First Modular Rack Expanding Mother 32

Hi Y'all!

Recently I got a Moog Mother 32 and, of course, I fell for modular.
I really would like to have your opinion/hints/suggestions/whatever on this rack I am trying to build to expand the Mother 32.
I understood that I should build "around" the Mother, rather I should implement a rack that features it.

Keep in mind that I am 100% new to modular, so what I will say or what you will see can be very wrong :D

I will have a moog 3 tier rack to begin with. In this way I can have 2 rows for my modules and 1 row for the Mother.
If I will decide to expand I can always get a 2 or 3 tier rack and put it close to it.. so I guess this makes my set "modular" enough.
Also, I will never have the money again to buy more modules so the possibility that I will extend is fairly small.. ehehehheeh :D

The 3-tier rack is 60hp per row. In each row I have a power module and I don't have any output module since the Mother has that built-in. Does this make sense?

What do you think about the rack?
Please please please feedback!!!

Thanks!

daaaaaaaaamn...!

Yeah, this is pretty spot-on. The only thing I would change out here is to toss the Doepfer A-140 and instead put two Ladik xADSRs in...the 'x' part being for the additional function that some of theirs have, such as gate delay, hold, initial level, etc. You'll be glad to have an extra EG with the Veils in there. Maybe a little bit of regrouping for ease of navigation, also, but this is a hellacious M32 expansion rig. Make sure to get some in-line mults, also; cramming in an extra 2hp would be a chore here, so that's definitely the better route.

Exactly right about the 4ms Row Power 40s, also...the M32 (and DFAM, fyi) has a power inlet, but the empty 60hps don't. In fact, that same power supply is what Sweetwater bundles in their 'add-on' bundles, and it has more than ample current to deal with these dinky cabs. Should be nice and stable and run pretty chill.

Hey! Thanks for the reply man!
Indeed in a newer version I removed the mangrove in favor of some multiple ;)

I figured that 3 Osc (st0 mother and wave table) are enough for my purposes..

Just in case: what output module would you recommend?

Please more feedback, people!

There you go, second revision!
Up for feedback! Thanks

Actually, I thought the Mangroves was a keeper...what I would do is this:

Swap out the Dixie II and buffered mult for the Mangroves. Ditch the 2hp Delay for a passive mult. Then make use of the Rosie's FX loop to feed some external effects. Now, this might be a tad touchy because of level matching between modular and line levels, but the better grade of stompboxes can handle the gain-staging OK, even better if you do the send and return to a small mixer that can then handle the gain-staging and also juggle a bunch of outboard stompboxes and/or rack processors. This is something that the Rosie makes very easy, and it gives you the plus of mono-in to stereo-out in your effects chain, so you have a lot of 'abuse potential' with stereo imaging, using the small external mixer to parallel-chain various other boxes. Last, swap one ADSR with one of Ladik's 'alternates'; having a DADSR, for example, means you can stagger your envelope behaviors, and so forth.

And quite literally, that's all I'd change. The Mangroves VCO's ability to sweep through different formant configurations gives you a really quirky and interesting way to waveshape. There's too few primary CVs being sent around to need buffering to avoid voltage droop, and having the ability to incorporate something like a gate delay into your second Euro EG is a plus. Might seem nitpicky, but the rig is SOOOOOOO close that these few points are all it needs to take it over the top.

Lugia thanks a lot! I made all the changes you suggested, looks gooood!
Only thing I did was to keep a buffered mult rather than a passive one. I am new to this world, so if I get a passive one I have the feeling I don't know exactly what's going on.. and the best thing to learn is to know exactly what is going on ;)

Question tho:

could you explain better the mixer thing?
Don't I have problems if I go out with modular level?
How should I route the mixer then?

Rosie (send out) --> mixer in --> effect loop on mixer FX LOOP --> mixer stereo out ---> rosie (stereo return in)

Do you mean something like this?
Then I would need a mixer with an effect loop.. or what were you thinking exactly?
Or how can I skip the mixer and still make it work without burning my stompboxes?
Or how can I make sure that my stompboxes can handle modular level?
This would be a SUPER win! (I have some wonderful stompboxes)

There are actually some mixers that can handle the abuse of being fed synth-level signals, amazingly enough. I can do this with my Mackie 1202, but mine's also a rev.1 and I'm not sure about the present VLZ version. However, there have been threads on sites such as Muff Wiggler etc that go into which small outboard mixers can deal with high input levels. The critical key here is to have some sort of input trim control which can back the incoming level sensitivity waaaaaaaay down to regular ol' line level. As for raising the level back up, there's small signal preamps that should be able to accomplish this. But yeah, that signal flow diagram you show above is the right method if you use an outboard mixer with a couple of AUX sends. Just make sure that your AUXes are set PRE-fader so you can cut the Rosie's send fader out to avoid feedback. Having done this, then send your stereo (or mono) effect outs back into the mixer's line inputs to create an effects mix to go to the Rosie stereo return.

Another method would be to put together some tiles in one of Syinsi's 12-tile minicabs, with their Pedal I/O tiles doing the heavy lifting and some additional tiles to allow splitting/mixing of effect signals, maybe even a couple of LFOs and VCAs to do some audio modulation. Either way, what you want to do here is to take the Rosie's mono send, find a way to split it amongst a few effects, then some method of mixing the effect-outs back in a desired configuration in stereo to go back to the Rosie's stereo return. If using this route, a simple buffered mult tile can split the single send into three mono signals, then these would go to three effect I/O tiles. The returns from the effects can go back to these if they're mono, but if they're stereo you'll need three more effect I/Os to reboost. Mono: use a single three or four channel mixer to combine the effects for the Rosie's FX return; stereo: use two, same idea.

See, this is the neat thing about modular: the 'instrument' doesn't have to end at the edges of the case. In theory, if you have enough interconnectivity, the whole STUDIO may as well be considered an 'instrument', given a certain degree of ingenuity.

Thanks A LOT! :)
Will update when I will be done with the buying and setting up!

Hey! I am in the exact same situation! Got a Moog mother 32, a case with power and a Pico VCO module as my starting gear! And I am lost to what I should by next, I would like to create beat/electromusic so maybe drum modules! First maybe an output module for using it live?
What did you go for??