Advice starting in hardware modular

[ghettosynth]

What's not so fun is how small eurorack is. I wish all my euro modules were twice the size for ease of use.

Seriously! THIS entire 9Ux126hp set-up is barely 16" tall, and 25" wide:

3Ux126hp.png

Yeah, not going to lie, I've purposely avoided Eurorack for longer than I should have because it's too cramped. I started on some vintage gear that is much more spread out than Eurorack. When you look at vintage Roland or Moog gear it seems like a lot of wasted space, but, the cabling does not really get in the way of performing. Eurorack, not so much.

I do think that 5U is too big. 4U is about perfect, but there aren't many choices, certainly not cost effective ones. If you're going to go all DIY, then it's a good choice, but that has its own issues of economy.

The thing is, there's a tendency for cramping to get worse in 3u, not better. Cram more and more into a tiny space, more features, narrower modules, cram more into fewer HP. This can take the joy out of using a modular. I think that some cramped module are ok, but it really helps to not get addicted to "the most function in the smallest space" just because it will save you money on case space.

Behringer has bucked the trend with their spacious modules, but, they definitely have low utility for the space. A balance is making this tolerable for me. This is balance in all directions. That is, if the row above is cramped, then make the row below less cramped. There is no magic solution. If you put all the jacks at the bottom or side of a module, you keep the knob twiddling space free, but, you visually disconnect the jack from the feature. This can be ok, or not. It's usually more ok if you like to patch first then play. If you like to actively patch while playing, it's less enjoyable.

It also seems to matter less if a module is a set it and forget it kind of module. But if I need to make an adjustment, I want significant space around the important knobs.

[zerocrossing]

I like modulars…

That’s really it, isn’t it? Just because I wrote a diatribe on why I don’t like hardware modules, doesn’t mean it makes sense for you, which is why I encourage everyone to try it out for themselves, because nothing I read really could have prepared me for the actual experience. It’s like my friend Laurence one said, “I can only show you the modular, you’re the one who has to patch it.”

[ghettosynth]

I love DIY, but, not as much as all of that. I've found that buying more that is assembled allows me to focus on interesting DIY. At any rate, here's some advice from a youtuber, he talks about this a little bit, at the end he says, just don't do it. YMMV.

[ghettosynth]

Ok, well, I was probably a bit too harsh on the Neutron, I was just annoyed by what I remembered from the last time they were front and center in my rig. Now that they're back, I remember that there's a lot to like, especially as part of a eurorack starting kit. The knob tune is really annoying. The tune knobs aren't really fine enough given that you have an octave range and there's not a specific fine tune knob. This can be somewhat mitigated by using external modules and mixing in a scaled fine tune knob with your pitch CV, but that's a lot of work. The video below highlights some of the pros and cons really well and suggests just removing the knobs and replacing them with smaller knobs. That helps with the accidental touching, they're still a pain to tune. The latest software has a tuner. Still a pain.



If you have at least some eurorack modules, The neutron is improved by routing directly out of the VCA, or even the VCF. The overdrive isn't bad, but I don't like it much but at least you can route around it. The oscillators drive the filter too hard, but again, you can attenuate them with the built in attenuator.

The envelopes are too short, but, that's what it's designed for, punchy sounds. So you can do a dirty analog kick with the overdrive, the self-oscillating filter and the snappy envelopes. They're not good for pads, but then, if it's in a eurorack system you can add some longer envelopes to supplement.

I had forgotten about filter tricks with the patch bay. You get two filter outputs, the second output is the next filter output not chosen on the panel. if you have lowpass selected, the alt-output is highpass. You can feed both into the attenuators and then feed that output into the overdrive, or directly into the VCA. When you do this you can control how much of the second filter mixes in so you can get lowpass with a bit of highpass. Modulating the attenuator gain with the lfo while setting up the lfo morphing to choose the same wave at different phases makes for a very good "let's waste hours rhythmically modulating the filter" time.

I still hate the color, but there are some very nice overlays available for about $40 give or take.

I will say that you cannot come close, even with all of the compromises, to a set of modules that does more for the money. Since almost everything can be separately patched and has most of the basics split out. You could do worse as a starting setup. You will probably very quickly want other modules to complement the weak points. But, even with choosing budget modules, you'd be hard pressed to spend less than $1000 for similar features. That said, if you spent $1000 you'd get some things that you don't have with the neutron, and of course, vice-versa.

The analog delay can be fun, ,but it's dark, and does bleed even with the mix all of the way down. IMNSHO, having a separate output module really makes the difference, especially if you're going to put it in a rack because the output is in the back.

[PieBerger]

I have a modest Eurorack setup mostly because I get a kick from building modules if I'm being completely honest with myself and the group! There is something uniquely satisfying about firing up a freshly built module and getting noise out of it and this experience is repeated amplified every time I power on the case without anything bursting into flames.

I don't actually make a lot of music with my rack and I'm OK with that, for the time being at least. I'm fickle and easily bored and I'm trying to treat my Eurorack experience as a kind of training program to trick my brain into enjoying the ups and downs of a larger and more long term project. Going down the DIY route is relatively affordable and since self built modules are more personal and don't command a high resale price on the 2nd hand market, I'm more likely to keep and use stuff, even if they get swapped in and out of the case on a regular basis.

I still need to build the Plague of Demons and Hypster but this is what my case is going to look like, until I can afford another Rackbrute 6U at least.



I've been at this for about a year now and in the beginning I wasn't really sure what I wanted, but now I've settled on curating a nice TZFM-based lead and FX/farts/bleeps machine, to be sequenced/driven by my PC or Hydrasynth Explorer. I've definitely "wasted" time and money along the way, but the advantage of doing mostly DIY is that the "waste" was still a rewarding and satisfying experience and helped improved my skills i.e. I still benefited from it in some way

edit: fixed some typos

[ghettosynth]

I almost picked up a rampage, like several hours ago almost. Had the kits been in stock at MA, I would have gone with that. I have to say that I like the Befaco esthetic. I have some low quality Ian Fritz PCBs from eons ago, they may get built into something, they may not. Such is pure DIY. Kit DIY tends to cross the finish line more often.

[PieBerger]

I almost picked up a rampage, like several hours ago almost. Had the kits been in stock at MA, I would have gone with that. I have to say that I like the Befaco esthetic. I have some low quality Ian Fritz PCBs from eons ago, they may get built into something, they may not. Such is pure DIY. Kit DIY tends to cross the finish line more often.

I like the Befaco vibe too, but thru-hole builds, either pre-kitted or from scratch are more expensive than SMD stuff, so I'm gravitating more towards the latter these days. My wanted list is pretty much all NLC stuff at this point, since they are interesting/unique and Andrew does a good job of reusing components between modules so it's easier to bulk buy and keep costs down. Most of his modules use B100k pots for example and if the small batch I ordered from Ali Express work out alright, I'll be able to buy in bulk for 79p each going forward! I'm the purchasing manager at my dayjob so buying and kitting my own components comes more easily to me and I'll even go as far to say that I enjoy this part of the process too; creating my own Excel BOMs, finding the best prices on Mouser etc. is satisfying in its own way

[ghettosynth]

I almost picked up a rampage, like several hours ago almost. Had the kits been in stock at MA, I would have gone with that. I have to say that I like the Befaco esthetic. I have some low quality Ian Fritz PCBs from eons ago, they may get built into something, they may not. Such is pure DIY. Kit DIY tends to cross the finish line more often.

I like the Befaco vibe too, but thru-hole builds, either pre-kitted or from scratch are more expensive than SMD stuff, so I'm gravitating more towards the latter these days. My wanted list is pretty much all NLC stuff at this point, since they are interesting/unique and Andrew does a good job of reusing components between modules so it's easier to bulk buy and keep costs down. Most of his modules use B100k pots for example and if the small batch I ordered from Ali Express work out alright, I'll be able to buy in bulk for 79p each going forward! I'm the purchasing manager at my dayjob so buying and kitting my own components comes more easily to me and I'll even go as far to say that I enjoy this part of the process too; creating my own Excel BOMs, finding the best prices on Mouser etc. is satisfying in its own way

I don't find it difficult as much as I find it tedious. I have quite the junkbox, but it's mostly stocked with parts for FracRac/through hole/flying wires to pots sort of builds. So, recently, I've had to buy up bulk parts for eurorack and I'm just not far enough along. I don't enjoy kit building as much as I enjoy building from scratch though, but that takes much much longer. I'm less worried about the cost of parts as I am about the time waiting for stuff to be delivered, or making mistakes and buying the wrong things in bulk. I'm not as familiar with all of the standard eurorack parts and so I don't want to order the wrong things. I still have too many banana jacks from my "oh, banana jacks are the way to go phase."

That said, I have very little in the way of smd parts. I've done smd in the workplace, but not recently and not at home. So I have neither the tools nor the parts and would mostly have to start over in terms of building up stock.

I'm in luck though. I just ordered a kit because "ooh it's on sale and sounds fun" without realizing that it was all SMD, so I'll probably cross that bridge later this year once my modular is settled in. I still plan to use a lot of through hole though as vintage parts are not SMD.

[PieBerger]

...I just ordered a kit because "ooh it's on sale and sounds fun" without realizing...

This is it what it's all about

[imrae]

DIY Rampage was one of my first modules, so versatile and quite "performable".

I agree that NLC modules are nicely thought-out for DIY, not too many component values and nice SMD sizes/spacing for hand-soldering.

[PieBerger]

If one is confident/enthusiastic enough this would make a nice starter rack for under 1,000e including the NiftyCase itself, which has you covered for power and MIDI to CV! Ignore the pricing from MG, the selected modules can all be built for around 800e or less combined, especially if you bought all of the components in bulk together.



Combines East and West paradigms with (TZ)FM and wavefolding and a nice LP/BP filter and just about enough utilities and modulation to make some interesting patches. The third VCA has a fuzz circuit if serial wavefolded FM (with feedback) isn't noisy and offensive enough for you You could swap out the Arp style LP/BP for a Korg F1 LP/HP or single LPG or you could swap the VC ADSR for a standard ADSR leaving 10HP for the filter instead, which would allow for a BBX291 (Buchla LP/BP/HP), Noiro-ze (LDR Steiner with morphable LP/BP/HP) or Feague (4pole LP / quadrature VCO).

Once I have filled up 12U of Rackbrutes, I might consider building something like for myself as a fun/sporty synth, similar to a Neutron/Taiga, but to my own specifications and handbuilt for that extra self-gratification factor

edit: fixed broken image link

[ghettosynth]

If one is confident/enthusiastic enough this would make a nice starter rack for under 1,000e including the NiftyCase itself, which has you covered for power and MIDI to CV! Ignore the pricing from MG, the selected modules can all be built for around 800e or less combined, especially if you bought all of the components in bulk together.

That looks lovely, and I'm inspired myself to look at some of the NLC modules more closely. However, I must caution anyone interested in DIY that it is a rabbit hole all its own. You must factor in mistakes, tools, test equipment, and time.

[PieBerger]

If one is confident/enthusiastic enough this would make a nice starter rack for under 1,000e including the NiftyCase itself, which has you covered for power and MIDI to CV! Ignore the pricing from MG, the selected modules can all be built for around 800e or less combined, especially if you bought all of the components in bulk together.

That looks lovely, and I'm inspired myself to look at some of the NLC modules more closely. However, I must caution anyone interested in DIY that it is a rabbit hole all its own. You must factor in mistakes, tools, test equipment, and time.

NLC are awesome and the white panels look great with a wide range of knob styles and colours.

I echo your sentiments regarding DIY, it's definitely not all fun and games and saving money, but if you are up for the ride it can be a very rewarding experience. Fortunately I have access to high end tools like scopes and also qualified people to ask for help and tips when I need it, at my dayjob. Starting from nothing, you'd need to budget another 1,000e for a good scope and desktop PSU (for calibrating/troubleshooting modules), a decent soldering and or reflow station plus a selection of tools like cutters, pliers, a desktop vice etc. A 1,000e starter rack then becomes a 2,000e initial investment, but after that you will have the skills and resources to build anything you want going forward and to repair any other hardware synths you own. I nearly pulled the trigger on spares and repair Cobalt 8 because I was like "yeah I'm confident I can pull that off now"

[Stefken]

Impressive this DIY stuff.
Unfortunately, i am not a DIY guy and i guess this becomes a technical world/rabbit hole all on its own, which pushes you even further away from anything music related. At that point you are pretty much an engineer, right..

Impressive, but i won t be going that route.

[PieBerger]

Impressive this DIY stuff.
Unfortunately, i am not a DIY guy and i guess this becomes a technical world/rabbit hole all on its own, which pushes you even further away from anything music related. At that point you are pretty much an engineer, right..

Impressive, but i won t be going that route.

No harm/shame in it, given that it's already a rabbit hole, closing yourself off from another sub level rabbit hole because you know it's not your bag, is also a good thing

Edit: I have kind of gone the opposite way, where I have effectively closed myself off to premade modules because even though there are tonnes of great modules out there, I just look at the price and say to myself "well that's the same as 2-4 DIY modules" and walk away. It's quite good really because it limits my options and prevents me from being even more overwhelmed and out of pocket than I already am