Starting Eurorack With A Small Rig - Part 2

Every rig benefits from an oscillator especially in a small setup.  Personally the dessert island oscillator would be Braids.  It has got loads of waves in it, lots of parameters, and is very easy to use.  Braids is packed with features under the hood that are quickly accessible one level down via the Edit knob.  Just give it a little push and you can edit all sorts of settings for the current wave.  

There are just the right amount of wave forms - not too many as to be overwhelming and enough variety to keep you engaged.  One of my favourites is the VFOF which is (as described from the manual):

VFOF uses a simplified version of Rodet’s FOF synthesis technique. Both have the same control layout: TIMBRE controls the vowel, morphing between a, e, i, o, u. COLOR shifts the formants in frequency. Main oscillator frequency and COLOR can be used altogether to simulate age and gender transformations.

It's great for making long and evocative spaced out sounds that you can then modulate.  I posted a video clip of the VFOF in action which you can check out here.  

Once you've honed in on a waveform you like start exploring the settings underneath.  I find the octave setting "OCTV" to be ideal for adding movement to a track.  It's quite easy to get a good performance as it's settings are limited to -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 octaves.  Jumping between two octaves is enough to get your groove on.

If you're interested in doing some DIY projects of your own hacking Braids is a good start.  It's software and hardware are entirely open source so you can come up with your own brew of the module.  For more Braids hacking resources please click here.

Other posts in this series:

Starting Eurorack With A Small Rig - Introduction

Starting Eurorack With A Small Rig - Part 1

Starting Eurorack With A Small Rig - Part 3