even though it’s circuitry was very unique and not at all like the Moog or any other analog synth. So I became fascinated by this synth, the unique and unorthodox design of the filter and its inventor Vladimir Kuzmin. For the last few months I’ve been designing a filter module for the AE Modular system which is based on this vintage design which is nowadays in very high regard and has come to a kind of renaissance as lovers of electronic instruments are rediscovering the roots of these circuits. Finally, just about two weeks ago, the filter was finished, ready for a production run and ready to be announced to the world. I thought I would call it “VLADIMIR” to honour its original inventor (who is still alive and currently working with Behringer to bring the full Polivoks experience back to the masses). Then, Russia decided to invade Ukraine and suddenly current affairs mingled with our beautiful cloistered world of electronic music which is usually free from politics. I did not feel confident about the name anymore as it could now very easily be misunderstood for the name of the current president of Russia and that man and his government does not currently appear in a good light in most parts of the world. It might be easy to explain to anyone who asks, which Vladimir the filter is named after and that it’s not in any way an expression of support for a regime which is inflicting such pain not only on the Ukrainians but also on its own people. But sometimes people just make up their own minds and turn their backs and don’t ask to understand the finer points. As a small business owner I feel that I can’t risk being caught in a political debate or having customers turn their backs on my products just because of politics and a misunderstanding. I have to think of my business on which my and my employees' livelihood depends. So I’m not risking it. I also can’t name it ‘Polivoks’ as this is now a trademark owned by Behringer. (see this article here) So here we are. I have a beautiful filter for you, which has no name. What do you think it should be called? Please let me know in this thread on the forum: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1972/blog-february-2022-make-synths If there’s a good suggestion that is free from political dangers I’ll definitely release the filter under this new name. In case you would like to know more about the Polivoks synth and its inventor Vladimir Kuzmin you should read the following article which also includes an interview: http://analogik.com/articles/180/polivoks-russian-vintage-synth New ProductsT-Shirts and Hoodies Many of you asked for it time and time again. And finally I was able to find the right supplier for the shirts and the print. They are unisex and available in all standard sizes. You can order them in our online shop here: T-Shirts and Hoodies. VMIX-10 a standalone mixer made for Volcas! As I was working on the MIXCONSOLE and the VM-BRIDGE I was thinking of those little Volcas which were my initial inspiration for the design of the AE Modular system a few years ago. I also noticed that there isn’t a suitable mixer available which fits into this Volca ecosystem. So I decided to build one. This mixer is made especially with Volcas in mind, but can be used with any audio device and is completely standalone. It allows the connection of up to 6 mono and 2 stereo sources with line/synth levels, meaning 10 channels in total. It offers level, pan and two FX sends per channel; plus a stereo headphone output The VMIX-10 has exactly the size of a Volca, therefore should fit perfectly in Volca stands that are available. It also has power out connections so that up to 4 Volcas can be powered directly from the mixer. You can now purchase this product in our online shop.
 (Volca Modular shown only for size comparison. Volca is a trademark owned by Korg.) COMPACT MIXER This is the same design as theVMIX-10, but made to fit into an AE Modular rack. Instead of the power connectors it features both 3.5mm minijack and AE patch points so you can use this mixer just like the MIXCONSOLE but with the added benefit that each channel can now be patched in also from an external device, and of course, the integrated headphone amplifier. You can order this product in our online shop, shipping will start in 2-3 weeks 
Music made by the CommunityIf you are considering buying any of the the albums below, on Friday, 04 March 2022, Bandcamp will waive their revenue share to better help support the artists. For more information read here: daily.bandcamp.com/features/bandcamp-fridays-update
Other music on the forum You may nod your head to these tracks by @p3r https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1953/head-nod-ahead Some interesting tracks by @101 https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1942/new-release-goldair-aa Foxermod aka @anachronmaker released a few tracks on Spotify: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1946/foxermod-1-released And just last minute @dmoney2000 posted his latest YouTube track as usual with very cool animations https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1971/hey-everybody-neforum.aemodular.com/thread/1971/hey-everybody-neww DIY ProjectsWooden Cabinets Do-it-yourself doesn’t always mean that you have to be an electronic wiz, sometimes it’s just as well to exchange the solder iron for a hand saw and the solder for glue. These self made wooden cabinets for the AE Modular look fantastic and they are all as unique as their makers. https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1950/diy-ae-cabinet Website for Patching Inspirations Sometimes an unpatched modular synth can be just as intimidating to a musician as a blank sheet of paper is to a writer or painter. This new website can help you overcome the initial moment of indecision by providing you with randomised prompts about which module to patch with another. It has been designed and developed by @timothyjackman, a relatively new user on the forum. It’s simple, easy to use and absolutely brilliant, please check it out! You can access the website directly here: https://timothyjackman.github.io/aepatchgenerator.html And you can leave comments and words of thanks in the following thread: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1956/ae-patch-inspiration-challenge-website Electronic Music Documentaries on TVThe European TV channel Arte has a few interesting pieces about electronic music, its artists and inventors. Check out the following programmes: Sisters with Transistors (viewable in Europe only) https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/104017-000-A/sisters-with-transistors-die-verkannten-heldinnen-der-elektronischen-musik/ Electronic Vibrations (this seems to be viewable from anywhere) https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/098798-000-A/electronic-vibrations/ The following is a British documentary about various prominent inventors of electronic instruments. Luckily it’s available on YouTube. Bright Sparks - A Side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXWgBEiNhs Bright Sparks - B Side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXPoM9s8Trs Meetups and EventsSuperbooth is not far off and will hopefully still go ahead from May 12th to May 14th in Berlin. Tickets are now available from the website:
https://www.superbooth.com/en/tickets.html A few AE forum members have already indicated that they are planning to come to the event and that they would be interested in meeting up more formally. Please let us know if you’re also planning to come along and whether you’re interested in an AE Modular meetup at or outside Superbooth. https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1701/ideas-ae-meetup-superbooth-2022 Words from Robert First of all, I want to wish all of you a very happy new year! Here at tangible waves we are looking forward to welcoming many new customers and members to our growing community. You will see already with the new modules below that we haven’t been idle and plan to continue to deliver you new tools for your musical arsenal every month. It was an absolute delight last year to see so many modules from independent creators and we hope that this trend will continue this year as well. It seems safe to say that the AE Modular system has grown up from a tiny noise kit from Kick Starter to a serious music production system as the last three fantastic AEtherwaves albums can attest. Our focus this year is to improve the overall quality of the modules. We started this last year with the introduction of the new black faceplates, which offer more stability and may prove more durable than the wooden faceplates. We will increase our quality controls, during the design phase of the modules and also pre delivery. We will also continue to work on the Synth Explorer to bring the AE Modular into the educational sector so that modular synthesis can be experienced by students of any age and there are now a few new collaborations which are looking promising. And while it’s still a few months away, we are already preparing our presence at this year’s Superbooth, at which we hope to see as many of you as can come! New Products
Knob Remover Now that you can “upgrade” your modules with black panels you may shy away from the hard work of removing all the knobs first. This tool is made to make this job really easy. We are using it here in our workshop every day and now you can get it, too. You find it here in the shop. XMIX This is a module made specifically for very small systems, eg. 1x12 row. It offers many different ways to mix signals (briefly: four mixers and two attenuators with fixed steps) and can be your swiss army knife of mixing solutions. On this and the next module you will also see a much improved type of switch which is much easier to handle and no longer prone to breaking like the old one. You can find more information and purchase this module here in the shop.
MODULATORS This module is also made with very small systems in mind. It offers various different types of modulation sources: one LFO, one A/D envelope, a VCA and a random CV source. You can find more information and purchase this module here in the shop. DIODE FILTER This is a new entry in the AE Modular filter line up and is modelled after the TB 303 filter. You can find more information and purchase this module here in the shop.
And last, but not least ... AE modular T-SHIRTS! Some of you have asked already, and now we did it: AE modular T-Shirts! They will be available in "AE sidepanel red" and "frontpanel black" and in the the usual sizes; you can choose T-Shirts and Hoodies They are in the press right at the moment and you can find them in the Shop in approx. one week. Firmware Update for the CIRRUS As some people found out, there were some issues with a random variation of pitch in the original CIRRUS firmware. Mathias aka @visuellemusik has dug deep into the code and managed to not only tame the pitch variations, but also created various additional modes to make the best use of it. You can find out more about this and how to install the new firmware on the Wikie page: https://wiki.aemodular.com/pmwiki.php/AeManual/CIRRUS Music made by the Community Jaemuary 2022 We don’t know when or how Jamuary first started, but it has since been a fixture of each new year. The tradition has been well received by our community and a few people have stepped up and posted an amazing variety of jams. Please head over to the forum and check it out, you won’t be disappointed! https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1872/jaemuary-2022 Most of those are videos on YouTube and we have added them all into one big playlist so you can just switch it on and listen to it all day long! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKDTkcFrcxVgwNm4FHCBON0GYRXzDXG6F Although it wasn’t a competition at all we do have to send a big shout out to @maydonpoliris who absolutely topped the list in terms of quantity and variety of jams. It’s great to see and hear so much enthusiasm expressed via the AE Modular! One relatively new member of the forum @tgergo listed his jams via Soundcloud, you can find the list here: https://soundcloud.com/user-189241435 New Albums With the next Bandcamp Friday soon approaching (on February 4th) you could show your appreciation to our dedicated AE Modular musicians by chipping in a few quid for their work! Here are a few more albums that were revealed this month.
DIY Projects First sighting of black panels in the wild! @aethia has “upgraded” his modular to an almost all black system and it looks beautiful!  Another Wooden Case This is another simple, but beautiful DIY case made by @jubin. https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1918/wood-case-fun  DSP-99-MK effects boards with AE This is an inexpensive DSP board which @duddex has integrated with his AE Modular via the Breadboard module. Check it out here: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1904/dsp99-effect-module-reverb-delay Meetups and Events Unfortunately Omicron has made it difficult to host live events in most places these days. However we are still hoping for the big one, Superbooth in May. It would be great to see some of you there and there’s a discussion on the forum on whether we should organise a more structured AE Modular meetup. Please let us know your plans! https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1701/ideas-ae-meetup-superbooth-2022 This year was again a challenging year on many fronts for everyone. At tangible waves we’ve had to deal with the usual demands of a growing backlog of orders, the breakdown of global supply chains and distribution channels, the “Chipocalypse” and changes to our team. Not all change is bad though, and there were amazing highlights during the year: The visit to Superbooth 21 was just incredible. To see (almost) everyone from the wider synth community back in person felt so good and gave me a big boost to keep going and keep making modular synthesizers which are affordable for everyone. We’ve also had a change to our team which is now, myself excluded, 100% female powered! All production and distribution of our products is now firmly in the hands of Antonia, Tamara and Albena. Together they managed to work through the backlog and bring down the wait times from 3 months to just under 3 weeks and many smaller orders are now dispatched almost immediately!  The module palette has increased enormously this year and many of these modules have been produced by third party manufacturers. This proves that the AE format is becoming a “real” independent standard and it is something that I couldn’t even have dreamed of when I started this journey 5 years ago. To all those brave creators, I owe you my thanks for putting your energy and money into this format and to bring new ideas (and a splash of colour) to the AE Modular system. What will the next year bring? Who knows? But one thing is certain: I have so many ideas and prototypes for new modules and I bet the other creators out there will add more new modules as well. Also I’m looking forward to more music from artists on our forum. Whatever happens, I’m just so happy to be working on this system and to be part of this fantastic community! Many thanks to you all, and I wish you a beautiful festive season and a happy new year! XMAS Discount To express our gratitude to you all who are either new to the AE Modular community or have been with us for a long time we’ve decided to offer a 10% discount from 18th December through to 31st December with code XMAES-2021. New Products These products are now ready for sale, however the chip shortage may strike again any time, so better get in early!
TBD The TBD module is a multifunctional DSP (digital signal processing) module that includes more than 30 different synthesis and audio processing plugins. It is a collaboration project between CTAG Kiel (an academic working group of Kiel University of Applied Sciences), instrumentsofthings.com (who produce this module for Eurorack) and tangible waves. You can find more information and purchase this module in the shop. ENVFOLLOWER/EXT.IN This module allows you to bring in external audio via balanced and unbalanced mono inputs. It then converts the volume of this signal into CV which you can use in the AE system to control anything you want, filter cut off, oscillator pitch, amplitude, etc. It also provides a gate signal every time the input passes a certain threshold, which can be controlled by a knob. You can find more information and purchase this module in the shop. CVSHIFTER The CVSHIFTER module is the AE version of the well-known analogue shift register modules that have been around in the modular world for a long time. It works like this: The CV input is sampled with each trigger input signal and this CV is sent to the CV 1 output; at the same time, all CV outputs 1-4 are shifted by one. You can find more information and purchase this module in the shop. Black Face Plates We are now also offering all the modules, which are used in the Starter System 1 and 2 with a black faceplate made from fibreglass, the same material used for circuit boards. This matte black with white lettering looks extremely stylish. The starter systems and also the individual modules are now available with the black option. Soon we will extend this option to all the modules in the store.
We are also offering the face plates individually, in case you would like to upgrade your existing modules. For now, only those modules from the starter racks are available, but soon we will offer upgrades for all modules.  You can find more information and purchase these products in the shop. What about the CIRRUS? As discussed on the forum, the CIRRUS can no longer be produced due to the global shortage of certain chips, especially those produced by STM. However while we won’t be able to produce more of the CIRRUS with the Microcell firmware, we did find another, similar chip, which could be used to run the original MI Clouds firmware. This chip is available in relative abundance and at a decent price so the plan is to release a CIRRUS Classic sometime in the first half of 2022. Music made by the Community VA- 400th-Murmur This is a huge collaborative album with contributions from 63 artists and among them are a few artists from our forum who have used the AE Modular for their submission. A great sounding album with an astonishing variety of sounds, please check it out! https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1816/va-400th-murmur A generative Yuletide Patch @funbun presented us with this great festive generative patch: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1835/generative-patch-yuletide Album BELLS This is another Christmas inspired album by @funbun in which he explores modal and generative music. Please check it out and buy it at: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1842/bells-christmas-ep Chapel FM live concert with AE Modular John from Wonkystuff plays a live set every year for Christmas and this year it was a 100% AE Modular performance which is a very nice meditative ambient set: https://namcom.bandcamp.com/album/live-for-chapel-fm-2021-12-12 And if you missed last year’s performance, you can catch up with this link: https://namcom.bandcamp.com/album/live-for-chapel-fm-20201213 These tracks explore some dark places User @pt3r is again inviting us to follow him to dark and beautiful soundscapes: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1710/sc-apes-ladders and https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1834/regurgitate First patch for Euclid Grid, Core, Moco and Five step @luckylutte shows us how to use those cool new 3rd party modules for fun and dance: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1838/first-patch-euclid-grid-core DIY Projects User @duddex found this little digital reverb module and was successful to simply stick on the BRAEDBOARD to make fantastic sounds: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1843/accutronics-digi-log-reverb And user @yoreb has added these nifty switches to his sequencers to be able to quickly change the sequence length without having to repatch the cables: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1829/switches-added-seq-triq
Programming More and more modules are now programmable and it was the right time to start a sub forum for this. In it you can discuss anything to do with installing or developing firmwares for either the GRAINS, TBD or Wonkystuff’s core1.ae. Check it out here: https://forum.aemodular.com/board/23/programming The first project to report this month is an implementation of the Bernoulli Gate which works similar to the Branches module by Mutable Instruments. It has been developed by @duddex and is now also available on the official AE Modular Github: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1807/bernoulli-gate-grains https://github.com/aemodular/GRAINS/tree/master/Grains-BernoulliGate Then we got a Sine Wave LFO made for GRAINS by @keurslagerkurt: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1801/vc-sine-lfo-grains Also for GRAINS is a CV to MIDI converter by @duddex: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1822/cv-midi-grains Then this new cool Eurorack module was presented which might become an AE Module next year? It would be another programmable module which you could program in Python and it's based on the Raspberry Pi PICO: https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1837/raspi-pico-documentation  Superbooth came and went in a big rush of preparations, travel and 4 long days filled with the joy of meeting with so many like minded people. Thank you to all who come to our booth and all those who send their greetings via social media! I also have to thank Antonia, who was a great help on this trip and did such a fantastic job of documenting it and keeping you all up to date on Instagram and Facebook! Another big thanks goes to Tobias, our former intern, who came by and stayed at the booth more than half of the time talking to people about AE modular, showing his tiny AE system in a homemade case.
We showed off a few new and upcoming modules and you’ll be pleased to hear that they will soon be available in our store. I expect some of them to be ready just in time for Christmas. New Products We missed the newsletter last month so the below is no longer news to most of you, but it’s just so impressive that in the last two months there were not one, not two, but FIVE new 3rd party modules released! This is such a joy to see as it means that the AE Modular format is “growing up” and the cases are getting more colourful. Also these modules are so creative and offer surprising possibilities.
Music made by the Community Usually we list links to the forum where people have uploaded their latest patches with short Youtube videos or soundcloud clips. Not so this time. For some reason the AE Modular artists were especially prolific in creating not just short sound clips, but full albums! Check them out, each one of them is a musical treat!
Black Warrior Lures Damon wears many hats: fisherman extraordinaire, prolific videographer, successful entrepreneur of fishing accessories and also accomplished electronic jazz musician. His albums are always intricate, complex, food for thoughts and ears. You should definitely check them out:
Deofol Atmospheric and dark soundscapes, noise as beauty. These are just some attributes to describe the work of Deofol. Here are two fantastic albums which explore the juxtaposition of frequencies that verge on isolationism, the darker side of ambient, and drone.
DIY Projects The DIY forum was especially alive again over the last two months and it really shows that the AE Modular community doesn't shy away from getting their hands dirty with woodworking, painting, soldering and other crafts. First off, @thehatghost showed off his incredibly beautiful wooden cabinet which he built for his 2x20 system. https://forum.aemodular.com/thread/1756/wooden-studio-stands-travel-modular
tangible waves got hacked ... secret designs leaked! These designs were leaked to the AE Modula forum ... we don't know if or when they will be released, but they certainly look delicious! forum.aemodular.com/thread/1739/hacked-tangible-waves-unreleased-modules
This year the Ambient Waves Festival was again at the beautiful Nazareth Church in Munich. This time I brought only my small AE Modular system with a few of the recently released modules: Drone38, DronX, Phaser, etc. Many thanks to Andreas Merz who so artfully filmed and produced the video of my performance! https://www.ambient-waves-cosmic-music-festival.de/ |
AuthorRobert Langer, founder of tangible waves. Here, I will share some thoughts, background infos and news about AE modular and tangible waves. Archives
March 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed