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Eurorack

November 2024

WHILE VCV RACK BILLS ITSELF as a virtual Eurorack studio — and it does a very good job of emulating Eurorack on the computer — some people still crave the tactile experience of twisting real knobs and plugging in real cables. I guess I am one of those people. That’s the main reason I ended up purchasing the Neutron and other hardware synths.

Once you’ve given in to buying synthesizer hardware, one of the final rabbit holes to fling yourself into is Eurorack. What is this thing called Eurorack? It’s a format for synthesizer modules characterized by their relatively small height of 1U or 3U (rack units, 1¾ inches and 5¼ inches, respectively), and their use of 3.5mm jacks and cables. Modules vary in width, measured in “hp” units (1 hp = .2 inch). The Eurorack specification was developed in the mid-90s and since then, hundreds of companies creating many thousands of Eurorack modules have emerged.

What about the Neutron, 0-Coast and other hardware I already own? Don’t they provide sufficient tactile knob and cable pleasures? They do, but … well, I guess I have no good excuse for taking the Eurorack plunge other than I wanted to explore some of the stranger realms of sound that are a bit beyond what my existing devices can generate. There are a plethora of Eurorack modules tailored for specific purposes, many of them esoteric and beyond the functionality of my existing hardware.

With thousands of available Eurorack modules, if you’re not careful you can absolutely shred your wallet. Maybe “bottomless pit” is a more accurate metaphor than “rabbit hole.” I watch a lot of synthesizer-related videos on YouTube and while some fortunate (and/or deeply in-debt) folk manage to accumulate literal walls of Eurorack modules, I limited myself to what could fill a single 104hp case, which has just under 21 inches of usable width.

The modules in my case focus on randomness, chaos and sample playback and manipulation. I'm interested in electroacoustic music and noise music, composition techniques like musique concrète, and experimental forms of music and sound design in general. My current modules are listed below.