Hi all,

I'm wondering if there's any reason to pursue an Intellijel Duatt+1U VCA combination over the After Later DVCA. Same amount of rack space, but what might I gain or lose by choosing either of those options? I definitely want to pursue the SWN/Mimeophon/Arbhar combination, and O+C seems like fun with that. With the headphone out 1U, that leaves 22hp in the 1U row if anyone thinks it'd be better to pursue a Noise Tools or something. Would love to hear ideas!


I think you're going to find yourself wanting a larger case, or smaller modules... you're going to want more modulation sources.

For the original question: it's a toss up. You get a little added flexibility from the Duatt, at the expense of some of the features of the other VCA. I would go the Duatt/VCA route myself.

Finally, another unsolicited thought. You don't have anything here that makes use of the Palette's I/O or midi... which basically means you're overpaying for a very small case. The portability of the Palette is great... but think about how much cooler this system would be if you just picked up a 104 hp skiff, replaced the 1u modules with 3u versions (18 hp), then still had 24 hp of space to play with?


Thank you for that thoughtful reply! Here are some considerations for this case:

-I am trying to keep this as tiny as possible, so I'm hopeful to use the Palette format. I need this case to fit into a backpack for travel, and ideally to be able to be powered with a portable battery for a long time. This is going to get used in the woods and will almost certainly be taken on long bike rides. One dumb yet large plus for my use case with a Palette is there's a protective lid available for it. I'm open to a skiff, but logistically I don't have the idea as firmly in hand.

-I was thinking I could use 1UOC with Hemisphere Suite and Captain MIDI to use the Palette MIDI- is there any reason that wouldn't work? Plum Audio supplies cables with 1UOC specifically to hook up to Palette MIDI connections. The hope would be to use Ableton CV Tools when I felt limited by what's in the case.

-Is the Headphones 1U not actually necessary to use the Palette output jacks? My understanding was that the stereo outs hook up to the Palette 1/4" jacks.

-I'm most interested in getting pretty drones with this, so I won't be devastated without too many modulators.


If Plum does provide a cable that connects the 1UOC to the midi jacks, that's great... wasn't aware of that.

For the headphones: no, the 1u headphone module does not use the Palette output jack. You just plug your patch cords from your sound source into the headphone modules two inputs, and voila, you're all set.