What's your approach to organizing multiple cases/racks?

For those fortunate enough to have more than one Eurorack case/system: How do you go about organizing them?

I recently added another case to accomodate my growing collection of modules. I know I could splurge on a monster case to accomodate everything but for some reason the large price tag always seem's daunting. Even though I know logically it's a fraction of what I've spent on my whole system My silly brain gets scared by too many digits. LOL
Typically I have organized my cases into functions. For example: A Subtractive Synth Rack, Drum rack, and Sequencer/Control rack, Mixing & effects rack. I just got a new case and while planning it out on here I thought, "is there a better way?"
So I come to y'all for your wisdom!
Is it silly to have all your sequencing in a seperate rack from your synth voices? Is it more fun to have each case be its own standalone instrument? I have recently had to travel a lot... maybe having multiple standalone systems would be more managable. Instead of lugging around 3 cases just to get a jam going, is grabbing one and seeing what can be squeezed out of it better? Or is it more advantagious to have everything set up and ready to go in the studio?
What do you think? What works for you?

Cheers!

i personally like the aesthetic having a bottom most rack for 1 off triggers, sequencing, and other melodic units, then filling in the rest of your voice chains, and whatever else you may want, wherever it will fit into the rest of the case, so that you dont need a keystep or or midi controller or anything like that and can just play the case as is and do most of the performance on the bottom most rack. im no expert, but thats just the way to build a case that seems most aesthetic, to me. you can look at my fantasy 4 case 'ttest ssystem' where i tried to apply this as best i could, and yes, i did quasi intend for them to work somewhat seperately, too. im just getting into modular. i decided to build fantasy systems on here for fun.

☮

There is a coexistence, a balance that is established over time between what is convenient (easy access to certain controllers for example) and what is necessary (the constraints of dimensions, power consumption, etc.) I use several racks and the question then becomes the placement of the racks :)) I could one day be tempted by the beautiful creations of CaseFromLake: https://www.casefromlake.com

it's an interesting question... and one that's obviously been asked many times...

I have 8 cases... in an almost permanent layout...

2 slightly angled but almost vertical with sound sources, modulation, filters and some utilities

2 almost horizontal with mostly percussion, sequencing, control and mixing (plus effects)

these add up to 18u of 188hp... and are roughly organised like a 2600

then a smaller case with some effects, pedal interfaces, instrument interfaces and es8/es6

that sits on top of 12u of a 19" rack holding 4 rows of 84hp - which is effectively an overspill rack - some audio and some video...

and then a tip top mantis which is my main video rack...

if I need to take an audio rack anywhere I can take modules out and re-purpose the mantis and the interface rack as required...

EDITED May 11th, 14:48

I have an experimental monster case with effects modules, complex oscillator and filters and mixer and a good sequencer and utilities. That is used for creating weird soundscapes. For performance oriented stuff like dance music, I have two cases one a 4u and another 7u Intellijel case with Eloquencer sequencer, Queen of Pentacles, mixer and utilities in the 4u case that works great live. My other portable case also has an Eloquencer sequencer, mixers, utilities, and several drum modules and an oscillator/filter combo that work well. I like using the same sequencer as it has good format for drums and music live in that I can view 8 tracks at same time and create song mode and patch presets for recall later.

I just have individual 3U cases I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but I play a lot with other people and keeping my case setup small helps me stay creative and engaged while not hogging up too much space for others to play in.

One is a "dedicated sequencing rack" for my Nerdseq and one is just Buchla Tiptop modules supported with a couple utilites in a Niftycase (this normally sits with my non-modular gear). I also have semi-modulars added to this and a Microfreak nearby to play CV and Gate into synths as well (and just because it's awesome for layering on top). I want to get one more 104 (or even 126) hp rack for random stuff I want to try (though this has sort of accidentally laid itself out as a monosynth that I could also take out and use separately). This all sounds chaotic, but it's actually working quite well for me, and once it's set up all together it's not much different from just having a Mantis on the table. When I go out I just unplug the piece I need. It seems scatterbrained from the outside, but if I had everything in one case, it would be harder for me to scale up or down as needed. Also, I don't really want to expand much further than that - it's already quite a bit for two hands, especially when one of my semi-modular units is a big Finegear Dust Collector that I would keep before any of it. I feel like anything else I do would just be starting an entirely different setup, and two is plenty. I still have a Polyend Tracker/TX81Z based setup and a DAW as well, and I can't do everything.

I wouldn't necessarily present to people what I've done as advice, but I would present it as an example of trusting yourself to know what you need and what produces good habits for you.

EDITED May 11th, 17:01

I love the Intellijel 4u/7u cases so good and 1u rows are fantastic to squeeze more mileage in a compact modular setup.
With a good drum synth module, utlities, mixer and effects and decent sequencer it does a lot! I call it my modular Elektron version.

Multiple cases makes a lot of sense to me as well. The monster case is neat, but ironically non-modular if you want to be mobile with (a) section(s) of modules. At some point it's definitely more economic to have one giant custom-built case, but I will probably never (even want to) have one.

That said... I'm currently working out this topic myself. I think my mind is currently at building a single row consisting of a primary chain sound. Then other rows are placed generally in their respective slot vertically (obv, this isnt hp perfect). scatter mults and other fx/utilities in the holes remaining 😉. I like the idea of building instruments over organizing by utility. Thats also tough to do when you have that swiss army knife module.

I'm a fan of arturia, so I ended up with a 3U and 6U Rack Brute. they are great, but now I'm kicking myself for not listening to the 'get 104hp minimum/row' advice I was given.

EDITED May 12th, 01:55

I've settled on grouping by voice sets, not by having a row of oscillators, a bank of envelopes...
I did that at first, but now my clocks are grouped together up in the left corner, and audio/midi io in the lower left.
But I try to have modules in the middle near each other that I can link with
those little yellow doepfer wires as reasonable "defaults".
I also need less wires using Doepfer's CV and trigger bus lines in three of the groupings.

I sort of see it as: here's my bass and percussion sections, this group does keys, this row is guitar/lead,
and this is the mix to output. I can always cross patch to oblivion, but I don't have to every time I sit down to record.
Oh, and the Doepfer A-180-9 Multicore works great for interconnecting boxes.

My eyes are messed up with strabismus so I get lost in the weeds when wires are draped everywhere.
Not a kid now I guess, but I don't like wire balls anymore like I used to.
I believe neither did Alan R. Perlman's designs, compared to Moog and Buchla.
(latest build plan here)

EDITED May 19th, 17:47

Oh, and the Doepfer A-180-9 Multicore works great for interconnecting boxes.
(latest build plan here)
-- lumpytapioca

I use a 2 -> 4 buffered mult to do something similar from a keystep pro. Fun build! Curious to know if that top left gets clastrophobic