Modular Formats

Agreed - single manufacturer formats/systems are absolutely my bag...

Could you elaborate on this?

Bugbrand:

I was lucky enough to come across a small bug system back when it was a closed shop and got in the game in the v1 days. I loved this thing and still do - Tom's approach is modular modular: he gives you the building blocks with a standardised approach, banana jacks and let's you take it where you want.

It's very much an analogue system - there's a couple of digital bits - and its all dialed so tight. After much wheeling and dealing I managed to put together a five row system full of V2 modules - what's now referred to as old blues. It's a magical system - Tom has such a good ear and dials things really tight so that everything sounds amazing and plays well. He's also a tinkerer, so shelved that whole V2 system for what he's now putting out.

I haven't played much of his latest designs, since I'm more than happy with what I have, but I guarantee they'll be superb. I only really half understand why he moved on from the V2 designs- it feels a little like he's reinvented his own wheel when I look at the newer stuff, though I gather components were a factor and don't doubt the quality of what he's now making. Anyhow, while I'd have to look at the times to confirm, my system hasn't changed now in probs coming up to a decade. I adore it.

I've never used a standalone weevil but gather they're somewhat more alive/mind of their own than the modular version I have.

I've never really gelled with that kind of thing (weevil), I'm somewhere between control freak and letting the system guide me. It's probably a similar approach to what you describe.

There's a sonic state interview out there (YouTube) for that set if its the same one I'm thinking of. Think that was 4/5th of the setup with a deformer.

Buchla:

Don's approach is unique and both incredible and at times somewhat frustrating. It often feels to me like a semi modular, since even though you can chop and change, each thing feels like multiple modules combined into one.

It's not as 'modular' as something like the bug or frac, so more closed in terms of patching. There's also the weird audio and CV paths - while I understand his approach here I don't find it valid or particularly useful in terms of patching fluidity. Really though, where Don Buchla is concerned who am I to question him?

Bad bits? It costs a bomb so putting together/finishing a system is something to be done over decades rather than years (unless you're loaded). There's a good side to this though, in that you're forced to really learn what you have to get the most out of it. Don's sadly also no longer with us, and the company who bought him were firstly terrible (BEMI) and now a bit off (BUSA). There are bugs, but noone seems to have either desire or capacity to fix them, and the current lot seem to be happier moaning about clones and even their user base for suggesting they might want to improve aspects of the code. Off.

What's good? It can sound like nothing else - I had some weird semi acoustic sounding FM flute thing patched up for over a year at one point. When you find the sweet spot you have to savour it... and it's a sweet spot system imo, since there are definitely times when you'll pull your hair out on how something that can produce such magic (and let's face it cost so much) can also sound so awful.

The patch recall in 200e and various other bits and pieces throughout are works of genius - Don was a unique talent and one I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to experience his instruments.

Whether I'll ever get to finish the system remains to be seen - think slow growth: get poor or die trying. I can live with always being 'one module away' - in my case I'm probably three but hey ho, that's quite a chunk of what has become a smaller pile of disposable income. It'll be done some time within the coming decade then...

Serge:

Electric soup. So raw sounding - it's basically an analogue animal (pun) with an incredibly dense approach to patching. I really love the multiple use aspect of the building blocks you are given - I don't even have any standard oscillators in my system, though I'm never short of them thanks to the many slopes I have scattered around. Slopes that can be envelopes (non resonant) lp filters, vca, slews, trigger delays... I could go on.

The system lends itself to analogue FM and feedback patching imo, perfect for me then, and is a monster. What's bad? Not a lot - it's well thought out, well spaced, sounds great. I suppose the panels approach is slightly annoying, in that while it's modular you're buying groups of modules as opposed to individual, meaning you can never quite manage to get exactly what you want. Oh, and you need a reasonably decent memory for some of the patch programmable functionality. And it's expensive.

If you're happy to compromise though it's an incredible system to settle into - find the right blend and it's an incredible thing - Very alive.

Pollin.de do some really good quality stackable banana leads at different lengths (and better prices than Pomona).

E-Mu:

For a fifty year old abandoned format this is so far ahead of the games it's unreal - the best description of it I've heard is that it walks the line between east and west coast approaches, and excels as it does so. It can do massive sounding subtractive stuff just as well as it FM's and feeds back.

What's good? The sound for one - it's hugely over engineered - the story goes that Dave Rossum was trying to match specs that were made up in terms of s/n and response. He did it though! The Universal Active Filter is a highlight, as are the oscs - they sound massive, and for the first time since losing it, I no longer miss that Macbeth Dual Osc I had in euro. As for the rest of it it's kind of vanilla in a good way - classic and done well. There's a lot of forward thinking in there too...

The system is normalled, meaning should you wish to you can play it wireless (ie unpatched), in my case as a duophonic thing. There's also an interesting bus thing going on, where you can switch modules onto busses one and two (or none) which in practice makes for a great patching experience, even if it uses big boy cables (6.35mm - not my favourite). My system has a midi interface wired into each bus, meaning I can run a midi sequencer in and go (that's no an original E-Mu option obviously - the system predates midi). Oh, and 15v P2P means things are clean until you want to push into saturation. It's really nicely spaced too - very uncluttered. I also love multi-turn pots on oscillators. They should be on everything, always (and especially the Soma Lyra).

Bad things? Well it's pony tail cables and the CV sequencing side of things is unobtanium for now - I believe plans may be in the works for clones but lord knows what the price will be. Can't moan too much, it's superb!

So yeah, if you're interested Tony Wride, an absolute gent and bringer into the UK of the majority of 303's back in the day, basically bagged a load of vintage E-Mu and also all of their old bits and pieces that they no longer wanted some time back (there are some incredible stories there about how he bought it all back). Anyhow, he's kept the format alive in a kind of MEMS way - no so much reverse engineered but kept going and tweaked to incorporate newer parts if older bits were unobtanium, manufactured new panels, and helps people fill out their systems.

The incredible thing is, sound aside, behind the panels parts of my system are 50 years old, for the most part it looks brand new. Insane. Oh, and the bits that aren't 50 years old are incredibly faithful reproductions of the original circuits.

This video while spoken in French has a very nice jam with a monster E-Mu system:



Jam starts at 07:15 it's really very good!