Modulr Sextet

Six voices of two oscillators with a shape and a hard sync, a sub, a resonant low-pass and high-pass, poly mod, one effect, an arpeggiator and a sequencer.

Modulr Sextet is a six-voice polyphonic synthesizer after the grammar of a 2015 programmable instrument: two oscillators and a sub, a mixer with noise and a ring product, a four-pole low-pass and a two-pole high-pass, poly mod from the filter envelope and the second oscillator, two ADSR envelopes, an LFO and one effect from five. Built as a VST3 and Audio Unit, and drawn as a 28 HP module.

Plug-in · VST3 and Audio Unit

Add to basket · $25→Legendary→

97 controlsevery one can be automated from your music software

7 patchesseven distinct sounds; each one loads the whole sound

VST3 · AUApple silicon, macOS 11 or later

Hear it

Seven sounds, played as they ship.

Each clip is the plug-in itself: a patch is picked in the drawer and loaded, then a played chord or line sounds on it, the way it is played into the plug-in from a keyboard. The bank holds seven patches and seven distinct sounds, and these are those seven. No effects, no mastering.

Lead · starting pointThe lead roleAll six voices stacked on one key in unison, the first oscillator’s saw bent a little towards a triangle and the second a few cents off, a bright resonant low-pass opened by a short envelope, a touch of glide and a delay behind it. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

Pad · starting pointThe pad roleA slow attack and a long release, two saws a few cents apart with the slop wandering them, a dark filter that opens slowly on its own envelope with a slow LFO breathing in it, and a chorus to blur the edges. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

Bass · starting pointThe bass roleA fundamental-heavy saw with a sub-octave square under it, a low filter with a short snap of envelope, a quick decay to a low sustain, and no effect wash. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

Keys · starting pointThe keys roleA soft-edged tone: a triangle and a narrow pulse, the second oscillator an octave up for the bell of it, a medium filter that a short envelope brightens on the strike, a decay to a low sustain and a light chorus. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

Brass and Strings · starting pointThe brass roleTwo saws detuned a little, a filter the envelope opens over a fifth of a second and holds half open, a soft attack and a firm sustain, and a short reverb behind it. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

Sequence · starting pointThe arpeggio roleThe held keys played one to a step over two octaves up and down at 118 BPM: a pulse and a saw with a snappy filter envelope so each step speaks, and a tempo-synced delay behind it. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

FX · starting pointThe effects roleNot a note: the oscillators ring against each other with noise under them, a resonant filter, a random LFO throwing the cutoff about and poly mod moving the first oscillator’s pitch, in a long reverb. The settings are this product’s reading of the role, not any artist’s.

How it plays

Six voices, two oscillators each, two filters.

Two oscillators a voice.Each a sawtooth bent towards a triangle by its shape, a triangle and a pulse of a set width, every wave switched in by its own cap; the second hard-syncs the first, and the slop wanders them apart.
A mixer with a sub and a ring.The two oscillators, a sub-octave square and white noise; the ring puts the product of the two oscillators in the second one’s place, and the drive pushes the sum into the filters.
Two filters.A resonant four-pole (or two-pole) low-pass and a resonant two-pole high-pass, each opened by the filter envelope, the key and the LFO.
Poly mod.Each voice’s own filter envelope and second oscillator move the first oscillator’s pitch, shape and the cutoffs, by the destinations you switch on.
Two envelopes, an LFO and the wheels.An attack, decay, sustain and release for the filter and for the amplifier, each with a velocity; an LFO of five waves that the mod wheel adds to; a pitch wheel that springs back.
One effect.Delay, reverb, chorus, phaser or flanger, at a mix, with two parameters and a tempo sync.
Unison, chord memory, an arpeggiator and a sequencer.Unison stacks all six voices on one key; the chord memory plays a held chord from one key; the arpeggiator walks the held keys over one to three octaves; the sequencer plays sixteen steps of a note, a rest or a tie. The sixteen steps are host parameters; recording from the keys is the bench’s, and the record, rest and tie caps do nothing inside a host.
Patches that load the whole sound.Pick a patch and every control moves to it at once; the drawer closes and the keys are ready. Hold to preview plays a patch’s tone on your own MIDI, and when you let go the instrument is put back.
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 drawn beside it, with its eight macro knobs and the control jacks under them, is a design study and is not.

The Modulr Sextet plug-in editor, as it opens — The Modulr Sextet editor as it opens: a black panel under an aluminium rail, a red four-digit program display, two rows of sections, a 49-key keyboard.

The Modulr Sextet Eurorack module, 28 HP, in its case — The Modulr Sextet module, 28 HP: eight macro knobs, each with a control jack under it, and the four-digit program display in the head.

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 the Prophet-6’s grammar, redrawn in Modulr’s own words, and nothing on it is measured against the instrument.

The instrument it studies

Prophet-6, 2015.

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

The six-voice programmable polyphonic grammar: two oscillators with a shape select and a sub, a mixer, low-pass and high-pass filters, poly mod, two ADSR envelopes, an LFO with a wave strip, digital effects chosen from five lit types, an arpeggiator and sequencer, and a large program display with a round data knob, banks and write.

A cool black panel in flat modern print under a brushed satin-aluminium head rail: white block markers before every heading, small black knobs ringed with printed dots, square translucent push caps lit red or amber from inside, a large red four-digit program display, and narrow light satin walnut edges.

Two oscillators and a sub-oscillator with a shape select, and a mixer
A low-pass and a high-pass filter: cutoff, resonance, envelope amount, key track
Two ADSR envelopes, one for the filter and one for the amplifier
An LFO with a wave select and destinations
Poly mod, taking the filter envelope as a source
A digital effects section: delay, reverb, chorus, phase, flange
An arpeggiator and a sequencer
A four-digit program display with a data knob, banks and write

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 has a control jack under it.

Macro	Key	Range	Default
Cutoff	vcf.cut	20 Hz – 20 kHz	3.0 kHz
Reso	vcf.res	0–100%	0%
Env Amt	vcf.env	0–100%	0%
Poly Mod	pmod.fenv	0–100%	0%
Slop	master.slop	0–100%	10%
Sub	mix.sub	0–100%	0%
Release	amp.release	0 ms – 20 s	200 ms
FX Mix	fx.mix	0–100%	0%

Side	Jacks
In	Note (MIDI), V/Oct (CV), Gate (CV)
Out	Left (Audio), Right (Audio), F.Env (CV)

The plug-in is built. The module is not.On saleModulr Sextet 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. It is $25, signed ad hoc and not notarized, so macOS will ask you to allow it. A downloaded copy stays silent until it is licensed, and there is no automatic way yet for a customer to receive a licence file. The sound bank is seven starting points of the bench’s own; no artist’s patch is among them. 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.