Modular is convenient and cheap

[Mark Hammer]

I've been thinking, maybe it's a good thing that parts for new projects are more cumbersome to get. I have enough existing projects to troubleshoot and package.  I started working on a modular system several years back, and have recently extended the system, now having four cabinets that each hold 12 modules.  I've been pulling boards out of the "bin-of-shame" and adapting them to the modular system, having figured out a way to produce new module panels.  Today's resurrection is a Neutron/Mu-Tron.  Recent additions have been the Anderton Volume Pedal Retrofit (two packed in a module, for remote foot control), a Systech Harmonic Energizer, a Harmonic Sweetener, a Bosstone, an Equinox Reverb, a Davisson Vulcan, and a Zombie chorus.  Upcoming are a Crash Sync, a 3-band adaptation of the PAiA Quadrafuzz, the Tonepad FV-1 board, and the Femtoverb.  It's beginning to look like one of those megabucks Eurorack modular setups, but thankfully much cheaper.  And if it makes use of all those stuffed boards, so much the better.  I may well start pulling boards for interesting-but-uncompelling one-offs from their existig enclosure and re-installing them in modules.  And if it means I'm not putting myself through the sheer torture of trying to build something into a 1590A anymore, so much the better!  When it's cheap, compact, lightweight, and forgiving, you also don't mind having multiples of a given category of effect.  It's not like I have to find space for them on a pedalboard.  Stick 'em in the cabinet, and if you don't feel like using THAT compressor or filter today, just don't run a patch cable to it.

Crazy thing is, with enclosures generally being the most expensive part of a pedal, and stompswitches the 2nd most expensive, I tend to put things together and then either have to wait for enclosures to arrive, or decide whether - given the modest number of enclosures I generally have at any given time - THIS circuit merits boxing up.  So the semi-finished boards pile up.  That is compounded by my tendency to etch multiple boards at a time.  I go to etch a target project, see that the space requirements for the intended board leave me acertain amount of "leftover" space, so I sift through my toner-transfer inventory to find something that makes productive use of the leftover copper board, and etch that, just because.  I now have TWO boards to be drilled and populated, one of them not really what I was planning on, but along for the ride.

The modular setup lets me cut a 2-1/2" x 4" panel from sheet aluminum, use mini phone jacks for in and out (20 cents each) and a DPDT toggle (<$1) for bypass (switch position shows status so no need for 3PDT and status LED).  I cut out a few "double modules" (4" tall by 5" wide), and am pondering what they might be best suited to.  For now, because I'm using 1/8" jacks and a toggle, run a wire pair to a centralized poer block in the cabinet, and don't need to worry all that much about depth (some stuff sticks out a few inches behind the panel), I haven't yet runinto a situation where I can't put what I want into the 2-1/2 x 4 format.  Four pots and a control toggle or two, or 5 pots, works out just fine, with plenty of room to twiddle things.

[bluebunny]

Hmmm... interesting.  Sounds like you've created a rack of electronics unused reject options, ... or "Eurorack" perhaps?   

[wayland]

I assume you've seen this? 

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/FXbus/fxbus.htm

Are you considering doing a picture? 

[Digital Larry]

I have a medium-small sized Eurorack setup here.  It's probably worth about $5k but I got most of it as compensation for doing about 3 days worth of consulting work which I thought was a pretty good deal.

I don't use it for guitar signal processing, though I suppose I could.  One thing that is vastly different about modular based synth vs. any sort of guitar effects setup is that most guitar FX controls (knobs anyway) are not intended to be used in performance - wah wah clearly excepted.

So what I learned about designing stuff for modular synth audience is that the controls ALL ideally would have a performance bent, so that twisting just one knob at a time gives you a range of sounds which are useful. 

Another thing about modular is that you'd better enjoy whatever patch you have set up while it lasts, as it's very difficult to come back to a specific sound unless you take photos or make diagrams, which IME are really disruptive to creative flow.

[Mark Hammer]

I assume you've seen this? 

http://www.geofex.com/Article_Folders/FXbus/fxbus.htm

Are you considering doing a picture?

Here's an old picture of the first cabinets.  I have since opted to use paint instead of attempting to tolex.  I now use the textured rubber-like "rocker board" paint, that provides a tolex-like surface with a fraction of the work.  I've also switched from using the Boss-type knobs to using these much cheaper ones from Tayda.  It's also handy not having to check if the set-screw is still, there.  FInally, the original panels I bought 28 or 30 of were black anodized aluminum.  The legending was done with a white fine-tip paint pen.  If I don't like or grow tired of an effect, I can simply apply a bit of methyl hydrate with a Q-tip and erase all the legending to repurpose the plate.

[ElectricDruid]

Have you adapted these for +/-12V, Mark?

In my view one of the best things about Eurorack or other modular standards for effects is that you get a proper bipolar supply. Imagine building pedal designs for a MU-format modular! +/-15V supply, **30V** of potential headroom. You can run 20Vpp signals with no trouble, even with TL072s in the rack. Little baby stompboxes *dream* of that kind of S/N ratio! 

[Mark Hammer]

I have one cabinet with a bipolar +/-9V supply, and the other are straightforward +9V.  These ARE guitar pedals after all.
For any synth-like stuff, though, I do have +/-12V supplies.

[11-90-an]

Beautiful handwriting! 

[Mark Hammer]

Thanks. I'm part of one of the last cohorts that had to use straight pens with nibs and inkwells in the corner of the school desk.  My own kids' handwriting is so bad I don't know that I'd take cash from them, let alone a personal cheque.

What you see in the pic is the earliest modules.  These days, I'm using white rub-on lettering for legending the controls that nicely complements the knobs and black surface.  Given that I bought the lettering in 2009, and it's getting a little dry, I find I need to spray on a light coat of clear laquer first for the letters to stick.  Once legended, I spray another coat on top.  I'm running out of Ts and Es, though.  So no more "RATE", just "SPD".

[ElectricDruid]

I'm running out of Ts and Es, though.  So no more "RATE", just "SPD".

Yep, that's what I remember too. After a while everything has to be labelled with "Q", "Z", "J", "K" and "X" because that's all you've got left!

[mth5044]

Hmmm... interesting.  Sounds like you've created a rack of electronics unused reject options, ... or "Eurorack" perhaps?   

F*** me is that really what that stands for?

[Gordo]

Mark I think you and I are likely from the same era. I can't believe that writing though. I adopted a computer keyboard early on and now my handwriting looks like a chimp on acid.  Plus I hand polished fiber optic cables when that got started and most of my writing is a variation on a figure eight :-)

[Mark Hammer]

I got my first typewriter (an Olivetti Lettera 32) in 1965, and my first personal computer (with word-processing) in 1982.  Still have both downstairs.  Fortunately, whatever my teachers pounded into me regarding penmanship has stuck.  Stubborn paint pens don't make it easy, though.