The B. Eurorack? Well, when it was this idea of replicating the 100M stuff, I was rather mixed on the idea. True, the 100M is VERY out of production...but there's the 500 series that Malekko's made for Roland that is a redux of the 100M, with improvements in some cases. And that, I would have a problem with...not that it hurts Roland any, but it would impact Malekko, and those guys don't deserve that. They've done some important work, such as Euro-sizing classic Wiard modules. But at this point, I'm not sure what B.'s plans for modular are; I keep hearing that they're working on things outside of the Roland 100M range, perhaps about 40 different modules. If, of course, any of that's true. But at the same time, their idea of how the 100M form factor worked was utter crap...there are NO multiples of 16 hp that can make up a full row in any of the typical Eurorack cases, not even the 104 hp-er that B. is releasing, so if these new modules go beyond that one panel size, it'd be helpful (maybe). Ultimately, I think there's enough modular circuits out there for use (especially if you have a chip fab line for the CEM chips, which they do) that Uli's designers should be able to come up with a unique line, and not merely a clone. Unless, of course, it's a clone of something unobtainable...which we might see a bit of, since I'd heard of some linkages between B. and AMSynths and their efforts to clone ARP 2500 modules, or the repeated claims that there's "going to be an ARP 2600" from B., something Korg apparently blew off.

As for the SE-II...that's just dumb on Uli's part. It and the SE-IV would technically be under Eminent's patents, which should be quite expired at this point, ergo no licensing issues although credit-where-credit's-due should come into play here. And although the SE-IV is DEFINITELY the version of the Solina that everyone wants, I think the idea here is to kick something cheap out the door to compete with/annoy Waldorf and the Streichfett. Even though I have a Crumar Performer, I've also had an SE-IV, and they're very different creatures, ergo I might've jumped at getting a cheap SE-IV. But not this, and others who know the difference won't jump at it, either.

Then there's the "theft" reissues...the Model D, the MS-20, the Odyssey. All of these are, in some way, active products. And the Model D is something of an iconic device for Moog, even if all of the patents have expired. It's nice to have the ability to get a cheap Minimoog, I suppose...but I have some issues with the ethics of that as far as how Uli's opted to deal with it.