At Analogue Haven.via Andy_Squirrel.
Monday, May 14, 2007
11 comments:
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MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH
© Matrixsynth - All posts are presented here for informative, historical and educative purposes as applicable within fair use.
MATRIXSYNTH is supported by affiliate links that use cookies to track clickthroughs and sales. See the privacy policy for details.
MATRIXSYNTH - EVERYTHING SYNTH
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The all you can eat menu at the Mexican restaurant across the street is pretty tasty.
ReplyDeleteYeah right. It's so hard to commit to this sort of purchase due to the amount of modules that same amount of money could buy of various other manufacturers.
ReplyDeleteA question to all M5 owners: Is it REALLY worth it?
Seriously, I want to hear from you and get your take on this kind of buy.
If one had this kind of money to buy a modular do all the pro's of the M5 outweigh the practicality and "bang for the buck" of other options such as Blacet, Eurorack, Dotcom, or to a lesser extent, Plan B, Cyndustries or Wiard.
It's quite a tough call, so let's hear from those of you with experience on this subject.
If you're in the states and your M5 dies, help might not be so easy.
ReplyDeleteIf a module in a true modular dies, the rest will usually still work.
Aren't they supposed to be mostly discrete? Repair wise, that should make them somewhat easier to fix---should anything go wrong. The fascination with this is, i guess, that you get a super 2600 style synth that is more reliabel and that won't NEED constant service. I'ts all in how it ships and how the end-user takes care of it. Anyone have experience with this or something else by K Macbeth and knows about his company's build quality? The fenix which springs to mind had some pretty oustanding features, repair-wise, that made it somewhat more accessible for a local tech...
ReplyDeleteI can't wait until Macbeth starts designing/building rotary speakers..
ReplyDeleteI liked the M3X, but the M5 didn't do it for me really.
ReplyDeleteI did a rough calculation of the modules vs. budget and more expensive individual module providers, and it works out to more than the bang for buck ones, and just under the more expensive modular provide.
Here's how I roughly worked it out using Modcan prices as a base:
3 Voltage Controlled Oscillators - 3x $363 = 1089
1 Noise Generator = $130
1 External Input Amplifier = $100
1 Ring Modulator = $125
2 Voltage Controlled Filters - 2x $292 = 404
2 Audio Mixers = $200
2 Voltage Control Mixers = $200
2 Low Frequency Oscillators = $292
2 Envelope Generators - 2x $363 = 726
4 Voltage Controlled Amplifiers = $363
1 Voltage Controlled Panning = $130
1 Spring Line Reverberator = $413
2 Analog Sample & Hold = $341
2 Lag Proccessors = $200
2 Multiples - Free
= $4713
So it's in the same range as a more expensive brand of modulars.
I'd say that buying the modules yourself is gonna cost the same, or less, and be a lot more fun.
but you have the positive quality that the M5 has alot of stuff normalled which is sometimes a b*tch to do on a modular behind the scenes.....
ReplyDeleteIt's true the normaling is there, and that is a positive.
ReplyDeleteI find Normalling always forces me to remember what's 'normaled' to what. I generally prefer to hook things up myself. Just my preference of course.
Oh, I made an error in the above calc. Subtract 363 for one of the envelopes (the price I used was a dual-envelope), so price is 4350 -- very close to AH prices.
I do also wonder how much 'sharing' there is across different modules -- from a reliability perspective.
Still, it's a fair price for what you get no doubt.
I'd personally always want to 'grow it', so a modular form-factor would suit me more, because I could move the modules around where my workflow dictated, add different filters, etc... without everything suddenly becoming an architectural frankenstein.
Alright, thanks for the different perspectives on the M5. All educated points and very useful. But still a tough decision. Does anyone think the price of the M5 will go up making it a lucrative investment similar to the Synton Fenix?
ReplyDeleteI must disagree slightly with Doktor Future's calculation. It looks like you've based your numbers on Modcan series A which is all banana plug, the series B is 1/4" jack (as the M5) and is around 10% more expensive, so add another $400. Also, the Multiple isn't free it's around $200 and you haven't accounted for a cabinet with power supply, that's at least $600 if not closer to $800. The normaling would also cost you both in time and work as you'd have to get a loom to go on the inside. So, in total you can add somewhere between $1200 and $1500 to the total you calculated.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to value I know for a fact that a "package" machine like the M5 holds it's value better than a customised and perhaps half finished modular which has been put together to somebody's specific taste, for the simple reason that any potential buyers would have to buy somebody elses "taste". Not so with the M5, it's specs are well known and clearly defined hence more attractive to other people. If you doubt this, just check out prices on second hand modulars that people have put together to suit their taste, they hardly ever get their money back.
I have one which I bought for $3500. I am the 2nd owner and everything works great!
ReplyDeleteIf I had to criticize it, it would be because of a click sound when the ADSRs and the sequencer is running, a very raw initial sharp sawtoothy sound (which needs some cross modulated filtering to make it sweet - it took me a while to find the sweet spot).
The maker, Ken MacBeth, is available by emails if there is a problem and most modular builders would know what to do if it needs servicing. The back comes off and most everything is there in front of you.
I bought it because I had sold my ARP 2600 a few years before, and was missing it, big time. I hadn't realized how much it had shaped my music so when a M5 was available down the road, I went to see it and bought it. It doesn't really sound like an ARP 2600, more MOOGish I'm told, although it really doesn't sound like my VOYAGER either.
It's a challenging and rewarding instrument to play.