Modbap’s Trinity, their three-channel drum module, invokes a percussion-based unity, that of kick, snare, and high-hat. While not as overtly spiritual as the perhaps a better known configuration, Trinity can be, in fact, heavenly, and even gives a nod in that direction upon startup where bright lights come down from the heavens (well, LEDs on Trinity’s front panel, but still…) illuminating the surrounding environment into something quite ethereal.
While we do normally think of kick/snare/hat as the drum/percussion trinity, and Trinity does supply that, it’s way more versatile. Trinity is packed with modulation features and potential so vast that it comes with Trivial Pursuit-style cards instead of a manual, a fun and quick way to get acquainted with it.
Three drum channels (1-3) have hardwired parameters that quickly get you going in kick/snare/hat territory, respectively, and are identical in terms of control offerings. The top half of the module is dedicated to those things you can turn, twist, and tweak, and the bottom half is where you can patch in CV to do those things for you. The available controls for each channel are: Time, Sweep, Pitch, Volume, a dual-function EQ (LPF on the left of center, HPF to the right), Character (changes the timbre/main synth parameter), Hold (adjusts the amp envelope hold time), Decay (adjusts the amp envelope decay time), Clipper (wave shaping distortion), Grit (adds noise/artifacts), and Shape. Each channel has CV inputs for most of those (Time, Sweep, Pitch, Character, Grip, Decay, Grit, and Shape) as well as 1V/Oct and Trigger inputs. There is a Mode selector button to choose from four algorithms on offer: Block (analog synth style), Heap (additive synth with twelve partials—great for higher pitched percussion i.e., bells, chimes, etc.), Neon (FM metallic sounds), and Arcade (80s video game style). You can cycle through these preset sounds in a Round Robin order for each channel or randomly change the selected parameters within a selected algorithm with the push of the Cycle button at the top of the module, and this function is synced to the incoming Trigger input for its particular channel. It’s a nice way to bring movement, change of sound, and some randomization in a way that requires no attention; push the button and let Trinity do its thing while you grab a high-octane energy drink from your mini fridge.
Along with the Cycle button, there are three small buttons at top: Save, Shift, and Stack (for stacking outputs). There are manual trigger buttons for each channel, and a long press select of the Trig/Sel button chooses which channel you are tweaking and will flash blue. You can also select a channel by holding Shift + a channel’s Trig/Sel button, which will select a channel without triggering it, and it’s nice to have the ability to do this. It’s really easy to go from channel to channel, which makes operating Trinity quite easy and honing in on a desired sound pretty painless, whether you’re working on one channel or if you’re stacking drum sounds for a thicker sound.
With this, you can stack two or three channels at the Mix output and the Trigger for channel 1 will be normalled to trigger the other selected stacked channels. You have the ability to shift things around (literally) by holding Shift + Shape to engage the Stack Spread and this enables you to get the channels to spread things out a bit for some delay on the triggering for each channel. It’s a pretty powerful thing to control because along with the ability to control each channel’s volume, in a stacked mix it really allows you to create all sorts of tones, offsets, and rhythmic effects. You can get creative stacking, switching, delaying, offsetting, filtering, etc., for each channel in the stack and end up with something like a kick drum with an 8-bit tail, a snare with a pre-hit ping, and such. This was an interesting way to make sounds, however the way it’s stacked and spread, I wasn’t able to have Channel 3 hit before Channel 2 so I had to turn Channel 1, which is primarily the kick channel, into the pingy pre-hit, if that’s what I was going for. I wish the Spread feature was like Trinity’s EQ, which is dual function with a center position neutral, to have the option to have Channel 3 hit before Channel 1.
There’s a Mix section in Trinity that’s pretty unique and flexible, with the option to route each channel’s output to the Mix Out, its channel output, or both. This flexibility allows you to mix and route whatever you’d like to effects, mixers, etc., and expands on Trinity’s versatility; if you’re only using the Mix Out (and not a specific channel’s output) you could switch a particular channel to it’s channel out and take it out of the Mix Out, effectively using it like a mute and this was a pretty cool way to add some drama to the drums by adding and subtracting sounds at the output.Originally I thought I would primarily use Trinity as an all-in-one percussion module, and while I did do that quite a bit, I found the stacking of sounds really intriguing and spent quite a bit of time in that realm. It’s not like you can’t stack sounds with other modules, but the way you can do it in Trinity is so quick and fun. Navigating the module is a breeze and for creating unique snare, kick, or percussive sounds while being able to CV most of their parameters offers up so much that the variation of a stacked sound can be endless. The four algorithms sound great, and are really useful and cover a large span of sounds as you’d imagine from the descriptions of them, but even more than that is that they’re great jumping off points for crafting your own sounds. It seems nuts that you can use a different algorithm for each channel, and stack that. In raw form you can get great real-world analog drum sounds, FM metals, pings, dings, bits, bytes…but stacked, it’s hard to describe the different tones and timbres created and this is Trinity’s strongest attribute. The sound palette on hand is really versatile, and Trinity is so useful that you could use it for a lot of patches/songs in different styles if only you could save/recall more than one “preset”. This seems unusual to have a module so powerful with a limitation like this, and indeed this gripe is kind of a big deal, but this is something that could be addressed in firmware, so maybe that’s on the horizon.
Even with this limitation, I wouldn’t hesitate to use Trinity in any patch that needed kick/snare/hat, or any slanted variation of the percussive triumvirate. Once you become comfortable with the workflow and interface, it becomes much easier and quicker to craft desired sounds/kits and it’s a joy to play. It’s funny…four algorithms isn’t a lot, there are plenty of digital modules that have many more, but it’s more than enough, and it keeps Trinity from needing more than just nineTrivial Pursuit style cards, or even a thick manual to keep everything straight.
When we talked to Corry Banks (Waveform, Issue 7) he talked about how he builds and designs his modules for use in his performances, and it’s easy to see Trinity as a culmination of this sensibility for drum needs in a live performance. Modbap continues to put out excellent modules that are a testament to Corry’s vision and attention to detail.
Price: $599
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