Modular Recording Components

[critterkllr]

I'm wondering if you guys think if there is ever a possibility of seeing studio grade equipment broken apart in a more basic modular form, like synthesizers. I'm not referring to 500 series. I'm talking about the basic building blocks. Like envelope followers/generators, envelope modifiers (attack, release, curves, etc), different types of VCAs, VCFs, mults, attenuators, etc. We already have color boxes that perform small tasks that used to take place in complete units. Even preamps have taken a modular form compared to being built into a console.

I personally don't think so, but am intrigued by the amount of possibilities that it could bring.

 

[gato]

I think one problem would be balancing/debalancing.
For example, you could have a make up gain module which could interface after gain reduction in a compressor or an equalizer, but it wouldn't make sense to then independently balance every stage so if interfacing were via patch cords they'd have to be unbalanced. It might be cool though to have separate gain reduction and side chain modules. Another thing to consider would be how complex the patching would ever get. In a modular you have all kinds of logic functions, multiplying, filtering, dividing, and so on and it can get so complex that you aren't sure what is going on anymore. Off the top of my head I can't think of similar scenarios in some of the bread and butter studio processing. Reverbs would be like that, but algorithmic reverbs have been mostly done digitally because the complexity would require too much stuff. I can only think of a few analog examples and they're all basically prime numbered taps in multiple feedback paths.