Ambient rack, 1st attempt almost happy and ready to start patching!

Hi fellow wigglers!

I'm a contrabassist from Sweden looking into eurorack and eventually sample my instrument directly into my system.

I'm looking for feedback while planning my first eurorack. I've worked quite a bit on the soundmachines114 and also have a MOOG Minitaur that was my intro into subtractive synthesis. Other than that I've been reading the forums here, muff wiggler, and also manuals from a lot of different manufacturers.

I own everything in the rack shown here except the 1U modules and the Morphagene. I will be getting an Intellijel 7U 104HP case to house everything.

My questions relate to setting up the system for ambient soundscapes. This is the best description for what I would like to be able to do with my system. Use my bass as a sound source and combine it with a good selection of modules that can really go into deep, somewhat melodic spaces with a lot of harmonic content and modulation. I'm definitely looking towards more generative patches that can respond to my bass playing so the modular system and I can have a conversation for a good length of time on stage.

Thank you all for your responses. Any and all advice/criticism would be appreciated :)

If viewing this in the forum please click on the rack to see the updated version. I seem to have posted an older version of the rack itself.

EDITED Jun 14th 2018, 11:29

Hi gvfgvf. Interesting, more and more players of other instruments are starting to interface/act with a modular.
Have you considered any of these: Pitch to CV, Piezo pre-amp ?

EDITED Jun 14th 2018, 13:00

P-to-V, definitely. Also, you're going to want an envelope follower so that the bass's dynamics can generate CVs for modulating filters, VCAs, etc.

Another fun soundscape source might be Evaton's RF Nomad. Nothing quite as strange and full of potential as shortwave audio.

Thanks guys! Is there anything critical that I'm missing from the rack at this moment? Other modules I should consider to tie patches together, or get a better mix (more vcas? hah) or effects? What about utilities? I really want to be able to work and experiment with the same setup for quite a long time...

I'm sorry the original rack is still up, please click on the rack itself to review the new and improved version....

EDITED Jun 15th 2018, 11:01

Another thing is I would like to be able to do is play only on the rack WITHOUT my bass. I have a Beatstep pro and a keystep. How am I doing in terms of using those to control and sequence the modular? Appreciate your input Lugia and Wiggler!!!

Hmmm...well, under those circumstances, you could do with one more simple VCO to beef up the sound out of the Rubicon II or to do audio-range modulation. Doepfer has their A-143-9, a quadrature LFO that can work well up into the audio range, plus it outputs four different phase angles of its sine waveform, so that if you wanted to use it as an LFO instead of a VCO, it can have the original phase curve modulating one thing, but your choice of 90, 180, or 270 degrees out of phase to do identical-but-offset modulation elsewhere. Small and cheap, too.

Thank you Lugia!

Anymore advice about the general flow of the rack? Is there anything substantial that is missing?

I have now added a Three Sisters for filter and additional VCO, Dixie II. Seems like that will play nice with the Rubicon but any suggestion would be great as maybe a different color of VCO could also go well.

Are there any glaring redundancies? Things which are too similar or too much HP? The only module I'm not convinced totally of is the Echophon...

Thanks so much for your suggestions!

EDITED Jun 18th 2018, 10:19

Dixie II is a pretty good choice, given how variable it is plus how small a footprint it takes up. As for the Echophon, just wait and see...that plus the Batumi = serious sonic trouble (of the GOOD variety)! Other than that, I think you're good to go here.

Now I have reorganized a bit and will put the modules to connect the bass on hold. I realized there are a variety of ways to integrate outside sources that do not take up rack space...

I have 10HP left in this rack setup...What should it be used for? What kind of modules? any recommendations from anyone?

Thanks everyone!

Bastl ABC: 5 hp, 3-in, 1-out mixer x2 for mixing three stereo pairs down to one. Perfect stereo summer for after the Morphagene and Clouds to allow them to be used in parallel....woooo!!!

Befaco Dual Atenuverter: 5 hp, dual...well, attenuverter. Perfect for rescaling and/or inverting CV signals such as envelopes, etc.

Neither are sexy, but function-wise, they're able to make the existing modules even more interesting!

again please click on the rack to see the most current version. I'm asking for help in what might be some good options for the rest of the HP in this configuration. The shuttle control is used to sequence from Digitakt and Op-1. What more would you add in the 24 hp left? My only thought is an optomix and another filter, possibly Belgrad...

Thanks for your replies wigglers!!