House / Techno eurorack build

Ok this is what I have so far. The bottom row is a 84hp Nifty case and I want to turn that into a dedicated drum rack, the top 2 rows will serve as synth voices and are 121 hp.

So I will be moving things like the BIA to the drum rack but what else would you move/add? I’m quite liking the Vpme.de module

I have had previous advice from Lugia who has been wonderful and I took on board many of his ideas and suggestions. I’m yet to buy a wavefolder but still deciding between tip top, Intellijel and Doepfer . Any suggestions? For now I have that kind of idea on the rubicon 2 and I have an algorithm in Braids. I like the intellijel Wavefolder one though as I use it all the time in Softubes modular and was the reason I bought the hardware version of the rubicon too. For his logic module suggestion I have these in the distings and I think I need to learn how to harness these better before I buy a dedicated module.

Do I need more vca’s I have two built into Braids and Plaits?

Is there an advantage to buying a dedicated fx module, like fx aid xl?

I’m finding that a lot of my patches somehow end up using maths in the signal path and I end up messing with that thing for hours as soon as I see another flashing blinking light show up which as a jack near it. What else is like this?

Please don’t ask about my chipz and cellsz from cre8audio. The less said about them the better. If you are a newbie reading this stay away from their cheap as chipz(sic) products and invest in something like the BIA instead who account for drawing 5v power from 12v rails and also give you the option of using dedicated 5v If required. They will blame everybody else even you if you try to contact them and not take any accountability for poor design.

I’m in two minds about fx and a better mixer as I’m probably more inclined to record into Ableton/Bitwig And so the Es8 is really great for that side. I don’t plan on live shows lol..I’m not mylarmelodies but he is a constant source of inspiration.

Is there anything essential I am missing?

The Hermod is going to be paired with a Digitakt.

I know all this sounds mad and erratic and I know maybe the advice maybe to learn what I have but this is taking me back to what I loved before I became very DAW focused, it’s not knowing and making music that has awakened my passions and I just want to keep wiring jacks without really knowing fully what the desired effect will be. I hope some of you may be able to relate?

Any help would be appreciated? tia

I’m yet to buy a wavefolder but still deciding between tip top, Intellijel and Doepfer . Any suggestions?

I would recommend taking a look at the Joranalogue Fold 6. I'm very impressed with that one.
Do I need more vca’s I have two built into Braids and Plaits?

Yes. If you would like to modulate your modulators... fade LFOs in and out, etc.
Is there an advantage to buying a dedicated fx module, like fx aid xl?

I think so. Modular effects typically allow for CV control of multiple parameters. That's not something you get with pedals or most other hardware. You can automate things in your DAW, but that's not as fun. :)

I’m finding that a lot of my patches somehow end up using maths in the signal path and I end up messing with that thing for hours as soon as I see another flashing blinking light show up which as a jack near it. What else is like this?

Quadrax with the Qx expander, Stages, and Befaco Rampage come to mind. There are plenty of cool modulation sources that would benefit from the addition of logic modules and a small matrix mixer too.

-- greenfly

Have fun and good luck!

Well, on the waveshaper thing...I'm not quite so jazzed by the Doepfer stuff here. It's basic, inexpensive...but rather simplistic when compared to a lot of other possibilities. The Tiptop has the ability to throw two waveforms at each other via its dual inputs, plus you also get a suboscillator divider...this is similar to Antimatter's Crossfold, albeit considerably cheaper. Also, that new Intellijel Bifold is pretty attractive...it's similar to the Tiptop in some ways, but it offers a CVable crossfader to shift between timbres.

But don't neglect a few others if you can cram 'em in...most notably Random*Source's Eurorack clones of the Serge TWS and VCM, Dannysound's DIY clone of the Buchla 259's timbre section, Bastl's Waver which offers wavefolding AND VCO mixing, or Circuit Abbey's Gravity Well, which does what they refer to as "asymmetrical" wavefolding. Nice stuff...just depends on what space you've got plus which sort of "school of thought" you'd like to follow as far as the circuit's concerned.

Yes @Lugia, the Random*Source Wave Multiplier is topnotch, big vote from me for that one.

+1 for Bastl Waver

I like all the doepfer wavefolders - I have all 4 - but I use them for video

They can be picked up very cheaply used - so are worth a try - even if you resell them

for audio I'd pick one of the other ones though - or a Befaco Chopping Kinky

I'd also want more basic utilities for modulation purposes - kinks and a matrix mixer would go a long way, possibly a sequential switch

EDITED Mar 8th 2021, 08:10

Thankyou Farkas, Lugia, troux, 33PO, Jim for the responses.

Ok so for VCA's, I am pretty set on the new veils, which gives me 4 of them ( is this a good choice?), The means with the two built into Braids and Plaits, I have 8 of them. ( Eudemonia and Behringer)... but honestly on the modulation front, I like doing all this kind of stuff in Bitwig and it's what I specifically bought the ES-8 for :)

FX Aid XL for fx which Lugia suggested to me before. It's leading me down the path of having the track pretty much ready on each channel with the only extra bit required being general mixing tasks in the DAW. I have a whole heap of UAD plugins and pretty much everything from Plugin Alliance as these serve me well on that front and is why I am inclined on wanting to carry on using these as I am competent with doing stuff inside DAWS.

I have the Quadrax on my wish list as again Lugia suggested this but on other threads I have seen Jim mention the illustrated manual for Maths an so bought that ( this was a good decision ) and although I said I don't want to know everything, I still need to know/understand the why a little bit better.

Jim- Which ones are the others please? I was including this one in my list A136, which I can get for £60. Lugia, I think the HP is putting me off on the Tip Top one and if I want to generate sub, the new BASS Mint plugin from Unfiltered Audio is excellent for this side. I also like the effect of wavefolding when its not extreme, so I think for the price and from what I have heard on demos, this A136 looks like it will be the one, but I'm curious about the other 3 Doepfer ones now. I have kinks and it's reading yours and Jim's posts that made me look into both of these so I'm glad I bought them.

Please someone tell me what I am able to do with a matrix mixer? ....and is the Doepfer one a good one to have? Again fairly inexpensive so I think I'd go for this.

I may have to park my drum rack and just use the Digitakt for this side which I'm enjoying. Parameter locks baby :)

EDITED Mar 8th 2021, 19:07

a-116, a-136, a-137-1, a-137-2 are the ones I have

the maths illustrated guide is a collection of 32 self-patches for maths

this introduces patch programming of a single module (maths obviously) and will massively help in terms of how you think about patching overall - especially in terms of constructing complex functions from simple building blocks - this is a key skill for modular synthesis - which is why I always recommend maths as the first modulation source - even if you have lfos and envelope generators, mixers and attenuverters - get maths!!! there is nothing wrong with overlap of functionality, especially when it comes to modulation and utilities

matrix mixer:
mix copies of modulation sources to increase the number of modulation sources you have

feedback mixing - mix 3 inputs with an output - possibly filtering or otherwise modifying the output before mixing it back in

use to set up send/returns for effects - ie stereo signal in to 1 & 2 output of 1 & 2 to effect effect back into 3 & 4 inputs - mix 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 to outputs 3 & 4 (or similar with mono signals, more effects etc etc)

and whatever else you would use a mixer for...

the main disadvantage of the Doepfer Matrix Mixer is size (takes a lot of hp - 20!)

the main advantage of the Doefper Matrix Mixer is size (ergonomics)

Currently I have 3 matrix mixers - a pusherman, a york modular and a reverse landfill video matrix, I can see myself adding the doepfer, as well, at some point in the future!

VCAs - 2 for audio & 2 for modulation per voice - is a good starting point...

1 vca for basic note on/off
1 vca for overall volume - so you can bring the voice in/out
1 vca for modulation
1 vca for modulating the modulation
OR just 2 for modulation

not all voices will need 4 vcas, but some may need 10 - depemnding on hoow much modulation/modulation the modulation you do!

once you get into the technique of modulating modulation - you use a lot of vcas!!!!!

Veils is a great VCA - I don't have the new version but I do have 3 of the older version (I haven't counted, but I think I have over 40 vcas including those embedded in plaits, for example)

EDITED Mar 8th 2021, 15:38

you could kill two birds with one stone using passive LPGs instead of VCAs, if used for handling volume of different layers then LPG are great because you could potentially save on envelopes even, just send a trigger out of LL8 into the LPG voltage control and it should decay with a natural envelope, so you get vca + envelope in a tiny space, for example I bought a couple of takaab's LPG and they are 2hp for 2 LPGs, and it even comes with TONE control, so you can have longer or shorter decays... I've been using these since I got them and I love the sound of it.

Great suggestion @brunomolteni, I love my Takaab LPGs.

I don't have a passive lpg - but I completely agree that they can replace vcas in some cases - mostly audio I would supect

still need vcas though - for modulating the modulation, non-filtered audio etc etc

Oh, speaking of Takaab, they dropped something last week (I think) that ought to be on your watchlist, greenfly...and that's their new VLH module. You get a ring mod, noise gen, and most germaine here, a 1 and 2 octave suboscillator...in a whopping 2 hp. As someone who really enjoys the suboscillator capabilities of certain Roland synths (SH-101 and MC-202 most notably), the ability to drop that bass in parallel to another higher line just drives crowds NUTS.