Waveform Magazine Mewsic Box (Project 6) - DIY Build
As one dives into the modular world, you will find yourself examining or re-examining your setup almost on a daily basis. The case is one of the most important, if not THE MOST IMPORTANT piece to a modular artist. Waveform Magazine did us all a favor by putting together their new Mewsic Box. A 60HP DIY eurorack modular case that not only has style, but also functionality in more than one way. Like any project that Waveform Magazine makes, the Mewsic Box is a unique case; its functionality is more than meets the eye.
The Waveform Magazine Mewsic Box is an all in one project and it has “optional” add-on’s that can really make this little case stand out.
For instance, how many times have you seen a case with a small plant holder built into a cable hanger? We hadn’t either and just thought this is was too badass not to check out. Another cool option is the ability to house an internal speaker so that you may use the case on the fly.
If you purchased the Meow Mixer (see this build), you can mount it inside the case so that you don’t take up any extra precious top case space.
One little thing..
Before we jump right into the build, we will preface by saying that we are not going to go into great detail due to the extent of the build documents that Waveform Magazine provides. These are available in Issue 6, as well as on their web store.
As for our build, we did add the internal speaker, as well as the plant/cable stand. Lastly, we added a switch for the power cable and a toggle switch for the speaker power. This was due to the speaker giving off sound even though we had nothing patched and the power was a direct line from the AC adapter (we highly recommend this upgrade and will link what we used below)
What’s in the kit…
The kit comprised of the AC adapter, case panels, rails, slide nuts and all of the parts/PCB to build the power supply board. If you order the speaker kit, it will come with not only the speaker, but the chiclet board to transfer power to the to the speaker (ie. a powered speaker). and the plant stand/cable hanger panel is also available aforementioned.
The Power Board
First and foremost you want to build the power board for the case. This is comprised of a PCB, shrouded power headers and some big ass capacitors. Since the kit comes with all of the SMD stuff already soldered, this is really the only thing you have to tack down. Make sure you line up the caps according to the silk on the PCB.. if you don’t, you might as well just give up and go home.
Once everything is soldered up, plug in the supplied AC adapter and test to see if everything is working correctly. You will know by the LEDs that are on the PCB. If everything is ok, the LEDs will light up and vice versa. The lights don’t light up… you have a problem my friend. After ensuring that the PCB was tested and ready to go, mount the PCB onto the bottom panel with the hex standoffs and secure it down to the case. You will be able to tell where the back panel will mount due to the plug on the PCB and how it lines up on the back panel.
Waveform Magazine Mewsic Box - DIY Build
Once everything is soldered up, plug in the supplied AC adapter and test to see if everything is working correctly. You will know by the LEDs that are on the PCB. If everything is ok, the LEDs will light up and vice versa. The lights don’t light up… you have a problem my friend. After ensuring that the PCB was tested and ready to go, mount the PCB onto the bottom panel with the hex standoffs and secure it down to the case. You will be able to tell where the back panel will mount due to the plug on the PCB and how it lines up on the back panel.
Mewsic Box Build Gallery
The Speaker (Optional)
If you bought the internal speaker to use with the case, you will screw it to one side of the case. We chose the left side since it was closer to the back panel where you can mount the Meow Mixer. The right side seemed a little crowded with the power PCB favoring the left side. Once you have the speaker mounted with M3 nuts and 10mm M3 screws, grab the chiclet board and carefully solder a wire from the +12 pad on the power PCB to the VDD post on the chiclet (386) board.
Now you can insert a 3.5mm jack into the hole near the speaker on the rear of the case. This will be for the input jack of the speaker. Solder the TIP of the input jack to the “IN” post on the 386 chiclet board and the GROUND of the jack to the other GND post on the chiclet. Lastly, measure some wire and solder the speakers “+” terminal to the OUT terminal on the 386 chiclet board. Connect the “-“ terminal of the speaker to the GND on the green terminal block of the 386 board with another wire. Attach the chiclet 386 board to the floor of the case using the supplied dual sided sticky foam tape.
** Test the power supply before proceeding by inserting the AC power adapter and make sure that the LEDs all light up on the power PCB.
Finishing the case…
From here moving forward, you will be assembling the case panels and the sliding nuts. Make sure you line the rails up correctly on the top side so that the slide nuts are in the correct side of the vector rail. Put the case together by inserting the tabs of each case panel into the appropriate slot.
If you don’t like cats or the Louis Vuitton look, just flip the panels. We did a mix of panels and slapped a few decals on the side to give it our own flavor.
If you built or purchased the other Waveform Magazine Project 6, the Meow Mixer, you can now mount it to the inside of the case if you choose to do so. We did not mount ours to the inside of the case, but intend to do so in the near future giving us the ability to use a mixer and take up 0HP.
The Finishing Touches
The Mewsic Box is an excellent DIY project and the gang over at Waveform Magazine have done an amazing job designing it. It’s lightweight, portable and has several options built right in. The optional speaker addition is a great idea and while it can be utilized as is, we found that it was noisy when nothing was plugged into it or if it wasn’t being used. So, we decided to add a toggle switch to the mix so that we could power it on or off whenever we wanted to. We just used a mini switch that we had laying around (purchased at Tayda) and wired it up to the chiclet board and the speaker. We mounted it to one of the holes where the Meow Mixer mounts on the back of the case. After doing this, it got us thinking…
Suddenly we started thinking about the power adapter and how the Mewsic Box is always on if it is plugged in or vice versa when it was unplugged. No matter what, we knew we didn’t like plugging and unplugging every time we wanted to use the case. A quick search on Amazon and a day later, we had an inline AC adapter power toggle switch. Installation took about 3 seconds as it was literally one plug into another.
Mewsic Box Final Thoughts...
The Mewsic Box by Waveform Magazine is a cool little case with a lot of potential. We found that as we were building it, the case became more solid/sturdy as we assembled it further. The lack of a power switch or a speaker switch was the only con to the project, but we honestly didn’t let it get to us. We just made the quick and easy modifications that seemingly brought everything together.
Being that we have multiple large cases already, this case was a perfect companion to our portable rig due to it being as lightweight as it is. The design is aesthetically pleasing and the speaker and plant stand option are a bonus too. This case will get a lot of use in and out of our studio and we highly recommend it if you are looking for a rad modular case at a cost effective price! The bottom line…. Waveform Magazine has done it again and continues to impress!
If you have questions about the build process or suggestions/feedback about this article, feel free to let us know by contacting us We look forward to hearing from you!
Until the next build …
