Modulr Console

Twelve membrane pads, a parameter matrix and four sliders for the selected voice, with twenty-eight kits that each load the whole sound.

Modulr Console is a drum machine after the grammar of a 1980 digital drum console. Twelve membrane pads with a lamp over each, a red LED program display, a matrix that edits the level, pitch, decay and noise of a voice, and buttons that play the kit. It is a VST3 and Audio Unit with twenty-eight kits.

Plug-in · VST3 and Audio Unit

Legendary→Pricing→

61 controlsevery one can be automated from your music software

28 kitseach loads all twelve voices, the kit knobs and the program

VST3 · AUApple silicon, macOS 11 or later

Hear it

Eight kits, played as they ship.

Each clip is the plug-in itself: the kit is picked in the drawer and loaded, and the plug-in plays its own beat on your host’s notes. Each kit is Modulr’s own setting of the twelve voices, named for what it is; it is not a copy of any record. The sound is the plug-in’s own output, with no effects and no mastering. The lamps on the pads do not flash in these clips.

Stock KitKit · StudioThe kit as it is built: the machine's own twelve voices at their starting values.

Tight RoomKit · StudioEvery voice cut short and the hold pulled in: a close, dry kit.

Big RoomKit · StudioLong decays and the hold opened: the whole kit rings out.

Sub KickElectro · BassA long low kick, the pitch down a fifth, the rest of the kit pulled back.

Tom RollPercussion · TomsThe toms struck hard and left ringing.

Latin KitPercussion · LatinThe cowbell, the conga and the clave forward, the drums underneath.

Tape SlowLo-Fi · TapeThe kit tuned flat and ringing long, a worn-tape drag.

Metal RainFX · MetalThe metal voices an octave up and ringing like bells.

How it plays

A twelve-voice kit you edit one voice at a time.

Pads that play.Each of the twelve pads strikes its voice, and your host’s MIDI notes strike them too, one voice to a note.
An edit matrix.Pick a cell and the four sliders edit that voice: its level, pitch, decay and noise.
Kit knobs and programs.Snap, tune, hold and mix shape every voice at once, and eight programs reweight the whole kit.
Hold and Fill.While your host plays, Hold repeats the step it was pressed on and Fill plays the toms down to the snare.
Kits that load everything.Pick a kit and all twelve voices, the kit knobs and the program move to it at once; the drawer closes and you can play.
Hold to preview.Hold a key to hear a kit on your own notes, then let go and the instrument is exactly as it was.
Services.Choose whether the instrument answers your host’s MIDI and clock, set its output level, and age it: the decay shortens and the tuning drifts flat.

Requirements

What it needs.

For	You need
Formats	VST3 and Audio Unit
Computer	A Mac with Apple silicon, macOS 11 or later
Host	Any host that loads VST3 or Audio Unit instruments, such as Ableton Live or Logic Pro
Signing	Not yet notarized: macOS will ask you to allow it the first time

The drawings

The editor, and the module it becomes.

The plug-in is built. The Eurorack module drawn below is a design study and is not.

The Modulr Console plug-in editor, as it opens — The Modulr Console editor as it opens: twelve orange pads, an edit matrix, a fader bay for the selected voice, the program display and the kit buttons.

The Modulr Console Eurorack module, 28 HP, in its case — The Modulr Console module, 28 HP: twelve orange pads under their lamps, eight macro knobs each over a control jack, a red program window.

The editor is the plug-in’s own, as it opens. The module is drawn by the specification’s own kit, and its values are illustrative, not measured. The design is a 1980 drum console’s grammar, redrawn in Modulr’s own words, and nothing on it is measured against the instrument.

The instrument it studies

DMX, 1980.

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

The twelve-pad drum console grammar: a bank of twelve membrane pads with a lamp over each, a program number on a red LED display with a row of program buttons, a matrix of buttons that edits the level, the pitch, the decay and the noise of any voice, and a trigger with a group of buttons that play the kit.

A 28 HP panel in the character of a 1980 twelve-pad drum console: a dark brown sheet in a beige case, twelve small orange membrane pads in a row under their lamps, eight cream-capped knobs each over its own control jack, a red LED program window and the jacks in a dark tray.

Twelve membrane pads for the twelve sounds, a lamp over each
A display that shows the program number, with a row of program buttons
A matrix of buttons for the edit parameters
Sliders for the level, the pitch, the decay and the noise of the selected voice
A trigger button, and a group of buttons that play the kit

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; each one has a control jack under it.

Macro	Key	Range	Default
Level	voice.level	0–100%	80%
Pitch	voice.pitch	-24 – +24 st	0 st
Decay	voice.decay	20 ms – 2 s	400 ms
Noise	voice.noise	0–100%	10%
Snap	kit.snap	0–100%	50%
Tune	kit.tune	±100 ct	0 ct
Hold	kit.hold	50 ms – 2 s	500 ms
Mix	out.mix	-inf – +6 dB	0.0 dB

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

The plug-in is built. The module is not.On saleModulr Console is a working VST3 and Audio Unit. 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. The Eurorack module drawn on this page is a design study and is not for sale.

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.