First Erorack system for Dark Drones

Hello everyone. Newbie alert... at least with the Erorack stuff. For a little context, I have been creating Rhythmic Dark Ambient material for some years with Reason Studios software on a PC/laptop as a hobbiest. I've been wanting to put together a Eurorack system just to have a little tactile performance fun at home, to integrate with other hardware I have, or to just drone-out by itself on the living room floor. Right now I have an MPC One for rhythmical/percussive elements, a Korg Wavestate, a 1010 Blackbox for sample playback and a 1010 Bluebox for mixing it all down. I would love to put together a Erorack case, dedicated to Dark Drone soundscapes to round everything out, preferably around the size of 6u/104HP. After a couple of month’s research, this is what my tentative plan is as far as intial modules go, based on my current budget. Sound generators: Maneco Labs Groan Drone 2 and the Maneco Labs Groan Wave. I loved the demos and the sound produced. Zlob Diod Chaos(x2) for modulating the Groans. Feedback Modules Mix KM for mixing the 2 Groans and any other future sound generators (possibly an E352 Cloud Terrarium) together. Maneco Labs Otterley Dual Reverb and an Erica Synths Black Stereo Delay2 as send/return effects on the Mix KM. Cosmotronic Messor Stereo Compressor to glue the mix together after the Mix KM and the Befaco Output v3 if I need balanced outs for any reason. All packed in a TipTop Audio Mantis 6u 104HP case. Does this sound like a feasible plan, or am I off base as far as the Erorack system goes? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

& the link because jpgs are not very helpful:

needs more modulation sources & utilities...

modulation sources because they are what create movement

utilities because they create opportunities for patching...

take a look at my signature, especially the formula and see how you can apply that to your rack... it will exponentially improve it...

I'd add at the very least a quad lfo, a simple matrix mixer (for combining modulation sources), an attenuverter/attenuator/offset module and a quad cascading vca and probably a function generator or envelope generator (with at least 2 channels - so something like maths or zadar)

these will stop your drones being static and boring

there's a very good chance that you won't need the compressor...

Hey Jim! Thanks for all the info/input. I'm glad I looked more into it with the equipment you suggested before I started building this thing, but unfortunatley, this is surely going to be beyond my paygrade. I'm probably realistically better off sticking with Reason and maybe looking into a decent hardware synth for untethering from the PC. I was under the impression that knob tweaking the Groan instruments would be enough to produce interesting drones and soundscapes with the setup I planned. Thanks for your time anyway! Cheers!

Absolutely get a matrix mixer (for example the Doepfer A-138m). It won't seem sexy or all that necessary until you start messing with it and then it will open up worlds of possibilities.

Based on your last post, maybe a small rack just for mixing/sculpting the sounds produced by your other devices, and for creating/manipulating modulations that end up feeding your other stuff, would be worthwhile. Your rack doesn't necessarily need to produce any sounds on its own, if you have enough other gear to do that. For example, even if all your rack does is create and manipulate modulation that then feeds the other gear, it could provide a great way to interact and control things in a tactile way. Off the top of my head, maybe include the following:

• A joystick for creating and manipulating modulation directly (for example, the Intellijel one)
• A matrix mixer for mixing modulation sources (again, the Doepfer one is a great example)
• Attenuverter/offset for macro control (for example, Happy Nerding 3x MIA)
• A sophisticated envelope generator like the Xaoc Zadar
• Some LFOs (lots of great choices here)
• Probably some kind of function generator like Maths or Rampage

You could pack all that into a relatively small case and have loads of hands on (and hands off, if you choose) control over all your other gear. And then later if you feel like expanding your eurorack capabilities all of these will be essential anyway.

Well done for not getting shot down for being a Reason user, I seem to recal when i made my first post I didn't fair so well with certain people's comments.

Welcome to the addiction and the quickly emptying wallet!

I'm sorry you had to deal with that kind of behvior. We are all just trying to express ourselvs as artists, and how you do it should not matter. It's pretty juvenile and quite embarrassing for the community I'd imagine. Anyway, still not quite sure about the modular step just yet. They say do a ton of reseach before plunging in, so that's the stage I'm at now. I have and always had musical direction so that's coverd. I'm not doing this because it's "cool" and everyone else is doing it. I'd just like to create a performance Dark Drone/Ambient case I could knob tweak along with a couple other pieces of gear, away from the PC. I really don't have an addictive personality and I really don't want this case to go beyond the Tiptop Mantis's capacity. This will only be one component (Drones) of a larger picture. Not a closed, self contained monstrosity I could could barley manage, financially or mentally. What I'll probably end up doing, to start, is just get the two Groan modules I mentioned with a zlob diode chaos for each (maybe), KM mixer,and the reverb and delay. Mixer has a line and phones out so that will save me on an out module for now. Once I learn those few things I'll check out the suggestions offered here, for support and modulation modules. If anyone has any other suggestions... I'm all ears! I hope to become a valid member of the community some day if I venture into Eurorack.

I'm sorry you had to deal with that kind of behvior. We are all just trying to express ourselvs as artists, and how you do it should not matter. It's pretty juvenile and quite embarrassing for the community I'd imagine. Anyway, still not quite sure about the modular step just yet. They say do a ton of reseach before plunging in, so that's the stage I'm at now. I have and always had musical direction so that's coverd. I'm not doing this because it's "cool" and everyone else is doing it. I'd just like to create a performance Dark Drone/Ambient case I could knob tweak along with a couple other pieces of gear, away from the PC. I really don't have an addictive personality and I really don't want this case to go beyond the Tiptop Mantis's capacity. This will only be one component (Drones) of a larger picture. Not a closed, self contained monstrosity I could could barley manage, financially or mentally. What I'll probably end up doing, to start, is just get the two Groan modules I mentioned with a zlob diode chaos for each (maybe), KM mixer,and the reverb and delay. Mixer has a line and phones out so that will save me on an out module for now. Once I learn those few things I'll check out the suggestions offered here, for support and modulation modules. If anyone has any other suggestions... I'm all ears! I hope to become a valid member of the community some day if I venture into Eurorack.
-- CadaverKev

I think this is a good idea.... at the end of the day the things I recommended above will add massively to the usefulness of your rack... as would some filters... but aren't 100% necessary... twiddling knobs is great, until you realise you need 16 hands to get where you want to go... adding the odd module from time to time (especially used) should be within anyones reach - even if it is 1 module every 6 months or even year...

Well done for not getting shot down for being a Reason user, I seem to recal when i made my first post I didn't fair so well with certain people's comments.

Welcome to the addiction and the quickly emptying wallet!
-- wishbonebrewery

I used to use Reason years ago... it's great & it's one of the things that got me into modular - that along with the realization that some of the guitar pedals I was using were effectively (part of) a modular synthesizer...

EDITED Nov 12th 2023, 22:49