At Superbooth 2019, we talked with designer Holger Marienberg of Marienberg Devices Germany, who gave us an overview of his modular synthesizer system.
The Marienberg Modular pairs modern analog circuit design with the classic user interface design of vintage Moog modular systems. They don’t use old circuitry – they create new designs, with a ‘clean’ linear sound. This allows for new capabilities, like linear FM with the oscillator across the full audio range.
See the Marienberg site for details
I find this new modular oddly appealing in a large field. The more modern design ethic sounds smart. Holder’s halting English was just fine for the job! 🙂 I understand signal flow pretty well, but I’ve never felt drawn to modulars. I prefer working on a pair of old Korg Tritons and 25 plug-ins. If I did want to go serious-modular, though, I’d want to add a Moog filter here if needed; otherwise, I’d sit at it like a pipe organ. No slight to people who like a table full of small synths, but IMO, you have to really wrestle a modular to get its best. Gimme a Marienberg, a reverb and a week for sampling please.
Great looking, how could it not be? Good demo too. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more insight into the available modules but I am sure a quick search will sort that. Plus you can mix it up with the other 5U modules. I much prefer larger than euro sizes.
Holder’s technical english was great, it was a lot more to the point that many native speakers. If you can design circuits well and speak other languages, you are obviously a bright person!
No, you cannot mix it with other 5U modules. Marienberg uses nonstandard module width, narrower than MOOG/DOTCOM.
How is that a problem?
5U owners are used to mixed module widths.
Good to be aware of, but there are tons of 5U systems that mix MOTM, dotcom, etc.
You cannot mix different standards in the same row without gaps. Try fitting a Marienberg module in a Moog or a Dotcom cabinet.
You just have to know what you are doing.
All you have to do is understand how to use a drill and how to do simple addition to figure out how the module widths fit together.
Not sure how this would work with the Marienberg modules because, but with MOTM & Synthesizers.com, I combined 8 dotcom modules per row and the remainder were MOTM, and it worked perfectly, with no gaps.
Lots of people just allocate a row to specific module makers, though, which avoids the issue.
In the Euro world, widths are much more Wild West. Companies like 2HP have cropped up for the sole purpose of helping people fill in the weird gaps in their rows of modules!
So don’t let the need to do some math keep you from building your ideal modular!
If you want to do DIY then everything is possible. The whole point of having a standard is to avoid using a drill. MOOG 1U=2.125″ which is exactly 8 spaces in a 19″ rack. Marienberg 1U=2″. Good luck matching this.
If pre-drilling wood screws is too hardcore DIY for you, then yeah, trying to deal with different panel widths could be a show-stopper.
If this was a real problem for people, though, they’d use sliding nut rails like they do in the Euro world. But 5U/MU is WAY more standardized and consistent than Euro and most people have no problem mixing and matching modules of different widths.
If you’re obsessed about using standardized panel widths, stick to strictly Dotcom-compatible MU modules. There’s sill a huge selection!
I would still like to see your math on using Marienberg in a standard 19-inch rack (with metal rails), which allows exactly 17″ of space. I assume you’ll say you don’t mind gaps 😉
I agree with one thing you said, it’s not a huge problem, because most people stick with their standard of choice per cabinet. Since Marienberg has its own incompatible standard, including exotic PSU requirements (+3.3V, +5V, +15V, -15V), you either commit to it or it becomes a deal breaker.
Why couldn’t you wire a Dotcom power harness to the Marienberg power supply? I did something similar with my system, which mixes 5U and MU.
Sounds like people might devote a cabinet to Marienberg modules, though, to keep things simple
What a mess on the power supplies. Thanks for the head’s up.
It is almost like the Marienberg designer is here justifying….lol. Nonstandard widths can’t help sales.
lol
I was thinking the opposite – that anyone acting like panel width and power supply differences were show-stoppers must be competitors astroturfing.
I’ve literally never met a 5U/MU owner that wasn’t mixing and matching modules or one that would think these are hard problems to deal with.
5U/MU is SO much more straightforward than Eurorack, where people regularly fry modules because of lack of standardization, and module widths are completely non-standardized.
If panel widths or connecting a wiring harness to a power supply are really a big deal to anybody, then Moog’s MU modules, Marienberg, MOTM, Oakley, etc are not for you. Even if you want to avoid those companies, though, there are tons of options available from companies that follow the Dotcom MU standard.
yadda yadda yadda
5U or not, no the haptic is still junk because of the dangling wires infront of the knobs
only EMS and other semi modulars with pin matrix get that right
Im so tired of hearing about how great the haptic of modular is, its just self loving junk and simply not true 😉
the newer moog stuff with all the cables on the right is a little better but you still can’t see what is going where
I’ve been a MU modular owner for 20 years and this is never really an issue, because the panels are so big.
The bigger usability issue with big MU systems is panel blindness, where you confuse modules or ‘lose’ them because they’re all black. This is not as much of an issue in Euro, where every module uses a different look. But most Euros end up looking like a rainbow unicorn vomited on them as a result.
If you’ve used an ARP 2500 or EMS you’d know that their approaches come with some major problems, including massively inefficient uses of panel space, crosstalk, intermittent connections, etc. I learned synthesis on a big 2500, and while it was beautiful, it literally took up three times the space that an equivalent MU system would.
If you really find patched modulars hard to use, get a bunch of cheap Hosa patch cables in multiple colors and sizes. Using multiple cable colors makes it easy to Immediately see the flow of your patch, and using multiple lengths makes it easy to keep cables from getting messy and in your way.
im color blind 😉
You’re color blind to every color?
Best System available. Trust me.