VauxFlores Sangre de Nieve Eurorack Distortion Module

The Sangre de Nieve is a Eurorack distortion module which I believe in synth-speak is a waveshaper or VCA or something along those lines. Not being totally lock-step into the world of wires, I really couldn't tell you. At the same time, to call it just a distortion really doesn't do it justice either. Usually when you think of distortion, the whole premise is to make it loud and kazoo-ey - you know, like that Rebirth software from days of old that emulated those two even older techno machines, but with an emulation of a buzz box to make the squelching bass filter more... acidy. Yeah, this doesn't do that. Not to say that it isn't heavy. 

If you pardon my techno jargon for a second, here's what it does do: In stage 1, it hits your average, run of the mill, kinda-sounds-tube-ampy boost stage. If we were to simply output the sound here, yeah, you'd have that hard-hitting acid squelch. I think. Maybe. To be honest, I really don't know or care. Not my thing - because after stage 1, it hits stage 2 - which takes the resultant clipped signal and drops it either one or two octaves before it feeds it into stage 3, which is 4 linear amplifiers in series. Meaning the loud, poorly tracked, albeit significantly fattened signal gets even louder to the point that the poor components responsible for said amplification just can't keep up... and in their efforts, magic occurs. And by magic, I mean errors, stutters, arpeggiations, squeaks, random feedback, chirps, hiccups and other seemingly broken sounding things that make the world go round. All said, it's quite fun. 

Rounding out the controls on this unit, seeing as the working theory for modular synth folk is that these instruments may potentially be construed as some sort of analogy for the control in their personal lives that they either lack or desire are the following knobs: Gain controls the input trim - meaning that you can use this for things other than oscillators. For instance, guitars, drum machines, hacked toys and other accountraments that would make the average synth purist cringe. As a bonus, with the trim all the way down, the module will make all sorts of sounds on its own recognizance. I wouldn't dare say that it oscillates, but it does indeed do things. The drive knob controls the gain stage further down the chain, because why not. Likewise, the octave control shapes the blend between the first gain stage and the octave drop. The voltage knob drops the voltage to the first gain stage ever so slightly to let extra magic seep through and the switch toggles between your respective octaves. Finally, the volume control does exactly what you think it would do as in it controls the volume. Always a good thing when you're banking on chaos being a mixable element of your nu-tek club anthem or whatever style of music you're making on your suitcase. 

Oh - right, the controversial part: there's absolutely no voltage control at all on this thing. This is quite intentional and by design. It's entirely OK for things just to do things and not have to control other things. In people, we call this at one extreme, being an individual and at the other, simply not being a jerk. True, we may be in some sort of interconnected web of existence, but its also ok to just go off and do your own thing and be a part of the universal choir on your own terms without the electrical prods of several other entities. Take that as you will, spiritually, electrically, musically, etc. Besides, this thing is pretty crazy - try just setting it, forgetting it and letting it do its thing - treat it well and it may just take care of you. 

Business Stuff:

Price for this guy is $139, which includes shipping and handling (whatever handling actually is) - or approximately 1/10th the cost of this record I'm trying to have pressed.  Keep in mind that each one of these is lovingly built by hand and while we’ve spared no expense on quality, we have spared expenses on marketing, packaging, merchandising and other general business necessities. In other words, don’t expect a neat box with a glossy zine promoting other products or an interactive DVD where you can compare models, etc. We went this way intentionally in order to provide you, the public, with an affordable, quality module without up-selling you on the fluff. What can I say, we’re practical weirdos who stand behind an honest product and would rather not subject you to a sales pitch. End of commercial.

If you decide to take the plunge, we ship priority mail from Ithaca, New York. In the case of international orders, we'll do whatever we can to get it to you in a reasonable amount of time with tracking attached.

Additional Info:

• Power is provided by the usual ribbon cable (included) - red stripe down into the shrouded header. Power draw is fairly minimal - probably less than 100 ma, and only on the positive side of the cable. 

• As with all audio electronics that have exposed circuitry, I am in no way am responsible for electrocution, injury, loss of life, etc. due to misuse of this product, act of angry deity, etc. I trust that you’ll do the right thing in the end and not do something foolish like lick this or perform in the bathtub or something, but hey, gotta cover my backside.

• Depth is minimal - like maybe 16 mm or so. In other words, "skiff friendly." 
• Width is 10 hp. Not too big, not too small. 

• Finally, as with all our products, this one comes with our usual blanket, all-encompassing, non-expiring, totally transferrable “if we can fix it, we will” guarantee. I build solid and stand behind my wares, but in the event that something happens, I’d like to think I have your back. Just don’t do something asinine like melt it into a block of styrofoam or douse it in lucite. That might complicate things. Just frame that one and put it on your wall. Whatever you did, the story is worth more than the object.

• Finally finally, if any questions come up, please feel free to get in touch. We’re people persons – honest!