After I built another Cell 90 case, I went a bit insane and spent days trying to fill it, balancing the tradeoffs of cost and functionality. Eventually the dust started to settle, and, with a Halloween sale, I ordered a bunch of modules, seen here in the 90hp case. Ultimately I had to go with a larger case to accommodate more attenuation. It’s now in the wood case with cover.

Looking for companions to the System III, I first analyzed it looking for additional needed functions. System III is a single Eurorack module with a good set of capabilities, especially for a synth beginner. But it lacks two essentials: 1) a proper clock, and 2) attenuators. It has two mixers that can be used as attenuators, but they are better put to use as mixers.

A Closer Look at the Pico System III

I won’t repeat a lot of the details you can get by downloading the manual. Check out the blue edge connector. It lets you make patches using “Voice Cards”. Comes with five factory cards and five DIY cards for making your own preset patches. Pretty cool. Now let’s get into some details that you won’t necessarily find in the manual.

The module has two shrouded power headers on the back, but comes with only one power ribbon cable. I added a second one.

VCOs

VCO1 and VCO2 have similar ranges, but slightly different starting points. Each has an up/middle/down octave switch. I found that the Tune knob has a two-octave range. The frequencies start out low with no CV going to the 1V/octave input. With the tune knob minimized or maximized, the available frequencies by range are:

VCO1: 3.5/7/14 Hz Min; 14/28/56 Hz Max

VCO2: 4/8/16 Hz Min; 15/30/60 Hz Max

Low, but seemingly intended to be starting points. A CV into the 1V/Octave input is going to be needed. With +10V, VCO1 has a range up to a whopping 56 Khz, while VCO2 goes to 60 Khz!

VCO Controller

Sitting between the VCOs, the Controller provides attenuators for FM: exponential for VCO1 and linear for VCO2. It includes a DC coupled VCA for depth of linear FM, which can be independently patched.

VCO1 has a Pulse out with PWM; VCO2 has a rather nice variable wave shape output, also with CV input. Alas, neither has an attenuator.

MOD Section

MOD is an LFO having Sine, Pulse, Random Pulse, and Random S&H outputs, all following the same clock rate, plus a White Noise output. Manually it maxes out at 20 Hz. But it has a cool clock input. An external clock here can drive the outputs up to at least 1.2 KHz. The knob then becomes a divider/multiplier. The only other pulse clock in the System III is VCO1, but that means the possibility of an audio rate sine wave and random pulse audio.

Low Pass Gates

LPG1 and LPG2 serve as the main audio filters and VCAs. These have a manually variable resonance for the VCF function, which has a very wide range. In fact, they can be made to oscillate at audio rates and can serve as pretty good auxiliary oscillators. Of course they can oscillate while processing an audio signal as well. Each has two CV inputs, but again no attenuators.

Envelope Generators

EG1 and EG1 generate 10 volt envelopes with CV over attack and decay. Each has a tiny trigger button, too. They can also loop, but are not very useful as audio oscillators, as they are intended to be LFOs. Positive CV results in longer attack and decay times. No CV attenuators.

Sequencer

The simple 2/3/4 step sequencer needs an external clock. In System III that’s most likely to come from the MOD LFO or VCO1 Pulse. This is why I think the System III needs more clock sources to go with it.

Delay

The BBD delay module sounds nice and can self-oscillate. It even has a three position filter in the feedback loop. Again, the Time CV input lacks an attenuator, which means that often one of the mixers will be tied up attenuating the Time CV, if using the Pico System III by itself.

Friend modules

More Attenuators

A pair of Befaco A*B+C modules (that I already had) solved the lack of attenuators, being able to attenuvert, offset, mix signals, plus having VCA and ring mod capabilities. And they sport nice black panels with black knobs (my modification).

More Clocks, EGs and LFOs

I added an Erica Black Dual ASR EG. Similar in function to EG1 and EG2, but these oscillate at higher frequencies, and have End of Cycle gate outputs, as well as bipolar outputs for use when cycling. The EOC outputs go high when the main EG output goes to zero. Since these EGs retrigger, when retriggering the EOC output remains low. So I gained a pair of EG/LFOs with pulse outputs.

What’s not to like about the Qu-Bit Nanorand V2? It’s another VC clock in addition to having lots of random outputs and a S&H that can sample external signals.

Qu-Bit Pulsar is a kind of ultimate clock generator. It is a very deep digital module, with each knob and button having multiple uses. At least no menu! Strangely, I was attracted to it by watching a video demo. Normally I don’t make beats and I prefer more intuitive interfaces. I expect to take a while to get comfortable with all its capability.

Qu-Bit Cascade is a very interesting ratcheting envelope generator/VCA. It has six modes and includes four different built-in sound sources. I’ve never seen a module quite like it.

Two More LPGs

Feeling that I wanted to support four ‘voices’, I added a couple of stand-along Pico LPGs. These have the same sound quality as LPG1 and LPG2, but have different features. Instead of a resonance knob, the Pico LPG has a jumper option to set two levels of resonance. I chose the higher level, which is still below the level needed to self-oscillate, which these don’t. In place of the resonance knob, there is a decay time pot to go with a trigger input. Thus, it has a built-in decay envelope. The maximum decay time is about one second. So the internal envelope is most useful for short notes. By using the CV input, longer envelopes are obtainable.

Whew!

I bit off quite a chunk to chew on this time. When I start to get the hang of the Pulsar, I’ll be making some recordings and videos.