The reason I voted "no" to the A111-2 in the poll, is twofold.

To me, modular synthesis is all about modularity (d'oh).
One exception to that would be the "patch-programmability"
of the Serge & Buchla systems, but that is not the case here.

All of the functionality of that complex VCO can easily be
replicated with other modules, with the added benefit of
having those modules still available to other tasks.
A truly modular system with one dedicated function-per-module
is always more flexible than a semi-modular or semi-integrated system.

Another thing with the A111-2 which throws up a few questions,
is its estimated price-point. I'm just wondering about the overall
sound quality of such module if you integrate a VCO, VCA,
VCF and Waveshaper in one go for about €250, when a
single decent VCO or VCF hovers around the same price
or just slightly below... (no offence, Dieter!)

And another - somewhat lesser point - would be the technical
quality of such a module; talking about bleed-through and
crosstalk and such... though I'm not technically proficient
enough to have a solid opinion on this... just a question.



-gd2

www.guyd2.com [photography]
www.sweetcucumber.com [blog]
www.pillion.be [music]

On 05 Aug 2008, at 18:07, Chris Muir wrote:
> On Aug 5, 2008, at 1:51 AM, selfoscillate wrote:
> > i don't see a problem here. you can just add a vca of your
> > choice to the patch to get dynamic fm.
> > imho separate vca's give the best flexibility, as you can use
> > them for other purposes too, if you don't use dynamic fm
> > in your actual patch.
>
> It's certainly true that you can patch a VCA into FM in. I mentioned
> that in my original message.
>
> A complex vco like the A-111-2 is all about integration. By your
> logic, why have an integrated filter or waveshaper Wouldn't a
> separate filter [waveshaper] be more flexible
>
> All I was saying was that for a large class of FM sounds, dynamic
> depth is important, and that, at least for me, having this VCA
> integrated into the oscillator would be a good thing.
>
> Chris Muir
> cbm@...
> http://www.xfade.com
>