Buying a starter moduler rack

[Audiooverkill]

Thinking of buying some modular gear, can anyone advise me on some start-up bits?

[Ciderwell]

Frequency Central do a low cost power supply that runs on 9v wallwart. And if you are handy with a solder iron you can get one even cheaper.

https://frequencycentral.co.uk/product/ ... -to-power/

[whyterabbyt]

Thinking of buying some modular gear, can anyone advise me on some start-up bits?

The general advice is to start off with a semimodular, but if you give an idea of what you want to use it for, you might get more tailored advice.
Oh, and might be worth stating a rough budget.

Just so you know, the 'Modular Synthesis' forum is for software modulars, most modular users hang out in the Hardware forum. You can report your thread (the ! button) to ask to get it moved.

[Audiooverkill]

maybe 600 pounds is my budget and want to get some really gnarly bass sounds , plus silly questions , is there a way of storing your patch on without recabling everything , thanks for the help

[Shabdahbriah]

What whyterabbyt said...

My response in a thread with the same initial query/interest... here:

viewtopic.php?t=629955&start=15

I second (or third) the suggestion of a Behringer 2600 - however you look at it it's the cheapest way to start a modular system - when you add up all the utility modules you'll need it's totally worth it. And is great on it's own while you save up for more modules..!

Yep. That one looks like great value in terms of dollars per module. If I was looking to build a big system, it wouldn't be a bad place to start. But I am trying to avoid building a big system!

but, the arp plus a reasonably small system (maybe the cre8audio nifty skiff?) will give you a huge range of options!
it doesn't have to grow, more than you want it to.

I completely agree with those who have suggested starting with a 'semi-modular'. The 2600 comes all in at under $500, new. And I dare say, you will find little else that compares in overall features, complexity, and versatility in eurorack format for less.
It may be rather large for a 'desktop' unit, at 8U x 19", but being designed as rack-able, that can be dealt with as such, which is an option you might give some consideration to.

That being said. Some of the other suggestions (I feel) are also worthy of note. Particularly, the Behringer Neutron, Proton, and Kobol Expander.

As can be seen, they require considerable space. Here, in Behringer's Eurorack Go Case, the Neutron is taking up a touch more than half of the lower section, which leaves your (initial) expansion to the remaining slots. I have found (having two of them) the Go case to be the best deal in powered eurorack cases (@ typically $220 +/- a few $).

Behringer Eurorack Go 2x140 HP Eurorack Case.png

If you can swing it, the dimensions are:

Exterior Height:12.2" ... Exterior Width:28.5" ... Exterior Depth:4.4"

The Arturia MiniBrute 2S mentioned previously, combined with Arturia's 6U RackBrute, would keep your 'scale' reasonably contained ("small"), but expandable and flexible. Though the entry price (at retail) would be several hundred $'s more than the 2600 alone, from the get-go. But you would be set for growth within those boundaries. [2c]

[ugo]

What qualifies as a gnarly bass can differ from person to person so I recommend considering (or researching) how the sounds you like tend to be built so you can start to figure out what functions would be most important to you. Depending on what you are hoping to achieve you might just need a few modules or a reasonably well equipped semi modular…or you might not be able to reach those sounds without very specific types of modules. The better you understand your needs, the better your chances are of selecting gear that will deliver them.

Also, always be sure to listen to as many demos as you can and pay attention to all module specs. Not all cases can properly fit or power all modules, and even seemingly similar modules can have very different tones.

Edit: by the way, your question was not silly…and no, saving/loading full patches is not something you’ll tend to find in hardware modulars. Too many possible combinations and wiring configurations, not all modules have voltage control over every function, many modules are pure analog, some are passive, you can add/remove modules whenever you want, etc. The workaround is to take a picture of your rack and make notes whenever you hit upon something you want to reuse…or sample it. (Personally, I don’t worry about exactly recreating anything and treat each session as a new experiment.)

[ghettosynth]

That's six hundred pounds a month, right? That's a good starter budget for modular, right vurt?