Thanks for the info, I'll give the cap mod a try if I get a chance.
Two filters in one, though they can be chained. This is a passive device, no power used (think - same thing as the tone knob on your electric guitar).
Relatively easy build, through there were two nits about the boards fitting together and the knobs, but overall fine.
Sound-wise, it’s OK. Passive, so not a whole lot of activity, but does produce some mellow filtering. Not going to be in my main rack.
This is a very powerful new unit from Neutral Labs. 4 wavetable driven voices, a delay unit, a low pass filter, two LFOs, accent, a sequencer, envelope, and their special crunchiness
Driven either with external gating or with the capacitive touchpads not eh front.
Way deep, my demo, were I only scratch the surface, is 30 minutes.
The board has all the SMD components pre-installed, you’lll just be putting a LOT of jacks, pots and switches on. Be aware that there are many tiny SMD components very close to where you’ll need to solder, so you should be a proficient builder to do this kit.
A very fun and dense unit.
A 3 group multi of one in and 3 outs, or single multi-9 outs if you only use the top input, or 1 in 3 out 1 in 6 out if you use the top and middle in, you get the picture. And a little signal adder at the bottom
The build is super easy, barely an inconvenience. Just solder 16 sockets and one power connector and put the front panel on and it’s done.
Good quality, though I did get some noticeable (on the scope) lag between the original slope and the multi’d slope, but I couldn’t hear the lag.
Excellent first kit if you’re just considering DIY module building.
Build
A voltage and milliAmp meter for your rack. Gives you at-the-moment insight into the power draw of a module (or set of modules) so you can insure you’re feeding the right amount of power, and also validating the manufacturers specs.
Handy when you’re pushing the limits of how much stuff you can put in a rack section.
Mostly surface mount already installed.
Build
An oscillator in the style of the VCOs in the TB-303,
Pretty good build, lots of parts. Did have some issues getting the board mating pin headers to fit well, this has been updated in later kits. You’ll have to refer to the bill of materials instead of the build guide for a few component positions.
But overall good.
And it sounds very good, a somewhat long demo section. Best thing is that you get all 4 waves on their own output jacks all the time, interesting possibilities there!
Not a first or second kit, but not too bad.
Needed a small Eurorack power supply for an upcoming project, so I picked up this one from Frequency Central.
Very simple build, and good stable power when you’re done. Good unit, and a great first or second build.
Build
My build and demo of this unit. very nice little beast.
A wave folder and distortion unit (with a mixer) from Shakmat Modular.
Very simple build, most of the components are surface mount already installed, so a quick assembly of the rest.
Fun sounding, and lots of possibilities for wave manipulation and blending, a good sounding little fella. Recommended
Want a few noise generators, with many configurations, chromatic responses, filters, and so on? This is the module for you!
Lots o’ great sounding noise.
The build is long, heck there are 110 resistors to put on the boards. And, this one is a little trickier to solder than most, Befaco really packed the board tightly. Intermediate level at least, don’t build this as your first.
But sounds great, and lots of things to mess about with.
A 4 LFO module from NOH Modular. Actually 8, since each LFO set outputs a triangle and a square wave (why no sine?) at the same time. Also, you can mix two LFOs together, creating interesting waveforms, and their’s a DAC to sum out on/off signals based on the edge state of the 4 LFOs.
Simple build, all SMD already installed. Would be a good first build.
A mixer, patchbay, inverter, and attenuator.
There are about 50 surface mount resistors in this kit. SMD resistors are about the easiest to do, so don’t let that put you off if you haven’t done SMD, this would be a good module to get experience.
Then a ton of regular resistors, LEDs and switches. Nothing too difficult, just a lot of parts.
The unit works well and is very useful Multiple ways to route thins, and the inverse signal for, say, an LFO is very handy.
A good unit overall, recommended.
A fun filter from Cubusynth.
A interesting option in this one is the simultaneous output of low pass, high pass, and bandpass signals, so one could mix all three together in interesting ways from the same sound input.
Also allows you to play ring resonance as it’s own chromatic semi-VCO.
Straightforward build, lots of components but not hard.
Fun.
Frequency Central's take on Electric Druid’s wavetable oscillator.
Nice sounds. And it includes an LFO, some good portamento, good CV controls, and more.
Straightforward build, nothing unusual about the build. Lots of parts, but not hard.
Another LFO, this one from Cubusynth.
4 outputs, each with different rates (and changing available ranges by swapping capacitors).
Very simple build, would be a great first module. All surface mount pre-soldered.
Only has a triangle wave, which is a bit limiting. Also, I found that the peaks of each LFO were not quite in sync (see ‘scope traces during the demo) which isn’t perfect.
Overall a good kit.
Vector-Wave synth kit from RYK Modular build and demo.
This is an all-in-one synth module with VCOs, LFOs, envelopes, filters, MIDI mods, and so on. A very deep unit, you should probably check their demo video after mine if you like it.
Not the easiest build. While all the surface mount parts are already installed, the solder pads for the LED matrix, jacks and buttons are VERY close to the surface mount parts, you need to be VERY careful with your soldering to not touch or short to those. The unit would benefit from more space.
Powerful unit as an all-in-one.
Nice 4 output LFO (master LFO and 3 outputs divided from that master). Knob for speed or sync to your clock source.
Not going to be my primary because it doesn’t have a sine output. But a useful LFO with some randomness and many waves and divisions to select from.
Pretty straightforward build.
A clock divider from Frequency Central with 4 sub-clocks, which is pretty useful.
Straightforward build, nothing challenging, good mid-level experience ,
And the unit has tons of functionality, I only touch on some during the demo (if I had a 4 input scope I’da covered more, gives me an excuse to buy one). Look at the manual on their web site for all the details, there is a lot going on with this.
Good utility module.
Build
A VCA, tone generator, and ring mod unit.
Very simple build, mostly surface mount pre-installed, a few things to solder.
Sounds really interesting, a very good addition to your rack.
Straightforward build, though probably not best for your first or second. No surface mount.
Needs calibration, and you’ll need a scope, frequency counter, or good tuner to calibrate.
Works well, both for straight quantization and for interesting arpeggios with, say, an LFO as the voltage input. All in all a very useful unit.
An avalanche oscillator fro Jolin Labs.
Again, not much building to do on this one, all surface mount pre-installed, just have to put the pots and jacks on. Very simple, heck, the demo starts 12 minutes in.
Sonically, it’s OK. Not sure how I’ll be using it, but will be good to have in the backup rack just in case I need this sound.
[Build}()
A new CV generator/recorder unit from Neutral Labs.
I love this unit.
Very simple build, mostly surface mount pre-installed, a few things to solder.
Contains many waves arranged in pages, with two output channels, one on the main clock, the other on divisions from that clock. Each channel can be using different waves. Many any things you can use this for, I touch on a few in the demo section but there is so much more.
Very simple build, this is a great early module to build as you get started.
A new distortion unit from Neutral Labs.
Very simple build, mostly surface mount pre-installed, so only one pot, 3 jacks, and a few other things to solder.
Similar to they Scrat, this allows you to plug random electronic components into the audio chain to create distortion.
Slightly less aggressive than the Scrat,, but a good module and a great 1-2nd module.
A VCO from Look Mum no computer. Basic but solid, they name this a “performance” VCO, which means (to me) that it’s intended to be stable in live performance without any tinkering. Though you can adjust voltage trims from the front of the unit, which is nice in a live setting.
Limited modifications, but what you’ll need.
Sounds pretty good.
Some finicky parts in the build. There is one surface mount oscillator chip, and one rotary switch that took me a bit to get on. And getting the trim pot screws through the front panel was tricky.
Calibration is straightforward, but may take you some time.
Build
Another great kit from 4MS (I gotta get more from them).
This is their noise generator, and it's full of modification sources to make some really fun noise. Also allows you to put tones in to pass through the noise section.
Another great output is a noise-generated random CV source, in the test section you'll see me feed that to note CV on a VCO with very interesting results.
Moderate build, not bad.
I highly recommend this one if you want a highly variable noise source and random CV source.
Build
A filter from Jolin Lab in Italy.
Another very quick build, mostly surface mount already installed. Not necessarily for beginners, though, it can be tricky to not damage the surface mount parts while you're soldering the jacks and so on, some parts are VERY close to delicate surface mount parts.
It sounds OK. Not as aggressive as I expected, seems to be milder to my ear.
An 9 LFO module from Jolin Lab.
Not much to the build, all the surface mount components are pre-installed so there are just 9 jacks and 9 switches to install, so the build was 10 minutes.
The test and demo, though, came out at 20 minutes. Took a bit to change rates, and messing about with chaining was interesting.
For me this is a good studio module, but not live or jamming, since the rate responses are slow to start and not intended to be precise.
But fun.
Build and demo
BD-Z drum module kit from Patching Panda build and demo
A bass drum module from Patching Panda with lots of modifiers. Excellent sounding unit, and flexible.
Not a lot of electronic building, this I primarily a surface mount kit with all the SMD components pre-installed.
But still lots of knobs and jacks to put on.
A multipurpose module from Music Thing Modular,a clock source,a mixer,a line out/headphone amp.Meant to be a small space addition to a small rack.
Very easy build, SMD components already installed, took about 30 minutes to build even with my talking.
Always good to have another clock source if nothing else.
Great for a beginning builder.
Build
700 State mk 2 Filter kit from Frequency Central
A filter reminiscent of a Roland filter from Frequency Central.
Very straightforward build. Great sounding unit.
Recommended
Build
An interesting sequencer from Frequency Central. Sliders for note values, knobs for divisions per beat, and a number of presets for different modes. Most of which can be controlled externally.
Not sure how often I'll be using this one, but you might find it very useful
Straightforward build.
A OTA Filter from AI Synthesis. Good quality and pretty quick build, as I’ve found with their other modules.
Nice sounding, though you’ll want to tweak the resonance (with the installed trimmer) to get it to bite where you want it to bite.
Good mod control, you’ll see me using both an LFO and an ADSR to spice things up. Test section went a little long as I was having fun playing with it.
The 8S sequencer from Transient Modules. As the name implies, it’s an 8 step sequencer with some nice mods. No note CV so you’re setting note value by turning pots, but great control over forward/reversing the sequence, holding notes, and randomizing the sequence.
One surface mount IC, but it’s a pretty easy one to install.
I like this unit very much, I’ll be using it a lot.
A distortion unit from Little Fish Audio.
A very simple build, great 1st or second, took me 30 minutes.
And OK distortion. I found (as you can see in the test section) that I got the best results (for my taste) with sequenced notes and using an LFO to modify symmetry. Your taste may vary, of course.
Another one from Djupviks Electronik, this is their Bunker Archeology reverb/static module.
Lots to solder, including 6 surface mount capacitors, but not too hard. A bit of an issue with panel fitment, had to file out a couple of holes, but not bad.
Sounds really good, went a while on the demo because of that. This one moves into my main studio rack.
Build
A 4 voice cluster from ADDAC Systems.
A little sad because it had all the surface mount components installed already so no surface mount soldering today. Makes the build quicker also.
Interesting sounding unit. Because it doesn’t take Note CV, I think it’s best as a drone/background unit, but triggering voices from a keyboard, sequencer, or LFO make it pretty dynamic.
A good unit.
Erica Synths has a series of educational modules for learning about electronic music generation. This is the seventh I’ve built, their sample and hold/noise generator.
A very good kit. This one is probably the EDU module that has the most general purpose utility of all the ones I’ve built, would work very well in a pro rack.
Even if you don’t buy the kit, I recommend you download the user manual, it’s a great practical guide to electronics in music.
Build
A Seismograf bass drum module from Frequency Central.
A good little unit, some effective CV mods for tuning, distortion, and sound select.
A easy build, would be a great first build for someone.
A new-to-me manufacturer, this is a VCO, VCA and wave multiplier with feedback.
One side of the unit is a mellow sounding sine wave. The other side is the wave multiplier with nice feedback.
A good build, a few surface mount capacitors but the rest is straightforward.
And it sounds great, really interesting sound and flexibility from the wave side.
I recommend this one.
Build
What kind of midi data do you use it for?
-- LYFoulidis
Mainly note on-note off (ignoring the pitch value) and CC messages. They can be pretty non-messy in terms of voltage to digital. And if a CC message gets garbled that can often be pretty neat.
So sequencers, LFOs and logic modules are what I translate into MIDI. And also round-tripping those, using a arpeggiator in Logic outputting to, say the Missed Opportunities eurorack module and getting the note on's back from that to a MIDI track.
NEVER actual note values, since you're very correct, that translation can be inaccurate easily with the pitch CV to MIID note value, not worth chasing it to accuracy.
But ramps, patterns, and logic work well because you can take a bit of randomness, that will just enhance things.
I've written a lot of MIDI software over the decades so already have some MIDI pre-filtering virtual devices installed on my DAW so getting rid of bad data, or unmatched on/off pairs, is something I've done a lot.
One of those places where you embrace randomness and glitches to create interesting music
I want to be able to use my eurorack modules with my DAW in interesting ways, so I picked up Befaco's CV Thing, a CV to MIDI converter.
Pretty straightforward build, a couple of tricky spots but not bad.
A good module, if you want to work with your DAW get this.
A harmonic mixer from AI Synthesis. Straightforward and simple (a mixer doesn’t do a lot, after all), with the addition of some harmonic grit if you want it.
Would be a very good first or second kit, and you do need a mixer….
The sixth EDU module from Erica Synths that I’ve built, this is their mixer,
Does what a mixer should, a little bit fancy with inverted out and clipped out. A quick and straightforward build.
And as always with these modules, the manual (which you can download for free without buying the kit) is superior, a great practical guide to electronics for music.
A VCO from Patching Panda. Really a good one, lots of waveforms, lots of mod inputs, lots of cross-collaboration in the unit. And it sounds really good too. I went long on the test/demo section because I was having fun just playing with it.
Hybrid boards, many surface mount components pre-installed but plenty to solder. Good build, though some soldering is tight and very close to SMD components so care is advised. Not a beginner kit.
The fifth EDU module from Erica Synths that I’ve built, this is their voltage controlled filter,
.A pretty good foundational filter, has some beefy resonance and some good mod inputs. You might use this in your main rig.
And as always with these modules, the manual (which you can download for free ) is superior, a great practical guide to electronics for music.
traded it for my first ARP 2600
I sold my 2600 to buy a Korg 770 because I needed a lead synth to do bad covers of ELP songs. Should have kept the 2600....
A new effects unit from Neutral Labs, the Scrat They describe it as “an aggressive sounding multimode Steiner-Parker filter with a twist”m the twist being that you are able to plug in random electronic components to ports on the front to change resonant capabilities. They include some cards and random components to try.
A generally good build, though the trimming you need to do to get the headers for the plug-ins through the front panel could be challenging.
Sounds great, and lots of modification potential, another good Neutral Lab kit.
Follow up to the above, I was not selecting patches correctly, here's how you do it
A VCO with a built-in Attack/Release envelope that you can use, or use your standard enveloping.
Quick build. Does not have the presets I expected, just one, but it’s programmable.
OK sound (not quite to my taste) and reasonably small.
Handy little module containing a simple Attack/Release generator and a basic LFO.
Kit was missing 3 capacitors, I had spares so no delays. And I put one diode in backwards, which you’ll see when I get to the testing area.
But a good, straightforward build.
Recommended.
