Pittsburgh Modular Taiga

[debris]

Some more west coast additive action, mostly messing with FM'ing osc 1 from osc 3, lfo is shaping osc 2, lfo square output is mildly modding the time on the delay. Manually mucking about with pitches, time, dynamics, main out on right, delayed on left. Playing the lfo rate against the clock and delay was fun. Managed somehow to overdrive the delay input and got some nice crunch in the regen toward the end, the overdrive is all Taiga. Lofi ambient drone bounces, very much non-musical but maybe your cat will take interest.

Love it! Sounds like you're vibing well with the Taiga. How do you like it after spending time with it for a couple of days?

[Soy Sos]

I did a pretty nice bassline that shows a wide range of tones from Taiga at 50 minutes in.

[Soy Sos]

[DaytimeBender]

I got mine today and it took me awhile to figure everything out. After skimming through the manually and some trial and error, I think I've mostly gathered the gist of it. There's a ton of normalization of connections going on behind the panel, and a number of firmware settings to adjust. Once I worked all of that out and figured out the normalized signal path, then everything started making a lot more sense. Oh, and the grey CV knobs have normalized connections so they do things even unpatched. It makes sense now, but that was a huge ahh-ha moment for me and cleared up a lot of the problems I was having.

I get what some people have been saying about the attack knob having very little range. But for what it's worth, the Taiga's ADSR seems to function exactly the same as my MI Peaks and MI Stages in ADSR mode. I also tried some AD envelopes out of Stages and Frap Tools Falistri and the attack seemed to function much differently in an AD envelope compared to an ADSR. I'm sure there is an intelligent explanation for this, but I don't really understand the technical side of synthesis.

All that being said, the Taiga sounds awesome. The 3 oscillators sound great together and there is a lot of depth in the waveshapers. Just wiggling the knobs on the panel without any patching or any sequencing and there's quite a bit of sound options to work with. It sound very rich and full and there's a lot of life in it. I'm happy I picked one up!

[linear.b]

Alright, I like this thing a lot, here's some obnoxious noises after cracking the nuts on the arp modes, midi stuff, paraphony, and generally satisfying myself everything works and I kind of understand it. Short sequence from KSP, no other effects until the last ~15 seconds I twisted mimeophon wet and promptly blow into feedback

https://soundcloud.com/suboptimal-synth ... -first-jam

I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with this thing; the oscs definitely have interesting and distinct character and there's a ton to explore and figure out here. I told myself I was going to get better with my opsix this spring and not buy any new VCOs but I think I made a solid choice in this one.

I am getting used to the brightness, if it bothers me in low light, I will use filter paper or something. Not a big deal.

[bkbirge]

Love it! Sounds like you're vibing well with the Taiga. How do you like it after spending time with it for a couple of days?

Thanks! I think PGH has a hit with this.

Love

• overall sound is tops, these oscillators are something really special

• well thought out signal flow

• patch locations right under the functional blocks

• square and triangle outs on lfo available simultaneously

• the osc patch points are really comprehensive

• lpg is nice & chunky, really digging the response and sound

• filter silky smooth, no nulls, and I love having highpass available

• super colored sounding delay, this might be a con for others but I like it

• can go from creamy to gristle

Not love

• text readability, unless I have it in bright light the leds blowout the labeling which is pretty tiny already

• can't cv lfo rate, means I lose an osc if I want that kind of control within the unit itself (or just patch an external)

• lfo rate doesn't get slow or fast enough for my taste

• wish the normalization they've set for the midi input was available for those of us that just want to mess with cv. Meaning if I patch a gate into adsr 1 or 2 it doesn't normal to the other, similar for the oscillator pitch inputs, gotta get those mults handy to integrate this into eurorack.

• mono mixers/output

• no self res on filter, gotta patch it

• needs a fine tune, the osc tuning is super touchy

Out of the "not loves" the only one that doesn't have a simple workaround for me is text readability combined with the led brightness. I would buy a "large print high contrast for sight challenged folks" panel if someone made one, lol.

Overall I really love this. By itself it's like a mini Forbidden Planet soundtrack box. The Barrons would want one I'm sure.

Some further non-musical tones, fm content, added a Vilfo and cyclic skew as extra LFOs to make things messier, pitch cv is handled by the square lfo output attenuated in a failed attempt to make it bounce a whole tone like a super simple sequencer, then lots of wiggling, the sort of train bell sound is the lpg being pinged by the Taiga clock, raw as played single pass Taiga ...

[larksleep]

Just got my Taiga today and am struggling a bit. The audio is extremely low (coming out of the main out and headphones out), even at maximum volume, on an otherwise working line (tested on my 0-coast and other synths) that runs into my mixer. In VCA mode it is barely discernible, but audible on LPG mode. Also, the midi notes are hanging on the last note received, infinitely... Any thoughts appreciated.

I have looked at the quick start guide to no avail.

thanks!

[Soy Sos]

Can you take a pic of the synth with the knob settings and button states? Make sure it's clear enough for me to see everything...

[linear.b]

Just got my Taiga today and am struggling a bit. The audio is extremely low (coming out of the main out and headphones out), even at maximum volume, on an otherwise working line (tested on my 0-coast and other synths) that runs into my mixer. In VCA mode it is barely discernible, but audible on LPG mode. Also, the midi notes are hanging on the last note received, infinitely... Any thoughts appreciated.

I have looked at the quick start guide to no avail.

thanks!

Interesting, I haven't clocked it with a scope or db meter but I did notice that getting acceptable output levels from the main out needs to go into one of Cosmix stereo channels so that I can use the db boost. I just assumed that output is audio level, not euro. But what you're describing sounds very different, echoing @Soy Sos request for clear pic of panel and lights

[Back Down the Path]

Pretty sure the main out in line level, not euro level (from reading the manual).

[Soy Sos]

If patching within a modular signal path, I'd recommend using echos, dynamics, filter or mixer outs. Waiting on answer from Richard, but that'd be my first guess...

Confirmed from Richard...

[larksleep]

Thanks for the replies. I emailed Pittsburgh M last night and woke to a helpful email from Richard. Part of the issue for me was that I'm running everything through ableton and I needed to do a system restart. It was messing with the midi signal for some reason in a way that wasn't effecting my 0-coast. I also followed his instructions for a startup patch and now everything seems to be up and running.

I picked up a Minifreak last month which I love, but it's my first digital synth. Receiving Taiga in the mail was like getting a magical creature by post. It's just alive in a way that the Minifreak isn't. Not knocking the freak, there's a ton of things it can do that Taiga simply can't. But Taiga feels alive in a real way. Thanks to PM for their work on this.

And, thanks to Soy Sos for the offer of help.

[Jimantronic]

I've just spent a frustrating half hour trying to get notes out of my new Taiga via midi. I followed the quick start guide, but nothing. I suspect after messing about with different cables, adapters, keystep etc that mine was set to respond to only midi channel 16 out the box as this was the magic bullet that got it working for me.

I was also confused that the 3 oscillators default to running at LFO rates unless being told otherwise, but that on the non-sine shapes this produces a thumpy click with each oscillation if the mixer for that channel is up.
I'm confused about the envelopes and vca/LPG generally as I get loud thumpy clicking into my audio interface when triggering them via midi if the attack or release is set very low. This happens regardless of whether I have any of the mixer inputs up. I need to investigate further but don't have the time just now.
I'm no newbie to synth stuff, but so far this is very much not 'plug and play' for me

[Soy Sos]

Jimantronic,
I'd suggest beginning with the quick start guide. Follow that patch exactly and you should have a properly operating voice.

[Jimantronic]

Jimantronic,
I'd suggest beginning with the quick start guide. Follow that patch exactly and you should have a properly operating voice.

Thanks. I did refer to that guide a couple of times, but I think I was thrown by it saying it was set to midi channel 1 as default, whereas I suspect mine has been delivered set to only listen on midi channel 16.
I could see other people on Reddit from the past week with similar confusion with trying to get their to respond to midi, so possibly it's a batch set to channel 16 as default like this?

I need to spend some more time getting to know the envelope/vca setup and properly studying the manual, but don't have time currently.
I didn't understand why in the quick start guide it shows to set the oscillator pitch to be midi enabled by ensuring the light was switched on, but it's suggested that the midi control light is off on the dynamics/vca?
I found I had this thumpy pop sound with each key press with the attack times set to min as per the quick start guide, but I need to investigate further to ensure that's not an audio interface issue I have.

[soundular]

I've just spent a frustrating half hour trying to get notes out of my new Taiga via midi. I followed the quick start guide, but nothing. I suspect after messing about with different cables, adapters, keystep etc that mine was set to respond to only midi channel 16 out the box as this was the magic bullet that got it working for me.

I was also confused that the 3 oscillators default to running at LFO rates unless being told otherwise, but that on the non-sine shapes this produces a thumpy click with each oscillation if the mixer for that channel is up.
I'm confused about the envelopes and vca/LPG generally as I get loud thumpy clicking into my audio interface when triggering them via midi if the attack or release is set very low. This happens regardless of whether I have any of the mixer inputs up. I need to investigate further but don't have the time just now.
I'm no newbie to synth stuff, but so far this is very much not 'plug and play' for me

If the attack and the release are fast, then you will get short, possibly clicky sounds, but perhaps you're trying to describe something else?

[debris]

Love it! Sounds like you're vibing well with the Taiga. How do you like it after spending time with it for a couple of days?

Thanks! I think PGH has a hit with this.

Love

• overall sound is tops, these oscillators are something really special

• well thought out signal flow

• patch locations right under the functional blocks

• square and triangle outs on lfo available simultaneously

• the osc patch points are really comprehensive

• lpg is nice & chunky, really digging the response and sound

• filter silky smooth, no nulls, and I love having highpass available

• super colored sounding delay, this might be a con for others but I like it

• can go from creamy to gristle

Not love

• text readability, unless I have it in bright light the leds blowout the labeling which is pretty tiny already

• can't cv lfo rate, means I lose an osc if I want that kind of control within the unit itself (or just patch an external)

• lfo rate doesn't get slow or fast enough for my taste

• wish the normalization they've set for the midi input was available for those of us that just want to mess with cv. Meaning if I patch a gate into adsr 1 or 2 it doesn't normal to the other, similar for the oscillator pitch inputs, gotta get those mults handy to integrate this into eurorack.

• mono mixers/output

• no self res on filter, gotta patch it

• needs a fine tune, the osc tuning is super touchy

Out of the "not loves" the only one that doesn't have a simple workaround for me is text readability combined with the led brightness. I would buy a "large print high contrast for sight challenged folks" panel if someone made one, lol.

Overall I really love this. By itself it's like a mini Forbidden Planet soundtrack box. The Barrons would want one I'm sure.

Some further non-musical tones, fm content, added a Vilfo and cyclic skew as extra LFOs to make things messier, pitch cv is handled by the square lfo output attenuated in a failed attempt to make it bounce a whole tone like a super simple sequencer, then lots of wiggling, the sort of train bell sound is the lpg being pinged by the Taiga clock, raw as played single pass Taiga ...

Thanks for the write up! Seems like you've already distilled your thoughts on the Taiga fairly well and your "pros" sound promising. Don't know what to make out of your "cons" until I receive my order, but beyond the text readability and LED brightness, I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the visual design overall. I don't like the cursive font (honestly, I think it's kinda ugly) and I'm also not a fan of the color scheme of the knobs. Might be silly, but if I'll keep the Taiga, I'm seriously considering to change the knobs, because those colors make it look like a children's toy. I liked their previous designs so much more because they had a timeless elegance, imo, but maybe I'm more conservative/boring when it comes to that.

[Jimantronic]

If the attack and the release are fast, then you will get short, possibly clicky sounds, but perhaps you're trying to describe something else?

Here's a quick example with an arpeggio played over midi. It feels like the range of the ADSR knobs is pretty huge and for a lot of my stuff I might only use the first 20% or so, but then there's quite a small sweet spot between all very short and snappy or clicky thumps. I don't know if this is correct, typical or by design of this vca/envelope, but my initial impression was that it seemed weird or wrong as it isn't something I have come across with any of my other gear

[soundular]

If the attack and the release are fast, then you will get short, possibly clicky sounds, but perhaps you're trying to describe something else?

Here's a quick example with an arpeggio played over midi. It feels like the range of the ADSR knobs is pretty huge and for a lot of my stuff I might only use the first 20% or so, but then there's quite a small sweet spot between all very short and snappy or clicky thumps. I don't know if this is correct, typical or by design of this vca/envelope, but my initial impression was that it seemed weird or wrong as it isn't something I have come across with any of my other gear

I might be wrong as I don't know the internal circuitry of this, but it does look like when you have the fast attack and fast release, you get clicky sounds which makes sense when you think about an envelope turning on and off super fast.

[bkbirge]

Some 3 voice paraphonic musings, more tuneful than the other bugmusic things I posted. This is using a keystep pro 3 note CV outs, no midi. This is live one pass, straight off the Taiga, output of lpg in one channel, echo in other, nothing fabulous but I like the mood. The more I play with this the more I like it but it's pretty touchy with gain staging, seems easy to overdrive unintentionally. It's got a pretty wide sweet spot but you can get yourself into trouble too in classic modular fashion I suppose.

[bkbirge]

Thanks for the write up! Seems like you've already distilled your thoughts on the Taiga fairly well and your "pros" sound promising. Don't know what to make out of your "cons" until I receive my order, but beyond the text readability and LED brightness, I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the visual design overall. I don't like the cursive font (honestly, I think it's kinda ugly) and I'm also not a fan of the color scheme of the knobs. Might be silly, but if I'll keep the Taiga, I'm seriously considering to change the knobs, because those colors make it look like a children's toy. I liked their previous designs so much more because they had a timeless elegance, imo, but maybe I'm more conservative/boring when it comes to that.

I quite like the panel design visually, fan of the MCM aesthetic, but it's tough on my eyes due to poor contrast and blowout from the leds and small fonts. The color of the knobs look better in person I think, and I find them to be very useful, again 'cause my eyes aren't great and those colors are organized by section. I do appreciate the industrial utility design they had with their early modules too, got a Vilfo in the rack next to it, that one is easier to read.

I'm still learning my way around it for the sweet spots but I'd say go for it, it's a really interesting piece of gear. I need to hook up MIDI because I'm guessing that is a force multiplier to what the unit is capable of, but I've been having too much fun just patching CV.

[tele_player]

I’ve had mine a day, it’s fun learning the Taiga way of doing things, and it sounds good.

But I’m amazed anybody thinks the panel is readable.

[mysterymachinestudio]

I’ve had mine a day, it’s fun learning the Taiga way of doing things, and it sounds good.

But I’m amazed anybody thinks the panel is readable.

Maybe Pittsburg could create a "Visually impaired" edition panel replacement in silver or white with larger fonts? I'd buy one in an instant.

I like the overall color scheme a lot, but being able to see and read things that are small and printed without very stark contrast is become near impossible for me.

[Andres11]

So far loving my taiga as well after some initial learning curve. I have been trying to patch it up as a 3 voice paraphonic synth however seems the tracking on osc 2 and 3 pitch input is way off. Osc 1 tracks fine in that input but they do not match up at all. What's strange is that they are much more in tune with midi control.

I have even disabled midi control and used multiple cv controller to the same issue. I saw the calibration guide but since midi seems fine not sure how to approach this. I may reach out to PGH on this.

Another note/observation unrelated to above I notice when osc 1 and 2 are perfectly in tune with each other the frequency on the oscillator 1 will start jumping around about 20-30 cents around the set frequency. Detuning osc 2 will make this stop. This happens even when only osc 1 is turned up in the mixer. The issue is it causes very inconsistent frequency beading even without any change in pitch with the other oscillator but not end of the world. Anyone else experience this?

[bkbirge]

So far loving my taiga as well after some initial learning curve. I have been trying to patch it up as a 3 voice paraphonic synth however seems the tracking on osc 2 and 3 pitch input is way off. Osc 1 tracks fine in that input but they do not match up at all. What's strange is that they are much more in tune with midi control.

I have even disabled midi control and used multiple cv controller to the same issue. I saw the calibration guide but since midi seems fine not sure how to approach this. I may reach out to PGH on this.

Another note/observation unrelated to above I notice when osc 1 and 2 are perfectly in tune with each other the frequency on the oscillator 1 will start jumping around about 20-30 cents around the set frequency. Detuning osc 2 will make this stop. This happens even when only osc 1 is turned up in the mixer. The issue is it causes very inconsistent frequency beading even without any change in pitch with the other oscillator but not end of the world. Anyone else experience this?

Yes, mine is the same. On that audio example above you can hear the higher notes go out of pitch. I get about an octave and a half of reliable pitch tracking over CV. I haven't tried any calibration and haven't tried midi at all, and I was assuming that was the issue or my controller needed adjusting until I read your post. I have a tuner in-case and it shows the scaling is off as I go from low to high notes. I noticed the frequency bending, assumed it was from me accidentally bumping cables during wiggling, I will pay more attention to it now.