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Talk with them for a bit, too...doing "modifications" to their base-model cabs is something they're experienced at. If you need more power, wider rows, etc...they do that.

Yep, you'd BETTER keep that Doepfer cab...because, as we all know, empty Eurorack spaces have the ability to summon modules to fill them! Do not anger the wandering Eurorack modules!

The other thing is that Case From Lake has THE cab you want...go and check out their pages on Reverb (or right now, Facebook; they seem to have blown thru their stock listed on Reverb!), and lo and behold, they've got "flat" cabs that curve slightly to raise the top and middle rows, making for a much better ergonomic result. The other thing I like about them is that they can and do modify their base-level designs. More power? Extra tile rows? Extra width? Yeah, they do that. Plus...and this is the huge one...they're CHEAP! You normally don't see cabs like theirs without prices that go several hundred higher.

He was packing the joints when I did an event with him back in the late 1990s, actually! Surgeon's skills aren't just due to the imposed limitations, though...he has a very singular ability to use the minimal elements and STILL make tracks that sound fully-formed. And that's not an easy trick; when you try to do more with less, it's invariably far more difficult than trying to do more with more.

OK. let's go over these questions one at a time...

1) Noise can be used with Marbles in a number of ways, besides the point that it's useful for a number of other purposes...both modulation AND audio. But as an example, let's take the "jitter" input. By introducing noise at varying levels through this input, you can increase the instability of the Marbles. But there are loads more possible than JUST that. Suffice to say, noise is pretty essential in general in ANY synth, and there's tons of points in the build where a totally random source of that sort would be useful.

2) By using the Penrose quantizer. What you'd do there is to define a set of notes that fit the overall musical scheme you're working with at the time, then feed a modulation source into the "Input" and a clock pulse to the "Trig". The trigger fires the sample and hold circuit in the Penrose to lock in a single voltage value from that modulation curve, then the Penrose "rounds" that value to the nearest assigned scalar step. By using very sparing clock pulses (Skipper at, say, 3/4th of maximum stochastic skips) to add harmonically related blips every time the voicing connected to the Penrose fires.

When you consider what's going on there, it's really very sample-and-hold-like...but the resulting control voltage values get constrained to ONLY the ones that you've defined, not totally random values.

Hi WaveofSilence,

Yeah, nice one too! I love the arpeggiator functionality, what would we do without it? ;-)

Regarding the cables, ha, ha, does your hand never get stucked between the cables, so the cables "hold your hand locked-in"? ;-)

Nice to see you at work at the drums as well. That cymbal you are playing, is that an acoustic cymbal or is that digital too?

You are a real multi-instrumentalist, using so many instruments in this jam. Well, keep the good work up and thanks a lot for sharing this with us. Kind regards, Garfield.

Hey, thanks to you both. Glad to be back.

Behringer Crave & VCV rack..

I use MB with Roland 500, Behringer, Erica, Joranalogue and Doepfer Eurorack modules, works great. MB has one direct gate and 2 CV.

Lugia,
I read the manuals, check reviews and look at the Youtube videos about the modules you have suggested.
I think they will be a great improvement for my generative struggle.
But there are two issues in your comment that I dont really understand.
1. How shall I use noise for modulating Marbles?
2. How to use the quantizisised modulation curves?

> Wow, fetteste Spielwiese Sascha!

-- Kemal
ja macht echt spaß

removing the atlantis, if you don't use it much, seems like a good idea

I would personally go with either batumi or pam's in this size rig, not both, and add more utilities for mixing/modifying/multing modulations sources to create more interesting ones - kinks is great, if you can find one - discontinued recently, but there should be a few still in stores

re utilities in general doepfer and ladik are your best friends - just make sure the depth is ok in the case

I'd also consider an fx aid xl - lots of different algos for effects and decent number of modulation inputs

Hey guys,

I'm reaching you to get some advices about what I could swap out of my main rack to go the full ambient way (Tim Hecker, Lawrence English...).
I had this rack for about more than a year now and I think the only module I tend to not use that much is the Altantis.
I also have a skiff with a PEG, a 4ms DLD, an Erbe-Verb + an Erica Synths Sample Drum that I almost never use.
I replaced the DLD and the Erbe-Verb in my rack with the Mimeophon and I'm pretty happy with it.
My goal would be to pack most stuff in the 7U because I move it alot to play with some friends.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!
I'm thinking about maybe removing the Atlantis to get a Batumi, Pamela's New Workout and a Morphagene but I'd be glad to hear what you guys think about it.

Thanks!

Hi Wedoh,

Oh my gosh, this is nice and relaxed. Can every day be like this please? :-)

Very nicely slowly controlled, beautiful! So what did I hear? Philip Glass resigned and you did take over? ;-) Great stuff this, nice video along with it! Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.
-- GarfieldModular

Wow! Thank you so much Garfield!
Your kind words really encourage me to keep making music. Also i really need to listen to Philip Glass now :-).

I really appreciate your feedback. It meant a lot to me.

Kind regards
Johan

Hi Lugia,

This is perfect indeed. I will contact him.

Thanks for the suggestion,
Regards
Matteo

or thonk - but they are diy only and are currently out of stock - but they do notifications!

Thank you both of you ! Special thanks to Lugia, you made me discover Noise reap, and I love Paradox !

I have been playing with a LC9 for a year, and there is always an empty row... otherwise I really like to play modular "horinzontally", with the case lying down on my desk, which is not possible with LC9 because of power supply.

I already order a 68hp*2 to Modular Maritime - trying to work with french guys, as I am french too - but maybe i'll keep the LC9... just in case :p

EDITED Feb 27th 2023, 09:46

Thank you! My cables usually end up like that, so I try to arrange modules to control while playing on the top and sides.

Here's another video where I left the patch to play on its own with the keyboard arpeggiator repeating:

EDITED May 28th 2021, 03:18

Really helpful all your opinions, I think I will research more about what modular is xD.
For what you all say, you need a bigger budget to build something useful.
Anyway, my first priority is to have some good quality analog sounds, like a a simple saw wave with filter and envelope for bassline. For more complex modulation and synthesis I prefer going on digital because of budget, and use vst like serum with a lot of capabilitys.

Hi Cmb_,

He, he, that's a nice track with a lot of fun in it, I like that. That kind of make happy music, it provides me with positive energy.

Yes, the Telharmonic is a real dark horse, isn't it? :-) Thanks a lot for sharing your great track and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wedoh,

Oh my gosh, this is nice and relaxed. Can every day be like this please? :-)

Very nicely slowly controlled, beautiful! So what did I hear? Philip Glass resigned and you did take over? ;-) Great stuff this, nice video along with it! Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi WaveofSilence,

Nice jam! You got a nice sequence going on as from about 5:00 that develops pretty nicely, I like that!

I love the melody you are building up as from about 27:00 with your keyboard, nice!

By the way, what a spaghetti of patch cables ;-) Enjoy your Plaits and kind regards, Garfield.

You should be able to order the COUNT module directly from Adventure. Go here: https://www.adventurepedals.com/eurorack/count and then drop them a line inquiring about shipment.

Another great source...especially since I'm betting you're in Italy...would be Case From Lake in Brescia. Won't fix your VAT in the EU, but at least the locality will lower the shipping cost!

+1 on the Mantis (or similar) suggestion. Actually, have a look at these guys: https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=case%20from%20lake&make=case-from-lake Bespoke construction, wood cases, all very amply powered. If you can't find a Mantis, just check out their 2 x 104...which comes in at a whopping $29 more than the Mantis while offering the same room plus a serious wood cab.

Microfreak isn't a bad idea here, also. It's definitely got more of a "west coast" sound going on...plus you get the touchplate keyboard, which I know tends to wig out synthesists that have no modular experience. But really, it's more like the bastard love-child of a Sound Easel and a Microbrute...quite interesting, really. The other nice thing is that Arturia is always coming up with new oscillator modules and other voodoo that can be "blown in" via USB.

But, yeah...$1k isn't a doable goal here unless you're willing to bust out the soldering gear. But if you DO want a way to get proper modular performance while not spending an arm and a leg, then go here: https://www.tangiblewaves.com/ I have a 160-space AE system here, soon to get punched up to 180 spaces when I add the controller/mixer tier. And while that might sound HUGE (and yeah, it IS), the AE stuff is extremely affordable; my system, thus far (which includes the new 20-space row and the modules slated for it) has run me around $6k-ish...and $6k for something that big isn't something you can do in Eurorack, even if you DO kit-build the system yourself.

Or you could sum the four outputs down to either stereo or mono, and feed it through a stereo filter (like the Morgasmatron or the Dual Borg) or any mono VCF you prefer. Even better, if you want to keep the outputs totally separate, you could even go with several different filters for coloring each output differently. Lots of possible options there...

To add to the discussion, consider the artist Surgeon who does a lot of techno stuff. He uses a very basic setup just
with a kick, clap and snare modules and sampler. I figure since he packs houses and is famous techno artist, he can show us how it is done. Here is a post of what he has used in the past for some ideas

You could use Plaits instead of Braids and so forth. Quadrax instead of Quadra for modulation stuff.

Thanks again for the thoughts!

So here's what I did, in case anyone cares ;)
- Removed most of the drum modules (except the kick drums - I like having the full control)
- Removed the Matrix Mixer (no space, might come back later)
- Might remove Rings + E350 at some point, when I need more space
- Got a Chronoblob - patching stuff into the feedback line is awesome, lots of fun here
- Got a SY0.5 - Super cool for basslines and bloopy stuff in little HP
- Got a Serge 8XL - Very hands on, lots of patching points
- In the future I'll get some more small utils, like a 3xMIA and maybe another VCA
- I also rearranged things so that the "performance" modules are in the bottom row for easy access

Hi, thank you for you answer, I really like your 12 hp idea, do you know a good alternative for COUNT, because it is not avaible in europe... The last few days I was trying to find some replacement for the xpan, because panharmonium and magneto work both internly mono, so I don't need panning before. I added some sound modules and I also changed blades for the stereo diode, because of the 4 outputs to benefit from the 6 (8) inputs for my panmix. If anyone now some cool soundmangling modules to feed into my panharmonium, please let me know :)

Thanks a lot for your suggestions.
Actually i am very bad at DIY hence i don't feel like going that route.
I will contact MDLR to ask for a quote of the case i am looking for.
Thanks a lot,
Regards
Matteo

EDITED May 27th 2021, 17:42

Of course, I'd advise you to at least look into what Jim is suggesting first, as it's the cheapest option and you never know, you can always find the building phase entertaining as well. But if your needs are very specific and you don't feel comfortable with building yourself, I can wholeheartedly recommend MDLR, Arjan is a well recognized and reliable builder, and I've read that he also makes custom orders: https://www.mdlrcase.com/

Updated current draw measured using Joranalogue Test3 on a Doepfer PSU3.

depends on how much you want to spend - custom cases can get very pricey very quickly

have you considered diy? it's a lot easier than you might think!! 4 out of 6 of my racks are DIY - all 9u either 84 or 104hp and come in at about €100 + power

what exactly are you after? - size wise and materials wise - do you want portability?

starter plan is decent - I'd swap links for kinks if I were you though - as kinks has been discontinued - there's a last batch by the look of it - so grab it now

for mults either get some stackcables or some headphone splitters

Time to update it :) He's got a magneto

Hi all,

Due to lack of space in my studio i need a custom build eurocase case which could fit in the small space left on my desk.
I was not able to find any cases which would fit in there hence i think i have to go custom.
Any advices on some good cases producer located in Europe?
Thanks in advance,
Regards

I would go bigger - either 104hp/6u or 84hp/9u - ie a mantis when they are available again - or a doepfer lc9 - these are the best value/known cases - with decent power supplies etc

always try to leave some room free for expansion!!

Ok !
So I guess I wait before buying anything more, and change my case for a 68hp*2rows
Thanks again

EDITED May 27th 2021, 14:19

The advice here is good: if your maximum expense is one grand, then think semi-modular. Many different models to choose from, besides those mentioned. Assuming you are in the USA, your budget can get you one of these:

• Pittsburgh Modular Microvolt 3900 ($630)
• Pittsburgh Modular SV-1 Blackbox ($700)
• Kilpatrick Audio PHENOL ($700)
• Dreadbox Erebus III ($600)
• Dreadbox Nyx V2 ($600)
• Moog Mother-32 ($615)
• Make Noise 0-COAST ($540)

That leaves you money for a keyboard. Or just get an Arturia Minibrute 2 ($500). Later, you can expand any of these with another semimodular or a modular.

Don't forget some sort of fun effects. Standard recommendation is a Zoom MS-50G.

Or just get a Arturia Microfreak ($340) and bank the rest of your money. There's no reason to think a non-modular synth is too limiting. Internal routing is the same as modular patching! Both allow you to make new connections in interesting ways. The differentiator is the flexibility. The Microfreak essentially has the engine out of a digital VCO, plus so much more.

I spent years with only a monosynth and a crap drum machine. Had loads of fun!

EDITED May 27th 2021, 14:06

I won't be able to afford everything immediately so thought I could start with Maths, Veils, Plaits and Links as a starter set. Wise?

Hi all, some problems with this forum showing the correct layout. Seem to have sorted it.
Anyway, I am new to this modular synthesis lark and having read a lot of the forum rack examples I have decided to take the plunge and ask for your advice whether my layout idea will be useful to me. I have taken the advice of Jim, Lugia and others about having lots of tools and utilities modules rather than sound sources and would like anyone's opinion on whether this layout will work for me. I have a Minibrute 2, Mother 32, DFAM, Beatstep Pro and TR8-S which I hopefully can use as the sound sources for this setup plus I liked the sound of the Manis Iteras so included that aswell. I will be mostly designing sounds and rhythms to be used in techno/hardcore type music.
Thanks for looking

Rich

Drift through time through abundance of sounds. Reactive to each other.
Through this piece i explore Morphagene. I recorded a pad sound made using the iOS app Nave.
The main melody is played by SWN sequenced by Voltage Block.

Morphagene goes into Belgrad, i move the cutoff for LH mode (Low pass + High pass mode). Span set to 12 o clock. FM set to full, modulated by an LFO from SWN.

Zadar makes most of the modulation work. Two channels are used for self modulation of warp to create movement and variation.

A good pair of headphones or loudspeakers are recommended. This piece is mastered in Ableton using MS techniques.

About prices, I put a cap of 1000$.
-- bling12345

Here's the thing with modular: it's darn expensive, I mean look at the average MINIMUM price Lugia put up for a BASIC build, it already costs double your budget, and I'd says that average price is probably already squeezing all the value out of every dollar. Forget about cheap and good, there's some functions you can get for cheap thanks to manufacturers like Ladik, but that's still cheap in Eurorack terms, not actually cheap. If you pay cheap, you get cheap, not necessarily in terms of build quality but rather module design, functionality per HP, etc. There's DIY as well, but you need to be a little handy with an iron, and that's still just cheaper, not cheap.

Honestly, for that amount of money, I don't think there's a way to get both into patching little cables and getting an efficient/interesting instrument to use for music production. What you will get is a setup that will offer less functionality than a "regular" synth around the same price, and that means that at some point you will have to invest more money to transform that "basic starter setup" into something that can do more than say an Elektron Analog 4. I get the interest for modular (I wouldn't be here if I didn't) but you need to understand what it means financially. I personally love the idea of the 0-Easel so if you insist on going Eurorack, I'd start with that, at least it makes for a unique interesting instrument and a lot of exploration...

There are quite a few reasons why you shouldn't share your phone number publicly, let's just say it's not safe. Google it.

+1 I also endorse this idea

You are absolutely right JimHowell1970.
My rack is to small. But when I started my intention was only to add som functionality to my Minibrute 2S, not going deep into modularity. But then I get caught and are now module dependent.
And what I have heard there is no cure for this kind of addiction ;-)

Hi, Ken,
Please reach out to me at xxx xxx xxxx.
Thank you.

EDITED Jan 3rd, 22:49

Agreed, a misc section would be great (not for other gear though, just modular accessories like cases and cables etc)

I just got Plaits, and I've been having a lot of fun with this patch with Vector Space modulating the model input. Sound sources are mixed in different positions through Planar, which is modulated by Rampage through Invert Offset with Time Warp. Planar controls V3kt and Vector Space to bring everything together. Quadrax is in Vacillator mode triggered by Rampage to control the 'k' input on Vector Space. Keyboard sounds are from a Yamaha CS2x with an expression pedal to control its filter.