I am fascinated that no matter how beautifully and intelligently the Leibniz system is ever described and explained, I am still left with the reaction of, "Yes, very cool... What does it do though?" AND, I blame myself for that... not you, not Monotrail. I'm still just orbiting the idea of it all, and not quite getting my teeth into it all. Regardless, great video. I'll watch it a few hundred more times, I'm sure.
I think part of the reason why it can feel a bit hard to digest is that it can be so many different things - there's one overriding concept (the conversion of analogue voltage to 8-bit data, and the associated connection protocol to transmit it between devices) but then there are many applications: audio waveshaping/distortion, wavetable oscillator, gate pattern generator etc etc, which can be a bit overwhelming. I can't give anything away yet but I'm working on something new about the Leibniz system at the moment, and I think it will make a few key applications a lot clearer and simpler to digest. Stay tuned!
Man where's my Drezno II?! Seriously, these videos are ace. They're so good. I wish more modular nerds were covering the Leibniz system. It seems like it rewards however much work you put into it.
Thanks! Glad they're helpful. I still feel like I'm just scratching the surface of what it can do but it's definitely an inspiring system to work with.
Great exposition, Tom! This is XAOC's most unique set of modules, not just among their offers but across all of Eurorack. I've been itching to get into these for a while, probably exactly because "musical applications aren't obvious". Poczdam's routing is very welcome and I wish there was some way to have the Leibniz bus on the front of the modules, so that removing modules wouldn't be needed to rewire them. Though I don't know how that would be achieved without RJ45 jacks, or similar, and adding a lot more bulk.
Cheers! Agree that having to remove the modules to change the routing the only downside to these :) Someone has made a DIY Leibniz patchbay, btw, which I believe they were selling direct - see pics and details here: modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3748575#p3748575
Rostock and Poczdam have been ordered - thanks for pushing these off the back burner for me - love me some Urfurt & Jena in my existing Liebniz setup. Hoping I can be competent enough with it all by Oct 28th for a modular fest in Chiang Mai :)
Thank you so much for the brilliant introduction to Rostock Tom! May I ask hiw you routed/connected the modules via busboard? Especially the Poczdam and where it loops back? I am quite struggling, especially with implementing Lipsk & Erfurt into the loop.. Did you seperate them? And do you loop back the Poczdam directly to the Drezno, or over Jena back to Drezno?
My basic setup for most of the patches was: Drezno ADC → Rostock → Poczdam input 1 Lipsk → Erfurt → Poczdam input 2 (not selected) Poczdam output 1 → Jena (with Link off) → Drezno DAC This way I could access the individual bits after Rostock via the Poczdam panel. Jena was in the chain but not used - with Link off it just passes the data through. This way you could also use Poczdam to switch to I set it up slightly differently for the final patch, so that I could use Rostock to process the patterns from Erfurt: Drezno ADC → Poczdam input 1 (not selected) Lipsk → Erfurt → Poczdam input 2 Poczdam output 1 → Rostock → Jena (with Link off) → Drezno DAC Poczdam output 2 (with Link off) → Lipsk (with clock going to 'outgoing clock in' - this was just to let me introduce a slower external Leibniz clock to Lipsk/Erfurt so that Rostock would work properly)
Also asked on MW: will Rostok work happily with just Erfurt/Lipsk? I have that combo as my intro to Leibniz processing, and this seems like a Three’s Company setup to me, but just want to verify it’ll function without Drezno until Drezno becomes available.
If you make a loop of these three you can create an interesting and complex finite state machine for generating rhythms and patterns. The only problem is how to introduce clock to the data being passed between modules. As far as I understand all the diagrams, you can use the Outgoing Clk input on Rostock. It will not affect Rostock directly, however it will be passed to Lipsk and then to Erfurt, and finally it will clock the bit delay lines in Rostock (after going full cycle through the loop).
Tom, seeing as you’ve got your hands on Drezno II, have you explored using Ostankino to send Moskwa’s pitch sequence directly into Drezno II via the Leibniz bus?
I have tried it, but not in any great depth yet. When I first tried it, the pitch sequence was tracking differently compared to the analogue output from Moskwa - whether that's down to the way I'd set the DAC sliders or because the pitch tracks linearly when Moskwa converts the values to binary, I haven't quite got my head around, so I'll need to play around a little more I think. But either way I think it opens up some interesting possibilities, especially with Rostock and/or Lipsk inserted before Drezno II...
thanks for your response! yes, those pitch tracking differences are very pronounced with Drezno I. I’m hoping with II one can dial it in “better”. If you’ve ever tried chaining a pair of Moskwas, it allows you to use both CV outputs independently along with their own Range/Transpose inputs, resulting in some wonderfully musical pitch shifting techniques derived from a single 16 step sequence - Drezno II may be able to do much of the same but with the insane possibilities of the Leibniz system. I look forward to messing around with it when Drezno II is released widely.
So the output is basically a stream of Leibniz data, transmitted via the Leibniz data bus on the back. There are no outputs on the front panel and it will need another Leibniz module downstream to either access the individual bits or convert the 8-bit data stream into an analogue signal. Without looping engaged, and without reclocking any of the bits, the output will simply be a copy of the input data stream, but delayed by 1-64 pulses of the Leibniz clock. (Then of course you can also loop, scramble and reclock the data stream, which is where the fun starts!) Is that what you meant?
First of all, Tom, I really appreciate the response. Obviously you're under no obligation to explain someone else's technology to a completely random person. I think the only thing I don't understand now, is which other module does the rostock end up communicating with? And I think I can figure that out. What I ended up doing was I paused your video and went through it frame by frame with the hypothesis in my head " if it works the way I think it works then with the sequence length at 1, the rostock's bits should mirror the Drezo's bits, one clock pulse behind. And it appears it does do that! So I do understand it. I just guess I don't Have a holistic understanding of the leibnitz ecology, where I can guess which module is giving us the output. But that's part of the fun of this crazy hobby is being curious and not knowing and then buying a module and figuring it out. Always more stuff to learn! Thanks!
do you have a go-to way to chain the leibniz? ive got all of them at this point and havent found one way i abs love, but i think i just need to break them up into a couple of separate chains, otherwise it gets unwieldy fast
After making this video, I’ve ended up setting it up as a couple of small chains: the first is simply Drezno II + Jena, for audio/CV processing and wavetable VCO stuff; the second is Lipsk + Erfurt + Rostock + Poczdam, for rhythm pattern/gate generation. I have Poczdam unlinked, so I start the chain at output 2, where I can insert a slower clock, then run through Lipsk, Erfurt and Rostock and into Poczdam again so I can tap the individual bits post-Rostock. And I can always patch between Poczdam and Drezno via the front panel jacks if I need to.
Yes, the DAC output is quantised in semitones at max gain, so if you connect the ADC directly to the DAC you can simply quantise any incoming CV. Because the ADC and DAC have different voltage ranges, to get it to track correctly with the input (i.e. so that 1V at the input = 1V at the output), you need to set the DAC range switch to low, set the DAC gain to max, and reduce the ADC gain very slightly. (This is what I've done in the 'sequence canons' patch in this video.)
XAOC is doing, for me, some of the most interesting things in eurorack
I would say they should go ahead with 4U. XAOC 4U
The looping drum patterns usage is very clever - love it!
Nice, thanks for the work! :)
Cheers!
I am fascinated that no matter how beautifully and intelligently the Leibniz system is ever described and explained, I am still left with the reaction of, "Yes, very cool... What does it do though?"
AND, I blame myself for that... not you, not Monotrail. I'm still just orbiting the idea of it all, and not quite getting my teeth into it all.
Regardless, great video. I'll watch it a few hundred more times, I'm sure.
I think part of the reason why it can feel a bit hard to digest is that it can be so many different things - there's one overriding concept (the conversion of analogue voltage to 8-bit data, and the associated connection protocol to transmit it between devices) but then there are many applications: audio waveshaping/distortion, wavetable oscillator, gate pattern generator etc etc, which can be a bit overwhelming.
I can't give anything away yet but I'm working on something new about the Leibniz system at the moment, and I think it will make a few key applications a lot clearer and simpler to digest. Stay tuned!
Man where's my Drezno II?!
Seriously, these videos are ace. They're so good. I wish more modular nerds were covering the Leibniz system. It seems like it rewards however much work you put into it.
Thanks! Glad they're helpful. I still feel like I'm just scratching the surface of what it can do but it's definitely an inspiring system to work with.
Great exposition, Tom! This is XAOC's most unique set of modules, not just among their offers but across all of Eurorack. I've been itching to get into these for a while, probably exactly because "musical applications aren't obvious". Poczdam's routing is very welcome and I wish there was some way to have the Leibniz bus on the front of the modules, so that removing modules wouldn't be needed to rewire them. Though I don't know how that would be achieved without RJ45 jacks, or similar, and adding a lot more bulk.
Cheers! Agree that having to remove the modules to change the routing the only downside to these :) Someone has made a DIY Leibniz patchbay, btw, which I believe they were selling direct - see pics and details here: modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3748575#p3748575
Oh, that's nice! Now all we need is CV control over the routing, like a sequential switch for bus connections.🤪
RJ45 jacks do not have sufficient number of pins. Eight bits + clock = 9 signals.
Rostock and Poczdam have been ordered - thanks for pushing these off the back burner for me - love me some Urfurt & Jena in my existing Liebniz setup. Hoping I can be competent enough with it all by Oct 28th for a modular fest in Chiang Mai :)
Nice - good luck!
Fantastic examples! Very interesting modules in this system. Thanks for making them understandable.
Ooh, I was looking forward to this one since we saw the peek on the last video ;)
Xaoc stuff looks super inspiring. Great video.
Me, watching this in the vain hope I can understand these modules before an eBay auction ends..😬👍
Thank you so much for the brilliant introduction to Rostock Tom!
May I ask hiw you routed/connected the modules via busboard? Especially the Poczdam and where it loops back? I am quite struggling, especially with implementing Lipsk & Erfurt into the loop..
Did you seperate them? And do you loop back the Poczdam directly to the Drezno, or over Jena back to Drezno?
My basic setup for most of the patches was:
Drezno ADC → Rostock → Poczdam input 1
Lipsk → Erfurt → Poczdam input 2 (not selected)
Poczdam output 1 → Jena (with Link off) → Drezno DAC
This way I could access the individual bits after Rostock via the Poczdam panel. Jena was in the chain but not used - with Link off it just passes the data through. This way you could also use Poczdam to switch to
I set it up slightly differently for the final patch, so that I could use Rostock to process the patterns from Erfurt:
Drezno ADC → Poczdam input 1 (not selected)
Lipsk → Erfurt → Poczdam input 2
Poczdam output 1 → Rostock → Jena (with Link off) → Drezno DAC
Poczdam output 2 (with Link off) → Lipsk (with clock going to 'outgoing clock in' - this was just to let me introduce a slower external Leibniz clock to Lipsk/Erfurt so that Rostock would work properly)
Excited to see Drezno II in action. Many thanks for that. Do you have any information when it will be in stores? Thanks
Cheers - there's no firm release date yet but it's definitely coming soon!
@@TomChurchill ok thanks. Finally! And again: awesome to see it in action. Really made my day :) cheers
Also asked on MW: will Rostok work happily with just Erfurt/Lipsk? I have that combo as my intro to Leibniz processing, and this seems like a Three’s Company setup to me, but just want to verify it’ll function without Drezno until Drezno becomes available.
Replied on MW - short answer: not really!
If you make a loop of these three you can create an interesting and complex finite state machine for generating rhythms and patterns. The only problem is how to introduce clock to the data being passed between modules. As far as I understand all the diagrams, you can use the Outgoing Clk input on Rostock. It will not affect Rostock directly, however it will be passed to Lipsk and then to Erfurt, and finally it will clock the bit delay lines in Rostock (after going full cycle through the loop).
@@pe00000001good point - I’ll have to try that out!
Tom, seeing as you’ve got your hands on Drezno II, have you explored using Ostankino to send Moskwa’s pitch sequence directly into Drezno II via the Leibniz bus?
I have tried it, but not in any great depth yet. When I first tried it, the pitch sequence was tracking differently compared to the analogue output from Moskwa - whether that's down to the way I'd set the DAC sliders or because the pitch tracks linearly when Moskwa converts the values to binary, I haven't quite got my head around, so I'll need to play around a little more I think. But either way I think it opens up some interesting possibilities, especially with Rostock and/or Lipsk inserted before Drezno II...
thanks for your response! yes, those pitch tracking differences are very pronounced with Drezno I. I’m hoping with II one can dial it in “better”. If you’ve ever tried chaining a pair of Moskwas, it allows you to use both CV outputs independently along with their own Range/Transpose inputs, resulting in some wonderfully musical pitch shifting techniques derived from a single 16 step sequence - Drezno II may be able to do much of the same but with the insane possibilities of the Leibniz system. I look forward to messing around with it when Drezno II is released widely.
I think I don't understand what the OUTPUT of the Rostok is.
So the output is basically a stream of Leibniz data, transmitted via the Leibniz data bus on the back. There are no outputs on the front panel and it will need another Leibniz module downstream to either access the individual bits or convert the 8-bit data stream into an analogue signal.
Without looping engaged, and without reclocking any of the bits, the output will simply be a copy of the input data stream, but delayed by 1-64 pulses of the Leibniz clock. (Then of course you can also loop, scramble and reclock the data stream, which is where the fun starts!) Is that what you meant?
First of all, Tom, I really appreciate the response. Obviously you're under no obligation to explain someone else's technology to a completely random person. I think the only thing I don't understand now, is which other module does the rostock end up communicating with? And I think I can figure that out. What I ended up doing was I paused your video and went through it frame by frame with the hypothesis in my head " if it works the way I think it works then with the sequence length at 1, the rostock's bits should mirror the Drezo's bits, one clock pulse behind. And it appears it does do that! So I do understand it. I just guess I don't Have a holistic understanding of the leibnitz ecology, where I can guess which module is giving us the output. But that's part of the fun of this crazy hobby is being curious and not knowing and then buying a module and figuring it out. Always more stuff to learn! Thanks!
do you have a go-to way to chain the leibniz? ive got all of them at this point and havent found one way i abs love, but i think i just need to break them up into a couple of separate chains, otherwise it gets unwieldy fast
After making this video, I’ve ended up setting it up as a couple of small chains: the first is simply Drezno II + Jena, for audio/CV processing and wavetable VCO stuff; the second is Lipsk + Erfurt + Rostock + Poczdam, for rhythm pattern/gate generation. I have Poczdam unlinked, so I start the chain at output 2, where I can insert a slower clock, then run through Lipsk, Erfurt and Rostock and into Poczdam again so I can tap the individual bits post-Rostock. And I can always patch between Poczdam and Drezno via the front panel jacks if I need to.
Did I understand it right that I can send different CV into Drezno and its quantised in semitones, basically a quantiser in semitones?
Yes, the DAC output is quantised in semitones at max gain, so if you connect the ADC directly to the DAC you can simply quantise any incoming CV. Because the ADC and DAC have different voltage ranges, to get it to track correctly with the input (i.e. so that 1V at the input = 1V at the output), you need to set the DAC range switch to low, set the DAC gain to max, and reduce the ADC gain very slightly. (This is what I've done in the 'sequence canons' patch in this video.)
👍👍👍👍👍💯💯💯💯💯💯
Fantastic video , and yet this Leibniz system is definitely not for me.
so what brings Rostock II next on the Table...🥹