Flexible Eurorack Quantizing, Slew, Transposition, Precision Adders & MIDI // dail from Instruo

Is multi-octave quantising a world first? Serious question without trying to sound clickbaity, I haven't seen that before and it's a fantastic idea! Multi-octave quantising is having the ability to quantise to different notes in different octaves, which we do here in the video with dail ... anyway onto the video ...
Dail is the new Instruo 4HP Eurorack quantiser that not happy with it's already highly flexible nature decides to throw in (as if it's sentient!) multi-octave quantising, equal and natural note distributions, MIDI note selection, MIDI to CV, slew and both an analogue precision adder input AND on board quantised precision adding and transposing. All in a simple interface that feels performative easy to use.
dail website, manual etc // www.instruomodular.com/produc...
Instruo's dail video // • Instruō - dàil Overview
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AFFILIATE LINKS //
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OTHER INSTRUO DEMOS //
dapf // • Wow! I didn't know All...
ochd expander // • MEET THE NEW OCHD EXPA...
Sample & Hold in Video Games // • Sample & Hold in Video...
Arbhar - granular drums // • 4 Ways to Creatively P...
Instruo HQ Tour // • INSTRUO HQ TOUR // a f...
Saich // • Instruo Saich - Quad s...
Tain // • Instruo Tain // dual b...
Lion // • Instruo Lion (matrix m...
tanh[3] // • Instruo tanh[3] // a m...
ochd // • Announcement NEW DIVKI...
Ts-L // • Instruo - Ts-L (6HP tr...
*TIMING INDEX // CHAPTERS*
00:00 Hello & patch previews
01:27 Quantising, dail and it’s unique features
02:54 Controls & panel run down
03:57 Quantising basics with note selection, manual programming, scales & MIDI
08:14 Make melodies from your modulation - sample & hold style clocking
10:46 Live programming as a performative control
13:29 Counter melodies & basslines from a single sequence
15:34 Evolving rhythmic melodies from repeating patterns & external rhythms
17:27 Slew - musical pitch slides & glides
18:56 World first? Multi-octave quantising
22:24 Equal vs natural distribution & multi-octaves via MIDI
26:11 Quantised transposition - onboard precision adder
27:49 Analog precision adder input
30:05 MIDI to CV - a whole bonus extra module!
*THIS VIDEO IS SPONSORED BY INSTRUO* they have funded the creation of this demo/tutorial video. Any questions jut ask.
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[@the_snobot]

re: attenuating before going into the quantizer. Something I love doing is adding an adjustable offset voltage before going into the quantizer. Intellijel's Quadratt is perfect for that; leave channel A empty, connect your LFO/random/whatever signal into channel B. Output from B then goes into the quantizer. This way you can shift the melody up and down without affecting the spread of notes. Or you can change the spread without changing the pitch of the root. Or you can do both at the same time by turning both knobs at once.

[@DivKid]

Solid tip. One thing I like doing pre quantising is to use a VCA to adjust the depth. So I might have an LFO or step pattern attenuated in a VCA, but then use another source to open the VCA further with spans a wider spread of notes while retaining the same pattern shape.

[@kipropmusic]

@@DivKid thanks! :) really nice and easy to pach

[@davidort9426]

Also a fun experiment for control pre quantizer: use a Crossfader between two lfos or complex waves. You get the separate musical phrasing on either side of the Crossfader and combined in the center.

[@VocalChainsStudio]

Wonderful workshop, musicality and techniques. You always inspire, DivKid. Thank you🖖

[@DivKid]

My pleasure!

[@Don_Kikkon]

Great video and super intuitive implementation by Instruo. Also that TsL is such an amazing little oscillator, and that bass!? Disting (of course) has the MIDI selectable beyond one octave thing in their A6 Quantiser, H4 Dual Quantiser and interestingly the F6 Shift Register Random Quantised CVs. Selecting the MIDI 2 mode as the scale on any of these algorithms gets you there. So just to be clear F6 is a Turing Machine with MIDI selectable ‘any note on the keyboard’ quantisation! From the manual… “ While any notes are held, playing new notes adds to the pattern. When all notes are released and a new note played, the pattern is reset and formed from the new note.” What do they put in the water up in Scotland!

[@DivKid]

Good to know about the Disting, I'm glad I posed the question about it as I figured others would have some info for us all. haha those Scottish modular minds

[@xpump876]

awesome new quantizing !

[@michaelgerdau5418]

Very neat feature set

[@JohnLRice]

Nicely done, Ben! 😎👍

[@DivKid]

thank you :)

[@thbroadway]

This is exactly what I have been looking for in a quantizer, a lot of the music I have written over the past couple of years utilizes non-octave-repeating scales. That price is very prohibitive, however, when a micro ornament and crime can do so much more in 8hp. I think the note input for dail is the major draw, and maybe a sale would entice me to eventually pick it up.

[@lebannerfan65]

Nice demo as usual. Although I have to be honest, the sticker price is quite eye-catching for a single channel quantizer

[@DivKid]

if you compare it to quantisers with far less functionality then yeah I can see some sticker shock of the price. One thing I try to do is to look at all it's doing and add up the price (and HP) of all the things I'd need to do what these things do.

[@projectz975]

i think if the module was bigger it wouldnt be such bad sticker shock lol it just feels odd spending nearly $400 for something so tiny, but if it was 16hp id be like "yes of course thats how much this would cost"

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

@@projectz975 $400?! I'm out...

[@pyerbass]

Nice! About multi oct quantization, don’t know if it counts but vcv scalar does it. I think the module concept was from grayscale at the time. Shakmat bard quartet can be hacked to do it by mult the input signal to harmony cv control and affect a different harmony for each octave.

[@DivKid]

nice hack with the harmony CV trick on the Shakmat. It's been good to learn of a few things that do this or similar things. Good to pose these sorts of questions.

[@NCheno]

Really too bad that gate output couldnt get a little extra. Would have loved the ability to use it for a CV input over slew. Especially given the gate is only used when the midi is then the gate output could have been on that extra module too and the module would have one more nice use (that wouldn't be useless when not using that function). Other than that this does so much of what i wanted i snagged one regardless but just seems like a missed opportunity.

[@Igneous_Tone_Generator]

nice. I'll take 2

[@DaveBenhamMusic]

Interesting - it allows a scale to span multiple octaves, but it seems to always fold the scale at an integral multiple of an octave. In the November 2023 release of my Venom plugin for VCV Rack there is a Non-Octave-Repeating Intervallic Quantizer (NORSIQ) module that defines scales as intervals between each successive note. The last interval in the definition specifies the fold point for the beginning of the next scale in the series, so it need not repeat at an octave boundary. Also, each interval need not be a multiple of 100 cents, so you can define virtually any scale using any tuning you like. It also supports equal distribution, and there is an expander that will sort any polyphonic chord signal and convert it into a set of intervals to define a scale. The Venom plugin is available for free in the VCV Library, and there is extensive documentation online (I can't post a link - it seems to block the comment)

[@DivKid]

Hi Dave, sounds interesting. Not sure why it's blocking a link, here it is though - library.vcvrack.com/Venom/NORS_IQ

[@StudioOOMZ]

❤

[@DivKid]

ta

[@effiksmusic]

Nifty little model. Hard sync. I’m generally set with quantisers, but it seems still a cool concept.

[@DivKid]

thank you! :)

[@disxiple_113]

Ornament and Crime does give you two seperate octaves you can choose notes on too!

[@DivKid]

ah that's cool, wasn't sure about the O_C, with the 2 octave limit does that then continue that two octave pattern into the higher octaves?

[@Nanotopia]

[@AH-Okay]

@27:02 when I'm suddenly in a Todd Terje banger 🥰

[@DivKid]

haha nice I'll take it

[@BrailleSounds]

Happy with my harmonaig for chord duties - would be amazing to hook that up to this one so qua fixation was based on the harmonaig chords. Kinda like adding Sinfonion channels

[@DivKid]

We (Jason and I along with the DivKid community on my Discord) spoke at length last night after the video premiere about the Harmonaig and doing similar things with this or future things that could work with dail. Jason concluded that the Harmonaig is still it's own thing and there's nothing he's wanting to change on that really.

[@BrailleSounds]

@@DivKid makes sense! 🙌🏽

[@robbert3761]

Is it possible to plug a MIDI TRS cable straight into the back without using the expander? I'm trying to decide what to do with the last 4 hp in my performance case ;)

[@DivKid]

I asked Jason about this and yes, it will have to be right type though (I can't remember if he said A or B was the input on the back, the expander has the switch to sort that). If you're getting a cable into the back of the module though, you can always have the expander out of the back somewhere not taking up HP too.

[@robbert3761]

@@DivKid Great, thank you Ben!

[@steveturner1815]

Functionality is amazing but the method of choosing notes I am not sure - maybe an extension module with a pressable button/keyboard would be good.

[@JHJLIM]

USB midi host adds immediate programming from any class compliant controller :)

[@DivKid]

Yeah the slider and button isn't as fast as a button per note. But I didn't find it cumbersome. MIDI is the fastest though and then playable/sequence-able.

[@steveturner1815]

Yep. As discussed elsewhere what i would do is use my vector sequencer to connect via midi and sequence chords in. That will be very powerful.

[@PieterSlabbert]

Where do I get those little clips holding the patch cables!

[@DivKid]

Hello, those 'Nest Tamers' from Gammalite Systems. www.gammalite.systems/#stockists

[@ComposerMichaelDow]

NIce nice.... but why are the instruo panels different colour grey/blacks? That would upset me a bit haaha

[@DivKid]

they're not. The overhead LED panel catches some of them differently depending on the angle of the camera relative to the angle of the light.

[@christopherventer6391]

Mmm. With the midi expansion it seems like a decent interface but that slider and the buttons are something I would find frustrating and would never remember how to use.

[@DivKid]

the basic, slide to the note, button on or off is really simple. I can see not remembering the gesture stuff but those aren't needed if you're just wanting to turn notes on and off simply. Depends how much you use it, I haven't used it much at all beyond filming the video so it wasn't much learning.

[@Ryannaut_g]

Do you manually repair if that little flashy light short circuits?

[@JHJLIM]

which flashy light? There are a few of them! 😂

[@Ryannaut_g]

@@JHJLIM the one mentioned in the video brother!

[@JHJLIM]

@@Ryannaut_g is there one mentioned in particular?

[@Ryannaut_g]

@@JHJLIMit’s the fader one at 21:30 that you raise up and down with

[@JohnLRice]

@@Ryannaut_g I don't have that module, but from what I've seen elsewhere, the LEDs in slide pots just pull straight out. They aren't soldered, it's just like a socket the LED pins push into.

[@Delouser69]

Can this take scale files or micro tune?

[@DivKid]

Not currently, though Instruo have plenty of ideas (we hung out and discussed with the community in my Discord server) for expansions with it. It's worth contacting them if this appeals but that's something important.

[@teemac23]

🕷️

[@DivKid]

spider?

[@teemac23]

@@DivKid yes, with those lovely shimmers! Nice cameo for Bib 😊

[@michaelgerdau5418]

HARD SYNC

[@DivKid]

thank you