A couple of days ago TechCrunch published an article about Eurorack, I thought it was worth sharing it here.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/28/meet-the-makers-of-modular/
When Dieter Döpfer, the founder of music instrument manufacturer Doepfer, decided to launch a brand new modular synthesiser system in 1995, no one could have predicted what would follow.
Dieter did one other smart thing: when he set up the Eurorack modular standard, he based it on an existing industrial standard for EE modules. That way, Eurorack could take advantage of a sizable installed base that already existed when speccing parts and specs for Eurorack. You actually can get Eurorack enclosures that are made by industrial equipment firms (Knurr's Elicon system comes to mind here) that have some different designs that make for very nice fixed-installation Eurorack cabs.
The sole downside of this supply avenue, however, is that these firms do not "speak music". They're used to dealing with large industrial/technical concerns and in institutional-sized orders, so trying to source some of these...or even get a price for components...is a royal PITA. I attempted some time back to contact the US distributor for Knurr, for example, and they couldn't wrap their heads around the application I intended. Similarly, workstation furniture manufacturers such as Winstead also have this same "issue" of user scale, where if you want just one or two things, you're not worth their time...or at least, you're made to feel that way. Thankfully, the subcomponents such as rails, etc are easily gotten from distributors such as Mouser or Allied in quantities that work for this user base...but it would be SO snazzy to be able to get a full-tilt Elicon rig if that were a suitable possibility.
Hi Exposure and Lugia,
Exposure: Thanks a lot for sharing that link, nice article to read!
Lugia: Interesting and indeed a pity that's so difficult to get to that kind of industrial Eurorack stuff, could be interesting to have such indeed.
Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Lugia: Interesting and indeed a pity that's so difficult to get to that kind of industrial Eurorack stuff, could be interesting to have such indeed.
"Interesting" doesn't even begin to describe it. See here: https://www.technical-furniture.com/images/joomlart/knuerr/pdf/en/knurr-technical-furniture-workstation-for-electronic-engineers-product-catalogue.pdf ...and when you get to Page 52, things will start to look really familiar.
Sort of infuriating, really...I was really hyped over the possibilities this sort of thing would open up, but dealing with whoever's dealing with Knurr in the USA (that's yet another issue with this) now was immediately frustrating. Definitely a "no habla individual users"-type of situation. Maybe some users in Europe might have better success, since the actual firm is based in (I think) Switzerland.
Hi Lugia,
Oh yes! That sounds and looks good :-) I didn't had a chance yet to look at the prices but from the look of it, how professional it looks like, it must cost a fortune I am afraid.
At page 72 is a nice 12 V DC power supply unit, just what we need for our Eurorack cases :-) You just take a "battery" of those units in one large row supplying your entire factory-hall kind of space with Eurorack cases... even winning a serious lotery might not be enough for that kind of nice stuff and space you need for that too...
That picture on page 51, that does it, doesn't it? :-)
Now at least we know where Mr. Doepfer got his ideas from ;-)
I googled here with the German Google version and end up with the same website technical-furniture.com but then everything in German. Looks like they are a German company but not really sure. I don't think you can find a "shop" that sells their products. From their website and my understanding of reading their information is that they do come up with whatever solution you need and they will install it for you on location, worldwide... so this must come at unbelievable prices...
Kind regards, Garfield.
Edit: removed a typo
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Thanks for sharing - I'm the author if anyone has follow up Qs.
A couple of days ago TechCrunch published an article about Eurorack, I thought it was worth sharing it here.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/28/meet-the-makers-of-modular/
When Dieter Döpfer, the founder of music instrument manufacturer Doepfer, decided to launch a brand new modular synthesiser system in 1995, no one could have predicted what would follow.
-- Exposure
