modular synth project
August 28th, 2009 clavinot too long before i moved from ohio to san francisco i started collecting parts to build a modular synthesizer. i had already built the Paia 9700 and a frac rack of Blacet modules, when i was invited in on a group buy of panels from Schaeffer by Scott of BrideChamber. these were all going to be in MOTM format, and being somewhat dissatisfied with the 1/8″ jacks on the Paia i thought it would be cool to go that route. so i got some panels, a couple of Oakley VCOs, and a stack of CGS PCBs. then i moved out to SF. no longer having any money or space the project was put on hold for quite some time.. until now. inspired by my friend’s eurorack system i decided to finally get to work on my long delayed project.
i started out with a case to put the modules into. i built it out of pine shelf boards for around $20 or so. it actually turned out nicer than i thought it would and i’m pretty happy with it.
heres a pic of it with some of the Schaeffer panels i got back in 2002 or so..
l-r the panels are paia Midi2CV8, Oakley VCO x 2, CGS Sub Oscillator, CGS Super Psycho LFO and Blacet / Wiard Miniwave. the case itself is 14U wide, which is maybe an odd size, but i plan to build more and stack them. i wont actually be using any of these panels except the VCOs in my initial builds, as i plan to create a basic setup to start out with, ie VCO, VCF, ADSR, VCA. but after that i have stuff to build most of them.
