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There are a lot of factors that come into play on how much it will cost. Even with DIY you have options. You can do real DIY, where you have to find schematics, source the parts, make your own pcbs, make your own front panels...or you can buy kits. I cant read schematics so I went the kits route.

It still cost me some money to buy equipment: soldering iron, solder, circuit board holder, tweezers, wire cutter, headband magnifier.

From there I mostly stuck with products from AI Synthesis, Trogotronic, and Befaco. Those companies all sell kits with very clear instructions. I was new to soldering so this was key for me. Some other kits I bought had very poorly written instructions and their support was just as well done as their manuals.

If you know what you are doing then you may have better luck. You can also try modules that require SMD soldering. Mutable Instruments has released all their code. Amazing Synth is a great resource for high quality pcb's. They dont sell the parts though so you gotta find the BOM and source the parts. Amazing Synth has the BOM's for most, if not all, of the modules. You'll also need to do some programming and upload the code from a computer to the modules.

To try to answer "how much will it cost" it really depends on how many modules you plan on making and what method you choose.

There's a whole subreddit dedicated to those of us who DIY...come check out /r/synthdiy

I started with circuit bending. I took a student-taught class as part of the Oberlin College ExCo, which is the Experimental College, where any student can teach a class for a single credit, provided they can demonstrate to a faculty panel that they have something to teach and a plan on how to teach it. That got me started on instrument building, and also on circuit design. I worked on that as a hobby for several years, until eventually I was friends with some people who were getting into Eurorack manufacturing: the 4MS crew, when they were still in Austin. Ralph and Dan encouraged me to move from bending (and breaking) toys into creating circuits, and gave me a few good starting tips (and copies of a few Forrest Mims books, which are absolutely invaluable). Another year or two after that, I was talking with Mickey, and he mentioned that he had the good problem that his modules were selling too fast, and he was bored of soldering, and wanted more time to design. I piped up quick. "I know how to solder! I'm very good at it." The second part was a lie. It's true now, though! Everything more advanced that I know about circuits I've learned from Mickey, the internet, and a bit more book learnin', especially from The Art of Electronics. I told the story of getting started on the pedal (which was my first commercial pedal) elsewhere in this thread.

The biggest hiccup was finding ROHS compliant vactrols! But we're cool on that now. Thanks, XVIVE!

I'd pick up this book: http://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Electronic-Music-Hardware-Hacking/dp/0415998735/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412952260&sr=1-1&keywords=handmade+electronic+music

Amazing and essential book for diy'ers. Lots of passive curcuits you could just put on panels. Pretty much all the circuits in here are easily adaptable to euro. I just finished a six square wave osc based on something from this book. If you want details you can PM me. Synthrotek and erthenvar are good places to get parts like custom rails, panels, power headers, etc...

So far as monitors go, i do love my various pairs of KRK's, but in the end it all comes down to preference. That said, I tried a SubPac for the first time today and .... wow. Words won't do this justice. If your budget allows (and, considering your apartment-ness), I recommend the Subpac M2X and a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT 770 Pro

There's tons of tutorials online if you really want to learn how to solder. Bear in mind that (like a lot of things) good soldering is the result of decent tools but mostly a bit of practice. It's not a difficult skill to learn, though.

Some tips off the top of my head:

Buy a decent iron if this is something you want to spend more than a few hours on. Something that can get hot enough so it doesn't wimp out soldering heavy ground connections, terminal strips etc. Don't crank up the heat too much if you're just soldering small components, but don't be a pussy with the heat dial if shit isn't melting fast enough for your liking.

This is possibly my favorite tool I've ever owned. It's more expensive than those small, flimsy solder suckers but it's much more effective and will last forever. Don't dick around with desoldering braid/wicks if you don't have to. IME they aren't very effective, are hard to use, and heat up the board/components too much. For certain applications (maybe surface mount) it can be handy but with through-hole components a spring loaded solder sucker like the Soldapullt is king.

Use rosin core solder, and don't use lead free solder if you're in the US. Lead free solder is a bit more difficult to use.

...that's it for now. Have fun.

Damn I really don't understand this stuff. Also it sounds like maybe you're talking about modifying a homes circuitry(?) and I'm a renter so that's a no go.
Now I'm getting super skeptical of all these Surge Protectors though..

What about this one does it seem ok? It's got a pretty high Joules rating (high number=good right?) and a supposed $50,000 equipment warranty. That all sounds pretty spankin' to me...

This one has be perfect for my 7u Intellijel case.
It also folds up super small for traveling.

www.amazon.com/dp/B00IY0BLB0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vcBYCb67PHAYD

This is the stand I bought for my EP-360 and it fits perfectly, the legs don't get in the way, and it puts the case at a nice angle to patch with while I have my beatstep pro in front.

Here's a photo of my setup so y'all can see if this would work for y'all!

I just got this one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002F6JH6/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494659489&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65

Not great with my current 6u 84hp, but should be great for 104hp cases.

you don't have to connect ground to anything. The pot basically acts as a resistor between the two jacks and as such attenuates the signal.
While there will be of course some soldering involved it is not too complicated, and probably would be even a nice project to practice. The parts itself are also quite cheap.
I used different sized jacks on each side so i can easily connect my audio interface.

Edit:
you could also use something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Conwork-2-Pack-Extension-Headphone-Control/dp/B01DRQEAZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481735783&sr=8-1&keywords=headphone+extension+volume+control

A trim pot is a passive (it uses no power) module, like the "trim" module from the 2 Hp company, that just turns down the volume on a signal. If you chose to go that route, you should probably buy a cord with a 3.5mm head on one end and a 1/4" head on the other. Hosa makes several cords like this.

I don't need brackets, but rack ears for a 19" rack. I already have a rack with 3u/84hp and some other gear in it, just looking to add a 1u row. I could probably make rails work with something like this but would rather not deal with the hassle and get something that I know will be the right dimensions.

Sorry, wasn’t trying to be a jerk.

If you’re getting into modular synths and you don’t have a good grasp of basic electronic theory, I highly recommend this book:

Handmade Electronic Music by Nicolas Collins

https://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Electronic-Music-Hardware-Hacking/dp/0415998735/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541778119&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=handmade+electronic+music&dpPl=1&dpID=51rgvIc6vvL&ref=plSrch

Having a decent understand of what’s going to happen before you do something will help you understand what your modules are actually doing, come up with new patches, avoid damaging anything, and a host of other benefits.

To be more precise, I mean something like this . They make lots of stuff apparently.

Do not buy a cheap soldering iron to start out with, you will just end up having to replace it. Buy either a Hakko or Weller soldering station, and you'll be fine.

Even cheaper: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DRQEAZO/

Bam found it.

https://www.amazon.com/TISINO-Stereo-Adapter-Plated-Connector/dp/B07QQBLQC3/

https://www.amazon.com/VELCRO-Brand-ONE-WRAP-Double-Sided-Multi-Purpose/dp/B000078CUB

What cables are you using to connect your soundcard to your modular? Are they TRS-to-TRS? For ease-of-use, you should just use TS-to-TS.

and by speaking of mfos, you really should get his book... it was so helpful to me... I learned a lot by doing his stuff from the book and reading all the explanations...
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Analog-Synthesizers-Ray-Wilson/dp/1449345220

Call your library and get a copy of Allen Strange's Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques, and Controls through inter-library loan.

Work through the book.

Plastic washers will fix your screw length woes and protect your modules.

I thought that they sold different Euro/US PSU models of the cases but maybe they've changed that and have a switching transformer in there now? Somebody else needs to clarify that.

Just a cheap diy kit I picked up off amazon. It requires soldering and when I was finished it didn't work. I had to spend about a day googling and scouring through old forum posts to find someone who had a similar issue and see how they fixed it.

Edit it was specifically this one. I got it to teach myself how to solder and even if I fucked it up, I was really only out like 20 bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0195ZIURK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_VkuyDb6BQPFJT