It has come to my attention from Joshua Shroyer that John Blacet passed away on June 22 after a battle with cancer. There is a thread on his passing
at Muff's as well. The news comes as a bit of a shock. The last email I received from the Blacet newsletter was dated June 19, with only "Sorry, closed for now.....". I thought this was in reference to the latest sale. The email I had prior to this, dated April 18, was for a Rak-3 sale. There was no hint of his cancer or condition. John was extremely private. He reached out to me back in October of 2017 for a banner on the site. He continued the banner through December of 2018 and then just kind of disappeared. His communication was always brief and non personal. I respected that and I respected his privacy.
The Blacet website is currently down:
http://www.blacet.com. The first two images in this post are from the
Internet Wayback Machine, dated June 22, 2019.
I'm assuming anyone that comes to this site is familiar with Blacet and his Frac rack format modules. The Blacet.com domain name was registered back on June 6, of 1999. He was creating modular synths before the modular scene became popular, before eurorack took off. Back then Frac was king for many. Blacet along with Modcan and Cynthia were it. Eurorack may have taken over, especially now that there is a market to support it, but back then, pioneers like John Blacet provided a small oasis for the world of modular, after years, if not decades, of being forgotten for mainstream synths. John helped keep the modular world alive, when by all circumstances it should have been lost. We have him and the handful of botique manufacturers to thank for what we have now. He will always be appreciated on this site. Not only for his creations, but also for his support. His banner will remain in the
banner archives, and
his label will live on.
The following is from the front page of his website:
"Be inspired by the sounds, colors and shapes of nature. Find new sounds with some of our electronic music kits. Featuring everything you need to easily achieve kit building success, our kits are complete with beautiful front panels, PCBs and all the parts needed, right down to the power cable. Dedicated to Frac Rak. +/- 15 volt power and power supply protection on each module.
Our complete documentation is second to none and our module quality and feature set is legendary. Decades of experience and craftsmanship means that you can count on Blacet. Complete kits or factory assembled."
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Apparently John was also into planes. The following is from
a thread on taptalk mentioning his passing on June 22:
"John Blacet passed away June 22 at home in Lakeview after battling cancer for a year.
John was an early Sonoma Wings member who flew with us locally, in Nevada, Idaho, and the Owens Valley.
He made the first Sonoma Wings web sites.
His Atos B was for sale on www.cloudbasecafe.com and his family hopes the Atos and trike will find a good home.
hanger at the Lakeview airport" [pictured below]
Update: a picture of John from
his Facebook page.
I'm assuming anyone that comes to this site is familiar with Blacet and his Frac rack format modules. The Blacet.com domain name was registered back on June 6, of 1999. He was creating modular synths before the modular scene became popular, before eurorack took off. Back then Frac was king for many. Blacet along with Modcan and Cynthia were it. Eurorack may have taken over, especially now that there is a market to support it, but back then, pioneers like John Blacet provided a small oasis for the world of modular, after years, if not decades, of being forgotten for mainstream synths. John helped keep the modular world alive, when by all circumstances it should have been lost. We have him and the handful of botique manufacturers to thank for what we have now. He will always be appreciated on this site. Not only for his creations, but also for his support. His banner will remain in the banner archives, and his label will live on. 
