I would say most modular mixers at 9 o’clock are about line level (a quarter volume). anything
past that is bad news for sure. that’s why they say don’t even do it.
you are correct in what the manual says.
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thanks a lot wavi
thanks a lot josepalio
Hello, new op-modular owner - not new to TE or synths, just to the modular.
I just got my unit in two days ago. Things I can confirm:
- The volume knob runs backwards. We probably all know that’s the case at this point, but I’m amused that this has actually been accepted as the canonical way for it to work if you look at their support documents.
- I have the filter slew issue as well. Seems to be a non-issue if I’m using a CV to control it, it’s only the knob. Knob controls in general are weird on it, I seem to have a much greater range with a CV.
- I have the dreaded power supply whine. Happened surprisingly fast with new alkalines. Took me a while to track it down to the power supply because I was making goofy patches, and I assumed it was the cheapo speaker acting up. This is probably the thing I’m least happy about at the moment, as the decisions made around the power supply make little to no sense here.’
- Same PWM behavior that others have reported, where the second half passes beyond the point where the waveform thins out to nothing. This is also canonical behavior, according to their support documents.
- Everything on here is actually a TS connection that they just provided TRS cables for because they are cheaper to source, right?
One thing I haven’t seen come up - are the “left” and “right” inputs to the speaker useless? It’s a mono speaker, and the output only outputs on one side, so it appears to be mono as well. Is there an actual point to the “left” and “right”?
Some general thoughts… I have mixed feelings about the device in general. There are things I like, but frustrations aplenty - I may have a tad bit of buyers remorse, which hasn’t ever really been a problem for me with synths up until now.
It seems like this would be a really bad into into modular for someone who had no experience with it at all, due to the quirks that seem to be defects that have been elevated to expected behavior, along with the power supply issues. That latter bit seems especially egregious given how flawless power deliver has been on every other TE device I have.
Putting it together - Bending stuff wasn’t a problem and was actually fun, but would it have killed them to include actual nuts and some self-threading screws for the metal? My hands paid a major toll for this, and that’s even using a second torx driver for it.
While I am someone who actually appreciates some of the “cheapness” of TE devices, I’m a bit frustrated with the things that were done to save a couple of cents, like using the spacers as nuts, and the horrible power supply. It seems like they challenged themselves to do this with literally the cheapest components possible and damn the consequences.
On the plus side:
- It does seem to sound pretty decent for what it is
- I like that almost all modules have multiple outputs
- All of the oscillators have a really large range of frequency compared to a lot of other devices i’ve used
- There’s probably a lot of depth to this to explore that I have yet to see. Of course, that’s because it won’t run for more than a few minutes.
On the negative:
- Holy moly is that tuning sensitive, you have to be very gentle in actually letting go of the knob
- Could still use another utility module, but there are ways around that
- Sequencer is really not so useful, would have preferred to have something else, like those utilities modules we don’t have. More useful as a controlled-randomish CV source to control things other than pitch. I’ve been using a Crazy8 to handle pitch sequencing, which works well with the three oscillators.
- No headphone output seems absurd for a device with an onboard speaker - of all the devices to have a single output, why this one?
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:). Welcome to the world of modular, you allways need more.
Check out muff wiggler for all things modular.
TE sell a power adapter for the pocketmodular.
Oh, I’m definitely aware of the need for more. GAS hit hard as soon as I started messing around with semi-modulars.
I have a DC power supply that should actually fit the PO-modular power supply, it’s just the “wrong” polarity. I’m just waiting for the polarity reversal adapter to come in.
And yes, it can be dealt with, but the power situation out of box on this is definitely not good out of box. I have no problem getting batteries for things, but there were so many other ways this could have been powered inexpensively than this. Even something as simple as having a connector to the battery pack, where you could disconnect it while you replace batteries, would have made a large difference here.
Yes they should have included the power adapter.
I know the gripes about the power adapter and power in general are a broken record at this point, so thanks for tolerating.
It pairs really nicely with a Korg SQ-1 as well. That and a handful of passive splitters makes for a very fun setup.
My only other “actual” gripe about it is that some of the knobs are incredibly tight - on the sequencer, for example, I have a few that glide easily, and a few that take a serious effort to turn, and most are in between. Is this fixable?
EDIT: I wanted to reply, but cannot as I am a new user, and this would be more than three replies.
One rather important thing that I have learned that isn’t mentioned anywhere at all, certainly not any official TE docs - The volume knob on the speaker control handles the left/right balance when something is hooked up to the output. This is why I thought the left/right inputs were useless - I was usually on one of the extremes. This significantly improves things now that I understand how it works.
I’m honestly really liking this more the more time I spend with it. It’s frustratingly different than you would expect at times, but it’s growing on me. It definitely shines once you abandon the thought of handling anything tonal with the built-in sequencer, and use a quantized sequencer to handle actual pitch duty, and take advantage of the multiple outputs to make up for the lack of some utility modules. Think twice, patch thrice.
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bought a Neutron for 235€, like new!
will sell my MS 20 Mini to get another Neutron for a Poly Analog set up. top notch build quality.
iam just waiting for the „16“ CV sequencer
the volume on the speaker isn’t backwards its left/right. if you lean it to the left the left is louder and if you lean to the right the right is louder. Thats how the speaker module works.
not having fine tune is definitely an issue for sure.
the PWM is because when you use CV the knob becomes an attenuator and actually uses the full range of the knob, so that is the reason you lose it halfway regularly (CV needs all the knob range).
power supply should have been revisioned for sure. the new wall power supply is a must.
agree the SQ-1 helps a ton and the TE sequencer is good for modulating things not as much pitch tracking.
knobs could have a little more space between them. but all in all it makes great drum sounds and plays really well with other modules. sampling it has been great too. the harsher DC saw noise is great for drums and for use in the Random module.
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never noticed that the volume knob has a panning feature, thanks for pointing this out.
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samething happened to me… will try the mod
I have owned the PO-400 since release - I have safely used the output (low levels) with standard line-in mixers/devices just fine (OP-1, Roland MX-1, etc.)
You just have to be certain you’re not clipping the input into insanity - OP-1/mixer input gain greatly reduced before plugging it in.
Also - the reverse polarity refers to the power plugs. Obviously you never patch out - out, but my newbie friend does it on mine all the time with no problems yet (albeit ill catch that right away and change it). They wouldn’t make a product you can insta break via patching incorrectly, however it’s too expensive to start trying to break it for proof haha.
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I’m interested in doing this, however I’m having a hard time locating the Power unit itself…
will one of these work?
https://4mscompany.com/power.php
I’m thinking yes, may just need to be mounted in a different way.