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Ready to play with (or teach) circuit design, experiment with Eurorack invention, or just learn more about sound and voltage? Erica Synths has outdone itself this time on its DIY line with a beautiful prototyping board complete with power, breadboard, and built-in functionality.
This is kind of the luxury solution for prototyping, in that it does so much. But you can also think of this as what it’d be like to have a small Eurorack rig with the faceplate removed – ready to hack, mod, and create. It looks perfect for a classroom, in keeping with Erica Synths’ recent efforts – but it could be a great convenience in your studio/workshop, too. There are certainly other tools to just prototype quickly – schreibmaschine has a set of breadboard-based solutions, based in turn on Mutable Instruments creations. (On the digital side, you have options like Daisy, too.) But this is unique in that it is both a mini-modular setup with some built-in tools and a breadboard and power and routing ready to go.
At €170-195, that is, this is the splurge option but – ooh, you do totally get a lot for that. From Erica’s description:
- a built-in dual power supply producing Eurorack-compatible voltages, with built-in over-current protection for safe experimenting
- a modular interfacing section with 16 slots for potentiometers, jacks & switches
- a pulse/triangle/sine oscillator (audio & LFO range)
- a multi-mode envelope generator controlled by a premium push button
- a buffered variable control voltage source
- an output amplifier with variable gain
- a dedicated headphone output and a line-level output for recording, processing and analyzing the signal
- an expansion slot for installing specialized prototyping tools
- a protective lid to cover a breadboard.
Adding to the luxe treatment, even the “basic” model comes with potentiometers, jack sockets, switches, and jumper cables, plus the power supply unit. Upgrade to “full,” and they throw in a bunch of resistors, capacitors, chips, and transistors. (It’s also not a bad idea to make that investment as a beginner, as there are a lot of foolproof features here to save you from accidentally spending more money in the long term.)
Designed with Dr. Shalom D. Ruben, an engineer at the University of Colorado, it looks like an ideal way to round out the DIY selection of modules – though it also seems very workable on its own.
Check it: