ambient_rack.60hp

advice needed for my first rack.

I plan to build my first 60 hp rack to play with my elektron digitakt and digitone. I have already made decision for 4 modules and I have only 6 hp left.
Could anyone recommend a 6 hp module that goes well with this system in order to create generative ambient like;

cheers.

Hi Noopaul,

Nice pictures! But ehm... how are they related to your rack layout? My advice is to go for 284 or 384 rack case, to me this looks far too small and rather soon than later you will run out of space...

Good luck with the planning and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Garfield,

many thanks for your advice. My current rack is obviously too small due to the budget. I plan to expand it in the future. At the moment I intend to use Shuttle Control to generate sound sources and modulate various parameters (clock, envelope, lfo etc.) from Digitakt as well as to power other modules. Morphagene to create granular from sampling loop and MI rings and uClouds to give ambient texture. I have already got an analog and fm synth together with delay and reverb fx pedals hooked with my external mixer in my set up. So I do not know what I should put on the 6 hp I have left. Cheers!

Hi Noopaul,

Fair enough regarding space and budget, these two are always somehow limiting us ;-) I meant to write 2 * 84 (2x84) HP or 3 * 84 (3x84) HP but for some reason the asterisks got removed, might be the Markdown Syntax doing that.

Why not keep the 6 HP free with a 6 HP blind panel? It's always good, in my opinion, to have some spare space. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Garfield,

3*84 HP is my dream which I have to sell out some of my music gears, so I keep minimal for now :p
I will take your advice to leave 6 HP space with blind panel for now.

Thanks again for that very kind of you.

Scrap it.

You have a collection of modules but nothing you can really use to produce anything meaningful. VCA? Filter? Modulation?

The vast majority of modules are not self-contained synths. Buying a module doesn't give you "that sound" unless its in conjunction with other modules.

Find VCV Rack and download it. It's free. Once you've managed to create some ambient music on VCV Rack, then I would consider buying modules and putting together a system. But I doubt you're going to get anything useful in that space to produce anything like what you're hearing in the videos. In the space provided, you could probably make a simple one or two oscillator set-up with a filter, LFO, and a few VCAs. But for what you'll spend, you'd be better off getting an all-in-on synth like a Deepmind 12D for $600US. You'll have to throw a few thousand to duplicate the racks in the video.

It's a lot harder to get something useful out of a limited amount of modules on a limited budget in a limited amount of space. So you're really fighting an uphill battle to get what you want under these conditions without any experience assembling a case.

I'm not trying to discourage you or be mean. Quite the opposite. I would put together a $2000-$3000 budget for starter case or buy a preconfigured case+modules.

Hi Ronin,

I have tried VCV rack (and that is why I am trying to build a physical one) but what I cannot tried on VCV is to connect with other synths in my set up, Digitakt, Digitone, Se-02, Volcas, mackie 12vlz and few fx pedals.

As far as I know, Endorphin Shuttle Control can map various functions like clock, modulation, envelope, lfo etc. via cc midi control from Digitakt.

Here is setting plan; Morphagene to sampling audio from my synths and many kinds of sound source and play back granular loop, while Clouds and Rings to process and give texture to the sound from either Morphagene or my external synths and all modulated by Digitakt via Shuttle Control. After learning the limitations and capabilities of Digitakt + Shuttle Control as well as to connect/ process sounds of other gears mentioned, then I can plan for 2*84 hp and get more modules.

What I have been searching is Filter module with both low and high pass. Do you have any suggestion ?

Thanks for your advice anyway. I understand your point and willing to hear lots of comments. Sorry for my bad English that I cannot explain well though.

The Doepfer Wasp Filter has a knob to balance between lowpass and high pass. It even has a bandpass.

The Doepfer Wasp Filter has a knob to balance between lowpass and high pass. It even has a bandpass.
-- Utilisateur_2

Many thanks !

What I have been searching is Filter module with both low and high pass. Do you have any suggestion ?

-- noopaul

Second for Wasp, too - it's my favourite filter at the moment.

God's Box Humpback filter also has LP/HP/BP/Notch, and two attenuated CV inputs. Sounds decent, and comes as a full DIY kit , so is cheap, and probably easy to find second hand. Also if you're into DIY, build yourself some passive vactrol low pass gates - they are super cheap, useful, and sound cool.

Your English is fine and your English as a second language doesn't bother me... as it should not.

Okay. Now I understand what you're going for. The Eurorack is going to function more like an effects processor.

If you're wanting to add a filter I would recommend the Intellijel Morgasmatron. But it's 20HP. So you'll want a bigger skiff!

It has two multimode filters that can work independently, parallel, or series. The knobs are very good for live adjustments. One side has a switch for overdrive and the other has a phase-flip. There's also a mix-mode for blending the sound of the two outputs that can also be modulated. So you will get a lot of usage out of it for processing your effects.

The other filter I would recommend is the Joranalogue Filter 8. It's only one channel but all filter outputs are available via 3.5mm jacks rather than selecting a filter going to one jack.

The one thing I think you're missing is a mixer. The Blue Lantern Stereo Sir-Mix-A-Lot would work... but again, it's a big module. But the price point is under $300US. Six inputs, two stereo returns, two stereo aux sends, mutes, panning... there's a lot of value there.

If you're going with a skiff... find one that's 104HP. I don't think 84HP is going to be enough. I've reworked your case. I used Monsoon rather than uBurst as you'll get more functionality out of it. I also used a micro version of rings. I added the Morgasmatron and the Sir-Mix-Alot. For the remaining 8HP, I added a micro Ornaments & Crime module for some internal modulation, envelopes, sequencing, LFOs, etc. You could also replace the O_C with a VCA module should you want to use this as a synth and rely on the Shuttle for all of your modulation. I'd replace the buffered mult with the Intellijel dual VCA when it's available.
https://forum.intellijel.com/t/1u-dual-stereo-vca-module-what-features/1428/14

My ultimate recommendation would be an Intellijel 104 4U case. I'd get that. I stocked the 1U row with some line to Eurorack modules, noise/sample&hold, a quadratt for submixing, inverting, attenuation, and a buffered mult.

EDITED Jul 16th 2019, 17:26

What I have been searching is Filter module with both low and high pass. Do you have any suggestion ?

-- noopaul

Second for Wasp, too - it's my favourite filter at the moment.

God's Box Humpback filter also has LP/HP/BP/Notch, and two attenuated CV inputs. Sounds decent, and comes as a full DIY kit , so is cheap, and probably easy to find second hand. Also if you're into DIY, build yourself some passive vactrol low pass gates - they are super cheap, useful, and sound cool.

-- naught101

CHEERS !

Your English is fine and your English as a second language doesn't bother me... as it should not.

Okay. Now I understand what you're going for. The Eurorack is going to function more like an effects processor.

If you're wanting to add a filter I would recommend the Intellijel Morgasmatron. But it's 20HP. So you'll want a bigger skiff!

It has two multimode filters that can work independently, parallel, or series. The knobs are very good for live adjustments. One side has a switch for overdrive and the other has a phase-flip. There's also a mix-mode for blending the sound of the two outputs that can also be modulated. So you will get a lot of usage out of it for processing your effects.

The other filter I would recommend is the Joranalogue Filter 8. It's only one channel but all filter outputs are available via 3.5mm jacks rather than selecting a filter going to one jack.

The one thing I think you're missing is a mixer. The Blue Lantern Stereo Sir-Mix-A-Lot would work... but again, it's a big module. But the price point is under $300US. Six inputs, two stereo returns, two stereo aux sends, mutes, panning... there's a lot of value there.

If you're going with a skiff... find one that's 104HP. I don't think 84HP is going to be enough. I've reworked your case. I used Monsoon rather than uBurst as you'll get more functionality out of it. I also used a micro version of rings. I added the Morgasmatron and the Sir-Mix-Alot. For the remaining 8HP, I added a micro Ornaments & Crime module for some internal modulation, envelopes, sequencing, LFOs, etc. You could also replace the O_C with a VCA module should you want to use this as a synth and rely on the Shuttle for all of your modulation. I'd replace the buffered mult with the Intellijel dual VCA when it's available.
https://forum.intellijel.com/t/1u-dual-stereo-vca-module-what-features/1428/14

My ultimate recommendation would be an Intellijel 104 4U case. I'd get that. I stocked the 1U row with some line to Eurorack modules, noise/sample&hold, a quadratt for submixing, inverting, attenuation, and a buffered mult.

-- Ronin1973

many thanks, Ronin !!
very much appreciated

Your welcome. Also, I forgot to mention. The noise module from Intellijel also has a slew limiter that can be accessed independently.

The Morgasmatron is also capable of self oscillating. Pair it with a VCA (Shakmat and Intellijel are BOTH coming out with 1U VCAs) and some envelopes from the O_C and you can generate some decent kick drums. Filter some pink or white noise through the other filter and you have snares and hi-hats.

By modulating the Morgasmatron's mix knob at audio rates you can get a ring modulation kind of effect.

The Shuttle is tasty. But I strongly feel having the O_C for some onboard sequencing that can also be clocked and reset by the Shuttle will give you lots of additional modulation possibilities.

All of these modules should stay very useful should you want to expand or expand in a different direction.