ecalpemos|nl

I make films, photographs and electronic music. I build electronic musical instruments

New cabinets for 5U modular synth

Inevitability

I have been building a lot of Buchla stuff last couple of years but I also built a few 5U modules. As my 5U modular cabinet was pretty much filled up I finally reached that inevitable point in time: the cabinets were completely full and I still had a couples of modules which had to fit in.

The old cabinets I built in 2009

Building the new cabinets

I built these cabinets eight years ago (see this blog post) and they have a capacity of 36U each. To be able to get a few more modules in I decided to built 2 new cabinets with a capacity of 48U each. The basic design would be the same but I wanted an on/off switch on the front this time as I moved the cabinets to another corner of my studio where I did not have easy access to the back of the cabinets to switch them on or off.

The new cabinets ready for final assembly

I used wood of a recycled bedroom cabinet. I opted for 19″ rails to mount the modules on as the Bridechamber rails I used in the old cabinets were not available any more. After I ordered the 19″ rails I learned that Synthcube does still sell them. I probably would have used those if I had known that before I went for the 19″ rails. Nevertheless, I’m happy with how the new cabinets turned out with the rails. I stained the cabinets with a couple of layers of Warm Wengé to give it a kind of colonial look.

The new cabinets up and running