User Posts

Hi Yavilec,

You certainly know how to impress people when listening at your music! After the first few seconds when I started your "Lullaby Of Spring" I sprinted to my "listening chair" and enjoyed listening. If it comes to relaxing, calming down, indeed exactly what we need now in these weird and uncertain times of the Covid-19 virus, this music of yours is just that what one could wish for and enjoying it.

It usually takes me a while before I get my mind adopted to the music and start to get in relax mode but your music somehow managed to do that almost straight away!

One little hint/feedback, I am not 100% sure but I had the feeling that most of your music and sounds where exactly in the stereo middle positioned, so nice in the stereo sweet-spot so to speak. It wouldn't harm though to have one or two sounds a bit out of the stereo centre for some "stereo variations" other than that this track is perfect!

Well done, I will listen more than once to this track and of course I would have nothing against more music of yours :-)

You take care too and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Ah yes, the STO, I should have known. I love to use the STO and indeed you can go nice deeply with that thing :-)

Let's continue enjoying our modular synths :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hey Wishbonebrewery,

Oh my goodness, that deep bass sound! It's something I almost want to kneel down for, that good and that deep :-)

By the way, how do you create your tones, using a MIDI keyboard? Or somehow randomised?

Pity you got at a few moments of a bit of a noise-crackling sound over the song, otherwise I enjoyed it very much.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Rookie,

I personally don't have experience yet with the Ladik brand so I can't comment much on it. I would like you to advise to try this module out at your dealer or in case your dealer doesn't have this module, you might just want to give it a try, the module doesn't seem to be overly expensive.

Good luck and please keep me updated, Garfield.

Hi Rookie,

Yes of course you are right on the size and the expense of the Sinfonion, it was just an idea.

Did you tried it with an AHDSR envelope? That might do the trick too, perhaps not up till the 100% you are looking for but should give you a good start into the right direction, isn't it? Put Attack to something of your liking and set the Hold to the maximum. Depending on the AHDSR module this might work (or not...).

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Funbun,

Wow! You barely got your AE Modular Starter 2 synth and you produce already your first video with guiding music, nice! Beautiful river, but I think I mentioned that already :-)

You managed your music nice subtle yet impressive! One little feedback though (or was this just me?): I only heard your music on the right stereo channel, I don't think it was audible on the left channel, that makes my left ear missing something. Perhaps for your next video you can take care of both of my ears? :-D

Keep the nice work up and thanks a lot in advance for your next video/music, I barely can wait!

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Rookie,

In worst case scenario you need then 3 of those "kind of modules/functions", one for each notes, 3 notes, 3 modules...

Did you had a look into Sinfonion from ACL if that can helps you out? Check their manual for this module especially the chord section and the sequencer section, with a combination of both of these (chords & sequencer) you might get close, but perhaps not exactly what you need.

Good luck with the search and if you find the answer please let us know, it's quite interesting :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Rookie,

Interesting matter :-) So do I understand you right that you need a kind of LFO that goes very slowly up to a certain maximum value and then holds that value, right? How long should that hold that maximum value? So what you then need is an LFO that once it reaches the maximum value turns that into an frozen-delay function :-) That would be nice to have indeed and of course vice versa for going down to a certain minimum value and hold it there too.

No idea if that exists, haven't come across that... yet... Perhaps more senior members have ideas how to realise that?

I was thinking of an AH (Attack-Hold) envelope but that might likely not be able too hold that maximum value long enough for you?

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Scozzola,

Lugia provided you already with some excellent comments, so just follow up on his advice and you should be fine.

Just one small matter, instead of getting the Intellijel's Outs module, you could consider the 7U 104 HP casing from Intellijel, then some basic input/output matters are already taken care off by the casing itself and with the 1U modules you can add some nice useful utilisation functions. That saves you even more space and leaves you more space here for the more valuable 3U space.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Scozzola,

Isn't this in fact the same question as you have in this same forum subgroup "Racks" under the post "6U 84 HP Eurorack"? I will reply in that post to you.

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Gilera,

Bit difficult question to answer on the other hand... the A4 got already 4 outputs (CVs/gates), so why not taking this the easy way and start to work with your A4 (Elektron Analogue Four) as the unit that controls your modular system and save for the moment the money for a MIDI to CV module.

If you then after a while realise that perhaps those 4 outputs aren't sufficient then you still can start to use your OT (Elektron Octa Track) via MIDI and with a MIDI to CV module. At least if the A4 seems to be sufficient, you save yourself the trouble of finding a good MIDI to CV module as well as the money for it :-) And by the way... if you want to utilise your OT fully... you need at least a module that can handle simultaneous 8 MIDI tracks... most modules only can go up till 4 tracks though, so you need already to MIDI to CV modules, saving even more money if your A4 is sufficient enough. I therefore would try to start this of with your A4 first and see if that's enough.

I don't know the Hexinverter Mutant Brain module very well but from the information I have read, looks like you also can go up till 4 channels simultaneously, perhaps with a few tricks a few more channels, not sure. Another module to consider and that I am using is the Vermona qMI 2, a very nice logical module to use and up till 4 channels, each channel: gate out, 1V/oct, and 2 CVs out, beside that also clock out. I had for a short while the Doepfer A-190-5 but somehow I didn't feel that module was logically to use at all, difficulties with the menu (understanding) and I exchanged it for the Vermona, and that was so much easier and better. It's a pity because I actually do like Doepfer modules. I got quite a few Doepfer modules and I am happy with them, the A-190-5 is so far the exception.

By the way... if you got already an A4 and OT... why do you still need modular? You got already two lovely nice devices :-) !

Kind regards and good luck, Garfield Modular.

Hi Rookie,

You got a nice rack there! :-) I like the relaxing music, makes me cool and calm down after a very busy day!

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Robbeattie,

Not sure what you mean? Are you looking for audio interface (input/output) modules? If yes, then you might want to have a look at for example Befaco Output or Intellijel Audio I/O but there are other brands who have audio interface modules too.

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Loic,

If the above rack is a planned rack but not yet an existing rack then my advice is to don't fill up the rack completely in one go. Start with some basic components first from what you have chosen (i.e. a few oscillators, LFOs, EGs, filters and VCAs). Get some experience with them and with that gained experience re-adjust your planning and thoughts and then add a few modules accordingly to that.

It's important to keep some reserved rack space free for future module extensions otherwise you are going to need soon another rack. I think rack-size-wise your rack size is okay but just don't start with a big number of modules in one go.

Good luck with the planning of your rack and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Thatdummy,

There are quite a few filter modules on the market and I don't know them all :-) The best is to have the modules you are interested in, to have them tested at your local dealer to avoid disappointments.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Protomski,

Well... there is this section called "Modules" on this Modulargrid.net website, it's full with modules there (thousands of them), any module you don't have yet and that from an HP size perspective fits, is a good candidate, no?

Good luck with choosing a nice module and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

P.S.: Or you specify your question a bit more accurately plus some background information on your shown rack here (do you have that already, is that the last bit of space left, that kind of info) and perhaps we are able to answer your question more specifically ;-)

Hi ThatDummy,

I hope your guitar learning makes nice progress? :-) It might be indeed a nice combination together with modular. The modules you can't get in Eurorack, perhaps you can get them as guitar effects pedals! :-) These two worlds together should give you even more endless possibilities :-)

I would like you to refer to my comments I just made yesterday to a very similar case and question. Most of my comments there apply to your rack as well, so please follow up on that advice there. You got already a mixer I see, so that's fine but you are still missing an audio interface; however you might be able to solve that with 1U modules or the rack where they fit in.

For details please refer to my reply to Bvkuz also in this sub-Forum "Racks" under the post name "My 1st Rack - Starting point". For feedback, comments, questions, etcetera, you can then use this post to continue.

Good luck with the learning curves (both instruments, guitar and modular) and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Funbun,

I agree here with Toodee that you actually can't have enough VCOs as long as your wallet and your rack space supports that "principle" ;-)

I started with the dual oscillators from the Behringer Neutron. With that Neutron I warped myself into modular and I never regretted the move to modular! (other than looking every month at an empty bank account... that's the con of modular).

As Stujay18 mentioned the Plaits is a nice one, digital but with some good and fun sounds in it and indeed Doepfer has some good solid oscillators too, not as "fancy" as a Plaits but a real nice VCO (Plaits is actually a DCO).

As a third oscillator (for later once you understand why you are going to buy more than two oscillators ;-) ) then for example the Doepfer A-110-4 is a nice oscillator that has some nice tricks on its sleeves.

The market of oscillators is huge so take your time to check and test them before you buy them (if you have the opportunity to test them at a dealer).

Another one I can recommend and it looks simple but it's one of the VCOs I like most, it has a good solid sound that will not disappoint you, is the Make Noise STO and it's not too expensive for what you get. If you get that one try this patch: use the triangle-sine output, put the frequency not too high (under half), take an LFO saw or triangle output, put the LFO rather slow and patch that into the shape-CV input. First put the shape-CV-attenuator completely to the left (i.e. no LFO influence/modulation) and get used to the normal sound of this STO, then put the CV attenuator to let's say 3-quarters (i.e. largely to the right, i.e. clockwise) and make sure the LFO is slow enough. In this patch I love the STO most (and of course patch something to the 1V/oct input to make it more interesting; a pitch output for example from a sequencer). It's rather simple what's happening here but somehow I love it :-)

Good luck with your oscillators choice and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Bvkuz,

It's definitely one of the smallest racks (2 x 40 HP?) I ever saw ;-) And for being so small it looks actually quite pretty!

However... and now comes the bad news ;-)

I give you here a few points you might want to consider and working on:

• consider a case that's much, much, no much, much bigger :-) For starters at least 2 x 104 HP or 3 x 84 HP as a serious minimum
• so check if you are financially willing to spend more than what you had currently in mind, otherwise my advice is, continue saving money first, while doing that:
• if you don't know yet, read/learn about the basic principles of a synthesizer, (basic) things like oscillators (VCOs), LFOs, filters (VCFs), envelopes (EGs), VCAs, etcetera and then look again into your rack ideas:
• Get some more basic components as just mentioned, though if you don't mind some "menu diving" then a module like Plaits is a nice one, so that's okay but also consider an analogue VCO to give you ideas on the "other side of the world" so to speak
• A modular synth is not about a pretty looking rack by the way :-) If it does then that's a bonus but shouldn't be a decision maker
• Leave some space free in your planned rack, just to give you a very rough indication, take for example one third as a reserved free space for future modules, you are going to need that
• I am actually not sure if modular synthesizers is about "keeping it light and portable" however if you like to stick with that principle (it is good to have here and there a few principles ;-) ) then consider for example an Intellijel 7U case (that's extendable with yet another same case and can be joined together with some metal spare parts quite nicely)
• Coming more into the details of your rack, I see two oscillators so that's a not too bad start
• That Optomix module, it is certainly useful but in a small rack like yours and even in a bigger rack, I wouldn't recommend it for starters; it's more if you get more experienced. I recently got that module myself and I admit I am not up to that experience level yet that I can fully utilise that even though I recognise the good qualities of it. What I am trying to say is that you (should) start with more simple and basic modules and slowly when you gain experience get to the more complicated stuff
• I am missing pure LFOs, I see you got the Stages module so you might be able to use that for an LFO however I recommend to get just an LFO module as well
• Filters? I don't think I saw a filter other than the Optomix module, which is actually an LPG. Okay the µRings might be able to do that but just get a pure filter module, for starters perhaps a multi mode filter?
• Pure "simple" (they aren't really simple is my opinion) envelopes (EGs), if you want to save space get a dual EG or a quad EG; of course the Stages module gives you this functionality as well but weren't you using that one already for an LFO? ;-) Most likely you can do both with it, still I recommend an additional EG module. You just can't have enough modulators
• VCAs? I don't think I saw a VCA, or did I overlooked it? One for CVs and one for audio or one that can do both (then take at least a dual VCA)
• I see a small headphones module but I don't see a real mixer module (you are going to need it to mix for example your both oscillators, yes you could do that via the Optomix but then again, you might one day want to mix it without the Optomix)
• I also miss here an audio interface module (for audio input/output to the outside world; for example to an external mixer)

And that was just the basic stuff, but I would say get started with that and I do think you could use a lot more of reading, checking and studying on basic synthesizer principles. The time you need for that gives you time to save more money to get yourself a larger rack :-)

Good luck with the preparations and once you are ready with that, show us your new rack and we will take it from there.

Welcome to modular (it's a lot of reading, checking, planning, etcetera) and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Tnsl,

I don't have myself experience with those 1U modules, so I think it's better if another member who has experience with these 1U modules will advice you accordingly.

I have for myself, though, considered to buy a 7U (thus also 1U) Intellijel case and I actually do like those 1U utility modules; they come in handy and it saves you some 3U space. Though at the end I didn't bought such casing so that's why I can't really advice you here.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Tnsl,

If you are feeling kind of uncomfortable about those 1U Intellijel modules then just don't buy an Intellijel case, right? :-) Another option might be those low costs casings of Doepfer; I use them myself and I am quite happy with it other than that they are filled up so fast but that's not the casing's mistake that's rather me putting too fast too many modules in it ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Ross9999,

Spooky techno sounds, that sounds quite interesting actually :-) Now I don't know much about techno music, so I can't advise you on that part, however some general points that you might want give some thoughts:

• It's totally okay to use an external mixer however to mix all your (CV and/or audio) signals together it's still useful to have one or two small mixers, because at the end your Befaco output module can only handle a left and right signal and not let's say four input signals and making a left and right out of that, so that's why I believe you still need a (small) Eurorack mixer (it's not a must but I do think it makes things easier in life)
• I miss some free space in your rack, plan at least some free space so in (near) future you can extend it with some more modules
• Don't buy all modules in one go. Start with a bit basic stuff, leave the rest empty, get experience and then see if your plan is still the way you thought it would & should be and then buy a next lot of modules, gain again some more experience, etcetera
• The shown modules in your rack, are that modules you have already tested at your local dealer? If not, it's advisable to have as many of those modules tested at your local dealer so you know if the modules are up to your expectations (not having tested modules might cause unpleasant experiences once you got them; there are rare exceptions that of non-tested modules you might get huge positive surprises however, as already mentioned, that are the very rare exceptions, it's usually the other way around)

Good luck with the planning, have fun in modular and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Funbun,

Interesting examples indeed. Funny those 6 pianos and amazing regarding those saxophones. That modular system imitating the music of Steve Reich is quite nice and amazing too.

Did you already made up your mind how big you are going to build your rack? Good luck with the build and once ready show us a picture, I am pretty curious! :-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Dharmabum,

Ah yes, that explains quite a bit :-) Looks like you have thought this already over so, things should be fine then.

If you are not sure yet about the Antiphon and didn't buy it yet, perhaps you can leave that one out and save some rack space?

Good luck and I wish you a lot of modular fun, kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Funbun,

Toodee's comments are spot on. You actually can't go too big if it comes to the rack (but you can go too small easily). However I know from one of your previous posts that you are looking into minimal music (or how you call that exactly?) so you might get "away with it" ;-) with a medium rack. Advisable is at least 3 rows (3 x 3U = 9U) and since you got already those 104 HP rails, 3 x 104 = 312 HP, it might just work out for you but on the bit longer future it might be still too small. So if you have the space and enough wood :-) Perhaps you could consider a 4 or 5 x 3 U case, as I mentioned in the other post, you don't have to fill them up straight away, take your time to get experience with modular and slowly try out more modules.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Dharmabum,

Wow, difficult question, interesting rack but somehow... I don't know, I feel it's difficult to get a grip on it, might be just me, I had traveled today quite a bit, so I might be just too tired. So take my below advice not too hard, it might be just me, being too tired.

On one hand I have the feeling you take a few main brands and take from them one or two of their best modules (except Make Noise, you took a few more from them) and put that all together in this rack of yours (I put below here the link to your rack, that's easier than providing a link to a JPEG picture; we now straight away can see where we are talking about):

What I think I am missing here is a bit of "how is this suppose to work all together" or at least most of them in some kind of harmony? I am not sure to be honest, there are certainly nice modules between it, actually a lot, and that worries me a bit... it looks a bit too much like nice fancy and sexy modules but I am not 100% getting it here.

So a few suggestions:

At my main local dealers I can't find that Dreadbox AntiThon module, are you sure that you still can get it? Anyway, my suggestion is to remove this AntiThon module and the René module and put instead blank panels. Blank panels? Yes, blank panels ;-) You need some space left for (near) future extension, that's one of the things I am missing here. Also these two modules are pretty large and save you some space for perhaps other modules you might need in the future.

I haven't accurately counted the total width but it looks like a weird total width for this casing, are you sure such casing exists?

With that and with perhaps taking a few lesser "fancy" modules and a bit more classic modules, yeah, it might be something you could use. With classic modules I mean the usual "suspects" like oscillators (okay I see that Instruo module there but quite a big one), LFOs, envelopes, filters, VCAs (yes that quad VCA you got there might be all right, I guess you can leave that one in there) and perhaps one or two logic modules.

I see some components that have some LFO capabilities so that might work out, not too sure, or you get rid of one of them and get instead just a classical LFO for that. Did I overlook it or do I miss filters and (basic) envelopes?

You might want to have a look into an audio interface input/output module too; depending on what you might have or might not have externally (external mixer?).

Some of the modules, I do think are more for seniors or at least for medium till high experienced users, not sure how much experience you already have with synthesizers in common and modular specific but you might want to reconsider a few of those modules, are you really ready for all of those modules you have chosen here?

I am not saying you are not allowed to buy all kind of modules, nothing against it :-) However I think it makes more sense to start a bit more simple (leave space left for future extensions) and start to grow into modular, build up your experience and then slowly and step by step get a few more modules. Don't buy the lot in one go!

Anyway, without more input from you, it's difficult to advice. I don't want to discourage you either because modular is fantastic but it requires quite some homework, like investigating into synthesizers in common and particular all the modules you choose, check them one by one, what they do, what you think you need of those and keep reading and checking about those modules.

So welcome to modular, have fun with it and take care, kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Yalivec,

Welcome back with some more great music! I took the effort to sit in my "listening" chair listening at your latest and above music track here. Once the music stopped (the track came to an end) I was just sitting there... not knowing what was going on with me, what I just experienced and what I wanted to be continued but I had to get my lazy arse out of that chair and now I am listening to your first track (beginning of this post) again :-)

To cut that short, this latest track, I feel it's better balanced, the guitar is still doing a fantastic job here (I love that guitar sound that almost sounds like a bird that's calling or something, beautiful sound!) however you give your modular a better chance to let it come through too, yeah on the view of having it balanced I like this latest track.

Listening at your first track again (from this post), it's less balanced perhaps but you are definitely more daring there, so that's challenging the listener more and makes the listener (okay me at least) exciting about what's coming next. So both tracks I like it pretty much. I think my favourite is your last track but they are both fantastic.

To summarise: I just can't wait for your next track you are going to surprise us with!

Kind regards and thanks a lot for sharing this, Garfield.

Hi Senor-bling and Lugia,

Senor-bling: Thanks for your thoughts and that crosstalk "thingy", hmm, yes, good point. I was hoping to solve that (partly) by using at least Cat 6 Ethernet cables (i.e. shielded), but I am not sure if that's sufficient and yes, this is going to be an experiment... hopefully a good one :-)

Yet another good point: It's modular, if there's no jungle, it's not being used, yes! You are totally right about that :-) But if you get feelings of rather wanting to be an octopus than a human being to handle all the cables... not sure then ;-) Or perhaps it's a deal that one day I will hold all your cables so you have your both hands free to handle all the modular stuff and the other day you hold all my cables so I can use my both hands using the modular? ;-) Of course I am joking and enjoying modular whereby the patching part is almost half the fun for me.

Lugia: It's good to hear that your suggested setup holds up on complex patches too, that indicates to me that I have to serious consider that setup. Well, I will be honest with you, I am pretty lazy and not looking forward in changing quite a bit of my modules' position, unscrewing the modules, moving them, etcetera, that is what I try to keep to a minimum. I still see the benefit of your setup, so I guess I will struggle a bit longer till I can't hold it any longer and then, most likely during Christmas holidays or so, removing all the modules and start with a complete new startup, your idea might be taken then :-) !

Thank you both for your input and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Funbun,

Nice river with beautiful surroundings, so jealous :-)

Music wise, I think you are going to give yourself a hard time to limit yourself on such a small case. Since you are good with wood, the additional costs would be limited if you would straight away make a 2 x 104 or 3 x 104 HP case, saves you later the trouble of extending it and you really don't have to fill it up fully, you can even leave two rows empty and just start with one row but at least you are prepared well for the (near) future.

Instead of two Doepfer A-111-6 modules you might want to consider just one and the space that the second would leave free use that for one or two more oscillator modules to get a bit more variation.

Maths is a very big module, sure it's nice but if you want to use it mainly for envelope purposes you might want to consider just one or two envelope modules that might be A) cheaper and B) perhaps a bit smaller in space.

I don't know the Unity Gain Mixer module, are you sure it's enough and sufficient to be used as an audio interface (input/output) module too? You might want to verify that, depending on your needs of course.

With your small rack you might not be able to get very complicated music, but then again, if I understand you right, you like to focus more on minimalistic music and for starters that might be a quite good beginning but as I said, please consider making directly a bigger case, that saves you near future extension issues :-)

Good luck with your nice youtube projects, keep up the nice videos and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hello Lugia, All,

Currently I have five rows rack and use roughly a few brands per row (Doepfer and Erica Synths have each their own row; the rest of the brands are smaller (in my setup) and share with other brands a row. Then per row I start on the left hand side (roughly indication, going here from left to right) with input modules (MIDI) and clock stuff, then multiples, then oscillators & LFOs, then EGs, filters, effects and mixers, somewhere around here a few multiples again (I know perhaps a few too many but I like to have enough multiples around the modules) and ending with VCAs and output modules on the right (my external mixer is on the right hand side).

So far I felt it was "kind of okay" however now I am trying to use it polyphonic and slowly but surely I am struggling too with what is logical? What makes more sense? How to manage certain connections with shorter patch cables?

Your idea, Lugia, is quite interesting, I am going to give that some serious thoughts. How is your mentioned setup holding up when you are getting more voices (say four or more voices) parallel involved, does it still work out good? Not getting crazy of the many cables blocking almost everywhere? ;-) I am luckily taking that with some good portion of humour, i.e. it doesn't bother me too much, using one hand to "move away the many cables", so the other hand has space to reach the knobs... not very suitable for a live setup to say at the least. Though it came to my mind being an octopus and having 8 "hands" would be kind of easy...

Next question, nasty one... My rack is close to full and no further space, the only possibility is getting another rack on the other side of my desk, still within almost hand reach if I turn my body but completely away from my current rack, due to space constraints, I have no other option (or not to extend at all, which I don't consider as an actual option :-) ). I am planning to use the Doepfer A-180-9 to interconnect these "two rack sides" with each other.

So what would then be a logical setup? I have no clue yet other than keeping up my current configuration of continuing the newer rack for other brands per row principle, however the idea of Lugia would be interesting and would make sense too; using that for each "rack side".

Any suggestions and any one else who uses a different setup that might help to simplify the complexity of "module positioning" are welcome.

Thank you very much in advance and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Tonys,

That's actually a very good question. I am still in the search for a "good" sequencer (well... what is good or how would one define good, is yet another quite extensive discussion ;-) ) and haven't found yet one that totally satisfy me. I am waiting for endorphin.es Ground Control and Erica Synths Black Sequencer to be released, though they have been announced almost a year ago now, they are still not available yet :-(

Meanwhile the sequencer I am most happy with is the Xaoc Tirana, a little nice sequencer that's chain-able, I wish all sequencers would be chain-able (not only into steps but also in number of channels/tracks).

Good luck with the search for a "good" sequencer and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Gruftgrabbler,

Not sure if you are aware that:

A) This forum is (mainly) in English :-)

and B) You put this public in the Racks forum, this is not your private rack view area or whatever you might have thought ;-)

Anyway, welcome to modular and yes, you never can have enough VCAs but the same goes for quite a few others as well like oscillators, filters, modulators, well basically almost everything!

Have fun and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

You are taking a direct output from Eurorack into your iPhone? If yes, then indeed that will be far too loud, ha, ha, Eurorack audio signals are at a much higher audio voltage level than normal audio lines. So get yourself a good audio interface module (for example the one from Intellijel) and that should solve your problem.

Keep up the good music but don't blow up your iPhone ;-) and kind regards, Garfield.

Edit: Removed typo.

EDITED Feb 12th 2020, 20:34

Hi Arontwee,

I like your picture, it's good looking and especially your humour behind that is what I like: Do you really need that coaster? Does the rack/case get so hot? ;-)

Have fun with modular and kind regards, Garfield.

Hey Wishbonebrewery,

Yeah, finally a new track from you ;-) As good as ever, I like that plinky-plonky stuff all right. Don't worry about that still photo, I like it, while listening at your music I have nice sweet time to look at your gear so I don't mind the fact you don't have a video. At the end it's about the music!

And music it is! I am still amazed how you come to these kind of results with relatively less modules. Nice job and I look forward in hearing your next track :-D

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Ronin1973,

How about the Superbooth 2020 in Berlin in April? ;-)

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi GregSilvia / Jays,

Well about those mixers that was exactly my point, I don't understand it, so for me, if it would be my rack, it would not be okay. But for the original designer of this rack it's most probably okay. Since I haven't designed that rack, I really can't tell you why those particular mixer modules are in there.

That's exactly one of my points why you shouldn't take somebody's rack design and start with that because you/me/we just don't know what were the thoughts, the ideas and the design principles behind that to come with the rack just like that.

On the other hand there is nothing against it to use somebody's rack and take that as a starting point but I doubt if that's the road you should go. It's up to you of course but I wouldn't do it like that :-)

Please keep in mind the good advice of Lugia as well, he got a few very good points there.

Try to discover for yourself what you want and need. Did you went to a dealer and tried out a few modules, testing them, playing with them? If yes that should give you already a rough indication of where you would like to head at, if you haven't yet, I would strongly advice to go to your (future) dealer and play a bit around with a few modules. Just to get the first practice, experience and impressions and then I think it becomes already a bit easier and clearer where to go along this modular path.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Lutzek,

I filled in your survey and if you have questions or like to discuss something you can do that either here or send me a private message.

Good luck with your interesting project, keep us up to date with your results (as soon as you got a first module, please introduce it here) and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi GregSilvia,

Welcome to Modular! :-)

Sorry if this might sound too direct, frank or even insulting, please believe me this is not what I intend. What I try though is making you aware and asking you, are you ready for modular? I just want to make sure that you don't buy something expensive and after a while you are not using it or even regretting it, that would be just a big pity.

In all my honesty, if you copy a rack of someone and take that as a starting point... I am not sure if you are ready for modular yet, are you? Are you really sure of yourself about this? You have to ask this in an honest moment yourself, please.

My point here is, if you take a copy of somebody's rack (and it doesn't matter which rack, for example the one you highlight here above), then you are taking a setup of a rack with the thoughts, planning and ideas of that person but for yourself without knowing these thoughts, planning and ideas this person had in mind. So you start with something you just don't know.

In my opinion, you should do a bit more research and indeed, it's okay to start with the modules used in this above example rack. Study those modules, try to understand them. Test them for example in VCV Rack. At a later stage and before you start buying, have them tested first at your local dealer.

Not sure how much experience you have with synthesizers in common, depending on that, you might want to go backward even a step and get to understand the basic principles of "simple" things like oscillators (VCOs), LFOs, envelopes (EGs or ADSRs), filters (VCFs), VCAs (amplifiers), attenuators and then slowly also move into logic modules, input/output modules, sequencers and the whole bim-bam :-)

But you might have all that, so let's assume you have that experience already or you are working on it and then let's go back to the above rack, let's assume you designed it :-)

It's certainly a nice compact and good looking rack. Some of those modules will get you something fancy, but that might not always be want you need or what you want. I miss in 'your' above rack some basic and classical components like the above mentioned items like envelopes, VCAs indeed, and more basic (or should I say easier to understand modules) LFOs and filters then used here. So you might want to look into that.

Also is the rack completely full, there is no space for future extension and for modular that's a very important thing, keep space free for future extensions. Plan a rack about half full for example, get some experience with it, get to know for yourself what you want, which module types you like, which brands you like and build on that experience extend your rack with more modules.

That having said, get a bigger rack than this. If I remember correctly I have seen messages here in the forum that this Intellijel case (2 x 84 HP 6U + 1U) is anyway sold out so get for example the 2*104 (7U) case from Intellijel (instead of the above rack), gives you a bit more space and allows you to easily extend it with an exact same case.

Looking at the above rack, you have to check those mixer modules, I am not sure what the intention was here but I think you can solve that a bit more elegant by using those 1U utility modules, that's why they are there for :-) And free up some "expensive" 3U space! :-)

So get rid of a few of those "fancy" modules, some of them are good and if you have a big rack why not taking them all? ;-) But you need to know their purposes to serve you the way you want. Rather get some space free for some "simple" basic stuff. Get a standard ADSR for example and indeed at least two VCAs (linear for CVs and exponential for audio; that's a general rule, it's not a must, discover for yourself why this general rule exist though).

That Magneto module, I have that one for a long time in my mind now, but A) I feel it's pretty expensive, is it worth it? B) I do think that's a module for perhaps not seniors but also not for beginners. A good reason for myself why I haven't bought it yet. My advice is to keep this module in mind when you are ready for it but leave it out when you start with modular. You got here a 2 x 84 HP rack = 168 HP, the Magneto is 28 HP that's rounded 17% of your total rack capacity! That's one sixth! Realising that, I would rather use this space for some more classic/basic/simple/other modules than such a fancy module. Don't get me wrong on "fancy module" please, I believe the Magneto is a fantastic module, but just not to start with if you are new in modular.

I think Plaits and STO, if you like them, you can keep them, those are pretty good modules, so that's a good start but please look into all the other functionality you require: LFOs, EGs, VCAs, VCFs, etcetera.

One more thing, the module choice here above is, for my personal taste, a slightly bit too much "digital". Lots of digital modules. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing against a good digital module! But almost only digital modules or at least a very high percentage on digital modules, are you sure that's what you want? I would say for Eurorack, analogue modules are very attractive and give you a bit more classical way of "building a synthesizer" because that's exactly what you do with modular. If you are happy with the high contents of digital modules, well then leave it as it is but my advice would be to focus a bit more (not only, digital is still good) on analogue modules.

I hope you didn't mind me being frank with you, I just want you to avoid to start in modular and then getting disappointed with what you get. I don't want you to leave with a depressive feeling, that's not good either. Modular is extremely fun and good but it requires quite some research and conceptional thinking of what you want to do with your modular system. And don't worry about to make mistakes that's so common within a modular synth, that's half of the fun (okay a quarter then ;-) ).

At first you might be a bit disappointed by a module because it unexpectedly didn't do or give you want you expected or wanted to do but leave it alone for a while and give it a few months later another chance once you build up more experience with the other modules you might have and then try it again and it might give you surprisingly possibilities you wouldn't have thought of the first time you used it :-) That's all possible within modular :-) And then there modules that are straight away from the beginning stars, those are the modules you are really looking for, this initial wow and addictive feeling that you can't live without them, not even a single day! :-)

So if you think you are ready, go for it and enjoy it! Don't be shy and ask if you need to know something.

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Edit: Removed a typo.

EDITED Feb 5th 2020, 21:49

Hey Frank,

Good to hear that the module is soon in the shops, can't wait to test it.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Exposure,

If you don't mind menu driven modules, Varigate 4+ (or 8+) might be your module. If possible, I strongly recommend you to have this module tested at your local dealer before buying it.

Good luck and kind regards, Garfield.

Hello Gastonn,

Welcome to modular :-)

It depends a bit what you want to do with this upcoming rack? Just getting a few tones out of it should be possible ;-) If you want to get a bit more out of it, it's in my opinion far too small. Consider either a 9U 84 HP rack or a 6U (or 7U) 104 HP rack. Sooner or later you get used to the modules you have and start to realise that you could need another filter or VCA or perhaps even a third oscillator, i.e. you need reserved space for future extension. That might sound over the top for you perhaps but you will see, once hooked up in modular, nothing is big enough, neither your wallet nor your rack space ;-)

Another envelope (beside another filter and VCA) might be another idea to consider too.

I didn't mention anything about logic modules, sequencers and other "nice stuff" yet because there is just no space in your rack for that.

Oh yes, a very important component (or did I overlooked it?) I miss is the LFO, consider at least one or two LFOs, can't find them in your rack...

Good luck with the planning and kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Xxeyes,

How about a rack that's bigger, 3 x 84 HP for example? :-) Then additional mixer module(s) wouldn't be a problem.

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Wishbonebrewery,

Yeah, nice one :-) It's amazing what you can do with a few small modules.

Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Eduardinho,

Thanks a lot for your detailed information you provide, it's nice to read about how you do things.

I am currently looking for exciting filters and VCAs, oh and quad VCOs. So QPAS is in your opinion a module that's not only worth it but is a lot of fun to use it as well? That sounds like a filter for me then ;-) Any other suggestions for modules that really gives a lot of fun and you can't stop using them, those are the best! :-)

One of the modules I am particularly happy with and provides me a lot of patching pleasure and fun to use is the Erica Synths Black Octasource, that thing can modulate your modules like no other. It can seriously go bananas, just the right thing for me!

I agree with you about the Roland 1m. I thought would be a good one but once I had tested it at my dealer's shop I was pretty disappointed. It's not really bad but it doesn't give me that kind of wow factor either and that's what I am looking for in good modules.

Indeed the huge number of modules one can choose from and the flexibility of modular, that's priceless!

Kind regards, Garfield.

And yet another nice feature of the Disting Mk4, I know one can read and find that all in the manual, but reading it here, I feel is somehow more useful. Thanks Defragmenteur! Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Studio Utopia,

Wow! Bloody Nora! That's some nice and interesting music you provided there via your above link with some nice creative content in most of your tracks. I am not just miles away from what you can do here, I am light years away from that :-) !

Having said that... why do you "need" more modules to add? It sounds already fantastic, no? Well I feel it does. Perhaps the only hint I can give is: Just dare what you like to do, add some modules that you like or think can even boost up more your creativity and let us hear it once you have explored your new modules in combination with your already existing setup. I am sure that will sound even better with more nice surprises up your sleeve! :-)

Speaking of such, perhaps the only other feedback I can provide is that, at least for me, I wouldn't mind if you dare to put here and there yet another nice surprise sound or kind of change in the music, to give it a little extra touch of variety (unless you want on purpose to keep it a bit minimalistic); but this is complaining at a high level. It's already very good.

Sorry that I can't give you advice on specific modules you could add, I actually don't think you need any kind of advice, just follow your guts and I am sure you will surprise us with some more fantastic tracks!

One little question, that woman voice that speaks numbers in your track 20191224 - Eve (Tidal), with which module did you manage to do that? Good track that Eve, same goes for Many Happy Returns. Nice stuff!

Kind regards, Garfield Modular.

Hi Apache-River,

Thanks a lot for the hint of the Tascam DP-24 SD, will have a look at that one, smaller and cheaper than the Model 24 :-) Bit lack on inputs & outputs, but I will check it further.

If I have to use an iPad, then I rather use a computer :-) If I have to spend a million bucks to record without a computer then that's of course a no-go and I will consider the computer usage, but if there is a reasonable way to record without a computer then I would prefer that.

Thank you very much and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Blinkenlichten,

Interesting, it also mentions this:

"If required the value can be increased up to max. 4A. But this is recommended only if really a higher current than 2A is required."

Hmmm, not a very nice reassuring message, is it? :-) "Only if really a higher current than 2A is required." sounds to me like... "otherwise..." otherwise what? Frying the stuff? Pity that Doepfer's website doesn't provide more information.

But it's good to know, so to be on the save side one should be able to change the 2 A Fast with a 3.15 A Fast fuse (rather then going onto the edge(?) of 4 A).

Thank you and kind regards, Garfield.

Hi Xerah,

Do you have already some other synth stuff or just your laptop and this rack design? If you just have (or going to have) what's displayed here in your rack then I think you miss a few basic modules like: oscillators (you never can have enough of them; even though if I see the Atom and you most probably using that one), filters, EGs, perhaps a mixer and a logic module too?

What I like from your rack design is that you have left quite some free space for (near) future extension that's very good because you will need that. You might want to consider the 2*104 HP case from Intellijel instead; that one is easily to be extended with yet the same case for future purposes and has a bit more space compared to this one.

If you do most of it with your laptop then this might be fine, with the available information a bit difficult to advise you. Good luck with the planning and kind regards, Garfield Modular.