A pile of modules is what I have right now. It should be a sad sight to see, but what it really means is that some big changes are coming to my synth. It’s not expanding (yet), but being reorganized. Not reorganized as in simply moving things around, as I’ve done a couple of dozen times this summer (praise be to Befaco for making Knurlies), but compartmentalized into subgroups.
I like to view my synth as a set of subsystems, primarily made up by brand or functionality. I find that many brands tend to make modules that work well together. They’re designed to, and that helps with keeping a streamlined workflow, and they’ll almost always play well together in a way that makes sense.
Many people organize their synth in different ways. Some group entirely by module type. VCOs go in “this” section, while VCFs go in “that” section, and so on. But I’ve found that sort of organization just doesn’t work well for me at all. It creates various convoluted cable routes and longer cable runs to make connections, and does little more than scatter my thoughts. On top of that, it’s ugly. Not only do modules from the same brand function well together, they look better together too. And being separated doesn’t preclude any given subsystem work with another either. It’s going to be both more functional, and look a lot better on my synthshelf.
But I’m also making this fairly substantial reorganization for ergonomic reasons as well. For the last year or so I’ve had a 2 tiered synth, but tiered in depth, which made patching a particular kind of pain in the ass. It always seems to require a longer cable than should be necessary, or a weird route, and it was becoming untenable. So rather than lopping all of my modules into larger cases, I’ve pulled out the large case and am in the process of getting several smaller ones so that I can compartmentalize my synth into some order.
Subsystems.