Make Noise

ManualsBrandsMake Noise ManualsCV SequencerEurorack Module

s René, (the most

popular Eurorack

sequencer ever,

according to

Modular Grid) turns

10, Make Noise

have revisited their

ﬂ agship sequencer with a bold new

version. René was the ﬁ rst Cartesian

sequencer offering 16 steps on a grid

controlled by a clock input for each

axis. This version demotes the

Cartesian sequencing of the original to

the third set of outputs: the ﬁ rst two

sets only have one clock input each

now, with 16 ‘Snake’ patterns that

deﬁ ne the order of notes played.

While René can be very deep, you

can get started making music with

only a glance at the manual. A button

is used to select one of the three

channels while two arrow buttons take

you through the different modes

available. It’s useful that the mode

stays the same when you switch

channel so you can quickly alter the

Gates for each channel, for example.

René does all the standard

analogue sequencer stuff, key, octave,

glide and individual pattern length. If

you use one channel for modulation

you can set it with no quantisation

and maximum voltage range, handily.

easy to duplicate a state a few times,

make changes to the copies and then

either modulate or switch between

them manually – a song mode of sorts

and great for playing live. The

powerful Mesh States option enables

you to alter the parameters on a group

of states simultaneously. Note,

however, that René will not

automatically save your current state

when you power cycle!

René communicates on the select

bus with TEMPI, enabling State save

and recall to be synced between the

two. It also sends clock info to a

number of other modules with select

bus functionality – pretty handy.

It’s a shame there’s no global

reset input: you can manually reset

each channel but if you want to reset

with a gate you have to use the mod

CV input, meaning you can’t use it for

anything else. The mod input can be

used to control a few different

options: pitch, location, start/stop,

clock rate, etc. I used one channel to

sequence another channel’s Snake

mode, to quickly produce sequences

much longer than 16 steps.

For me Snake mode is what really

sets René apart: Make Noise have

obviously paid attention to their users

here, as this was the most popular

method of controlling the original.

Now with 16 Snake patterns, it’s

quick to get interesting rhythms

happening – punch in a few gates

and ﬂ ick through till something

makes you move. Gates have different

colours for each channel but with

three channels of CV, the knobs don’t

match the pitches. If you trust your

ears this isn’t an issue though.

The touch plates are pretty

responsive and it doesn’t have the dry

feel the original suffered from. The

response time is not super speedy but

you get used to it.

René now also lets you save all

your settings as one of 64 States. It’s

THE PROS & CONS

Three channels

make it very quick

to get a whole

track working

Straightforward to

play initially, but

plenty of depth if you

want complexity

Improved touch pads

Current settings not

saved automatically

so make sure you

save regularly!

No dedicated

reset input

FM VERDICT

8.0

A tactile sequencing

powerhouse that’s really fun

to use. Lots of depth for live

performance with no menu

diving to slow you down