Xaoc Budapeszt: I’m waiting on a demo of this, and will update once I’ve heard it.
My impressions while watching this were something like this: it sounds neat… no, that’s just over the top… oh nice!… yuck… oooh… cool… meh… oh wait OMFG OMFG YES!!!
For a long time now I’ve hoped some enterprising synth designer would take the source code for Mutable Instruments Rings, and do something more with it instead of just cloning the module as is or implementing it in a plugin or whatever. The big thing I wanted was more variety of / control over structures.
While I doubt Xaoc used Emilie’s code, this takes the same core concept — bandpass/comb filters as resonators — and runs with it in a different direction. Less prescriptive, but more variety. There’s a taste of 4ms Spectral Multiband Resonator and Smoothie Audio Smear in there as well. And it’s true stereo and also dual, with the two filter(bank)s interacting in feedback. And… it’s glorious!
It’s still in the prototype stage, with an expected release somewhere in the autumn. And I have my No New Gear Year pledge, and I’m thinking about that. I know for sure I’m going to want this module and will get it anyway, so how much sense does it make to wait until January 1, 2027 just for the sake of that pledge?
Because this is pretty much a must-have module for me, if anything is. I’m getting the excitement about it I did for Rings originally, but with much more modular experience on my side I have even bigger expectations and plans.
I’m comfortable with swapping out Rings for Budapeszt, but Budapeszt is 6HP larger so I’ll need to figure something else out. Katowice might be an appropriate choice, as it’s the one I said I’d allow myself to sell to make room for stuff — the things I do with it can be done by plugins.
Alternately, there’s Castle. I know, every time I contemplate letting it go, I patch it up and say “no, I have to keep it.” To be honest though, I have a lot of FM stuff, and don’t strictly need this specific flavor. That opens a lot of space for other things. But I’d want to be slow to fill that space.
Or there’s Nibbler, fun but not really a frequent flyer. GTE — I know I just got it and haven’t even explored it all that much, but it’s unlikely to ever really be an essential. Perhaps one might say I should have held off on it and made Budapeszt my new module for 2026.
For that matter… I want to put some thought into combining “get Budapeszt” with “shrink my rig.” I could clear out enough space to let go of the Pod60, and also bid adieu to the Elmyra and other small desktop thingies — keeping the main case, Minibrute/Strega pair, and the four pedals. The problem with this is that introduces the temptation to fill the Pod again, or to put something else in the newly available space.
Of course, these opinions are colored by the droney approach I’ve been taking with this album — there’s been even more minimal use of sequencing than my usual. I’ve been loving that process. I just don’t want to commit to all future releases being similar.
I will have at least several months to make any decisions, anyway. But that’s what’s on my mind now.
I have 61 minutes of music for this album recorded but I’m not quite done — I think there’s going to be one more track. And then on to the “Z” album, which I have some thought toward already…
I just saw this image posted on Lines, and… yes, that describes me and my music to a T.
