I’m just starting to learn about Eurorack and modular synthesizers, so I think I’m definitely missing quite a bit here, but I couldn’t find an existing module or an online post for how to push a button to mute two voltages at once…

So, and I suppose this is a normal feeling when working with modular, I had to invent my own mute.

I’m learning about Eurorack using VCV Rack, the incredible program which emulates voltage controlled modules in a very nice, visual rack. Here is the patch I was working on yesterday (a “patch” just means “I wired things up this way”):

I’ve patched Plaits into Beads, and I wanted to be able to quickly mute the stereo output of Beads with a single click.

There is a built-in Mutes module, but it only lets me mute one thing at a time. I want to mute both the left and right output from Beads at exactly the same time with one click. So it’s a no-go.

In the short time I’ve been learning about modular I’ve learned that anytime I want to control the volume of something I want to reach for a VCA (voltage controlled amplifier). So I pulled two VCAs out into the rack and just starred for a bit…

I browsed through all the modules I have in my library in VCV Rack and saw a “Push” module, which is just a push button to go from 0V to 10V when pushed, and then back to 0V when released. That is close!

What I want is a toggle tho, I don’t want to have to hold the button down. I want to toggle between 0V and 10V.

Well, after just clicking around for quite a while, I accidentally learned that the “Hold” button in the Push module will “push and hold” the button, so it’s effectively a toggle for on vs. off. 🙌 So I already had all the modules I needed in place.

It was super fun to have to look at the tools available and reason out how to accomplish my goal. I may have chosen a long or difficult path, but I ended up where I wanted to be 💪

I bet this is why a lot of people get into and enjoy modular and Eurorack… solving problems and puzzles which result in sounds and music is super addictive.