modular journey

intro

[i] recall first hearing of the modular term quite a few years back, we were developing a sequence rendering engine at work and wanted to leverage The Foundry's Katana live group feature to automatically generate scenes to aid the vfx rendering process. Back then, I didn't fully realize the potential of this concept as [i] still intrinsically saw it just applied to that specific problem to solve. It was a bit later that [i] started to really understand the full meaning of it. As [i] develop through companies and positions [i] started to fully understand what the modular paradigm can bring. [i] had finally understood that modularity is a mean to simplify complex problems to its core, allow high customizability and interoperability within the system parts. Of course, as my nature commands, [i] did hear of modular synthesizers before then, but the whole impression of them seemed quite daunting. The myriads of cables, price and knowledge required to entry was still an obstacle to be reckoned with and [i] wasn't ready to take a step into it. It was just in recent times, after quite a long time since [i] first encountered the term, that [i] felt [i] was ready to welcome modularity on this side of my existence too.

[i] hope my evolving journey can help the reader understand the modular synth world and aid their first steps into it. There are plenty of resources online, way deeper than this text could be, as this is just a recollection of a journey from a novice. [i] am selfishly writing this for myself, to remind myself of the steps taken, of the links [i] shouldn't loose and simply cause [i] need to improve my written english. Despite my motifs being quite personal, if you're reading this, [i] hope you can find a tiny bit of this info useful for your journey too.

now, let's start

[i] can't recall when [i]'ve precisely heard of modular synthesizers, it must have been a long time ago, but, as explained here above, it was only quite recently that [i]'ve decided to add this instrument to my collections. To start i really needed to understand what they were, the price of modules is generally quite high and so [i] wanted to first do a huge amount of research, and not only on each module, or at least not at first, but on modular synthesis in general. [i] would suggest to start from perfect circuit's signal learning synthesis excellent set of articles. They aren't only useful for modular synthesis but for synthesis overall, [i]'ve then continued my research with various articles and youtube videos. [i] watched a huge amount that is difficult now to recall which one [i] recommend, just search for "building first modular rack". A couple of more resources are essential when planning your first build, in particular modulargrid. This super useful website will allow you to plan your rack ( my temp one is the image here above ) and provide clearance and price estimation for your build. Furthermore you can open a forum post about the build and ask for help/advice from other members. I think I couldn't have done it without this website so I highly recommend it. Another resource is modwiggler forum, full of great resources and guides and gives you the chance to ask questions to experts. All of this should get you started, understanding measurement terminology for cases and power/size constraints. Instead of quoting more sources [i] would like to sum up here what [i]'ve learned so far and provide a bunch of tips. Bare in mind that, as usual when talking about modularity, they aren't meant to be the absolute right thing to do. As with everything, there is not right or wrong, just different ways to see/approach a problem, you (and you alone) can speak about your needs, so feel free to take everything you hear/read as advice to carve your path.

Unless you're planning to tour with your rack, choose/build the largest case you can, it doesn't matter if you can fill it all, or want to, having more space will allow you to expand your instrument in the future without having to swap modules or buy/build a new case. As you can see from the picture above I went for a 6U-84HP which is a decent compromise, it is not huge but also can fit quite a few modules.
Choose what you want to build, since you're going to assemble your very own instrument you should have a clear goal in mind for what you want it to do. In my case I wanted to use the rack to both explore synth sound possibilities and have (of course ) to build a self playing random ambient machine. By defining your goals you can then further refine your search for knowledge, especially when researching the vastly deep world of modules.
With my goal in mind [i] started to research more targeted subjects and started to build my first rack on modulargrid and opened a blog post, this allow me to gain more direct insights towards my goal and [i] planned the first version of my eurorack. Generally for a synth voice [i] understood that you mostly need an oscillator, vca, filter, mixer. In my case, the base [i] choose to start with was, clock/sequencer, oscillator, function utility, vca/mixer.
Worth noting is an advice [i] saw everywhere and was given to me when discussing with more experienced users, don't go overboard with oscillators and focus on utility/modulation modules. This advice, for instance, [i] haven't followed much so far, which [i] think it's a good example of users goals trumps general advice. Some of the modules [i] choose in my rig are discontinued and [i] choose them as they represent historical modules. In this case, my nature of collector was stronger than the advice, [i] want to own a piece of history, but it's still important to know what one will do with those modules, [i] definitely won't store them in a box, they all have a purpose in my build. Same goes with other modules [i] bought used, sometimes a great deal comes by, and [i] am of course willing to change my plan for it, [i] am intending to build a random musical machine, it's only fair that its composition is influenced by random situations.
To conclude, this article isn't over, [i] plan to keep adding to it, as my journey through modular synthesis has just begun, [i] will keep adding lessons [i]'ll learn along the way and add to this list of modules [i] own.

If there's a lesson from all of this you should take away is that modularity is about both standards and customization; this means you, the user, have freedom. This freedom could be quite difficult to handle in this world where products, either physical or digital, are ready made full of assumption for you. But, if you will invest the time, there's nothing more rewarding than a journey where you need to research and study to assemble your very own product, you not only come out of it with a product that is tailor made by you, but enriched by the process too.

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