>>>> I'd also like to build an implementation of the DX7 in modular form
>>FWIW, the Nord Modular can do this. (Yes, I know, it's not at all the same
thing as a MOTM--which is why I have both--but if you're looking for a DX7
in a modular form, there it is.)
I believe that Sound Quest's "Infinity 2" has the capability of doing this.
It can also be used for exploring Additive Synthesis as well.
For anyone wishing that they had bought a Yamaha DX7 when they were
available, also see Native Instruments' "FM7" virtual clone.
When it comes to analog modular synthesis, I will simply never be convinced
that there is any substitute for the "real thing." Arturia's "Moog Modular
V" is a fun, interesting instrument, but I'll take a wall o' knobs that I
can touch any day. Virtual Reality will have to progress a LOT faster and
further than it has been in order to supply the experience of using a "real"
modular, like the MOTM.
However, I do think that virtual "plug-in" synths have their place. For
certain tasks, such as Additive Synthesis, digital is pretty necessary. To
do anything interesting, you need something like 128 oscillators, 128
amplifiers, and 128 envelope generators... then you need a way to control it
all, and about three weeks to turn knobs... With digital, you at least have
the ∗hope∗ of advanced groupings, resynthesis, etc.
Another good use of DXi/VSTi synthesizers is these recreations of classic
instruments (Native Instruments' FM7, Pro-53, B4... GMedia's M-Tron, etc.
all look interesting). Do I prefer these over the originals? Absolutely not!
But since I do not have access to the originals, nor do I ever hope to,
these are a "fun" way of fulfilling a decades-old daydream of playing a
Mellotron, B3, etc. When you think about it, for those of us that were
'poor' during that era, all these instruments ever were are pictures in
books and magazines anyway, so seeing it on the screen but being able to
turn the knobs and get some pretty close approximations of the sounds is
pretty cool.
For instruments like the DX7, which was a digital instrument to begin with,
a PC simulation is fine. However, would I like to have a through-zero VCO in
my analog beast? _Sure!!_