Sequencing Sheep

I put together a new mini-eurorack system this evening and it’s a lot of fun!

It’s based around the Mutable Instruments Sheep, an alternative firmware for the original Tides module which turns it into a powerful wavetable oscillator with filtering and waveshaping. I got the new front panel from https://pushermanproductions.com/product/sheep-matte-black-aluminium-panel/

One particularly useful feature of Sheep is that it has a built in VCA, so by patching an envelope into the LEVEL input, you have a fully self contained synth voice.

The Smoothness knob acts as both a Low Pass filter (when turned counterclockwise), and a waveshaper (when turned clockwise). Of course, where the fun really begins is when you send modulation to the CV inputs, in this case from the excellent DivKid Ochd.

One small problem I had to overcome was that the 2HP ADSR module is designed to accept gate signals, but the Shikensa sequencer only outputs triggers. Or at least, that’s what I thought. Turns out when you have nothing patched into LVL CV, and the LEVEL knob fully to the right, a pitch envelope comes out of the LVL OUT. This was perfect for opening the ADSR envelope and meant I could use the trigger input to control the low pass gate .

And taking a moment to praise the ST Modular Shikensa, I’m really enjoying the results I’m getting with what on the face of it, is a basic step sequencer. The sequence length can be set to to 3, 4 or 5 steps using a simple 3-way toggle, the gates / triggers for each step can be turned on or off using the latched buttons, and it’s possible to transpose the sequences using the ADD input.

The only thing missing which would make it perfect is a headphone output. I have an ALM HPO module spare, but sadly have no room left in the case. However, I think I should be able to squeeze it in by making a few modifications to the 4MS front-panel. But, I’ll leave that for another day.