Saving up for this little beauty.
these small cases are never a good start (in mine and many other peoples opinions) - whilst they may be able to make music with they will be very very limited in terms of patching
they always look like the total research done was watching a single ricky tinez (or similar) demo video (whihch whilst being vagualy entertaining are not a good introduction to modular synthesis) and not reading any beginner threads (or at least not taking advice from the answers to the beginner threads)
the cases are expensive for what you get, you may or may not actually need a lot of the built in functions, you are commited to 1u tiles that have limited functionality, there is not enough space to actually work out what you need as opposed to what you want
there are no vcas in this build - these are an important part of synthesis - see youtube video "why you can never have too many vcas" ) they are just as important for modulation as they are for audio
I can't really see the need for the steppy
as a minimum (and if you know you will need the built in functions) go for the larger 104hp case - better yet get a mantis and get modules you actually want/need to do the things you need (mantis is quite portable unless you are a small child)
get the minimum you need to start and grow organically from there: a sound source, a modulation source, a sound modifier, a way to play and a way to listen
sound source - the ia if you particularly like that
modulation source - Pams - this will give you more modulation and envelopes plus clock and related functions in a single module
sound modifier - the happy nerding fx aid xl would be a better choice than the
way to play - the mimetic digetalis - or midi - do you really need both???? probably not, at least to start with
way to listen - get a quad vca (veils) or a triple (happy nerding) - these will also work as mixers
if you insist on getting a palette - get noise tools over the steppy, if not get a kinks
patch that for as long as you can without buying anything else - and only buy things as you need them
remember you don't need to buy everything at once
"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia
Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!
sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities
100% with ya, Jim...I hate it when people see these "tiny builds" and then think they can manage one with zero build experience. They CAN be done...but you really, REALLY have to know what you're doing.
Worse still, I caught a clip on YouTube from the likes of PERFECT CIRCUIT showing how you too can build some tiny 1 x 84 skiff system. But that only works if you build THAT system! Start swapping modules for your own sonic prefs, and you're suddenly on the modular synth equivalent of the bullet train to heck! And even with their expert, what they cooked up really didn't have all that much capability when you sat down and examined it.
For the OP here, a little info should elucidate the problem...
Tiptop Mantis (perhaps one of the best powered starter cabs right now) = 208 hp totalled for US$335.
Intellijel Palette 62 (the cab in question) = 62 hp of 3U, 62 hp of 1U for US$299.
With the Mantis, you get 208 hp straight up for US$36 more. That's over THREE TIMES the space for standard Eurorack modules than the Palette 62. And even if you factored in the tile row, you'd STILL wind up with far less space for your US$36 savings than the lower cost can justify. And sure, I get that the Palette has MIDI I/O and extra buffered mults (which, in 62 hp, are basically wasted) and the audio I/O...but all of that can be added into a Mantis quite easily, with more comprehensive modules for those functions...and you'd STILL have room to grow. Not got the ca$h for more modules right now? Well, that space will wait patiently for new toys when they're affordable.
So why do these small cabs exist in the first place? Simple: they're more or less little "sidecars", additional small powered (or not) cabs that can support a few additional modules to an existing build. Or at least, that's a more sensible use for them. Got an existing modular that could use a Maths and so forth? THAT is when you drop in something like the Palette 62. But for the love of GOD, don't try and build a full-featured modular in one! 95+% of the time, IT WON'T WORK.
