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by pmoriarty 3521 days ago
The price issue can be mitigated in a number of ways:

1 - Buy used. You can get a lot of great modules in great condition used.

2 - Build your own, either from kits or (if you have the skills) from scratch. There are tons of kits out there, and you can make some pretty unusual and interesting modules with them. Plus, making your own helps you to understand them better, and help you to repair them yourself if they break.

3 - Limit your appetite for modules. You don't necessarily need a 4 voice modular synth, with 4 copies of every module. Try limiting yourself to one voice, or even to just a few modules that perform a small number of functions. That can still be really useful.

4 - (Related to 3): Combine your modular synth with an integrated hardware synth or even soft-synths. That way you can get the best of both worlds, and the non-modular synths can make up for what you're missing in your modular, again letting you limit your modular to just those functions that you need, thereby reducing the price of your modular.

5 - Buy from the less expensive module manufacturers like Doepfer. Their modules are often a fraction of the price of many other manufacturers.