2021: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2021)

[pekbro]

Yeah sry justin, his cases are top notch no doubt. To me it just seems like a lot for someone whos just dipping their toes in eurorack.

Definitely I am not one who should talk about that though.

The non-travel cases from MDLR are a bit more affordable and also well recommended.
foosnark has one I believe and is often touting it.

[justin3am]

It's all good. I think we all benefit from different points of view. I always try to take input from you folks before I make purchase, as your experience is valuable.

I was talking to someone the other day who spoke favorably of the Trogtronic cases. I don't have any experience with them myself but they do look sturdy and not overly expensive.

There used to be a company called Gorillabox, when there weren't many options for flight-case-like eurorack cases and I remember thinking at the time that $1k was a lot to pay for a 416HP case (they also used a lot of hyperbole in their advertising). I think I spent <$300 total for the 432HP case I was using around 2010.

[vurt]

I loved TipTop's 252 case, a good friend of mine has one of those. I wasn't really impressed by the Mantis. No experience other than checking them out at NAMM and at Perfect Circuit. They are probably fine.

i have 3 mantis, not had any problems, other than depth of some modules.
thats one thing to keep an eye on, make sure you get a deep enough case
plus you can buy a snap on cover.

[elxsound]

@elxsound you should look at the mantis or similar, those mdlr cases are nice, but 3x the cost or more. I guess if money is no object.

I just make my own

*Sry, those cases are top notch no doubt. If you don't mind the cost of them.

Money is still an object, especially if I want a happy home/loving relationship!

I actually would love to make my own, but I also need to keep things as small as possible. A wood enclosure would be too big. This is why I'm looking at the off-the-shelf metal enclosures. They're still somewhat light and then I can tuck them away with the lid on.

[elxsound]

I loved TipTop's 252 case, a good friend of mine has one of those. I wasn't really impressed by the Mantis. No experience other than checking them out at NAMM and at Perfect Circuit. They are probably fine.

i have 3 mantis, not had any problems, other than depth of some modules.
thats one thing to keep an eye on, make sure you get a deep enough case
plus you can buy a snap on cover.

I actually like the Mantis cases, but it wouldn't work for where to keep it when not in use.

I've seen some very affordable options, but it always comes back to the size of it, plus where to store out of the way.

Its a pain finding things that would work (mostly a costly pain).

[foosnark]

The non-travel cases from MDLR are a bit more affordable and also well recommended.
foosnark has one I believe and is often touting it.

Yup, I am happy with mine. Mine was unfinished wood and a bit cheaper than what they offer now, but it also has a slightly less robust power supply. (I think I worried about that more than I needed to though.)

I also had a Mantis that was mostly pretty good. I almost went for a second one and a DIY frame to stack them into 12U. It was a little shallow for some of the deeper modules out there though.

...

I just ordered a Softwire Synthesis Press -- a big wooden springy pressure controller in the style of an Ondes Martenot lozenge. Not only does it do CV or attenuation, but it can crossfade between two signals. I might go ahead and pick up a Zorx Ring Leader or a ribbon controller of some kind, or might not

Also I rearranged stuff and put the MG-1 arcade button back in. It and Press will flank my Planar, at least unless I decide I need to make a little more space.

I'm still half tempted to grab an Erica Pico BBD because obviously Mimeophon, FX Aid, Beads, Versio, Phonogene, Shapeshifter, patching Stages as a delay, Valhalla and Echo Cat and Permut8 and Ratshack Reverb and Velvet Machine and Wires just aren't enough delays.

[Shabdahbriah]

I know Make Noise has its own, but instead of the I/O capability, it has a powered bus. The biggest plus I see over Intellijel, is the sliding rail system.

Replacing the fixed threaded rail with sliding nuts would be easy. Just a screw driver. Pretty sure the slot they ride in, is uniformly standard. Worth checking with them though, if that's something you'd be willing to do.

[elxsound]

I wish there was a Permut8 module!

I feel like Data Bender is very close, but there's still room for a hardware Permut8.

[elxsound]

I know Make Noise has its own, but instead of the I/O capability, it has a powered bus. The biggest plus I see over Intellijel, is the sliding rail system.

Replacing the fixed threaded rail with sliding nuts would be easy. Just a screw driver. Pretty sure the slot they ride in, is uniformly standard. Worth checking with them though, if that's something you'd be willing to do.

That's good to know! I'll shoot them a message. It's not mandatory, but the pods I have obviously are fixed holes and I've encountered some slight strangeness between a couple of the modules.
The Blanks I had (from Etsy) were not drilled the same on each so that was another thing that made me think that sliding rails would be best.

[pekbro]

With the make noise case you gotta be pretty concious of your pwr requirements. they work great for the mn stuff.

another thing many do is to use rails with the standard 19" rack cases which are often low cost. then just expand as necessary and use a uzeus for pwr or similar. and the rack ears.

[ghettosynth]

With the make noise case you gotta be pretty concious of your pwr requirements. they work great for the mn stuff.

another thing many do is to use rails with the standard 19" rack cases which are often low cost. then just expand as necessary and use a uzeus for pwr or similar. and the rack ears.

That's cheap enough but not if you don't already have racks and you need it to actually be a case. I have some desktop racks that were super cheap, like $15 for 12u, but they're not actually a case. You can populate those with rails+ears on the cheap, but, it's not very space efficient to build up that way. The racks themselves waste a lot of space. My PAIA modular is currently in a 10u enclosure that I've had for decades. The other thing about rack cases is that they are often too deep because they are designed to hold rack mount gear. My 10u isn't too bad, but my SKB cases are like two feet deep. An SKB mixer case new is hundreds of dollars.

[pekbro]

it just depends what you want and need, i know a guy who uses tall 19 " racks and countless uzeus for 5500 hp, $200k worth of modules.

i thin thomann makes their own mixer travel cases as well and they are like $60 or something. $35 shipping.

[pekbro]

not a mixer case though. i didnt look through what they make. reportedly they are quite nice.

https://m.thomannmusic.com/thomann_rack ... 1621639157

a std mixer case would be 9u i think. im sure they got something not too costly.

[ghettosynth]

not a mixer case though. i didnt look through what they make. reportedly they are quite nice.

https://m.thomannmusic.com/thomann_rack ... 1621639157

a std mixer case would be 9u i think. im sure they got something not too costly.

This is the closest thing that SKB still makes.

http://www.skbcases.com/music/products/ ... c=120&s=81

It's 10U. What I would like is one of the old cases that would support a CR1604. They were 12u.

[pekbro]

They do make that type at Thomann, theres a guy at GS who uses one and says its good. IIRC it was about $80 a few years ago. The SKBs would be higher quality i hope. But depending one your needs, the Thomann case might work well for someone. *they were 12u i believe. ill see if i can find the pics when i get home from work.

There are tons of case options im any event.