Frustrated, the mindless consumers make a lot of noise on forums and social media. Finally they sell their 'mint condition' modular gear for bottom prices. The small companies that produce wonderful modules can't compete with this. Everybody looses. So do yourself a favor and remember what Chuck D said: don't believe the hype.
The Mindless Consumer-test
Are you thinking about buying your first Eurorack Modular gear right now? Forget about it! Unless you know exactly what you're doing.
When in doubt, here's a little test to check if you're up to the task: 6 correct answers or less means you're about to enter the proverbial "world of sh!t". If you have 8 correct answers or more, you could probably buy some modular gear without instantly regretting it.
1. Conceptually, LFOs resemble
a. Oscillators
b. ADSRs
c. Slew limiters
d. Voltage controlled switches
2. A linear VCA is usually the best choice for
a. Linear FM
b. Exponential FM
c. Drum sounds
d. Shaping control voltages
3. A square wave has
a. No harmonics
b. Square harmonics
c. Lots of harmonics
d. Variable harmonics
4. In modular synthesis, a clock signal is usually
a. A pulse or a sine wave
b. A pulse or a square wave
c. An S/PDIF signal as defined by the standard IEC 61937
d. In the 48 kHz sample rate format or in the 44.1 kHz format
5. When i buy gear, i don't give a f%ck about
a. The color of the blinkenlights
b. The price
c. Build quality
d. My girlfriend's opinion
6. A random control voltage source produces
a. White noise
b. Pink noise
c. Colored noise, the color depends on the signal-rate
d. None of the above
7. If you want VCOs to produce a 'classic tearing lead sound' you use
a. Soft sync
b. Reversing sync
c. Hard sync
d. None of the above
8. A gate/trigger combiner looks a bit like a multiple, but it has
a. A lower voltage drop
b. A buffer
c. No diodes
d. A passive 'maximum' output
9. If you need a very pure sine wave, you can always
a. Ping a high quality filter
b. Turn up a high quality filter's resonance until it self-oscillates
c. Filter a square wave with a high quality filter
d. Filter a sine wave with a high quality filter
10. A trigger signal is
a. A digital signal
b. A short gate-like signal
c. An inverted gate signal
d. A single clock signal
Check your score:
1 A ~ 2 D ~ 3 C ~ 4 B ~ 5 A (D is acceptable) ~ 6 D ~ 7 C ~ 8 D ~ 9 B ~ 10 B
