User Posts

@Lugia

Banged on this A LOT. Instead of having a bunch of Mutable modules, I opted for the ultimate tweak-head ones: Buchla. Or rather, the Tiptop reissues of the original Buchla 200 modules. Then I built around that.

That is a massive reply, I won't go into all of it simply because of your answer's complexity and the amount of reconfiguring you've done. First, let me say your input made for some very interesting reading. I like that you took the few modules I already had and built a buchla tiptop rack from there, but ultimately the finished product is too big of a challenge for me -- Both musically and financially. A lot of these modules are also on backorder with no timeframe for when they'll be back in stock (I live quite far from everything) and I haven't seen a single Tiptop buchla module pop up on my local used exchange... This probably means they are keepers, which is a great thing, and you've certainly opened my eyes to incorporating some buchla elements into my system. The whole idea of combining East and West coast also appeals to me. I'm especially intrigued by the Dual Oscillator Model 258t, the Source of Uncertainty Model 266t and the Dannysound Timbre.

Well, the four Electrosmith VCAs aren't a bad idea...for modulation and CVs. These are linear, DC-coupled VCAs, which are better used for those purposes. For audio, you want exponential VCAs with AC-coupling, which is why you often see VCAs such as Veils, Intellijel's Dual VCA, etc used so often; since these have a control per VCA that can shift the VCA's response between full linear and full exponential.

That is a perfect explanation of something my system is clearly missing. Thank you!

Gonna mess with this, starting with a bigger and portable cab off the bat.

Portability is not an issue for me. I won't be playing any gigs nor bring the system travelling. I can see why you went with the bigger case, but what I like about the doepfer low cost base is that I can always add another doepfter lowcost ontop of it. I also quite enjoy that it's made of wood, which makes easier to either paint or varnish or even leave raw.

While it definitely costs more than the initial plan, you probably won't need to add anything to this for years to come. You WON'T exhaust this build's possibilities!

I'm overwhelmed by the thought you put into this rack on my behalf. I've read your module rundown multiple times now and am more impressed each time with how you've shaped it. I will definitely return to it again and again as I learn more about eurorack in general. Again, thank you very much!

@farkas
Thank you so much for your words of wisdom, it was massively helpful!

I do have another electro-smith VCA like the one already in the rack. I suppose I could just install them both giving me a total of 4 pure VCAs?

Maths has Rise/Fall and so does the Mother-32, so they will have to do in a pinch until I expand both my budget and my knowledge. A proper ADSR envelope is hereby added to my wish list for the future, as is øchd or something similar. I rather enjoyed øchd in VCV, but the Batumi seems more practical... I'm hoping playing with the LFO options on Maths, Pams and the Disting will help me hear what exactly I want in an LFO. There are so many that I'm finding it almost impossible to choose right now.

Great points about Pams. Would adding MI Marbles alleviate the menu diving for controlling tempo and triggers? I was hoping it would.
Yes, Disting is intended merely as a beginner stopover gap filler sorta thing. Like @Shakespeare wrote below you, it also contains a sorta tape delay, which I like the sound of, and it didn't break the bank as I picked it up 2nd hand.

Filters and/or wavefolders added to wishlist. Thank you, again, this was massively helpful!

@Shakespeare
First of all, I love your plays :D

There's a mixer on the rack in the form of the Behringer 305 EQ/Mixer/Output. It's not ideal, but I was hoping it would do for my modest starter rack? To be frank, I'm unsure exactly how it's 'parametric EQ' performs and chose it mainly for the mixer, pedal and headphone output.

A random source like the ones you mentioned is a very good suggestion and one I did not think of. I thought I could patch Pams to Marbles and get something similar to Wogglebugs bursts of triggers, but if I'm understanding it right, you're talking about something like a noise generator? I'm intrigued. If you have the time to do so, please tell me more.

You've also been massively helpful. Just getting some eyes on my rack has been very, very helpful!

Hi everyone

I recently picked up a Mother-32 and now I'm hooked. I've been trying to build up a rack, have acquired a few 2nd hand modules and now I'm looking for some feedback.

What I already have:

• Disting mk4
• Pams
• Maths
• 2x Electro-smith VCAs (Only 1 in rack atm)
• Mother-32 (Not in rack)

Also:

• MIDI controller
• Microcosm Hologram (granular, reverb, looper pedal)

What I'm considering as a setup in a Doepfer Low cost base rack:

The story so far...

The idea is to create a semi-generative system for noodling; maybe something like a high quality Buddha box. I'm in no way a professionel musician, nor do I harbor aspirations to be one, I just really enjoy the sounds coming from especially the mutable instrument modules and would like to create a system capable of playing these outside VCV. Like almost everyone else on the planet, I work with computers for a living, so I would love to be able to create something simple and flow-state conducive to coding and writing. Ideally, I'd like a system I could "play" or tweak in between blocks of code or when struggling with writer's block... I suppose a room with a view and a fireplace to tend would be perfect, but that's not in my budget, so naturally I looked into the second-most expensive thing next to buying a house, i.e. building a eurorack setup.

Module walkthrough

Pamela's NEW workout Been reading a lot of beginner guides to modular and going through a few courses in VCV. A clock seems somewhat essential, Pams was on my list of clocks and so when a used one cropped up on a local exchange, I picked it up as my first proper module, as it seemed like a safe bet.
MI Marbles Had a little trouble distingising this from Pams, but playing with VCV I finally worked out that it's sorta one module split into 2, where the two play/trigger(?) in relation to one another. If I were to add this to my rack, it would be as a more "playable" clock, if that makes sense?
MI Ears Wanted a Make Noise Morphagene, but couldn't quite justify the cost. Found this instead for adding external sound sources into the eurorack. The contact mic is a fun bonus, but I doubt I'll use it much. External sources aren't on the top of my list, but I worked in radio documentaries in another life and fear I'll end up wanting to add some backdrops (rain, fire, cracking ice, birds, etc) from my recorder at one point or another.
MI Plaits Another safe-ish bet. This is one of the first modules I played around with in VCV and it seems an incredibly flexible sound source. Instead of this, I was considering the 4MS Ensemble Oscillator, since I don't think I'll be utilising the percussive aspects of Plaits much, except perhaps to play with the ears contact mic. I'm still kinda in between the two or even considering both.
MI Rings & MI Beads The way these two sound together is just incredible to me. The hope is I'd be able to achieve something I'd consider soothing and melodic quite easily, so that I could always return to these two when frustrated with all the other modules. I've considered clones of all the MI stuff, but ultimately I wanted to support the author and the commitment to opensource.
Make Noise Maths Already purchased this. I intend to use it as a mixer while learning the other modules and then do a deep dive into it later.
Disting MK4 Since this is a small system and I'm just beginning to dip my toe into the modular waters, I saw this used and picked it up immediately as a stand-in for what might be missing on this list.
Behringer 305 EQ/Mixer/Output This was one of the toughest calls for me. An output module. There are so many! I narrowed down what I need to a) headphone output, b) TS or TRS output for my effect pedal and c) a simple mixer. Tho this module is very expensive in HP, it is comparatively cheap in cold, hard cash.
Mother-32 Nearly forgot to add this! The hope is I can trigger the mother irregularly for some moogish bass beneath the plinky-plonk of the MI modules.
A few comments on my audio setup I own no external mixers or usb audio interfaces. The idea is to run the Mother-32 alongside the rest of the system, then use Maths and the 305 to mix and finally output to the microcosm hologram. I went for the microcosm over a pure reverb, because the microcosm can be a pure reverb, but the added looper appears an "easy fix" for quickly changing things.

So, there it is...

Will it work? I don't know. I'm sure I haven't thought of everything. There are no filters (Doepfer wasp?) for instance, barely any LFOs, nor any FX modules? Any and all comments are more than welcome. This is one of the more daunting shopping sprees of my life and even a little reassurance would go a long way.