All Posts

Hi Lugia, thank you for your answer! I'm aware of the four-tier rack (I own a two tier) but IMO that's not portable and/or secure for touring: it's simply huge, because of the form factor when having the 3 Moogs in a tier rack with an extra skiff on top. That's the main reason I'm looking for a case: to put them flat with a lid (with the added possibility to keep 'm patched in the case).
-- 3SGCC

I think you might want to poke around this website for a while before dismissing the quad-tier idea: https://www.plattcases.com/ Platt almost certainly has a case available in their many lines that will make a quad-tier VERY portable. And, depending on the line you choose, pretty damn close to smashproof. Or, you could just go 100% bespoke here and put some rails, distros, and a suitable P/S in one of their off-the-shelf cases.

I gig out as well, sometimes. But this has less to do with that and much more with the idea that you can't 100% rely on music retailers for music solutions. Remember: they sell the majority of their gear to the usual MI crowd...which we pretty much AREN'T part of. And that determines what's available in their inventories. So, the sooner you get used to working outside of that set of constraints, the better, because your available options to solve technical issues go WAY up once you're able to do that effectively. Honestly, the amount of "sweat equity" one outputs in music these days NEEDS to include time/effort spent in researching potential options; with electronic music, good technical research goes hand in hand with the usual musical points of practice, performance, and study.

A few things...first up, this thing is NOT going to behave the way you think it will. You're missing far too many of the various utility-type "non-sexy" modules here. Sure, it'll make sounds and such...but so will a kazoo.

Second, this doesn't appear to be very specific, and I see a lot of "let's jam ALL the functions in this box" going on. Given that this is actually a rather smallish build, you don't have that luxury...unless you like the idea of conveniently-housed noisemakers. It's far more advisable to pick a functionality...and then stay in that lane. If this were something in a huge Doepfer Monster case, sure, yeah, go ahead and put the drums AND the bassline AND the lead AND the effects, etc etc, in one box. But this isn't that.

Third, you don't have the luxury in this space of adding "superfluous" modules. Lose the LINK, lose the Paratek meters, and lose anything else that doesn't fit into a tighter definition of what this build should be. For example, you've got 58 hp dedicated to drum modules; if you can fit that into HALF the amount of space, it would make more sense to retain the drums...but right now, given the relative absence of modulation sources, the lack of any VCF at all, and so on, the smart move here would be to scrap this build (not a bad thing...NO ONE gets an initial build right -- EVER) and step back for a few. What does your music NEED from a modular rig? Are there other solutions that make more technical AND MONETARY sense? How do I set up a very basic patch? ALL of these...and buttloads more...are questions you need to sort out before ever getting a build close to a physical purchase. If not, you stand to lose a pile of ca$h on a box that you'll discover pretty quickly is NOT ALL THAT.

Before picking this back up again, I'd also suggest you spend quite a bit of time with VCV Rack, which is a pretty accurate "virtual" Eurorack system implemented in hardware, and is a very good tool for sorting out what one needs when they get around to hardware. Plus, it's free...which is EXTREMELY useful if you get it to avoid making costly mistakes later on. https://vcvrack.com/

Oh yeah, pedal talk! I'm admittedly a bit of a cork sniffer, but I'm very curious about those pedals Lugia mentioned. Quality for cheap is excellent! Chase Bliss is awesome, no doubt, though I've sold every CB pedal I've owned. Haven't tried the Mood, though.

I'm a huge Fairfield Circuitry fan. Speaking of fuzz/distortion on beats, I have a used Zvex Box of Metal inbound that I'm dying to run one of my Double Knots through. Could be cool on the Plumbutter too.

As an aside, Lugia, I picked up a Moffenzeef Kricket. Thanks for the recommendation, it's fitting in nicely!
-- baltergeist

Good call on the Moffenzeef...their stuff all seems to be designed using ultra-wacky EE methods designed to get everything BUT a "proper" electronic percussion sound...which is GOOD!

OK, Chinese pedals...aside of the GLORIOUS Cuvave rip-yer-face-off Fuzz (PUT IT IN A EURORACK MODULE, CUVAVE!!!), there's a lot of not-so-expensive goodness out there. F'rinstance, the Joyo Classic Flanger...sonically, there's a lot there that I remember from the old MXR plug-it-in-the-wall Flanger, but there's settings that the Joyo can get at that the MXR couldn't...it's especially good at long, rubbery sweeps with a lot of really extreme resonances. Or the really weird Aural Dream pedals which all seem to have settings that start where the source for that "clone" end.

Others...Daphon comes to mind, although their boxes are getting harder to find. Daphon was the OEM for Ibanez's 1980s-vintage bulbous-looking plastic-coated pedals...and they continued the production on these under their own label for a while. But the Daphons I dig are all housed in this unsmashable hammertone steel housing that resembles an industrial machine control pedal; the phaser is SO nice...not very extreme, but more in that "just right" pocket. And then, there's "it does something else"-types...like the Mosky Spring Reverb, which supposedly reworks the Malekko Spring Reverb...but DOESN'T, because when you turn the "dwell" up too high, the box will start to self-resonate and create some rather controllable feedback. On a synth.

Sure, some of these are, at worst, really mediocre. I don't have anything here (I don't THINK) by Kmise, for example. But even those you'd dismiss on appearance alone can still whip out surprises, such as some of the ugly, tiny Azor "tombstones" (their Delay in this line is just as solid as any other basic delay...but costs about $20-ish). The nice thing is that they're cheap enough that if you DO get something you just can't get happy about, it's not like you're out $200-400 (or worse!) for some boutique stomper. Or if you feel creative with something that turned out to be "meh.", you don't risk a lot of expense if you pop it open and start having at it with a soldering iron (provided you're used to SMDs...a lot of these use those).

Is there any reccomendation for signal hottnes when going towards the pedal? I'm using the outs of my befaco output, but always checking with my interface that the signal doesn't peak etc. How would a pedal I/O module modify the signal (except from also accepting somethingback from the outside)
-- zuggamasta

Pedal send/return modules (if designed right) do TWO things. One of these, of course, is level matching; modular and "instrument" levels are VERY different, and as a rule, a direct output to something expecting the sort of level that would be incoming from a guitar pickup would result in a lot of distortion...and even if you could deal with this appropriately, there's the OTHER issue: impedance.

Impedance differences can majorly screw with your sound. They can skew frequency response, mess with level matching, and/or potentially introduce noise into a patch (some of that depends on the stompbox in question, though). So a properly-designed S/R module needs to address both the level AND impedance mismatching to be optimally effective. The only time you might want to circumvent this would be if you're shooting for a really nasty, overloaded sound...and if you do, I would STRONGLY recommend running a compressor as the first thing in the stompbox chain to get some control over the level swings. Still doesn't fix the return levels, though, unless you've got an actual input module.

shh!

I'd want more mixing capabilities - mostly for submixes, but also for modulation (matrix mixer) - also possibly some way of placing things in stereo (panning mixer) - possibly sacrifice one of the modulation sources - quad cascading vcas are also really useful - veils for example

possibly replace the dual fx with a couple of fx aids

how are you intending to sequence?

it may be an idea to look at a trigger sequencer - metron appears to be good - also eloquencer and erica synths do one - some of these will also sequence v/oct and/or modulation - which is useful

what to buy first - a way to sequence - kick, snare, hats - mixer (or quad cascading vca) - an effect - a modulation source

Hi Arrrrrr,

Welcome to modular synthesizers! :-)

Well... everything is possible, there are members here who take a rack and put them just full with only VCAs because the motto here on this forum is: "You never can have enough VCAs"... now that's kind a of a practical joke, so just ignore that ;-)

You can take a rack like your above rack or a rack with just 5 oscillators and nothing else, everything is possible...

The big question here is... does it make sense? On top of that you have to ask yourself, what do you want to do with that rack? If you like to share with us what you like to do with your rack (what are your expectations?), then it becomes significant easier to check if something makes sense :-)

Anyway, having all that said. Regarding your above rack, assuming you have nothing else, just planning for that above rack, my comments:

• More than enough modulators for a relatively small rack, could consider perhaps a bit less
• You could consider to get a bigger rack (one more row at least; for what you are all planning to do here)
• Keep at least then one row of that bigger rack free for (near) future usage, don't buy everything in one go, start small, gain experience, adjust your planning/assumptions, buy a few more modules, gain more experience, etcetera
• I do see enough "fancy looking modules" (some call them sexy looking modules ;-) ) so you might want to consider to start with a few less of those
• And start with a few more classical components, for example:
• You could do with at least one more "normal" oscillator to start with, that Snazzy FX thing, is most probably nice (I got the Kick_Me module, nice module!) but it's not a "normal" oscillator as such
• Get also a more "normal" or more default filter, consider a WASP filter for example (Doepfer - A-124) or SEM filter (Doepfer - A-106-5) both good filters. If you want a bit more fancy stuff consider the Erica Synths - Black Dual VCF, though being a bit more fancy, still a bit of a classical filter too
• I don't see any VCAs, right? (you need VCAs, that practical joke about you never can have enough VCAs still has to make a point)
• Instead of that Erica Synths - Link, you might want to consider an audio interface module instead, depending on what exactly you are planning to do with it (some members here think/practice to live without an audio interface, that's up to them. I want to have a more worry-less-life and therefore I advocate to use an audio interface module; but at the end, it's totally up to you :-) )
• Other than the Maths you might want to go for one classic ADSR; at least consider it

Well I guess for starters that should help already a bit. Keep an eye on the classic build up of a synthesizer and look less towards those fancy looking modules, then you should be fine.

Have fun, good luck and kind regards, Garfield.

Let's talk pedals then!
I'm also a big fan of the Digitech Whammy series already mentioned here, mainly for guitar, but also mangling any other sort of sound source I had so far. But I yet have to slap it on the small modular setup I have.

Is there any reccomendation for signal hottnes when going towards the pedal? I'm using the outs of my befaco output, but always checking with my interface that the signal doesn't peak etc. How would a pedal I/O module modify the signal (except from also accepting somethingback from the outside)

My humble recomendation for use with modular is the TC Electronic Arena, which is nice to create all sorts of Plate/Room/Church/Custom Reverberations and just giving a mono out some stereo width. I'm currently also using a custom Setup that takes all the attack and dry signal out to drone all the input.

best
alex

Oh yeah, pedal talk! I'm admittedly a bit of a cork sniffer, but I'm very curious about those pedals Lugia mentioned. Quality for cheap is excellent! Chase Bliss is awesome, no doubt, though I've sold every CB pedal I've owned. Haven't tried the Mood, though.

I'm a huge Fairfield Circuitry fan. Speaking of fuzz/distortion on beats, I have a used Zvex Box of Metal inbound that I'm dying to run one of my Double Knots through. Could be cool on the Plumbutter too.

As an aside, Lugia, I picked up a Moffenzeef Kricket. Thanks for the recommendation, it's fitting in nicely!

Hi Every One.

As starting a 88 HP rack with 2 synth voices + 1 sampler module, and having a pico DSP module (which is great), I asked myself this question.
Grabbing a second pico DSP would give me 2 separate fx units in only 6 hp, whereas the dual FX is 10 hp.
For those who know both of them : Are the FX the same in the two units ?

Kind regards,

Cédric

Hey Garfield,
Thanks for your feedback. You're a good observer - these girls do have some talent and lots of stamina ;)
Best wishes, G.

Hi Lugia, thank you for your answer! I'm aware of the four-tier rack (I own a two tier) but IMO that's not portable and/or secure for touring: it's simply huge, because of the form factor when having the 3 Moogs in a tier rack with an extra skiff on top. That's the main reason I'm looking for a case: to put them flat with a lid (with the added possibility to keep 'm patched in the case).
I'll have a look into Clouds and other options, but I think the Arbhar is just the next step in granular processing. I don't really mind having bigger modules, but I get your point...
The Catoff looks perfect for my needs, with built in balanced line outs and expandability. It's also great to have two aux sends (for extra delay etc). Thanks for your advice.

Yes, I'm really feeling this track. Now I need to get my soundcloud up to speed to bookmark this.

Thank you for sharing!

Oh yes, this is really giving me some good vibes, the sound colors you create at around 3:00 and going on are really something. I'd also be here for a full version of this ;)

best
Alex

IS THIS POSSIBLE? WHAT DO I NEED TO ADD/CHANGE TO MAKE IT WORK? AND WHAT WOULD YOU BUY FIRST.

THANK YOU

I AM NEW

EDITED Nov 30th 2020, 06:26

Technically, yes, it'll work. Expense-wise, not so much. The minute you take the Moogs out of their powered skiffs and put them in a Eurorack case, you're paying to house and power those Moogs twice.

Instead of making an expensive mistake in the pursuit of portability, see here: https://www.moogmusic.com/products/mother-semi-modular-multi-tier-rack-stand Now, right there on that page, you can see the REAL solution: a four-tier rack ($100) and an empty Moog skiff ($89) which deals with housing the Eurorack additions. As for portability and casing, there's loads of potential solutions for that...such as getting the right foam to put this into a large ammo transport case that's essentially the same as most instrument cases these days...hell, SKB even makes their own line of firearms cases!

Now...TWO Disting EXs? No. The menu diving will drive pretty much anyone insane, and frankly, it negates the immediacy of working with a modular synthesizer. Plus, one is JUST FINE given what just one can do! And the Pitt Lifeforms System Interface has a lot of compromises to it that I feel limits its usability. A better choice (in the same space) would be Catoff's MIX4 set...which is only $50 more, gives you full controls on ALL channels (not just three only), has TWO AUX send/returns, balanced 1/4" outs, metering, headphone preamp...and if four channels isn't enough, just buy a few more of the XIN expansion channel modules.

However, I would stress that, in the space we're talking about here, you need to be looking at SMALLER modules for your primary Eurorack functions. True, the Arbhar IS NICE...but it's large, and this build can't support having these huge things. Given what the Arbhar IS, wouldn't it make more sense to use the pretty-much-the-same-thing Clouds in its various shrunk-down 3rd party builds? It would definitely be CHEAPER. And for that matter, if you can do without the AUX setup, you could jam a 4ms Listen Four 1/4 into half the space of either the Catoff OR Pitt.

Mind you, I do think this idea has merit...I've even messed with a four-tier 60 hp build on here with a DFAM and my Subby as two tiers and two open skiffs for Eurorack, and may well do this at some point in the next year-ish. But there's also pitfalls here, too...so be careful, otherwise this can and WILL get needlessly pricey.

Ah, I see...it's a Frames clone. Well, yes, there's VCAs in it, but given the implementation, there's a lot more that it can do beyond just being a set of four VCAs. Quite a few users like it as a substitute (for now) for something like the ARP 2500 Mixsequencer, or for its morphing capabilities.

When I'm talking about VCAs, I'm talking about VCAs that have a minimum of bells 'n' whistles attached. In other words, something more akin to Mutable's Veils or the Intellijel equivalent, the Quad VCA. When you're using these as modifiers for CV and/or modulation levels, you don't want anything else going except for that one function. And you also need VCAs that function as single VCAs. Example: you only have the Plancks here...so let's say you need to impose an envelope on a modulation signal. Now, this won't have a sound to it, but there's definitely a signal there. But given that the Plancks CANNOT break out individual VCAs (or at least, not easily), you're using part of it to do audio, and part to do modulation, and this won't sound decent at all if you try and Mixsequence the output...because the "inaudible" modulation signal has to be part of the Plancks' "mix". This results in a "hole", audibly...but if you have DC-coupled outputs on your modular (which you just might have...Ladik's info says nothing about the outputs being isolated in any way) and pass DC to your amp. Then, if that's DC-coupled, on to your monitors...and then it's possible you'll get a result kinda like THIS:

Not good. So, yeah, while the Plancks can deal with audio just fine...that's not the only thing you need VCAs for.

Hey Gabor,

He, he, yeah nice heavy music :-) The music goes well with the video too. This is cool and great stuff!

You know the most amazing part of this? This girl, she's seriously amazing on that bar, she keeps going up and down, left and right, forwards and backwards, and jumping... how many hundreds of times in just these 5 minutes and you know what? She never drops! Big talent there! :-)

Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Mowse,

Nice, long (but not long enough ;-) ) melody line, I love that. This could go on and on and on for me. It actually just made me "angry" that it stopped already after not even 5 minutes yet, so I just hit the play button again ;-)

Perhaps you should talk with Troux about those 17 minutes ;-) I hope next time you can make something at least beyond the 10 minutes, this music is crying loud for being played long!

Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Mog00,

Thank you! Yes, having a dedicated reverb is nice indeed. Currently I am using an external reverb (Source Audio - Ventris Dual Reverb; lovely pedal), but I am also considering a reverb module, not sure yet which one though.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Zuggamasta,

I am myself not so much (not at all ;-) ) into DIY of modules. I solder my own patch cables but that's about it.

However besides Befaco, manufacturers like Erica Synths, Bastl Instruments and Polaxis have DIY sets/kits. Naturally there are many more manufacturers, it's just that I don't have experience with them.

Have fun with the DIY part and kind regards, Garfield.

Very cool. Just subscribed to your YouTube channel.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.
@farkas yep, the brassy bits come from the Mangrohe’s formant out thru the Instruo Athru wave folder.

First attempt at building my three Moogs in a portable rack format for live use and touring.

The Arbhar would be on the aux send from the mixer, which should make it easy to route anything to the Arbhar at any given moment. The two Disting EX's offer a lot of flexibility and open up many options for the Moogs, Arbhar and mixer.

Still some room left with blanks. Do you think this will be a practical setup for using live with the mixer, Arbhar and Distings above eachother? Thanks for having a look.

This is great. Well done.
I was guessing the main brassy melody lines were Loquelic Iteritas. Is that actually Mangrove?

Funky :)

Nice work, pretty hectic but good :)

dope!

Back in the beginning of this year, when everything was kind of normal I sat down to mock up Eurorack Modules that more or less resemble the letters of the Latin Alphabet. I did not complete the series yet, but now that I actually have a small skiff it's really fun looking back at these. (Non of them seem to be skiff-friendly tho)

Also some of them make more sense than others, but look for yourself. I will render a collection of all videos in the next days as the videos are all over the place on my twitter.

Just showing of a little, but let me know if you want to mock up something. As I have a nice little collection of knobs, sliders and other small stuff now :)

EDITED Nov 29th 2020, 15:58

An upbeat yet trippy piece and some girls on the balance beam.

Hi!
If you're a Eurorack user/enthusiast at any level of experience who has filled/is filling a rack AND you consider yourself a musician/composer or someone motivated to make musical sounds then I would love to speak with you.
I need about 20-30 minutes of your time as soon as is most convenient for you.
Interviews will be performed via video chat.
I’m looking to speak to 3-5 people today.
This is a school UX project and you will remain anonymous for the purposes of the study.
Please DM me if you are available and interested.

Yes! I might just loved the function to hp to price ratio I could get from these starter befaco modules. I’m having my eyes open for a beefy multi VCA and landed at befaco again. So let me know your recommendations 🤘😎

Haha, Cheers guys :)
The reverb was Cranked up to 11 in the Granular mode (not using any Granular), I should really try it through the OliverB mode.

I don't make music in the brewery though I did get Mylar Melodies to come and play a set once, people thought he was a DJ.... how wrong they were ;-)
I want to incorporate some modular into our future business plans.

Thanks all, I'll take into consideration. FYI, Plancks is a VCA

Thanks Garfield, yes indeed that vowel pattern is from my Plaits in the other case. Love plaits and think of combine Plaits in the mdlr case along with rings and marbles for a Mutable Instruments trio. I also have shades which is great and thinking of also moving kermit and bionic lester to the mdlr case when stillson hammer and hertz donut arrive so I have a complete set together of harvestman modules!

nice tones, I almost picked up rings (likely will in my next case), but I have a resonator in the parasites firmware for clouds that has some nice qualities to it. I decided to get a dedicated reverb, going for the bat-verb, Desmodus Versio.

Hi Troux,

Ha, ha, yes indeed, you are without doubt pretty much guilty for this matter ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

ROFLMAO @ kilos of reverb @GarfieldModular, I love that, being guilty of a little "Reverb Trafficking" myself...

Hi Mog00,

Now this is something! Thank you for the details on your track. How do you like your Pyramid sequencer? From the sound of the track, you must love it ;-)

Those drums that start to kick in around 1:30, yeah, good! And how subtle your main voice starts around 2:00, just lovely!

Oh come on! You keep coming with fantastic and beautiful sonic surprises during this track, this is seriously something else, but so nice, so subtle, and so good! Phew... getting emotional about it :-) Going to listen at it again!

Thank you very much for making my night very special! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Garfield,

Yeah I have most of the Mutable Instruments collection except for Clouds and Elements and Stages. Good stuff.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Oh yes, nice...! :-) And that drone sound that starts a bit before 4:30, oh.... so good... I love that! :-) You must have used a few "kilos" of reverb there ;-)

These kind of tracks can never be too long, can they? I enjoy the full length of it and I am glad Troux has such an influence on you ;-)

Nice beer label by the way, pity that I don't like beer, from the look of it I want it, it's just that I really don't like beer, I can't even swallow it down my throat, pity... The funny thing is, even though I don't like to drink beer, I am still quite intrigued by it.

By the way... are you making your music inside the brewery? If yes, you should be able to make your tracks beyond the 17 minute line ;-) Influenced by all those beer-damps and smells. No wonder that I felt being hyper spaced by your music :-)

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Thank you! :-)

Ha, ha, yes your "zero, zero, zero" track, I listened at it at your post of this track already, nice one! So it looks like you like Plaits too ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Mowse,

This is a very nice and different style and piece of music of yours. I feel this is nice and very subtle at the same time. Very relaxing to listen at. Yeah for a Saturday night before taking some night rest, a lovely track to finish the evening/night with :-)

Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Sacguy71,

Ha, ha, do I recognise a bit before the 0:30 the "Zero, zero, zero" from Plaits? :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

No I didn't like it, I love this! :-)

Hi Zuggamasta,

You got yourself some nice Befaco modules :-) All DIY, right? Do you have other brand DIY modules as well? There are other DIY brands out there than Befaco, but I guess you knew that already :-)

Have fun with your rack and kind regards, Garfield.

Sequencer:
Pyramid

Drums:
Blackbox 1010

Main Voice:
proteus 2k going through clouds and fx-aid

Mayhem:
BIA and Ataraxic with LXd and I-o47

Utes:
3xMIA
Maths
Mimetic (modulating BIA
CVilization (matrix mixer)

Yep...look at it this way: if you already KNOW that 84 hp isn't sufficient, and if larger cases are readily available, why do this? After all, what you have here is missing quite a few of the utility-type modules necessary to get the ones that're in this build to really shine, in addition to farkas's excellent observation about the crap-level ergonomics.

And I won't even get into the total absence of VCAs here...

That was me @wishbonebrewery and I'm thrilled to be such a bad influence, er that people are taking up the challenge I mean 🤣🤣 This rules, love the cinematic feel and the space of it, good sound design too but everything coming together. Looking forward to more.

Oh yes, the quantizer looks super useful! I need to look deeper into surface mount technology though. I know some test/training kits; Which I want to order before. For now I have zlob entropy, and zlob SVF kits on the way due to the small form factor and the bastl cinnamon not being available. Also some thonkiconns to build a little or-combiner to go with the Muxlicer!

I'm having the a lot of fun just noodling with the small skiff without all the other tools and toys I have available.
Here are some more bleeps and bloops, again raw from the headphone jack :)

Thank you all for being so kind and helpful, it is great fun to read all the threads on modularGrid!