Any Recommendations For Modular Synth Newbs?

Written by on July 5, 2011 - 6 Comments
Categories: Modular Synths

Hey all, just a quick post to register my official interest in building a modular system of my very own.  This came up as a response to a really cool interview with the producer “Flood” here:

In the interview, he talks about a philosophy which embodies the inability to save patches, forcing the user to commit to a particular sound once it’s recorded.  While I wouldn’t want to go purely in this direction for my own work (patch management absolutely has its place in my workflow), it would be cool to have a system that is purely tactile where I would simply record things that happened and was free from the clutter and worry of saving things.

I’ve already gotten some great advice on Twitter about where to start, so I will share those here in case other beginners happen to find this post.  Here they are:

The Buchla 200e - I Can't Afford This

Developers

Information

Synth Design Software

  • Synthinvent by Synthesizers.com lets you build a “.com” format synth using currently available modules.  It gives you a graphical, drag-and-drop presentation, pricing for your system, and it auto-calculates power supply requirements.
  • Doepfer also hosts their own synth designing software in either a Java or Excel spreadsheet version from their website.  Just click on “Products” and you’ll see a link to it on the page.
  • Last but not least there is the Eurorack Modular Synth Planner.

Plugins

  • Expert sleepers makes some excellent looking plugins for sending and receiving control voltage signals between your PC/DAW setup and your modular synths. (credit to kernelslacker for this tip)
If you know of any other sites, whether they be developers or sources of information on modular synthesis in general, feel free to add it in the comments and I’ll update the list over time!
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6 Responses to “Any Recommendations For Modular Synth Newbs?”

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  1. Chris Gregory
    July 5, 2011 at 11:54 pm

    I’d recommend musicfromouterspace.com – the various Soundlabs are a good place to start. Really, if you’re going to get into modular stuff, you’re going to need to understand basic electronics; learn to solder, learn about power supplies and so on…it’s a pretty big commitment, really.

    Reply
    • Nick
      July 6, 2011 at 2:16 pm

      Thanks for the reply and the resource, Chris. Re: basic electronics, thankfully most of the stuff I have my eye on is pretty automated in terms of configuration on the manufacturer websites. I’ve found some decent pieces of modular synth design software as well that will auto-calculate the enclosure and power needs of any system.

      Reply
  2. aidan
    July 18, 2011 at 9:12 am

    Hi Nick,

    The muffwiggler forums are pretty much the main place for modulars these days.

    http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/

    An excellent bunch of people, also you can pick up most modules 2nd hand if you check the buy and sell section (and have a bit of time to keep checking back).

    Cheers

    Aidan

    Reply
  3. aidan
    July 18, 2011 at 9:14 am

    Thsat should have said for Eurorack and a few other foprmats, some of the others (buchla etc) probably have their own.

    Btw – strong suggestion – Eurorack seems to be eclipsing all the other formats and the good thing, you can get euro versions of loads of other modules from other formats. Plus as mentioned there are loads of 2nd hand modules kicking around…

    Reply
    • Nick
      July 18, 2011 at 12:42 pm

      Thanks for the reply, Aidan. Since writing this post I have visited Muff Wiggler’s forums a few times, and it is definitely the place to be for people of all skill levels. I’m definitely decided on Eurorack format for the reasons you mentioned as well.

      Reply
  4. Yuvi
    July 23, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    I have been fiddling around with the Roland 100m old school modular synth. I found it’s just so different to play with a real synth. You feel the sounds and it’s really about you making the sound happen. Much more like an instrument. It’s addictive. Good luck with building your own. Here’s my playing around with it; http://www.yuvalgerstein.com/2011/05/analog-heaven-roland-100m-modular-synth/

    Reply

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