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I saw an Arturia 3U RackBrute on Reverb for a pretty decent price and got the idea to build an effects processor for my DrumBrute. The plan is to run the individual outs on the DrumBrute into filters and delays and get some out of this world drum sounds. This is a first draft and I would welcome and comments or suggestions. Thanks for looking.


Just a few things I was thinking about as I looked over your rack. You probably don't need either the buffered mult, the ADSR, the Viol Ruina, or the Intellijel Outs. Passive mults will work fine for most purposes, and in a rack this small I would recommend using a few of those star-shaped external signal splitter things. Buffered mults are mainly for splitting 1v/oct CV with no drop. ADSR envelopes would be useful if you are playing with a keyboard, but less useful with percussion. A Quadrax (4x AD envelopes/LFOs/etc.) or something similar might be more useful in place of the ADSR.
I haven't personally found a need for a line-level output module yet, though you might. Just keep an eye on your levels and you should be fine without. More than likely, you will need the opposite: a preamp module that boosts line level signals to modular level. The Viol Ruina is a low pass gate which is good for creating percussive sounds from oscillators and noise sources, but you don't have any of those here. I think you'll be disappointed with the usefulness of that module as an effect with your DrumBrute. Which leads me into this question: What can modular do for your DrumBrute that some effects pedals cannot? Why choose this format for an effects processor? Will you be branching out into synthesis later?
Most importantly, you probably want this to be fun so I would recommend looking into modules that have a lot of CV control. Your delay and ring mod have very little control. The Disting is mega-useful (so I would keep it), but not very fun to use. Maybe take a look at a Happy Nerding FX Aid XL. It's only 6hp, but has three CV controllable parameters and a bunch of effects.
In small racks like this, it's common to try to squeeze in a million tiny modules. Instead, get modules that are hands-on AND CV controllable, which usually means larger. You will almost certainly want a bigger rack in the long run to get the most out of modular. Whether it's the RackBrute 6U or a Mantis... Start planning for that now.
Have fun and good luck.


Won't work. You have no input modules that can step the signal level up to synth levels, so there's literally no way to input anything from the Drumbrute. And as a result, there's also no envelope followers, meaning that you won't be able to trigger that Befaco ADSR from your audio peaks (which you'll need to do to process percussives well).

farkas makes a very good point: go to a larger cab. I have no idea why people seem to think they need to jam ALL of their functionality into a tiny one-row case...except...STOP WATCHING YOUTUBE, DAMMIT!!!!! Just because someone on there with extensive experience can do a build in 104 x 1U does NOT mean that everyone could or SHOULD do this! In fact, save for very specific-mission builds, I never advocate using small, single-row cabs.

There's also a matter of cost. This runs about $2500 for the modules alone. farkas mentions stompboxes as a potential solution, and it's something you might want to entertain for simple processing tasks such as this. You could spend that same amount on some VERY screwy, trippy pedals and wind up with processing for the Drumbrute that makes it sound like nothing else on the planet. Or better, spending HALF of that, and still arriving at the same result. Or even BETTER, getting on eBay or Reverb and getting some super-cheap rack processing gear, which goes for dimes on the dollar these days since everyone's gone over to plug-ins. F'rinstance, back when the Lexicon LXP-15 came out, it went for about $1400...but now, minty ones go for about a TENTH of that used.

Modular isn't always the right option...and where solely processing is concerned, using proper effects processors (and combining new devices with older ones) is the correct way to go. Modular isn't a panacea, and this is one case that shows that.


Veils!!!! 20db gain available on 4 channels - perfect for audio input

completely agree about the too small case and youtube being a bad influence on this and modular not necessarily being the right way to go, especially cost wise - drum racks and effects racks being some of the prime candidates for that

"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia

Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!

sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities