Modulr Station

Eight parts, thirty-two waves, a display with a data slider, and a fader or key for every control, played from your keyboard as a VST3 and Audio Unit.

Modulr Station is a multitimbral workstation after the grammar of the 1988 M1: eight parts, each with one or two waves out of thirty-two that the engine synthesises, a low-pass filter and an amplitude envelope of its own, a reverb and a chorus, a joystick, and a large display with a data slider and a ten-key pad that reach every setting. Under the display every control also has a fader or a key of its own. It is a VST3 and Audio Unit plug-in.

Plug-in · VST3 and Audio Unit

Add to basket · $25→Legendary→

185 controlstwenty for each of eight parts and twenty-five of the instrument’s own: every one can be automated from your music software

31 patchessix distinct sounds; each one loads every control at once

VST3 · AUApple silicon, macOS 11 or later

Hear it

Six sounds, played as they ship.

Each clip is the plug-in itself: a patch is picked in the drawer and loaded, then a played line sounds on it, the way it is played into the plug-in from a keyboard. The bank holds thirty-one patches that make six distinct sounds, one for each role; these are one of each. No effects added, no mastering.

KeysKeys · ElectricA struck keys sound: the hammer wave with a tine wave layered under it, a quick attack that dies away to a low sustain, a little reverb. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

PadPad · SweepA pad: strings with a choir wave layered and detuned wide, a slow attack, a long release and the chorus sent in. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

BassBass · SubA bass: a finger-bass wave over a synth-bass wave, a closed filter the envelope opens for the attack, a short decay, dry. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

LeadLead · SupersawA lead: a saw-lead wave with a square-lead wave, an open filter with some resonance, a fast attack and the chorus. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

Brass and StringsBrass and Strings · BrassA brass swell: a brass wave with a reed wave, a mid-bright filter the envelope opens, a short attack and a little reverb. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

FXFX · NoiseAn effect, not a note: a riser wave over a noise wave detuned far apart, a resonant filter the envelope sweeps, a long release and a long reverb. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

The study

The editor, and the module it becomes.

The plug-in is built, and its editor is shown playing a patch. The Eurorack module drawn beside it, with its macro knobs and the control jacks under them, is a design study and is not built.

The Modulr Station plug-in editor, playing a patch — The Modulr Station editor, playing a patch: a backlit LCD showing the program pages, five mode pads, a long data slider, a joystick, a band of faders and keys for every control, and a 61-key keybed.

The Modulr Station Eurorack module, 26 HP, in its case — The Modulr Station module, 26 HP: six macro knobs each with a control jack under it, with the LCD and mode pads above, and two jack trays.

The editor is the plug-in’s own, captured as it plays. The module is drawn by the specification’s own kit, and its values are illustrative, not measured. The design is the M1’s grammar, redrawn in Modulr’s own words, and nothing on it is measured against the instrument.

The instrument it studies

M1, 1988.

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

The sampled-ROM workstation grammar: one big LCD driven by colour-coded mode pads (combination, program, sequence, global, disk), page and cursor pads, a numeric pad with bank pads, one long data-entry slider with plus and minus, a joystick and eight multitimbral parts; every readout but one lives in the LCD.

A mid cool-grey workstation panel in 26 HP with a lighter top face: a pale grey-white backlit LCD in a black frame, five white mode pads each wearing its own colour bar, six ring-coloured knobs in light caps with a CV jack under each, a white slider with minus and plus, and light-grey jack trays with their labels tinted by kind.

A large LCD
Mode buttons: Combination, Program, Sequence, Global, Disk
A page and cursor group
A 10-key numeric pad and bank buttons
A data-entry slider and plus and minus
A joystick for pitch and mod
A control group of master volume and effects select
Eight-part multitimbral

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
Tone	prog.tone	-100% – +100%	0%
Bright	vcf.bright	0–100%	50%
Attack	env.attack	1 ms – 4 s	5 ms
Release	env.release	10 ms – 8 s	300 ms
Chorus	fx.chorus	0–100%	0%
Reverb	fx.reverb	0–100%	0%

Side	Jacks
In	Note (MIDI), V/Oct (CV), Gate (CV), Mod (CV)
Out	Out (Audio), Aux (Audio)

The plug-in is built and on sale. The module is not.On saleModulr Station is a working VST3 and Audio Unit and it is $25. 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. Its thirty-two waves are synthesised by the engine, never samples of the instrument. It is signed ad hoc, not notarized, so macOS will ask you to allow it. A downloaded copy stays silent until it is licensed, and there is no automatic way yet for a customer to receive a licence file. The sound bank is thirty-one patches of six distinct tones; they are the product’s reading of a role, and none is an artist’s own setting.

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.