Pan-Da-Mixa’ Madness

If there is one area in Eurorack where I find YOU want to really have exactly what YOU want, it’s the mixer. We all seem to need slightly different things. The trick is, you really can’t have EVERYTHING you want. You could, but the mixer component count would be crazy. Heat, noise floor issues, ground plane tweaking and half a dozen other factors have to be considered. So I decided to build myself a custom compact-ish 48 channel mixer with just what I need, in order to keep the component count low, and to keep the troubleshooting down to a minimum. On to prototyping…

Were you one who’s entire life came to a halt in mid March, or were you able to keep most of your life on its semi-standard course?

Well, my wife and I found ourselves completely stopped in our tracks. What to do with all of this free time?

I started this project in November 2019 and didn’t expect to get this far for at least another year. And this has been a VERY challenging year so far.

Two solid months of work in the above pic! Anyone for some fresh noodles? I have never done this much point to point soldering in my whole life! So? Why use PTP for this?? you ask.

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empress Reverb eurorack

The empress Reverb is one of the most expressive reverbs, IMHO 😀 So you know where I headed next? Yes, it’s getting to be a repetitive scenario for me, isn’t it? Original Manufacturer’s site is located HERE.

I like this pedal for the simple fact that is NOT the Eventide space. My conversion of that one is HERE. I find it most useful when you are wanting a delicate and diaphanous touch. I usually pair it up with the 4MS Spectral Multiband Resonator.

All circuitry is custom to each conversion and calibrated accordingly. There can be differences between pedals I find. Very unusual for a digital pedal. Conversions can be like that. Each one is unique and satisfying in its own way 😀

When does a eurorack synthesizer feel like an instrument?

I built this custom Korg MS-10 eurorack case four years ago. I knew I wanted to make a flexible and portable case that would hopefully give me enough room for a ‘super’ mono synth of sorts. During these last few years I was able to try out all sorts of modules and configurations. I would like to share some of my insights with you. The saying ‘Iv’e made a lot of special modifications’ goes without sayin’… but you just said it!?! Anyway…

I would say that at least two of those four years were spent in frustration. Some due to my unfamiliarity with the modules and some due to lack of time spent with the interface. What? you ask, it’s a keyboard! Yes and no. With eurorack you can have the keyboard be an odd shaped envelope or event generator or… The possibilities are literally endless. You are not encumbered with time honored traditions or traditional expectations. You build exactly what you want and more importantly, how you want to interface with it. So a keyboard doesn’t have to be just a keyboard 😀

Before he passed away I was lucky enough to correspond with Ray Wilson over at MFOS. He gave me great insight to the operation of his Keyboard controller and how to tune it and keep it tuned. I can’t recommend it enough. It has been the backbone of this converted Korg custom interface. That’s just the start…

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Eventide Space Eurorack

Taking my favorite pedal and converting it over to euro has to be one of the more difficult tasks I have accomplished to date.  Something that is as well designed, as this Space pedal is, I had to bring all my skill sets in order to really add what I believe is the next level.  If you are familiar with this pedal then I don’t have to tell you that it is already great on its own.  But the little CV demon in me would not rest as it was always asking, “what if you could control all of those knobs with CV?”  This has been an ongoing effort for a year or more now, and I finally can say I am happy with how it has turned out!  Pricing and availability to be announced.

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Complete custom voice for eurorack

I mentioned the TRISPECTRUM in the last video I published below.  The start of that voyage was getting and using just one Spectrum OSC from WMD & SSF.  Once I had a chance to really put that OSC thru its paces, I have to admit I really fell in love with it.  Those guys nailed it as far as I was concerned.  The more I used it, I thought, “this would be even better if I could stack three of them together”.  Having the ability to sync all three and individually pull each one in and out of sync would be cool. Waveform switching like on the Mini Moog and mutes and attenuators made sense from a performance aspect as well.

The Ideas came hard and fast.  Before you knew it I had my first prototype. Pictured here.

TRIspectrum

Then it started to get a little crazy.  I thought, how about CV control over octaves?  Why not have some nice Vactrol VCA’s and have plenty of mults pre and post those Vactrol VCA’s?  I spent a little time with Bill from WMD and I was on my way.  Pic of the back.

trispectrumBACK

Please excuse the usual Gameboy parts all over.  I was also finishing up the last of the Synthboy+  while working on this too 🙂  Pic of the final so far.

TRIspectrumV2euro

Overall I am very pleased how this came out.  I am realizing how much more performance power you can gain by just combining several modules together. Even if it is just normaling the obvious jacks together, like 1 V/Oct and Pulse width.  That just saves me extra cables and a mult and time to do this otherwise.  Once you start gaining experience using your eurorack modules you should start to see how they could be even better configured to your individual liking.  If you want more info check out the link below.  I will post more info if I make more updates.  Never rest!

http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=162579&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=25&sid=def65a5ac6d9239e47ef20bf29929289