Wiardgroup

Hi Gary
     First off,  The June posts on this group contain such a terrific `sign=
al-to-noise' ratio that I have to double-check to make sure this is REALLY t=
he internet on my screen! Many thanks to ALL of you for providing hard evide=
nce that refutes my theory that the web (led by AOL & MSN most likely)  has =
installed filter software that turns  erudition into spam. I teach some elec=
tronic music classes and much of the June traffic on this group would work r=
ight into the course material  verbatim. But  Gary, your comments resonated =
most with me so I'm tacking this reply to your post.

>> What made a Buchla, a Moog, a Wavemaker, Electrocomp 100, Korg MS20,
or a 2600 isn't what biases the designer pandered to in module design
- it was that they were created by people who were trying to design a
complete music system - not simply providing a comprehensive catalog
of modules.
What makes a 2600 or a Music Easel great is not the module-for-module
comparisons with other synths - it is the subsystems that exist in
these instruments - the patch potential of the factory designed
system. The genius was the systems, not the modules.
>>

Wowee! was that ever a thought provoking observation!
I made me realize that the current practice of  offering analog synths in t=
he form of a catalog of individual modules is much more characteristic of th=
e `Second Golden Age' than the `First'. Serge straddled the periods by offer=
ing user-configured panels (after Maestro Tcherepnin absconded off to Villa =
Incognito). But the first-wave systems you cited above , especially Moog, Bu=
chla & ARP were ,  exactly as you say, trying to design a complete music sys=
tem. ----with a complete hefty price tag------ Thus, the user-support, compa=
tibility and most importantly, the customer-engineering /BUSINESS MODEL for =
 `companies' offering a catalog of individual inexpensive modules (instead o=
f large-scale integrated systems) is pretty much  a RECENT invention with ba=
rely any kind of a viable precedent on which to base success (ie solvency).
My own experience buying modules started in the late 80's when colleges wer=
e splitting up their large systems and selling off the pieces to buy MIDI ge=
ar. I was awestruck by the notion  of  affording , piece by piece,  the behe=
moths on which I could only `rent' time in college. Before that, it never re=
ally occurred to me to even try assembling a `TONTO' incrementally over time=
 - picking and choosing among suppliers.
In terms of  business, MOTM, Wiard, Blacet, AS, Doepfer, .com, Modcan, STS,=
 Technosaurus et al, are all trying something NEW as opposed to sustaining  =
precedents established by Moog, Buchla & ARP. The only substantial exception=
 I can think of is PaiA.  I have to surmise that that this novel business mo=
del is mirrored to one degree or another in novel product design concepts to=
o. All of the `2nd-wave' designers are trying their own recipes for making a=
 `modules-based' business work ,musically as well as financially, (Grant has=
 tried at least 2 such formulae under the Wiard label) and from the look of =
things , all of us parasitic consumers are reaping much more benefit in this=
 contemporary profusion of designs than the designers are in terms of  finan=
cial viability. *** Rex has taken intense heat for his early decision to enf=
orce a de-facto minimum buy with his requirement that customers order whole =
panels. For my part, I believe that the single-module sales model does not p=
ull it's weight well enough (in the current US economy anyway) to support th=
e number of suppliers in the market. After this recent glut it may be hard-p=
ressed to support ANY of them.

 The moral of this tale for us consumers is: get `em while you can. 
This recent wave of analog modular is a rare flowering that is already over=
 the hill. Not only are the visionary (if fiscally foolhardy)  designer/craf=
tsmen coming to grips with sober reality, any DIYer can verify that supplier=
 stocks of analog PDIP / through-hole components are drying up FAST and `vin=
tage' pricing is encroaching on parts that used to be common and cheap as di=
rt.  If module catalogs survive they will be costing more VERY soon -- espec=
ially the handmade ones.
Get your T-rex's now folks! That looks like a pretty big-ass meteor up ther=
e!


>>Minimoogs are not just a ladder filter - they are also the choices Bob
made on the patch and keyboard retriggering of the filter, and the
choices of keyboard tracking, the cv response of the vca...
>>

to anyone who ever gigged with a minimoog and then with an assembled or mod=
eled clone…
this is a slam-dunk instance in support of your assertion about the synergy=
 of systems!
Bravo!



On another subject
>>East Coast, West Coast, Middle Coast....
Can you make West Coast Music on an East Coast synth? Who came up
with these terms? Is the music of Columbia Princeton in the 60s any
less far out than that of "West Coast?" Many "bug music" pieces have
been made on Moog and Arp systems.
How dare any of us to presume the potential of any of these
instruments? As if the human playing these devices have no bearing on
what we hear - it is predetermined by the circuit design - bullshit!
>>

Sorry to grind this axe here. I agree with your expressed sentiments comple=
tely …
but in the post in which Grant used the `coast' terms, I believe that he wa=
s referring to two schools of modular design parameters, not the music produ=
ced on said modulars. For my part I do see a clear difference in the priorit=
ies that determined  design trade-offs between (to cite the seminal  example=
) Moog & Buchla.
But as for the MUSIC I agree with you. Humans are a devilishly resourceful =
lot and make what they want with what's at hand … when the song plays the si=
nger, all notes are within reach. 
(even to banjoists)
;'>


BIG Thanx to all of you for `opening the kimono' for this discussion

-Doc

(*** did that term `parasitic' sting too much??? …. I think few of us consu=
mers realize how much cash we'd have to spend in order for the current crop =
of beleaguered designers to consider promoting us even to `symbiotic' much l=
ess beneficial!)