Hi everyone!

As I'm about to enter the modular world I'd like some serious feedback on a rack I believe should fit my needs, but since I only used non-modular synths and digital ones I'd really like some input here.

I need this to be an all in one stand alone sound design workspace. Mostly for non musical purposes.
It has to be extremely flexible and with a lot of modulation at disposal (thats the reason for the 2 Maths). I don't feel the need for a sequencer and if I really will need one I'll use the Midi in. And yes I'm a delay lover.

Please feel free to suggest any change or point out inconsistencies!

EDITED Jan 28th 2015, 22:10

if people posted a video or photo of their actual rack it would weed out the FANTASY racks from the real ones

i would like to buy or sell with unicorn members only :)!

regular ModularGrid membership should include some sort of social media link
because they are still pretty anonymous :(

also could you include a "sale feedback" so i know how past transactions went with that user

EDITED Jan 28th 2015, 18:01

Fantastic!

Might be worth considering adding some additional "verifications" and a "feedback" loop but this is a great start.

Verifications could range from Paypal xfer to connecting a 3rd party account like MW to creating a way more complex verified ID (eek: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/450)

Feedback could range from a simple rating, score, comments, to reporting a buyer/seller. Thanks for working on this, the notification feature is gonna be handy. Hope it can be kept simple and people honest. :)

EDITED Jan 28th 2015, 16:35

when techies build modules.

Sure. I have absolutely no problems if you show a MG rack in your video.

yes 4 channels would be good - that is what i thought when i first looked at the unit

thanks for clearing up the the breakout boards :) i was thinking this would take up a row (84hp)

as for the internal or external screen ?
isn't the ipod connected via lightning jack ?
or is it integrated in into the unit ?

-- FSK1138

The iPod will be integrated from the inside but should be easily removable. We will make sure that you can plug it from one of the faceplate's USB boards as well. But from a user interface standpoint, having it inside will be nicer, because the graphical user interface can be aligned with the channel's knobs.

buying and selling to members

-- FSK1138

We now have a marketplace with a nice search function and a notification feature!

Hello, It's me again.

I want to make a video, and I would like to use in it the rack that I have put together here. Do you grant me permission to do so? I would leave the ModularGrid logo at the bottom of the rack and clearly mention in the video that the racks were composed together at this website. A positive answer from you could lead more people to use your site and perhaps more inclined to take a Unicorn Account. What do you say?

Awesome! Looking forward to using it.

What is it?

The ModularGrid Marketplace is an area where private persons can trade their modules. The Marketplace is also tightly integrated in ModularGrids search engine and lets you run complex searches on offers via the Module Browser. A convenient notify function alerts you if someone offers a module you desire.

Unique Features

• The Marketplace is integrated in ModularGrids search engine. Not only can you search for a modules name, you can also do a more abstract search for a 8HP oscillator in Europe.
• You don't have to scan the database everyday when you are interested in a certain module. A convenient notify function informs you when someone offers a module you fancy.
• It's free.

How does it work?

Find

• Search for modules you are interested in on the Marketplace page. Filter by region.
• You can also use the Module Browser to do a more detailed search. E.G. search for an 8HP Oscillator in Australia. Enable the Available in Marketplace drop down in the advanced search options to do that.
• All offers are also displayed on the corresponding Module Detail Pages.

Notify

On the Module Detail Pages you can make use of the Notify function for a specific module. You will get an email if someone offers a module you are interested in.
You can set your country in the user settings, so you only will get offers in your continent.

Buy

• Visit the Offer Detail Page to read more about the module.
• If you like it, contact the seller via the Contact seller button.
• From here on it's on your behalf to discuss payment options, shipping and the like. ModularGrid does not cover that.

Sell

• Visit the Module Detail Page of a module you'd like to sell.
• Click Offer on Marktplace and fill out the form.
• After you sold the module please mark it as sold on the Offer Detail Page or on your User Profile page.
• You can always delete an offer, if you have changed your mind.

Good Traders on the Marketplace

If you did a successful trade add your business partner to the Good Traders on the Marketplace thread.
That will build up trust and reputation over time.

Prerequisites

• To be able to list your modules on the Marketplace you need a regular ModularGrid membership. Anonymous accounts do not work.
• You have to be a member since at least 3 months.
• You can offer a maximum of 10 modules at a time

EDITED Mar 15th 2019, 18:07

yes 4 channels would be good - that is what i thought when i first looked at the unit

thanks for clearing up the the breakout boards :) i was thinking this would take up a row (84hp)

as for the internal or external screen ?
isn't the ipod connected via lightning jack ?
or is it integrated in into the unit ?

The module images on ModularGrid are uploaded by users, so their rights are not cleared by manufacturers.
Since it is a great and free way of advertising manufacturers typically do not complain. But dependent of the context of your video if you want to be sure it may be good to ask them.

We will start with an 8-channel model, but a future model could offer 4 channels only. Having an external screen would make the design a lot more complex. The beauty of using an iPod Touch is that it gives you not only a fantastic screen, but also a multi-touch interface, a powerful CPU, 512MB of RAM, 16GB of flash, a camera, a WiFi interface, a great operating system with a huge developer community, and many other goodies, for just $199. It's pretty hard to beat...

The unit is 42HP. We do not know yet if we will manage to cram all components onto a single backplane, but we're pretty hopeful that we will. If so, it should be pretty shallow, allowing you to stack multiple breakout boards on top of each others. When doing so, stacked boards will share their pin sets. And to be clear, all breakout boards are connected onto the module's backplane, therefore do not increase the amount of horizontal space you need to dedicate within your rack. 42HP is all you need for the submodular synthesizer and 8 1S breakout boards.

EDITED Jan 28th 2015, 07:19

looks great !! . abit of a monster .. perhaps a smaller unit with external screen .?
..also you mentions breakout boards ?
Analog Filter
Digital Signal Processor
Envelope Generator
Low Frequency Oscillator
Mixer
Oscillator
Phase Shifter
Sampler
Sequencer
Waveshaper
??
how big is this unit with all expanders ?

I would love some feedback on this submodular synthesizer concept.

I wish I could make a video with the racks I made. Do I have to ask permission to someone? To the manufacturers of all these modules? Are these original pictures from the manufacturers copyrighted? Or is it free to use?

EDITED Jan 28th 2015, 01:52

Beautiful setup. I'm a big Intellijel user myself. A few suggestions to help more with the generative aspects.

Don't miss out on the Quadra expander. It allows chained events, trigger delays, etc. Also, Be sure to use the Shapeshifter in LFO mode. Imagine all of that cross FM, wavetable morphing goodness as sometime chaotic, sometimes patterned CVs. Amazing. Next, look at the uMod 2, as it is not only a beautifully clean ring mod, but its a CV funhouse when you combine different speed modulation, LFOs, etc.

So I am building this thing for quasy self generative musical polyphony among other things.

Modules and case are in the mail (some are on back order I think, but they will come).

I desided to go all intellijel becouse they are quality and the range of modules realy fit with my way of thinking.

Top Right corner is 4 voice poly. 4x Dixie II, 4x uVCF, 2x uVCA.
These can all be used for other functions but can function as a 4x poly.

In the case there are 4 adsr envelopes and 8 ad envelopes (all can funtion as lfo also).

There is also a Rubicon osc for solo voiceing, Dr Octature 8 pole filter/lfo, Shapeshifter digital osc, Kogasmatron filter with expander making it sort of four filters. Also there are more VCAs and mixers.

People are saying that for the price og such a thing you can get a poly synth, sure this is true. But with this settup there are enormus possibilitys not possible with most poly synths.
Think how many sine generators are in the box for instance? I count 14.
Additive synthesis anyone?

How many band pass filters? I count a few.

How many fm modulation possibilitys.

So not only is poly possible but a huge variation of other things.

To make things even crazyer there is the sequensing section. The combination of 2x uScale and 2x uStep plus Metropolis will make quasy self generative poliphony/polyrithm possible. This combined with the planar for texture changes gives nice possibilitys.

Can you recommend a low price mixer?

The Pittsburghs and Doepfers are o.k.

Can a mixer perform the same role as the Pittsburgh Outs?

Euroracks have a very hot output, but with a mixer or an attenuator or vca you can bring the levels down.
An output module like the Pittsburgh Outs is an attenuator and just adds an adapter to the bigger 6.3 mm jacks, additional headphone outputs and normalizes mono signals to stereo.
As said, it is nice to have but not mandatory.

Haha – exactly. The Brazilian drum bits aren't really necessary...

Exactly – I'd like to build a basic 2VCO synth to start with, so your suggestions sound good.

Can you recommend a low price mixer?

Can a mixer perform the same role as the Pittsburgh Outs?

Many thanks for your help!

Rack looks not very balanced.
Two Maraca, a clap and one cowbell, you will definitely rule the brazilian electro scene with that :)
How do you trigger these without a drum sequencer?
Think about what you want to achieve. If you don't have a clue yet I recommend to focus on adding some missing basic building blocks, that would be:

• Envelope
• VCA
• Mixer

Additionally a Clock Source and a Quantizer, MIDI if you need that.
Pittsburgh Outs is more a convenience module, not too necessary.

EDITED Feb 20th 2015, 00:28

Erbe-Verb Take 1 - amazing module!
Mutable Instruments Braids & Noise Engineering Basimilus Iteritas are running thru the Erbe-Verb, being modulated by alot of things.
Kick is Hex Inverter Mutant Bass Drum (dry)

Hi all!
I'm new to this stuff.
Was wondering if patching something this way (splitting and then combining through mixers) would cause some sort of feedback loop?
Also, does anyone know if there would be a more elegant way to perform this patch?
Thanks!

some features that might push me to unicorn :

1U rows !!!
cost of case
cost of power supplies
cost of rails
buying and selling to members

-- FSK1138

At least one of those features will come very soon...

some features that might push me to unicorn :

1U rows !!!
cost of case
cost of power supplies
cost of rails
buying and selling to members

While everyone is going crazy about Namm, ModularGrid created the worlds advanced modular synth poster :)
The poster contains over 870 of the most popular eurorack modules you guys put in your racks.
Not sure what kind of a power supply one would need to drive this $200.000 whale.

If someone needs a gift for themselves or a geeky friend, it's available at Zazzle.

Some more photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/instantknut/sets/72157650461827742/

Already in the database, please delete:
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/grayscale-barton-vca-mixer-grayscale-panel

That will not come very soon but there is a nice workaround already:
you can open two racks in different browser windows and you can copy and paste modules between the browser windows with c, x and v keyboard shortcuts.> >

Cool; thanks!

Would also like to see an Excel-compatible spreadsheet of the modules generated from the program.

A CSV export might be possible, I will look into this ...

Thank you for the consideration!

I would like to see the ability to have multiple racks on the same page. For example, have number of racks and then it splits and has rack one, rack two, etc. It would be nice to be able to layout a large multi-rack system on a single page.

That will not come very soon but there is a nice workaround already:
you can open two racks in different browser windows and you can copy and paste modules between the browser windows with c, x and v keyboard shortcuts.

Would also like to see an Excel-compatible spreadsheet of the modules generated from the program.

A CSV export might be possible, I will look into this ...

-- IvanC

I would like to see the ability to have multiple racks on the same page. For example, have number of racks and then it splits and has rack one, rack two, etc. It would be nice to be able to layout a large multi-rack system on a single page.

Would also like to see an Excel-compatible spreadsheet of the modules generated from the program.

I would definitely pay for these features.

Thank you!

ADM04 + Drumes =

Very useful and great sounding VCA/Mixer. Not as deep as say the VCAM but it also takes up way less space. I love this module.
I would recommend it over and over again. Don't see it used a lot.

two big downsides to this module:
1 It's really quiet
2 it has a fixed glide

I thought mine was broken but when I emailed Pittsburgh it's apparently part of the build.
Cool tones come out of it but i wish I had opted for something like "Braids" instead.

T

Hi!

I am sure some of you planned or going to build its own modular/semi-modular ultimate drum machine!

There is my idea. I have already bought the case, DC1 Drumcomputer, BD909, BD808, HH909, CB808 and Mutant Clap

..what would you add more on my place? Or general ideas?
My only concern is kicks. I will be limited with 808 and 909 as I also want fast attack zappy kicks sometimes. For this Cwejman BLD is the best. But it is quite big and expensive. Also MI Peaks is a smal and cheap solution, but I prefer analogue a bit more over digital).
I also can tweak such kicks on my Doepfer basic system, but I want all in the drum machine :)
One more drum sequencer (max 8HP) for tribal beats is also in the wishlist (like NE Zularic Repetitor)

P.S. I also put radio module as bonus for experiments with mutant clap as VCA/ENV (anyway I have Dopefer System and AS Vostok also to patch the radio module there. One of the options for experimental side is Jupiter Storm with or without G.Moons ENV/VCA, but they take so much money and space...Yes. I need to limit myself to 104 HP not to expand further and concentrate on music :))

EDITED Jan 22nd 2015, 21:13

Anything new on Praga in the meantime?

Got home tonight and discovered that the patch cable on the input side of my modular was laying across the power supply of the unit below it in the rack--and I had hope. However, no matter how I moved the cables around, the Wasp continued its -20 dB hiss.

I finally removed all the cables, both input and output, and put a probe on the output jack. Sure enough, the hiss is still there, so that tells me that the source of the problem is the uZeus. My other module (A-136 Dis) exhibits the similar behavior at a much lower audio level, so based on the tech sheet you provided, I feel like the Wasp is just more susceptible to these kinds of things.

So for now, I think I will just EQ out the hiss until I'm ready to upgrade to a cleaner power supply. I'll have to listen to it if I'm monitoring from the rack, but at least it will be inaudible when the audio reaches my DAW.

Thanks for all your help!

Interesting...

Power is provided by a Happy Ending Kit uZeus, but now that I think about it, the audio cables running between the Wasp and the mixer are draped over the top of an Emu sound module before plunging into the dark recesses of my equipment rack, where is is probably in close contact with the rear plane of several other components--notably, where the power supplies would be.

I run balanced patch cables exclusively in my rack, but of course the patch cables connected to the modular are 2-conductor, unbalanced. Since these wires run very close to several transformers on their way to the mixer, that could be the problem. I'll try rerouting the wires and see what happens.

Thanks for the tip!!

The WASP circuit relies on the non linearity behavior of a cmos ic described here

https://www.fairchildsemi.com/application-notes/AN/AN-88.pdf

It sounds to me like you are running a switching power supply that isn't filtering out it's PWM signal completely that the WASP is reacting with. The WASP is probably fine.

I wish the limit were based on HP rather than number of rows. Four rows of 168hp takes up quite a bit more server space than five rows of 84 or 104. I'd like to maybe add a base to my low cost case eventually, and don't feel that 420hp puts me quite into the "really big rack" category (a c-cup at best!). Granted, yeah, I could technically afford to contribute, but I spend so much time fantasizing about these modules that by the time my paychecks arrive, I've already spent them.

Greetings all,

Newbie here--just bought my first couple modules, one of which was Doepfer's A-124 Wasp filter. My question is... is this thing supposed to hiss?

I finally put a spectrum analyzer on it, and I'm getting a single 23.7 kHz, -27.2 dB transient from the thing. Even with no sound going through it. In fact, as soon as I turn on my rack, the -20 dB light on my mixer recognizes sound on that track.

Whether the filter is set up as HP or LP, fully open or fully closed, I still get that spike. Oddly enough, when the filter is closed, the spike rises to -19.8 dB.

Is this part of the "character" of this filter? Other than the hiss, it seems like a worthwhile module.

I checked the rest of my modular setup, and a similar transient spike is present then too, but at a more acceptable -59.5 dB.

Any suggestions? Or did I just get a bum Wasp?

Why am I here in your mind? How do I get out? This is the true terror....

No. It allows for an FTDI programming cable such as the programming cable Circuit Abbey sells.

does it break out to USB ? i count 6 pins

Unless you are going to build your own, I've chosen a case w/ power from Pittsburgh modular. They have a few versions from small desktop cases to large 6u(two rows) at 104hp per row. They also have a cheap "in/outs" module with a 1/4" input which might help you. I've been researching for months and still haven't bought anything yet. Its a lot of info and companies to sort through, I know.
-michael

I would also like to weigh in as a beginner.
I am new to modular and a guitar player interested in using these for effects. My limited experience is Moog delay pedals, but would like to expand to other areas. What would be a good place to learn to get started with a modular frame/power supply?

thanks,

jim

Phasing: Mysteron triggered once with full regeneration, recorded into Phonogene, played back slightly slower, mixed with original signal.

EDITED Feb 7th 2015, 00:12

Wow. Benchmark for how modulation/LFO modules should be, really. Intuitive design, lots of features. Best purchase I've done in a long while, will probably have to get a second.

It's as I described above, if you search for xOx it will not show up, because the module is called "x0x" (x-zero-x) as in 303, not "xOx" (x-oh-x). Search for "x0x" (x-zero-x) and you will find it.

EDITED Jan 15th 2015, 22:38