User Posts

I have put the bottom ones in order I would like to get them. Do you think Rene and Pam's Pro would be a good choice as well.
-- Indianabones007

I consider Pam's an essential module for any system. I've got PNW and might upgrade to Pam Pro at some point. When it was released a few months ago it came with lots of firmware quirks but I guess it's mostly stable now after some update releases. Still, I'd probably look out for a used PNW as they've become quite affordable as soon as PPW was released. But that's really just a matter of how much you want to spend. You'd be able to get a PNW + Happy Nerding 4x St Mix (which is great, I've got two in my system) for the price of a PPW. ^^

No experience with René here. From what I've seen and heard in demos it's really powerful and performable but it doesn't really seem immediate to me. As far as I know you can only see one channel at a time and have to switch between channel X, Y and Z in order to see what they're doing, which may be perfectly fine for other people's workflow though. Considering real estate, René and most similarly feature-rich sequencers take up a lot of space, so I decided to outsource my sequencing duties to external gear. Korg SQ-1 and Keystep at the moment. If you get the chance, you should try out some sequencers and find the one that fits your style the most. :)

I'd probably try to focus on fewer voices. With Plaits, XPO and Cs-L/DPO you've got at least 3 sound sources in there (next to the three semi modulars you mentioned), only one VCF though. A pretty great one, that is. I love my XPO/QPAS combo but QPAS isn't gonna cover all the filtering needs for 3 oscillators. I'd add another stereo/dual VCF and/or a dual LPG like Optomix, LxD or MengQi's DPLPG.
Maths allows for mixing and function generation duties but you might want seperate modules for these tasks and open up Maths for its more sophisticated possibilities.
Mixers: Lion is quite a powerful matrix mixer and aesthetically it's a great match for Make Noise's black and gold line. The way you have to use pin and insert cables isn't for everybody though and might be something to get used to.
X-PAN needs modulation in order to really shine. Btw, I've had some great results modulating XPO, QPAS and X-PAN with Instruo's/DivKid's Ochd. It's only 4 HP wide, too.
Plaits, QPAS and X-PAN each come with a built-in VCA but that may not be enough. Especially if you wanna modulate your modulation which I consider really important in order to make a stereo patch really shine. Or for ping-pong sorta spreading of your left and right channel. Random voltages (noise source -> S&H) makes for some great modulation source as well. Really like to modulate Mimeophon's "zone" and "rate" this way.
I'd probably ditch the complex oscillator in order to make up the needed space for utilities, another VCF and modulation sources. I have an STO sit next to XPO for occassional complex FM patching.

Hello guys and gals,
I’m a bit stuck. Do I really need VCAs?
Do I need effects?
Do I need a mixer?
What would you do to finish off this rack?
Help would be very, very helpful.
Thanks.
-- clivevass

You may wanna ask yourself what's the purpose of your system. Show that rack to 10 different people and ask them what module they'd buy next. You'll get 10 different answers, all of which would take those people one step further towards their dream rack but may be completely irrelevant for your musical approach. Are there any modular synth artists or youtubers you really dig? Anything you'd like your system to do which it can't quite do yet? The answer to all of your questions is "no, you don't need that", if you're able to get all the results from your system you could wish for. Then all that's left to be added are some blank panels to cover up the holes.
As for my personal opinion and what I would add to the rack, I agree with JimHowell. Utilities are king. Switches, mixers, logic, attenuators/attenuverters.. Happy Nerding's 3x MIA covers a lot of these functions at only 6HP and it's really affordable, too. In fact I love all of Happy Nerding's utilities.
I'd definitely add a cascading/mixing quad VCA. Mutable's Veils appears on the used market now and then. Other great and inexpensive options are Intellijel's Quad VCA or ALM's Tangle Quartet. The latter one doesn't exactly have that cascading behaviour but has a mix output. Only linear response, too, other than Veils and Quad VCA.
I'd personally add another VCF, maybe a versatile dual one (Intellijel Morgasmatron, DinSync Sara, AJH Gemini, which is rather huge though), delay/echo/reverb like Mimeophon, some sort of end-of-chain mixer in order to blend wet and dry signals. Oh, and function generators (Shakmat Triple Steeple, Intellijel Quadrax, Joranalogue Contour 1, Cosmotronic Delta V). A designated CV mixer, too. I'd also have Assimil8or swap places with Tetrapad/Tête, just for the aesthetic of having them sit next to Metropolix (and because their inputs and outputs are located at the modules' top anyway which is great for bottom row modules).