Moog Mother 32: Perfect for starting your modular journey. (8 mins talking, 14 mins of sound demos)

[@EarthnikNews]

WARNING - CAUTION - BEWARE I too had a firm understanding of subtractive synthesis. I had owned a number of semi modular synths in my time. I ended up with a Mother 32 because I loved the Moog sound. Then I had to have a Subharmonicon and of course a DFAM to complete the Moog trifecta. One day I wished I had an LFO for the rig and of course I really wanted a reverb to make it all sound richer and more ethereal. So I thought, well I could buy a couple of add on modules. Then this led to needing racks to house the modules. Then there was the matter of filling up the spare space in the racks, then there was … then there was … Well you get the point. So now here I am more than $5,000.00 into a very cheap Eurorack modular with no end in site. Will I continue to purchase modules? Hell yes! Do I regret any of it? Hell no! Would I go down the same road again? Hand me the map! I am loving every moment of it. Fortunately, in this moment I can afford this extravagance. My warning is for anyone who can’t. Be judicious. Make your purchases carefully not frivolously. Make sure you know what you need and what the modules you buy are for and know if they are useful for what you want to do. And above all, enjoy yourself!

[@Trippsy05]

This seems like something I'd like to learn about but $700 is a pretty big entry fee. My issue with it is that I don't know anyone or anywhere I could even try it to see if it's something I could even wrap my mind around. For an example most people have or know someone who has a piano or a guitar, so by trying their's you know if it's for you or not. Definitely going to have to research more about this.

[@EarthnikNews]

@@Trippsy05 Where do you live? You would be welcome to play with mt synths anytime.

[@vncstudio]

It's the same issue as what guitar players face. Too many pedals to the the point that it becomes a burden.

[@musicbyvec1955]

@@EarthnikNews "you can play with my synths anytime" is the "ive got candy in my van" of nerdy musicians and i would jump on it in a heartbeat

[@DadIsALoon]

Blame happily accepted. I always been super happy that modular was the passion that really engaged you; rather fitting since our friendship started based on a love of synth music going back to its roots. Keep making great music, reviews, and such well-crafted and useful tutorials.

[@omnidivergence9846]

Wow, another great video. 👏 Now I want a Mother 32 to go with my existing modular setup. You really get quite a range of interesting sounds out of it.

[@SoundVoltage]

Thanks! I had some really weird glitchy sounds when I was practicing for this but I couldn't find my way back to it. :(

[@vncstudio]

Mother 32 is a very musical tool that I can connect with. Not an expensive random noise maker like a lot of what I see demoed online.

[@oscwildle1]

“I’m looking at you make noise” lol!!! Great job again my friend. Thank you for the education.

[@SoundVoltage]

I love Make Noise, but sometimes... :) Thanks for watching!

[@walrtbstudios5430]

Nice homey video. Parallels with my entry into modular, though I had the Behringer Crave- a very decent clone. I’ve now accumulated over 400hp of gear, and am having great fun exploring the possibilities. Never too old… I had originally wanted the Synthi A back in “73, but no WAY a kid could afford one then, or now! Subbed. Let’s see how your journey goes…

[@SoundVoltage]

Thanks so much, and yeah, I'm pretty happy with where the studio is. The only problem is I'm constantly pulling it apart to make videos!

[@spicetbedhead]

The Soundscapes are just amazing on this thing ❤❤❤

[@gfulton891]

such a lovely sequence around 20 mins!!

[@alivenesscyclingroadcyclin2673]

Fantastic Video - this is exactly what I needed to know. thank you so much!

[@bjondersson]

A simple reverb should be one of the first purchases. Everything sounds so much better and more inspiring with a touch of reverb.

[@SoundVoltage]

It's really true. Even the thinnest sounding synth can really wake up with the right effects -- and it doesn't have to cost an arm and leg.

[@draconianrhythms]

What a lovely sound demo - thank you .. subscribed :)

[@SoundVoltage]

Thank you so much! I never know if people really care about the sound demo part of things, so its great to get feedback!

[@wolfpackpresets]

Sounds great, thanks!

[@chipfilmstv]

Great video! I too got a M32 and then got a 2nd Mother. Subscribed.

[@SoundVoltage]

We need a secret handshake or something for people who went the 2 moms route :)

[@klausestephensbass]

i bought the mother and then the old gram

[@ericmosh]

I love my three mothers

[@HenricWallmark]

Well and succinct put, thanks!

[@SoundVoltage]

Thank you!

[@TripleTSingt]

I actually started similar, with an Arturia MicroBrute. Then, I expanded using some LFOs, Envelopes (always bothered me that the MicroBrute had only 1 Envelope) and some utilities (multiples, VCAs, … Now, I have a 84 HP, 7U case (which my grandpa made for me) almost filled up…

[@themonsterinm3]

This video is fantastic! I am just beginning my modular journey as well, and this answers a lot of questions. A few months back, I purchased my first piece of modular kit, which was a Make Noise 0-Coast. I got it for (seemingly) a lot of the same reasons you outline in this vid! Will definitely be geetting a M32 at some point. Have you used a 0-Coast? What do you think of it?

[@SoundVoltage]

Thanks! I haven't played with the 0-Coast much, but I think it's a lot of fun - but I don't think it's right for someone just getting started. Make Noise tends to be pretty cryptic in their labeling, and it has a different sort of synth architecture. It's great if you just want to "turn knobs until happy", but I don't feel that it's a very good learning tool.

[@jonaseggen2230]

If you are still on the fence, I would advice you to first of all get an Arturia Keystep or beatstep, and then look at several semi modular synths, and not only Mother 32. I stated with her and she is good, but I find the sequenzer annoying, and without that she is a bit expensive maybe. On another hand O-coast might confuse you. I would like to try the Pittsburgh Lifeforms, but there are many others. But first of all, try VCV rack on your computer, its free.

[@aaronchase1973]

I bought a Behringer Crave, which is almost a M32. Yes, not a Moog, but to my ears it’s descent. Later this year they release the Edge, which is essentially a DFAM, but unlike the DFAM it has midi in/thru. I did buy a Moog Werkstat, but I failed to get it operating. I wanted it to work with my Crave, but building it myself wasn’t as easy as they claimed. I won’t rule out buying another, but I was upset no local dealer would help me get it working. You could also showcase the Behringer Cat, Nuetron, Pro 1, Model D, K2 as other shortcuts into modular in another video, which can sometimes be the price of 2-3 Eurorack modules for the price of 1 full synth.

[@walrtbstudios5430]

I had the Crave for a couple of years before I went modular, and during that time I bought an M32. A bit of a mistake tbh- it sounded no better than the Crave, and it wouldn’t tempo-sync to or from anything (and yes, I did play around with the ‘assign’ patch point). It got sold on; paid for a few modules, thank you. But the Crave is a keeper. I’ve got a Werkstatt too- got it built ok, but the patch bay is seriously limited. Still, I’ve got me a Moog filter!

[@deadlinkofficialartst5592]

i got the grandmother and with mavis moog and am going try out some FM Stuff

[@KimbleMcCann75]

Sick channel, friend. Do you prefer to use external sequencers w your M32’s in general?

[@SoundVoltage]

Hey thanks! I have to admit that I don't really like the M32 sequencer, so I pretty much exclusively use external sequencers. But sequencers are always a matter of taste & workflow.

[@DrMarlowski]

Your voice sort of reminds me of a moog. It's got rich bass, punchy mid range and sweet upper harmonics. Textured and rich. I might just sample your voice instead of buying a moog 32. (Half)jokes aside, nice video!

[@SoundVoltage]

Careful, you'll make my wife jealous! :) Thanks so much, I credit my time with a radio show for getting that all dialed in.

[@luisguerra217]

IM LOOKING AT YOU, MAKE NOOOOISEEE!!!! jsjsjs

[@SsgtHolland]

The problem is not how to get into modular, it is how to get OUT of it;)

[@SoundVoltage]

LOL, you're not wrong.

[@John-e4p1x]

F make noise. That company is dying and good riddance

[@bittahstaedtrecordings768]

way to many new words for a beginner

[@davide88rn]

Man love so much your video! I started 2 weeks ago with a mother 32 and my guitar pedals. Man love it. Can I ask you a question? How high to keep the volume knob. With some weird patches I got some random click noise only when outputting to max level via the back output jack. If I stay at 3 o’clock everything sounds good. I see a lot of people running it at max volume but doesn’t work fine for me. Thanks a lot

[@SoundVoltage]

@davide88rn - Hey, thanks, I'm glad you're finding it useful! You know, I used the output jack on the back for about a month, 5 years ago :) Now I keep them racked up as part of my eurorack case and just use the VCA output on the front panel. I suppose it's possible that you're doing something weird that is overdriving that output beyond what your output gear can handle, but which the VCA output and another piece of modular gear would would be fine with (Eurorack output levels are much hotter than standard line levels like on the back of the mother). And it's kind of hard to say without seeing what that patch was doing -- but if keeping the volume at 3 o'clock works, then just keep it there and turn up whatever you plug it into (gain staging!)

[@davide88rn]

Thanks for the fast response! I think I’ll keep the volume at noon and then set my interface with the right gain. So I have a lot of range on the knob to level the different sounds 👍

[@davide88rn]

@@SoundVoltage thanks 😊

[@eddraper]

I started with an M32 as well. It is a beautiful synth.

[@docjfnoel]

Mmmmmm….4 min in and I’m wondering…do I really continue this video and tie my hands to buy another synth? Joke aside, really great video!

[@barryjefferies3201]

Great video Bro. 😊its funny that you're story was identical to mine with Reason 5 in my pc. And then saw the Mother 32 and That was that!!!!😅😊

[@CoopsMcPoops]

So excited for the day this channel blows up. Great work as always. I’ve had my Mother 32 for about a year and a half now and more often than not I find myself just using it as a 60HP utility rather than utilizing into its great onboard sounds. This definitely inspired me to dive back into it

[@SoundVoltage]

Hey, thanks so much for that - it would be nice to see a bit more of the blowing up going on. Maybe one day! :) I'm glad you found this inspiring, and thanks for watching!

[@pat2rome]

That day might be coming! I'm watching through this playlist because KZbin suggested his video on oscillator sync to me.

[@joeyasaperson]

my first modular synth, first synth in general! Having a midi keyboard really helps me jam out. Its exciting that my interest in this synth goes up and down. When it goes down it does not stay there for long. Mentally I know that there is a lot to do with it, so I patiently explore youtube and get new ideas. thanks for the video.

[@ericlloyd7981]

Only took me a week after watching videos where everyone uses the industry standard brand name on stage except for this one cat who had a box of knobs and a keyboard with even more knobs and the crowd loved it, I noticed the moog label on the back and realized I want that and so I recently acquired the moog sound studio 3 because a Subsequent 37 won't fit into my next living space, can't always get what you want but I got what I need.

[@SuperAcademie]

Love your video’s! Love your voice! Thanks… keep up the fantastic work

[@ngoziharrison7002]

This is a super inspiring video. I’ve been playing around with vcv rack and want to get started with modular. With the moog mavis have you taken a look at that and do you still feel like mother 32 is the best place to start?

[@SoundVoltage]

I haven't had a chance to play with the Mavis at all -- it seems like it's a great place to start for a lower price point, but I think that the Mother 32 offers a wider range of additional functionality that makes it a little better as a modular starting point. But at half the price, you could also get a basic rack + power + Maths...and that would be hard to ignore.

[@handwoundpickups6555]

Great video thanks.👍

[@diegocera8322]

Hi! Is there any way to lower the octaves of the MIDI signal? I'm using a midisprout on the MIDI In of the Mother-32, but it usually sends very high notes and I would like to change it to something lower.

[@SoundVoltage]

@Diego Cera - That sounds like fun :) I've never used the MIDI input on the M32, but I think it still respects whatever octave is currently selected? If you were to select an octave one or two lower than default (then press the key for C to make it active), does that change things for you?