mzero
1280
A follow up to my post about the small home-made CV thing for Serge back in post #781 above:
I used it extensively my piece for the Modulisme tribute to Serge: Serge-O-Voxes - 80 compositions celebrating the Serge synth
A video of me playing it near the end of this page: Serge – Modulisme
The track on BC: Dark Matter | Mark Lentczner | Modulisme
3 Likes
Jonny
1281
How many voice panels can they put out? 
2 Likes
vals
1282
it seems there’s also Wave Multipliers and a filter, possibly the new variable bandpass?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMAcUoHB8ty/
FYI: Noisebug will now be carrying Random Source stuff. and they’ve dropped Buchla. it’ll be nice to have a stateside distributor, making it easier to know full costs going in regarding taxes, shipping, availability, etc. hopefully they’re better than R*S themselves and PatchPoint, both of whom don’t know how to check email, apparently.
7 Likes
feels like they’ve just settled on edelweiss as the control panel- which i guess fair enough
my personal serge plan is to get an edelweiss to compliment my bestia sometime this year then go after some m-class stuff for things like WAD
sns
1285
New R*S panel is a stereo voice with : Dual PCO, QUAD SLOPE, RING, MIXER, VCM, STEREO VCFQ and STEREO MIXER 
Not really interesting for me, we ordered a La Bestia II and a TKB at work, will complement it with Edelweiss II and a small boat next year.
2 Likes
ludo
1286
Missing SSG as a starter panel and too similar to the Animal type panels as a second. Nice sounding panel otherwise!
Preparing myself. Any suggestions on buying banana cables in Europe? Got a few Pomona cables from Mouser for the functiongenerators. I think I would like various colours.
Patch Point carries Pomonas and now make their own cables. Banana™ Patch Cables (5...20 Pack) — Patch Point
Wonderful. Thanks.
Another thing that might have been brought up earlier in the thread: anyone got recommendations for Serge-heavy records? I’ve been a fan of Jim O’Rourke’s steamroom and old news records for a while, stunning stuff, almost always. Feel free to send me a message if you got any Serge records you people have made. Cheers.
Hello! I wanted to share a few custom things I’ve built around a new R*S based system I’m setting up
I built a wooden case to fit two rows of 3 modules and included a middle section for four 1U PCBs laid horizontally.
Since I had a solid eurorack PSU I decided to design and little power format converter / distribution board that converts the eurorack PSU format to XLR. The same board can also be used to distribute power within the synth given it has 6 serge molex connections + 4 eurorack connections. If anyone wants the design I can post the kicad files, or if you are in Berlin I have 2 to spare
So far with the little middle section I’ve put
- an NCOM pcb that R*S was selling
-
@forestcaver’s eurorack Jinx 3x s&H module, adapted to bananas, omitting 1 of the 3 noise sources and also the trigger in for the last S&H, where instead I have a switch that allows it to be triggered by one of the two other triggers. Given how it seems hard to get ahold of the R*S Carnivore that has a S&H, this seemed like a good thing to put in for the time being.
- an adaption of @bmoren’s two tone module (2x vactrol LPG) that doesn’t have the RC-filter pots because I couldn’t hear so much difference with them
For the rest of the middle section I’ll probably also include @hale’s clock divider, perhaps some boolean logic, or maybe a ring mod or cv-pro, depending if R*S sells PCB for just those ever.
I’m of course obsessing over what the last 3 modules can be but the constraint of trying to stick to R*S 4U helps.
And so far explorations I’ve had playing this little system have been lovely; I feel like once I add a few more modules I’ll be able to spend years sinking into it
25 Likes
909one
1291
I’ve created a similar system, though mine interfaces with euro. Trying to decide what to put in the center section, going to add some euro/banana conversion, some attenuvertors, but you’ve given me some ideas. I think the SSG is pretty necessary for a small system, yes the Carnivore is rad, if you can find one, grab it.
18 Likes
I revisited Thomas Ankersmit’s two first records last night and his Amplify contribution. Fucking brilliant. I saw him live some years ago as well. Alongisde Konrad Sprenger and Phil Niblock. It was a great night. Still need to give his Raaijmakers record a spin. It’ll be on headphones even though he specifically asks for speakers. I wonder how much it takes from Raaijmakers. Listened to 3 CDs worth of his tape music when I arrived in the Netherlands last September. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
2 days later edit: Hello again. Question: I will not have a preamp/input module in my forthcoming Serge panel. How do you go about chucking external signals into it? Is a seperate input/preamp module at all needed if what I chuck into the Serge is already a line-level signal? I’d think that I would end up sending a signal out from my audio interface. Anything to note?
4 Likes
Zeke_B
1293
I read this entire thread over the course of a few days so forgive me if I’ve forgotten comments already made about the question I’m going to ask. I have a curiosity about assembling my own Serge panel and the price of the CSG BOG seems really good for everything you need to assemble and play (all components, case, and power supply). My question is how difficult is it to assemble? I’m assuming it’s all through-hole and not surface-mount (please correct me if I’m wrong) based on the fact that they say it’s medium difficulty.
About a decade ago I soldered together some Synthrotek pedal and basic synth kits (before I knew anything about that company) that were challenging but not impossible. Would the CSG BOG kit be about the same level of difficulty just a lot more work given the size of the project?
I’m not in a rush—this is just something I’m considering, and I’m more inclined to take on a full panel rather than individual modules since boat/power for Serge is intimidating for me. Hahaha
Thanks!
909one
1294
Hey there, There’s a BOG on Reverb right now. Seems like a decent price too… just a heads up.
Zeke_B
1295
Thanks, I’ve seen it and it is a decent price, but a kit is like ~$900, which to me is kind of insane for an out of pocket amount for a full panel. Granted, I’m assuming close to 100 hours to assemble at my skill level (maybe?), but it seems fun.
1 Like
dianus
1296
In my experience building serge system, comparing it to my experience of other kits and open source projects, smd etc I’d call it an advanced build. Primarily there aren’t exactly step by step instructions to building these boats. Assembling my two panel serge system required a bit of machining too. CGS style panel wiring is a pain and a test of organization. If you decide to build, take your time! Maybe think about getting a decent multimeter and iron and a cheap oscilloscope for testing purposes.
4 Likes
Zeke_B
1297
That is exactly the kind of insight I was looking for. Definitely doesn’t sound like a good idea for a first build then. I appreciate your input @dianus!
I built one recently recently and would say it is advanced. I ran into a lot of trouble, but I think the build docs and boards have been updated since then, so it might be better now. It took me about 40 hours. You really need to use a scope, a meter and know how to read schematics to do this build. It’s also so much wiring. It takes good organization, planning and testing along the way. It was a super rewarding build and a rad panel though.
2 Likes
I agree with what others have said here. I built a CGS BOG a while ago. The instructions available from Elby were good. Some of it didn’t match the PCBs that I had in my kit but after an email to Laurie he supplied me with the matching build docs. I ran into some issues because of mistakes that I made and he was extremely helpful over email to troubleshoot my build.
The build is quite intense. Tons of wiring like already mentioned. No SMD though. I would recommend building one module at a time and making sure it works before moving on to the next. Once all the modules are wired up and connected to the same power they will start affecting each other and it might be more difficult to troubleshoot.
With regards to the hardware, panel and enclosure: everything was fine and I had to do no modifications apart from moving the power socket to the back which was my preference.
Also don’t forget about a power supply. There are some DIY options from Elby. Get the bigger one so that you can add more panels in the future if you ever wanted to.
I love my BOG, it sounds lovely. Having said that, I would still like to make some modifications to it now that I’ve had it for more than a year. These include adding buffers to some of the outputs, tuning the ranges of some of the modules, adding LEDs to the LFOs, etc.
Overall it was really a big learning experience for me even though I’ve built many things before, including many eurorack modules, some from kits, some from scratch.
1 Like
