MOTM

I started with a two-row, 20U-wide cabinet, with a sloped front. After I
filled that I stacked another one-row cabinet on top to get that Moog System
55 look. :-) Before I filled that new row the guy who built the cabinets for
me (my SO's father) decided to move and sell all of his shop equipment, so
even though I didn't need it at the time I got him to build me another
one-row cabinet to stack on top, for future expansion.

 

One advantage of building several cabinets and stacking them is that the
cabinets can be moved individually. A cabinet loaded with modules and a PSU
can be surprisingly heavy. I can't move my entire system around as a unit,
but I can move the cabinets one at a time. I used T nuts and machine bolts
to anchor each cabinet to the one below, so the upper ones don't slide
around when I push cables into jacks in their modules.

 

Another thing to consider is whether you want to build any custom stuff into
the cabinet, such as something like Larry's Magic Buss system. I added a
1U-tall space to the bottom of my middle cabinet which houses an Encore
Expressionist and a breakout panel for it.

 

The half-empty aspect doesn't particularly bother me, but I suppose you
could print full-sized copies of the panel images from the MOTM website and
use them to fill the empty spaces. :-)

 

There are photos of my system here:

http://studionebula.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=12072

 

--Adam

 

 

  _____  

From: motm@yahoogroups.com [mailto:motm@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Jeff
Laity
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 11:06 AM
To: MOTM List
Subject: [motm] Planning a cabinet

 

I'm planning to build my own cabinet for a MOTM system. My first spec 
for modules came up with 35u. I'm sure that will go up eventually, but 
I also don't want a giant empty cabinet while I build my system. 
Mostly, it will freak out the wife. How have you guys gone about this? 
Did you build a small cabinet during the startup phase, buy your synth 
all at once, or stare at a half-empty cabinet for a year?

If I do build a large cabinet, it will probably be about the size of 
the Dotcom 44u cabinet (52u MOTM). I would like something that will 
fit on top of this stand:

http://www.jefflait
<http://www.jefflaity.com/studio/studios_large/xstand_01.jpg>
y.com/studio/studios_large/xstand_01.jpg

Plan B would be to build something like the 22u Dotcom cabinet, but 
I'm worried that I'd fill it right away. I've seen quite a few stories 
of people who outgrew their 1-row cabinet almost right away.

Other ideas would be to build the Dotcom 44u, but with a top row that 
doubles as a bookshelf during the build process. Or a pair of 22u 
cabinets stacked on each other, though that wouldn't work or function 
as well. Or rack rails as I build up modules, though I plan to get to 
10u pretty soon.

Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks, -jl