New Modular Company, 2hp, Promises Big Sounds In A Small Format

2hp-eurorack-modules

A new Eurorack company debuted today, 2hp, which manufactures a line of analog and digital modules that are just 2HP wide.

At launch, they offer a total of six 2HP wide Euro modules:

  • Osc – Analog VCO
  • Filt – Analog Multimode Filter
  • Env – Envelope Generator
  • Rnd – Random Voltage and Random Gates
  • LFO – LFO with morphable waveforms
  • Nse – Noise with downsample control and VCA mode

Here’s their promo video:

 

Pricing and Availability

The 2HP Eurorack modules are available now, priced at US $150 each.

23 thoughts on “New Modular Company, 2hp, Promises Big Sounds In A Small Format

  1. With all these low hp modules that are coming out, somebody ought to start making some <6" inch patch cables, otherwise things will start getting real cramped. I find myself in situations where a few 3 inchers would be handy. Even 1.5" would have it's uses.

      1. Really good point! And not just for these new 2hp modules either… there are the new Erica modules, Bastl and more and this list will continue to grow… Someone needs to produce a variety of short to super short patch cables… really surprised if no one has thought of doing this yet. Thanks for bringing it up!

      2. Erthenvar ftw. I buy all my cables from them for the unique colors and lengths. Their IV cables are a great cheaper option to stackables too.

  2. Wow there’s so many modular makers, it just keeps going! Is this someone who already makes other modules under another name or another new weekend warrior? I wish them luck, at least they’re trying to do something to differentiate. I can’t see how these hundreds of modular companies can survive with thousands of oscillators and filters out there etc.. it just seems like we’re heading for a massive crash. that is unless most of the people making this stuff are not truly businesses and just do it on the weekend for hobby and to supplement income (it would actually be great if this is the case).

    I don’t have much modular but it would be difficult to use these modules next to each other or next to certain other modules. I’m not sure you would be able to grab the control shaft. For example if the noise module was next to the S&H module anyone over the age of 2 wouldn’t be able to grab the knob. I’m sure they know that and you would just have to do careful planning.

    1. Modular manufacturing is really low risk depending how you do it. If you’re making your own DIY modules already, you’ll probably have a lot of spare PCBs/Panels and parts leftover from fabrication. That’s because usually parts come in packs of 5 or 10 or more and PCBs and panels do too. The way it’s set up it actually kind of encourages any diyer to make their own modules and sell them. If the modules are quick to make, you can do them on a per-order basis too, which makes it really low risk . I think that’s why there are so many manufacturers

      1. To make it you need to have special modules like my CZ phase distortion oscillator because as you say there are several hundreds of ordinary oscillators out there.

      2. It is mostly a hobby for these guys. Stuff usually starts with a dude wanting a couple of some specific thing he’s designed and finding he can make 50 for about the same price and sell them to cover his costs.

        Even the most talked about and purchased modules sell in fairly low numbers compared to synths. I think Make Noises Maths only sold around 5000 copies, and it’s everywhere.

  3. I think these might be nice for filling up a space that nothing else will go into, but a whole row of these would be hellish to use.

    Even my Synthrotek MST modules seem super tight when patched up.

    I suppose this would be a good way to build up a polyphonic system in a small rack. Just take all the modulation controls out to larger modules and use these for the voices.

    1. They could always do some sort of master/slave type arrangement. By the looks of it, all these modules have a microcontroller on-board anyway, so what they could do is add some sort of chainable control bus to the back of the modules, which takes control of the modules when they’re in “slave” mode (you could just add a toggle switch on the front to switch between normal and slave modes), then release a larger “master” control module that has maybe a screen, some larger assignable controls & IO, and a midi input, that just distributes the CV and gate pulses between the modules. You’d still have to manually patch the audio, but it’d keep things a bit tidier, and easier to use.

      1. The 16 pin power connector is used for CV buses in Doepfer gear, but nobody else seems to bother really.

        Page 15 of the a-100 manual covers this. Pin out looks like this just for ref.

        * * = Internal Gate
        * * = Internal CV
        * * = -5 volts
        * * = +12 volts
        * * = Gnd
        * * = Gnd
        * * = Gnd
        * * = -12 volts —–red stripe

        1. A side note…. you can split the CV/Gate bus in half with a jumper.

          sry about all the edits today…my phone is crap!

        2. I think the standard still remains but today its 16-pin in the bus end but only 10-pin in the module end.

          You dont really need the extra pins on every module.

          1. It depends on the module.

            Some module makers even switch between 10 and 16 pin for no apparent reason. Tiny modules do tend towards 10 pin, but most power supply bus boards are still 16.

            Eurorack isn’t an actual standard and that sometimes causes problems.

  4. “By the looks of it, all these modules have a microcontroller on-board anyway,..”

    Hmmm… For many people it might be Ok to use a digital source for an oscillator. Dave Smith Instruments use digital oscillators as the base for their synths. But you can get issues with aliasing especially at high frequencies.

    What is most important is the filter / VCF section, which makes the character and warmth. If 2hp use a micro-controller for their ‘Filt’ module, then it really is a hybrid filter, analog controlled with a CPU calculating filter algorithms. That might not be popular with pure analog fans!

      1. There are tons of modular patches that don’t use filters at all.

        The filter being critical is synth keyboard thinking, not modular.

        For example, the new Make Noise 0 coast doesn’t feature a filter. It has a transistor based lowpass gate, which can perform a similar function, but relies on additive and multiplicative sound building.

  5. price is a bit high compared with the pico’s and part of the reason I’m happy to pay a premium for modular gear is solid build quality which you can’t really have with these tiny modules and tiny knobs also if I’m paying that kind of money I want sexy knob covers.

  6. So…$150 bucks a pop. I’m guessing the purpose is to provide a solution to the “I just need to find a such-and-such type module but I only have 2hp of space.”
    Is there another purpose I’m missing??

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