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Final decisions and purchases made to complete my Rackbrute 6U build (although is anything ever complete in modular?)

never...

For the last 10HP that I had available, I decided to go with Instruo Ts-L and Mutable Instruments Kinks

kinks is good but discontinued - wmd/ssf toolbox is good substitute - but 6hp - I'd prioritise this over new sound source - more utilities better than more sound sources imo!

I do see one modification coming and that is to replace the Ladik Gateable Slew Limiter with a Disting MK4 (which has the slew limiting functionality and of course much more)

I do have a question, I am considering moving the Rackbrute power supply to the lower right...but this is also where I currently have my Bastl Ciao quad line output....bad idea to have the power right next to the output like that? maybe I move power back to upper left corner and Ciao next to the Cosmix and Preamp and Warps comes down to lower right...

-- jb61264

no idea about rack wart... don't use them - waste of space if you ask me!!!

wouldn't bother with mk4 you have ex...

maybe in next case with next sound source!!!

EDITED Sep 25th 2021, 10:11

A row-lock, or better, a module-lock; but I suppose it's difficult to implement.

We would be interested in features that support the eurorack DIY community, such as: 1) a rating for the build difficulty for DIY modules, and 2) a link to a Mouser cart for DIY projects (could be community maintained, or maintained by the person who adds the module).

Final decisions and purchases made to complete my Rackbrute 6U build (although is anything ever complete in modular?)
For the last 10HP that I had available, I decided to go with Instruo Ts-L and Mutable Instruments Kinks
I do see one modification coming and that is to replace the Ladik Gateable Slew Limiter with a Disting MK4 (which has the slew limiting functionality and of course much more)

I do have a question, I am considering moving the Rackbrute power supply to the lower right...but this is also where I currently have my Bastl Ciao quad line output....bad idea to have the power right next to the output like that? maybe I move power back to upper left corner and Ciao next to the Cosmix and Preamp and Warps comes down to lower right...

Great rack
-- GarfieldModular

No debate there! I've been looking at this for a hot minute, and the only thing I would change here would be to move the Ears to the left end of the top row. That would make it less messy as zuggamasta's audio input line could come in from the left edge of the cab, instead of over the middle-top. But the rest...this is clearly an experimentation rig, and it's a damn good one!

:-)

hahahaha
just you wait

Thanks! It would be nice to not spend valuable hp on power. Unfortunately, I don't have room for 6U in my rack. My eurorack rig is just a small side project in an already full studio.

Great rack

Hi Asleepwheel,

Doepfer has a rackmount case (A-100 G6) that doesn't require any power HP consuming module ;-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Hi All,

Or instead of the Doepfer A-160-2 clock divider, one could consider to take an audio divider (hence frequency divider) the Doepfer A-115 for example and it's cheaper than the A-160-2 :-)

https://schneidersladen.de/en/doepfer-a-115-audio-divider?number=120090

You can hear an example of that in my still to release review report of the Doepfer A-106-5 SEM filter, "The crazy bit" part 2 of the demo I made for the A-106-5 SEM filter on Soundcloud:

The small part from about 0:43 till about 1:30, I am using there the A-115 audio divider. Before and after that section I am using the Doepfer A-116 Waveform processor instead. Kind regards, Garfield.

Agreed, square wave into the Doepfer clock divider, and lower frequencies out from that. I've confirmed this works with my setup.

Additionally what I'd generally want to use:
-- original signal running into a buffered mult, so I can take the source signal, feed it to the Doepfer, but also have 1+ copies to send for mixing etc
-- a mixer to take 1 or more outs from the Deopfer and mix in various ways (with or without the original)

Beauty shot of the current setup:

can someone explain to me have a patch this up to work???from my Synth tech E352 through the Doepfer clock divider?
-- Broken-Form

A square wave from your oscillator will work well. Though some oscillators only allow one waveform to output at a time, so if you're using a triangle wave or something else... you might have issues. As far as mixing it in, there are two ways:
A) You mix both oscillators together at the output and then continue down your patching chain.
B) Your sub gets its own independent envelope generator, VCA and then is mixed in to the original signal at the very end of the signal chain.

My opinion is that it would be easier to patch in a second, independent oscillator tuned an octave or two down and just patch the same pitch CV and gate CV to it.

Sorry, I messed it up I wanted to set it to 18. Thanks for the notification

Sure it's 14HP ?

can someone explain to me have a patch this up to work???from my Synth tech E352 through the Doepfer clock divider?

Emilie rocks!!!

Got it yeah! I contacted Emilie at Mutable and she said turn Meta off. That took some finding but for anyone else with same problem here it is, go to FMCV in the menu settings and click encoder. You can then scroll through various options. META is one of them and although it wasn't set on, the one you need to set it to is FREQ which activates the fine tune knob. Then click encoder again and scroll to SAVE and click and hold that for a second. It should then activate the fine tune whenever you switch on.
Thanks again to all who suggested things. Happy now!

maybe try searching modwiggler ...

Couldn't find anything on the Mutable forum on this. I checked the firmware version on my module which is V4.1 which I think is the Bees in the Trees mod. I found an article about this hacked version and this extract refers to fine tuning.

" there are no new capabilities provided except that fine tune no long shares a CV channel with FM, and thus the FTUN setting in Bees-in-the-Trees is not really needed with the new version of Braids (so just ignore it!)."

I don't really understand that statement. It's saying the FTUN setting no longer needed but I guess the fine knob should still work but presumably you don't need to adjust it's settings. These seem to be the range in which the knob works and not whether it is enabled or not. I know I did get it working a while back but have rarely used it since but now I have more VCO's in my rack I want to be able to fine tune it to match them.

exactly!!!

there's a 2hp lfo!

Good point, thanks for the tip!

Lessee...10 hp left, and you're thinking LFOs. So, how about THIS: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/beast-tek-double-dragon

Basically, it's a complex oscillator but only works in the LFO range. LFO1 can be used to crossmodulate LFO2, plenty of adjustment parameters, and some wild results.

One other point...quite important, actually...get the level converter away from the power supply. Power supplies can induce crud on audio modules that are located in close proximity; it's MUCH better to co-locate them with modules that have no audio capabilities.

You'll have to build a massive rack for it to need more than a regular household 10-15A AC circuit to plug in to! :)
-- justarandomgeek

Or just have a metric fuckton of gear! The current setup I have DID require more amperage, so I had to get an electrician in to add a pair of 20A circuits. Not only that, I also picked up a cheap clamp ammeter/multimeter (Harbor Freight FTW) so that I can clamp it onto the power feed on each rack to work out a total and, once that's done, to figure out how to load the total 50A in here so that it's nice and balanced (power-wise, not balanced power which is a whole 'nother can of worms!) and free of ground loops. If you run several racks of gear, having one of those clamp ammeters is a MUST.

If you don't have a sense of humor, though...then why in God's name are you using a modular synthesizer?

Over here, I'm using a MOTU 828mkii as the interface for CV/G/T work. Ableton CV Tools is the source in those cases. If you have the room to put in a 1U rack device or two, that would be my recommendation. Just MAKE SURE that the interface is DC-coupled (all of the Expert Sleepers modules are) so that it can send/return subsonic data. This method is also cheaper than an E.S. module in that audio pros consider early digital interfaces to be "obsolete", so they're dumping these for dimes on the dollar.

ooooooookay...so, how does the clocking work?

Lovely indeed. I second the idea of an extended version!

I really like the track! Nice and dreamy and drifty. Thanks for sharing it.

any suggestions:

get another row??
take a look at thonk.co.uk - they have trimmer knob covers that make them a little bit bigger and easier to use
a matrix mixer would be useful as would 3*MIA and kinks or a wmd/ssf toolbox
fx aid xl... so you get the modulation inputs and knobs that are accessible

Hard yes, indeed! I‘m curious about the other thing(s) it does except audio outs and CV ins.

I have the QD… hard yes on Qex!!

I'm in a home basement in the US so I assume 15 amps per circuit in general.

You don't really need to worry about the AC circuit's current - it's 120V coming out of the wall, so 1A there would make 10A at 12V (ish, minus a bit for conversion losses) when it comes out the other side of your power supply. You'll have to build a massive rack for it to need more than a regular household 10-15A AC circuit to plug in to! :)

EDITED Sep 23rd 2021, 19:33

Here's the rig that I ended up actually building:

Here's a track I created with it:

Thoughts so far:

I wanted something that I could use to do ambient generative music as well as be controlled from midi, and also have a line in so I can use it for effects, and I succeeded on that score. I have an analog audio path from VCO to VCF when I want strictly analog.

As I mentioned above, with the constraints I have, I knew I'd be in for some cramped controls, but I put a premium on getting decent-sized knobs for the controls I'd be riding the most. My soundsources go into the 3xVCA so I use it for mixing as well as applying amplitude modulation, so those knobs are are important, and I'm happy with that module. The knobs on Disting work great for me and I'll be using those a lot. The frequency knob on C4rbn is borderline adequately sized. All the little knobs are fine...either I don't access them often or precision isn't required for them. One thing I'm finding valuable is cables with an attenuator in them. That way I don't have to waste valuable hp space on simple CV attenuation.

Stages is a gem. I can use it as any combination of: quantized pitch controller, LFOs, envelopes, sequencer, slew limiter, etc.. With a small rig like this, every module must be able to do multiple jobs and Stages is priceless, especially with the qiemem firmware.

I have a little space left. I'm thinking Ochd would help me with all the slow unsynced LFOs I need for subtle movement and would free up Stages segments to be used for other tasks. I could use another tone generator, but Disting might be useful for that, in which case I'd need something to do effects processing I'm currently doing with Disting. A utility module would be handy for creative signal mangling. Any suggestions?

thanks again Jim

the mutable forum is also worth searching for mutable specific issues...
I'd try that before contacting Emilie first - search works well!!!

Hope you get it sorted out quickly !!!!

fingers crossed...

EDITED Sep 23rd 2021, 18:25

thanks Jim, yes i looked in the manual and it doesn't even cover it. I bought the module used when I first got into modular and so not sure if it's original or clone. It has a black face panel but I think the guy said he changed it to match his other black ones. As I said I did get it working once so it's not a design/build issue. The module works in every other way so it's a puzzle. I might try the Mutable support, cheers for that.

Have you checked in the manual???

If so and it's still giving problems:

If it's an original factory built module then I'd contact Emilie via the mutable support email address on the site... She's incredibly quick to reply and helpful

If it's a clone you've bought - contact the builder...

If it's a clone you built modwiggler has a Music Tech diy subforum that has lots of useful information on troubleshooting mutable builds (but it's a long read over 100 pages iirc)

RTFM!!!

Hi folks. Having trouble using the fine tune function on Braids. It doesn't have any effect. I know I had issues at first and needed to go into the fine tuning menu and set the range and it did work then (I think it was at zero which obviously wouldn't work) but I've checked and it's set to 10. Tried it on other range settings but still has no effect. Am I missing part of the procedure for enabling it or what? Any advice much appreciated.

From the 1 page manual:

Gain indicator LED. Its brightness is proportional to the VCA gain, on a dB scale. The LED is off when the signal is muted.
Output indicator LED. Its brightness represents signal level, and its color represents signal polarity (green = positive).

No signal and no offset = no light. Reading the manuals of the modules is an absolute must.

EDITED Sep 23rd 2021, 14:49

It should only light up when there is a signal going into it. If it doesn't light up then, then there is a problem.
-- snowtires

will test tommorow

-- Broken-Form

I have MI Veils 2020, don't have it patched to anything at the moment but when I move the sliders up, the tip on the sliders do light up...same with the knobs directly above the sliders...if you turn those, the light on the tip of the slider also lights up.

muffwiggler is a double-entendre - a classic form of pun...

taking offence to it is pathetic... imo, shows a total lack of a sense of humour...

I generally find those lacking a sense of humour both pathetic and offensive

you can't please all of the people all of the time, though and if it helps adjust the gender bias at modwiggler (which is questionable) then it's probably a good thing

unless of course the newcomers lack a sense of humour...

now there's a conundrum!

EDITED Sep 23rd 2021, 08:38

Oh wow, sounds like the four-voice unison Juno of our dreams. :3 I'll give them a look online, thanks so much for the heads up! The other variant of a Juno-esque voice I was looking at was the Winterbloom Castor and Pollux. Gorgeous looking module, to boot.

So, if they merged, would the result be Gearwiggler or...hm, yeah, I see your point.

hahahahaha I think you are right!

Hi JimHowell1970,

I think we need to have a serious talk with Broken-Form...

He left his studio again!!!

;-) Kind regards, Garfield.