echophon - makenoise <> soundhack module on it's way

[Naive Teen Idol]

Heard the Echophon may be retired soon... I'll miss it. Such a classic.

I feel like this rumor kicks around every year or so. Is there any reason to believe this? It’s a pretty important piece of the Shared System and the pitch shifting makes this totally unique and distinct from the Mimeophon.

[minimal_modular]

I have a scratchy input pit on my phonogene. Does make noise still service legacy modules?

Get some of this

https://hosatech.com/products/accessori ... ioners/d5/

And DIY.

Worked great on a scratchy Dynamics potentimeter of my No Coast.

sorry, but where exactly did you spray this stuff?

I pulled the knob off the potentiometer, and sprayed a little down the shaft. I understand that they are (supposedly) sealed pots, yet enough must have penetrated the seal, as it resolved the scratchiness I was experiencing.

[natureclubcassettes]

hmm. BTW I heard back from MN; this behavior of the depth knob is unfortunately normal.

[Naive Teen Idol]

I asked MN about it some years back. Here's what Tony sent to me in his reply:

"This is by design. The Depth control is a stepped control with settings that loosely approximate the Harmonic Series. By modulating Depth with just about any voltage, it is possible to sequence the harmonics in the resulting signal. Quite a nice process if you give it a try.

Thanx,

T"

[natureclubcassettes]

Ya, I was aware of all of this. I guess I was just wondering if mine was worse than normal. However, after turning Depth CCW and its attenuator CW with a positive going LFO I got the same noises. Watching the old video about the depth control you can hear it there as well.

[biggerovski]

Not trying to spread rumors or anything like that. Just saying grab an Echophon while you can because it is such a fantastic delay. Same goes for the LxD.

Heard the Echophon may be retired soon... I'll miss it. Such a classic.

I feel like this rumor kicks around every year or so. Is there any reason to believe this? It’s a pretty important piece of the Shared System and the pitch shifting makes this totally unique and distinct from the Mimeophon.

[Naive Teen Idol]

Not trying to spread rumors or anything like that. Just saying grab an Echophon while you can because it is such a fantastic delay. Same goes for the LxD.

Heard the Echophon may be retired soon... I'll miss it. Such a classic.

I feel like this rumor kicks around every year or so. Is there any reason to believe this? It’s a pretty important piece of the Shared System and the pitch shifting makes this totally unique and distinct from the Mimeophon.

Sorry, didn’t mean to suggest you were rumormongering. Just that when it comes to Make Noise there’s always a lot of “Will it be retired?” buzz bc of the vactrol issue and that the Echophon in particular gets a lot of that because in addition to using at least one vactrol in the mix pot it’s an older module, mono and is at least somewhat duplicated functionality-wise by the Mimeophon.

None of which means it won’t be retired. I just haven’t seen any evidence that it’s much more risk of going away than other older modules of theirs. I mean, the DPO uses them as well and was introduced almost a decade ago and is still going pretty strong.

All that said, the Echophon is probably getting the least use of my original Shared System modules these days, barring maybe my Moddemix V1. I appreciate the Echophon’s pitch shifter and before I expanded my system (I got mine in 2013) I used it a lot as a clock divider/multiplier. Also, the ability to lock a loop and get a vactrol ping at the mix output remains pretty unique.

But in a world where DSP modules are plentiful and the Tempi exists, it is perhaps a bit underutilized for its size.

[closedLoop]

Sorry, didn’t mean to suggest you were rumormongering. Just that when it comes to Make Noise there’s always a lot of “Will it be retired?” buzz bc of the vactrol issue and that the Echophon in particular gets a lot of that because in addition to using at least one vactrol in the mix pot it’s an older module, mono and is at least somewhat duplicated functionality-wise by the Mimeophon.

Make Noise seem to be discontinuing a number of modules without really replacing them, so I think you can be forgiven for jumping to that conclusion.

The recent MN releases seem very focused on the 0-Coast semi-modular form factor.

[wonkychris]

Also, the ability to lock a loop and get a vactrol ping at the mix output remains pretty unique.

Excsquueze me? What's this vactrol ping business alla out? Can you explain this as I don't know what it is.


To answer someone else earlier in the thread, I just got my Echophon back from repair at Make Noise. Very reasonable price. The delayed signal had disappeared completely from mix out but was still there in the feedback loop. I had never really thought much about the modemule and didn't know there was a vactrol in the mix stage. It's probably what went west on mine then...

[Naive Teen Idol]

Also, the ability to lock a loop and get a vactrol ping at the mix output remains pretty unique.

Excsquueze me? What's this vactrol ping business alla out? Can you explain this as I don't know what it is.

Well, it depends a little on how your Echophon responds. IIRC, Tony designed the mix pot with a vactrol in it to give it a particularly smooth response. Mine has some bleed (which I can clean up by running it into a second channel of an Optomix if necessary). But yeah, if you freeze a loop, turn the input off and set Mix to full CW, you can send a gate or trigger into the Mix out and get a LPG-style ping with a long ring on the back end.

MN modules are really, really well made and designed. As modules get increasingly digital and precise, I find that the early-is 2010's modules they made--DPO, Wiard Wogglebug (v1), RxMx--**sound**really good. And that even includes the hybrid digital-analog modules they made like Phonogene and Echophon.

So after kind of saying that it hasn't been getting a lot of recent love from me, this thread has sent me back to the Echophon and the (excellent manual), where Tony slots in some neat tips. Like:

* Using the Moddemix to spice up a sound via the feedback loop. It's interesting to use the carrier input on the Modemmix to have the feedback out and the signal input have another (or muted) waveform that you're using as your main oscillator.

* Another trick Tony suggests is using bipolar modulation on the feedback CV input to bounce back and forth between regular pitch shifted echoes and staircase pitch shifted echoes -- he notes (correctly) that audio rate bipolar modulation sounds particularly resonant and nice. Again, I find it's cool to use an oscillator you're using elsewhere in the patch as it creates kind of a symbiosis like a ring modulation would. I don't think too many other modules in Eurorack sound this nice, truth be told -- or at least sound quite like this.

Ok, I'm back in love. Don't retire it, Tony!

[mdoudoroff]

Always worth re-watching Cigler’s excellent Echophon video.



Also, this newish Shared System video is packed with ideas:

[mdoudoroff]

Well, it depends a little on how your Echophon responds. IIRC, Tony designed the mix pot with a vactrol in it to give it a particularly smooth response. Mine has some bleed (which I can clean up by running it into a second channel of an Optomix if necessary). But yeah, if you freeze a loop, turn the input off and set Mix to full CW, you can send a gate or trigger into the Mix out and get a LPG-style ping with a long ring on the back end.

I love this idea, but I’m not getting the effect on my Echophon. I get a blip, but no ringing/tail. :(

I have a lot of LPGs, so it’s easy enough to just patch my own. The cool thing about that approach is that you don’t have to have freeze on. If I put Echophon on a send, I can derive a pitch-shifted percussion part from a voice. It’s an interesting effect.

[Naive Teen Idol]

Well, it depends a little on how your Echophon responds. IIRC, Tony designed the mix pot with a vactrol in it to give it a particularly smooth response. Mine has some bleed (which I can clean up by running it into a second channel of an Optomix if necessary). But yeah, if you freeze a loop, turn the input off and set Mix to full CW, you can send a gate or trigger into the Mix out and get a LPG-style ping with a long ring on the back end.

I love this idea, but I’m not getting the effect on my Echophon. I get a blip, but no ringing/tail. :(

I have a lot of LPGs, so it’s easy enough to just patch my own. The cool thing about that approach is that you don’t have to have freeze on. If I put Echophon on a send, I can derive a pitch-shifted percussion part from a voice. It’s an interesting effect.

Yeah, as with most things vactrol-based, it really varies from unit to unit. For my part, mine isn’t particularly plucky.

Agree the LPG idea w Echophon free running is pretty cool. I’d def. recommend you try the bipolar audio rate modulation on the feedback idea that Tony suggested. That’s not a sound I think I’d heard before in modular.

[Powerdwarf]

what if i say, echophon is way better than mimeo

[megarat]

what if i say, echophon is way better than mimeo

I’d give you a high five.