First Build - Looking for Suggestions and Criticism!

Hello, I have decided to put together my first modular rig. I have a lot of experience with Analog and software synthesizers but modular is still pretty new to me. I have been playing around with VCV rack for a while, as well as consuming hours of youtube tutorials/demos. At this point I just want to shut off my computer and dive into the modular world.

My goal is to be able to create generative ambient and psychedelic music. Boards of Canada's sound comes to mind. I also really like the sounds Emily Sprague of Florist comes up with, although her setup is a lot larger than I am looking for at this time.

I want to try to keep it around $2000-$3000 for now.

I already own the Behringer Neutron and Moog DFAM, those are here to stay for a while at least. I also plan on getting an Arturia KeyStep midi controller to create some sequences and patterns. Does anyone see any glaring issues with this build so far? One thing I am still looking for is a stereo mixer with sends/returns on it, as I plan on incorporating some FX modules in the future. Any recommendations there?

Thanks for your time, I am so excited about all of this and I'm looking forward to getting feedback from the community here.

*Edit
I made a few changes but they don't seem to appear in the image above. Looks like you need to click the Img link to see them.

EDITED May 17th 2020, 18:56

Hmmm... To keep it close to your budget, you will probably want to stick with clones of the Mutable Instruments modules. They are smaller, cheaper, and sonically identical. The only real downside is the ergonomics because of the diminished size. I would recommend a Marbles clone (Cara) for your random gates/sequencing interests. I believe it quantizes. I always recommend the Malekko Varigate 4+ sequencer for small builds as well: 4 CV or 4 gate or 2 CV/2 gate sequencing with quantization.
In regards to the video you shared and the Boards of Canada interest, you may want to consider the ZVex Instant LoFi Junky and a small multi-effects unit for the warbly, wobbly vibe. You could substitute a Rings clone instead of the Elements clone (Atom). I would consider adding some sample playback capability too (Disting Mk 4 and Radio Music) for the BOC feel.
I put together a quick rack based on your ideas with a Toppobrillo Stereo Mix 2 instead of the PanMix, though the PanMix looks cool. All of this would fit in a TipTop Mantis, supplementing what you already have, and still leave you a little room to grow.
Have fun and good luck!

Also, the Peaks clone (Pique) has a lot of features including a Turing Machine, drums, LFOs, and more in a tiny package.

To counter this and give a different (not better - just different) perspective, one of the most compelling features of the MI modules is their ergonomics - there is a reason they are laid out so beautifully - it makes them easy and fun to play!

My advice is that you already have an awful lot of functionality in the Behringer Neutron and Moog DFAM, so pick just one or two modules from your selection and really get to know them inside out. This will do a couple of things, one it will stop you from being overwhelmed (and finishing off your bank balance ha!) and make you really explore all the possibilities of those modules in combination with what you have already - I think you will be surprised how much difference just one or two modules makes.

My choice would be Maths, because it is a perennial favourite and for good reason, and for practical reasons the Mutant Brain!

If you would really like to go one further, I am going to make a shameless plug and mention that I have an original MI Elements in perfect condition for sale at a very good price and i could use the cash heh ;)

Wish you all the very best whatever you decide!

Good advice Kel. I forgot to include a disclaimer that by slowly buying one or two things at a time, you start to realize what is really missing from your rig. It's often not what you thought you wanted in the first place. Thanks for the reminder.
I like the few Mutable modules I have (except Clouds. Can't seem to click with that one. haha), and I definitely get a little frustrated by the space constraints of the MI clones. It's definitely worth having a discussion about the compromises between cost/space.

Haha, I knew I was missing something else - yes - the other aspect of thing your time and going slowly is that it will definitely let you know what you need rather than just what catches your eye/ear :)

I definitely recommend this approach very much!!

Hey thank you so much both of you, for taking your time to go over this build with me. I appreciate how you've already honed in on what I need. I agree the MI clones are probably the direction to go if I want to actually keep this within my budget. I did however purchase Veils, Shelves and Maths last night, since I found a few good deals locally. Also it looks like the Knit Plaits clone is almost as expensive as an original Plaits model now so I might just go with Mutable on that as well. I found a marbles clone called Pachinko that's slightly cheaper than Cara. However I can't tell if it lacks any functionality that Cara has. Does anyone know?

I love the Lofi junky idea, I'm a fan of Zvex's guitar pedals and I think this is an effect that I'll get a lot of mileage with. The Milky Way also looks useful so I'll probably snag one at some point. The Stereo Mix 2 is exactly what I was after, thank you for bringing it to my attention! Also pretty stoked about the Varigate 4+ as it looks like the perfect sequencer for this build.

Here are the changes I've made including a few of the modules I've already purchased for myself:

Please feel free to share your thoughts if you have any! I am SO excited to power these up and hear what they can do!

Quick side note: I am in the US. Demand seems high over here right now? Maybe not, but I can't find a reasonably priced Mantis so I'm probably going to pickup a Behringer Eurorack Go. I'll just keep the DFAM and Neutron out of the skiff.

Take your time, follow the triple check protocol when connecting:

Look before you connect, look after you have connected, then check again to make sure you have the power cables the right way round!

Never, ever, deviate from this and you will never fry a module!

Seriously, I will reiterate, you have so much already, obviously up to you... but I strongly recommend you hold your horses going for more modules - you will appreciate everything so much more :)

Hi Ez_bois243,

Welcome to the modular world :-) Most has already been said by Kel and Farkas, so please follow/consider their advice, that's spot on.

One little question, just as a kind of food for thought... how are you going to output your sound from your modular rack to your (I assume: external) mixer?

What I am trying to say is :-) That you might want to look into an Audio Interface module. Unless I have it overlooked in your rack. If you have a guitar somewhere laying around and want to use that here and there for some input music into your modular system as well then you might straight away want to consider an Audio Input/Output interface module; otherwise just an output interface might be sufficient.

As already mentioned, take it easy, just a few modules in one go, and start experimenting and playing around with them and enjoy the modular journey into the sonic-cosmic :-) Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

An audio interface module is great for starting out, but I let mine go in the end... why? I got a mixer that has tons of headroom and the capability to attenuate incoming signals - it's perfect!

Having said that, I still have an input module for external sources because they do need amplifying considerably to make sense in the modular world.

Gain staging is one of the mot essential skills in music production, if you pay attention to this, and make sure you never clip your signals - you will get better results faster. I spent years messing up before I fully understood this simple but absolutely critical process.

Hi Garfield it's good to be here. I actually already have a little home studio going including an audio interface and monitors. I believe the outputs of the Toppobrillo will give me a good clean signal for the interface unless I'm mistaken.

Hi Ez_bois243,

Yes the Stereo mixer of Toppobrillo will give you good mixer possibilities, absolutely however it's not an audio (input/output) interface as such. On the other hand if you feel as comfortable as Kel to leave it out and you can handle it directly on your mixer then that's fine of course as well. As mentioned it was just a thought :-)

Enjoy your modular and kind regards, Garfield.

Yeah - check the specs!! Attenuate your incoming signals completely... and slowly bring up the levels - you'll get it :))

Hi Kel and Ez_bois243,

Just out of curiosity, how sure can you be that your mixer is properly filtering away any unwanted DC signals? Or are you saying that all (modern) mixers do that by default on all their inputs? Unless of course you checked your mixer specifications on that. I couldn't really rule it out on my mixer though.

Once I got to know about those DC signals, I am, being honest here :-) pissing my pants, and not daring to put anything to my mixer before let it go through a proper audio output interface, making sure that any DC components are gone.

Kind regards, Garfield.

You should never send a DC signal to your mixer/sound card!

That's just knowing and paying attention to what you are doing :)

To give you some kind of idea, I typically use between 10 and 20 outputs from my modular straight to the mixer - sometimes up to ~30 - trying to accommodate all those signals through dedicated output modules is impractical to say the least :D

Er... so don't send Envelopes, LFOs, Gates, Triggers and other modulation sources to your mixer!

Hi Kel,

Ha, ha, well perhaps with your experience then I would feel confident in being able to make sure that I don't send any DC signals to my mixer but ehm... I don't think I have that expertise yet to be able to do that :-) And on the other hand, my name is Garfield, so I am damn lazy and I don't want to think about... "does this signal has perhaps any DC components, so can I send this to my mixer?"

Sorry, I am too damn lazy for that ;-) I choose my nickname here on purpose ;-)

Ha, ha, 10 up till even 30 outputs to your external mixer... big mixer you got there :-D Well, my mixer is much smaller, so what I am doing is, I am using the Doepfer A-135p (currently two of them) and A-135o so all my "output signals" I mix them with my Doepfer modules (they are chain-able, so if I need to add more voices, I "just" add more of those A-135p modules, theoretically because HP-space & finance might be some issues) and then put them as one (stereo) output to my audio interface. Okay admitted, I got a few audio interfaces, but not as much as handling 10 till 20 voices, maximum I currently can bring to my mixer are 6 outputs (3 * stereo) and for the moment that's enough. Agreed... I am lacking a little bit on Eurorack mixers. I have a Hikari mixer as well (nice one by the way, but not as fancy as the Doepfer) but I could use one more (stereo) mixer. But at least with my current setup I don't worry at all about DC signals to the mixer or not because I forward all the audio output via an audio interface to my mixer. Then again, I guess I mentioned already, I am lazy ;-)

Do you never have nightmares that one day you will overlook a DC component and blow up your monitors? ;-D Well, I had nightmares from day-one since I know about what DC can do to your monitors or speakers...

Kind regards, DC-scared and lazy Garfield ;-)

Oh noooo no no, there is no way you can be into modular synths and be lazy! Some effort is required...!

No wonder you are scared hehe

Come on... you are capable of typing many words, listening to music and saying kind things about it all... not the actions of a lazy person!!

I have no nightmares no, it's not that hard, a little effort and you will also feel confident.

Let me be clear, an oscillator is a device that turns a DC signal into an AC signal - whooooop! Such a simple idea that causes so much confusion! The higher the input voltage the faster the capacitor charges and therefore the faster the release... i.e. the faster the oscillation between charge and discharge... yikes!! Is that it... well, yeah :)

All you need to do to be safe is think about the signal you are generating, is it in audio range? If yes, then, with suitable attenuation (either in the mixer itself or before the signal reaches the mixer e.g. output module), you can almost certainly connect it to your mixer!

I am sure there are folk who will challenge these ideas, but as a working definition it has never screwed me over :)

EDITED May 19th 2020, 00:44

Hi Kel,

Ha, ha, fair enough, only a bit lazy when it comes to think about: "Does this signal contain DC components, yes or no?" ;-)

Cheers, Garfield.