Here is the story...
Bought this particular one over many types in other shops because it looked like the best one, good design, no sharp edges, rubber feet, so when it came I thought it would only take 10 minutes to assemble, and under an hour in total to equip the rack with mixer, etc.
I made the mistake of assembling this on a sofa, so it was wobbly on the table, I loosened everything and then tighten everything on the flat surface. Wobble fixed, 10 minutes.
This is where my troubles began...
I noticed that the whole thing was leaning to the left, so I tried bending it and re-tightening the bolts. It didn't help, so I figured that inserting the mixer and other units would straighten it out (which it did, in the end).
So I lay the rack down and placed the mixer in position, I slid it upwards to check out the spacing, and found out the top part was very narrow. I cycled to the local town for a bag of washers to space the rack top a bit wider. After putting them in, I saw that the top was still too narrow. It turned out that the top bar was too short by about an inch. I had to remove it completely by the end.
If I was in charge of the manufacturing, that product would not leave the factory until that issue is fixed.
But that's not the end of it...
Started putting in the screws and found that they only go in about halfway, not enough to secure the mixer.
It turns out that the black powder coating / paint that is on the rack is also in the bolt threads and on the bolts themselves, so they simply don't fit the holes anymore.
The bolt steel is not hard enough to "push" the paint out by turning the bolts, they just get mushed up instead. Using a chainsaw file to trim off some of the paint doesn't work either, you just trim off the threads aswel. I'm not going into town for a tap-and-die set to try re-thread the holes, I might as well make my own rack from scratch.
As it was getting later in the evening, I opened a drink and sat to think about how to proceed.
I could either send it back to Thomann (takes a week) and then shop around for a different one, or cycle to the village the next day for M4 nuts and bolts (I recommend), or I could use rivets.
I decided to use rivets as I was losing patience with this thing and wanted to be done with it.
So I revetted in the mixer, no problem, I had the rivets, washers, tool, etc.
Drum module is next, again it went more or less to plan, with some swearing.
Next came the Novation Peak. After putting on the rack ears I saw that the unit would not fit the rack. I calmly sat down and had another drink.
i finally decided to bend the top of the rack outwards, enough to drop in the synthesizer. This worked and with some more swearing and grunting I was soon finished. 2 hours altogether, instead of 1.
Conclusion
Eventually goes together the way you want it, but not without a lot of work on your part.
Because of the tilt angle, the first 2 unit slots from the bottom are only of use with units that are very shallow, like a power strip or socket patches. The top unit is also occupied by the useless steel bar.
This gap at the bottom gives you space to put other items on the desk, like a semi-modular synthesizer, Beatstep pro or effects pedals.
It says in the documentation that the rubber feet may stick to certain surfaces over time, so judging by the fiasco so far I can guess that they will corrode and weld themselves into the desk so well that it will take a hammer and chisel to get them off. I am counting the days. I may use beer mats under the feet
Overall - worth it if you can deal with the manufacturing shortcomings.
