Eurorack for Shamisen and Touch experimentation

Hey guys,

I almost finished my case for eurorack experimentation both with an external acoustic japanese instrument (Shamisen) and with the eurorack itself.
I was wondering what you, people expert in this world I’m entering in, think about this rack and what it’s missing for its last 18HP of space.
The filling plate is for a preamp for the shamisen a friend of mine (inventor at Unwndevices) made.

Thanks

https://cdn.modulargrid.net/img/racks/modulargrid_1539626.jpg

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Sounds interesting and looks like fun to me :) As I understand you finished planning and did not buy everything yet so here are some thoughts:

• I recently got the Harmonic Oscillator and although it takes up quite a lot of space in your system I think it’s absolutely worth it
• Did you consider having a Tete and Tetrapad Combination instead of a second Pressure Points? I don’t have Pressure Points but Tete and Tetrapad would offer a great number of additional functions
• The Mimeophon is definitely a good choice (clocked, freeze function, filter…) The reverb is also ok but I would think about adding a separate one with more controls. I really like the Tiptop Zverb - sounds huge and has only 8hp
• An alternative to a separate reverb could be MI Beads for granular textures. Would be interesting under the plucky shamisen
• Rings also is a nice idea. I don‘t use it that often any more to be honest but together with the Shamisen and manipulation via Pressure Points (or Tete Tetrapad) I can imagine it to be a good way of bringing additional character to the sound
• I don‘t know the Periformer but it has almost the size of the Five 12 Vector Sequencer which is really amazing. Maybe overkill for the system at the moment but they have the tendency to grow fast ;)
• Did you think about a 1u row in your case? You could put a small mixer or maybe the Intellijel Multi FX in there. I like the Intellijel 1u 104hp performance cases because because you already have the Power supply in it and there are in- and outputs integrated on the backside which you can connect with their 1u Input/Output modules (do you already have a power source / external mixer with headphone outputs?)
• Pam’s New Workout also is a also good choice - so much function on small space and easily accessible clock division - I doubt that having it you need the additional 2hp Div

Just some inputs…. In the end it highly depends on your taste and the way you like to interact with different types of control and this is just one approach of many. I think one of the most important things to know in the beginning is that if you ask four modular doctors you get five different diagnoses ;)

Edit: checked out the public rack and saw that you added a filter…. missed to mention that - definetly makes sense

Cheers and have a nice weekend

EDITED Aug 7th 2021, 11:11

One essential module for ANY external instrument has to be an input preamp WITH an envelope follower. That last part is essential; given the peculiar envelope that a shamisen has, it's something you'll 100% want to work with for modulating filters, VCAs and the like. That way, you can also use the shamisen as a controller that can be used to impose its envelope behavior onto the electronic signals.

And it's also not expensive; the Doepfer A-119 is pretty much the "gold standard" at only $99, and it provides a comparator gate in addition to the preamp and envelope follower. When the incoming level exceeds your threshold setting, the A-119 fires off a gate, which stops when the level goes back below the threshold.

EDITED Aug 9th 2021, 00:53