Phil B

I think reverb has a maximum $500 sellers fee. That’s a pretty cheap money laundering fee if they are selling it to “themselves”. And sold from Switzerland 🧐

Some reasons why I love modular off the top of my head: - Everything starts on, not off like a keyboard. You start with a drone and chisel away - Everything starts out of sync. Leads to unexpected results and "playing with sound" in a more acoustic-like alive way vs a keyboard synth designed to be played by a professional keyboardist - If you like playing with samples, it's sooo much easier to "play" with them than any keyboard samplers or virtual instruments I'm aware of ... Assimil8or, Arbhar, Morphagene, etc. ... such a hands on way to zoom in on sound and, again, find the unexpected - While the sounds I get from the modular are theoretically possible from other instruments, it's actually a chore to get there and, actually, I'm not sure it is possible - The complexity of modulation, from both control signals and audio signals, is super-easy in modular, not so easy outside it. Zadar, Maths and a few VCAs ... good luck in a Moog - I get to start with a blank slate each time when I sit down, like a painter at a bank canvas ... no temptation to play presets - I am often pleasantly surprised by what I'm able to coax out of it. I never think "uy, that voicing again ... can't you find something new to play after decades at this!" - I don't think it's a rabbit hole of money because if I wasn't spending the money on modules I'd be spending it on keyboards, or pedals, or mics, etc. You need self-control like anything else in life when it comes to money

Wow - I've been around here a while, but I've never actually read through this thread. Some really amazing people around here. Thanks for sharing. Since I never have, I guess I'll add to the thread: I started playing tenor sax way back in the 3rd grade (I'm 31 now) and played through college. Unfortunately, I haven't picked one since, mostly because when I was in high school I got to play a mint condition Selmer Mark VI (?) that was owned by the school and I could never afford to buy something at that level of quality. Around 9th grade I was over at a friend's house who had an upright piano and I started to bang out some songs by ear. It came pretty easily (well, simple stuff) and I got really into it fast. I would play the piano at the high school and I bought a Casio CZ something or other and learned how to play the solo from Van Halen's Jump. I played keys in "the official rock n roll cover band" in my town and had a blast. I also played sax in the concert band, jazz ensemble and dixieland band (!!) for the school. I had an amazing and inspirational music teacher in high school who taught me theory and technique, and gave me a unique appreciation for music. He used to have us stand up and "sing along with Lester." He'd drop the needle on a Lester Young sax solo off a Count Basie album and make you sing the solos. It was awesome. It was almost like a rite of passage in his class. In college, I studying music composition and played sax in the concert band and jazz ensemble, until my second year when the piano player dropped out mid-season. I decided to drop the sax and take over at the piano. It was my first non-rock gig. I loved it. I got to play a 9' Steinway at concerts. It was beautiful - I actually had to watch how loud I played!! I took piano lessons for one semester. I remember the first day the teacher, after auditioning for the "maestro" by playing an original composition, asked "do you want to learn how to practice or do you want to learn specific pieces?" In the biggest mistake of my music "career," I chose "play pieces." I learned some really cool stuff (Bartok's Allegro Barbaro and Gershwin's Preludes, e.g.) but to this day, I still don't know how to practice. After college I worked as a TV-news video editor at some of the union shops here in Manhattan. I was also playing in an originals band that used to pack the bigger "small clubs" like Wetlands and New Music Cafe (all closed down now). It was a blast. I also had a one-man company for composing music for clients. Things like music for TV show pilots or documentaries. It was OK - but, doing that sort of pulled me away from music as a career for some reason. I think making music for clients according to their specifications was taking the "joy" out of it a little. So, that, combined with beginning to feel that video editing wasn't getting me anywhere, led me to make a strange decision. I went to law school!! So, today, I'm a happy married, father of a beautiful baby girl (15 months old, actually), who spends most of his waking hours drafting and/or reading 250 page contracts in multi-billion dollar finance transactions (I DO NOT mean for that to sound like a good thing). I try to work on music as often as I can (i.e., not nearly as much as I'd like), and I always keep the dream alive that I will do it "full time" again one day. I've been in discussions with an old professor of mine about possibly starting a software company based on some interesting technology he's been working on. We'll see. My current gear is a Roland Fantom-S88, a MOTU 828mkII, Sonar, a few mics and effects processors and a few soft synths (mostly use Reaktor and FM7). This forum has brought great joy and great info. Thanks everyone.