Hello,
After initial feedback, I have revised my portable system with a small expansion from 140 6u to 164 7u.
The aim of the rack was to make a portable techno machine with improvements
- internal stereo mixing to complement a small external mixer
- modulation mixing and managing
- accesses to performance controls(mutes)
Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks
-W
The screenshot needs updating...go back to the build page and refresh that, then check the screenshot to make sure it and the "active" build are the same. Is this an Intellijel case, or is the tile row in the "original" 1U format?
Thanks. I refreshed the build page so I hope it working now. The 1u tiles will probably be the Intellijel format. I left in blank because I am curious about what would complement or be replaced within the 1u row.
Had some free time, decided to keep myself out of trouble by banging on this:
I decided to see if there were some stronger directions to go in with this. Turns out, there were!
First up, "voice" and "mod/control" are now separate (for the most part). I filled the tile row with "original" format tiles, because that allowed some major functional improvements. The logic gates on the left are to let you tamper with the gate/trigger signals coming off of the Nerdseq. There's also a comparator, which will allow you to pick off a gate based on LFO or EG signal levels, then add that to the timing mayhem. After that, you see two groups of attenuverter/offsets with a DC-coupled mixer and a DC-coupled linear VCA. Those are for messing with modulation signals...mixing, polarizing, imposing modulation, that sort of thing. And the final 4-in mixer is for audio, in case an extra mono sum is needed.
Note that I was able to jam a LOT of the standard tiles in that row...enough that it opened up a few things elsewhere. The Intellijel tiles are nice, to be sure...but the standard ones offer loads of "primitives", basic circuits that allow you to build up more complex subarrangements (like that DC mixer arrangement).
First 3U row: I shifted the Kinks to here to take advantage of the noise module added next to it. The Noise Rainbow there is supposed to be paired with the triple passive LPG next to it. Result: three more noise/filter-based drum sounds with those nice vactrol transients...you don't even really need to feed 'em envelopes, just fire 'em with the Nerdseq's outputs for rapid-fire percussives. Then...SampleDrum, Chimera, Entity, Chainsaw, Font, just like before...then we run across an Overseer VCF. The idea is ergonomic here; the Chimera is largely the same as the C4RB0N, minus the waveshaping (which you can easily do elsewhere, such as by running an audio signal to the SIGN section of the Kinks), but offers a few additional control tricks AND...it's larger. Since the main knobs that synthesists constantly tweak are usually VCF cutoffs, by going to this, I was able to open up the space around it AND the Font, making that playing method MUCH easier. 3xVCA next...then an Alyseum QMix, which gives you four mono ins with panning and a master trim, followed by the FX Aid XL...although if that works better with the main output mixer, it can be swapped with the Tallinn below.
Second 3U row: The little sliver at left is a Konstant Labs PWR Checkr...lets you keep tabs on the power rail performance. Very useful. Nerdseq next, then the Zadar and its expander. And then, yep, I had room to add a Batumi! This now gives you four more LFOs to keep the sounds moving and interesting. Got rid of the upside down mutes, went with Folktek's Quiet instead...for one thing, the form factor is right now, and also, the touchpads are lots more responsive than the buttons on the earlier version. Only one of these, though, and it's mainly for on/off control over CV/modulation paths. The AUDIO muting is on the Cosmotronic Cosmos stereo mixer, which has four mono ins with pans, two stereo pair ins, AUX send and stereo return, AND a nice overdrive that allows you to "crunch" the mix coming off of this...and yes, it does that selectively, since you can overdrive both stereo channels, or just one at a time if you want to run the Cosmos as a dual mono. And the Tallinn makes up the end of the row, for dynamic control of the Cosmos output.
Removed things: the Links (no real need for buffering in this, and it's cheaper to just use inline mults with that being the case), the Pico DSPs, the Matrix Mult, the Peaks, etc...there were just better ways of doing these things, and once the tile row got populated it started becoming apparent where to cut things, and what could go into the freed-up 3U space.
Now, as for the case...well, this is where problems crop up. Finding cases off the shelf that have the Pulplogic tile row in this size is not easy. You could go with rack rails and mount everything in a Gator or SKB road case...an 8U one would allow space for a power conditioner (lighted, even) on top, and this could allow you to switch your system on via that, leaving all of the DC supply electronics INside the case. And, in fact, this is probably far cheaper (and more practical) than the other options, which involves locating a case that either has the Pulplogic row (not easy) or building a bespoke case with it (not cheap). Perfect Circuit has the 4U Pulplogic rack frames, and for the other 3U, you can use the Tiptop Happy Ending or whatever works there. It's sort of halfway between totally custom-built and off the rack solutions, and it seems like it might be a proper solution here. The other nice thing about the rack frames is that you can CHANGE the row order and put the tile row in the center, where it would work better and make a helluva lot more sense.
Lugia,
Wow, thank you so much for all the feedback and redesign. Really appreciated.
Yeah agree with you on the Pulp logic 1u modules. They appeal to me far more, but the cases are often hard to find(wondering if the Make noise CV bus case is formatted for pulp logic and if I could flip just the CV bus for a little cash). The utility of them seems hard to beat compared to intellijel. I have built a couple of cases and they never seem to come out cheaper at a certain point.
Your mixing solution makes a ton of sense and seems really fun. I have been enjoying using matrix mixers but they are not the most economic use of space in a small system.
The vactoral percussion also seems super cool. I will have to look into that.
Overall thank you so much, given me a lot to research and consider for the moment.
-w
I do believe I've found the case solution: https://elevatorsound.com/product/damaru-x-elevator-sound-eurorack-modular-travel-case-7u-104hp-70mm-deep-black-w-central-1u-rail/ They have this arrangement in 84, 104, and 126 hp widths. I think they'll also pre-fit the power, as they have a "special order" 126 hp version with power installed. Probably best to drop them a line and see what they can do for you. My suggestion would be to go with the 104 hp at this point, unless you've got an expansion direction already sorted out.
Vactrols are cool...what they are is a sealed package that contains an LED and a photoresistor. So when you hit a vactrol with a +5V trigger pulse, it rises almost immediately...but then it tails off slower. Granted, that's "slower" in terms of milliseconds, but it's just right for feeding a trigger into its control point and a noise source through the filter/VCA combo to get a quick little "snap" in the noise color and with the filtering you want. The Tenderfoot module has three different response settings, also...a more "normal" LPF, a "darker" LPF, and VCA only, and when the vactrol tails off in the filter modes, it also rapidly sweeps the filter closed in addition to killing the audio by closing the VCA. Should result in some really neat "snappy" percussives...somewhere halfway between 1980s electro and weird Berlin dub clicks and pops.
Ugh perfect. Massive electro and dub fan so that is very intriguing so the vactoral lpg almost seem like a done deal
The case looks nice too. Ill probably drop them a line and see what they can do.
Also, don't forget that you can use the LPGs as normal, too...and that Chainsaw in the bass range + an LPG = plucky, poppy bass hits. In that case, you'd want to use a short but full envelope out of a channel on the Zadar, but believe me, that sound BANGS.
I have expanded once again to 104hp 7u. Have mapped out the DIY route and found it to be the most affordable with accommodations for more than adequate power.
