From: Mike Hester Date: Mon Oct 15, 2001 11:49 pm Subject: Denver gets a modular! Hello Everyone, I helped my friend Kelly Yaksich take delivery of a QSS44 modular system with keyboard and "keyboard garage" last Thursday here in Denver Colorado. I was alarmed at how dirty the three cardboard shipping boxes had become. They had been sliding around inside a semi-trailer for four days and had become oil-stained and covered with black dirt. However, there was nothing to fear. The components were swaddled in so much bubble wrap that it looked like the boxes could have been dropped from a plane without causing damage. Plywood sheets covered the entire top and bottom of the system box. I remarked to Kelly when we opened the big box: "Well Lord Carnarvon, we have reached the outer sarcophagus at last!" I know others have said it before, but photos--at least so far---have not done these things justice. These systems are a work of art (high engineering art, that is). I was amazed at the build quality, and I started out with rather high expectations to begin with. Setup went without a hitch. All knobs turn beautifully with no "wobble". Patch cord quality was superb. Machining and silkscreen printing is as fine as I have seen on any other piece of musical gear and far better than most. Cabinetry was precise. Truly a device you can be proud of owning, because pride went into building it. Visual surprises to me were the presence of red LED's on every oscillator indicating speed (handy when using one as an LFO), and the GATE/TRIGGER lights on the keyboard. Also handy are the LED's on the envelope generators so you know when you are "getting something". The round red power switch with the chrome bezel matches the manual trigger buttons on modules and also matches the look of the LED's and input jacks. Again, high art, or at least quite thoughtful visual design. Surprisingly, the "Synthesizers.com" imprinted on every single module (which I thought I was going to hate) was not really noticable at all. Whatever paint Roger is using for panel markings apparently looks different to the human eye than it does to the camera. Sonically, I thought it very "Moog-like" even though the ladder filter was not present (coming within a week a two I'm sure). My Moog experience has been limited to owning a Minimoog for 26 years, owning Taurus II bass pedals, and playing a Moog system 55 in college (I think our fellow member "dflat9sus4" was my teacher, but don't know for certain). Anyway, we both liked the synth immensely, and wore out the word "Wow" within the first hour or so. Once Kelly receives the transistor ladder filter I'll bring my Minimoog over and we'll have a "shoot-out" in the best Keyboard magazine tradition-ha! Frankly, this has got to be the ultimate adult male synth/freak/geek toy of all time. It is totally addictive as you start patching things together. It is not necessarily easy or self-explanatory however. I had to think back quite a ways as to what constituted a "traditional" patch. No modules had any problems we could find, but even in three hours during this first session we couldn't try everything. I liked the feel of the keyboard: will definitely buy one or two myself. Far better than the old college Moog or my Minimoog. Felt a bit like a Roland JD-800 or Waldorf Q. Kept reaching for non-existant mod wheels, switches, pads, joystick, as I was playing, however. Wanted to do vibrato as easily as on my Minimoog and couldn't do so. The old Minimoog left-hand controller (right-hand controller on mine) was still a great concept for expressive control. Reaching for the knob on the slew limiter module through a forest of patch cables got to be a drag after a while also. Was neat that the keyboard had a MIDI in connector, so in fact, a QSS44 contains two separate MIDI interfaces if you buy the "standard" suggested configuration. Wasn't thrilled about the wall wart power supply and the plug on the back of the keyboard unit for it, but can't think of any better place for it. No power switch---I guess plugging the wart into a switched power strip solves it easy enough, er, or should we be using one of those nifty A/C outlets on the back of the system cabinet? (I'm guessing we should.) Patch cords: (hmm, how to say this without it sounding obscene?) length is nice, but more important is what you're doing with it. I.e., I'd rather have patch cords color-coded for function (audio, voltage control, timing) and perhaps other markings like black banding rings to indicate length, or just forget trying to indicate cable lengths altogether---let the user sort it out. DC connectors: seemed like an awful lot of them, both front and back. Not sure what they are all needed for. Ergonomics: loved it, but already in the first two hours began discussion of which modules to move into new positions. Another strong point for custom tailoring to really make it "your" machine. Well enough raving. I'll be glad to answer private questions (would rather you send them to my home email at: "mikehester@idcomm.com"). Since many of us haven't had the chance to see and hear one in person yet, I'm happy to kick the tires as best I can. Lastly, I'll mention something I've started for planning panel layouts. Roger's JPEG images of each module are beautifully consistent in size and color. You get all these if you download the entire site---Roger has a red "download button" somewhere. Then it's easy: create a simple HTML table of two horizontal rows, and place table data cells in them containing "" tags pointing to the JPEG of each module. Uh, perhaps I could upload these to the yahoo files area (in fantasy modules?) and then others could retrieve them? Anyway, aim your browser at the HTML text file, and a miniature color version of the modular appears right on your screen. Print it, cut and paste if necessary, and you have a "map" for recording treasured patches. Okay, I actually had to break it into three HTML documents (left, center, and right)to map a QSS44: left, since they wouldn't all fit onto one page. Those of you who mess around with HTML should be able to figure this out in no time. Also, possible would be to glue the image of each module onto flexible magnetic sign material and slap 'em up on your fridge! Annoy your spouse as you redesign your modular every morning at breakfast! Cheers, Mike Hester