One of the primary reasons to make the move from pre-configured synthesizers to patchable modular synths is the ability to create your own instrument - be it to pick and choose your favorite flavors of synth building blocks (wavetable oscillator with a 303-like filter, anyone?), to expand it in ways you prefer (more LFOs! more envelopes!), or to explore new signal paths and sound configurations.
A common question is: Where do you start? A large part of the answer concerns your comfort zone: Do you prefer to venture out from a safe starting point, or feel more creative when thrown into the deep end? There’s also some tradeoff involved between short-term and long-term goals for building and using your system.
Considering there’s no single correct answer (and very few wrong ones), here are a few different approaches and their potential tradeoffs. Most are all analog or analog-based, unless otherwise noted.
