This is a sketch of an idea. I have the West Pest currently, but the idea would be to use that to start, and maybe switch to other voices later on.

Otherwise this contains a bunch of modules I find cool. They may or may not gel 100%.


With the number of voices planned in this rack, I think your rig would definitely benefit from a mixer (the passive multi is definitely insufficient) and probably a few more utilities and as the saying goes, you never have too many vca's. Your math alone probably won't cut it.


With the number of voices planned in this rack, I think your rig would definitely benefit from a mixer (the passive multi is definitely insufficient) and probably a few more utilities and as the saying goes, you never have too many vca's. Your math alone probably won't cut it.
-- Oroboros

Thanks for the feedback! That's a good point about strengthening the mixer/utility game for this. While I was thinking I wouldn't use all the voices all the time it would be better to be more flexible. I can probably sacrifice a few modules (or just use a bigger case, haha). For example, I could hold off on the Data and replace it with something more useful.


At that size of case you probably want to be very precise as to what you want to do with it, all the modules you have picked out are cool, but they don't really compliment each other on their own.

The west pest probably takes up the space of what you'd want to reserve for all of your sound sources in the future, I put way too many into my first rack, and I'm still taking them out to make space for more essentials.

Maths is well regarded, it can do modulation, attenuation, slew and lots of cool stuff... but it cant do all of that at the same time, you will likely want a lot more than Maths and the lfo in west pest to move things around.

In a case this size I'd use stackables or passive flying mults instead of putting a mult in the case, but also... there are 2hp alternatives if you really want one.. or even better something like Links would do a lot of work in the same space.

It might be worth looking at what specifically would work well with the west pest, e.g. filter, more modulation, vca's and utilities to give you more nuanced control over it, a sequencer if you aren't enjoying the built in one, maybe one effect modules (the FX aid is a great little one to look at)

Looking further ahead I'd look at what you'd need to replace some of the functions in the west pest when you come to swap it out, e.g. clock (PPW?), sequencer (Misha?), Midi in (black Midi - CV?), LFO/Modulation/envelopes (Maths, but you likely want more of these anyway, look at the ochd, quadrax, tilt, triple sloths etc for inspiration as well as any function generators, envelope generators, and modulation sources you can find, PPW will do some of this, but its not quite as straightforward).

I'd also consider if you want any sequenced modulation (a second sequencer) or generative sequencing/modulation (e.g. marbles clones)


lots of good advice already!!!

I think that if you are stuck on the number of sound sources in the case, either adding an extra row to the rack, or better yet doubling the size of it, to allow for more modulation sources, a lot more utility modules and a decent mixing solution - ideally imo a matrix mixer (particularly, but not limited to, for modulation sources), some sub-mixers (for both cv and audio) and an end of chain mixer

see the formula in my signature for a quick guide to improving versatility of your modular for the least cash outlay

"some of the best base-level info to remember can be found in Jim's sigfile" @Lugia

Utility modules are the dull polish that makes the shiny modules actually shine!!!

sound sources < sound modifiers < modulation sources < utilities


Ok, I've revamped this a bit based on feedback. I didn't have much of a focus before. I was just adding modules that sounded cool and I thought might work well together.

  • I removed the kick and Misha. This won't be a drum synth. The Misha looks cool, but on reflection I think it'd be awkward for me to work with.
  • The Big Honking Button is there at my wife's request. It's for fun only.
  • Maths will help with some random utility, such as smoothing out the attack on the West Pest.
  • I added Steppy/Scales/Digitalis to get some quantized random sequencing. Those would likely control the West Pest and then that would be sent into Nautilus as one voice.
  • The other voice would be the Morphaphene and work with Pam's, etc.
  • Removed the MIDI and stereo headphones in favor of more mixers. For MIDI I'll go through the West Pest or just use CV.
  • Data is there mainly because I want some cool visualization as I patch, but it does have some utilities that can come in handy. I won't really be using it for a voice on its own.

Am I missing anything super obvious? A good filter might be nice but I don't know how necessary it would be until I replace the West Pest.

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far! The synth and modular community is great.


I think you would get something from adding a filter and more modulation, and I'd still be tempted to add more mixing (but that is mainly because I've recently realised I have far from enough mixing in my own rack).

I had a play around and tried to keep most of what you had and work with the space you had remaining:
ModularGrid Rack

I added the ochd and Ornaments & Crime for modulation and O_C is so flexible, it can also do sequencing or quantising, have a look at the videos for it and decide if its style of menu driven workflow could suit you... it could even delay your need for steppy and scales (but not remove the need longer term)

I also added squawk dirty and FX aid as end of chain effects and filtering.
If you were to take the Data out, I'd suggest looking at a second filter to add more flavour, maybe the ikarie would work well?

Data is fantastic, and its really helped me understand what my modules are doing and how to get more from them, but in a case this size its taking up a lot of real estate.

one thing that did occur to me, was to put the big honking button and the Data in a separate 4ms Pod alongside this case if you were set on its size.

If you want to grow this in the future, then I'd suggest looking at a bigger case, for all those nice modules you like the look of, you will need more space to make the most of them.