Just out of curiosity:
What is the estimate for the number of people using modulars?
Who are the largest manufacturers of Eurorack modules?
How many units are sold of the most popular modules?
I can't give you exact numbers but I think Modular is still in a sorta 70s Hobbyist phase,
there is no real Apple or Microsoft.
Yet.
@.@
No idea overall, but until the price of entry comes down, it's likely to stay on the niche side.
Inscrumental music for prickly pears.
I hope this market stays small and on a boutique level. Many modules are expensive to build and the only way to bring the costs down is to produce them with slave labor. I don't care who's the largest manufacturer, some of the best ones are handmade and I hope it stays that way, I prefer talking directly to the builder.
Edited to remove any, however remote, wiff of politics.
There will always be boutique builders, look at any corner of the gear world, they exist, from pedals, to synths, to guitars, drums, recording gear, whatever. So, I hope the costs come down. More people making music is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.
Inscrumental music for prickly pears.
Tony Rolando from Make Noise had an interesting take on the numbers. I can't remember exactly, but Make Noise is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, sellers, so far as I know, and even Maths, rated by many as the THE module, hasn't sold ten thousand units yet, I think? It's in his interview with Tim Held on Podmod, if I remember correctly.
Inscrumental music for prickly pears.
Edited to remove any, however remote, wiff of politics.
There will always be boutique builders, look at any corner of the gear world, they exist, from pedals, to synths, to guitars, drums, recording gear, whatever. So, I hope the costs come down. More people making music is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.
-- baltergeist
Well if you don't mind people working for slave wages in places like China you can buy Behringer, you won't get quality though. I personally don't have empathy for people complaining over prices, Modular is far from expensive compared to other musical instruments.
Well, I don't want to run afoul of forum rules so I can only say that that's a perspective worth considering.
Inscrumental music for prickly pears.
Maybe we should look for how many Moog Mother32 have been sold, it would be an indicator, don't you think ?
Hi Modulargrid,
62k active members or 62k sold items on Market place?
Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
Hi Baltergeist,
Well... the Maths module, if the serial number is any indication of sold/produced items (which I somehow believe it might do), I got a serial number in the 10 thousands, 17-thousand-something is mine one. Whereby indeed other modules of Make Noise are rather in the few thousands and not in the 10-thousand area. Dynamix serial number is even lower than 700. So it could be roughly an indicator of quantity sold or at least produced?
Kind regards, Garfield.
For review reports of Eurorack modules, please refer to https://garfieldmodular.net/ for PDF formatted downloads
62,000 users? That's hardly believable !
Hi Modulargrid,
62k active members or 62k sold items on Market place?
-- GarfieldModular
62k members that managed to click on the activation link in the registration mail
62,000 users? That's hardly believable !
-- fredeke
You can see them all here and write them a PM :)
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/users
Beep, Bopp, Bleep: info@modulargrid.net
I'd no idea it was that many (MATHS and MG members). I stand corrected!
Inscrumental music for prickly pears.
Also to note:
Until recently (in terms of world history), there has never been an affordable way to internationally market and advertise a musical instrument or studio electronics. In the 80's and 90's, you'd have to take out an advert in a magazine, or supply enough mom & pop stores with at least one of your production units so they could demo it.
Website, youtube demos, maybe some internet marketing. But that's relatively cheap compared to the hard costs of designing brochures etc.
On the physical side, surface mount electronics (the types we see in our smart phones, computers, etc.), have lowered the cost of production, taking away a lot of the hand soldering necessary for vintage keyboards. The cost of development has come down as well, with design tools now available on everyone's desktop and rapid prototyping with affordable one-off circuit board manufacturing being very affordable.
With all of that, synthesizer sales are higher TODAY than they ever were in the 70's, 80's, 90's, etc. Smaller and smaller companies can now slice off a livable profit from their endeavors.
