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Thank you to all of you guys for this.
I think that I am going to start with a really simple system of
VCO - Plaits
VCA - Veils
VCF - Ripples
LFO/ENV - Stages
DELAY - Mimeophon
SEQ - Bloom
+ Links and Kinks
and play with that for a few months to see what it can do.

This might not be the most adventurous set up in the world but I can put it all across the top line of a Mantis Case and have plenty of room to grow into and get a feel for what I might want next!
Thank you to everyone who posted you are all really kind to give your time to a newb like me. I hope that in years to come I may be able to offer future newbs sound advice in return.

Thanks for the steer - I am moving toward Jim’s original suggestion to me of getting a mantis instead of a rack brute so could probably fit both. :-)

If you could only have one of these which would it be.

Context: I have a minibrute 2s and am buying a rackbrute 6u next week and my first ever two modules.
One will be plaits the other will be a reverb/delay.
After hours and hours on YouTube and modular grid I have these three on my final short list. (Although I really liked the qu-bit prism too)
I know the practical thing would be to get a multi-fx like the Erica Synth Dual or the FX Aid XL but I am totally going for fun over practicality.
Which one would you choose?

I totally agree. 99% of the time I am going to set the thing to mode one (matrix mixer) which is actually quite intuitive to use having watched the tutorials and just learn the crazy button light show combo to turn on and set the right quantiser on each output for when I am using an lfo or sample&hold to create some random melodic sequence. Job done!

If there was a ≤16hp module or pair of modules that offered that functionality I would probably buy that one or those instead instead for the same money :-)

The AI008 is 10hp for a 4x3 matrix and the A-138M is 20hp for the 4x4 matrix alone (granted being all lovely and actually analogue!)
Then to have the same 4 channels of quantiser I would need something like the ADDAC207 which is another 10hp and cost the same just for that as the CVilization.

I think that like Jim has a disting that for 99% of the time has just a single setting (tape delay) in his rack this will be a similar thing for me with this as a quantising 4x4 matrix mixer and so actually quite easy to use (i hope!)

Please let me know if anyone has a really bad experience with the CVilization - although that might be a discussion for a different forum section?!

The CVilization is the same money and same hp as the ADDAC207 and is simultaneously not only a 4in 4out quantiser but also a Matrix mixer at the same time. I would get it for that alone without any other functionality. I know the 207 has other quantiser features too like CV transpose but all these things are compromises in a small case and for me it is about ending up with something fun to use that ticks as many functionality and 'oh i would like to try that and see what happens!' boxes as possible.

Eg with the Kinks module I would like to try multing a single lfo into all three inputs of the Kinks and taking all the outputs into all the different modulation inputs on the Basimilus to see what happens!!!

The Magneto sounds awesome and really authentic but also super expensive - I see why it is down on your wish list. I used to have a real roland tape space echo. That was such fun to play with!

I have a mixer but wanted to have a headphone out on the rack to not need to power everything on to just have a play with the synth. I know that envisioning this whole rack as a stereo channel being labeled as 'mod synth' on my console next to 'Lead Vox' or 'Bass G' is already probably flawed thinking in the long run :-)

I could just get a small Mackie mixer or the like and run the mix out from that into the main desk.
Doesn't modular run a bit too hot for a normal line level mixer?

The CVilization seems really cool. Mode one (4x4 matrix mixer) and mode two (4x4 sequential switch) particularly so.
Thank you again for the steer to look at matrix mixers as I would have probably not looked into this functionality as deeply before.
If i find one of these modes invaluable then I could always get a dedicated module for that next. What is super cool about the Cvilization is that in either mode quantisation is an independent and additional function that can then be added to any output individually! And best of all does all this in 10hp!!

Taking on your advice I might look at the u-he CVilization as a matrix mixer and quantizer etc etc to replace the ADDAC?

Thank you Jim,
This gives me the confidence to take the plunge and that this small system could work for achieving the outcomes I am hoping for.
You are right that i need to stay open minded and be willing to change the plan as I go but I always find it a good idea to have a road map too of what i am trying to achieve.
I have not filled my case to the brim with my wish list so there is still a little room for growth if i feel that there are things I would like that I am missing (like a TM).
What would be your recommendations for the matrix mixer and more feature rich end of chain module?
here is my current game plan.

MARCH Rackbrute 6U, Mimeophon, XoH
APRIL Plaits, Bloom
MAY Veils, Stages
JUNE Kinks, Filter?, Links
JULY Pamela's New Workout, Lapsus Os
AUGUST Maestro
SEPT Basimilus Iteritas Alter
OCT ADDAC 207

This was my thinking regarding the addac:
I love the idea of quantising a sample and hold signal or a complex Lfo chain to make melody parts. The bloom seems to quantise to scale but not to key (I am probs being dumb here and am meant to set the key by tuning the oscillator or something like that with the scale being comparative distances from the root) but the addac can also do cv controlled key transpose so the whole sequence can add a melodic cycle moving through keys that I could trigger using a 24 bar loop on the mpc to move between verse/chorus/middle eight and then round and round etc. I also would have 4 oscillators two in the rack and two in the minibrute to possibly have playing different rhythmic melodies in the same key. I also would really love a third voice eventually too (I know you might be shaking your head at that idea but I really liked the sound of the qu-bit surface as a slightly darker sounding rings type sound for some future module - perhaps for a future case? Then the addac will be really handy too)

I am not tied to the bloom but like the way it works of just turning the 8 knobs to create two looping patterns of relative pitch as a starting point and the whole fractal randomness stuff that goes with it. It also does all of this in only 16hp!.
The more I look into marbles the more it seems just too random and I am much more keen on randomness in pitch and modulation rather than on random gates and core rhythms (Drummer!) provided that these all then get quantised so it is all randomly ‘in key’. I also know that modulation creates rhythms too. This is why basically all the modulation sources I like are often rigidly clocked - that is great to my limited outlook about the maestro for example.

I will deffo look at the After Later Alan - thanks for the steer
I have looked at the ornament and crime, it looks amazing but it is just too screen diving menu driven for me and although it is probs great it doesn’t feel fun. This is also why I have steered away from the disting that I read is awesome too.
TBO I feel the same way about Pam’s but having one menu diving module should be just about ok.
I have stayed away from Maths through fear of not being clever enough to get my head around it and would rather go for cheap thrills... well... very expensive but perhaps more immediate thrills 😄
The stages is my ‘learning a bit about how modular synthesis actually works’ module and that seems so much simpler and more visually understandable to me than Maths.
I am a drummer at heart so really don’t get much more advanced than hitting things to see if they make a noise!

Really cool - does the 2hp TM have all the functionality I would use or is there a much more feature rich option by stretching to 4 or 6hp that you would recommend?
I had been thinking about using sample and hold either from stages or the kinks to do something similar and was also thinking about the 4hp DivKid RND step as a future purchase to throw in loads of random randomness into the cv mix. I like the idea of being able to really control the rate of change without needing to use up more channels on the lapsus.

Thanks troux,
I will have a listen to these filters
I love the idea of the drums influencing the rig.
I could perhaps do this with something like a Roland rt30k on the kickdrum and figure out how to convert that to a euro rack compatible gate signal that I can then patch into stuff like triggering envelopes or an lfo etc

Will using a TM give me a big difference in the results I get over selecting ‘random’ for the lfo on the maestro or raising the branches and mutations on the bloom? Sorry to ask what may be a ‘duh’ question

Thanks for this tumeniKnobs,
I love the sound of the Qpas from what I have heard online but it is double the cost of the Ripples and perhaps more importantly too big a filter for this size of case in my view with space wasted for it being stereo where as this is a setup as a mono synth all the way until the audio path (or the mix of any combination of my four oscillators paths) hit the mimeophon and finally come out in stereo into the XOH.
I already have two analogue oscillators in the minibrute so was looking for a contrast in both of the ones I chose.
I will watch some you tube vids on the black wavetable.
I also looked at rings but thought it was way too ‘pretty’ sounding. Some of the noise engineering oscillators were too dirty for me and the Basimilus sounded a bit more middle ground. I know it is a drum synth but it pitches nicely too and the fold etc sound really cool to my ears to go with some of the brighter sounds from Plaits.
Do you have any great steers on utilities or modulation I am needing. I know I don’t have Maths here and am perhaps light on function generation but both my oscillators sort of make their own envelopes if needed and I have the mu stages and both a traditional ASDR and AD that I can use in the Minibrute 2s.

After reflecting on the last really amazing advice I was given, especially by Jim H, I have started again to design my first rack that I am going to be taking the plunge on after pay day and really tried to reflect on what I am trying to make. Rhythmic melodies with a harsher digital, heavily modulated and slightly 'dirty' but not over the top distorted vibe. Not looking for drones or ambient type stuff. Want to make digital melodic parts that set a groove and inspire me sit down at my drum kit to play along.

I have a Minibrute 2s to pair with this adding another sequencer, two more lfo's etc etc and also an MPC Live 2 with 8 fully assignable CV outs that each can have their own sequencer track to use as sequenced gates etc

Will this work for what I want or am I missing fundamentally important stuff?

Any advice would be appreciated

Hiya Marinche,

I have in my head the range of sounds that I am looking to achieve with it - a slightly driven mutating rhythmic synth line that sits between the bass guitar and lead guitar lines - where in my music I have previously always used a guitar for this part.

The minibrute 2s gets me pretty close but lacks the voweling effect I am looking for (hence Plaits) as well as lacking fuzz, reverb and delay too. I am also not in love with the sound of the Steiner filter.

I love the sequencer on the 2S as am really only looking to get a few more modules to add a bit more modulation, polish and complexity to the sound it can already produce. My original idea was to get a rackbrute 3u and just 8 modules.

This will be my first adventure into modular and I am not wanting to go down the rabbit hole but rather looking to put together a musical tool that will be fit for purpose and have the main functionality I will need.

Jim also said I needed gates but I am a little confused as to what gate modules to look at and how they will offer me more than what the sequencer already does in that regard as I will not be using this for drum synthesis. I am a total newb so please forgive my ignorance.

Ok so I have thrown another version together in the order you suggest.

Overall does this solve my plumbing issues and offer (with the brute) a pretty cool synth for doing some cool rhythmic melodies.

Have I gone overkill on the plumbing or is that not a thing?

Any other modules i should aspire to? there seem to be some really cool mutable modules like warp that I don’t quite get what they actually do - am I missing out or not really.

I am up for getting maths first.
I am slightly scared that I am opening this Pandora’s box that leads to your 100+ Modules!
I am cool with going to the 6u.
In this case you suggest I need more plumbing and should be getting another LFO module, VCA module and envelope/Adsr module as well as another multi or a mixer module but what am I missing here from the big stuff I would/should want to use?
I thought about an Erica graphic VCO for a more FM sound perhaps but it is not really the vibe I tend to go for but 80’s in quite in at the moment.
I am not in love with the Steiner filter in the brute to be honest. I would really like a more organic sounding filter. That was my thinking with the Polaris.
Distortion and delay were, to my musical pallet, the first two things I really felt the brute was lacking for how I wanted to use it but this might just be because I don’t know any better and these are the traditional things I understand. I would like these to be modules rather than pull apart my pedal board or reallocate it to my synth setup.
I am also going to say something really stupid here but doesn’t the brute 2s’s sequencer do quite a lot of what a gate module would do? He says running for shelter from the barrage of criticism about to come his way :-)
Everything will clock to pro tools or I will use the MPC that has cv out and my plan is for the mono out from the brute to go straight into the sound card as well as the stereo out from the delay going into the desk and on an insert into the sound card too so that I can record both and use either and reroute dry or wet etc.
Thanks so much Jim for all your help and advice, It is really kind and helpful.
I might put together a virtual 6u for your critique.

Thanks for this Jim,
You are so right about the rack but there is just something so aesthetically appealing about having it in the same wood etc and attaching to the brute nicely etc.
I am wanting a fun mini modular setup hence the 3u.
I play many acoustic instruments in my music with real drums, guitars, bass guitar and a Rhodes piano. I love working with samples too and have always used an MPC for doing that. I am far more ProTools than Ableton 😄

I fancied using some rhythmic modulated synth parts to do the job where I would have usually used a rhythm guitar part. This is why I bought the brute 2S and it makes a cool job of that, especially with the metaliser and brute factor.

I am not looking to become an out and out electronic music producer so to speak and have a clear-ish scope of what sound spectrums I am looking for from my synth. I have not gone gate heavy in my modules as these seem more for drums etc. - i might be waaay off here though.

The brute does a great job for what I want but hope that with just a few more modules I could add a bit more depth, texture, polish and complexity to the sound.

Thanks here is the rack

Sorry for being dim but I can't figure out how to attach the picture of the rack!

I am taking the first nervous steps into Modular.
I got a Minibrute 2S as my gateway drug and am loving it.
My plan is now to get a Rackbrute 3U as my next steps and am thinking about what modules to pair with the minibrute.
My first priority is fun over functionality so modules like the Disting Mk4 and Pico DSP may be more practical choices but do not seem as fun to use as some other options.
My plan is to spend around £300 per month to get one or two new modules every month give me time to get the hang of what they do and how to use them as well as still pay the rent!
Having done some research I have filled the 3U with the modules in the order that I plan to buy them (this is not the order that I plan to place them in the end)
I know that I could obviously get more in a 6U rack but think that there is a creative plus (and financial one too) to limiting what you have in some ways and this is only one part of my music making set up.
What do you guys think?
Would you suggest a different oscillator or filter to contrast the Brute 2?
Do I have too much modulation and not enough sound source or vice versa?

EDITED Feb 4th 2021, 16:34