A first Eurorack system at three budgets: free, INR 84,100 and INR 157,600 (about USD 0, 884 and 1,655)

The brief: you have read our Eurorack starter guide, you have a laptop, and you want to start modular without buying a case, a power supply and ten modules on day one. We priced two hardware builds at one Indian retailer, Bajaao, on 28 Oct 2026, so each can be bought in one order. Prices move; check the live listing before you pay. USD figures are conversions at INR 95.20 to the dollar (ExchangeRate-API, 28 Oct 2026), not US shop prices.

This is a desk review: we have not tested these exact chains, so there are no scores.

Rig zero: free

VCV Rack is a free, open-source virtual Eurorack. Patch in it for a few weeks first. If you never open it again, you have saved the price of everything below.

Rig one: about INR 84,100

Rig two: about INR 157,600

Rows are rounded, so they add up to a dollar more than the converted total.

Why these

Moog Mother-32. Bajaao's listing describes a monophonic analog semi-modular with one oscillator (pulse and saw), a white noise source, a switchable low-pass and high-pass ladder filter, a 32-step sequencer with 64 sequence locations, 5-pin MIDI in with MIDI-to-CV, and a 32-jack 3.5 mm patchbay, with five patch cables included. It needs no patching to make sound. Its audio output is a shared 6.35 mm jack (TS line or TRS headphones), and the power supply is in the box. The listing gives its Eurorack size as 60HP with a 230 mA draw on +12 V, and says the module "can be easily transferred into a Eurorack skiff or case". HP is the Eurorack width unit; Doepfer, whose A-100 system the format grew from, defines 1 HP as 5.08 mm.

Moog Subharmonicon. Two analog oscillators, each with two subharmonic oscillators (six tones in all), two 4-step sequencers driven by four rhythm generators, a ladder filter and a 32-point 3.5 mm patchbay that Bajaao says interfaces with the Mother-32 and other Eurorack gear. It ships with a +12 V power supply, and the listing says you can "remove the front panel to install into any Eurorack system".

The audio connection: Arturia MiniFuse 1. One combo input, USB-C to the computer and Ableton Live Lite in the box, per Bajaao. One standard 6.35 mm cable (INR 549 for 3 m) runs from the Mother-32's output to it.

What we think

Start with a semi-modular, not a case. A first Eurorack case asks you to choose a case, a power supply and every module before you know how you patch; the Mother-32 makes sound with no cables and teaches patching one jack at a time, and both Moogs here can later be moved into a case instead of being sold. That is the real budget trick: nothing you buy in rig one becomes a dead end.

Rig two is where the money doubles, and we would only take that step after months with rig one. The Subharmonicon is a different instrument (polyrhythms and subharmonic chords), not more of the same, and the Mother-32 includes five patch cables you can use to wire the two together. If INR 84,100 is already a stretch, spend a month in VCV Rack, then buy the Mother-32 and skip the interface at first: its output doubles as a headphone jack, which cuts rig one to INR 73,490 (about $772).

What is not here

No Eurorack case or power supply (you only need one when you move the modules out of their enclosures), no headphones, no monitors, no MIDI keyboard and no MIDI cable. We found no Doepfer, Intellijel or Behringer Eurorack modules listed at Bajaao on 28 Oct 2026, so a module-by-module build is not priced here.