Hey! I’m looking at it as a performance instrument. I’ve had a chance to play with a friend’s rack a few times and the experience feels very alive and instinctive. Having some understanding of synthesis definitely helps! And I hate recording songs using software. Takes the reality right out of my creativity.
Side note - I don’t see myself ever selling the DT/DN!
Been touched by it a few times, but never took the plunge. Nor will I ever.
Do you mean recording with a DAW or using a software instrument?
If the former, then I agree with @jdaddyaz to get a Zoom or some kind of interface with direct-to-SD recording (so many options these days)
Yeah modular can’t be beat for hands on. If you do go for it, I agree with others here not to sell at least one of you Digi boxes for MIDI sequencing. Do not go over 104HP at first (unless you really, truly know what you’re doing) and have a good balance between sound sources, modulation and utility.
Edit: Saw your edit: You’ve got polyphony and sampling with the Digi’s, so a smartly chosen 104HP will make a great mono synth, sample source.
Im always looking at the Moog Mother 32, Moog Dfam and Subharmonicom trinity. Not full blown modular but scratches that itch.
Not full-on, but would like to eventually add modular/semi-modular playing partners for my Matriarch - emphasizing rhythmic explorations above other considerations.
I’ve been leaning towards the DFAM-Subharmonicon sound studio but I’m also intrigued by the Random Source Serge panels (with Serge himself involved) .
I loved your post, and appreciate the DT love. I’m positively evangelical about the DT and am very new to exploring the DN, but find it so easy and exciting to make patches. I think the visual aspect of those two devices is wonderful and unique.
But regarding modular, I haven’t even so much as started down that road and I doubt I ever will. I love the idea of having a dedicated FX/mangler case as you suggest, though again it’s an expensive and messy way of achieving unique sounds and I am confident at using Ableton Live and VSTs to achieve unique effects and for making weird loops for my sample collection.
Still, my desire for a small euro case grows.
Me too.
I imagine someone not telling his partner that he’s racked up thousands in debt because of all the modular gear they’re acquiring. Before they know it, bills are past due, foreclosure letters are coming, and the wife eventually leaves with the kids after sleeping with his brother. But he still keeps the $7000 modular system with absolutely no idea how to use it and he eventually hangs himself with a patch cable.
The end.
never once lol, but cheers to the modular peeps, I feel like ya’ll have way more free time and cash on hand than I do
Never once have I thought about selling all my synths and samples where everything is worked out before hand for me so I have a functional instrument…I can see in decades past wanting to go modular because the options/signal path you wanted didn’t exist in a pre-planned synth. But these days pretty much anything I could want already exists, put together in a box.
I’m here to make beats. Not to build things.
Also sorry not sorry, I’ve never heard anything on a modular system large or small that made me go “Oh shit, I’m clearly missing something not possible in software or pre-built hardware”
I would keep the DT as i’ve seen alot of modular systems on youtube lately that use the takt for drums and samples.
IMO modular works best with other gear, best of both worlds, I did a few modular only things, it is fun but can be a hassle or frustrating sometimes.
I think for me I enjoy most gear that has a project structure where I can go back months later and everything will be where I left it, modular is the opposite of that, which in some ways is nice because it requires more commitment and get the thing recorded before you can move on to the next thing.
Still, does not hurt to try, you might like it better, or you might decide to add other hardware later.
I used to use Reaktor to build custom modular environments about a decade ago, and have been doing the same with miRack over the past year. I’m also dabbling in physical modular with the Koma Field Kit and Field Kit FX. I’ve come to realize (for me) that modular is most useful as a means of control and processing. I have no real interest in it for mere synthesis, but it is very attuned as a source of customizable mangling/fx control. If I were to start purchasing modules, it would be for audio processing like the Instruo Lubadh, Make Noise Mimephon and Morphagene, or ADDAC112, and pairing those with a variety of control modules.
The stochastic nature of clocking clocks, sequencing sequences, and everything plugged into everything else is definitely fun for experimentation, but it is too much of a rabbit hole to go down for results that can be achieved through other methods.
All worth it for that rare Cwejman.
Quite the opposite feeling here. Diving into modular has been a tentative, hesitant process. Deliberately slow accumulation of modules (NiftyCase+Chipz+Cellz, Nebulae V2, Bitbox Micro), seeking the greatest integration with the rest of my machines (MIDI access, WAV import, WAV export).
On the one hand, sampling and mangling is where my current headspace is located so modular can help with unpredictable results. On the other hand, this hobby is way too expensive and makes previous musical gear obsessions look like child’s play.
If I was short of cash, the modular would be the first thing to go. This stuff is neat, but the results are not exactly useable most of the time.
oh also, ive recently got into make noise 0coast. been very fun sampling on the DT/OCTA. Looking forward to getting a 0cntrl on back order and maybe a strega also. Maybe try something like that.
To echo what others have said, while coaxing as much out of just my eurorack as I can is a fun exercise, for me it makes most sense to use it alongside other gear.
I also think it is better to have a specific role for the modular in mind when deciding to get one/build it. Otherwise I suspect it is easy to end up with a hodge-podge of cool, expensive modules that don’t really make that much sense together. As @plastic_pizza suggested, focusing on primarily one brand probably helps, too. I did that with mine and it has been nice not feeling like I should research 1000 options every time I consider adding something new. 
I think it’s critical to know what you want from Modular. Not having a plan will lead to the aforementioned unfulfilling & frustrating experiences. Like many I bought an 0-coast and quickly sold it and got a case and started spending.
Luckily for me I read this piece of advice somewhere early on which stopped me replicating things my desktop gear does.
Modular to me is for experimentation, ‘what happens if I put that there’ (can’t do this with desktop synths, well most of them anyway), weird oscillators & sound generators, esoteric sequencers and modulators - anything unusual is the aim. If I want to use the sounds in any tracks, the case can be sent into the OT. If I want to just play with it and see what sounds come out then it’s ready to go. If I want to spend a month developing a complex patch I can.
I won’t say I haven’t spent lots of money I shouldn’t on this - I don’t need it at all. But this one piece of advice has kept it in the right area for me, and so I’ve been able to see it as a (musically) justifiable addition to the rest of the gear.
Footnote: I re-bought the 0-coast, it adds functions to my main case and provides a travel/garden/holiday patching fix, and it’s really, really deep.
indeed!
The thing for me is that I understand that I can make most any sound with software and I can make certain a sounds easily with more traditional hardware synths and drum machines. Basically it’s just endless choice now, you can have whatever you want and normally quite cheaply (with software at least). It’s an embarrassment of riches.
It seems to me that what modular offers that isn’t found elsewhere is to be able to easily decouple sequencing, modulation and sound sources. I can buy sequencers and plug them into other hardware or software, or I can use software modulars to do certain things, but it’s never going to be quite the same. Being able to plug (pretty much) anything into anywhere is very appealing. I like the idea that I can have a module that does nothing but generate gates and then send send those gates anywhere I like. It could be for a simple purpose or it could be for something weird without knowing what the outcome will be.
Of course, I can do all this with eurorack emulations but it’s al a bit sterile and after
You’ve spent 8 hours a day writing code for a living you don’t necessarily want to keep looking at a screen, you might just want to play with knobs and sliders and cables and see what madness ensues.
Also - the range of unusual and high quality modules is amazing. There are eurorack modules that are hard to find or emulate in other forms. It’s a real toy box of fun stuff.
At least, all this is what I keep telling myself as I teeter on the brink of buying my case and first few modules!
This looks like a nice way to get started - with a key step…