Modulr Octet

Eight voices of two oscillators each, a split and a dual mode, and an upper and a lower part, over fifty-four patches that each load the whole sound.

Modulr Octet is an eight-voice polyphonic synthesizer after the grammar of a 1981 polysynth: two oscillators a voice, a high-pass and a low-pass filter, two envelopes, an LFO and an arpeggiator, laid out in signal order, with an upper and a lower part you can split at a key or double across the keyboard.

Plug-in · VST3 and Audio Unit

Add to basket · $25→Legendary→

137 controlsevery one can be automated from your music software

54 patcheseach one loads the whole sound

VST3 · AUApple silicon, macOS 11 or later

Hear it

Five sounds, played as they ship.

Each clip is the plug-in itself: a patch is picked in the drawer and loaded, then a short phrase is played on it. The fifty-four patches ship in five families, and they hold five distinct sounds, one for each clip here. The artist-named patches are this product’s reading of a sound’s role on the record named, not the artist’s own.

Lead · starting pointLead · supersawThe lead starting point: two detuned saws through a resonant low-pass, played as a short phrase.

Pad · starting pointPad · sweepThe pad starting point: a soft, slow pad played as held chords.

Sequence · starting pointSequence · arpThe sequence starting point: an eighth-note line on the arpeggiator’s kind of sound.

Brass and Strings · starting pointBrass and Strings · brassThe brass and strings starting point: two slightly detuned saws with a filter that swells open over a short attack, played as held chords.

Bass · starting pointBass · subThe bass starting point: a dark, dry, narrow bass line.

How it plays

Two parts, one keyboard.

Two oscillators a voice.Each with a range, a waveform, a pulse width and its modulation, the second with a fine tune and a hard sync to the first, and a mix with noise.
Two filters.A high-pass, then a resonant low-pass with a switchable slope whose envelope amount, keyboard tracking and LFO send you set.
Two envelopes and an LFO.One envelope for the level and one for the filter, each with its own polarity and key follow, and a low-frequency oscillator with delay.
An upper and a lower part.Each part has its own sound. Choose Upper or Lower and the sliders edit that part; play them as one on Whole, split at a key, or doubled in Dual.
An arpeggiator, glide and a bender.Up, down, up and down and random over one to three octaves, portamento with legato and hold, and a bender for pitch and filter.
Patches that load the whole sound.Pick a patch and every control moves to it at once; the drawer closes and the keys are ready. Hold to preview plays a patch’s tone on your own MIDI, and when you let go the instrument is exactly as it was.
Services.Choose whether the instrument answers your host’s MIDI and clock, set its output level, and age it.

Requirements

What it needs.

Format	Systems	Licence
VST3 · Audio Unit	macOS 11 or later, on Apple silicon	A licence is needed to make sound. Without one the editor opens and the output is silent.

The drawings

The editor, and the module it becomes.

The plug-in is built. The Eurorack module is drawn, with its macro knobs and the control jacks under them, and is not.

The Modulr Octet plug-in editor, as it opens — The Modulr Octet editor as it opens: ten titled sections of colour-capped sliders over a dark strip of assign modes, patch memory and a red display.

The Modulr Octet Eurorack module, 36 HP, in its case — The same study as a 36 HP module: twelve macro knobs under four title tabs on a silver-grey panel, each with a jack under it.

The editor is the plug-in’s own, as it opens. The module is drawn by the specification’s own kit, and its values are illustrative, not measured. The design is Jupiter-8’s grammar, redrawn in Modulr’s own words, and nothing on it is measured against the instrument.

The instrument it studies

Jupiter-8, 1981.

The instrument’s own grammar, as the catalogue recalls it: the sections, the controls and the look the study borrows.

The eight-voice polysynth grammar: two oscillators with range and wave buttons, a high-pass and a low-pass filter, two envelopes, an LFO and an arpeggiator, laid out in signal order as one long row of colour-capped sliders over a dark strip of assign modes and patch memory.

A silver-grey brushed panel under a black header bar with a red seven-segment display; black title tabs over each group of knobs, slim sliders on the editor with caps coloured by section, rectangular lit push buttons, rocker switches and black knobs ringed in the same cap colours.

Two VCOs (range, waveform, pulse width, cross-mod, sync, fine tune)
The LFO (rate, delay, waveform), and a VCO modulator
A high-pass filter and a low-pass filter (cutoff, resonance, envelope amount, key follow, LFO)
The VCA (level, envelope or gate, LFO)
Two ADSR envelopes
The mix of the oscillators and noise
Assign modes (whole, split, dual) and a key-assign section
An arpeggiator

The spec sheet

The module, knob by knob.

The module is a design study and is not built. Its macros are the signature controls a player reaches for, not a generic set; each one has a control jack under it.

Macro	Key	Range	Default
Detune	vco2.fine	±50 ct	0 ct
X-mod	vco1.xmod	0–100%	0%
Width	vco1.pw	5–95%	50%
Noise	mix.noise	0–100%	0%
Rate	lfo.rate	0.1–40 Hz	1 Hz
Delay	lfo.delay	0 – 2 s	0 ms
HPF	hpf.cut	20 Hz – 20 kHz	20 Hz
Cutoff	vcf.cut	20 Hz – 20 kHz	20 kHz
Reso	vcf.res	0–100%	0%
Env mod	vcf.env	0–100%	0%
Attack	env2.a	1 ms – 10 s	5 ms
Release	env2.r	1 ms – 10 s	200 ms

Side	Jacks
In	Note (MIDI), V/Oct (CV), Gate (CV), Clock (CV), Hold (CV)
Out	Out (Audio), Env (CV)

The plug-in is built. The module is not.On saleModulr Octet is a working VST3 and Audio Unit. It is not a copy of any instrument: no maker’s name or logo is drawn on a panel, and nothing is measured against the original. The Eurorack module drawn on this page is a design study and is not built.

Legendary is the catalogue of the Modulr Synths project: 43 design studies drawn with the specification’s own kit, 33 after the synthesizers of all time and 10 after the drum machines. The makers and years named here are the instrument’s; the names, the layouts and every value are Modulr’s own.