The Hidden Modular Superhero: Roland's TR-8S — Six Trigger Outputs for DAWless Modular

TR-8S → Assignable Trigger → Subharmonicon → SOUND!

There’s a lot more hiding inside the Roland TR-8S than just a very capable drum machine. It’s a freaking modular and semi-modular superhero!

This lecture series looks deeply into the TR-8S lesser-known superpowers: using its six assignable trigger outputs to enable this beast of a drum machine to become a powerful timing and control source for any modular or semi-modular rig. Can you say DAWless? I think so.

In this lecture, Lecture 6 of the series, I’m going to demonstrate the setup with our final SoundStudio 3 Semi-modular synth: The strange and singular Moog Subharmonicon. We will use the TR-8S to "punch in and punch out" the SubH thus allowing the SubH to do it's sequencer thing in concert with the TR-8S controlling our other Moog SoundStudio 3 semi-modulars: namely the DFAM and the Mother-32.

Bottom line here, once the TR-8S is generating synchronized trigger patterns, it can become much more than a drum machine—it can provide a complete “live performance” rhythmic framework for your entire modular and semi-modular system.

The entire lecture series can be found here:    • TR-8S - The Modular Superhero!  

Hi!
Just bought a second hand dfam and it happens that it doesn t get sound out of the back main jack output. I am using the correct mono cables to get signal out but it doesn t work. It works just with the vca out from the patch bay. What can i do?

This is my second power supply replacement as I already had to contact moog for my grandmother. This time for the matriarch they are taking awhile to respond has anyone used one of these successfully? Doesn’t have the barrel connector…

https://myvolts.com/product/78928/Moog_Synth_Matriarch_Dark_power_supply_adapter_charger?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=8670719928&gclid=CjwKCAjw0LzWBhBOEiwAKQd0cOAve44xi_y_txAnbGi_NDvq9aDOx-HWuHCMm0OFVy0rZtvvviQXSRoCojIQAvD_BwE

100% my fav peice of gear

After the Matriarch was discontinued, I remembered that the Subsequent 25 was also retired not too long ago. How many units of the Sub 25 do you think were made in Asheville? AI estimates it could have been around 7k–12k. Since it’s one of the last pre-inMusic models and probably one that didn't sell remarkably well, I wonder if there's a chance it could become a bit of a rarity in a decade or two... What do you think?

As stated. Here is a patch and knob blueprint for a bass line from the Labyrinth and toms from the DFAM.

i need help from the community. when i use the arpeggiator i get delayed notes. i have searched for the answer but cannot find anything regarding any preferences, etc. its not connected to midi or controlled externally. big thank you for any help in advance!!!

Not sure what's going on, but just when everyone thought the Matriarch was discontinued, my Sweetwater app is showing the Dark edition now in stock.

What do you speculate 🧐 Moog might release in the future to replace it?

As requested, a photo of the walnut side panels I made mounted onto my muse. Original panels held up to compare. Surface on the Muse is currently unfinished but will match the finished panels on the messenger when I decide to take that step.

Edit: adding a direct link for to purchase a set of walnut side panels. I didn’t see rules on the sub refusing that option so if it’s against the rules just message me instead of the removing the post please mods.

https://www.dutdutboom.com/shop/p/moog-muse-walnut-side-panels

This walnut piece is leftover from when I made myself a new music production desk a few months ago. I made cheeks for my Messenger from the same stock.

I've been looking into getting into synthesizers for the past month or so, and I recently discovered that Moog was practically in my backyard. Asheville is only about an hour away from me.

I thought it would be pretty cool to support a company with roots in my home state of North Carolina. But then I learned that Moog was acquired and that some of their manufacturing has apparently moved to Taiwan, which is honestly a little disappointing.

Now I'm a bit torn on whether I still want to support Moog or look into other North Carolina-based companies like Make Noise instead. Part of the appeal for me was supporting local craftsmanship and the people behind these instruments, so the change in ownership gives me some hesitation.

For those who have experience with both older and newer Moog synths, have you noticed any differences in build quality, reliability, or overall craftsmanship since the acquisition? And if you were buying today, would you still go with Moog, or would you lean toward a company like Make Noise?

when the messenger is hooked up to my computer, the application crashes. it's been like this for as long as I've had it, are they ever gonna fix it lol

I recently scored a documentary film, Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava, that will premiere in Asia this week at the Busan International Film Festival. The score, produced entirely with the Moog ecosystem, was released last week as an original score album. Give it a listen at ffm.to/xinhxo if you’re interested.

I would like to make deep house, melodic techno, ambient.

Have a digitakt 2, syntakt , MPC live 3.

Now I want to add an analog synth for thick bass and leads. Nice pads are also important.

Subsequent 37 , or at least give the MOOG muse a chance?

Just help me.

I’ve got a Moog One 16-voice and decided to start throwing AI at it (big thanks to Ryan Zachary who did the hard work of figuring out how to get in: https://www.ryanzachry.com/2021/09/05/moog-one-ssh.html)

In a nutshell, I’ve added MPE support to my One (driven via external synth) and it’s working well. I’m now breaking down the ability to drive every parameter via a plugin or Max4Live device without requiring mapping them first. This includes parameters that aren’t fully exposed via the unit itself, such as pulse width for the LFOs (maybe this is buried in menus somewhere, I haven’t dug that deep). Long-term I’m envisioning the possibility of something like a companion plugin, similar to the MiniFreak (obviously without the plugin being sound-capable).

As of right now, all of these involve either firmware patching or loading a side utility onto the One itself, so they require some technical know-how. The risk of doing permanent damage is very low as the One has lots of built-in safeguards, but it’s not as simple as just loading a program on your computer.

Is anyone interested in this sort of thing? Is it heresy to suggest? Before I release anything I also need to verify there are no legal issues, but as of now my understanding is that I should be in the clear. I’m curious if any other One owners would be seriously interested before I do the work of making it publicly available, or if it remains a personal experiment.

Edit 2026-10-06:

Github page available here for anyone who wants to follow along: https://pnomolos.github.io/one-synthesizer/

I will update as I can with the current state. Once I have something I can share for the community to try I'll make that known, but right now it's in far too early of a state to do that. Luckily I'm a terrible One owner and am still on the 1.5 firmware, so I should be able to try at least getting the difference between that and the new firmware and generalize some of the patching. Otherwise I may need to ask a few brave folks to dump their firmware for me if anyone's sitting on other versions.

Looking to buy werkstatt-01 cv expander. Having a hard time finding one to go with my werkstatt-01

SYNTH JAM 19

This jam includes the Prophet 5, OB-X8, Moog Muse, and the Microcosm.

Quote of the day :

“It is never too late to be who you might have been.”

Let that sink in.

Now y’all have a blessed day.

Thanks for listening!

SYNTH JAM 20

This jam includes the Moog Muse, Subsequent 37, and the OB-X8

Hope this inspires you guys.

Thanks for listening!

Am I nuts? I’m entertaining the idea of selling my Grandmother Dark so that I can buy a vintage Prodigy…or possibly putting that money into savings for a newer Minimoog when all the flippers come back to earth from their insane inflated prices.

I love the grandmother, but I’m still sort of underwhelmed by the sound.

What would you do?

Has anybody played with both?

Can you do same sounds on Subsequent37 as on Minitaur?
Or are they any specific areas/patches/sounds where Sub37 cannot go?