I know there was a bit of interest in the Mescaline while it was in Indiegogo - did anyone else follow through with it? I picked one up and I’ve been having a goddamn blast with it and the OP1. I picked up an MS20mini yesterday and had a jam with them today, here’s a Soundcloud link: https://soundcloud.com/mlbstrd/blades
The Mescaline has a pretty complicated patch going on, with multiple Audio Outs used as Trigger values, so it has some feedback loops and craziness across the whole shebang. The MS20 was recorded into the OP1, and the whole thing was jammed live - I’ve been working really hard on trying to create little concise but “complete” compositions when I jam, and this one ended up with a nice ABA feel and topped out just under 3 mins, which is better than the 20 mins jams I tend to do all the time…
You can see some (heavily edited) footage of the jam on my instagram if you’re into that - but the audio quality gets KO’d pretty hard with compression/Mono’ing, so bear that in mind. Thanks internet. There are a bunch of other Mescaline jams on my Insta as well.
Nice @millbastard - I was oblivious to the Mescaline until recently, I’d almost certainly have grabbed one at the backer prices, but the retail price seems a little excessive here in the UK at £649! Off now to check your instagram
@darenager Yeah I picked one up during the campaign for $499 USD, which clocked out to about $650 australian. I think the price on their website now is $699 USD? How does that go to pounds? If you want the same wildness kind of vibes you could definitely get away with just picking up the Mental board if you have existing Euro sequencers or something. Its based off one of the other Folktek Euro modules called Matter, which I guess would be an even easier way to add those clicky bits. But the whole Mescaline system combined is fkn great fun: I specifically bought it because I like the idea of Euro, but not ready to commit fully - this covered all the basic elements and also is weird, ya know?
@ludicrouSpeed I sent you a DM on insta - ended up using the Glitche app - kind of stupid and shitty to use, need to practice a bit more with it I think
@millbastard problem is the import tax will take it to about the same as what UK dealers are selling for. It sure does seem a lot of fun though and compliments the MS20m nice, I guess I will keep my eyes open for a used one How do you like the operation of it? Some people have commented about having problems with tuning it to sound right?
@darenager ah yeah I forgot about import tax. If you’re not already, join the Mescaline group on Facebook as people are often selling theirs - you might find a local? Operation-wise it definitely takes a while to get the jist of the abilities of the machine - I was really frustrated at first as the manual doesn’t fully explain everything, and definitely requires some time spent just digging in and finding out what happens. I think this is why a lot of people have sold theirs immediately, as it needs a bit of time committed. I’m now starting to feel really comfortable with it, but it’s such a quirky machine that it keeps me surprised.
Tuning Mental is actually really difficult, but I >just< worked out a trick of tuning that I shared to the FB group: essentially you jumper the 9v out into a trigger point via one of the patchable pots, and it gives you a decent range of over an octave. In my track I tuned it to D so that it played nice with the MS20.
I also backed the Mescaline when it was a crowdfunding project. I thought about selling it, not having opened the box yet, when I read reports of difficulty in assembling the system - boards not fitting into the frame or something. I thought, uh oh, better put in on sale before I open it - presumably somebody better equipped to handle shit not fitting together. Then I found that it was just a mixup with screws or something.
Nice Soundcloud track! Inspires me to look more into using the OP-1 as a looper.
@GovernorSilver yeah I assembled mine really badly to begin with (wrong screws!), but it doesn’t affect the functionality at all. I think eventually I’ll move it into a case just so I can take it to gigs safely etc.
Open that box and give it a burl, it’s lots of fun!
@darenager Yeah I picked one up during the campaign for $499 USD, which clocked out to about $650 australian. I think the price on their website now is $699 USD? How does that go to pounds? If you want the same wildness kind of vibes you could definitely get away with just picking up the Mental board if you have existing Euro sequencers or something. Its based off one of the other Folktek Euro modules called Matter, which I guess would be an even easier way to add those clicky bits. But the whole Mescaline system combined is fkn great fun: I specifically bought it because I like the idea of Euro, but not ready to commit fully - this covered all the basic elements and also is weird, ya know?
@lescour1 thanks bro!
@ludicrouSpeed I sent you a DM on insta - ended up using the Glitche app - kind of stupid and shitty to use, need to practice a bit more with it I think
Thanks man! Sorry, I don’t think I have Instagram notifications on, haha (relevant to another post here) and i didn’t seem to rly think the about the fact that I’d only just asked in antoeht medium, sorry! … Yeah, that app is like the only one which gives you glitch FX for video though. Interestingly though, you seemed to have some gr9 shake happening in time with the beats.
@GovernorSilver yeah I assembled mine really badly to begin with (wrong screws!), but it doesn't affect the functionality at all. I think eventually I'll move it into a case just so I can take it to gigs safely etc.
Open that box and give it a burl, it's lots of fun!
Question about Mental - at around 1:25 it looks like he has to tune Mental by using a screwdriver on the back of the board. Is that the only way to tune it?
@GovernorSilver yeah you adjust a couple of trimpots at the back to set the level of the oscillators. It’s super easy - you just turn the trim pot until it starts to self-oscillate (it goes bbbbbbBWOOOOOOAAAA) and then back it off a touch until it stops. Took me about 20 seconds to set
