For a variety of reasons, far fewer modular manufacturers chose to exhibit at NAMM this year. This meant it was possible to spend more time playing, talking about, and listening to the gear that was at the show. Here is a summary of what I saw, with a focus on interesting developments and stories:
It’s nice to see sound source ideas beyond our beloved sawtooth and square waves become more common in the modular world. In the next two installments I’m going to focus on a pair of these trends: plucked sounds and granular synthesis. Other mini-trends include the Eurorack world going Goth, and further proliferation of CEM3340-based VCOs.
Today’s installment is a study in extremes, going from exceptionally clean digital designs to purposely noisy and distorted analog ones, ending with a nice new envelope generator plus upcoming dual VCO. I also editorialize about “tone.”
