A lot of people have bought Moog Mother-32 semi-modular synths as their entry point to modular synthesis. Therefore, I’m creating a couple of courses based on using the Mother-32 in this environment. Below are two videos excerpted from the Learning Modular Synthesis: Moog Mother-32 course which will get a Mother-32 owner up and running, including installing it in a Eurorack case.
The first movie shows how to connect power, audio, and MIDI to the Mother-32, how to play notes and sequences, and gives a quick overview of its major sections to edit its sound:
The second movie shows how to remove a Mother-32 from its own case and install it in a Eurorack case, including discussing issues such as case depth, power connections, and mounting issues (including sliding nuts versus threaded inserts and Phillips versus hex head screws):
The next step is surrounding the Mother with a good complement of utility modules that flesh out its basic capabilities, and which will ease connecting it to new modules you may introduce to your system. That’s discussed in my Eurorack Expansion Host Rack article linked to here.
My Learning Modular Synthesis: Moog Mother-32 course s available through this web site as well and . I’ve also released through Lynda.com and this web site a “taking it to the next level” course – Eurorack Expansion that shows how to take your Mother-32 in a variety of directions, demonstrating using it with a wide range of modules to experiment with a variety of synthesis techniques.
Thank you for your tutorials.
Is it possible to use use the power supply of the Mother 32 60 HP case to connect eurorack modules inside the case?
If so, which cable is needed to connect the 5 pin connector of the Mother 32 60 HP case to a eurorack ribbon cable that will be connected to the eurorack modules?
Thanks in advance for your answer.
Unfortunately, the internal power supply for the Mother is not compatible with power Eurorack modules – for one, it only supplies +12v, not -12 or +5. I agree it’s a shame; it would be nice to use the Mother case as a small travel case. Maybe someone needs to design a small module that brings the Mother’s internal audio output connection to the front panel, and if possible either convert the internal power to also supply -12.
Thank you for your answer, Chris.
I agree with you, it’s a shame.
I found a thread on muffwiggler to modify the power supply:
https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=175167
But not for me yet. I will use a tip top uzeus instead.
Cheers.
Thanks for sharing that link!
Just a heads-up: Some people have had problems with the uZeus. I’ve been using the 4ms Row Power and have been happy.
Chris, I know that once the M32 is removed from its old case that it would need some sort of power source if you wanted to re-use the M32’s original case. My question though is this: is there a way to get more sliding nuts for the M32 case? 4 sliding nuts isnt much for trying to re-use the case especially if the first sliding nut will probably be used for power.
I’m a few days away from moving my 2 M32’s and a DFAM into a 12U case but was wondering about re-using the M32/DFAM cases (or maybe even selling them).
Yes – the ends un-screw quite easily, and then you can insert more nuts. I actually removed the nuts from mine, and replaced them with Schroff threaded strips, cut to size. (I also replaced the wood end caps with lighter, more interesting wood ones – let me know if you’re interested; I have a couple of extra pair.)
On the power supply front, keep an eye open for the Boatrocker from STG Soundlabs, as it is designed to go inside the Moog (or Behringer) case.
Thanks Chris!
Hello,
I am curious about installing the m-32 into a eurorack, but keeping the 1/4″ audio output jack from the M-32 so I can run that to a mixer from the back of the unit rather than patching the VCA. I can’t find any information on if I would disconnect the 5pin or the 2pin connector, or both, and if there’s any risk involved?