Show us your modular system

[Voltmeister]

Gorgeous! What a stunning work of art.

[fourhoarder]

that A-113 is an interesting module I’ve never noticed before.

[philmaguire]

i haven’t explored it much yet but i’m really enjoying it

[sns]

@rheslip

I used the SMT assembly service at JLCPCB and it worked out great. VCOs sound great with a ladder filter module I just put together.

Hello, i’m interested in doing the same Could you elaborate about how did you generate the right BOM and CPL/PnP files for JLCPCB? Thanks!

[rheslip]

There is an explanation on JLCPCB: https://support.jlcpcb.com/article/91-how-to-generate-the-bom-and-centroid-file-from-eaglecad

That’s more or less what I did but I used Excel to generate the spreadsheets in the required format. If you use the data import feature in Excel you can spilt by column which helps get the fields in the Eagle BOM file into the right columns of Excel. After that you will have to do some column cutting, pasting and renaming to get the BOM in the format they want. Creating the PnP spreadsheet is very similar.

When you go thru the online ordering procedure you upload the Gerbers, BOM and the PnP file and it will ask you to select any BOM parts it doesn’t recognize from their parts list. It also shows you a preview of your board with the parts placed so you can verify the orientation.

I’ve done two boards so far with their SMT service and they both came out perfect. Its cheaper than buying the parts and hand soldering. The parts selection is limited so you will still have to do some hand soldering for most modules.

[sns]

Thanks for you detailed answer
Gonna look into this, I’m thinking of building 2 or 3 VCOs and LPGs (and maybe the A-100 ADSR in 4HP, they are tempting too!). I’ll report back here!

[khladomysl]

A case from MDR.modular finally arrived, and I’ve put most of my modules to it, so now it looks like a system and a fun instrument to play with.

Link to Modulargrid: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/1357119

[forestcaver]

Rich - there are also some eagle ulps that can be used to export jlcpcb formatted files (I used to do exactly what you did, but got lazy!) jlcpcb also need pcbs to be 20mm wide minimum for pcba (I did wider versions of a few of the pcbs for some pcba runs when I wanted a load of the same module). jlcpcb use quite a limited set of components and the costs can rise massively when you start using lots of ‘extended’ parts - so I am often quite selective what I choose for them to assemble and what I do (depending on how tight vs how lazy I am feeling )

[lleicamun]

I’ll make space for you, Just near your other Friends…

[huron]

Woah. How did you secure the 2 Pittsburgh 420s together?

[mdoudoroff]

One piece of plywood and a few bolts.

It’s going nowhere (no risk of tipping over except maybe in a major earthquake). One of the reasons I made the plywood sheet stick up at the top was so I could screw it into the wall, but that has proven unnecessary.

One of these days, I’ll remove the rubber feet from the top and flip the Pittsburgh plate right-side-up. Obviously, you wind up with power switches and connectors at opposite corners of the box. I can live with that.

I have also since cut a hole in the right side panel of the bottom unit for my DB25 snakes so they don’t stick out the front and waste HP.

I also replaced the infernal sliding nuts with M25 drilled strips from Pulplogic (some required a bit of filing down—tedious but doable).

Otherwise, great cases. Should I have bought an ADDAC monster frame instead? Maybe. But I already had an EP420.

[huron]

I just replaced the sliding nuts in my 420 with the Pulp Logic threaded strips as well because I absolutely adore my Knurlies. This is my second time owning this case and doing that. Lol. I had trouble with the strips the first time around and also had to file down a little bit. This time around they fit perfectly though.

[mdoudoroff]

Yeah, I’m pretty sure the problem is not the threaded strips, but the rails. My hypothesis is that the bits that mill the rails get smaller over time as they wear down, so the slot on each rail you cut gets a little tighter until you replace the bit. Doesn’t seem to affect nuts much, but depending on the rails you just happen to get, they might be tight. It’s a roll of the dice which ones we wind up with.

Knurlies forever.

[Per]

So this is what it looks like. Started with the Doepfer case about 18 months ago. Since then a few accidents happened.

[mdoudoroff]

You digging the Generator? Looks like fun.

[Per]

The gate concept is brilliant. Takes a fair bit of real estate away …

[wheelersounds]

Forgive the crossposting from the Serge thread, but I just finished this build and I’m quite excited about it. My first foray into owning modular. Also my first run at panel graphics… obviously learned a lot about waterslide decals.

[Jfkimmedy]

How is the Klangbau Köln Tube VCA, been interested in this one for a long time. Great system!

[khladomysl]

Thanks! I’d say it is not for every patch (at least for me), because it has a specific character and can easily saturate or destroy the input signal.
I often use it just to add some saturation and not using the CV to control the amplitude.
When the gain is turned almost full, it starts to heavily process the input signal and change its timbre.
For example, Telharmonic->TubeVCA->FilterBank->effects is a great chain to sculpt different sounds.

When used with fast input CV, it is nice to produce some acid lines.

[yobink]

New holiday configurations!