Yay! Erica Synths and Moritz Klein are at it again with the Compressor, the first in a new wave of educational DIY module kits.
EDU DIY Compressor
Over the course of last year, we analysed, bread-boarded and built all nine modules and the case for the mki x es.EDU DIY System. The result was a cool little Eurorack modular system for a remarkably good price that taught you about circuit design. I assumed that would be it, but no, there are more to come.
Well, I say there are more to come but all I know is that they sent me a Compressor kit to build, which I’ve done, but they haven’t actually said if there are any more. But hey, let’s assume that there is!
So, what we have here is a simple diode-based compressor with that all-important side chain. It’s going to let you squash your basses, devastate your dynamics and beef up your sound. The side chain lets you stick in a signal that will animate the compression giving you some delicious throbbing effects or use it to bring your kick drum out of the mush.
With the previous kits, I would build them over the course of two live streams to enable people to build along and learn about the circuits with me. Moritz Klein has produced some amazing manuals to take you through every part of the circuit. In the first live stream, we would build the module out on a breadboard and look at how each part worked. And then we’d put the actual kit together in another live stream. This time I’ve done it differently. Erica Synths sent me a pair of kits ahead of time so that I could have a build video ready for release. So, I’ve built one, and it’s ready to show you how to go about soldering the kit together. What I’ll do in a few weeks is a live stream covering the breadboarding side of the module so that we can all benefit from Moritz’s work. That’s the plan, and I’ll let you know when that’s happening.
In the meantime, the EDU DIY Compressor is €65 ex VAT from Erica and will probably be available from Thonk.co.uk and other DIY outlets soon.
- Erica Synths website.
