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@modulargrid I'll refine all of the above into a post and drop the draft here. If everyone is still onboard at that point I can make a new thread and we can sticky it!

@GarfieldModular is right @wishbonebrewery, the variation here is really nice, I want some patch notes!

This is fantastic @wishbonebrewery, composition, sound design, mixing, all of it. Well done!

To your point and your example @ModLifeCrisis I think it can be easier to learn the ins and outs of modules and the foundations of synthesis if you start small and keep yourself from having too many options. In my case I originally started with a larger case and wasn't getting the results I wanted and didn't really feel like I was learning. I actually overflowed into another smaller case and funnily enough that became a chance to really refocus and and learn as I had to cut modules and make hard decisions about what I wanted and needed. I wouldn't advise this exact journey for everyone but I think a 104 or 208HP case can be a great place to really establish your foundations.

Seems like a reasonable plan to me @Lorenzzz94, I also like the challenge of designing an instrument in a limited space, and if you want to upgrade to a bigger rack down the road you can.

Good suggestions @ModLifeCrisis

Yes lol, also you made me think of another one that @JimHowell1970 always says "Make sure you can modulate the modulators."

I think I might've suggested this before, but we seem to have a pretty solid set of starting advice, to the effect of:

1) Get a quad cascading VCA
2) Get a Links and a Kinks
3) Aim for 1/3 utility modules
4) Get one of the numerous DUSG knockoffs (Maths, Rampage, a real DUSG, etc)
5) To start slow, add one sound source, one filter, and one effect (e.g. Dixie/STO/Plaits, Polaris/QPAS/Ripples, FX Aid/Morphogene)
6) Pick a reasonably priced 6U 208HP case (Mantis or something similar)

I'm probably missing a few things but if we had a sticky thread with these ideas collated I think it'd help speed up people's journey a bit. What's everyone else think?

It seems like you have plenty of LFOs and a good delay in the rack (the Soma) so I'm wondering what's not working about those? Do you find you still don't have enough LFOs? And is the Soma disappointing you or do you just want more?

Editing to add that I see now this is a planned rack not a real one, so I'll second all the responses below. Cascading VCAs, another filter, and some good analog oscillators feel like nice additions, and going slow is always good advice.

EDITED May 10th 2021, 03:53

Another great tune, looking forward to the album 🎷

It does quite a lot, in the rack I put together above you could, just as a few examples

1) Crossfade between different Dixie waveforms with the LEFT and RIGHT inputs
2) Use the AND and OR sections to generate even more rhythms from the DOT
3) Use AND or OR as wave rectifiers to get different harmonics
4) Use FOLLOW as an envelope follower
5) Use CREASE to introduce discontinuities in an LFO generated in Maths, turning one modulation source into two that are related and in sync but that aren't always moving in the same (or even inverted) directions.

Gonna chime in here and say I don't really agree with the view that you've got to spend a significant chunk of change to get value out of a modular setup and I think it's a bad piece of advice we seem to give a lot on this forum. Not everyone needs to have 5k or 20k of Eurorack to enjoy themselves, learn, and have some fun, so the question is: what is your goal? If you'd like to get into modular to become the next EDM superstar then 1-2k is not going to cut it that's for sure, but if you'd like to make some cool sounds and get a more intuitive and more grounded understanding of synthesis with an instrument that has some open ended possibilities, 1 or 2k can go a long way, with the additional (to me huge) plus that it gets you away from your computer. So from my POV, best to encourage people's curiosity and small steps on the journey rather than focusing on an end goal that many aren't even interested in.

My 2 cents for the day!

Yeah Ladik rules

NP @camposoriol, good luck!

Go to the rack, then click Show => Screenshot and refresh a few times.

Fixed rack link so it's easier for folks to see

Personally I think starting with a smaller rack isn't a bad thing, you can always add more cases later and limiting the scope helps you focus. My girlfriend might not agree though with a couple different cases sitting around the house 🤣🤣

I feel like you've been watching the forums from looking at this, nice balance of everything and some good choices for utility modules. The one comment I'd make is that I personally didn't really like the sound of the Chord V2 and know that's not an uncommon view, so I'd encourage you to dig in and give some unprocessed demo videos a listen if you haven't already.

Lovely, thanks for sharing @jingo, I'm sending good vibes to you (and all the forum-heads) in these crazy times

Self patching feedback-wise a module to throw in the mix would be a tanh by Instruo, seems built for that and only in 4 HP.

There's a lot of big modules here, which might be ok but I'd probably want to fit a ton more little things in here to really leverage the power of the bigger modules. I know you're planning on using the ES-9 but personally I like getting away from the computer, so ideas that come to mind: Links, Kinks, Rnd Step, Ochd, Cold Mac, Crow, Ladik across the board, Tirana, Turing Machine or 2HP TM, more VCAs (the VCA matrix is less flexible in reality than it looks on paper), Serge NCOM (though you do have a Compare 2), DC coupled ring modulators (in particular the Befaco A*B+C), clock dividers... that's what I can think of for now at least.

To start, I'd drop the Rainmaker and the Tripler Waveshaper (kind of redundant since your oscillators are complex already, plus the other Serge wavefolder is generally regarded as superior) and see what of the above makes sense to you to fit in. IMHO you'd come out with a far more flexible and adventurous rack.

Very different from the usual @wishbonebrewery but really nicely done, thanks for sharing and like @GarfieldModular I'm looking forward to more.

One approach I like to take with ambient to get away from that robotic rhythm is to use the pitch CV information to add a little bit of adjustment to my clock. So for example, Pip Slope into Bloom, Bloom CV 1 into a buffered mult, one out of which goes into Surface, the second out of which gets attenuated through Tangle Quartet and sent back into the Pip Slope's decay CV. This will add a little pause after higher notes, and a shorter pause or perhaps none at all after lower notes. If you want the opposite, get an attenuverter instead of using TQ and invert the CV coming out of the buffered mult. You can also do this trick with your envelopes so that rather than modulating the tempo you're modulating the decay of the Surface, meaning the note itself will last longer or shorter depending.

Since it seems like you don't have a buffered mult at the moment you could use CV 2 on the Bloom instead of CV1 through a mult which might be interesting in its own way, not quite so clearly linked with what's happening sonically.

There was a thread on this fairly recently, check it out https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/9489

IMHO what you've put together is sort of like a collection of desktop synths in one rack, which is cool but I think won't really let you enjoy everything modular has to offer. I put something together that tries to hit the same key points but that's also got a bit more flexibility and modulation capabilities.

Here's what I changed:
1) Swapped the Behringer oscillators with a Dixie II+. In a rack this size I'm not sure you can really fit 3 voices easily and the Dixie is a great single voice with integrated sub out and a lot of features. Shrinking this down lets us fit in a
2) Maths instead of the Dual Micro ADSR. One of my favorite modules and lets you do a ton, the illustrated manual covers like 30+ different patches that all do something cool and help you understand the full potential of a modular system
3) Removed the Wasp as similar to #1 I don't think you have room for 2 filters
4) Shrunk Plaits into a Beehive to make some more space
5) Fit in a Cold Mac to open up a bunch of logic and modulation capabilities and to find interesting ways to tie different elements together via its various output CVs, all coordinated by its main big old knob.

Assuming the general plan laid out here resonates, there's a variety of different paths you could take (Rampage over Maths, Miso over Cold Mac, STO over Dixie II+) so don't necessarily grab these exact modules, but give some thought to whether this might be a more open ended instrument that you could learn from while also making cool tunes.

Might be easy to get a Metropolis right now at a discount too, and while it's limited in some ways it also does a lot and can be put to generative purposes.

Nice writeup on the STO @GarfieldModular, I've been wanting one for awhile and you've got me thinking about it again :) I'm going to give the Hikari doc a read too, so keep em coming!

Quick thoughts:

1) Echophon is no longer in production, so you'll probably want to look for a Mimeophon instead
2) Surface has a lot of detractors, so I'd suggest looking at Plaits as a comparison which folks claim can do really good dub chords
3) PNW + Batumi + Octosource might be overkill in a rack this size, especially without some attenuators
4) So, yes you could use some attenuators/offsets, as well as logic modules, utilities, etc. Your rack would be considerably spiced up if you dropped in some Ladik modules, c.f. 4 step sequencers, sub octave processor, comparators, any of his LFOs, transposers or something like a Cold Mac
5) A Links and a Kinks would do a lot of work here (as they generally do)
6) You could use some sub-mixers for CV and audio both (Links would help but you'll want more)
7) You have a lot of larger modules here, which is ok to an extent, but if I were you I'd look at removing one or two of them (probably Voltage Block but I'm not an expert on it)

My 2 cents

EDITED Apr 27th 2021, 17:39

Dangit I wasn't thinking about that at all!! But it's a good point for @Lorenzzz94 too, make sure you check the depth of all your modules here to make sure they fit.

Agreed with @stolmine, if this is what you're thinking I'd probably go with the System Coupe (it does a ton and yes it looks awesome) and then once you find you've mastered that consider supplementing it with another rack or skiff.

You're going to get some suggestions to get a bigger rack but I personally think this is an ok starting point, and you'd probably learn a lot (before you break down and do in fact get a bigger rack down the road). My one comment would be that I don't really see the need for the Lapsus Os here, you already have two attenuators on the Maths and that's 10HP you could instead use for other things, e.g.

1) a mini Marbles clone
2) a Turing Machine, either a 2HP TM or a mini Thonk one, alongside some extra modulation c.f. an Ochd, a Ladik Harmonic or Folding LFO, etc
3) another analog oscillator in small form factor like a Doepfer Precision VCO (4HP) plus some mixing or extra modulation as above
4) a Disting MK4 plus some combination of the above which'll let you try out a ton of new things and open up the possibilities for the rack a lot

EDITED Apr 25th 2021, 16:51

I'll second the Dave Jones O'tool Plus, excellent module.

• picks up monkey wrench * @sacguy71 since you're an engineer I say take a look at Max/MSP, can do tons and might be a next level addition to your modular.

EDITED Apr 22nd 2021, 04:48

Back to Basics, always a good approach

Nice one @jingo, thanks for sharing, and hoping we all keep the calm going 🧘

Looks like we were posting at about the same time, so I'll add one point: in my experience the Disting is only menu dive-y when you want it to do something new. Most of the time you pick a mode and it might stay in that for weeks while you try different things out. I'm not a salesman so I'll leave it at that lol but imho it's worth adding here.

Honestly that sounds like a really smart and reasonable approach, and so far it sounds like you're making good decisions. Selling modules that aren't working out or that are taking up too much space can be a good idea sometimes, but I took another crack at this assuming you kept everything you have right now:

Basically, I've swapped one of the LPGs from your planned build for a Disting and a 4HP VCO by Doepfer (that can also function as an LFO). Ultimately there's no right or wrong in modular, but the Disting does a ton and can really help you figure out the direction you want to go with your modular. Want to make generative? It's a quantizer. Want an interesting voice? It has tons of VCO algorithms. Want to play samples? It does that too. Want to record on the fly? Yep, it's got a recording mode.

Anyway, hopefully this has been some useful perspective, and looking forward to hearing some of your tunes!

Looking at this I made a few changes, mostly swapping out larger Doepfer modules with smaller alternatives that do the same thing or more. Take a look:

Quick thoughts:

1) Links and Kinks are great and open up a lot of modulation space, and a Links in particular is definitely better than a double buffered mult in the same space.
2) O/a/x2 does twice what the Doepfer attenuator does for about the same price.
3) Same with the Dual XFade and it's also smaller (though it doesn't have FX send, you could swap with a Rosie instead potentially)
4) Shakmat SumDif can act as a Buffered Mult and also do cool math and Mid/Side processing.
5) I snuck in a Ladik filter as having an oldschool analogue filter is always nice.
6) Shrunk your headphone module into the HPO since you already have a mixer.
7) Swapped one of the Doepfer LPGs for a Takaab to give you some more options and different character.
8) Fit the disting back in.

Overall I think you'd have a lot of fun with the racks you've shared here, but I'd encourage you to be open to modules other than Doepfer to help spice things up and pack some extra functionality in.

I may be the only regular with a Crow (in fact I have two) so I'll chime in with basically one high level thought. I really like what Crow adds to my racks, but I'm also using it within racks that are 90% tactile, and same with Disting, so: when you are thinking of next steps I'd encourage you to get things with touch control or some knobs, something intuitive and analogue and tactile so that you're getting the other side of Eurorack too and not just doing stuff you could do on a computer. Maybe something like this:

1) From my experience, Maths is the OG bad boy of "turn a knob and something cool happens." It's big and will take up a lot of your space, but it does a ton and either it'll resonate and work or you'll flip it and get decent money back. It also has a fantastic illustrated manual (kudos to @JimHowell1970 for introducing me to this) that will help you work through and understand a ton of analog computing/synthesis concepts. It's a great module and would be a good contrast for you here.
2) STO + Polaris: having a good analog oscillator and filter is pretty fun, sometimes they just sound * so * good and they both have a lot of range across all their controls (Polaris alone has like 64 functional variations I think). Also, they both have big old knobs.
3) Ears has a pressure sensitive contact mic, letting you manually trigger events and control sounds of parameters, and it can also be used for external input.
4) I added the 1U Noise Tools and some VCAs for additional flavors of control and cause you always need a few VCAs.

My 2 cents, fwiw!

Edited to add: I was thinking about this rack and decided the Quadratt might be overkill here so I replaced it with a Duatt and a Zeroscope. Being able to watch your CV is pretty dang cool and can help a lot in the process of learning.

EDITED Apr 18th 2021, 03:28

I'll second @eexee, well done and looking forward to the next one.

Yes @JimHowell1970, I'm thinking ModularGrid should give you a warning or something.

Excited to hear the results!

Pittsburgh Modular has some real beefy cases if you can make it work @the-erc, power for days. If not maybe we can get @Lugia to sign off on my Micro Zeus idea from the other day.

@cmb_ is right, Monday32921 is a 10 out of 10, I want an album of that!

@the-erc I was thinking about it and thought "Why not swap the 4 step sequencer with a Micro Zeus?" I think that would work 🤔🤔🤔

Edited to add: I also swapped the CP3 with an Isolator so you can get the output levels you want.

EDITED Apr 10th 2021, 20:37

I've got some ideas @the-erc, I'll take another crack at it this evening.

Took a crack at this

1) Vortices for mixing, lots of inputs and tons of flexibility
2) An FX Aid and a second Disting for FX
3) A Happy Nerding Dual Cross Fade to fade between the two of them, letting you functionally use them both for the Vortices' aux out
4) A Shakmat HiPass to keep things clean when you want to
5) A MSCL and a SCLPL for compression and end of chain EQ
6) A Ladik 4 Step Sequencer for either melodies, bass lines, or even as a strong structure creator (have it control some non-pitch CV and triggered by PNW every 64 beats or even more
7) A CP3 which doubles as both another mixer and a distortion effect, could easily swap with another 4HP distortion module of your choice though.

@the-erc the only Veils 2020 improvement I can imagine is being able to buy it 🤣🤣🤣

Thumbs up from me too, very nice lofi vibe

Superb start there @wishbonebrewery and I like the direction you take it, big fan of this one.