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One comment on getting both Rings and Plaits: note that Plaits has 2 of the 3 Rings modes. Plaits lacks position and doesn't have as much polyphony as Rings, but otherwise it might be redundant to get both. Pairing some other oscillator with Plaits that doesn't have overlap like that might give you more versatility.

:-)

Thanks! It would be nice to not spend valuable hp on power. Unfortunately, I don't have room for 6U in my rack. My eurorack rig is just a small side project in an already full studio.

Good point, thanks for the tip!

Here's the rig that I ended up actually building:

Here's a track I created with it:

Thoughts so far:

I wanted something that I could use to do ambient generative music as well as be controlled from midi, and also have a line in so I can use it for effects, and I succeeded on that score. I have an analog audio path from VCO to VCF when I want strictly analog.

As I mentioned above, with the constraints I have, I knew I'd be in for some cramped controls, but I put a premium on getting decent-sized knobs for the controls I'd be riding the most. My soundsources go into the 3xVCA so I use it for mixing as well as applying amplitude modulation, so those knobs are are important, and I'm happy with that module. The knobs on Disting work great for me and I'll be using those a lot. The frequency knob on C4rbn is borderline adequately sized. All the little knobs are fine...either I don't access them often or precision isn't required for them. One thing I'm finding valuable is cables with an attenuator in them. That way I don't have to waste valuable hp space on simple CV attenuation.

Stages is a gem. I can use it as any combination of: quantized pitch controller, LFOs, envelopes, sequencer, slew limiter, etc.. With a small rig like this, every module must be able to do multiple jobs and Stages is priceless, especially with the qiemem firmware.

I have a little space left. I'm thinking Ochd would help me with all the slow unsynced LFOs I need for subtle movement and would free up Stages segments to be used for other tasks. I could use another tone generator, but Disting might be useful for that, in which case I'd need something to do effects processing I'm currently doing with Disting. A utility module would be handy for creative signal mangling. Any suggestions?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Nifty case isn't rackmountable, nor is it 3U. Or is there another version?

I like your module choices, especially the LxD and RND, thanks! I think you're right, I should be aiming for fewer, but larger, modules.

A rackmount case that doesn't require 4hp for power sounds interesting, do you have a link?

I have indeed studied the small racks suggested by Lugia. His feedback posts are a wonderful resource here and I discovered several of the modules in my proposed rack from his suggestions. I suspect I will be doing some iterative experiments with this, for example my idea of using the input attenuators on the VCAs as a mixer is something I'll have to try out to see if it meets my needs.

Wow, that's great! Can you say a bit more about how you're using Marbles? It isn't clear to me if it's generating a pattern for the pitches or rhythm or....?

I'm considering getting into Eurorack and I've been experimenting with laying out a rack to see if I could put something together that would be worthwhile. I have the constraint that this rig must fit in 3U of a 19" rack, so I'm limited to the 84hp that will fit in a TipTop Happy Ending kit. I'd like to use it for dreamy ambient and shoegaze. I'd like the rig to include an analog oscillator and an analog filter. I'd like to both play from a midi controller and have a generative module. I'd like to be able to layer a couple of voices.

That's a tall order for only 84hp, but part of the fun for me is to try to build something usable that fits that tight constraint. I realize that there are a lot of tiny knobs in my future :-).

Here's what I have so far.

With my tight constraints, the FH2 for midi input is useful because it can do double duty, supplying envelopes and LFOs in addition to converting from midi. I expect to use midi CC for some modulation, so I'll be getting CV for those from the FH2. TS-L is appealing due to the variety of controllable parameters. The 2hp VCO will be useful for a second voice or for FM to the TS-L (or vice versa). Nanorings rounds out the tone generation section. The knobs on the 2hp VCA seem useful for helping balance the levels of the tone generators.

Ochd and uPeaks are there for modulation and Pachinko for sequencing. For effects, I have uBurst, Doupples, and Milky Way. The filter frequency knob is the one knob that must be a decent size in this rig. Disting EX is there as a wild card to fill in for anything I might need in a patch, for example logical utilities. Con is useful since it has input as well as output, so I could feed line level input to this rig for effects processing.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I understand this is generally considered too small a rig to be useful, but I'm willing to scale back my expectations in order to get something that fits in 84hp.

EDITED Sep 8th 2021, 22:52