A pictorial overview of the Eclectic Music Box

MODEL 15: USER REVIEWS

"... the cool thing about your VCO is that its so rich and interesting in terms of the timbral nuance that occurs with the morph out and pulse width combos. Filtering it is not something I am drawn to do so quickly with this one... I want to hear all this detail and its really interesting for the ear to find these rich-pure shifting tones going right into a VCA or Low pass gate with ADSR control and then straight out..."

- Steve Roach, composer

"These things sound amazing! Who needs filters with VCOs like this? They have a huge range of possibilities, and in general just sound very smooth, full and rubbery. The morph is a lot of fun as well, it's great to go from Sine to Pulse. But something that should be standard on all VCOs (well, most modules really) is the bipolar mix on the CV ins, endless possibilities."

- Phil Hendricks, composer

"I finally received my Plan B oscillator today. After plugging it into Doepfer case, I started experimenting. And I cannot explain how good it is. Mr. Grenader got it right - it takes a musician with skills in electronic engineering to make something like this."

- Zoran Bosnjak,

First, these are *very* full featured VCOs. Variable wave shapes, PWM, sync, multiple waveform outputs, sine output, you get the idea. They plugged into my Doepfer case just fine although Peter uses a power cable orientation that is opposite the Doepfer standard. -12V is up on top instead of the bottom so you must be careful to plug the power in correctly!

The VCOs sound very good. I was quickly able to get standard waveforms and track over the 4 octaves of my CV keyboard with no problems. The tracking matched my existing Doepfer and ASys oscillators.

The fun begins with the FM inputs. These seem to be more powerful and musical than other VCOs. Putting a fast EG into the FM input gets the characteristic 'thunk' that Peter likes as well as lots of interesting, yet controllable, FM effects.

The waveshape morphing is very cool and voltage controllable. There were some nice timbres I got just using this without much filtering. The PWM is also quite good sounding.

My only disappointment so far has been with the sync input. This just may require some more fiddling but I wasn't able to get that classic sync sweep sound. I got some interesting sounds but not quite what I expected. Again, this just may be my lack of time fiddling with it.

So, Plan B Model 15 VCOs are real, they sound great, and it sounds like Peter is getting past his shipping hurdles.

- Eric Crawley

"I received and fired up my VCO today (the frac'd one), and it is a great sounding module. I took a line out of each waveform jack (I have two jacks for each wave) to make sure the connections were good, moving from the square wave (bottom) to the sine wave (top). By the time I got to the sine, I was sold -- I didn't even have any CVs plugged in yet, and I was loving the sound.

The sine wave seems much mellower on the Plan B VCO than on my Blacet. I'm not making a value judgement -- just pointing out that I could easily hear a difference, which is great considering I have 2-VCO instrument and want as much variety as possible. I don't have a scope to view the waveforms, so I'll leave that to someone else who wants to make comparisons.

The other sound that totally knocked me out was sweeping the Wave Morph input with my Blacet LFO, while sending VCs to the other inputs. I recorded a few moments with this sort of patch, and I'll post them in the next day or two. I kept the patch to a minimum -- no filter or EG for much of the session, for example -- just to show what this thing can do with only two or three VCs coming in. In fact, I totally forgot to use a filter, because I was so distracted by the sounds I was getting straight out the the module.

I know, I know, many of you will say "It's all in the filter, son." But I'm one of those guys that thinks that the osc has just as much to do with the overall sound of a synth (at least in my small amount of experience with Buchla, Serge, Blacet, etc). Every little nook and cranny on a waveform gives a filer (and other processors) something to hang on to and exploit. Having a mellow sine will hopefully allow me to get some of those delicious, woody Buchla 258 kinds of sounds (the Lowpass Gate should help). However, he other waveforms on the Plan B sound wonderful.

Okay, enough of this limoncello-soaked prattle. Is this VCO worth the money and the wait? Absolutely""

- Gino Robair, senior editor, Electronic Musican Magazine

"Haven't had too much time to play with them , but everything that i liked in the prototypes is there, and I am looking forward to spending more time with them."

- Alessandro Cortino, keyboardist - NINE INCH NAILS.

"i think 'overwhelmed' might suffice. i'm not new to analog synthesis, but am relatively new to modular. yours' is the only VCO i own and so far i've had it running under a MIDI sequence that i use for a live set with a band. been experimenting with different waveform outputs in to different filters and mixing them, modulating the square + morph output with the banalogue VCS or the quad EG (a143-1)... trying to get my brain around how i'll be using it initially. i've wanted to take the modular out live for a long time so first order is getting this particular sequence to be the biggest f*ing thing in the planet. The Model 15 is making that very possible.."

- Nick Hubben

	"... the cool thing about your VCO is that its so rich and interesting in terms of the timbral nuance that occurs with the morph out and pulse width combos. Filtering it is not something I am drawn to do so quickly with this one... I want to hear all this detail and its really interesting for the ear to find these rich-pure shifting tones going right into a VCA or Low pass gate with ADSR control and then straight out..." - Steve Roach, composer

	"These things sound amazing! Who needs filters with VCOs like this? They have a huge range of possibilities, and in general just sound very smooth, full and rubbery. The morph is a lot of fun as well, it's great to go from Sine to Pulse. But something that should be standard on all VCOs (well, most modules really) is the bipolar mix on the CV ins, endless possibilities." - Phil Hendricks, composer

	"I finally received my Plan B oscillator today. After plugging it into Doepfer case, I started experimenting. And I cannot explain how good it is. Mr. Grenader got it right - it takes a musician with skills in electronic engineering to make something like this." - Zoran Bosnjak,

	First, these are very full featured VCOs. Variable wave shapes, PWM, sync, multiple waveform outputs, sine output, you get the idea. They plugged into my Doepfer case just fine although Peter uses a power cable orientation that is opposite the Doepfer standard. -12V is up on top instead of the bottom so you must be careful to plug the power in correctly! The VCOs sound very good. I was quickly able to get standard waveforms and track over the 4 octaves of my CV keyboard with no problems. The tracking matched my existing Doepfer and ASys oscillators. The fun begins with the FM inputs. These seem to be more powerful and musical than other VCOs. Putting a fast EG into the FM input gets the characteristic 'thunk' that Peter likes as well as lots of interesting, yet controllable, FM effects. The waveshape morphing is very cool and voltage controllable. There were some nice timbres I got just using this without much filtering. The PWM is also quite good sounding. My only disappointment so far has been with the sync input. This just may require some more fiddling but I wasn't able to get that classic sync sweep sound. I got some interesting sounds but not quite what I expected. Again, this just may be my lack of time fiddling with it. So, Plan B Model 15 VCOs are real, they sound great, and it sounds like Peter is getting past his shipping hurdles. - Eric Crawley

	"I received and fired up my VCO today (the frac'd one), and it is a great sounding module. I took a line out of each waveform jack (I have two jacks for each wave) to make sure the connections were good, moving from the square wave (bottom) to the sine wave (top). By the time I got to the sine, I was sold -- I didn't even have any CVs plugged in yet, and I was loving the sound. The sine wave seems much mellower on the Plan B VCO than on my Blacet. I'm not making a value judgement -- just pointing out that I could easily hear a difference, which is great considering I have 2-VCO instrument and want as much variety as possible. I don't have a scope to view the waveforms, so I'll leave that to someone else who wants to make comparisons. The other sound that totally knocked me out was sweeping the Wave Morph input with my Blacet LFO, while sending VCs to the other inputs. I recorded a few moments with this sort of patch, and I'll post them in the next day or two. I kept the patch to a minimum -- no filter or EG for much of the session, for example -- just to show what this thing can do with only two or three VCs coming in. In fact, I totally forgot to use a filter, because I was so distracted by the sounds I was getting straight out the the module. I know, I know, many of you will say "It's all in the filter, son." But I'm one of those guys that thinks that the osc has just as much to do with the overall sound of a synth (at least in my small amount of experience with Buchla, Serge, Blacet, etc). Every little nook and cranny on a waveform gives a filer (and other processors) something to hang on to and exploit. Having a mellow sine will hopefully allow me to get some of those delicious, woody Buchla 258 kinds of sounds (the Lowpass Gate should help). However, he other waveforms on the Plan B sound wonderful. Okay, enough of this limoncello-soaked prattle. Is this VCO worth the money and the wait? Absolutely"" - Gino Robair, senior editor, Electronic Musican Magazine

	"Haven't had too much time to play with them , but everything that i liked in the prototypes is there, and I am looking forward to spending more time with them." - Alessandro Cortino, keyboardist - NINE INCH NAILS.

	"i think 'overwhelmed' might suffice. i'm not new to analog synthesis, but am relatively new to modular. yours' is the only VCO i own and so far i've had it running under a MIDI sequence that i use for a live set with a band. been experimenting with different waveform outputs in to different filters and mixing them, modulating the square + morph output with the banalogue VCS or the quad EG (a143-1)... trying to get my brain around how i'll be using it initially. i've wanted to take the modular out live for a long time so first order is getting this particular sequence to be the biggest f*ing thing in the planet. The Model 15 is making that very possible.." - Nick Hubben