My oscillators have still not arrived but I managed to get the USBStreamer B to work properly by reflashing its ADAT firmware. This required a rather sordid excursion into Windows 7, which I will spare you, but the upshot is that the ES-3 now works as intended. I’ve written a guide on how to integrate a modular synth with Reason using the ES-3 here.

Happily this means that I can trigger the envelopes from Reason devices as well as using the modular filters on sounds from Reason. First impressions: the Z2040 sounds pretty nice, especially when you turn up the gain knob so it starts to overdrive.

Remember how I wrote that “I won’t be digging into any of the esoteric math modules…“? It turns out that I was wrong and that I will be digging into, specifically, an esoteric math module. This is what happens when you order a spanking new toy and a vital part — the oscillators — takes a month longer to arrive than the rest of it. You can rationalise pretty much anything. I’m getting a Maths module from Make Noise. It’s a flexible little thing that can work as a multiple, LFO, sub-oscillator and envelope among other things. It also seems to be just the right kind of puzzling.

On the oscillator side I finally got bored waiting for the Z3000s (they would be 2-3 weeks more). I found a Z3000 in stock at Escape from noise and decided to let my sudden craving for a crazier oscillator to set the agenda. Schneidersladen had a Make Noise DPO in stock so I switched my order there from the two Z3000 oscillators to the DPO, with is a dual oscillator module, and ordered one Z3000 from Escape From Noise. The upshot is that my modular lost a Z3000 but gained a DPO. +1 oscillator! The Z3000 should arrive any day while the DPO and the missing Doepfer modules will arrive hopefully next week. Luckily for me I’m running out of rack space so there’s a natural barrier to further indulgence.

I’ll write some more about the Maths and DPO modules as I get them. You may notice that both of them are present in my parodical West Coast example system. I’m quickly seeing how addictive this hobby really is. How the hell can my brain confuse synth modules with nuts and berries? Collecting Eurorack modules won’t help me get through the winter without starving! The collecting instinct is truly a fucked up piece of neurological wiring…