Since the mid to late 1990s, I wanted to build a modular synthesiser system.
Around that time I was living with my friend “Analogue” Stu. Stu had a bunch of old Roland analogue gear; 909, 808, 727, 303, 202, 101, SH-09, etc, while I was just starting out in production and only had an MPC2000 to contribute to the studio. We had some fantastic times in that place and my love for synthesisers was firmly cemented.
When we moved on from that house (it was a squat, so moving on was inevitable!), Stu was just starting to get interested in modular. Dieter Doepfer had recently launched the A-100 (Eurorack) format and Stu picked up a Doepfer A-100G6 rack case to start to build his system.
I was fascinated by this and started looking into building my own, but the cost at the time was prohibitive and I decided for the time being to stick with my samplers, later developing a lasting love affair with the DAW software, Ableton Live which endures to this day. But I never stopped thinking about modular. I read about it, researched it, worked out my “dream” system over and over again in my head…
Fast forward to 2018 and I was finally feeling like I’d absorbed enough knowledge to actually take this project on. I wanted to do most of the building work myself to keep costs down and because it seemed like the kind of thing I’d enjoy. I mentioned to Stu that I was finally going to take the plunge and he, having recently upgraded his case, passed on his original G6 rack case to me, something for which I will be eternally grateful.
I’ve never really done any soldering before (besides a few cables), but I’m watching loads of tutorials in preparation.
This is it, I’m actually doing it…