It’s time to resurrect 1Uesday, because the single-height 1U Eurorack format is heating up again. We’ve got some cheap and cheery Koma Elektronik tools — including some lovely leftfield stuff — plus a new range from Doepfer. If you’ve got the case for it, you can put it to good use.
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Budget fun from Koma
Koma Elektronik has you covered, with a straight-ahead LFO in a compact space, but also an FM radio tuner, a “wave-your-hands-around” infrared range-sensing KMNDR, and a very useful-looking envelope follower. The range:
KMNDR / 1U Kommander: An infrared motion controller, generating CV and gate
FM Radius (1U FM Radio): A CV-able FM radio
Detective (1U Envelope Follower): An nifty little envelope follower
UFO (LFO 1U): A LFO with three wave forms
If you’re quick and okay with European shipping, these are all on-sale through the end of September, either as a bundle or individually:
https://koma-elektronik.com/new/product-category/eurorack-home/1u-modules/
Otherwise, they’re available from your favorite retailer, including:
Koma Elektronik 1U at Perfect Circuit
A couple of those I’m quite keen to try!
Video demo:
New from Doepfer
Doepfer debuted its first 1U offerings alongside their 7U case (so you’ve got room for them) back at Superbooth. And they really seem to understand which modules would be most essential to squeeze into that space. There’s a flexible dual VCA (since you’re always running out), a 6-input/2-output mixer that works well both for mono and stereo configurations (or a mix), and a tiny minijack-based MIDI-to-CV module.
They’ve got two 1U modules that serve well as both envelope and modulation generators: ththeir unique dual decay/LFO, and a smaller attack/decay LFO with looping. Both have looping capability, or the ability to switch it off.
But best of all, there’s a mini ratcheting sequencer, the A-155-3. If you can spare the horizontal space, that adds a lot of creativity to a 1U rail.
These have all arrived now, it seems.
Doepfer 1U at Thomann; Thomann’s complete Doepfer homepage
Our friends over at Sonic State did a video of this one in the spring in Berlin, with Mr. Dieter Doepfer himself on-hand:
This video is of the vertical 3U version of the sequencer, but also applies. And this is why I don’t do 1Uesday all the time… because you could go get the 3U version. I leave that to you. For effect, you could also tilt your head sideways, which is perfect for reading CDM from the couch!
Doepfer’s retro homepage in English (never change it, please! keep the old one; don’t fix the new one! I’m serious…)
https://www.doepfer.de/home_e.htm