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I'm working on something similar to this, I think. I'm building what could effectively be a bank of 4 complex VCO's by combining some dual oscillators with some signal minglers.

I have built 4 2VL1's by Weston Audio, which is a dual oscillator plus a LFO in a tight 10hp package. I'm planning on combining these with 4 Mutable Instruments Warps, which acts as the 'signal mingler' component of a complex Oscillator, and is capable of FM, AM, and many other modulations. There is a small 8hp version of this module out there called Twist that I'm planning to use. I have those modules together with a 4x4 buffered multi to handle feeding CV inputs to multiple Oscillators at once and an octal VCA to handle output. The plan of course is to use the module as one component in a larger system. While the 2VL1 lacks a true sine wave option, I really like its construction and size factor. I'll be pumping all of this plus a power supply module into a 1-row 104hp package.

I asked about viable complex oscillators elsewhere but found there wasn't much out there beyond the obvious options such as the Rossum Trident and Make Noise DPO, etc, and there was not much at all as far as DIY options, which is what I was interested in. Someone turned me on to the MU Warps in that conversation. I thought I had oggled the entire line of MU products, but several had apparently gotten past me (such as the truly amazing Edges). I'll be acquiring my 1st Warps at the end of the month, and will be getting 3 more if the results are good.

Here is the current plan for my project:

EDITED Dec 17th 2019, 22:04

I'm looking forward to the day when I have enough Eurorack modules to actually make use of the "Sketch a Patch" feature on this site. I remember my college days and doing exactly this with patches for the Buchla Easel, except on paper of course because it was the '90's.

In the meantime, I do have a healthy collection of guitar pedals and have been working on an ideal pedalboard design, including pre-and-post-amp signal flow paths. Since some pedalboards can have multiple signal paths, I think there's enough complexity to warrant adding this feature to the Pedalboard views. If this feature were there, I'd be using it!

Thanks for providing such an excellent resource!

Excellent feedback, thank you! I'm glad you think that this project is not a fool's errand.

I had not considered rack widths beyond 104hp based on typical sizes I was seeing in commercial cases, but I do now see that 126hp is indeed an option for a more authentic 2-row layout. I do plan to build the case myself out of simple box-jointed pine boards or plywood, and already have 3 sets of 84hp rails purchased for the project, but I suppose that I can save those for one of the wing blocks ... you assume correctly that I have considered building those as well if this initial project is a success!

I have not otherwise looked at genuine spring units within the context of Eurorack, but I will do some research on that. Your talk of effects reminds me of my pedal board full of guitar effects (including some nice reverbs). I ought to consider an effects send-return that I could use to patch into that. If anything, that could offload rack space used for effects in favor of what I already have.

I do like the the look of that Olitronic Pro Out, and the 2hp MIDI module is what I currently have on hand, which is the only reason why it's in there. I'll need to do some research to better understand what this unit would and would not allow for compared to other interfaces with more gate/CV outs.

The sequencer solution will probably deviate from the original, in that I don't tend to write waltzes so am not sure how I would approach a 12-step sequencer other than setting it to run 8 steps and ignoring the last 4 steps-- a strange design choice by Roland indeed! I do like the idea of a sequencer "block," but want to focus on getting this first block done before I commit to others. Block 1 is daunting enough, as I'm DIY'ing all the Pharmasonic modules, have fairly limited experience with electronics and soldering, and this is my 1st forray into Eurorack.

Based on your excellent input, I've updated my design:

I'm hoping to keep the cost for the project to about $1400US for the Pharmasonic modules and case, which is certainly better priced than buying an original System 700!

Based on your

EDITED Aug 8th 2019, 20:27

Hi all,

I'm building a reasonable clone of the Roland System 700 "Block 1" out of the excellent Pharmasonic modules into a 9u x 84hp rack.

The Pharmasonic Modules themselves are 'immutable', in that I'm not looking to swap out/replace/improve on any of them, as that is kind of the whole point of the project, but I'm actively looking for any thoughts you have on the 'other' modules that are either needed (power supply, line-level output) or very handy (MIDI input, Audio input, DSP effects). Obviously there's not a whole lot of space left in the rack to work with, so compact is good.

Let me know what you would add (or remove) within the space available if this were your project! Any input is appreciated.

EDITED Aug 8th 2019, 16:48