qmmg – peaks and nulls

I always seem to find myself both perplexed and captivated by my Make Noise case. Because it’s a relatively small system that’s also a walled garden, modules are limited. I’ve always scoffed a bit at the idea that a small case can spurn on creativity in a way a big case can’t. That it forces you to make deliberate choices and patch in new ways to get the most of what you do have. But with my Make Noise case that’s at least partially true. I’m not sure whether it’s the Make Noise ethos or the small case, but I find myself having to really think through patches. Even normally basic tasks, like mixing, can be a logistics challenge while patching. There are a finite number of jacks to plug, and a static few modules to work with.

After a short hiatus, the Make Noise case is back in order and with a couple of new additions. I needed the case for a travel synth, and I’ve been crazy busy since my return. I made a trip to Asheville and had a really great day at the QMMG in-store event, and I recorded a couple of tracks on the main synth and another on my new Make Noise 0-Series setup since, but I’ve straight procrastinated wrestling with the shitty M2.5 screws and sliding nuts Make Noise uses with their cases.¹ Post-trip I also decided, after seeing rack rash on a couple of the travel synth modules from being screwed in without washers exactly once, that I was going to wait until I received longer screws and nylon washers to mitigate any further scratching issues. Rack rash isn’t the end of the world, but being that I move modules in and out quickly, I like for them to retain resale value, especially when it comes to factors I can control.

Once I got the case assembled I went to work. Not on creating a beautiful patch to share with the world (even if I do think the results are beautiful), but on seeing just exactly why QMMG generates the hype it does. How does it ring? Beautifully. How does it squelch? Loudly. How does it sweep? Lovely. How does it bleed? Perfectly.

I set out to re-create one of my favorite patches that encourages vactrol bleed, allowing subsequent pitches of a sequence to be heard after a step has been passed, and before the vactrol has had the time to close the gate of the LPG. These notes aren’t being gated, but sneak through at an audible level anyways as a byproduct of the slow vactrol response. Walker describes these bled notes as “[N]ot ghosts, exactly, because they have yet to exist. They’re more like premonitions or ideas; bulbs casting light on possible futures inscribed in the sequence.” Although I’ve written about this technique before, and use it often, I couldn’t resist using it with the new QMMG. I wanted to hear the vactrols for everything they are, not try and cover them up or hide their true nature. After all, Tony Rolando allegedly has said that the vactrols are the heart of QMMG, and it bleeds. It’s the module’s logo. Vactrol bleed is at the center of QMMG’s identity, and I wanted to hear it.

From Make Noise’s QMMG In-Store event flier.

There are also 3 other voices in the patch. The first is a moderately modulated QPAS, pinging quietly in the background, sounding beautiful as ever. The second is the sine wave of the first DPO oscillator ring modulating the second sine oscillator of DPO in the modDemix. It only hits very infrequently, and is NOT passed through a LPG, but a VCA so that it does not ring past the current step. The third is a ripping bass part that absolutely does not fit with the rest of the patch in any way. What I was attempting did not work. Instead, I got a killer bass sequence that is contemporaneously always staying the same, yet always changing at the same time. This bass line is created with the STO’s Variable Shape output into QPAS in LP mode, with a completely ungated sequence on the X channel, which is clocked by alternating outputs on Tempi. Both of the clocks used were run at different rates, as well as having stops in Rene at different rates.

This patch is not perfect. It’s not even very good. But it’s a peek into the process understanding of how QMMG works, while trying to have a little fun at the same time. I also inadvertently learned a new bass technique for my patching library. If I were to expand on this patch, I’d certainly unmarry the bass part from the rest for its own track, but other problems exist too.

The delay is too forward in the mix. With the initial sequence and its premonitions, QPAS’ pinging, and ring modulated sine waves all going through the delay, it got very busy in the mix, sometimes obscuring the bleeding vactrols of QMMG, which was the entire point of the patch in the first place. I also ran into an inherent problem with using DXG, even as just a mixer. I’ve had my fair share of complaints about the DXG’s inability to not mix. I feel like it’s an extremely important piece of gear in the history of modern Eurorack, but with some serious flaws. It’s the first stereo LPG in existence (as far as I can tell), and made by the LPG legends at Make Noise who made Optomix (two versions), QMMG (two versions), LxD, MMG, RxMx, Dynamix, and the brilliant transistor-based LPG in the Strega, yet despite its importance and lineage DXG is a tragically imperfect piece of kit. As a LPG mixer, it raises and lowers both the volume and the harmonic content of the input simultaneously, more closely mimicking how sounds work in nature. As a sound gets louder, there is more higher harmonic content. As that sound gets softer, it loses harmonic content. And that’s great when you want to create sounds, but when you mix already created sounds together you generally want to control the volume, while leaving the harmonic content intact at every level. The DXG doesn’t allow you to do that. I noticed this phenomena most directly when trying to mix a full wet Mimeophon return signal on Ch 1 from with the dry signal on Ch 2 using its send outputs. Because I didn’t want what amounts to a 50/50 dry/wet mix, I wanted my repeats much softer than the dry signal, the repeats from Mimeophon were not only quieter (good) when patched through the DXG, but also near bereft of its upper harmonic content (very bad). All that pretty Color and Halo being added in Mimeophon, shat upon by the DXG. Although I was able to mitigate this problem by patching the output of the full mixer, rather than only the Ch 2 send output, to Mimeophon, and patching it as an insert using Mimeophon’s mix control rather than as an AUX send with a full wet return as originally intended, this necessary workaround seems to greatly minimize the utility of the Ch 2 send outputs. Traditionally, one would patch the dry signal to Ch 2, the Ch 2 send outputs to Mimeophon with its outputs patched back to Ch 1, and mixed with the original dry signal at the mixer’s sum output. However, losing valuable harmonic content from Mimeophon’s output when I only want to lose volume makes that a far less than ideal use case scenario for me. They work great as mixers, but only if you want to mix inputs at relatively even, loud levels.

Overall I’m pleased with the patch. Not the outcome, per se, but that the process of patching taught a couple of valuable lessons about the gear I’m using so that I might better use it in the future. The QMMG sounds fantastic, both as a LPG and a filter, and I’m slowly learning how to control the Final output of the DPO. Not every patch will turn out well, and that’s okay.

Modules Used:
Tempi
Rene’ V2
DPO
QPAS
STO
Maths
QMMG
Function
Wogglebug
modDemix
Mimeophon
DXG
X-Pan

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Arturia AudioFuse.

I’m clearly a Make Noise enthusiast, but that by no means makes their products perfect. There is no good excuse for sliding nuts and un-washered M2.5 screws in an otherwise premium case. ↩︎

Eurorack can be a funny space. We have thousands of modules available to us to do any number of amazing things with sound. Sometimes these modules are bullshit copies of a worthy predecessor, while others are completely unique and have a cult-like following that stands the test of time and the ever-increasing number of new modules released almost daily.

And then there’s a very small handful of modules that attain legendary status in the community for being something much greater than the sum of its transistors, capacitors, and resistors. Those modules that transcend its intended purpose and becomes an instrument unto itself. The Make Noise Maths is a meme at this point, being the solution for so many Eurorack conundrums. If you need to perform some difficult (or easy) control scheme, chances are “Maths does that.” The Modcan Quad LFO and Rabid Elephant Natural Gate are other examples. But arguably no other module in all of Eurorack approaches the iconic status of the Make Noise QMMG.

Originally billed as a spin on the Buchla 292c, the QMMG (Quad Multi Mode Gate) is a quad set of VCAs, low pass gates, resonant low pass filters, and resonant high pass filters, with clever normalizations and mixing schemes that make it ideal for controlling and mixing both audio and CV. On the surface QMMG isn’t anything special. It looks simple enough, like most quad filters out there. But under the hood is some circuitry magic that does “something” to the sound that elevates QMMG to its current pedestal atop almost everyone’s Eurorack wishlist. A quick peek at Reverb will show a seldomly sold module that goes for several times more than its original retail cost, with buyers eager to plunk down thousands, and happy to have the chance to own one of these fabled modules, even if only for a short time.

Although this story is largely accurate, I’d be remiss to omit one simple fact: although the QMMG has been around in one form or another since 2008, so few of them have been made that scarcity plays a large role in its status, as well as almost all of these modules. It’s no coincidence that so many legendary-status modules fetch obscene prices on the secondary market. There just aren’t very many of them. They’re unicorns. Unicorns to the point that their scarcity adds to the legend. Some of these shortages are the result of these modules being made by hand in small workshops by as few as one person. Costs in a small operation are already very high. Scaling production simply isn’t an option for many.¹ Some are the result of a company having stopped making them long ago. Others, like QMMG, are the result of the parts being both difficult to source, as well as being expensive when you can find them. Add in a serious variability differential between nominally the same exact parts, and it’s just plain hard to build them in any sort of real quantity. So far as anyone can tell, far fewer than 1000 QMMGs have been made since its original release in 2008. Originals are scarce and fetch very high prices. There was a 10th anniversary run in 2018 which resulted in perhaps 100 units, but nothing since. The only place to get one is on the secondary market at collectors prices.

Until now.

In mid-August Make Noise announced that although QMMG is a difficult module to build on any sort of scale, they had spent the better part of the last several years sourcing and testing as many parts as they could find in order to try and fill the gap. That QMMG would make a return, even if only in another limited release. It would go on sale in stores worldwide on September 9, 2024, with a popup sale event on September 7, 2024 at the Make Noise headquarters in Asheville, NC.

Make Noise is a staple in the Eurorack community, and has been for a very long time. They helped usher in the modern era of Eurorack with modules like Maths, QMMG, and Rene, and have been stewards of modular music, making hundreds of demonstration and tutorial videos. Walker Farrell, Make Noise’s YouTube video host, is known throughout the modular world as an ambassador of not only Make Noise as a company, but the entire genre of modular music. Very few Eurorack synths don’t have at least one Make Noise module. Without Make Noise, Eurorack would not be what it is today. Yet despite their enormous success, Make Noise understands that this community is small, and still seeks to interact directly with their customers. Not only do they occasionally open up their HQ in Asheville for special releases like QMMG, but they often use that opportunity to help proselytize Eurorack and modular synthesis as a whole in a way that is more than than just promoting their brand and bottom line. Today that sense of community building came in the form of a free modular performance at a local brewery and beer garden, Cellarest, where about 100 Eurorack geeks got to hang out with people we’ve never met, and never would have met without the QMMG event, to enjoy something special outside of being one of the few who were fortunate enough to purchase one of the most revered modules of all time at retail pricing, straight from Tony Rolando himself.

Being that this was the first time I’ve been to a modular performance, it wasn’t at all what I expected. When I sat down with my first Crescent 9 seltzer, I was expecting boots and pants, or some approximation, but instead got three freeform modular improvisations by three experienced modular performers, which was a rare treat. I hadn’t anticipated that, like me, their creative interests would lie in something far less structured and free flowing. The patches were clearly premade, but the performances spontaneous and raw. Although I’m not sure I’d play their performed pieces on repeat, it was an eye opening peek into a live creative process, and I’m glad I was able to share that space and enjoy that process with them.

I feel very fortunate that I was able to attend the pop-up sale event and snag a revered and highly sought after module that’s been high on my want list since I first got into modular synths. When I first looked into getting a QMMG, I was resigned to never having one. I knew that no matter how good, I was never going to buy one on the secondary market at collectors prices, and with Make Noise, along with much of the rest of the modular universe, beginning to move away from vactrols because of asinine EU regulations, I didn’t anticipate they’d make another run. Yet here we are, and with ideal circumstances to finally have a good chance to snag from straight from the source. I’m very privileged to be in the position I am. And, perhaps even better, I was able to meet new people, including a couple of very cool guys who were in line behind me, and experience my first modular performance. It was a very good day, and I hope Make Noise has many more release events like this in the future.

Even though both Mannequins and Rabid Elephant have found new ways of scaling production beyond a few dozen per cycle, it hasn’t been until this year, almost a decade after they were originally released. ↩︎

Tag: qmmg

Made Noise – Sketch 3

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