My experience has been much like Dave's. As you add cabinets, your
module placement options expand. You have to consider things like
vertical proximity, depth restriction in some places because of a power
supply, angle of cabinet face (modules with Stooge 4-pot long brackets
don't fit on the bottom row of a dot com slant cabinet), and so forth.
I also take into consideration the aesthetic of the whole look, which is
very subjective. And I change my mind. Each added module causes some
shuffle. But what the heck -- it's a modular! They are meant to be
moved. Especially if you have good steel flat bars with machined screw
holes. My wife always kids me when I announce that I'm "moving my
modules" again (they all look the same to her -- except for the Modcan
B). So, it's not the sort of thing you have to decide once and for
all. Try different arrangements. Eventually it will settle down.
Until you add a cabinet, and then it starts over again.
Richard Brewster
http://www.pugix.comdjbrow54 wrote:
> My layout reminds me of the Smithsonian. I had a great organization
> and then I outgrew my structure and have expanded into two overflow
> buildings.
>
> I started with oscillators grouped together on the left in the
> middle cabinet and filters on the right in the middle cabinet. The
> lower cabinet was for my control and modulation sources so keyboard,
> envelope generators, lfos, etc. The top right cabinet I reserved
> for +5 modules (since that's where the triple supply is) and my more
> complex modules so ribbon, MIDI-CV, Miniwave, TimeMachine, etc. I
> also put my VCAs so they'd be close to my filters.
>
> Then the order ended. I had my analog interfaces on the left to be
> close to the reel-reel which is now on the right. My overflow
> cabinet has filters, lfos, controllers, preamps, and mixers. I did
> put both of my programmable controllers in one case on a dedicated
> power supply.
>
> I found with my cabinets that the physical aspect of the module had
> a lot to do with placement. My spring reverb needed to be on a side
> so the reverb tank was as far away from the power supply as
> possible. My deeper modules needed to be in specific locations to
> avoid the power supply and power distribution boards. The short
> modules needed to be in front of the power supply. +5 modules need
> to be in the cabinet with the triple power supply.
>
> In retrospect, the only thing that made patching easier was to group
> the modules that tend to have dedicated interconnects. The envelope
> generators all need triggers and gates. The filters and vcos all
> need 1v/oct CVs so I put multiples in the centers of these module
> groupings.
>
> I tended to move modules around to try and keep a logical order but
> eventually decided this was too much work for too little gain. I
> did replace all the screws with 5/16" and plastic washers to not
> mark up the panel faces.
>
> I'm running five power supplies so I did try to keep the filters and
> vcos on a single supply without any other modules that could
> generate noise or current variations (as in blinking leds).
>
> Dave
>
>