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Been a year since i first posted here and started into modular - So this is where I am at with my build - I have everything on the top row and everything from left to maths on the bottom row. pretty different than my initial plan but its warped and molded as I've been playing with it.

tempted to fill that 8hp with a second pams, but i technially still have the bottom right half to play around with new modules (pretty set on the far right modules though; qx to addacs.)

externally sequencing with the opz - also using for guitar, not really using for performance at all, just experimentation and sound design.

Just thought i'd share and see and get impressions/feedback

edit: just noticed i shared an image not the link

EDITED Nov 23rd 2022, 12:02

Ah ok that makes sense - did not compute earlier, I could look into beefing up the mixer and removing/replacing the the fx aid xl for hp space - happy enough to sacrifice that for better integration of other effects including the effects pedals.

the strymon aa.1 is a send and return or am I completely misunderstanding what you meant?

Tweaked your build a little bit,

I dont think I've ruined it, just tweaked, but let me know if you think I've killed some potential here.

I'm still not decided on pam's versus temp utile, but I'm kind of leaning more towards pam's because more outs and can output waves not just trigs.. the only real benefit I can see of temps utile is the sequencing but it seems fiddly and ill be sequencing externally - but let me know if im wrong there.

Yeah its just easier to avoid UK, amazon have a weird system that makes ordering from there ok for ireland but only with amazon warehoused stuff, but other shops ive bought from since brexit have been a pot luck as to whether i got screwed with paying way more - had found schneidersladen - seemed like a good collection, good to hear something positive about them to confirm - id been looking on thomann as I said and felt there where some pretty popular modules/brands they didnt stock, like alm etc

Ok thanks, ill check that out - I think for now if I was going to sacrifice anything for the extra 2hp it would be the midi interface - especially at the early stages of the build I can get by with the keysteps cv & gate and even program sequences through Ableton into that - long term I think I can probably get by with something a little simpler. will probably a take a bit of tetris to get both rows figured out - but i think im a fair time away from that - just bought the case and plaits though so I'm on my way :)

Actually have one question Lugia about the output and groundloops if you see this

Id kind of like a headphones out which the isolator doesnt have - but am aware of ground loops and how much pain they can be from decades ago when I used to power my guitar pedals off of a daisy chain also blew a sensitive connection one time on a camera, I have isolated outputs now - but i guess my perspective is very guitar based - but long story short I understand the need for the isolator/groundlift.. wondering if there is similar solution with either a headphone out - or a module that can ground lift and patch into an output module like the befaco one with a headphone and stereo 6.3 outs - ive had a look but cant seem to find any info on any other modules that do a ground lift - any suggestions?

Uk still the fastest for shopping online in Ireland, but we get charged import duties etc now since brexit that we wouldnt get from non UK, its not super straightforward though as I think if the product is made in the UK then its not charged - and im not sure what constitutes made in the UK, like assembled versus manucfactured etc..

But yeah sometimes easier to order from mainland Europe even if its slower

OK I've had a look through both builds and I think you have all convinced me to to go for the mantis case, ill probably use the mantis build above as a guide.. I wont be able to build it all at once probably a few modules at a time - and I might vary modules from it a bit - but keep the intention behind it - like maybe instead of a second plaits go for another vco to FM with - but I think a second vco is probably further down the line of acquisitions anyway.

Thanks again for all the help.

Question for any EU people in here, where are the best places to buy modules from? I've been looking at Thomann purely because as a guitarist in Ireland its always made the most sense for pedals etc. but if there are online shops that better serve modular id be keen to take a look.

wow, thanks both so much for putting all that effort in!

A lot for me to take in and absorb here so ill come back later today and spend some time when I have more to go through it in detail and get my head around some of the unfamiliar modules

Thanks again, super helpful!

Yeah I think I'd just seen people using it for clock divisions and trigs and thought thats all it did - looking into a bit more it seems way more powerful

"Yes, that's clever, but it ties the whole module up and doesn't let me use it for more fundamental things".

Can see how that's an issue alright, thinking the mults and attenuverter would help free this up a little but probably counter intuitive to patch like that in the moment

Ill look into cosmotronic delta-V, im not as familiar with it - ill watch some videos and see - maths just seems really cool when you start patching it into itself using all the channels, have watched a bunch of videos on it and at first had no idea why people rave about it and then started to understand how many possibilities it leads to.

Pam's does seem quite useful, i'd kind of written it off as a sequencer but it seems its much more than that - also need to look into it a bit more.

why I would want to go bigger if my goal is to have a reasonably simple single voiced synth with effects
-- keefo

Now count up the ways you have to generate independent or even linked modulation. Maths can do a lot, but not nearly enough.

-- plragde

OK I can get onboard with that - makes total sense - more utility and modulation sources will allow more manipulation of the system - i think with greenfly's suggestion of the quadratt, adding another VCO and also bringing in some more modulation sources from the likes of pam's new workout could bring out more from what's already there,

Haven't thought out the new additions fully but something like this

will give me a lot more control over the basic system and fx

Thanks for feeding back.. I think I'm content with the 104 4u case for this - and know where I'm starting from and roughly where I'm building to - maybe some slight alterations along the way - I'm ok with the limit being there size wise.. if I do for some reason want to expand the scope of what I'm doing I can pull it up to another case whilst keeping this one somewhat free to pull out when needed

Also thanks for the vid recommendation greenfly - ive been watching a lot of videos over the past few weeks, will have a look at these now!

EDITED Nov 28th 2021, 23:28

Thanks for the responses so far,
I guess I could go with the 7u or I think erica synths has a similar 6u case, I like the affordability of the mantis - I know it sounds silly but space and size are concerns for me along with having a flat (parallel bottom/sides)

I guess I'm also trying to understand why I would want to go bigger if my goal is to have a reasonably simple single voiced synth with effects - even in the 104 4u case I could add more utility and another oscillator and that would be nice but its kind of surpassing what I want to achieve.. not doubting you guys know and have experience with this, just failing to see where the line is/what I'm missing to hit my needs - or is the bigger case thing just a room to grow into thing because people are never happy with what they have?

an expression pedal interface is actually a good call, remember seeing a red one whilst looking at this, in terms of the env. & pitch followers.. I think I would try do that with a midi pickup rather than tracking - i had looked at the mutable inst. ears and disting mk4 - although the disting mk4 seems like a great module to have regardless so i might add it to the list anyway, that way it probably wont go to waste if I don't like the tracking.

Anyway thanks for replying hope I don't come off as ignorant about the case size

Hey there,

Im looking into building this over the next few months

Its small and full but after a fair amount of research and tinkering I think it does everything I'm looking for
which is

• Reasonably flexible single voice synth
• can be expanded with guitar pedals which i currently own alot of
• can run a guitar through for some exploration (using a external pre amp first to get to line level)
• can be sequenced by opz, keystep and daw

I guess im just posting here because I presume alot of you are far more experienced and might catch something dumb or have some suggestions on how to improve.. one of the areas I'm fairly flexible is on the chronoblob as id like to get maybe some reverb in here too but I want a lot of control over delay

Should probably point out im not past going larger with this setup

money not really an issue, just happy to limit myself a little to keep it small.

EDITED Nov 28th 2021, 15:35