I'm sure you will hear the usual advice of moving the semi-modulars and mults outside the case to save space, but I'm of the opinion of "do what's best for you". Your rack looks very playable and designed to last a long time. Well done.
-- farkas
Thanks! And while I would agree generally about not pulling the semis out of their cases for smaller systems, this is a Doepfer Monster. The B's are in there essentially as a 440 source and because the Sequential Pro One was one of my very first monos (and favorite) years ago. They're both sequenced from a single Nerd MIDI track independently.
- I see 11 dual passive multiple modules between the two cases (if I'm counting correctly). That's 22 1-to-3 passive multiples! To me, that seems quite excessive, especially considering that Tiptop Audio stackable cables exist. Personally, I rarely split an output signal to more than two inputs, so I'm essentially replacing one of the 1-to-3 multiples and three normal cables with a single normal cable and one stackable cable. You may have specific plans or needs for your rack that I or others may not understand.
To be honest, some of these mults are just spacers to keep it less cramped. But I do often send one signal to 8 destinations for parallel processing, so they are used. Plus I distribute some clock signals or LFO's throughout the system.
- In my view, there is a shortage of sub-mixers and attenuators between the two cases. For example, where are you mixing the outputs of all of your oscillators and other sound sources? I see two Mixups and one Triplatt for sub-mixers. (The two VCA modules also mix, but I would think you'd mostly want to use those for other purposes?) In a smaller case, this would be plenty, but in a rack this size, and considering how many sound sources and filters you have, I would want more mixing power. Dedicated attenuators are also a really big deal to me. In your rack I only see the single Triplatt for this. How are you attenuating the signals going into the CV inputs of the 8-channel Doepfer VCA module and other inputs that don't have dedicated attenuators built in? Some of this may be solved by how you intend to use the Doepfer VCAs in conjunction with the Michigan Synth Works Fader Bank.
-- Chace
You missed the Mutamix, which gives me a swiss army mixer. 1x 6 to 1, 2x 3 to 1, or 3x 2 to 1. I often also use the L and R of the Mixups independently, so that's quite a bit of 2 or 3 oscillator mixing where needed. Also, don't count out the WMD Performance mixer. Each channel can unity mix the A and B inputs for a total of 24 ins (12x 2 to 1.) I generally am not submixing too much within the system and am running the WMD out to a 32 input interface. I've got quite a few DI boxes to bring any other signals out into the DAW. I hear what you’re saying, but have not yet had a moment where I ran out of summing.
As far as attenuators I generally do not need external ones. Most of my CV sources are from the NerdSeq (28 of them) where they are internally scalable. Random sources, envelopes, voltage offsets: all from the Nerd and all totally configurable per pattern or even per step. Here's my latest track for an example:
I think I read somewhere in the Modular Philosophy 101 class workbook...a rack is never really truly complete...lol
-- jb61264
When I had my gigantic Wiard + Frac system, there were a lot of things I wanted/needed that didn't exist and I didn't have time to design. After over a decade off, I approached this system with a clear end goal in mind. I did have to switch cases when two Intellijel 7U and a palette ended up being a little too constricting, but there was no buy, sell, repeat. Broad range of synthesis and sampling methods, proper sequencing and lot's of signal processing. Truly finished here, unless a proper time domain pitch shifter comes out, then a few mults can go to fit that in. Otherwise, I'll use something external.
It's probably because I'm at the end of my "journey" and have over a quarter century experience with modular synths rather than starting out and figuring out how it fits in with my music making. Yea, something like ER-301 might be cool but... I had a Capybara system and also have two kids now. I need immediate results!