The last Eurorack sequencer you might ever buy: DROID Moto Kit Demo
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
- Imagine you could buy an uber-hands-on 4-track performance sequencer with haptic motorised faders, but you could modify or totally redesign how it works - as your interests change? The "DROID Moto Kit" (running the included Motor Fader Performer Sequencer patch) is that thing. It's 'done', and powerful...AND it can be changed. In this video I'll introduce the DROID system, explain basic track creation 5:41, and then jam from 14:57 onwards.
Thanks for Der Mann mit Der Maschine for hiring me to demo the Moto Kit. Given that this was designed by someone who actually plays live, you might expect that my next step is to try this as my live case sequencer. Watch this space.
LINKS
▶︎ DROID MOTO KIT: shop.dermannmitdermaschine.de...
▶︎ READ THE MANUALS: shop.dermannmitdermaschine.de...
▶︎ JOIN THE DROID DISCORD COMMUNITY: / discord
▶︎ A DEAL ON B-STOCK M4S: shop.dermannmitdermaschine.de...
SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
▶︎ Join the community on Patreon: / mylarmelodies
00:00 What is Droid & The Moto Kit?!
03:12 Sequencer Intro/Overview
05:41 Let's Make a Track!
14:57 Jams: Meet the Quartet
18:27 Electro Aceed O'Clock
20:41 Electro Variation
23:26 Forlorn Acid
26:49 Stinson Acid
33:54 Endless Noodles
35:02 AFX Bass
36:17 Accumulator Jam
39:33 Arpeggiator Explained
43:06 Compose Mode Jam
45:30 Octave Shifting Melodies
49:04 Divided and Multiplied Melodies
51:33 Reprise Funk
53:36 Kosmiche Arpeggiator Jam
I had such a good time watching this - seems you had fun filming. Thanks for pointing out that altering the patch or using it as a starting point for building an individualized sequencer is doable and totally makes sense. I slimmed down the default patch (generated by the patch generator inside the DROID Forge) by 1 track and freed some RAM to work with. I then added another B32 (32 button matrix) and an E4 (4 encoders) to put an algoquencer circuit to use as 4 track 16 step drum sequencer with plenty of features. Of course it does polyrhythms and polymetrics each track separately and is intuitive to use. The four tracks are colour coded, which reflects in the LED meters surrounding the E4s, so when performing in darkness I'm always properly informed, which drum track I'm working with at the moment. I should say that I'm using a DROID Master + X7 + G8 setup to have enough gate outputs to serve my drum tracks and the voice tracks of the MFPS. It's a space ship command center and performing is just so much more fun.
Greetings to all of you and thanks for this great video, Alex! I had really fun watching it and enjoyed your great diversity of music styles that you've produced with this sequencer.
It's starting to look like we want chained submasters ;). Honestly, I'm so impressed by the way you've evolved this system!
@dermannmitdermaschine thank you for making this. I purchased 4x M4 motor fader controllers and the other modules in the bundled kit previously before the MOTO KIT was released. Can I buy the stickers separately since I already own the parts on the MOTO KIT? Can I also request instructions for accessing "patch generator" in Droid Forge that makes the button layout and setup simple and easy to configure?
This is very cool!
I'm wondering what the potential is for pattern memory? I can imagine this with a whole other B23 dedicated to patterns/scenes/presets (perhaps with chaining or even "clip launch" style grid quantization), though Mylar mentioned that it may be at the limits of it's memory? Perhaps can be overcome via the card slot?
@@CmJr328
You can by a stickerset on his website
@@CmJr328Yes you can. Stickers are available in our shop. You can generate the patch, even with four M4 yourself in the Forge. You need version 1.5. And the manual includes everything
I'll probably never own a single piece of modular gear but that won't stop me from admiring the time, effort, research and development it took to create these cool pieces of hardware. Cool stuff
I know the feeling😅 Love watching all that stuff working together and the ingenuity of the people designing and making stuff - not to mention making music on it. I do have some semi-modular stuff though....😬
If there are any Sinfonion users out there: What's not mentioned in the Video: You can attach this as a follower to a Sinfonion, so the sequencer follows all the root notes / scale changes (chord changes) of the Sinfonion.
Amazing. Is this done in the same way you connect multiple Sinfonions?
@@braillesounds Yes, it uses the same method of connecting.
Wow!
Mathias, you really knocked it out of the park. What a time to be alive !!
It’s a huge world and this is the funkiest intro one could wish for I feel the droid !
It is a huge world indeed, defo it works for me that this is a “finished”/off the shelf package. That said I’m definitely going to see how I can tweak it.
A vid on the possibilities of the system would be like making Lord of the Rings, but I’d like to see it!!
What approach did you take when you designed your system?
I'm also exploring the Droid System at the moment and love it so far. So many possibilities, extremely flexible and the faders are just pure fun to use 🙌🙌
What a great demo of the DROID system and the Motokit in particular. And the demo sounds very like Mylarmelodies, what I like. I had the chance to test the Motokit as well and my stuff sounds totally different. My configuration of the Motor Fader Performance Sequenzer (MFPS) is a bit different to the default settings. I added more steps per voice (32) and the ability to play chords on one track and removed a voice to have space for drum (like mention in the video Moritz did) and root note sequencing. So you can really customise the DROID to make it fit your needs. I use DROID for sequencing everything (melodies, drums and chord progression) for some time now. I build my own patches (also have video on this on RUclips). But this MFPS for the Motokit is very feature rich and well thought out. I will keep some of the core features in my DROID patches for sure. Thanks for sharing this long demo.
Thanks for this m8, it’s really interesting to see the ways the MFPS could be customised - that sounds fantastic. I had also thought to have a channel spare as a “chord progression” track - shifting the root note! Will speak to you at superbooth I’m sure about this, looking forward
@@mylarmelodies see you at Superbooth. 👋
Awesome review! Thanks for taking the time to give the Motoquencer the depth it deserves 👍
Oh yes! Another one of your super entertaining and informative videos!!! Gotta love it 😁. I'd been hooked already by your HYPNO demo to get one. And this is at least as good, so I am just a little envious of the motorfaders, but I'm already happily patching my own sequencer and more with a DROID with encoder modules. The DROID gives you so much freedom and at the same time musical functionality to work with.
Loving the jams as always. What amazing creativity from the maker and the player! Nice one guys.🤟
You always do such a great job learning and explaining the complexities of the tools you use, but my favorite thing by far about your explorations is how smart and cool and funky the musicality of it all is. You're a gd treasure to the community
Thank you m8
matthis kettner is a genius. he did a tremendous job with his sinfonion ( which will never leave my system ) and now this. almost all his moules are under top ten modules on modular grid. i mean this is really a work of a genius. now with the editor...... crazy good. if you touch these faders once, you don't want to touch anything else. i swear!!!
ps:
fucking love you alex!
This is so much fun to watch. I am almost tempted to buy one of these sets myself. Looks even more fun to design something like this myself but then I recognize the amount of work and knowledge that was put into designing this. Let's not forget that you can add more - and different - controllers and expanders if you like. I especially love the force feedback/detent style of the motor faders.
That is awesome. Love that you dive in this crazy niche products and show it to us. I feel like 20 years young even watching this.
The best feedback. Thanks
God that Stinson Acid section is amazing, really deserving of the name
Oh shit also that AFX bass section, that bassline screams The Tuss
Thank you ever so much for your track Musikvideo! A masterpiece!
Aseeeeed! Quartet and the end of Forlorn Acid are incredibly funky, its like all of Warp/Rephlex/Planet Mu in one set of modules and 20 hand picked synths, very enjoyable, well done sir
Great video, and very good tunes !
Hey, awesome you are covering this! Really enjoying the DROID ecosystem :)
Thanks and great to meet you the other day!!
@@mylarmelodies Likewise! Superbooth is mostly a meeting of people for me, and verry happy to have spoken to a bunch of people I hadn't before. All the best!
Colour me jealous. I've been a fan of Der Mann for some time, but I almost feel I wish I was hearing about it for the first time now-so I could run out and put _this_ configuration in my bottom row. The motorised faders seem to work even better than I imagined!
Great to see DROID getting more coverage. I've been using it for about 1.5 years. Sadly i couldn't get my hands on the motorfaders when i purchased the kit as they were out of stock, and i had concerns about my already tight power consumption being able to handle them. I've been super happy with the kit. What i feel it has helped me so much for is simplifying my ability to do transititions in the Eurorack environment. My only wish is that it had a few more CV or you could easily extend that ( NOTE : no just gates). This has replaced the need for so many utility modules for me - great value for money and really well thought out system.
Very cool. Price = OUCH!
Absolutely fantastic
Motorized faders are always a welcome addition!
Nice one. I first became aware of the Droid system from Toby, the guy behind Neuzeit, who Helped on some of the Droid modules.
Never dived deeply into the Droid, it seemed very complicated and I wasn't willing to dive in at the time. To see you demystify it... Yeah, very interesting for sure. Cheers
Yep I too don't think I would see myself building a sequencer from scratch, it's very cool that you don't have to!
Glad to hear that :-)
Love a Mylar Melodies vid on Droid! Been using this for a couple of weeks now with SinfonionLink circuit. It has opened up my setup so much! Love Master18 input upgrade!
Ahh mazin, what sort of control/sequencing setup have you made?
finally, motofaders! In Eurorack!!
This is very cool.
Very nice.
This looks totally mental!!!
You seem to feature the Buchla 200 series a lot in your racks as well, i can't rate them highly enough!
It is totally mental. I love the DROID system. And this bundle is an easy entry.
Ha it is quite the package - I’m super new to it too, the possibilities if you mastered it (both the MFPS and Droid Forge) are quite bewildering.
@@mylarmelodies the new Patch Generator makes it much easier, especially with the Motokit. But you can tweak it or use it as a starting point to build your dream sequencer and cv source for your modular system, as you said in the video. It’s very cool to build a custom sequencer. I have now a system tailored to my needs to jam and make music.
this is wild
I already use Teletype and Grid as my DIY nothing is impossible sequencer, otherwise I would jump on this immediately!
Crikey! That looks like loads of fun!!! Is that a Speak&Spell that is cheekily sitting to left of your On Air sign?
It is!! And ha yes, circuit bent no less by circuitbenders.co.uk (I think - must have had it for like 15+ years)
Droid ❤
Looks really nice and playable. Can you expand it in terms of number of channels? Where is the memory limit? Is in the B32 or Master18? Is everything step based or could you record continuous CV with the faders?
Love the Droid ecosystem. Held off on the motor faders as the capacitors (while they look huge) could stop working when needing a charge. Did you get a chance to push them (keep smashing random to see if charge is lost). Matthias is a genius! Loved the Sinfonion.
I never managed to max them out - they're set to the 350ma base voltage requirement in this little case (PSU is a Sinusoda Juice Lite), didn't seem to be an issue, but I guess your mileage may vary depending on how you wield them? You can always opt for a more powerful PSU and change the jumper settings so they draw more juice but go harder for longer(!)
There's so much more here than this but man...motorized faders are so cool.
Oh no you might finally push me over the droid edge...
That thing is all nice and well but whats REALLY impressive to me is only Alex' sound design and feel for what sounds great together and which modulations go where.... your experience to dial in great sounds quickly. Which all happens behind the scenes. Alex you make it look like it was done in an afternoon... which can't be, can it? Right? I bow before your experience to dial-in sounds! Motorfaders are ok i guess.
Thanks so much m8 - this is basically the result of three sessions recording on this, each lasting about 3 hours, over two days (obviously a couple of days of messing around to teach myself the sequencer!). Obviously each jam is a lot longer in reality and I truncate it for efficiency/flow in the edit! But I basically settled on a collection of four voices which worked well together - Two RYK Algos, Rings in Strings mode (it's a little digital and bright but it worked in a pinch) a Doepfer A-111-6, and an ARP2600 - so two digital, two analog. The music is definitely the result of listening to a lot of Aphex and Electro music and messing around with gear for 25 years! I've actually done videos on nearly all the parts that made sound in this if you're interested (RYK Algo most recently).
FWIW the setup was:
2 x RYK Algo
Mutable Instruments Rings in Strings mode (for strings)
ARP2600 (chords, softer bass)
Doepfer A-111-6 (basses, acid)
Befaco Hexmix (mixer)
Tiptop Z5000 (reverb)
Make Noise Mimeophon for delay)
6m0d6 On kick, Tiptop 808SN on Snare thru a Music Thing Minidrive, Soundforce Samples II on hats and clap.
Tiptop Trigger Riot as a Drum Sequencer
Happy Nerding 4xMutes to mute the drums
@@mylarmelodies Thanks for your nice answer and insights. The Dopfer111-6 is like a miniature Arturia microbrute, or nanobrute. I wish you a good trip and stay in Germany should you happen to visit Superbooth24.
@@mylarmelodies loved the bit where you panned up to reveal the arp2600 resting (dare i say precariously looking!?) on top of the modular case, like a king!👑 😂
It's awesome but it's so hard justifying the price, I had the Droid setup before it got really well known and I found the sequences just all really sounded so similar and it didn't have much mojo, I use a nerdseq now which I absolutely love
jesasss. option paralysis attac. aaaargh. genius. the music lies in the interface.
The functionality is ace, but I would need more visual cues as to what it is doing. The motorized faders are cool, but how do I see what step I am on? I wonder if this could be built with the DROID E4 LED encoders at less cost?
There’s a little chase light running along the bottom!
@mylarmelodies Hi! Amazing demo. Is it possible to send midi to 4 x synths via DIN Midi? I can see 4 x midi outs… I think. Also - could a hub be connected to the usb c port to send midi to multiple midi devices via USB
?
I haven’t touched the MIDI stuff at all and honestly am not sure how it works, but I’m reliably assured it does, so you could be using MIDI output for some or all of the channels, you use a 3.5mm jack to DIN MIDI adapter
@@mylarmelodies Cheers dude!
cool idea but really skeptical about using stickers.
Are there ways to save projects? Save sequences? Say I come up with a sequence I like can that session be saved?
Yes, there are 3 presets where you can save all aspects of a track. They are saved to the SD card.
Pardon my french, but this is fucking incredible! I thought the whole sequencer spiel was played out, after Modal brought as much "ordered chaos" as they could, but damn, this.. This really REALLY makes the sequencer an extention of ye ol' deck of keys. And it's so damn well integrated! I feel like there's doors opening up to actually having a good time jamming with a sequencer, without the idle hands syndrome. I thought for sure there wouldn't be anything new to be done to improve the user interface. I am so happy I'm wrong.. I'm saving up for this. Haven't played with it yet, but I can already tell this has earned it's place in the shitbox.
😂 Thanks, and BTW The Shitbox is a great name for a modular
@@mylarmelodies To be honest, I think I name anything I own and (ab)use a shitbox. My car, my cheap rental place, my synth.. I uhh, I'm having kind of an epiphany here 🤣
The Master18 module doesn't appear to be available on the website yet. Just the full set. Hopefully it becomes available individually for those that already own other modules
I believe it will - watch this space!
Abouts 1 or 2 months it will be on the website
Watching Alex‘ videos is always bad for my GAS, so I refuse to watch this one. Could get expensive otherwise 😂… but I guess, it’s awesome
Just watch it. It has great music inside.
Really excellent demo @mylarmelodies; really spectacular.
27:30 is sick! and 37:10
Is this the same Mathias that created the synphonion ? ACL ?
Yes! In fact you can hook this up to a Sinfonion!!
Are motorized faders reliable long term?
I asked Mathias and he said these are ALPS faders (which is a very well respected brand), he doesn’t think there are better models you can get in the format required. And that so far zero failures reported. The M4 has been out since late 2022.
Thank you good sir, best possible answer.
Gorgeous! But super expensive unfortunately. This kit is 1500€.
(Merveilleux) 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Is it really worth ~$1,400. when I can buy a Hermond+ and a midi control with sliders to record modulation for less than half that? Motorized sliders are cool, but really neccessary? Convince me otherwise.
The point here is more that the Hermod works a certain way and will never really be able to change. That way might become deeply linked with how you personally want to work and so it’s the better choice for you. But if you found yourself in a rut with it, or that you suddenly had some inspiration as to how it COULD work, then there is nothing you can do about it. That is not the case with Droid.
I wonder the same thing. I have some Droid gear, but I drew the line at the motor faders.
The Patch Generator can be changed too so I believe it will be possible to generate a MFPS with different modules, namely the E4. The Motorised Faders are very nice though, I couldn’t wish for more (erm other than another two sets, but this is enough for now!!)
I love this, but at the same time, it is the price of a deluge, which leaves me thinking that a midi>CV could be the bridge to emulate all of the above
I hear great things about the Deluge, lot of love for it
@@mylarmelodies but you are not wrong in that mechanical, physical tactile faders just have something magical about them,
So making modules for making modules. If we go deeper and start patching diy chips and manipulating molecules and atoms and then one day suddenly BOOOM! I would vote for not going smaller than what we can see because what we can't see is dangerous. And motorized faders, I vote for that too.
the only thing I'd be concerned about if I had spare rackspace and some money to burn would be how easy it might be to get lost and not know which page you're on at a glance. Can anyone with a DROID system speak to how much of an issue this is? (I don't really feel like going onto the wiggler forums)
I admire the time and effort for all this modular electronics mayhem. But controversially isn’t this for all people who didn’t go to music school to learn an instrument and music theory?! 😂 for what is lacking in music ability is often offset in electronic engineering prowess and synthesis theory.
Believe it or not, but the guy who invented this thing is a jazz musician.
You reading my mind or something?
And I thought the 303 had a complex UI/UX
GAS HYPERDRIVE ENGAGED
Sighs. .. it's cool but I hate having to go to a computer for updates and changing the entire module with software. Some people love it I guess. But software drives me nuts.
This sequencer is ready to use, without any computer (unless you want to change the MIDI channels, if you use MIDI at all).
@@DerMannmitderMaschine indeed but the comment is referring to the need to use the computer to customize it.
@@Rareos That's right. You can customize it. But that's completely optional. All you see in the video is done with the sequencer as it comes out of the box, with no computer being involved at any stage.
@@DerMannmitderMaschine yes and both myself and the original comment haven't conveyed otherwise.
What would you prefer to use to customise it?
like a chicken! thank the maker(s).
🐓 chickenfunk acid
modular modular
Ha, and even more so: 4mscompany.com/metamodule_preview.php 🤯
the knobs move on their own and look cool but i dont like how it requires spending a great deal of time learning one module.
It took me two days to learn this, it's got a good manual and is quite logical once you learn how Mathias designed it
@@mylarmelodies Good deal! I love the size of the sliders (not knobs). I am from Southern California and we dont understand modular the way we potentially could down here.
I don't want to know how much all those parts cost collectively lol
definitely one of those things you should never sit down and work out 💸
interesting concept, but i really have never trusted motor faders... and never will.. they always fail despite the price of the product.. and then they really become a pain in the ass to fix.. so I'm a bit biased, but intertesting nonetheless!
Can't speak for their lifespan - it's true that everything must die eventually, but also parts can also be desoldered and replaced, no?
@@mylarmelodies ofc! I just have horrible experiences /w a mixing desk and korg stuff thats impossible to replace yourself or even at service... you happen to know what motors they use? good thing w modular tho you just have to rep the slider board!
@@TMIWUD Don't know the model number but they're ALPS ones! I would suspect a good part.
and it's only $1500!
If you buy this instead of the OP-1 Field, you still have $500 left over!
Interesting notion. Unfortunately, the first occurrence of the word "software" was my signal to exit. Years of experience makes it clear, "software" equals "abandon-ware". That ticking you hear isn't the metronome - it's the TTD ("time-to-death") clock. Hard pass for me.
I understand the concern but worth noting this works out of the box without ever needing a computer being connected. And if you wanted to continue actively developing patches for Droid in future, I think it’s not unreasonable to have an old laptop kept in a drawer for that purpose. I can still program my Nord Modular with their software editor and that came out in the late nineties.
No, sorry but no.
i like the idea, but the user interface is completely and very confusing to me. And i'm allergic to anything with motor faders.
Well, whole point is you can build your own custom sequencer/whatever - without motorised faders if you wished