What are your favorite Matrixbrute sound accessories?

[Processaurus]

What kind of accessories have you gotten good use out of with your Matrixbrute? Pedals, software, rack stuff, eurorack, other?

A couple favorites here, that have really clicked:

Boss harmonizer/ pitch shifter pedal. Can add in key specific harmony to fake 2 note chords. I use the PS-5 but there are some newer versions. Can use it in the effects loop if you are going out of the MxB in stereo.

Graphic EQ pedal. Using the little plastic Danelectro 7 band eq pedal. I had been playing synths for years but never tried an eq after the synth, it opens up a world of tailoring the sound, that the filter doesn’t allow.  Like how much fizz you want, how bassy... you can almost zero in on certain harmonics, like you can with an additive synthesizer.

Reverb, of course. Stereo reverb after the synth. Either digital pedal, or in the box.

Midi Looper. I did a review on using the Future Artist Midi Looper with the matrixbrute here
https://forum.arturia.com/index.php?topic=94734.0
Really cool to be able to record loops of knob movements, and record long chord progressions to feed the arpeggiator, step sequencer (dueling sequencers!), as well as just recording notes and then having hands free to tweak the sound. I’ve heard the Alesis MMT-8 is good as a “Midi looper” as well.

 Sampler/ROMpler. To play into the external instrument input, with midi from the MxB triggering notes on the sampler. I’ve had a lot of fun with Sir Sampleton, (like an SK-1) on the iPad, but I could see an old rackmount ROMpler being good as well, or a little eurorack sampler. Using short, percussive samples, blended with the MxB synth oscillators sustaining longer, gives some nice complexity to the attack of the sound, while still sounding synthetic. You can route the mod envelope to control the gain on the external input, if you want to give the sampler a separate, shorter envelope than the synth.

Some stuff I tried that didn’t really click-
Chorus- boss dimension C clone. Didn’t do anything the onboard chorus didn’t do.
Distortion- plenty of distortion options onboard
Mutable instruments Elements. Kind of a physical modeling VCO that I ran into the external input, and I couldn’t get a single good sound out of it.

All the accessories don’t have recall, which made me gravitate towards simple devices, since the heart of the MxB is that it is a modular (well, a broad semi-modular) synth with full recall. It would be cool to do some midi wizard stuff with rack gear, or something like a Line 6 M13, that can recall settings with midi program messages, and slave the rack stuff to recall it’s settings when you change patches on the matrixbrute, but, it sounds like a lot of head scratching...

[Lunatic Sound]

Eurorack!

In both directions, the MxB is cool for controlling the Rack (its just a bit too big for my room to have both next to each other, which would be nice...) and since the firmware update things have become better in the bug department as well as with the offering of (basic) triplet LFOs and (amazing) drawable LFO shapes. What a freakin killer feature.

And man, when I ran the Rubicon2 as a fourth oscillator into the external input, I was kinda shocked how good just the sine wave sounded.

[guyaguy]

For effects, mostly just my Fostex spring reverb. It's kind of lofi but that kind of suits the MxB's sound well.

Otherwise, yeah Euro rack, especially feeding an audio rate oscillator to the Metallizer. But any kind of audio source can result in interesting effects, some not useable in the least!

Oh and lastly: a clip on LED lamp. I like keeping room lights dim so it helps me see the tiny print!

[minus_ego]

I've posted about it elsewhere in the forum but I have an array of moogerfooger pedals that go very nicely with the effects insert.  Then you of course have all of the inter-modulation possibilities with the IO.  Really turns it into a different beast.  The MF-107 FreqBox has an oscillator out that I run into the ext input and can control the pitch from the brute.  I will have to try an EQ pedal, I've never messed with one.

[endreola]

Not sure that I have a Favorite accessory but here's a few that I enjoy noodling with:

ES-8 module, that integrates both audio and CV with tools like VCV rack
External sound modules for sound layering
Eurorack expansion adding depth and timbre in so many different ways
Squarp Pyramid, provides a ton of sequencing possibilities across a bunch of synths (as master clock)
The NDLR, automating a bunch of synths together while synchronizing to key & chord progressions

Well OK, so most are not quite the kind of accessories that you've probably had in mind.

[joeman]

I've posted about it elsewhere in the forum but I have an array of moogerfooger pedals that go very nicely with the effects insert.  Then you of course have all of the inter-modulation possibilities with the IO.  Really turns it into a different beast.  The MF-107 FreqBox has an oscillator out that I run into the ext input and can control the pitch from the brute.  I will have to try an EQ pedal, I've never messed with one.

How do you go with range of the tuning of the MF107? I find it to need adjustment across the octaves quite dramatically. Does yours track accurately 1v/0ct across multiple octaves?

Joe

[minus_ego]

I've posted about it elsewhere in the forum but I have an array of moogerfooger pedals that go very nicely with the effects insert.  Then you of course have all of the inter-modulation possibilities with the IO.  Really turns it into a different beast.  The MF-107 FreqBox has an oscillator out that I run into the ext input and can control the pitch from the brute.  I will have to try an EQ pedal, I've never messed with one.

How do you go with range of the tuning of the MF107? I find it to need adjustment across the octaves quite dramatically. Does yours track accurately 1v/0ct across multiple octaves?

Joe

Mine tracks OK, for about 3 octaves or so, I've noticed.  If I'm wanting to use that extra osc for a specific sequence or melody that needs to be spot on tuning wise it can get a bit fiddly to dial it in where it will work across the range.  Generally I like to add it in as more of an effect than as a main pitched sound source.

[bobfrode]

are no one using a DAW with MB?
I have connected my gear to ableton live and use a lot of convoluted reverb, delays, gate triggers, harmonizers etc i dont have any external pedals, but I love doing sound design in ableton. I even made a track based on the latest update soundset on the matrix brute (https://soundcloud.com/bob-frode/solid-affair).
there are some good sounds there like the MB-A05 (without the lead) and MBA07.
I have not tried to connect any of my external gear into MB yet..maybe i should try that

PS...there should be a thread with what music you make on your MB.. i would love to hear your work. i just cant find anything on soundcloud

[STM]

I think a Korg NTS-1 could be a nice 4th OSC or FX unit. (mine is on backorder)
Korg SQ-1 comes to mind too...

The Expressivee Touché does look like a great add-on for hands on control. (maybe the Osmose will fill that role)

Empress Zoia Euroburo is on my wishlist.
But everything with patchpoints could be worth trying to connect 

[VAU]

What are your favorite "synth XYZ" hardware sound accessories?

Yamaha G100 (or B100)  -> vintage JBL 13075K  PA Speakers -> Sennheiser 421
Yamaha G100 (or B100)  -> vintage JBL 13075K  PA Speakers -> Sennheiser 421

2x for stereo reamping

[gregae]

A large format modular and a handful of 1/4" to 1/8" cables:

[guyaguy]

A large format modular and a handful of 1/4" to 1/8" cables:

And a ladder presumably? 

[aljen]

Eventide H9 Max.

Well, fine, I tend to hook the Eventide H9 Max to any synth or guitar I happen to own, so this is not an extraordinary use case.

Still, the H9 with it's plethora of effects – from different harmonizers to atonal spatial black holes – it's a great to have addendum, especially if you use monophonic synths; and you do.

[Processaurus]

Eventide H9 Max.

Well, fine, I tend to hook the Eventide H9 Max to any synth or guitar I happen to own, so this is not an extraordinary use case.

Still, the H9 with it's plethora of effects – from different harmonizers to atonal spatial black holes – it's a great to have addendum, especially if you use monophonic synths; and you do.

Have you gotten into any of the Midi stuff on your H9? Curious if anyone goes to the trouble to link the presets on a multi-effects to the synth with program change messages. I could see that being worth it for performers. You could get very specific with the effects, eq from song to song without fearing to take a drink.

Maybe even more advantageous in the studio would be using the midi clock to sync time based effects. Specifically the modulation effects, because you can sync not just the tempo, but the phase of the modulation, to go along with the song in a repeatable way.

[aWc]

I also have MB and H9max, and I've been thinking of doing something like this (MIDI sync, matched Program changes). Outside of plain vanilla reverbs, a lot of existing H9 presets will clash badly with the MB's own effects (which can be turned off of course), sequencer/arp speed, and even the filter tones themselves. Not sure modulation-based effects are necessary on the Brute.The fact is that there are a lot of MB patches that already sound fantastic just by themselves. Maybe the H9 is not the best choice to marry to the MB. Sometimes I regret not getting the Strymon Big Sky instead, not too mention drooling over the Ventris Dual...I think that high-quality reverb is the best addition to the MatrixBrute sound.