Legendary · study 40 of 43

Modulr Pads

Five pads over an analogue drum synth, with a switch that mutes the pads and leaves the synth alone.

Modulr Pads is a design study after the grammar of a 1981 five-pad analogue drum machine: pads you hit, a level and a decay for each voice, a six-voice analogue drum synth behind its own panel, a sixteen-step sequencer with a tempo, and a switch that takes the pads away and leaves the synth alone.

Design study · not built

Legendary→Pricing→

24 HPthe width of the Eurorack module this study is drawn as

8 macrosthe signature controls the module carries, each with its own control jack

6 jacksa note, a V/Oct and a gate in, audio out

The study

The editor, and the module it becomes.

Each study is drawn twice: as a standalone plug-in editor, and as a Eurorack module with its macro knobs and the control jacks under them. Nothing here is built.

The Modulr Pads plug-in editor, drawn as a design study — The Modulr Pads editor: five rubber pads, level and decay rows, a red pattern display over sixteen step lamps, and the drum synth below.

The Modulr Pads Eurorack module, 24 HP, in its case — The Modulr Pads module: 24 HP, five pads in a row, a red pattern display, a source switch, and eight macro knobs over their jacks.

Mock UI — drawn by the specification’s own kit, not a screenshot of a shipped editor. Values are illustrative, not measured. The study is SDS-5’s grammar, redrawn in Modulr’s own words, and nothing on it is measured against the instrument.

The instrument it studies

SDS-5, 1981.

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

The 1981 five-pad drum machine: pads you hit, a level and a decay for every voice, a separate analogue drum synth behind its own panel, a pattern sequencer of sixteen steps with a memory row and a tempo, and a switch that takes the pads away and leaves the synth alone.

A black box with a sloped charcoal panel: five square rubber pads in a row under their lamps, a level and a decay a pad under each, a red seven-segment pattern display over sixteen step lamps, a master section of the tempo, the level and the swing, and a recessed panel of its own for the six-voice analogue drum synth.

Five pads in a row: bass drum, snare, toms, clap and hi hat
A six-voice analogue drum synth behind a panel of its own
Knobs for each pad’s level and decay
A switch that mutes the pads and leaves the drum synth alone
A pattern sequencer and a tempo

The spec sheet

The module, knob by knob.

The macros are the signature controls a player reaches for, not a generic set; each one has a control jack under it on the module.

Macro	Key	Range	Default
Kick Level	kick.level	0–100%	70%
Kick Decay	kick.decay	20 ms – 2 s	400 ms
Snare Level	snare.level	0–100%	70%
Snare Decay	snare.decay	20 ms – 1 s	200 ms
Hat Level	hat.level	0–100%	60%
Tone	synth.tone	Dark – Bright	Mid
Output	out.level	-inf – +6 dB	0.0 dB
Tempo	seq.tempo	40 – 240 BPM	120 BPM

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

This study is a study, and it is not built.ProposedLegendary, the catalogue this study belongs to, holds 43 design studies after the instruments of all time, each after an instrument’s grammar and never a copy of it. No maker’s name or logo is drawn on a panel, nothing is measured against the instrument, and the study itself is not for sale: Legendary is the plan that carries the catalogue.

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.