Overview

This July 2010 photo shows the whole studio setup with all modules ready to go and something patched.  The portable cabinets are to the left, doing duty as overflow cabinets.   There’s still some space left for expansion.

To the lower right sit the Mackie 802-VLZ3 mixer, the t.c. electronics Desktop Konnekt6 Firewire interface, and a rack holding a Furman power conditioner, a pair of FMR Audio Really Nice Compressors, a Lexicon MPX-1 Multiple Effects Processor, and a Tascam SS-R1 solid state recorder. The monitors are Mackie HR-824s. I store the M-Audio Axiom-25 on top, because I don’t use keyboards a lot.

January 2013 photo with all cabinets full, Ciat-Lonbarde gear on the table, and the new Allen & Heath ZED-14 mixer:

full-modular-jan-2013

Cabinets and Power Supplies

Three of the four cabinets are Synthesizers.com four-foot long 22-Space Walnut Studio Cabinet, modified with Stooge mounting rails to hold MOTM-style modules.The bottom cabinet is a 44-Space Tilted Walnut Studio Cabinet. Each tier holds 26U of modules. There is 130U of module width total.  The portable cabinets add another 40U.

Power in the main cabinets is supplied by six Power-One supplies:

  • 2 of HAA15-0.8-A – from MOTM-900

  • 2 of HTAA-16W-A – from MOTM-950

  • HBB15-1.5-A

  • HCC15-3-A

Electrical Standards

With few exceptions, signals are standardized.

  • Signal and control outputs are +/- 5V, including pulse waves.
  • Most gate and trigger inputs have Schmitt comparators that accept any signal.
  • Envelopes are 0 to +5V.
  • VCA unity gain is at +5V.

Modules

A module in the logical sense is a self-contained functional unit whose inputs and outputs are available for connecting it with other modules into a “patch”. Physical modules consist of a panel unit that is movable independently. Quite often you see multiple logical modules contained in one physical module. Here is a list organized by logical function.

Logical Module Counts – February, 2013

  • Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCO) — 18 (2 MOTM-300,  Cynthia ZO, Modcan VCDO, Teezer VCO, e350 Morphing Terrarium, e340 Cloud Generator, 2 Buchla 258J, 2 XR-2206, Ciat-Lonbarde Tetrazzi (4), 2 BugBrand SYN2A, 1 BugBrand SYN2B)
  • Low Frequency Oscillators (LFO) — 14 (2 MOTM-320, 2 MOTM-380 (8), 2 MOTM-390 (4))
  • Accessible LFOs in other modules — 5 (2 from MOTM-410, Wogglebug clock, Blacet Binary Zone clock, BugBrand Noise Crusher clock)
  • Voltage Controlled Amplifiers (VCA) — 12 (2 MOTM-190 (4), 2 Mattson VCA, OMS 410 (2),  Mattson VC Mixer (4))
  • Envelope Generators (EG) — 16 (4 MOTM-800, 2 Mattson EG, 2 Blacet 2070 EG, 2 MOTM-OMS-820, Mattson Quad AD, Buchla 281 Dual FG)
  • Envelope Shapers (EG + VCA) — 6 (2 Oakley VC ADSR/VCA, 2 Oakley Cycling ADSR/VCA, 2 Haible Trapezoid)
  • Voltage Controlled Filters (VCF) — 18 (MOTM-410, 2 MOTM-420, 2 MOTM-440, MOTM-480 (2), 2 MOTM-490, 1 Oakley Superladder, Mankato, CGS Twin Wasp, 2 Flight of Harmony Plague Bearer, Mattson VCF, Neutron DuoFonik)
  • Low Pass Gates (LPG) — 8 (2 Thomas White Resonant Lopass Gate, 4 Clee Resonant Gate, BugBrand PRC4 Dual LPG)
  • Manually Controlled Filters — 4 (2 Blacet Dual Filter)
  • VC Phase Shifters — Blacet StonZ
  • Timbre modulators — MOTM-120, MOTM-510, CGS Wave Multiplier, CGS Bi-N-Tic Filter, 2 Blacet Miniwaves, 2 CGS Tube VCA’s, CGS Serge Wave Multipliers
  • Frequency Shifters — 2 (Encore, BugBrand SYN2BX)
  • Quantizers — 4 (2 Blacet Miniwaves, Modcan Dual Quantizer 55B)
  • Analog Delays — 2 Blacet Time Machines
  • Digital Delays — BugBrand PRC1
  • Lag Processors — 12 (2 MOTM-820, Dual Tellun Lag, 2 CGS Serge VCS, 2 CGS Serge Negative Slew, CGS Serge DUSG, CGS Serge SSG)
  • Mixers – 16 (2 Oakley Multimix, 2 Blacet, 2 Mixer-Comparator, 2 Resonance Mixer, Stereo Matrix Mixer (2), Small Matrix Mixer (2), BugBrand UTL2B (2), BugBrand UTL2, 1 in CGS Serge)
  • Sample & Holds — 9 (MOTM-101, 2 Oakley S&H, Blacet Improbability Drive, 2 in Wogglebug, CGS Serge SSG, BugBrand PRC2B)
  • Noise Sources — 4 (MOTM-101, Blacet Improbability Drive, CGS Infinite Melody, BugBrand PRC2B)
  • Control Voltage Generators – CGS Infinite Melody, CGS Psycho LFO, Wogglebug, Jerkster Chaos, Blacet Binary Zone
  • Control Voltage Processor — Modcan CV Recorder
  • Digital processors — 1 MOTM-730 VC divider, 2 CGS Burst Generators, 1 CGS divider, 1 CGS shifter, 4 CGS logic gates, BugBrand CLK3A Triple Logic Gate
  • Input signal processor — Blacet Input Envelope Follower with Gates
  • Other — Encore UEG, MOTM-700 dual switch, 2 CGS Analog Shift Registers, Analog OR, Analog AND, Mattson Distributor, Dual CGS Slope Detectors, Mattson Gate Delay
  • Visual indicators — 2 Veeblefetzers
  • Multiples — 15 4-jack multiples