ADDAC’s New 112 Voltage Controlled Looper & Granular Sampling Module Means Business

Portuguese Eurorack manufacturer ADDAC have hit the ground running in 2021, with the monstrous ADDAC112 VC Looper and Granular Sampler, a highly advanced take on the popular granular synthesis module concept.

The size of this thing is the first indication that this ain’t no half baked concept slapped together to ride the wave of granular module trends. The system actually consists of 2 modules sold together weighing in at 32hp and 13hp, so you’d need to reserve a whopping 45hp to get this big baby in your rack. One module holds all the hands on controls while the other contains all the patch points. ADDAC actually note that ‘for the first time, we sacrificed module width to leave more space between controls’.

A full rundown of the module would require quite an essay, and a video explanation is always better for these type of things as the concepts can be quite abstract. Unfortunately there is no video yet, so here’s a few dot points on some of the highlights:

• 5 minute recording buffer with loops savable to SD card
• Work with continuous live input recording or samples from SD card
• Recording probability and delay parameters are a unique new concept, making for interesting less repetitive rhythmic possibilities
• Individual Deviation parameter controls adds some random modulation to the each parameter of the  granular engine
• Although there’s no video yet, the manual seems to indicate the screen will provide some visual feedback of the granular clouds in action
• Overdub decay control provides tape echo style looping with slowly fading out loops
• Inbuilt quantizer on the loop pitch control

Safe to say, this thing’s a monster and the hands on control of every parameter make this an extremely appealing design. The tidy utilitarian ADDAC look works wonders here, and thankfully (in my opinion) they haven’t gone with a bright red panel this time.

Granular techniques really shine with modulation which makes it an especially suited technique to the modular environment. We’ve seen a number of granular modules, beginning with the classic Mutable Instruments Clouds, and more recently, Qu-Bit’s Nebulae, Instruo’s Arbhar and the just announced Miso Cornflakes, but ADDAC have really gone to another level here.

Addac estimate the module will hit the market in late March, priced at 540€.