joining the modular club

[Tony Scharf]

On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 7:29 AM, ToAd <tom.adam at thebigear.be> wrote:
> All this talk about modulars lately made me wonder, what is so appealing to
> the smaller format?
> I did some comparing between a MOTM(300 and 310) - JH (Living VCO's) -
> Oakley - Blacet and AS VCO's. And I'm not much of an audiophile, but I could
> hear a lot of difference. Is it a pricing issue or a space decision or
> availability?
>

Price is part of it.  So is the space the system takes up.  Also, it
just feels like the Euro Manufacturers are doing a lot of interesting
things so you get to some very interesting modules without having to
go and DIY.  The lower price point also means a lot of guys use this
to get started, play with it a year or two (or less) and then dump it
all and go for the more expensive formats (A lot of these guys seem to
go Buchla after a while in euro).  This creates a very healthy second
hand market, so the cost of entry is even less.  Unless you absolutely
must have a module when it first comes out, you can usually just wait
a bit and someone who bought it will post it for 75~80% of new.

For me, I can't emphasize the space consideration enough. If I was
using one of the 5u systems, the thing would be a monster I couldn't
move without assistance.

As to the sound factor, it is almost impossible to compare
definitively.  You have *so many* different manufacturers making
different modules it would be almost impossible to compare apples to
apples.  The doepfer oscillators, if that is what you were testing,
are widely seen as 'starter' modules you get when you first get into
this.  I think if you really wanted to compare what is possible in
euro, you would need to compare one of it's top oscillators as well
(Cwejman or Macbeth are pretty much cream of the crop).

Also, a lot of the bigger more expensive modules are finding
themselves cloned into euro format, and new manufacturers seem to be
jumping in all the time.  Its fun to follow.

Tony