Drum Machine concept

I'm thinking of buying a Behringer Eurorack Go (2x140hp), and it's primary function is being a drum machine. Currently I only have two of the modules (Ultra-Kick, Pipe), so I'm very open for suggestions on other modules people might recommend. Also, this is probably waaaaaay overkill, but I think it could be a very fun and powerful system, which is the end goal ^_^

To give a bit more context: the rack will have two adjacent systems, which can provide some functions such as various effects (not sure which), LFOs, VCAs, and mults, but apart from that this system should be mostly self-sufficient.

Some thoughts on the modules:

• Pipe to connect to Oxi One for global clock and various sequencers
• Metron + 4x Voltera should cover most of my sequencer needs (realistically I probably won't need to use all at once)
  • 1-4: Ultra-Kick (gate), Ultra-Perc (gate), Kraken (gate + accent),
  • 5-8: Rample (4x gate),
  • 9-12: Mutant Clap (gate + accent), Mutant Hihats (2x gate + accent),
  • 13-16: Scrooge (5x gate)
• Scrooge has its own sequencer as well
• Performance Mixer mk2 for mixing needs + extension for returning aux 1 and aux 2.
  • 1: Ultra-Kick
  • 2: Ultra-Perc
  • 3: Kraken
  • 4: Rample
  • 5: Mutant Clap
  • 6: Mutant Hihats (open)
  • 7: Mutant Hihats (closed)
  • 8: Scrooge
  • Stereo out goes to my main mixer, where I also can mix in delay and reverb.
• The rack doesn't really have space for effects, and it's not that important for me, so I've limited it to MFX and 2x Steve's M-22. I like the idea of two filters in stereo, as I've enjoyed that function in the Solar 42F, and I've heard good things about Steve's M-22.
• I reckon the rest are self-explanatory, but I'm liking the ADDAC213B modules to ease some of the cable mess.

I know I probably should have more attenuaters and voltage manipulation modules in general. And the Scrooge will probably go in later iterations, as it takes a lot of space. But I really like the sounds it make (from what I've heard on YouTube), and I've grown quite fond of its sibling, the Elmyra 2, so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it.

This is my first post in this forum, so apologies if I've forgotten to cover anything vital. If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll try to answer ^_^

EDITED Friday April 11, 03:04

Hello megoth, ive been doing this a couple of years now, thought i'd stick my head above the parapet :)

The main advice you'll get from other users is to not do drums in rack as its too much cost for little gain. I'd recommend looking into something like the Pulsar-23 for a good drum machine that can interface with eurorack. It only handles 0-10v instead of -5 to +5 so you'll need additional modules to offset/attenuate as necessary. But, it'll still be a lot cheaper than whats proposed here.

That being said drums in eurorack is fun! And even better when paired with modulation, so I think it would be good to know what other modulation your planning on getting in your other case. The key to good drum sounds is decent modulation and utilities otherwise your voices will sound static and boring. Things like sample and holds, clock dividers, shift registers can spice up velocities and gate sequencies. Random CV is also great for sound design- you can get this from a sample and hold and noise source. Noise in particular is very useful- it can also be used to create percussion!

And with modulation you'd need VCAs. Super useful for modulating modulation. And also accent creation. In conjunction with sample and hold and you can extract velocities from modulation! if you attenuate and rectify before hand you can get it to play nicely. And rectifiers open up a world of possibilities - when combined with slew you can get an envelope follower which is great for sidechain effects. I'd look into function generators like schlappi boundary or make noise maths. The ultra kick/perc has this built in but doing it in other modules has its benefits.

You'd surprised at how much mileage you'd get from an Oxi One. I had one for ages before I sold it for a Hermod+, which is an insanely powerful sequencer. I would question why you would need 3 sequencers, and just stick with the Oxi for now. See how you go with that and properly get to grips with its functions. It's a mini modulation centre in itself!

Havent even touched on ringmod, effects, mixers, clock dividers, more utilities etc. There will come a point when you wish to do something but can't because you dont have the right utilities. Also a good way to save money instead of having dedicated modules (already touched on building random generators and envelope followers, there is a ton more).

Finally you may wish to consider to get something not behringer. Eurorack is a boutique business, and a massive company stealing designs from much smaller companies, is not a good thing.

Enjoy the build!

TLDR/EDIT:

Essentially do drums outside of rack unless you suplement with all the things that makes modular, modular. If you do them in a rack where your only modulation sources is just a sequencer, youve just spent a ton of a money on essentially a very limited drum machine. Manually drawing accents and swings is fine, but in the modular world you can automate to get far more inspiring patterns with a turn of a knob. Drums only becomes killer when you pair it with modulation :)

EDIT 2:
I know youve got 2 ochds, but you may need something which syncs. And mixers, analog logic functions like min/max to make the wave forms more interesting than triangless.

EDITED Friday April 11, 07:17

Hey,

I'll throw my 2 x cents in also!
I have a case dedicated to drums i've been building and I love it. Glad I didn't hear the advice not to go down this route before spending so much on it.

In my scenario i've gone with the concept of building 2 x kits in the one case, using 1 x sequencer with enough trig outs to control many things (I use Erica which has x16), 2 x mixers, one for each kit, and a cross fader.

I'd agree with all of the above recomendations and add:
Consider getting a case with 1 or 2, 1U rows, very handy for additional functional modules.
I use a couple of 1U (Bear modules) connector modules for cable management as once I have the triggers from sequencer patched up I don;t really need to chage them so it avoids a big spagetti. So you're onto a good idea there, in my opinion!

I'm going to add some 1U switches also so I can distribute modulation to different drums.

As some "drum" modules can be used to make non drum sounds, a few times I've ended up just jamming my drum rack and having great fun.

I'm going to add some 1U switches also so I can distribute modulation to different drums.

-- Traxam

+1000

Switches including sequential, switched multiples, gated switches are all super powerful. Boring but a fantastic thing to add. Doepfer sequential switch is a good place to start. Couple it witch a simple clock divider, or trigger from a sequencer.

I would like to drop the idea to just do a very small drum rack.
I had much fun to assemble different small drum maschines in eurorack in just a palette case or nifty case.
Sure its easier to get just a pulsar or something, but I really like the format and for me it works well and unique.
It could be fun

Hi all, thanks for your replies. You've convinced me that I should add more modulation modules. I'll revise the design and come back when I have an update ^_^

Just wanted to give some more context, to paint a better picture so to say, and to reply more concretely to some of the feedback.

Pulsar-23 it's definitely an interesting choice. I already own the Lyra-8, and in "money's no limit"-land (aka fantasy world) I'd have a Pulsar-23 and Ornament-8 as well. In fact, if money were no limit, I would buy Pulsar-23 and build a drum machine with eurorack modules, just because it sounds like a bunch of fun. Completely overkill, I know, and there are probably other, more efficient ways of producing music, but it sounds like a bunch of fun.

Wrt using only the Oxi One sequencer: I'm planning to have multiple racks covering various functions, and the idea is that the Oxi One can step in as a sequencer in all of them, but for the drum machine I want to have an additional sequencer to offload the "main sequencer". I have this setup in my Suitcase rack, using the M185 sequencer to handle some of my sequencer needs, and the Oxi One for the rest. I've watched some videos of people using the Metron module, and it looks very good for drum modules, and more importantly, it looks like fun ^_^

I do have 1U modules in the suitcase, and I agree they are very handy, so I'll consider switching out the drum machine case for something with 1U modules as well. I chose the Eurorack Go rack because it fits neatly into what space I have available in my home studio, but I'm aware of the problems with Behringer, so I'll take that into consideration as well.

Just to give some ideas of the current setup of my racks:

• Drums: At some point this will be moved into a larger case, with more functionality (basically what I'm trying to plan for with the rack in this thread). I'm thinking of transforming the smaller case into a pure utility rack, with various modulation sources and ways of manipulation, as it's central to most of the other racks.
• Bass: For now Elmyra covers most of my bass needs (but can of course use other voices for bass, and Elmyra can be used for other things)
• CV/IO: Most importantly the ES-9, mostly for recording (I have a patchbay that all of my audio from various sources are going into before being routed to the mixer, and all signals are split so a duplicate signal are sent to the ES-9 for recording), but the Turing Machine is also very useful, especially for my Solar 42F, where I use the outputs from the Pulses module to drive the gates for the four upper voices.
• Suitcase: This is where most of my modules are currently, but is driven by Coral and Pluck as voices (although cDVCA can also be used as a voice), and sits next to Lyra-8, and which I sometime use as processor to add delay and drive.

In addition, as mentioned, I also have a Solar 42F, which I use mostly for drones, textures, and "background" noises. (I also use Lyra-8 for drones sometimes, especially the bassy, gritty sounds are awesome, but I find it a bit hard to control, so most of the time I use it for the effects.)

I want to add another case at some point, about same size as the planned drum machine, to facilitate a bit more spacious and "out there" modules, such as Deckard's Voice, Collide 4, and Oneiroi (for those interested, you can see the current state of this idea here - but note that it's very much a work in progress, and it will need to offer more modulation features as well).

At some point I'm thinking of buying a big rack, something like the Erica Synths Megarack, but that's waaaaaaay into the future. Who knows, maybe my interest in eurorack will fade before I get there. (All of these expansions are going to take me years, so this is nothing that's going to happen anytime soon.)

Also, in case it's relevant: I'm not a professional musician, I do this on my spare time. The music I make is mostly leaning into ambience, but I also enjoy more "harder" styles from time to time (e.g. techno).

Yeah, it's an expensive hobby, but it's a ton of fun ^_^

Another iteration done, would love to hear what you think ^_^

I've removed the Scrooge and introduced a bunch of modules to handle CV generation and modulation. Most notably I've introduced Pamela's Pro Workout, mainly to a) handle clock manipulation, and b) as a LFO module, but there's probably a lot more I can use it for. There are more LFOs, a couple of S+H modules, and a couple of 3x MIA to mix some interesting CV signals. There are probably more things I could add (like switches - I'm not too familiar with them, but I'll research more on their uses), but I think these changes should bring a lot of possibilities.

EDITED Friday April 11, 15:14

Personally, and it is just personally my opinion!

I think you have too much modulation. Probably an anathema comment here.
But I count at least 32 LFO outs not including the PAMs and the Ochd expanders.
For, by my count 9 drum voices.
Also you have alot of CV out with the Voltera expanders.

If it was me i'd be using some of that HP to add more drum modules, maybe some that can do a large variery of different things, especially under modulation.
Also i'd be putting one of the ADDAC bridges sort of in the middle of the drum modules as, I assume, you'll be using it to bring them all to the mixer in a neat way,

Traxams right - I think too much modulation as well!

Pams is a great shout and you should defintely get it. It's actually got built in sample and hold via its cross-ops functions, alongside a variety of other tricks like min/max, logic, euclidean functions, random etc. Great for creating accent variations! I think thats a good place to start, along with a single ochd+expander. 3x Mia is also a great a shout but again I think you should get one and see how you go.

You'll find you wont stick to this plan anyway and your needs will change :)

Recomendations of modulators would be Tides, Batumi+expander, quadrax or a nekiya obsidian (havent got one of those but its feature set looks hyper useful).

Function generators you cant really beat Maths. Schlappi boundary is great as well but only one channel (although built in envelope following, and bound which makes bouncing ball effects easy to patch). I have a boundary and currently have a delta-v in my case which is great, but i would get maths again in my next case.

Utilties aside from pam's and 3x mia which would have been my suggestions anyway, arkan, veils v2 and what the hell i'd suggest manic (gives your drums an extra sparkle, although you might not find its wavefolder useful). I'd look up monotrails on videos to get ideas on utilities which suit you- i basically learned everything from this guy. He covers modules like utilities you might not find useful in short term, but will maximise your rack in the long run. A lot of eurorack principles may not apply to a drum rack in first instance, but its good broader knowledge.

Another utility to research is matrix mixing. Can't beat the doepfer a138m. I personally have fewer modulation sources, however I derive variations through min/max or mixing them together them so they relate. Invetering an lfo for instance, and sending the inverted along side the postive to different sources makes your sounds dance along together. Its more clean and subtley brings your sounds together than having a billion different unrelated resources. The matrix mixer is good for this. Samara II is a good shout to look into as a mixer. Has built in sample and hold and also min/max features and its only 10hp.

I run my drums through a cosmotronic messor which is an amazing compressor. It uses the same chip as some boutique compressors, but comes in at half the price. I'd recommend that or something similar to glue everything together.

Of course a lot of these suggestions wont work for you, which is fine! Thats the beauty of modular- highly customisable. I love this hobby and happily fall down a eurorack rabbit hole everyday.

Start slow, work out your needs, and plot your course as you go. The thing you want now, might not necessarily be the thing you need later :)

EDIT:
Oo sorry forgot to mention your sequencer plan. I think that sounds sensible. Personally I'd stick with the Oxi One still due to the four sequencers. You could have one set up for each rack and use the Oxi Split to seperate out the different channels, with an additional one going to the pipe. For me it would mean everything is in one place and would be one less thing for my brain to handle. Although admittedly its more buttons to press and pages to keep track of, so it has its downsides!

EDITED Yesterday, 08:07

I appreciate all the feedback - there's a lot of modules that I'll read up on, the drum machine will evolve more before it's final state, that's for sure (if there even is such as thing as "complete" with eurorack systems =P )

There's a lot of modulation in the second iteration for sure, and I wouldn't end up with such a beast in the real world, as I would buy it piece by piece over a long time, and would find the soft spot long before something like this. That said, I could probably skip half of the mirrored modules and still have enough. And I do enjoy the use of 1U-modules that was suggested earlier, so I did another iteration, this time with 7u + 104hp:

I swapped the Performance Mixer mk2 with mk1, as it is much smaller, and should be enough for this set of modules. I like this setup, but just so it's explicitly said: I probably won't end up with this. I plan to buy modules one by one over a long time, and interests will change with experience and research, so who knows where I'll end up. That's part of the fun with modular synth for me ^_^

I might throw out Metron altogether, as it is quite big for such a case, and rely on the Oxi One as sequencer for drums. With the freed up space I could add back Pam's, which could handle the work of handling accents (thanks for the advice, hadn't thought of that), hell, I might even add back Scrooge (I'm fond of the idea of the other drum modules handling "traditional" electro drum sounds, and the Scrooge just adding chaos and cool details) and their new extension, Della, and use Scrooge as the off-load sequencer. But I just saw Cinematic Laboratory's video on it, so I need to understand it better first (hopefully it will be added to MG soon).

All to say - who knows where I'll end up wrt the drum machine. The exploration is part of the fun, and thanks again for the feedback, it gives me even more ideas ^_^

looking good! 7u intellijel is my case - i moved the top row to the middle row just like here.

I'd swap out kraken for pams and mutant clap for something else + veils v2. You can move those types of percussion to rample. 1u Noise tools is a great module, good shout there!

No problem! Happy to help. Would love to hear what you come up with!

Enjoy the journey! As i said been ive been doing this for a couple of years and i feel like i keep uncovering stuff. It's an awesome hobby.

ps. if you havent already (apologies if you kmow these concepts!) highly recomend looking at through zero fm + a low pass gate for percussion. Also research traffic. Bloody useful for creating different percussion sounds from one source. I regret selling mine.

After reading up on some of the modules, I've created another iteration:

Most notably is that I've taken out the Metron sequencer and Mutant Clap, swapped out the Performance Mixer for Cosmix Pro, re-added the Scrooge, and added Scrat and Messor.

The Numeric Repetitor and Traffic (thanks for the suggestion, looks really interesting) will help with rhythm generation. Scrooge can help with sequencing as well (I've added a 4hp blank panel as stand-in for Della next to it), and of course Pam's can help with sequencing as well. The Numeric Repetitor is a module I already own, and I'm glad that it found it's place into this rack. I think it could be a very interesting module to combine with Traffic and DPLPG.

Cosmix Pro "only" has six channels (and only two are stereo), so I had to take out one of the drums. Mutant Clap was the one that I was least interested in, but it "solved" a problem I had: I really want Mutant Hihats, and it's 13hp... those odd numbered modules can be frustrating =P So when I discovered Scrat, which is 9hp, it solved that problem, in addition to sounding really awesome. It might be awkward to have two filters, but I think Steve's and Scrat both bring enough to the table. Also, I agree that the clap can be handled by Rample, so out it went.

And again, thanks for suggesting the Messor, I think it will work very nicely as a glue compressor for the whole rack ^_^