Advices and remarks on my potential 6U fun station

Hello everybody,

I currently have a 84hp 3U rack and all the modules on here except René. I'm contemplating moving to a 6U 88hp case with this configuration because I'm getting a bit tired of swapping modules from my rack to my box :)

The idea behind this system is to explore combining sequences and modulation to generate evolving melodies. For me, eurorack and modular fun is mostly into finding interesting ways to generate melodies, that's why I focus more on sequencers that I intend to make interact with each other, and modulators such as Stages which can be used as a sequential switch, a shift register, sample & holds and other fun ways to blend sequences. And of course, uscale is integral in that idea. The recent acquisition of Beads and Hpo created the opportunity to use this setup on its own to enjoy the meditative aspect of patching and creating soundscapes while also being able to sync with Mutant Brain and record what I do.

This configuration is what I have currently in mind with the addition of René MkI and I'm wondering what advices or remarks you would have on the idea, and its realization, I'm open to any suggestion!

EDITED Nov 8th 2021, 09:50

I'd go bigger at least a 6u/104hp case - unless you are going to keep your existing case too

this way you'll have a bit of space left over for future expansion and don't find yourself in the same situation (swapping modules in and out) in a few months or so

how are you recording?

what are you using for mults?

there's a decent selection of utilities, but I'd probably want a matrix mixer (really useful for a number of things) - I'd probably also consider replacing the contour and function with maths (more than the sum of it's parts - see the 'maths illustrated supplement') and also consider adding an fx aid (xl) as it adds an amazing number of effects etc in a small and relatively inexpensive package

Great advices, thanks!

I'm recording either with eurorack to jack cables into my audio interface, or through HPO into a small tascam recorder.

For mults I have a 2hp buff that is not included and Tiptop stackables.

Regarding the case, I must admit that I looked on Etsy for some more unique options than the Mantis and I could not find anything except 6U 88hp. But I'll keep looking!

Indeed I was thinking about Maths, however combined with Kinks and Shades, I believe I can reproduce most of the functions I found in the illustrated supplement. And yeah, FX Aid XL is awesome and on my mind a lot! :)

there's a reason the mantis is popular - it's a bloody good case and reasonably priced!
I have one that I use mostly for video synthesis and it's great for this - if a little under-powered on the -ve rail for video (video uses a lot of -ve power) but the point here is that the psu is incredibly good - very quiet up to video rates (MHz) and not just the KHz needed for audio - I've been using mine daily for about 3.5years and have moved it around on on trains and planes a fair bit in the also reasonably priced cases - the newer one is significantly better than the old one! - to be honest I rarely notice the case as it's usually patched!!
another option might be a doepfer lc9 - again solid power - but might be a bit under-powered for 9u if using a lot of digital modules

re:maths - yes you could patch everything from other modules - but it's really convenient to have it all in one module - I'm keeping my maths - and I have all the functionality duplicated a few times in my rack - but it is significantly bigger than just the mantis!

Quick test with your suggestions:

I noticed that you now have the FX Aid and Beads. They both have stereo outputs. The matrix mixer was recommended, but it's mono. So that limits you to four mono inputs.

I would go with something that is stereo for your main mixer, like an EMW stereo mixer. 8 stereo inputs, leaving you six stereo inputs for the rest of your rig. Matrix mixers are a nice-to-have item. But not for this build.
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/emw-8-channel-stereo-mixer

Also, there are too many VCAs for the size of the rack. The Happy Nerding or the Intellijel could go and you'd be fine. That space would be better suited for other resources. I like the Intellijel unit. But the Happy Nerding makes more sense for the size of the rack.

Hi Ronin1973,

The Doepfer A-138m Matrix mixer can be used in stereo operation too. Just use for example inputs 1 & 3 as your left inputs and inputs 2 & 4 as your right channel inputs. Then with the 16 knobs you can do panning. You can create either two times a stereo output, or what I usually do, just one stereo output, meaning output channel 1 is my left channel out and output channel 2 is my right channel out, those two outputs then to any Audio Interface module to output it to an external mixer. Seems to work quite well.

Or you can use it as 4 mono inputs and one stereo output (or two stereo outputs) or you could even do one stereo input (for example input channels 1 & 2) and two mono inputs (channels 3 & 4 in this example) and again one (or two) stereo output(s).

So... I don't see the non-stereo issue, for me this is stereo enough :-) One even could extend it to a quad output (instead of one or two stereo outputs) :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

in this build I would probably mix the mono sources using a vca then into fx aid (lots of mono->stereo algos) and then into beads and use that as end of chain - the matrix mixer I would use for modulation - not audio

To follow up on this topic, here is my current mess of a system:

And what I think I would really love to get to is a system that allows me to play and record full songs without having to do much with a computer. Just patch something, and if I stumble on something interesting, plug my modular in a recorder and play the song.

Two persons I really look up to are Caspar Hesselager and Comparative Irrelevance. They really represent the goal I'm aiming to with my Eurorack experience:

EDITED Nov 12th 2021, 10:50