MY FIRST RACK - 14U 126HP

Hi to all the users who comes to see into this. I hope you all are doing well as its possible this crazy days!

I was dreaming about my first Eurorack for years now and finally, I have a chance to actually build it.

I know that it's better to start with the smaller system to understand and learn everything but I'm just not that type of person. Im diving into with all in (as I do always). Also, tbh I've started with 3U but after months of research - I came up with 14U 126HP. This is just how it is and nothing could be changed in that way as I've already bought this case from MDLRCASE: Click

So down to the case, my questions and something what I see in my every dream lately. I'm sorry if I will ask too many questions but that's the only way I can get the proper help/opinion from someone who has the experience here.

1. The idea:
I mostly produce IDM-ish stuff. Inspired by music from: Mike Parker, Squarepusher, Frank Bretschneider, Komet, Phoenecia, Pan sonic and so on and so on. The rack's idea firstly was to make Drum oriented rack but as you can see - it went further than that. But the idea did not disappear anywhere so its still important to have good drums here. I've researched a lot and came up with that modules drum-wise you can see here. In my opinion - I have all the tools here to produce strong sound designed drum elements. LMK if I'm wrong.

Drums: I have drum sequencer from Erica and LXR from them. I have 2 kick modules - Modbase and Kickall. I have BIA. Noise plethora for some perc/noisy sounds. Quark for some percussions. Plonk. Fracture by WMD. Quark's percussions from End Times Modular. Fracture from WMD. LO-FIVE from End Times Modular. SY0.5
'Synths': Piston Honda MKIII which I've already purchased. Shapeshifter. Generate 3.
Sequencing: Main sequencer for drums here should be Drum Sequencer from Erica.
I have octatrack mk2 and cv.ocd midi to cv converter. Also, I've finally got the chance to buy Cirklon 2 so its on its way with CVIO.
Anyways I've added the relatively small sequencer from Copper Traces to be able to easy sequence inside the rack.
So as I can see from here - there should be no probs with sequencing with all the tools I have on my hands. lmk if I'm wrong.
LFO's: I have Malekko's Quad LFO and thats only dedicated lfo I've added so far. There are some possibilities with Pam, Disting EX, Maths, ornament & crime. Do you think I need more? Do you recommend that quad lfo?
Envelopes: I've added Quadigy from Klavis; Quad Envelope from Malekko; Zadar; Percall for quad decay. and thats it. + ornament & crime; Disting; Pam; Do you think I need more of them? Is quadigy good choice? what about that one from Malekko?
VCAs: Ok. I have 3 Veils here. I've already bought 1. I also have that Quadratt 1U. Do you think I need more VCAs?
Gates: I have added that TRAM8 from LPZW which should work fine with My Octatrack. + CV.OCD Midi to CV has 12 gate outputs. Do you think I need more?
Quantizing: I have that quantizer from Mosaic. Some possibilities with ornament and crime. But I'm thinking about adding Intellijel Scales or something like that. Just another quantizer. What do you think?
FXs: I use bunch of pedals so I wanted to compromise here and go without fxs at all. Anyways, if you have another idea - lmk please.
Mixer: This is where I feel the weakest :D Just cant decide how many channels do I need and what to choose. What you can see here: 6 channels on LIFEFORMS and 6 channels on Panmix. I thought to route master channel from LIFEFORMS to PANMIX. So there will be 6 channels from LIFEFORMS and +5 from Panmix. The master output from PanMix should go to Output module which you can see there from Befaco. Is it a solution? Are these channels enough? Are these mixers good enough? Do you have better solution in my case?
Filters: 3 dedicated filters. One from Telemark which I just love because of some experience with Telemark synth; One that complex Rossum filter and one Wasp. You think I have enough of them? Do you have any other ideas?
Mults: I have one Passive mult from Mosaic (I've already got this with Quantizer for a good price) and 4 1U Buff Mult from Intellijel. Also I have ordered that stackable jacks. Do you think I will lack of them?

I still have place left for some 3U and 1U modules.

Im thinking about a distortion module... I have distortion pedal and compressor so it would be ok if I will use them instead. What do you think?

What I've already bought:
* CV.OCD MIDI To CV Converter Box
* SY0.5
* Telemark Filter Module
* Piston Honda MkIII
* Rossum Morpheus
* Erica Synths Drum Sequencer
* Intellijel Plonk
* Veils V2
* Befaco Kickall
* Idum
* Intellijel Shapeshifter
* Wasp Filter
* Links (1x)
* LXR DRUM
* Befaco Percall
* Mosaic 1U Quantizer
* Mosaic passive mult black
* Zadar

So, the biggest fear here is to miss something. For example Sound Sources. Do you think I have enough sound sources for the purpose I've already mentioned earlier? Do you think I have enough modulation? Any general suggestion and any opinion about any modules are highly appreciated! Just let me know what do you think if you have more experience than me (0).

OK. Now it seems like I've asked almost everything from the modular world :D But that's how it supposed to be I guess? Anyways, Thanks a lot to everyone who will come down to this and give me a reply.

Peace and Bleep
Levan

EDITED Nov 7th 2022, 15:52

I have nothing to add to your rack but I will say the benefit to FX modules is having the ability to manipulate the parameters in realtime. Distortion, Bitcrushing, Phase and Pitch Shifting, Ring Modulation, Reverb, Delay, Comb Filtering, etc, etc. all become way more expressive when they are under your control with modulation. So a snare with say, a pulsating gated reverb tail or delay combined with some modulating bitcrushing and frequency shifting is gonna sound incredibly complex and wont mentally tax you, that is, you can quickly patch simple sources into dramatic and uniquely multi-layered creations with little effort—so you can focus more of your time on the actual quality of your ideas and not problem solving. I think with pedals you're limited by how many hands you can get on the knobs or you might just step on a phaser and be done with it. You know? Music is all about movement, or more specifically, the energy in the moving. #1 goal in modular building, like instrument playing, is finding the best way to maximize energy, control it, and do it efficiently.

Steady State Fate Triptych is worth checking out for distortion manipulation (and gives you another filter and flanging-comb fx): Steady State Fate Triptych Promo Video

EDITED Nov 7th 2022, 17:03

@Toccata
Thanks. Actually you are right about FXs. I will think more about it. Just had the fear to miss something so that why I was kinda compromising. Will do more research about it! Thank you!

SSF Triptych looks solid. Need to check how it sounds from the studio. Thanks!

Good call on the larger MDLR 14 case, I have one and it is fantastic! I recommend more modulation sources. Perhaps Acid Rain Technology Maestro that gives you six channels of modulation with many options to shape LFOs and so forth.

Good call on the larger MDLR 14 case, I have one and it is fantastic! I recommend more modulation sources. Perhaps Acid Rain Technology Maestro that gives you six channels of modulation with many options to shape LFOs and so forth.
-- benscott
Yes, that case looks really solid!

hmm, thanks for the suggestion. I missed that module somehow. Cheers!

Anyone wants to share some thoughts on this? :S

Definitely get more modulation sources. I run out of mine fast and had to add a lot. Maestro, Quadrax, Marbles, Maths and Batumi work great in these areas for example.

Hey,

Nice rack! There's a lot going on there. As you already thought about, you're probably going to want some VCOs as sources. You've got plenty of modulation in there. You can patch everything all over the place in circular routes, but at the end of the chain, you're only really changing whatever initial wave you start with, but you have to have it to start! The Piston Honda is a wavetable, which sounds great, but really isn't the same as an analog, or even a digital, VCO. With VCOs, you can patch back practically any single output into another VCO and FM the bajeezus out of it, run it through a filter or two and get the same result as a wall of filters, or even a wavetable module (almost). The point is that one doesn't need to have loads of modules to make good tracks. You just need the right modules for your music.

I use mostly analog VCOs, such as the Castor & Pollux, four Electrosmith 3340s, and a few of Doepfer's VCOs I've bought for my racks and tracks. Pick any of those and patch them back into themselves for some great sounding FM. If I need it to be more harsh, the Doepfer Wasp is an excellent filtering tool. I have two of them and they make it into a track whenever I need to brighten the sound up. Intellijel's Polaris is another excellent and versatile filter.

Envelopes and amps are your friends. The Zadar is great. I use the MI Blinds which I really like b/c its also a polarizer. I've never worked with the Quadigy so I can't comment. I will say that no two EGs are quite the same and you definitely want range and sensitivity when it comes to an EG. Doepfer's EGs aren't sensitive enough for me. Having good EGs is critically important.

You can never have too many VCAs. The MI Veils are fine, but I think there are better ones available. The Xaoc Tallin is one of my favs. Lots of gain that can be pushed to clip in a nice toasty and pleasing way. I have two and they get used a lot. I wish they were less wide. VCAs can be used everywhere for many different applications. I always find I'm short a VCA when things start getting super involved!

Lastly, I will say that simper is better, especially when (if) you're performing. You're probably never going to use every module every patch and after buying tens of thousands of dollars worth of modules, I find that I use only a handful on any track. There are some that are always used and some that I really should sell because they rarely if ever get used. Anyway, nice work. Get some VCOs is my only advice.

Thanks man! Super helpful reply!

Hey,

Nice rack! There's a lot going on there. As you already thought about, you're probably going to want some VCOs as sources. You've got plenty of modulation in there. You can patch everything all over the place in circular routes, but at the end of the chain, you're only really changing whatever initial wave you start with, but you have to have it to start! The Piston Honda is a wavetable, which sounds great, but really isn't the same as an analog, or even a digital, VCO. With VCOs, you can patch back practically any single output into another VCO and FM the bajeezus out of it, run it through a filter or two and get the same result as a wall of filters, or even a wavetable module (almost). The point is that one doesn't need to have loads of modules to make good tracks. You just need the right modules for your music.

I use mostly analog VCOs, such as the Castor & Pollux, four Electrosmith 3340s, and a few of Doepfer's VCOs I've bought for my racks and tracks. Pick any of those and patch them back into themselves for some great sounding FM. If I need it to be more harsh, the Doepfer Wasp is an excellent filtering tool. I have two of them and they make it into a track whenever I need to brighten the sound up. Intellijel's Polaris is another excellent and versatile filter.

Envelopes and amps are your friends. The Zadar is great. I use the MI Blinds which I really like b/c its also a polarizer. I've never worked with the Quadigy so I can't comment. I will say that no two EGs are quite the same and you definitely want range and sensitivity when it comes to an EG. Doepfer's EGs aren't sensitive enough for me. Having good EGs is critically important.

You can never have too many VCAs. The MI Veils are fine, but I think there are better ones available. The Xaoc Tallin is one of my favs. Lots of gain that can be pushed to clip in a nice toasty and pleasing way. I have two and they get used a lot. I wish they were less wide. VCAs can be used everywhere for many different applications. I always find I'm short a VCA when things start getting super involved!

Lastly, I will say that simper is better, especially when (if) you're performing. You're probably never going to use every module every patch and after buying tens of thousands of dollars worth of modules, I find that I use only a handful on any track. There are some that are always used and some that I really should sell because they rarely if ever get used. Anyway, nice work. Get some VCOs is my only advice.
-- frankdog