Would this rack be any good?

So This is my current rack, which I'm using with an Arturia Minibrute 2S.

So far so good. I intend to get rid of the Minibrute at some point and replace it with some more modules, I'ven been trying different options and I came up with this one that I think would work fine for me.

Would this rack be any good?

I know a larger rack would be much better, but I already own the Rackbrute and I plan to keep using it until I run out of space. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'll need to get a second rack if keep going down the Eurorack rabbit hole.

What kind of music/sound are you going for?

There's actually only one change I think I can suggest here: swap out the Pico Atten for a Pico A Mixer to submix your VCOs before sending them onto the filters. Losing a couple of attenuators is a decent tradeoff for being able to mix your oscillators and beef up your sound with detuning, etc. Plus, I couldn't find a similar set of attenuverters for that 3 hp space; those would've been preferable to the mixer, honestly, because you'd also get the ability to invert modulation signals in addition to rescaling their levels...and inverse mod signals can be quite useful, especially inverted envelopes.

The other irksome part here is the presence of the power supply module right next to an audio module. Normally, that's something of a no-no due to the potential of noise creeping into the audio chain due to close proximity to a noisy element of the system. You'd actually want that next to something that's a modulation generator, utility (non-audio) module, etc, but right now it looks like there's no recourse for this.

What kind of music/sound are you going for?
-- farkas

Most of the time I'm going for kind of techno and downtempo. Drums are coming from an external drum machine, drumbrute impact, that would be clocked by the pamela's.

Modular drums can be pretty cool, but they can also be quiet expensive, so for now I guess I'll keep using the drum machine.

There's actually only one change I think I can suggest here: swap out the Pico Atten for a Pico A Mixer to submix your VCOs before sending them onto the filters. Losing a couple of attenuators is a decent tradeoff for being able to mix your oscillators and beef up your sound with detuning, etc. Plus, I couldn't find a similar set of attenuverters for that 3 hp space; those would've been preferable to the mixer, honestly, because you'd also get the ability to invert modulation signals in addition to rescaling their levels...and inverse mod signals can be quite useful, especially inverted envelopes.
-- Lugia

Yes, an attenuverter would be great. I've been looking around and it seems like Patching Panda has a dual 3hp attenuverter with additional sum and inverted sum outs.

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/patching-panda-flipanda

This could be a good replacement for the Pico Att, what do you think?

Regarding the power supply, I guess I could move the modules around and try to have the power suple next to a modulation source instead. Anyway, as I understand, having it like this could potentially add some noise into the audio path, but it would n0t damage the module itself, right?

Thanks for your reply Lugia, I really appreciate it.

This is a cool setup, for sure. Just a few things I was thinking about as I looked at it: Are the two filters necessary, or would you find any value in replacing one of the filters with a wavefolder like the uFold II? You can patch into your MiniBrute filter if I remember correctly. Also, the Happy Nerding 3xMIA is a 6hp 6 channel mixer/attenuverter/offset/etc. that you may find useful. Finally, I've got a Phonogene (earlier version of the Morphagene) and it's kind of fun for sample manipulation, but if I had it to do over I would have just picked up a decent delay like the Mimeophon instead. Would save quite a bit of hp in a small case.
Just my thoughts, but you know what might work best for your sound and style. Good luck and have fun!

Hey Farkas,

The Happy Nerding mixers are really interesting, in fact I used the 3x stereo mixer in the first draft of this rack but finally replaced it with the Intellijel Mixup because it can do 2xmono and 2xstereo plus it has mutes, which I think I'll be using quite often.

I've heard mixed opinions about the Morphagene and I'm eager to give it a try anyway. I'll be purchasing it last, just in case, because it takes a lot of space which I may decide it's better used with some other modules.

Thanks for sharing your opinion!

I also try to figure out a nice setup with the Minibrute.

https://www.modulargrid.net/e/forum/posts/index/8536

At first site your setup is simple and I am almost sure anything can help to improve the versatility of the Minibrute. I think multiples, an Expert Sleepers Distinc, LFOs and ADSRs are things you can never have enough of

EDITED Apr 13th 2020, 16:07

Thanks for your take lovscho,

For this small rack I think I can use external splitters instad of mults, that saves some space. I agree on the LFOs and ADSR thing though. I'll see if I can manage with the Zadar and the Batumi, otherwise I guess I'll have to replace the Morphagene with some other modules.

Hey again,

I’ve finally decided to go without the Morphagene for now, it’s a pretty cool module but I think this small cab will be much more fun to use if I add a few utilities instead.

Removing the Morphagene frees 20hp in the top row and this is what I changed:

I moved the Pamela’s New Workout to the top row and it now sits between the PS and the VCOs, this should avoid any noise from creeping into the audio chain as Lugia pointed out. I guess the Pam’s will be setup and forget most of the time, so from all the cv modulation modules it kind of makes sense to put this one besides the PS.

Then I added a wavefolder as Farkas suggested, but instead of the uFold II I decided to go with the AntiMatter Crossfold because it can also be used as a crossfader or a VCA, that will surely be useful in this small cab.

In the second row I replaced the Mixup with the Happy Nerding 3xMIA as Farkas suggested too. I would lose the mutes in the Mixup though, but the acid rain Switchblade can swich, mix and mute audio or cv, so far so good. Also adding a kinks to rectify signals, do basic logic or use the s&h and noise. Pretty cool, can’t wait to have this guys in my rack.

Ok, so there’s 8hp left so far. I was planning to add a classic ADSR at this point, something like the MFB ADSR with CV ins for the different stages, but then I stumbled upon the Make Noise Function.

The Function is quite interesting but I’m afraid I don’t fully understand its potential yet and I’m unsure if it really complements this rack. I know it can be used as an ASR envelope generator or as an LFO too, a part from that I don’t know what other tricks it can be used for, but the EOR and EOC outs make me thing there’s a lot of creative patching possibilities in this module.

So, does this rack still make sense? what about the Function? Should I replace it with an ADSR or with something completely different? I think the rack kind of makes sense for its size but your feedback is more than welcome.