My gongs & drones project has me carrying my Syntrx, a mixer, CBA Mood, a DI, PSUs, cables and a mic. I have bags for it all and can get most places by train, which is important in London, and I don’t drive.
But the ergonomics feel a bit wrong… and my mixer is an SSL Six which is heavy, excessive and over-complicated. It’s confused me during a show once already. I’m wondering how I can reduce the mental and physical load a bit.
I can’t find any cheaper small mixers I like enough to swap the Six out for. The Syntrx must stay.
So,… maybe I could sell the Six and Mood, and get into eurorack.
I’ve not done this before. I have no idea how to begin. If I were to do this, how would I go about it? I know there are eurorack mixers and delays. There must be a mini-looper out there too. I don’t want to get into a long trading phase until I find the perfect gear, if I can avoid it.
I’d need:
four mono mixer channels;
stereo out
one mic pre
two sends on three or four of the channels; - eqs on three or four of them
a crunchy delay
a micro looper, ideally with some granular-ish, time-mangling tricks
a clock to drive the other two
maybe a crunchy reverb too because I toggle between the two main FX modes on the Mood
maybe an end-of-chain compressor
no screens
a case. I know NOTHING about cases or power, or eurorack signal levels
To be clear, I love the current setup and have no real need to sell it. This is currently a playful day-dream and feasability study.
Not sure I can be of much technical help but do you know about modulargrid? You can plan stuff out and there’s a module finder with popular modules etc. Might be good for a start.
I feel for you though, that sounds like a real bag full. Modular, however, might be a whole other can of headaches so either way, probably best to go with your gut on this one.
I was trying to imagine the actual weight of that setup and even just adding cables onto it you must be getting pretty ripped in the upper body area from hauling that all about
Silver linings. We don’t do that many gigs, to be fair.
I have it easier than my friend. Who wants to carry a 1m gong and frame about?
This whole thing started because I wondered if the speakers on the Syntrx could be heard alongside the gong such that we could do sound bath type stuff for our mates. It turned out they can’t… and then things escalated.
Your setup sounds very dependent on performance mixing and effects: two things that are very expensive and fiddly even by modular standards. Even modular artists often send their sounds through mixers and external effects in order to maintain better control. I don’t think it’d be worth it.
Oh I just saw the looper bit, in that case combining Bluebox + the Blackbox could be ideal haha. Not a cheap setup but it will have everything from your list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtqM40H7fxY
Okay just for fun, I tried throwing together a skiff based on the checklist you wrote. Here’s what I came up with (link to ModularGrid):
These are by no means the “best” modules for what you’re describing, certainly not the cheapest or smallest options, just some ideas that came to mind for me as I read your list.
four mono mixer channels — I chose the relatively new ALA Bartender as your primary mixer. It supports stereo channels and send/returns so it’s overqualified for the job but it looks great.
stereo out — Bartender has outs
one mic pre — Joranalogue Receive 2, have an extra mic input cause why not
two sends on three or four of the channels; - eqs on three or four of them — This one is tough. Bartender has your sends covered, but no EQ. Befaco Hexmix has EQ but no sends. I went with Bartender and threw in a couple of the Befaco Divkid Stereo Strips since they have nice slider EQs (and many other useful features — plus, again, stereo).
a crunchy delay — lots of great options here but how bout the Lyra 8 FX, all the crunch you can handle
a micro looper, ideally with some granular-ish, time-mangling tricks — another category with lots of possible options but I went with the Instruo Lubadh, keying in on the “looper” part of your description
a clock to drive the other two — gotta recommend a Pam’s here, either the latest “Pro Workout” or the older “New Workout.” Great for clocks and all things clock-related (LFOs, etc.).
maybe a crunchy reverb too because I toggle between the two main FX modes on the Mood — here I suggest one of the Noise Engineering Versio modules, you can swap firmwares between them and try out all kinds of reverbs, delays, other stuff
maybe an end-of-chain compressor — WMD Mscl is pretty gnarly but it sure does compression, and only takes up 4hp
no screens — Pam’s has a screen but I think the functionality is well worth it, it’s fast/easy to use
a case. I know NOTHING about cases or power, or eurorack signal levels — This is 1 row at 104hp wide, which is a common measurement for a skiff. Erica Synths makes a nice 104hp skiff with a lid and plenty of power.
So yeah, hopefully some interesting stuff there to dig into. If I were honestly advising you on this rack, I’d recommend buying a case that’s 2x this size (2 rows of 104hp, another common measurement) so you’d have room to build around this idea as you learn more about what you like. If it was my rack, I’d want more modulation sources and utilities to open up all kinds of new ways to interconnect things. But that’s modular for you, it’s whatever feels right to you.
And it’s always worth mentioning — VCV rack is free, so you can always dip your toe in this stuff without lighting your wallet on fire if you want to get a feel for patching.
I wonder if the Doepfer Quad mixer A-135-2 wouldn’t do the trick.
Befaco Oneroi packs a lot for the footprint. Cheaper as a DIY kit if you know how to solder (I’ve just soldered a MIDI Thing v2).
Morphagene makes a good looper/granular thing.
Ikocase makes solid and elegant cases and they are relatively cheap.
You can close them while keeping the cables in place. Ask Riccardo if you need waterproofing the case, I’d bet he can find a way.
Thanks for the suggestion. They look like powerful boxes and they’re small… but they exemplify the exact opposite of what I need in terms of interface. I need hardware controls, knob-per-function and no screens as my eyesight is bad and I’ll be anxious on stage.
Careful of the Lyra module. I own two and they are absolute beasts in terms of depth. Just make sure you get a skiff deep enough to take it (ps. “That’s what she said”)
This is a good insight and clashes with my Erica Synths skiff recommendation, which seemed kind of shallow when I tried it out.
I love Morphagene, I only hesitate to recommend it to folks because I know they’ll have to deal with the Varispeed knob and its extremely narrow “green zone.” I have some workarounds for this but it adds a layer of difficulty for looping, where you really want better control over pitch/speed. Once you lock in the Varispeed though, it’s a blast.
(ps. “That’s what she said”)