From ndkent Sent Sun, Sep 21st 2008, 19:34
From ndkent Sent Sun, Sep 21st 2008, 19:34
> Does anyone have any experience of the plastic Analogue Systems cases? > I'd be interested to here opinions on their durability considering > the necessity to drill holes in plastic in order to mount modules. Umm... Analogue Solutions made the plastic cases I've seen. And I guess Doepfer has something new. If Analogue Systems have gotten into the game then a link would be of interest. Assuming you mean Analogue Solutions, since theirs has the plastic material for a mounting strip... They seem to have built at least 2 or 3 versions. The one I don't have has mostly Analogue Systems sockets and just 2? Doepfer sockets. The power board is mounted upright against the back panel. What I found really interesting was one I saw on ebay a while back had 2 long ribbon cables with apparently several male Doepfer connectors on each of them. That kind of cable looks really really useful if it's not flakey. The one I have and the one that's seen on the ASol Website has 9 doepfer connectors and 2 ASys connectors (the ASol site says 3 ASys) and is the only one sold by Analogue Haven. No extra cable and for me a new cable issue I'll mention soon. The power board is mounted on the bottom of the case against the rear. That means some positions can fit a module just shy of 8" deep, which might be a record for non- DIY eurorack modular cases, though the heat sinks on the power board make some positions 5" deep. What really annoys me is that doepfer power cables are quite short and this case had all the Doepfer power sockets in the right of center back so several modules on the left and right in the case simply won't reach the power connectors with standard doepfer cables. I have some concussor modules, those have longer doepfer style cables It uses a 15V AC wall wart (I wound up sourcing one surplus from a net router, though I think usually it comes with one). I'm sure the power is standard +-12v DC and you get the +5v which some modules need and costs extra on a Doepfer case. It has three mystery 1/4" jacks which seem to be used to hold the power board to the case. There is also a pot on the back of the case which is mildly annoying to have sticking out, but I guess the power adaptor makes it impossible to have the unit lie face up anyway. I wound up disassembling the board from the case temporarily to figure out the polarity on the ASys sockets and see if the jacks did anything. I don't think they do. I would have thought they could have attached them to the Doepfer bus or something. It comes with no doc and little on-line. You do get keyed Doepfer sockets As for the screw situation. It has 20 manufactured pre-drilled screw holes which seem pretty reusable. You need to use boring screws not standard doepfer or AS screws for new or previous holes. That's annoying if you need one, but nothing seemingly too hard to source more of. The mounting strip seems to be plastic with a softer rubber material in the middle. I've mounted and remounted modules a few times without anything falling out. My guess is one could probably put in some plastic glue or epoxy or something if the holes wear out and then let it set. It might not be super strong but I think it would hold the screws in place. The price when I bought it was great ($179? new) but I think now it's not such a great value considering it doesn't come with a rackmount (though I'm sure you could probably cobble something). While very light, it's a bit awkward to transport though not awful. Anyway I've bought other cases since then. I guess for cheap the way to go is to source a surplus eurorack case and get Doepfer DIY yourself power unless you can build the power too.