Make Noise QMMG Returns: Black & Gold Edition Reimagines a Classic

Make Noise has reintroduced the QMMG, their quad multimode gate, in a limited Black and Gold Edition. This release positions the QMMG not just as a nostalgic callback, but as a contemporary tool for today’s modular setups. The video frames the module’s return as both a celebration of its legacy and an invitation to explore its quirks anew.

The QMMG’s design draws inspiration from the Buchla 292, but Make Noise has never been content to simply clone. Instead, they riff on the original, adding features and a distinctive visual identity. The limited nature of this edition, along with the updated aesthetics, ensures it stands out in both sound and appearance within the current landscape of Eurorack modules.

At the heart of the QMMG are four independent vactrol-based channels, each capable of acting as a VCA, low-pass gate, low-pass filter, or high-pass filter. This versatility means the module can serve as a dynamic gate, a classic filter, or even a full synth voice depending on how it’s patched. The video demonstrates each mode in turn, highlighting the sonic differences and the organic response of vactrol circuits.

Each channel has its own output, but there’s also a sum out for easy mixing—borrowing a trick from the Make Noise Maths module. Individual outputs remove their channel from the sum, allowing for flexible routing. The vactrols themselves lend each channel a slightly different character, a detail that will appeal to those who value subtle variations and analogue unpredictability.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature is the QMMG’s feedback control, which behaves differently depending on the selected mode. In low-pass gate mode, feedback damps the circuit’s natural ringing, tightening and shortening the amplitude envelope—a subtle but powerful way to shape percussive sounds.

Switching to low-pass or high-pass filter modes, the feedback control instead provides voltage-controlled resonance, adding bite and character to the filter response. This duality gives the QMMG a unique voice in the modular world, allowing it to shift from smooth, organic gates to resonant, aggressive filtering with a twist of a knob.