Ooh, I like This Modular Rack...

[ghettosynth]

Thanks guys. I am on the cusp of ordering a Behringer 19 inch rack kit and a Doepher wasp filter to get me started. I notice the quoted max depth for the rack is 39mm and the wasp is 45mm. Can anyone comment on usiing the B. rack as a table top skiff.

The Behringer ends are shallow. The TipTop z-ears are much deeper. I have a number of modules that won't fit comfortably in the behringer rack as a tabletop unit but will fit fine in the tip-top unit. I have a number of both at this point and my take on this is that the TipTop racks are better, but, the Behringer power supply is better with the supplied adapter. That said, the TipTop micro zeus can be used with a larger adapter to give you more 12v rail than the Behringer.

The happy ending kit comes with a 1AMP adapter but can use a standard 3AMP adapter.

Provided with the module is a 1000mA +15VDC unregulated wall adapter
with a 2.5mm positive center pin connector.

So, in that sense, even though it's more money, if you want to use it on the tabletop, my advice is to go for the Happy Ending kit and use the power brick that it comes with for the time being. If you find that you need more power and you don't decide to go to a bigger case then you can get a larger adapter later.

[vurt]

yeah, i wouldn't skimp on depth if you can avoid it.

im now not even sure how behringer are building some of their modules? pretty sure plaits isnt much shallower than the wasp filter?

nothing worse than dpd dropping the parcel, getting all excited, then it won't fit

[justin3am]

yeah, i wouldn't skimp on depth if you can avoid it.

im now not even sure how behringer are building some of their modules? pretty sure plaits isnt much shallower than the wasp filter?

nothing worse than dpd dropping the parcel, getting all excited, then it won't fit

I use these when I have a module which is too deep for the case I want to put it in: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FZ ... UTF8&psc=1

[SHall1000]

OK. Tip top it is then. Current thinking is to add a Doepher Wasp and a B. 140 dual envelope/LFO.
But blimey, This stuff soon adds up!

[vurt]

yeah, i wouldn't skimp on depth if you can avoid it.

im now not even sure how behringer are building some of their modules? pretty sure plaits isnt much shallower than the wasp filter?

nothing worse than dpd dropping the parcel, getting all excited, then it won't fit

I use these when I have a module which is too deep for the case I want to put it in: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FZ ... UTF8&psc=1

cool!
watchthe guitar mentioned these kind of things.
im to clumsy and be dropping shit in the case

[vurt]

OK. Tip top it is then. Current thinking is to add a Doepher Wasp and a B. 140 dual envelope/LFO.
But blimey, This stuff soon adds up!

it can, and probably will, but take your time
you started with the full synth, so now you are just adding, theres no rush!!! (well other than the desire )

im sure the wasp filter will make you as happy as mine both do

other filters i have qpas, a bit on the dear side, but quite a nice screamer!
borg filter, not too dear but not cheap, sallen key, so similar to ms20.
cinnamon pretty cheap lp/hp/bp outs with resonance and filter control by cv.
polivoks from erica, reasonable price and screams like a bastard
the doepfer sem, another difference flavour res, very reasonable price
and prism from qubit, reasonable, digital moog filter emu with a coupel of fun extras.

[elxsound]

OK. Tip top it is then. Current thinking is to add a Doepher Wasp and a B. 140 dual envelope/LFO.
But blimey, This stuff soon adds up!

Might want to look into some cheap blanks. I always found the empty slots as incentive to hurry up and buy more. The blanks sort of helped slow that down?

The cheapest I’ve seen were DIY paper, if you’re into that. I found plenty cheap ones on Etsy, but one was a little askew, so it was problematic if I needed that size, so I won’t link to what I’ve bought.

[foosnark]

On blanks, I really like the Konstant Labs ones where you can adjust their size (it's two pieces that fit together and you slide one behind the other to shorten it). Really helpful when you change a couple of modules and suddenly you have a 14HP gap but your blanks are 16, 6 and 4.

I also like 1HP blanks to put between narrow or crowded modules when I happen to have the extra space.


(I've been lurking in the thread trying to not talk shit about Behringer, but now I'm gonna let it slip that I really dislike the Brains design. Great big USB-B connector (why B? B for Behringer?) right on the front for the 0-2 firmware updates you will ever do to it in its lifetime, instead of using the open-source audio bootloader that every Mutable Instruments module has and many other developers adopted, or a micro USB port on the back. Built-in oscilloscope that can only show you one of the least useful things you can patch to an oscilloscope. Weird little graphic taking up space below that, as well as two Behringer logos).

If they wanted to expand and improve on Plaits they could have added an attenuverter for Harmonics, maybe a dedicated control for envelope time. Maybe even an audio input that would work with the Rings-like modes (I'm not sure how feasible that is but it's an idea).)

OK, deep breath

[ghettosynth]

(I've been lurking in the thread trying to not talk shit about Behringer, but now I'm gonna let it slip that I really dislike the Brains design. Great big USB-B connector (why B? B for Behringer?) right on the front for the 0-2 firmware updates you will ever do to it in its lifetime, instead of using the open-source audio bootloader that every Mutable Instruments module has and many other developers adopted, or a micro USB port on the back. Built-in oscilloscope that can only show you one of the least useful things you can patch to an oscilloscope. Weird little graphic taking up space below that, as well as two Behringer logos).

If they wanted to expand and improve on Plaits they could have added an attenuverter for Harmonics, maybe a dedicated control for envelope time. Maybe even an audio input that would work with the Rings-like modes (I'm not sure how feasible that is but it's an idea).)

Even though I like a lot of the B modules, I do agree with most of this. I still think that the little o-scope is better than no o-scope. That said, they could have just made it smaller and even cheaper yet. The latter is the real crux of the matter though, it is cheaper almost everywhere than a real (fake) plaits and it is easy to get your hands on.

What you point out though points to a larger problem in general with the Behringer modules. I'm going to despairingly call it "British Engineering." For those that don't know, I'm an expat, so I can get away with this. British Engineering has a certain WTF wonk to it and I think that, despite the good value, this is present in many of their modules.

Part of it comes from trying to be true to the original design when it would be better to improve upon it, and part of it comes from just saving money in weird places, or just making weird choices. The USB-B connector is a weird choice. The ARP envelopes both have a single trigger input for both envelopes. AFAIK, this is not the case with the original. The ARP 1047 filter, as amazing as it is, lacks the important extra bits to help ping the filter which is an important part of the original design. The B.Moog modules use S-Trigger and you can buy a converter panel the size of a football field. The B.Roland portamento is broken in that it is basically does nothing over most of the range of the pots. The B.Roland switched gate module is stupidly wide and they fill up the space with an excessive number of mults, yet, the B.Moog mults is slim and trim. The B.Moog mixer is far too wide and includes noise and mults, ok, but, it's not the only place that you can get noise in the B.Moog modules. The B.Moog highpass sounds great, and has been on sale, but, it's a 24db/oct filter, put resonance on it already.

I think that there are really high value modules in all of the series but that it's mostly a mistake to go for all of one series. Personally I like the ARP modules the most, followed by the B.Moog modules. These are the most flexible and they have more actual knobs than the B.Roland modules. I think for Moog purists the switch triggers are ok, and, if you are really into it, the B.55 system is reasonable value and great value if you get it on sale.

I am a huge Roland fan, but, the B.Roland series misses the mark in so many ways. The sequencer is stupid with the tiny little trim pots. Why not build it similar to the ARP in that it uses knobbed pots offset for each of the two channels. The dual modules VCO/VCF/VCA seem to be more concerned with looking the part than being necessary, I feel that they could have used an update. VC Res on the dual filter would have made it a fantastic deal. The switched highpass is true to the original design, but really? I think that the dual VCO is really good value. Two VCOs for $120 that have switchable ranges. I get that they want to duplicate the "three modules and stereo voice," but, is it really worth mimicking the original so much as to leave important contemporary features off? I think that their engineering sometimes just gets halfway there. IMNSHO, the little 110 voice is fantastic value in the series. It's a great little normaled synth voice that cuts out some of the less useful features.

[ghettosynth]

OK. Tip top it is then. Current thinking is to add a Doepher Wasp and a B. 140 dual envelope/LFO.
But blimey, This stuff soon adds up!

Yes, and at some point you start to realize that those $500 modules are really only the same as three or so of the cheaper modules, and they do seem to be really nice. That leads to, "ok, the value proposition isn't as bad as I thought. Maybe I can justify it...just this once...."

I'd like to say "Today is Wednesday, I have not ordered a module today." But, damn you stock alerts!

[SHall1000]

Do you have an opinion on the B.140? I like the idea of the sliders, keeping in the same vibe as the 2600 and two envelopes and an LFO with a good range of waveforms seems like very good value.

[ghettosynth]

Do you have an opinion on the B.140? I like the idea of the sliders, keeping in the same vibe as the 2600 and two envelopes and an LFO with a good range of waveforms seems like very good value.

Yes, it's pretty good. Two EGs and a VC LFO for $120 is good value. The sliders, if done correctly, are probably the best B.controls. They are smooth and pleasant to use. The LFO is very usable and has VC frequency. The EGs have normal and inverted outputs. On the one hand I wish that there were attenuators, but, on the other hand, Roland puts the attenuators on the inputs of the modules, as does ARP, so it will pair well with the 2600. The EGs are pretty broad so it may be hard to dial in shorter envelopes, IOW, it's not a focused percussion EG and it doesn't have a timing range switch. But given that the 2600 only has one ADSR, I think that it's a good complement to the 2600.

[SHall1000]

If I understand this correctly the latest Brains firmware update turns the display into a proper oscilloscope. Plus some new oscillators.

https://synthanatomy.com/2023/03/behri ... -td-3.html

[ghettosynth]

If I understand this correctly the latest Brains firmware update turns the display into a proper oscilloscope. Plus some new oscillators.

https://synthanatomy.com/2023/03/behri ... -td-3.html

Awesome. I was going to get a plaits just for the DX7 algo, but now I don't need to and having another tiny general scope is really useful. I'm not sure I care about the TD-3 emulation, but I assume that's fun for some.

[SHall1000]

Brains is only £115 with some vendors ATM. Too much choice.