I have been interested in getting started with modular for some time and I have been keen on getting the twisted electrons crazy8 beats for the reason that you can take it out of it's desktop case and add it to a modular rig. I figured this would be an easy way for me to use it standalone and then place it in a case once I am ready.
Fast forward a few months and I am really enjoying the videos about the Black Noir from Endorphin.es. So I just had a random thought that I could probably put together an all-black modular drum machine.
Some random google picture searches later, I found a really cool case called Mechanism that has some joysticks and other audio/cv utility modules in a 1U format and 95 HP of space.
So I plopped in the Crazy8 Beats, Black Noir, and an Erica Synths Drum Sample Player. Originally I had planned to use Erica Synths clock generator as it fits perfectly in the remaining space (11HP) and would provide some extra clock utility for other gear. But after some though, I just don't see this being terribly useful to me right now. Also, I realized I needed a mixer to pull the main mix from Black Noir, the two sample outputs and at least one extra channel for a sound pulled from Black Noir's main mix. So I settled on a small mixer than can double as two mixers! The extra space lets me put in two Pico DSP modules.
I figure this is covers all the bases for a neat starting point into a modular drum machine.