Modulr Pocket

Four encoders in four colours and one small screen, drawn over a single synth voice with nine patches.

Modulr Pocket is a synthesizer after the grammar of the OP-1 of 2011: one small screen, four colour-coded encoders, mode keys for synth, drum, tape and mixer, transport keys, and a small keyboard in the same body. As a plug-in it plays one synth voice from your MIDI: four of the eight drawn knobs reach it, and the screen, the mode keys, the tape and the effect are drawn, not built.

Plug-in · VST3 and Audio Unit

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4 of 8 knobsreach the voice: shape, envelope time, tempo and volume

9 patcheseach one loads the whole sound

VST3 · AUApple silicon, macOS 11 or later

Hear it

Nine sounds, played as they ship.

Each clip is the plug-in itself: a patch is picked in the drawer and loaded, then notes are played on it from MIDI. The nine patches hold nine distinct sounds, one for each clip here. The editor does not light its keys or move its screen as the notes play: those are drawn, not live. No manual documents a setting for the OP-1, so every patch is this product’s reading of a role.

Pluck · starting pointKeys · PluckA quick gate pulse and a short decay on the first wave position: a dry struck note. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

Bell · starting pointKeys · BellThe third wave position with a short gate and a long decay, so the note rings out. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

Pad · starting pointPad · SlowThe middle wave position with a long gate pulse standing in for an attack, and the longest decay. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

Bass · starting pointBass · PulseA narrow pulse tuned down a fifth with a short gate and a mid decay. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

Lead · starting pointLead · BrightThe last wave position with a medium gate and a held decay, accented. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

Stab · starting pointLead · StabThe shortest gate and decay at full accent: one hit. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

Hollow · starting pointKeys · PulseA wide pulse in the middle wave position with a gentle gate. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

Detuned drone · starting pointPad · DroneThe first wave position at the longest gate and decay, tuned a quarter-tone flat. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

Octave lead · starting pointLead · BrightThe middle wave position an octave and a fifth up, a thin pulse and a medium gate. A starting point this product read from its own controls, not an OP-1 preset.

How it plays

One voice, under a drawn pocket studio.

One oscillator.A wave position that sweeps three shapes, a pulse width, and a tuning of up to seven semitones either way.
One envelope.A gate pulse that stands in for the attack, a decay of up to two and a half seconds, and an accent.
Four knobs that work.The blue encoder sets the wave position, the white one the decay, the tempo knob the sequencer’s tempo, and the volume knob the level. The green, orange, tape-speed and effect knobs are drawn and do nothing.
What is drawn and not built.The screen, the mode keys for synth, drum, tape and mixer, the function keys and the on-screen keyboard are drawn and inert. There is no filter, no sampler, no tape recorder and no effects. Play your own MIDI keyboard.
Patches that load the whole sound.Pick a patch and every control moves to it at once; the drawer closes. Hold to preview plays a patch’s tone on your own MIDI, and when you let go 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.

Requirements

What it needs.

Format	Systems	Licence
VST3 · Audio Unit	macOS 11 or later, on Apple silicon	A licence is needed to make sound. Without one the editor opens and the output is silent.

The drawings

The editor, and the module it becomes.

The plug-in is built. The Eurorack module is drawn, with its macro knobs and the control jacks under them, and is not.

The Modulr Pocket plug-in editor, as it opens — The Modulr Pocket editor as it opens: a pale aluminium body, a small screen with a wave, four coloured encoders, mode keys and two rows of rubber keys.

The Modulr Pocket Eurorack module, 18 HP, in its case — The Modulr Pocket module, 18 HP: a mini screen, four coloured encoders and four graphite knobs, each with a control jack, over a jack tray.

The editor is the plug-in’s own, as it opens; the numbers on its screen and under its inert knobs are drawn, and do not follow any control. The module is drawn by the specification’s own kit, and its values are illustrative, not measured. The design is the OP-1’s grammar, redrawn in Modulr’s own words, and nothing on it is measured against the instrument.

The instrument it studies

OP-1, 2011.

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

The pocket-studio grammar: a small friendly screen, four colour-coded endless encoders that mean something different in every mode, round glyph keys, icon mode keys for synth, drum, tape and mixer, and squarish rubber keys in two staggered rows.

A pale bead-blasted aluminium slab in 18 HP: a bright mini screen with a cartoon wave and four coloured dots beside four tiny icon mode keys, four anodised encoders (blue, green, white, orange) and four graphite knobs, each with a CV jack, and an evenly spaced dark jack tray at the foot.

A small colour screen: the synth engine, an effect, or the tape
Four colour-coded encoders: blue, green, white and orange
Mode buttons for synth, drum, tape and mixer
A row of function buttons and the transport keys
A pair of small rubber keys and a small keyboard
A microphone, a speaker, one volume knob and a battery

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, not a generic set; each one has a control jack under it.

Macro	Key	Range	Default
Shape	osc.shape	0–100%	50%
Filter	vcf.cut	20 Hz – 20 kHz	20 kHz
Env	env.time	2 ms – 4 s	120 ms
Mod	mod.amt	0–100%	0%
Speed	tape.speed	±12 st	0 st
Effect	fx.amt	0–100%	0%
Tempo	seq.tempo	40–240 BPM	120 BPM
Volume	out.vol	-inf – +6 dB	0.0 dB

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

The plug-in is built. The module is not.On saleModulr Pocket 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 built.

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.