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December 2019 - Happy Birthday AE Modular

16/12/2019

 
Happy Birthday AE Modular!

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the AE Modular System. The Kickstarter Campaign ended successfully funded on the 16th December 2016 and with that this new system was born and changed my life. Now three years later the user base has more than quadrupled, the number of modules has increased from the initial 14 to over 40 different modules for all styles of music! This year has also seen a huge growth in the community and the number of performances that people have released on Youtube, Instagram and other social media. I have heard from many of you that this system has changed your life as well and that makes me incredibly happy.

What started as a hobby project which I was able to pursue in my spare time while working a job as a software developer has now become my sole focus and source of income. The demand has increased incredibly especially after Superbooth and I had to make substantial changes to the production process as well as hiring additional staff in order to keep up with the volume of orders that started flooding in. This increase in demand has led to an embarrassingly long wait time (for some up to 3 months!) and although you all have a right to be frustrated with this, I am also extremely humbled by the overwhelming good will and many messages of  support from you, my customers and the community especially during the time when I was very ill. 

Whereas the last three years have been focused on upgrading the original modules (better sockets, better patch wires, some fixes and improvements of the circuits) this year has seen a shift towards upgrading my production processes and while there’s still much to improve, I believe that I’m getting on the right track to deliver more orders in a much shorter time.

We can never be sure about the future, but I believe that 2020 will be another incredible year for tangible waves and the AE Modular system and community. The main focus will be to first get on top of the outstanding orders, but once this process is more streamlined I can focus again on the development of more and exciting new modules. The system will also be visible more globally as well, not just at Superbooth, but potentially also at next year’s NAMM, and hopefully in Japan and Australia as well.

Merry Christmas: 5% off all products!

I have decided to give you all this year’s Christmas presents early to thank you all for your continued support!

Please use the code XMAES2019 to receive 5% off any purchase on the tangible waves online store! 

This code is valid until the 15th of January!

New Module Releases

These modules were silently cooking in the background and now I’ve finally managed to move them into production just in time for Christmas … you may buy them today but they won’t ship until next year as I’m still working on reducing the backlog!

  • SOLINA - This is a very lush string synthesizer module which uses a chip licensed from Jan Ostman.It is now available in the shop.
  • ALGODRONE - A module for exploring the noisy soundscapes of ByteBeat algorithms - a strange way of making sounds from short C programs. It is now available in the shop.
  • GRAINS - this is a granular oscillator / multi purpose module which was initially  developed for Eurorack by the wonderful Jan Willem from Ginko Synthese. The module is directly Arduino compatible  and can easily be reprogrammed with other firmware and there are many different codes already available on the Ginko Synthese website. It is now available in the shop.
  • 2LFO - this will replace the single LFO module with a dual LFO with one LFO having the option to continuously morph between sawtooth and triangle waveforms. It is now available in the shop.
  • MS20 - this is a new filter based on the design of the famous MS20 filter. It is now available in the shop.
  • 1U POWER - This is a new power module that is only one unit wide. It can be used to supply smaller systems. It has no MIDI connection though, but it does have two audio in/out jacks and an integrated mono headphone amplifier. It is now available in the shop.

The following modules have been updated:

  • The MASTER module has received another update, the main feature is a method to change the MIDI channel to either Omni, 1, 14, 15 or 16 (this is so it can be used alongside the Korg Volca Sample which is hardcoded to MIDI channels 1-10).
  • The KICK module has been slightly upgraded to have more bottom range.
  • The DRUM 010 module has been upgraded to have a higher output volume.


Changes at tangible waves!

Tangible waves had to move to a bigger room as we’ve grown to keep up with demand and Antonia and I have now been joined by Tobias who is doing an internship and already showing his enthusiasm for synths and electronics with his involvement in the development of an interface module for the Volca modular. 
Picture
(Greetings from the tangible waves team)

Documentation and the Wiki

With the fabulous help from Roger (aka @pol in the forum) the wiki now has documentation for most modules as well as a very promising getting started section. Please check it out and send any ideas of improvements to Carsten at the forum. 

http://wiki.aemodular.com


News from the Forum

Here are only some of the many new and interesting threads:

  • How to carry your AE on a plane, or the eternal search for the perfect case: http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/523/ideas-solid-traveling-modular-system
  • What is the Logic Module good for? How can you use it other then sending triggers? http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/530/practical-uses-logic-module
  • One of many threads where someone wants some pre-sales advice: http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/528/hi-before-jumping
  • This thread is about exploring various ways of interfacing other gear with the AE Modular: http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/533/interfacing-ae-modular
  • What’s wrong with the “Synth Culture” or is it all good after all? http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/471/reddit-thread-frustrated-synth-culture


AE Modular Performances

The amount of new tracks that are being created with the AE Modular is truly breathtaking and it’s really heartening to see and hear so many new artists appearing on the scene every month! Every track is great to listen to, here’s a sample of last month:

  • @101 http://forum.aemodular.com/post/4199
  • @roth http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/527/new-modular-piece
  • @slowscape http://forum.aemodular.com/post/4056

And this video of me playing at the Ambient Waves event in Munich earlier this year has finally found its way to YouTube. I hope you enjoy my little performance on the AE Modular:​

​DIY Projects


The DIY section is where the forum got really busy over the last few months and it’s really great to see that the 0-5v format inspires and enables so many interesting projects.

  • First up @rodney shows us his 3D printed, AE Modular sized mounting board for the Little Bits synthesizer kit. Later he would actually perform with this which looked and sounded quite impressive: http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/438/littlebits-mounting-board-ae
  • After some frustration with the forum’s editor user @hambone managed to send this description of a very useful performance module, the “SC/OFF linear scale/offset CV processing module” .. who knows this might become an official module in the future: http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/522/linear-scale-offset-processing-module
  • User @hambone was a roll and also gave us this DIY Mono Headphone Amplifier module just because he had the parts lying around: http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/508/mono-headphone-amplifier-module-lm386
  • Synths&Things loves the idea of the MultiFX module but wants to put his own algorithms on the chip so he decided to build his own: http://forum.aemodular.com/thread/490/fv-1-effect

Upcoming Events

Tangible Waves was present at 4 music trade shows and meets this year at MEFF, Superbooth, Dutch Modular and Knobcon which was already twice as much as the year before. But next year we will double that again and try to show this new format to the world as far and wide as we can!

NAMM Anaheim CA, USA 16th - 19th January 2020
This is the King (or Queen) of all music conventions, the biggest and loudest and the one where most music hardware companies show off new gear. Although not 100% confirmed, it could be that an AE Modular system might be present and one or two completely new modules could be revealed at that show! Stay tuned.

https://www.namm.org/

Synthplex, Burbank CA, USA 26th - 29th March 2020
This is like NAMM, but more specifically geared towards synthesizers, modulars, pedals and controllers. An AE Modular system might be present there, but again, not 100% confirmed!

https://www.synthplex.com/

Superbooth Berlin, Germany 23rd - 25th April 2020
I’m looking forward to again present the AE Modular system at this event, which is growing ever bigger and more amazing each year. Please join me again if you can make it to Berlin, I’m keen to meet you and to hear how you are using the AE Modular or to answer any questions you may have.

https://www.superbooth.com/en/tickets_en.html
​

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    Author

    Robert Langer, founder of tangible waves. Here, I will share some thoughts, background infos and news about AE modular and tangible waves.

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