Work-in-progress: multiple 60HP (Moog) eurorack
A few years ago when buying Moogfest tickets, I noticed that in addition to the “VIP” ticket option there was another choice, “Engineering/VIP”. Not only do you get VIP status, you get to do something nerdy and take home hardware so *of course* I go for that upgrade. The project turned out to be assembling a Werkstatt while it was still a concept and hanging out with a bunch of other music nerds.
The Werkstat is a basic analog synth, good for learning how synths work with a simple physical interface. It’s also not a Eurorack friendly synth, that’s a format mostly ignored by Moog. I halfway fixed that problem but there are issues with routing sound/power because those jacks on the rear of the unit, not the face. Playing with the Werkstatt did get me interested in analog synths and I continue to sign up for the Engineering ticket.
Moog synths are mostly for people who can play the piano, which I do not. (I do study the cello so maybe I just like analog stuff in general?) Anything I do with a synth is programming/sequencing so I don’t need a keyboard. So far there are only two Eurorack-friendly units from Moog, both are 60HP, narrower than most commercial Eurorack cases. If you have two or three there are external Moog kits so no need for a case. However, I have five. A Mother 32 and four Moogfest experiments:
- Brother From Another Mother — similar but different to the Mother 32.
- Drummer From Another Mother — prototype of the Moog DFAM released to the public.
- Subharmonicom — I think you need to watch the ~15min video to get a feel for how it works. The Subharmonicom is based three things I’d never heard of: the Trautonium, the Rythmicon, and the Schillinger System of composing music.
- Spectravox – a vocoder and synth and not sure what else.
I also have a Lasersaur laser cutter and like making/selling stuff so I think you can guess what’s on my todo list. Here’s a five Moog 60HP unit rack prototype, I’ll also try making some three and four unit versions.
Here’s a top down shot of the Werkstatt cable interference problem — simply no room to plug in power or headphones.
