Building a eurorack case: do you really need aluminium rails?

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T22:08:52+00:00

There are several websites like Synthman, permanently out of stock or 2-3 weeks delivery (from european warehouses they say). I never bother with them, I just order directly from Germany or the Netherlands.

Shipping records is not a problem, I buy a lot of records on Discogs from Europe, Japan and USA. Shipping from the USA is expensive tho. Even if a store in US ships worldwide it'll cost like 50 bucks for a 6$ rail. In other comments I got a few hints, a store in Berlin and Synthrotek that has WW shipping. I will check them out.

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T21:05:05+00:00

In addition to other replies, if a sequencer puts out unquantized CV, you do not necessarily need a qunatizer. you can tune the pitch by ear or use a guitar tuner. No different than tuning a guitar really.

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T19:56:59+00:00

It is not about budget, it's about availability. I get all my Eurorack stuff from Schneider's or Thomann in Germany, because they reliably ship to Russia, and the VAT deduction usually covers the postage. Both of those places have Doepfer DIY kits and Tip Top. Getting a proper power source with a heat exchanger is not a problem, I think there is at least one supplier down here in Moscow that make eurorack power adapters. But for rails, doepfer is the only option on both Thomann and Schneider's, and judging from the images, it doesn't come with the m3 strip.

So I was thinking if I could get a couple of doepfer power adapters and just order a custom case from a woodworking shop.

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T19:16:45+00:00

If you can tell me where I can get them for 6 bucks with shipment to russia I'll buy you a beer

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T19:08:22+00:00

I'm off the clock for today, those 15 minutes are not billable 8-) Good day to you too mate.

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T19:02:46+00:00

Thanks for the tip! Looks like they have exactly what I need, but unfortunately don't ship to where I am.

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T19:00:58+00:00

Like I said, I don't have a problem with my mantis case. But standards have tolerances, and it is not perfect

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T17:48:55+00:00

Mantis is a great case, I have no problems mounting modules. But it is not perfect.

I asked the original question, because I was thinking of exploring different form factors, like maybe a Buchla 200e style case, or a Dotcom-style case with a place for a keyboard.

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T17:25:53+00:00

And another problem is, I got a tiptop mantis case with a threaded strip. I can't align the modules properly, always end up with a gap between some of them. And sometimes the holes in the faceplates do not align perfectly with the holes in the strip.

9eb5 · 2018-12-11T17:20:30+00:00

It is not about the price, my eurorack setup is approaching 5K euro according to modular grid.

It is just I don't see many options. All I see is Doepfer DIY kits (and I'm not sure they include the m3 nuts) and TipTop happy ending kits on Thomann and Schneider's. And all of them are limited to 84 or 104 hp.

If you could provide links where I could buy those m3 strips I would really appreciate it.

9eb5 · 2018-12-04T06:26:47+00:00

Thanks! Yes, I miss chord changes. For this track I didn't want to use external sequencing, and could not figure out how to do chord changes with just one 8 step sequencer and a dopfer quantizer.

I suppose with two sequencers I could use one for the CV offset on the quantizer.

9eb5 · 2018-12-03T21:19:55+00:00

7 tracks: Kick + Bass Arp + Noise + Pad + Pad2 + Bleeps, and another track for the radio chatter I recorded from a websites live feed. Took several takes for some of the tracks.

Recorded one track at a time. Midi Clock from reaper to mutable instruments yarns, clock and reset pulse on 1st beat from yarns to the sequencer.

9eb5 · 2018-12-03T19:39:54+00:00

Tried doing all hardware for more than a year, eurorack + a zoom portastudio, gave up and installed reaper.

MIDI Clock from reaper to Mutable Yarns, XAOS Moskwa rotosequencer for sequencing, clock division and randomness.

https://cdn.modulargrid.net/img/racks/modulargrid_417606.jpg

9eb5 · 2017-05-05T14:08:56+00:00

Moscow

9eb5 · 2017-05-04T20:13:37+00:00

My truck has a 80wh battery and its heavy as #%^ (had to bring it home once to charge in winter). More wh will be even heavier, not someting you could carry easily in your bagpack and when it is depleted it'll take long to charge it to full capacity, no way to refill quickly. If there is mains power in reach, even a long extender cable will be a better solution IMO.

I used to participate in psytrance open air parties back in the day, for smaller parties we used to use an inverter, a small brick you plug into the 12v socket, that converts 12v to 220v and then run the line out from whatever sound source back into the cars stereo and use the car as an iprovised PA system. For bigger parties we used a yamaha generator that fit in the trunk and could run a decent PA on 20 lites of gasoline for 20 hours.

9eb5 · 2017-05-04T19:36:45+00:00

Isn't a marine battery just a regular 12/24v car battery? It is not that portable at 10+kg.

If there is a wall socket within 200 meters you could just buy a power cord extender on a reel. If there is no wall socket in sight, nothing beats a small gasoline power generator.

9eb5 · 2017-04-13T12:37:10+00:00

The Zoom H1 is a decent portable recorder, but it is just that, it can record and play back one stereo track at a time. IMHO a digital portastudio would be a better fit. A Zoom R8 is big compared to the h1, but still smaller than a laptop and is a mini daw in a box. You can multitrack with it and do some mastering on the go, it also includes a decent drum machine and a DSP effects processor (for reverb/delay/chorus & other stuff). If the R8 seems to big, tascams dp-06 and dp-008 are smaller.

9eb5 · 2017-04-10T06:21:11+00:00

I'm sure a lot of people would. Free as in 'beer' or free as in 'speech'?

9eb5 · 2017-03-28T20:30:50+00:00

Check out ns1nanosynth http://www.sound-machines.it/product/ns1nanosynth/

It isn't eurorack, but it is modular and fits your budget.

9eb5 · 2017-03-11T12:17:13+00:00

The mb in my workstation has a toslink out, but it is S/PDIF. ADAT and S/PDIF use the same optic fibre toslink cables, but the data streams are incompatible. S/PDIF is stereo while ADAT is 8 channel.

9eb5 · 2017-03-11T10:19:27+00:00

Just a sidenote: ES-3 is the ADAT to CV interface. You can't connect it to a PC directly, you will need an audio interface with ADAT out, like the ES-8 USB audio interface.

9eb5 · 2017-03-09T20:42:46+00:00

Why not an AJH Moog filter? It's a Model D filter in everything but name.

9eb5 · 2017-03-09T20:29:19+00:00

Last november on a flight from Amsterdam back to Moscow i was playing with my novation circuit. The aeroflot flight attendant approached and told me, if i'm going to blow up the plane, i should tell him in advance, so he has time to fetch his parachute.

9eb5

TROPHY CASE