OK...it's the latter half of 2021. Modular synth tech has reached a point where you can get bits and pieces even at certain big box stores. Recording tech has also reached a similar paradigm in that you can slap together a top-shelf multitrack for a couple grand; when I began, a couple grand might get you ONE circuit card out of a Studer A820. Synclaviers have become something you can get...at least in VERY comprehensive and accurate software versions...at Guitar Center for a few hundred bucks. Same goes for the Fairlight IIx. Every processor you can think of...even ones that would cost you a cool $20K+...is now out there as VSTs, often dead-on-accurate to the point that they're indistinguishable from hardware.

But just looking at Eurorack alone, we have a situation where if you want a vintage device, you can have that. Oh, sure, some VERY obscure things haven't been made available in the format, but even some of THAT is out there. Take G-Storm's Syrinx VCF, for instance. A real Synton Syrinx would cost you...hmm, I can't count that high. But if you want the "magic part" from it, that being the formant filter itself, it'll run you $320.

It was a couple of weeks ago, though, when I realized what a strange position we're in these days. It was the intro of the Tiptop/Buchla modules, and I couldn't help but think that we have come a LOOOOONG way in all of this. Consider:

If you want a Buchla 100, there's ways to get that via LA67, Tokyo Tape Music Center, maybe Buchla (haven't heard anything about their 100 series reissues as of late)
If you want a Buchla 200, same deal.
Moog 55/IIIp/c, etc? Behringer plus several other makers.
ARP 2500? You can pick either Phil Cirocco's version or Uli's.
ARP 2600? Modules out of that are in the MG database, plus Uli gave us a proper one while Korg continues to flounder around in the wake of the 2600FS fiasco. Meanwhile, the Antonius and TTSH are still out there for those who want the 1:1 experience.
E-Mu modular? Dave Rossum's got you, and he's even pushed the old E-Mu ideas further in the Rossum modules.

There's also digital-based modules that do things that we only DREAMED of back c. 1980, in the halcyon pre-MIDI era. Granular synthesis used to require things such as the ISPW (IRCAM Sound Processing Workstation) and a fast NeXTcube to run it on or, if you go back even further, DEC mini-mainframes (which are also pretty much what the original Synclavier's engine ran on). And don't EVEN get me started on how sequencer tech has metastasized and metamorphed.

And this all prompts the question: "Where does this go NEXT?" Hell, Eurorack systems have become SO commonplace that it's not unusual to see someone working with a skiff or cab...and not just one, either. I remember seeing Animal Collective on Colbert a couple of years ago, and I think I counted three separate(ish...there's really no such thing as "separate" modular synths in the end, after all) Euro skiffs amongst the pile of other toys.

So where is all of this heading? If you wonder what the answer is to that, just like I do, toss around some ideas in the comments and maybe we can cook up a few bits of the future.


I'm actually a little shocked that the modular/computer USB interface thing hasn't taken off more. Expert Sleepers makes great stuff, of course, but I thought some of the other manufacturers might come up with some innovative designs in that realm.


I'm surprised with the popularity of modular these days, that more companies like Focusrite haven't made their audio interfaces to be DC coupled...thanks to you, I was able to find a very inexpensive MOTU 828 and it has been doing what I need (or as much as I know how to exploit at this time...which I'm sure is very little) with my desire to interface my modular setup with Ableton CV tools.

I don't have the history you do...not even close...but I'm curious about your comment about E-mu and mostly because I bought one of the XK-6 keyboards twenty years ago, acquired a couple nice ROMs to go with it over time (Techno Synth Construction Yard and Proteus 2000). I've thought about selling the keyboard (too big for the space I have) and getting one of the E-mu modules that has 4 SIMM sockets to use the two extra ROMs but people are asking crazy $ for the ROMs which I can easily use to support my newfound modular addiction :) It would be cool if there was a way to use the ROMs I have as a sample source for my modular setup...plug the ROM into a module and boom, tons of nice sounds

JB


I don't have the history you do...not even close...but I'm curious about your comment about E-mu and mostly because I bought one of the XK-6 keyboards twenty years ago, acquired a couple nice ROMs to go with it over time (Techno Synth Construction Yard and Proteus 2000). I've thought about selling the keyboard (too big for the space I have) and getting one of the E-mu modules that has 4 SIMM sockets to use the two extra ROMs but people are asking crazy $ for the ROMs which I can easily use to support my newfound modular addiction :) It would be cool if there was a way to use the ROMs I have as a sample source for my modular setup...plug the ROM into a module and boom, tons of nice sounds
-- jb61264

No can do. E-Mu's modular days began in the early 1970s and went up to the point when the original Audity (not the Proteus variation, but a much more complex device) was being designed c. 1979...when they realized that there's only a few customers for those huge systems. So they started to retool slightly, which is when they dove into digital devices such as the Emulators, the Drumulator, etc. Those have more in common with the XK-6...which, in truth, is a synth that was a product of E-Mu and Ensoniq together after both brands were acquired by a third party in Singapore that was much more interested in computer audio. That's also why you don't see any new E-Mu or Ensoniq stuff anymore, and haven't for many years. Damn shame, really...


The story I heard recently about Emu and Stevie Wonder recently was funny.

Stevie was touring Australia and wanted to try out a Emulator.

Emu ask who Stevie Wonder was.

Scientists vs Musicians.