"techmaster242" <techmaster@...>wrote:

> > I'm trying to make sense of how everything generally wires together in
> > a modular.

There is no general way. It sounds like you're trying to make sense of
what regular synths do and then port that over to modulars. In my mind
that totally defies the purpose of an analogue modular.
Instead I would focus on what a discrete synthesizer component does, on
its own, so to speak.

>
> But there are two
> adjustments that are the favorites of many people, that being cutoff
> and resonance. I can't even describe what they do to a sound wave,
> but they definitely fatten it up, a lot.

not neccesarily - a bpf or hpf generally make things a lot weedier!
reg. moog-type sounds, here's a minimoog block diagram - each of the red
blocks can be done with a module:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar05/images/minimoog02minimoog.l.jpg

> I'm guessing that in the
> modular world, a filter is what you want to achieve this effect. But
> there are 3 types of filters: LPF, HPF, and BPF. Never in a
> self-contained keyboard have I seen a choice between the 3, you only
> adjust the cutoff and resonance.

The LPF or "lowpass filter" is the most common type of filter.
Frequencies *above* the cutoff frequency get attenuated while lower
frequencies pass(hence the name). At the cutoff point the resonance
control can be used to raise a peak, adding to the "wetness" or
"squelchiness" of the sound.

As a wise little green man once said: "first you must unlearn what you
have learned". Simplest way to get a "normal system" would be to just
get the Doepfer mini system: It's simple, and has most of the
components you'd expect:
http://www.doepfer.de/a100_man/A100_System_Mini.htm (god I hate websites
with frames!)

My system does not have an A-190. My patches are typically 110,116,106-1
and 188-1 all wired together into obscurity, and then controlled by the
143-1. I'd hate to have that normal system, since it's just that: Normal
- it wants to be wired normally, and I just don't find that to be
inspiring - if I wanted a normal 2-osc synth I'd just get an Evolver and
be done with it.

Deciding on a modular system can be nerve-wracking for sure!
Hope this rant helps a bit,
Andreas.