From EMIS Sent Mon, Jun 15th 1998, 17:22
Subject: Re: alternate doepfer cases? >So if you're doing it to save a few bucks you'll probably be making a mistake. if you're doing it for fashion then you better be ready to do the work and spend the time to make a good looking case. if you're doing it to make a more functional and flexible system then throw cost to the wind and design what you need and then do the work and build it.< In the UK companies like Maplin can supply standard 3U racks. I think they are really cheap like $40. A friend of mine has bought one, fitted his own (second hand) power supply and installed a mixture of RS and Doepfer modules. If you want to save serious money and you are prepared to do some research and wield a soldering iron it is definately possible. No sweat on the bus board either. I never use a bus board to distribute cv and gate, sometimes I have to employ multiples but a lot of older modulars work in that way. CW According to my 1998 Maplin catalogue a Sub Rack with a top and bottom and mounting for the rear panel costs £74.45, and you'll still have to buy the Threaded mounting rails (4 needed) at a costs of another £12.20. The rear panel costs another £9.17, and then there is the power switch, filtered mains socket, fuse holder, power supply etc.... and this is only to make a G3 frame. The skeleton sub rack that Maplin do for £28.55 is only a very small part of the bits needed to make up a G3 frame. If anyone can suggest a cheaper way of building a G3 rack, I would be interested - but buying the bits from Maplin or Farnell is not any cheaper. Andy Horrell