First modular rack build

Hello everyone! Hope you can give me some help...

As titled, I'd like to build my first modular rack. I've been thinking about it for around a year and by the end of 2020 my goal is having a small rack with a few modules to start make some noise, bleep and bloops.

I've watched many tutorial on youtube (andrew huang, noiretblancvie, bobeats etc.) and I've been trying to understand the basics with vcv rack software.

Cause it's really hard to choose modules, especially the must-have ones, I do really need a hand.

As far as I get it, most important thing is to know what you're gonna do with a modular system. I do like many things unfortunately and I'm trying to think constructively. So, how can I implement and mix my existing setup with a modular rack? I guess this is a good starting point. I'm a guitar player first then a composer. I've got my own project coming out very soon but I don't wanna think of a modular system only related to what I'm trying to do now with my music. However, first modules will be as close as possible as my current sound. In a few words, I'm thinking of a modular system (at least at first) as one new instrument to add to what I already have.

My current setup is:

Guitar and lots of pedals (which I use them even with other machines);

Elektron Digitakt

Novation Circuit Mono Station

Pocket Operator Arcade (barely used at the moment with the rest, still finding a way to add it permanently in the mix)

Arturia Keystep (don't have it actually, coming tomorrow)

Given that, I've tought: what can I get out of a modular rack which could be a step further in my music direction?

My answer, as of today, is melody and atmosphere. Recreating soundscapes and melodies It might be a logic starting point.

I like sequencing patterns (some tricky stuff like euclidean rhythms also), design my own pads, heavily using arpeggiators. I'm influenced by synthwave, mostly.

So to wrap everything up: buying a case with 100-120hp more or less would be more than good, considering I will expand the system slowly. As of what modules I'd get, still don't know. There's too many brands out there which I like (make noise, mutable instruments, just to name a couple) and, if I've got the meaning of modules right, some of them do much more stuff than you expect (maths is the first coming up in regards).

Sorry for the very long post, just trying to give an accurate idea so to get a better help off you.

Thanks guys!

P.S. this is the current state:
I've been helped on reddit. the bottom row is what I'll buy later on (expensive modules though xD), top row is the essentials.

EDITED May 10th 2020, 10:36

Hi Metal_Serra,

Where shall I start? ;-) Perhaps with a big welcome into modular synths? :-)

Fun putting aside, please be careful when you plan a modular system. May I ask why you "must have" a modular synth? What is your real reason to have one? If it would be anything into the direction of: "Because everyone has nowadays one" or "Because it looks cool" or something like that, you might wonder if you really should get one. No matter how carefully you plan, how much time you read in the evenings and nights about it, preparing yourself, etcetera, a modular synth, there is no way of getting around it, is bloody expensive. And once you are hooked into it, there are things going to happen to you, you start thinking of selling your car, house, partner, kids, whatever you can find to sell to get more gear, more modules and more rack space. Naturally I am kidding here about partner and kids but the thought of selling your car or house shouldn't surprise you once you are into this! :-)

Okay having said that, just as a warning, so you can't claim, I haven't warn you ;-) Having said this all, a modular synth is fantastic but you need to be willing to let it cost a fortune. Think in several thousands of dollars/Euros as a very minimum, likely a factor "X" of that.

That's one thing, the other thing is, that you might want to take this a bit slower first and get a better conceptual thinking of a synthesizer in common. My way of doing this was by getting a Behringer Neutron, it's reasonably priced, so if you discover after that exercise that modular is nothing for you, at least it didn't cost you an arm and a leg! The Neutron is nice to start with because you got all the basic components in one device with quite a few patching possibilities. Components like: 2 VCOs, LFO, filter, two EGs (envelopes or ADSRs), VCA and it even got: a delay, overdrive, sample & hold (S&H), slew rate limiter and two attenuators.

Don't think because of all that "basic" stuff there is no fun with the Neutron, no the opposite I would say. With the Neutron you can test basic functionality, get surprisingly quite some nice sound out of it, and it gives you a "pre-tasting" of modular synthesizers. It's a kind of test for yourself to see if you are really into modular synths or not and it's a cheap way to discover it. If you go directly into modular, it's very costly and if you don't do your homework right, it's going to be a frustrating and expensive experience that might go wrong :-( So I would like to avoid that, if I would be you.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't want you to think modular synths sucks, no it isn't but you have to be very well prepared, very sure about this. Once you are (and my advice is to have that tested with for example a Neutron), you can go all the way with modular synths :-)

Okay, let's put that all behind us, let's say you are very sure about this, checking your E-mail further:

It's good to see you got already a guitar with lots of pedals. I recently got the Source Audio - Ventris Dual Reverb pedal, what a fantastic pedal that is! I don't have a guitar but I am using this effect pedal/module for my modular synth and wow, what a beautiful sound you can get with that Ventris! So having a few pedals wouldn't harm to lift up your sound a bit :-)

The Digitakt and the Circuit Mono Stations are nice too, so that helps you and since you got those already, you might need indeed not straight away a full blown modular synth to get started.

Still, my advice would be to look into a bit bigger rack. You might not want to believe this at this stage but you can't have a big enough rack. Go for at least 3 * 84 HP or 2 * 104 HP as a real absolute minimum. Even that's too small but for your case, it might be a good start indeed.

What I like of your "design" is that you left a lot of space empty, that's good. Don't straight away fully plan it because you need space "to grow" with your experience and your changing needs within modular synthesizer. So in your above example that's enough reserved space or better if you would go for a 3 * 84 HP rack, leave at least one row empty to start with.

Going into your planned modules. STO and Plaits are good modules that also can give a good benefit to those who just starts in modular synth. However modules like Stages might be good but to start with? I would advise against that. Start easy and simple, grow in experience and then look more into those "fancy" (or a better word is perhaps "complex") modules.

Back to the roots: My question stands... are you sure you are ready for modular synth? You seriously might want to get started with for example a Neutron first to create an appetite for modular and test your likings.

If you are now already very sure that you want to go into modular then welcome to modular and enjoy :-)

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hello Garfield Modular and thanks for the exhaustive reply, I do appreciate :)

I've just written an answer to all your points but my browser decided to go nuts and I've lost it xD

So sorry if I'll be short :D

Coming off a pedal culture, where everyone wants to buy whatever stomp pedal "just because" (if you know what I mean), fortunately puts me in a comfortable situation. I've never been that kind of person, I know what I'm buying, I always do 100ths of searches and comparison before purchasing any of my music gear.

I'm aware this will surely be my most expensive journey but I do feel a connection...

I've always loved to add a pedal in my board, tweaking those knobs, find a "perfect" sound and balance, see what happens if I change something on my chain... all those things and feelings during the years made me realise how much I love sound design and, in general, creating sounds(capes). (by the way, I've never heard of that pedal, I'll check it later on, I used to be obsessed with delays and reverbs xDxD)

I've been suggested to have semi-modular phase let's say, have a taste and then see if jumping or not into full modular. However, I don't feel any kind of vibe towardas any semi-modular hardware. The only one who could partially be put on that category is Moog Grandmother, it's perfectly suited for my sound (not sure if I can link any of my music ideas, so I don't), it's on top of my wishlist.

So, I guess I'm inclined to skip semi-modular and go straight to modular :)

Case-wise: a guy on reddit suggested tiptop audio mantis, 2*104hp. At the moment I feel it's the best option for me: not big, not small, comes with a psu, plenty of space to expand considering I'm gonna buy 3 modules tops at first.

In that regard, I leave with a question: considered the modules I've picked, if I have to choose 2 or 3 of them, which ones should I pick first?

Thanks again,

Metal_Serra

Hi Metal_Serra,

Yes please be aware that this forum has a kind of "bug" that if you write too long messages, I mean if you need long time to write a message, that there is likely to be a time-out and you loose everything you just wrote :-( It's pretty frustrating, I have mentioned this already to the owners of this website but not sure where exactly problem lays, it looks like it's not an easy problem to solve. To me it looks like a time-out timer issue for this website but that hint didn't seem to help ;-)

So the only thing what you can do, at least that's what I do, since I also lost a few times quite long texts I prepared to write to people, is... just before you click on the send/submit button is that you select the entire text you wrote (control-a) and do control-c (copy). So if the submit goes wrong because of the time-out, at least you can login again, reply to the message you were busy with, and control-p (paste) it back in there. Still not nice or perfect but at least a workable workaround.

All right, so you are going full for modular system then?! :-) Well, welcome here at modular grid and welcome into the financial black-hole :-) But you seem to be capable of keeping yourself under control if it comes to buying pedals, so let's hope you can do the same with the modules.

All right 2 * 104 HP doesn't sound too bad and since you got already here and there a few bits, to start with, let's hope that's enough for the moment. But then your next question is a difficult one... only 3 modules to start with? Let's have a look at a minimum classic setup:

2 VCOs, if you like a ring mod one of that too, 2 filters, 1 LFO (2 would be better), 2 EGs, 2 VCAs (one linear and one logarithmic), mixer and audio input/output module and then we are not talking yet about some utilisation modules, other kind of fun stuff, just the pure basic stuff. That are already 2+1 (ring mod)+2+1 LFO+2+2+1 mixer+1 audio = 12 modules, as a minimum...

Now I understand that you got here and there already a bit but how you want to reduce from 12 modules to 3 modules is not very clear to me. To me that sounds you want to do the impossible ;-) In my above example you can skip the ring modulator for the moment, that makes it 11 modules. Let's say you go first for just one filter and one EG as well and let's say you start with a logarithmic VCA only as well, then you still need as a minimum 8 modules... you could go down to 6 modules by only having one oscillator (then you might not need the mixer as well) but by reducing to so less modules there isn't much modular synth fun left if you would ask me...

So with reducing to 6 modules you are looking at this: 1 VCO, 1 filter (VCF), 1 LFO, 1 EG, 1 VCA (log) & 1 audio output module.

Yes, this is theoretically possible but I would strongly advise against it, keep my initial basic setup of 12 modules in mind, you can tweak there around with one or two modules but don't go down to only 3 or 6 modules, I don't think that makes sense.

So my offer still stands... try this out first with a Neutron :-) Even if you are deep into modular, the Neutron still can be used. I regularly still use the LFO of the Neutron, very useful one and the dual VCOs aren't too bad either.

Be careful with what you are planning, it sounds a bit scary to me, good luck with it and kind regards, Garfield.

Thanks for the advice. I usually do the control+c trick but today, without any logic reason, I didn't xD
I do understand what you're saying and suggesting. Due to the fact that I already own some stuff, I thought I could go first with only a few modules and then add the rest slowly. Starting with 12 modules means waiting much more time (I wish I was born rich xD).
6 modules seems something I could possibly achieve in a relative short time, 12... well, that's another story ahahah

By the way, I'll make some more research on semi-modular synths, I might find something interesting...

Hi Metal_Serra,

Take it easy here is my advice. Don't force yourself into something by getting a wrong start or something. Why not taking a bit more time into checking a few more modules that you might like. Indeed read into those semi-modulars a bit more as well. It's not a must but it's at least a cheap start to confirm you really going to like this and while you need more time to check, you can save more money.

If you can't start with 12 modules (that's just an example, it's not a must), perhaps you can start with 6 or 8 or whatever by that time you can effort. But as mentioned, this isn't going to be cheap, as long as you keep that in mind, you should be fine.

Take it easy, read and check a lot and then make up your mind :-) I know, it's easier said than done, but we all have gone through that "starting, learning & exploring" phase; a phase by the way that never really stops, there is always something more to explore and find in the modular world.

Naturally don't hesitate to drop here and there a question in the forum if you need more information on certain subjects.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: removed typo.

EDITED May 10th 2020, 17:36

Thanks for everything, Garfield. I will do some more searches on that topic (semi-mod).

Metal_Serra