Instant fun, portable'ish hardware MPE sound sources to go with a Linnstrument?

As far as I know the changes are only in the packaging - all of the firmware will run on either the original or the SE. One thing to watch out for, though - if you are using the presets from the original, be sure to back them up with the Modal app before you update the firmware. All of the new presets over-write the ones that are there on the original model.

The MicroMonsta 2, now that it has (dual-zone!) MPE support, is intriguing. I’m not sure how happy I’ll be with what’s basically a VA synth, but for the price I’ll probably give it a shot once it becomes available again.

I did buy one of the second batch a couple of months ago, and now that batch #3 is on the horizon (the Audiothingies site lists availability as “June/July '21”) I thought I’d pass on my reaction.

I’m really happy with it. It can makes a lot of very playable sounds. There are enough modulation destinations and mod matrix slots to set up very responsive patches, with a good amount of fine control over timbre. The reverb and delay effects are good sounding. The build quality is solid. The user interface is very well implemented – it’s very easy to modify patches on the fly.

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I didn’t like the sound of the MicroMonsta a whole lot. Too digital-sounding to my ears, “zipper” artifacts.

Portable MPE hardware synthesizers was the forefront of my priorities for the last few years. I started with the MicroMonsta 2 due to reports of excellent MPE implementation. As my first MPE hardware synthesizer though, I had no idea how to use it, so I looked for something easier. The Deluge was very easy to use with MPE, and was how I eventually came to understand how the MicroMonsta 2 works with MPE too.

There were many others I considered:

  • Norns

  • Nymphes

  • Witch

  • Zynthian

My primary criteria is polyphony, since my background is piano/keyboard with a sprinkle of jazz, so I needed a minimum polyphony of 6, and ideally 10 or more. Battery-powered operation was also important. Only the MicroMonsta 2 and Deluge were able to fulfill this while being in a compact form factor.

Hello!

And welcome!

Maybe you are looking for dedicated synthesisers but in terms of portability and polyphony a tablet/phone is quite good with the Linnstrument, isn’t it? What is your opinion on that?

For myself, I have an EaganMatrix Module in a 60 hp Eurorack case. This is what I need for how I use it but for a while I had in mind to make it even more portable.

4ms produce small cases with enough 5V for the EMM. I wish they had a bit different form factor but they seem quite good. The 34 hp (ca 170 mm) one - 34X - could house:

  • 2 hp Tubbutec MIDI Bridge A, a USB host and USB MIDI ↔ TRS MIDI interface that works very well for MPE and also supplies 500 mA current to the Linnstrument.

  • 22 hp EMM, synthesiser with 8 voice polyphony

  • 10 hp for something else, e.g. some faders for CV input, modulation sources and/or a headphone output/amplifier with stereo TRS.

A power bank with 15V output would make this portable and would require in total 2 external cables, one between the battery and the case and one between the Linnstrument and the MIDI Bridge A.

Admittedly, this is modular and not entirely dedicated and also not immediately portable. It is, however, as compact and immediate I - in my mind - have managed to get the EMM and without external interfaces and MIDI cables.

The new version of EMM from 2023 draws 5V 100 mA and the original 5V 300 MA, so that may change things a bit as long as the Linnstrument also gets sufficient current!

It is minimum ca 1060 EUR so not cheap but in the same region as Norns or Deluge, and I think it is really nice with the Linnstrument. And a wonderful synth engine in itself.

Some around here as been expressing the hope for a stand alone EaganMatrix box with USB host capabilities. 24 voice polyphony and replacable battery may be added to that concept! :slight_smile:

Now that the engine is both in Eurorack and the Oamose, and not exclusively coupled with the Haken playing surfaces, who knows? :slight_smile:

I could, but I exclusively use gratis and libre open-source software. Most tablets and phones do not fulfill this basic requirement.

I could try my smartphone, but I am not interested in cross-compiling Surge XT to AArch64/ARM64, and I keep it physically separated for telephony purposes.

You can use the Polyend Anywhere, now discontinued, to operate your Eurorack setup portably.