Make Noise Ø-CTRL

I
f you know Make Noise, the
0-CTRL will feel familiar, as it’s
basically two sets of the
Pressure Points plus Brains
combo, brought up-to-date with
a few very handy extra features.
An eight-step analogue
sequencer designed to pair with their
0-Coast tabletop synth, it can, of
course, also be used to control a
Eurorack system but it has no MIDI
capabilities built in. Each of the eight
steps has a touch-sensitive pad and
three knobs that output CV, Pitch,
Strength and Time. Each step also
has an individual gate out and there
are sequencer stop, reset and 'change
direction' inputs.
As it's an analogue sequencer, the
Pitch CV outputs continuous values,
so you must either tune each step by
ear or use an external quantiser. Once
you’ve twiddled the pitch knobs and
got a sequence running, get involved
with the strength and time controls.
Simply put, these control when, how
long and how hard each note sounds.
Sadly missing from a lot of the
simpler Eurorack sequencers these
allow you to breathe so much life and
groove into your sequence.
The Time control works very
differently depending on how you
clock the sequencer. Under the
internal clock, Time is an unquantised
start point for each step, allowing
interesting swing and rhythm to be
created. The only problem is trying to
responsive though maybe a little close
together if you have fat fi ngers.
As well as the three CV outs, there
are ‘touch’ outputs that produce a CV
and a gate. This touch control can
also be detached from the main
sequence control and used elsewhere.
This is not a sequencer you just
press play on; think of it as a
performance interface for your synth
voice. With no screen, all control
choices are made via patching and to
this end the unit ships with some
stack cables to get you going.
sync that crazy rhythm to anything
else in your track! If you use an
external clock, the Speed knob
becomes a gate or envelope length
master control with the Time row
controlling Gate/Envelope length per
step. If you turn the Strength right
down, it creates a rest on that step.
Note that the Clock Out may not
be what you’d expect, giving a mix of
the external and internal timings;
better to view it as an extra rhythmic
modulator signal.
Strength and Time produce CV at
their respective outputs but also work
together to control the dynamic gate
and envelope. This envelope marries
perfectly with the 0-Coast's Dynamics
input leaving that synth's Contour and
Slope outputs free for other purposes.
Of course, the three main CV
outputs can be patched to anything in
your system if you want to play about.
It can be useful for dialling in precise
slice timings with the Morphagene.
With a multi-voice module like Plaits,
you can use a different voice per step.
Without running the sequencer
you can also just play the 0-CTRL like
a keyboard; the pads are pretty
THE PROS & CONS
+
Flexible,
experimental and
very playable
Fully patchable, no
screen or menus
Lots of CV ins/outs
-
No MIDI control
No pitch
quantisation
Needs a
third-party power
adaptor to work in a
Eurorack case
FM VERDICT
9.0
For performance and play,
this is intuitive and fun –
and with so many inputs,
it practically begs to link to
your wider system
Think of it as a performance
interface for your synth voice
Make Noise Ø-CTRL | Reviews
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FMU369.rev_makenoise.indd 85 18/03/2021 09:43