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[solipsistnation]

A modular synth for $100 a month-- Synthesizers.com Entry System Purchase Plan.

I've read that these are very nice modular synths, but the barrier to entry is pretty high-- you need a stack of modules to do anything really useful, and they get expensive after a while. This is a good way to spread out the costs over several months (or a year). They let you go at your own speed, too, so if you want to send them $100 a week for 12 weeks or $200 a month for six months or whatever, that works too...

What a neat idea. Barring weird problems of various sorts, I'll probably be doing that starting next month, and probably adding in various things along the way as I go (some of their helper modules, for example, which add features to the basic oscillator and filter modules and aren't terribly expensive).

Comments

[friode.livejournal.com]

It looks like it takes about 7 or 8 months before you get something that would be useful for actually playing a note.

And their idea of the basic filter is a multimode filter; I think if you were going to buy a la carte and get only one filter, I'd suggest a 24db/8va ladder filter (assuming you wanted ``one filter'' and all filters cost the same amount of money, which is probably not going to be the case; a ladder filter that resembles the famous Moog design necessarily requires more parts than some of the other filter styles, and in general the manufacturing costs are roughly proportional to the parts count, assuming you aren't using any really expensive parts like the CEM chips.)

Before sending them any money, you might want to investigate what you could buy from Doepfer for $700-$800; Doepfer may turn out to be a better deal if you're willing to leave the money accumulating in the bank for six months. I don't remember the a la carte prices, but I'd be surprised if the Doepfer case + power supply isn't less than $300, and I think some of the individual Doepfer modules go as low as like $55 (then again, the filter and oscilator won't be that cheap).

Also, are there any third-party reviews of how stable that oscilator is?

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Their moog-style ladder filter is $165, and that was a planned upgrade. I hadn't looked close enough to see that the basic filter was only 12db... That's less exciting, yes. (The basic filter is $110.)

A quick look at Doepfer makes it appear that their gear is a little more expensive-- a mini-system (10 modules plus MIDI interface, but smaller rack so no expandable beyond that without another rack) is 900 Euros, or $1200. (Analog Haven sells them for about $1115 for a mini-A-100 system.)

Doepfer does have some pretty interesting modules, though.

My thought as far as their system goes is that it looks like a decent way to get started over time, but that their choices of modules aren't necessarily the best. The cost is similar to Doepfer and slightly cheaper than the MOTM guy (who is still using CEM chips, I think) and more expensive (but much nicer) than Paia's kits. Their wide wooden cabinet is nice if you don't want to rack-mount it. Doepfer's enclosures are actually $395 and up, too... Quite a lot for a 3U rack-mountable box with power. (6U is $450.)

A quick search seems to indicate that people are pretty happy with synthesizers.com's oscillators in general, but that's the internet for you.

Dunno. I'm going to think about it for a couple more weeks, and look at what's out there.

[friode.livejournal.com]

huh. I was going on my recollection of what a Doepfer Basic System II was selling for a year ago (it was slightly less then than it is now, I think, plus they were throwing in a free MIDI->CV converter then; the MIDI->CV converter that doesn't mount in the rack turns out to have a more useful set of outputs than the one that mounts in their rack, AFAICT), and assuming that everything scales down to a smaller system in a nice proportional fashion. It certainly feels like the Doepfer Basic System II has more functionality per dollar than the $1200 installment plan synthesizers.com thing.

The Doepfer cases aren't really priced all that differently from rackmount server cases, not that that's a good excuse.

It's also interesting that the Doepfer 3U case with power supply is $400, and for an extra $50 you can upgrade to the 6U case. This probably means that ever buying the 3U case would be suboptimal if you have any interest in expanding in the future.

[friode.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I think that anyone's package deal is probably not necessarily going to include the things that you might choose to buy if you were buying a la carte.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's certainly true. That's part of why I'm going to consider it. It's mostly nice to have more expensive parts spread out over a couple of months. I can handle 200-300/month more easily than I can $1200 at a single big whack.

Of course, that works for ordering random modules for a Doepfer system one at a time, too...

[friode.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that the MOTM guy was selling CEM chips as just the chips, but that his synth modules do not use them.

I hadn't looked closely at the synthesizers.com basic filter, but I have yet to see a 24db/8va multimode filter. lowpass filters tend to be 24db/8va, and multimode filters tend to be 12db/8va. (Unless you're getting into some of the more obscure stuff, such as some of the stuff that Doepfer sells.)

You might also take a look at Blacet (in the US) and Analog Systems (in the UK, not to be confused with Analog Solutions).

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Okay, looks like he's not selling modules with CEMs in them. I guess I can't blame him-- you wouldn't want to base a business on a very finite resource...

The synthesizers.com basic filter looks kind of wimpy. They say it does self-oscillate, though, but I'm guessing it'd be more a sort of utility thingy rather than a main-voice filter...

Blacet is certainly neat (as is Wiard). They and PAiA all seem to use the same teensy form-factor...

[friode.livejournal.com]

I'm not clear on how finite synth-tech's supply of the chips are. If you could hoard a hundred copies of the CEM chip you needed one of per module, building a business around that would be reasonable, given the rates at which modular synths tend to sell. (Yes, you might have to redesign in a few years. Big fucking deal.)

Of course, I could understand someone who isn't synthtech who didn't have the startup capital to buy a decent inventory not wanting to depend on something that their competetor seemed to be the useful supplier for.

And Doepfer's high end VCO does use a CEM chip.

But the only reason there aren't more CEMs being made is that the minimum order is something ridiculously huge compared to the current demand. And the market is probably about two orders of magnitude below ever demanding enough for more to be made.

AFAICT Blacet, Doepfer, and Analog Systems are all equally tiny, although Blacet/PAiA uses one mostly compatible (or is it completely compatible but slightly different?) case style whereas Doepfer and Analog Systems use another. Of course, the power connectors may be a bit of an issue if you want to mix and match.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Hm, true enough, about the supply and demand of CEM chips.

I've been looking through Blacet's and Doepfer's pages. The little rack case form factor is sort of appealing, and the fracrack stuff is certainly inexpensive and nicely expandable (...and I have this rolling tiltable studio rack thingy still hanging out with nothing in it...). I'm not fond of 1/8" jacks, though...

Wiard makes some strange-looking modules, too.

It's neat to see things appearing now. Since the last time I looked at modular synth stuff, a lot of companies that were just starting out have grown to offer extensive selections of modules and all sorts of neat stuff. I don't know if it's my current income or the current state of pricing, either, but it all seems much cheaper now, too. 8)

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

And then there's this guy...