(Part 2) Best products from r/modular

There are a lot of factors that come into play on how much it will cost. Even with DIY you have options. You can do real DIY, where you have to find schematics, source the parts, make your own pcbs, make your own front panels...or you can buy kits. I cant read schematics so I went the kits route.

It still cost me some money to buy equipment: soldering iron, solder, circuit board holder, tweezers, wire cutter, headband magnifier.

From there I mostly stuck with products from AI Synthesis, Trogotronic, and Befaco. Those companies all sell kits with very clear instructions. I was new to soldering so this was key for me. Some other kits I bought had very poorly written instructions and their support was just as well done as their manuals.

If you know what you are doing then you may have better luck. You can also try modules that require SMD soldering. Mutable Instruments has released all their code. Amazing Synth is a great resource for high quality pcb's. They dont sell the parts though so you gotta find the BOM and source the parts. Amazing Synth has the BOM's for most, if not all, of the modules. You'll also need to do some programming and upload the code from a computer to the modules.

To try to answer "how much will it cost" it really depends on how many modules you plan on making and what method you choose.

There's a whole subreddit dedicated to those of us who DIY...come check out /r/synthdiy

I started with circuit bending. I took a student-taught class as part of the Oberlin College ExCo, which is the Experimental College, where any student can teach a class for a single credit, provided they can demonstrate to a faculty panel that they have something to teach and a plan on how to teach it. That got me started on instrument building, and also on circuit design. I worked on that as a hobby for several years, until eventually I was friends with some people who were getting into Eurorack manufacturing: the 4MS crew, when they were still in Austin. Ralph and Dan encouraged me to move from bending (and breaking) toys into creating circuits, and gave me a few good starting tips (and copies of a few Forrest Mims books, which are absolutely invaluable). Another year or two after that, I was talking with Mickey, and he mentioned that he had the good problem that his modules were selling too fast, and he was bored of soldering, and wanted more time to design. I piped up quick. "I know how to solder! I'm very good at it." The second part was a lie. It's true now, though! Everything more advanced that I know about circuits I've learned from Mickey, the internet, and a bit more book learnin', especially from The Art of Electronics. I told the story of getting started on the pedal (which was my first commercial pedal) elsewhere in this thread.

The biggest hiccup was finding ROHS compliant vactrols! But we're cool on that now. Thanks, XVIVE!

I am going to give a crash course on audio levels and cables, as best as I can:

There are a few different types of audio levels and impedances:

• Mic Level - It low impedance and also low volume. Mic level often uses balanced XLR cable, meaning you have hot and cold signal (+/-) which are the same audio signal in reverse phase to create noise cancellation. You need a mixer or preamp to bring it up in volume.
  
• Instrument (Guitar) Level - It is high impedance and usually falls between Mic Level and Line Level. It also often uses unbalanced TS 1/4" cables as used on guitars or keyboarded. It only has a conductor and a shield, so there is no noise cancellation. You will need a preamp to bring it up in volume, as if found on a guitar amp or an audio interface. Guitars run quieter than synths, but both need pre-amplification of some sort.
  
• Line Level - This is what your studio monitors are expecting. It also often uses balanced XLR, but can use TRS 1/4" balanced. On the consumer side, it uses stereo TRS unbalanced (such as in an aux cable) or RCA, or a number of cables. Studio monitors, in particular, expect balanced audio since you want to have a noise-free input for professional audio applications.
  
• Modular Level - This is even louder than line level and using unbalanced connections with a conductor and sometimes shielded cable. If you plug this into a line level input, you will get a huge amount of volume and noise.
  
  In all honest, for you, I'd get an output module and that's it. If not, you can try and use a small mixer, but the modular level output may be too hot for a mixer, resulting in the preamps being overdriven and sounding distorted. A simple mixer like a Rolls MX28 may do the trick, as it's designed to take in purely line level and has no preamps - just an overall gain adjustment.
  
  A simple output module I use is the Strymon AA.1. It's primarily used for integrating to guitar pedals, but it will drop it to usable instrument level, which, in a pinch, can be used on line level inputs if there is a gain knob. More "professionally", I use a Vermona TAI-4, but that's because I use it with my Morphagene and want stereo I/O that is able to have a variable gain adjustment and utilizes XLR so I can easily integrate it with mixers live. Befaco Output V3 has balanced output as well.
  
  Regardless of what you choose, you should get some 1/4" TRS to XLR balanced audio cables.

I used to sit mine (7U x 104hp) on an acoustic guitar stand, which worked relatively well and they tend to be fairly reasonably priced. They also tend to be padded fairly well in all the right places to prevent scratches etc.

(Something like this, just chose one at random off of Amazon. It'd be worth checking measurements though to make sure the depth of your system fits in the stand. Or even better, try it out at your local guitar store.)

The only downside was that when I was patching/unpatching something in the top-left / top-right of my system it wasn't as stable as I would've liked. But it wasn't too bad. For the price, I feel like it's worth a try!

So far as monitors go, i do love my various pairs of KRK's, but in the end it all comes down to preference. That said, I tried a SubPac for the first time today and .... wow. Words won't do this justice. If your budget allows (and, considering your apartment-ness), I recommend the Subpac M2X and a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT 770 Pro

There's tons of tutorials online if you really want to learn how to solder. Bear in mind that (like a lot of things) good soldering is the result of decent tools but mostly a bit of practice. It's not a difficult skill to learn, though.

Some tips off the top of my head:

Buy a decent iron if this is something you want to spend more than a few hours on. Something that can get hot enough so it doesn't wimp out soldering heavy ground connections, terminal strips etc. Don't crank up the heat too much if you're just soldering small components, but don't be a pussy with the heat dial if shit isn't melting fast enough for your liking.

This is possibly my favorite tool I've ever owned. It's more expensive than those small, flimsy solder suckers but it's much more effective and will last forever. Don't dick around with desoldering braid/wicks if you don't have to. IME they aren't very effective, are hard to use, and heat up the board/components too much. For certain applications (maybe surface mount) it can be handy but with through-hole components a spring loaded solder sucker like the Soldapullt is king.

Use rosin core solder, and don't use lead free solder if you're in the US. Lead free solder is a bit more difficult to use.

...that's it for now. Have fun.

Hey! No problem

1. yes I did all the SMD parts at once, it's much easier to do them all at once.
   
   
2. I did not do any cleaning of the boards, I recommend using solderpaste with flux mixed in (MG 4860P is best in my opinion).
   
   
3. I was very careful when moving from the workbench to the kitchen because I was worried about this. Once the board is on the pan (make sure it's even) there's not much sliding. You'll notice in my video I had to nudge the ARM IC in position, because it had slid off it's pads slightly.
   
   Honestly, using hot air for soldering is very difficult. It's great for desoldering however.
   
   
4. Three of my ICs had shorts which I fixed with an iron afterwards, not too bad. If you're using a hot air gun, you should use some kapton to hold down the IC while you're working on it.
   
   
5. I used a laser thermometer to keep track of my surface temperature, and I placed the board at around 250F to mimic a reflow profile, and waited until all pads had melted before removing from heat and letting cool slowly. You have to watch out for hot spots though, so I moved the board around a little.
   
   
6. Yes - laser thermometer
   
   
7. Visible inspection, check for shorts and check for dry pads (I had a few).
   
   
8. Just the once that look iffy
   
   
9. Yes
   
   
   I did this method as a test, all my previous builds were just done with the fine tip iron, and I think I'll go back to the iron for next time. The time spent is about the same, so there's no real savings there, but it's trickier. Maybe if I were doing 3 or 4 at a time I would do this process again. Actually, If I were doing more, I might just order a film stencil and knock these out in 30 minutes.
   

Eurorack cases only need to do two things: have rails that are the correct distance apart, and provide the correct type of power to the modules. I'm pretty sure the case you linked doesn't do either of those. You could add a TipTop Happy Ending Kit, which is designed to attach to a 19" rack.

It also wouldn't be hard to build rails or power into that case, but if you're going to do that you might as well DIY the whole thing and save a bunch of money. Here are some designs you can take to a laser cutting service, and then assemble yourself.

If you don't want to build a case, check out the ones offered by Doepfer, Intellijel, and Arturia.

Got 100 on amazon for like 12$

VELCRO Brand ONE WRAP Thin Ties | Strong & Reusable | Perfect for Fastening Wires & Organizing Cords | Black, 8 x 1/2-Inch | 100 Count https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B001E1Y5O6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_85atDbRAKBAQZ

ive gone with rackmount. odyssey makes these 12U angled racks called CRS12 for about $110 each: here’s a pair on amazon

Odyssey 12 Spaces 12U Angled Face Open Back Carpeted Studio Rack (2 Pack) CRS12 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1K1OWF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_9OzJBb6TPBSFM

i started out using HEK mounted in one of these but later decided to switch out the HEKs for generic rails and rack ears, and using the 4ms Row Power 40, which provides a lot more power than the HE and runs way cooler (does not get hot to touch like HE does).

using this approach i can “build” a 12U case fairly easily and cheaply, about $500 which is like half off equivalent commercial cases.

i now have 3 of these...

Not perfect but what I use inside a larger bag: https://smile.amazon.com/3V-Gear-Sentinel-Padded-Camera/dp/B07CQ22HFN

It's big enough for a 60 or two 40s or one Pod and other gear, and squishes down to not waste space when other stuff is packed around it.

But if you want something more like a snug fit for one small Pod, it's way bigger than needed.

The counterfeit isn't a bad counterfeit, some people even like it more than the original. If you can get it for significantly cheaper then go for it, just don't buy it for anywhere near the price of a non counterfeit item.

There is another one you can get for about 60% of the cost called the TS100, it's a pretty quality iron https://www.amazon.com/Programmable-Pocket-size-Soldering-Interface-Acceleration/dp/B01MDTO6X7/