My new rack and the evolution of it. Goike Inspired!

DSC · Post by **DSC** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:30 pm

I have seen many posts here of new people asking where they should start. I know it can be different for everyone, so I thought I would show how I have gone down the rabbit hole so far. Timeline is 13 months so far.

First I started with a couple of Pittsburgh Cell 90's and made a convenient carrying case out of them.

Outgrew that almost immediately!
Then as you may recall from a past thread I fixed a Goike that was broken in a shipping mishap and this is where I really started.

After filling that I thought, "I will make a skiff to sit in front and that will be it, NO MORE MODULES!" After playing with the skiff in front I really found it 'in my way' and decided to mount it above the Goike. I really, really like the work flow.

Well, I liked the work flow so much I decided I would design my new rack off of the expanded Goike and also add a rail of 1U 'tile modules' as I really don't like using valuable hp for multi's.

I also wanted a nice home for my MS-20 mini. I have to say I like having the bottom of the rack open to change out synth's in this space. I have the Aira line coming and it would not surprise me if I temporarily move the MS-20 mini out for a while while I play with the new stuff.
Hope this helps some of the new people.

<Update for the new rack!>

150HP wide and air cooled.

Summa · Post by **Summa** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:48 pm

Wow!

Very nice work, you should license the design of that portable case to Goike/Lamond... looks very sleek!

adolfgottmann · Post by **adolfgottmann** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:15 pm

What's that funcgene harmonics?
BTW, wonderful setup you have there!

darwingrosse · Post by **darwingrosse** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:44 pm

Having seen this in person, there's only one word for this rackage:

AWESOME!

Adamalthus · Post by **Adamalthus** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:10 pm

adolfgottmann wrote:What's that funcgene harmonics?

It popped up in another photo on Muff's a couple of months ago. There's was stony silence when the poster was asked what it was. Must be a super secret in development module. By the looks of the legends on the panel (And name) I'd suspect is some type of arbitrary function/waveform generator.

Looks very cool and on looks alone I know I'm going to need at least one 8_)

DSC · Post by **DSC** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:43 pm

Yes, there are a couple of modules in there that I'm working on 8_)

Thanks Darwin, huge thanks to you otherwise there is a good chance I would not have jumped into modular. Darwin made a presentation of both MOTM and his Euro at a local synth meetup in Feburary Last year and from that day on I was hooked.

wetterberg · Post by **wetterberg** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:48 pm

Darwin's caused a fair few rabbit-hole jumps over the years for a number of people, I'd reckon.

sempervirent · Post by **sempervirent** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:50 pm

That's pretty epic DSC. How many days until the left half gets filled?

I like the idea of having spaces at the bottom for sub-systems that you can grab and take with you.

Glad I saw this thread, I need to email you a CAD file soon.

DSC · Post by **DSC** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:57 pm

Based on my interest in making modules I really needed to have more room to test and build, so yeah give me a couple more days and ZANG!

sempervirent wrote:
Glad I saw this thread, I need to email you a mechanical drawing soon.

Absolutely, I would love to see what you want to work on 8_)

radiokoala · Post by **radiokoala** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:10 am

Haha man, that's crazy!

Doepfer a127 is high on my list... share your impressions?

bkinsman · Post by **bkinsman** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:32 am

that fucking sweet dude! mad rig!!

kuxaan-sum · Post by **kuxaan-sum** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:53 am

Nice work.
Do you spend most of your time standing in front?
I noticed there is no leg room to sit up close.

I especially like the 1u placement.
So handy I imagine and win-win for space saving.

DSC · Post by **DSC** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:17 am

Thanks guys.

I will stand to make complete patches, but the key to my workflow is staring at all the modules. Literally staring for hours sometimes on what crazy colossal patch I want to work up and on. By staring for so long, I can literally walk away and go about my normal work duties and still see every module clear as a bell and continue working on patches in my head. Climbingtyler even told me last night, "how long have you been working on this patch?" I had to stop and really think about it. "Too long" I thought. I seem to oscillate (pun intended) between some sort of recognizable beat (edm based) and total train wreck and back again. Not sure how most of you work, but a constant droning madness with a lot of formant transients in the background and the occasional heavily processed phonemes is where I usually sit. Happy as a pig in a waller, I reckon'

goiks · Post by **goiks** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:29 am

great work!

Microscopial · Post by **Microscopial** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 5:22 pm

very very nice, love the curves super sweet

tsunamisucks · Post by **tsunamisucks** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:15 pm

@DSC great carrying case!!! how does it look when shut?

DSC · Post by **DSC** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:29 pm

Here you go.

TimeRaveler · Post by **TimeRaveler** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 4:58 pm

Awesome! Looks like a steampunk Nintendo DS!

kstl · Post by **kstl** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:14 pm

woow!!

really amazing setup. love that portable system!

ben_hex · Post by **ben_hex** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:21 pm

This looks epic! Love the removable mini system idea.

DSC · Post by **DSC** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:50 pm

I have to admit, I'm thinking about making my own line of these. Would anyone be interested in buying one?
Here is the smaller version.

toschek · Post by **toschek** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 8:42 pm

The tower you built yourself with the ms-20 underneath is marvelous looking. Would you be able to squeeze in two more 3x104 rail kits in there if you decided to later?

Sending you a PM with some other questions if you don't mind.

DSC · Post by **DSC** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 12:52 am

Wanted to publish some of the info I sent toschek to clear up any possible misconceptions of the new rack.

It is slightly deceptive by looking at the picture, but my new rack is only 101HP wide. The reason is the way in which you buy the vector rails in bulk. They are available from Mouser in 60"x 4 rails. This allowed me to cut them up so I could get exactly what I needed to make the rails you see. Keeping it slightly smaller allows the Korg MS-20 mini to fit perfectly.

As to your other question about expanding further down, yes you could probably add another 3U rail, but I designed it to be open so it would lessen that feature, but if you did not need as much room than that would work. As to two 3U expansion, than 'No'. This design would not really allow it. The reason this shape was chosen was by accident. Literally. It is documented here:
viewtopic.php?t=94076&highlight=

You can see by that thread that the original Goike was designed as you suggested with the additional 6U worth of rack below, but since it was damaged in shipping, I was allowed to open up the possibilities of how to 'better' use the space. I believe my new design accommodates this by moving the 6U worth of rack above and leaves the bottom 6U open for other hardware.

If you take another look at the last photo of the two racks together you can see the new rack is just slightly skinnier than the rack on the right.

If you need more info on the vector rails from Mouser, I believe I found that link here on Muff's by searching for vector rails in the Eurorack forum. If you can't find it, let me know, I could probably dig it up. I went this way because the total cost for all of the rails for the new rack only cost me $80. That is a considerable savings than buying pre-built from Erthenvar. Not to take anything away from Erthenvar as you do need a chop saw and metal abrasive blade and some finesse to chop up aluminum stick, but I saved a bundle by doing so.

Always willing to discuss more details.

tsunamisucks · Post by **tsunamisucks** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 1:37 am

wow this little case is awesome!

Blootaka · Post by **Blootaka** » Fri Jun 06, 2014 1:46 pm

I saw this when you had initially started. Looks great!! Can't wait for my Goikes to arrive and for me to start expanding again. This is 104hp?

MUFF WIGGLER

MUFF WIGGLER

My new rack and the evolution of it. Goike Inspired!

My new rack and the evolution of it. Goike Inspired!