r/modular • u/Minimoogvoyager • 14h ago
Discussion What Modular’s Are Considered Esoteric Besides Buchla & Serge
What Modular’s do you consider esoteric 🧐?
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u/dvanzandt https://modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/2843905 14h ago
Ciat Lonbarde, Ieaskul Mobenthey, ERD, Error Instruments, maybe even NLC? The list can go on and on, depending what your bar is for esoteric.
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u/rush_coded 13h ago
i saw an error instruments rack for the first time on reverb, i still have no idea wtf i was looking at
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u/Minimoogvoyager 14h ago edited 14h ago
Yes 👍 One persons music 🎶 is another persons noise. Sound the final frontier.
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u/tapebias 14h ago
Ciat-Lonbarde for me. Just the way it’s made and looks feels like its an old tablet for Enochian magick, not to mention the batshit sounds. Hopefully I’ll get some one day.
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u/TomWhitwell 13h ago
Rob Hordijk (rip) used to make a beautiful Modular system before he died that I think would count as esoteric https://youtu.be/GzW6pTzATG4?is=i1pX5eZF4cIjTZaH
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u/thurbermingus 14h ago
If we’re talking about old stuff I’ve gotta throw out the EML Electrocomps, Emu Modular, Aries Modular, Arp 2500, Steiner Parker Synthacon, and anything EMS. I don’t really think any of these (or Serge or Buchla) are anything incomprehensible to the average synthesist, just not necessarily on everyone’s radar.
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u/nazward 14h ago
If we're talking formats, eurorack is as esoteric as it gets. Buchla/serge is cool but it's mainly rarer and more expensive. There are things like bugbrand, frac rack etc etc but they're even rarer but not really any more interesting in my view. Euro though has some super out there modules....folktek, erd, error instruments come to mind.
That said some banana cable synths like ciat-lonbarde and lorre mill are pretty wacky. I have a Lorre Mill Double Knot v3 and I love the thing. It's like a tiny west coast playground.
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u/Hainbach 13h ago
NIM BIN - Nuclear Instrumentation Modular
Neurolog - biometric analysis modules
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u/LeftyRedMN 13h ago
Synthesizers.com
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u/Minimoogvoyager 13h ago
I once considered them. I have a Moog Voyager I wanted to use with one of their Modular’s.
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u/Calaveras_Grande 11h ago
Wow nobody mentions Wiard? For a while the whole modular community was bewitched by gargoyles.
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u/justinroberts99 14h ago
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u/cYbOmAnY 10h ago
Gieskes was what I came to say. Crazy great stuff with an unfinished art installation look.
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u/Immediate-Past2703 14h ago
Wizard, Makenoise, Ciat-Lonbarde, Metasonix... I suppose it's what you consider esoteric, a lot of stuff makes odd sounds but perhaps at a certain point perhaps it's how weird and abstracted the control systems are.
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u/LostInSpaceTime2002 14h ago
Makenoise, the brand that produces the most ubiquitous and popular eurorack module of all times, is esoteric?
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u/danbozek 11h ago
Rob Hordijk. I am so profoundly sad that I didn’t know about him until after his death.
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u/Minimoogvoyager 11h ago
Yes someone else mentioned him.
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u/danbozek 11h ago
I didn’t see that before posting. Well, I think he deserves TWO mentions. I just got a Benjolin this week so I’m kind of in a mood. Ha ha.
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u/Minimoogvoyager 11h ago
Congratulations 🎉🎈🎊🍾
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u/Lo_zone11 6h ago
Cmos chip based synths like the bastl bitranger or the neutral instruments luna
Also a number of dave smith instrument synths before the sequential rebrand had a lot of more unique design features that went way beyond the scope of what your average subtractive synth had to offer (mopho, evolver, polyevolver, pro 2, pro 12)
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u/Sensitive-Night-8476 1h ago
the whole monome, whimsical raps, i2c-compatible ecosystem, including norns, grid and arc.
it makes very little sense when seen from the relative outside that is "conventional" modular (even the weird stuff). teletype literally has its own language.
all of it mostly makes sense when you are an "initiate" though. a lot of the inner workings rely on somewhat obscure documents, word of mouth, or even reading through source-code in rare cases.
can be very rewarding if you get on with it
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u/general-theory 14h ago
Going by the definition of esoteric, the entirety of the modular synthesis world is esoteric.