It has been in the back of my mind for a long time to build a modular synth, i might have some spare time and money soon so thought it would be a good idea to start doing the research. I am not new to synths or DIY.

My goal is to use exclusively DIY and only full kits. I am in Australia so our selection is more limited and prices tend to be quite high and I'm not interested in sourcing parts myself.

There is one exception to the DIY rule and that is maths. I am very interested in getting this module, but it might wait until after I have the rest done. I am planning to start with the doepfer a100 diy kit. I have a rack road case already and will make some rack ears.

Here's my sketch so far, would love any comments or suggestions.
The rack here below in my post only has 2 oscillators, i'm not sure why, when i click it loads the correct one, not sure if that's just an issue with what I'm seeing..

ModularGrid Rack


Weird...you're in Australia, you want to do DIY, and not an Elby module in sight...?


Huh, yeah.. most of my research so far has been from YouTube and muffwiggler and other various “diy” posts, tbh I have not come across much discussion of ELBY, I will give it a better look, thank you.


Nonlinearcircuits! I've built a Numberwang, and just finished a Hypester. I love the Hypester! if you're down to source your own parts from BOMs, that is—but then it really will be cheaper than a kit, and you learn a lot.


Seconded, Nonlinear Circuits looks like a greaf place to start! One of thesr days I WILL make that B0ng0


I’m not too keen to order separate components. I’ve done it before but for several reasons, including just the time and hassle, I’d rather just buy full kits. That not to say “without exception”, and if someone made an amazing module and called it numberwang, that might be enough, is the mitchell and Webb reference common knowledge?... I’ll check it out..


Why not the Befaco Rampage instead of the Make Noise Maths? They are a lot alike, the Rampage has some advantages; you can trigger it manually by hand once (cycle is optional), also you can modulate the exponential/logarithmic pot if I'm correct here (I own a Maths only) , I find that a huge plus. Certainly when you combine a Rampage and a Befaco Dual Attenuverter it will be at least as powerfull as a Maths if you ask me.


Oh, and one other maker with a line of full kits: Erica. Their DIY line is very Polivoks-inspired.


that's some really great tips..

One thing I'm not sure about is the VCOs, i like the idea of having 2 identical oscillators but not sure how "necessary" that is..

I could achieve that goal by getting something like https://www.modulargrid.net/e/zlob-dual-vco

and then get something a little fancier like https://www.modulargrid.net/e/other-unknown-dannysound-en129


The idea behind identical VCOs is that, if you're doing some slight detuned doubling, you'll want the VCOs to behave exactly the same way in terms of CV tracking, nonlinearities, and the like so that the end result actually seems to sound like a single source. Technically, it's not 100% necessary to do this these days, but it does assure users that if they want a specific sound that requires matched VCOs (such as emulating Minimoog bass, and so on), it'll be easy enough to do without having to make an excessive number of tweaks to deal with dissimilar hardware.