We all know that the synth market is oversaturated. The Eurorack market is also oversaturated. These are to our advantage, though. When tons of companies are competing for your money, you win.
But it reminds me of the guitar pedal market, which was oversaturated 10 years ago and now it’s just flat out silly. Someone releases a new Chorus pedal and we don’t even bother yawning.
That’s how I feel about new Eurorack modules or new synthesizers that “do something totally different.” Don’t get me wrong – the only reason I’m not super into Eurorack is that I already have several expensive hobbies. I can’t afford it. And I’m afraid that if I get started I won’t stop until I’ve blown 4 grand on electronics to achieve sounds that I already have with software synths.
The reason to do Eurorack is that you want to make crazy electronic music to entertain yourself, and I’m a pop/rock songwriter.
But as I stated in my last video, I really do want a modern Juno 106. Not a Deepmind. OK, maybe a Deepmind. I wish Behringer would hurry up with their Juno 106 clone. And yet, again, is it really going to sound that much better than my Arturia Juno 60 clone in a recording? I doubt it. Is it worth $700 (or whatever) to have real time sliders? Maybe.
But despite having so many synths out there, can I tell you what I really want? Dedicated controllers that look just like the original synths but connect to your computer plugin of the original model. Give me a keyboard controller with the exact Roland JD800 layout and a good JD800 plugin, and I’ll be happy. Or a Quadra! I know, I know, licensing blah blah blah. There’s money to be made here, though.
And although this is off topic, if anyone wanted to make a KILLING in the electronic drums market, make a drum pad set with actual size drum heads and fake wood drums around them. It doesn’t have to be a 9 ply actual drum, just something made of a 3 ply wood with a sparkle wrap. Give people something with actual sized pads that looks like real drums and sell it for $799 and you won’t be able to make enough. Today’s entry level electronic drums with 8 inch pads look like kid’s toys. I know it’s more expensive to make a bigger head, but after all these years I can’t believe it hasn’t gotten cheaper.
Alesis, call me.