Will your synthesizer ever become "vintage?" We asked an expert. Hint: If you have a modular synth, chances are your answer is yes! Thank you to the incredible @folpon for his insight!
This is a real treet to me. i got from diying to becoming an audio artisant designing and hand building gear for individuals (i'm in france just in case), custom, just like they want it, i'm not more expensive than all that commercial crap, and if we are in a golden age of synth then there should be proper ways to produce the units, but i do build my stuff so it lasts 100 years if taken care of properly, no chinese boards, all my boards are made by myself and look exactly like wht you find in the big moog modulars (so i dont give a damn about some of the stupid legends about how a ton of chimical layers make it better quality when we can understand here this has nothing to do wiith durability. Ethics matter in the realm of audio, especially in nowadays regarding the environment and limits to growth (imo). Thanks for sharing this, it's my first time here and tbh, i feel really happy that p-thugg went for the guys with value within theyre mind to build his mega machine... There are inteligent ways to spend your money instead of fueling that stupid syndrome (gas they call it, get a shrink guys !) they are all about when tons of plastic crap is burning in african junk yards (yeah that's where your cheap b crap built by semislaves is going)... If you are about good and durable stuff, and ethics matter to you; SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUILDER !
Its important because when things last thats how we are able to work less and do other things with our lives, rather than remaking the same trinket over and over. If you can inherit something for free, it means you dont have to work for it, you dont have to pay for it, and no one has to make a new one.
I agree .... I am an electronics engineer and most synthesizersdotcom modules will outlive their owners ..... however, some of the newer modules ARE using proprietary firmware ( Q170 for instance)..... modules that will last indefinitely are single-function (like VCO's, VCF's, VCA's) and utility modules (Q123, Q125 for instance)
Ahhhhh - you’re so right and that’s a very astute point. Actually now looking back at my system I do have a Q106 MIDI Interface module which has clearly got some kind of fancy digital firmware magic inside it. But I still think it’s an interesting thought - I hadn’t really considered it before I made this vid! 😊
@@folpon the Q174 is the MIDI interface .... Q106 is the Oscillator 😁 .... other than that you have the right idea 👍 Permit me to elaborate a bit more .... Roger designed the system to use readily available and quite inexpensive IC's .... moreover, he re-uses the same IC's in most of the modules (which makes good sense in reducing the need to stock different IC types). Digital circuits (on the other hand) come in several flavors ..... low-scale logic gates ...... firmware logic (PLA's, FPGA's, etc.) or Microprocessor/Microcontroller based (ATmega, Arduino, etc.) systems. The Eurorack modular world is filled with microprocessor-driven digital modules ..... and even if they use some analog components because of the small form-factor the fabrication is surface mount utilizing multilayer circuit boards and repair of this type of board requires expensive tooling..... and most of these IC's will be obsolete in less than 50 years. Both from a design and service standpoint SYTHESIZERSDOTCOM is the ultimate in LONGEVITY ..... grow your system being careful to incorporate ANALOG modules that use common basic electronic components and it will last for multiple lifetimes .... this is not to say you cannot use a few digital modules to interface your world to computers or other digital hardware .... just be aware you may need to change/discard these modules as they fail and/or become obsolete due to changing technological times we live in 😂
I swear all my stuff would last 100 years if I could just get some better 16x2 LCD display replacements for the early '90s E-mus! Legit audio gear is OK to leave on 24/7, but all these newer screens burn in. It's ridiculous. I can't retrofit something with an OLED if it doesn't have a screen timeout. Most gear doesn't even consider that you might actually use it. Native Instruments keyboards have OLEDs that burn in. My M-Audio Oxygen Pro does, too. All the fancy MIDI stuff like the Mio XL and Conductive MRCC have OLEDs that don't shut off unless there's zero MIDI messages, so if you leave on anything with a MIDI clock it burns in the screen. My Polyend Play has an OLED that never shuts off. It's like people can't source components that are intended to last more than the life of a phone, and they don't even care to mitigate the problem with a couple lines of code running on their commodity SOC. Not that it's a synth problem - the radar detector in my car has a burned-in OLED, too. No but I can't get into modular I've got enough of a mess. I like the 5U stuff with the bigger knobs, though. I need an SQ-10 and some 5U filters to plug stuff into. I just want real 1/4" jacks on everything. I guess that's why I have two Zen Delays and no eurorack stuff. The best modular setup is Chromeo's chrome synthesizers.com modules.
I’m don’t understand why I would care. I own a medium sized 5U system with the majority of modules being Dotcom. I love it. All my other synthesizers (but one, the Arturia Matrixbrute) are considered vintage. I don’t rank my synthesizers on how long they will outlast me. I rank them on how they sound and how much fun they are to play. If a proprietary chip blows on one and I can’t find a replacement, then it’s had a good run and I’m happy I got to play with it. None of them are Stradivarius Violins or Bösendorfer Concert Grands. They are all mass produced. And yes, I’m even including the Dotcom stuff in that description, when compared to the other 5U manufacturers.
