SynthCube has announced that they’ve acquired Synthesizers.com – the company behind the modern Moog format modular synth standard.
SynthCube has an online business, in addition to their physical store in Waltham, MA. They already have an active Moog format business, featuring designs from Frequency Cdentral, Hexinverter, Synthetic Sound Labs and others. They also offer a wide range of DIY options.
The addition of Synthesizers.com’s line, though, promises to massively expand the range of options that they offer for Moog format modules.
They shared the news via ModWiggler forum:
“We are happy to announce here that Synthesizers.com will be joining our portfolio of synthCube brands here just outside of Boston. We spent the weekend packing all of the assets, inventory, demo units etc into trucks and will be taking the next few weeks to get everything set up again in our shop.
We owe much gratitude to Roger Arrick for the initial effort to design and start the company in the first place, to James Allen and others who took on Dotcom when Roger passed it along to them, and to the most recent owners for their stewardship of Dotcom in the interim.
If you’re a designer / maker of dotcom/MU 5U modules, we hope that this helps re-energize interest in your products too… frankly, the more options that customers have, the better for those customers and for the format itself. Part of how we will measure success is NOT by how many makers we put out of business, rather it will be how many makers will now grow faster, and how many new makers might come in and create more dotcom/MU 5U innovations?
We’ll post more details about future plans here and in other channels when we have some time, and we look forward to hearing your feedback, ideas, and suggestions on how best to inspire and support the current generations of Dotcom users and how to improve the products and solutions for the next generation as well.
We know Dotcom/5U won’t ever be as popular as Eurorack, and that’s OK; BUT we are equally confident that there will always be a place for high quality, large format, serious synth instruments and modules and 5U will be around for the long haul. How does that saying go? ‘We liked the product so much we bought the company.’
Monika and Chris”
Details are still to come at the SynthCube and Synthesizers.com sites.
I’ve got both MU and Eurorack systems.
Eurorack definitely wins on choice and availability of cheap options, but MU is SO much more fun to use.
Bob Moog got things right with the original Moog modulars. Plus, pretty much every single MU module has excellent build and design. You can’ really say that about Eurorack.
MU needs more cabinet options. Suit and Tie Guy previewed an inexpensive option recently that looks promising.
I’d like to get a traditional Walnut style case, but only 4″ deep, so you could put it right against the wall and it wouldn’t take any space. The old-school Moog style Walnut cabinets were designed for ’60s electronics, and are basically a bunch of empty space nowadays.
Maybe it won’t cost as much as a house deposit now for such simple analog sounds!?
Behringer is your buddy in this case lol
Aer you serious? The price of synthesizers.com modules are much less than other 5U/MU module makers that have come and in some cases gone (MOTM, Moon, Modcan…etc.)
Yep, and for some, it’s still too expensive. Behringer is bringing more people into the modular hobby, so everyone benefits anyway once Behringer users realize they want more unique modules.
We get it. You LOVE Behringer, and that’s fine, but the customer for a dot com or other premium 5U synth isn’t the same. 5U customers aren’t looking for the cheapest solution or even the best value proposition.
First off, dot com stuff is physically way bigger, and some of us REALLY prefer that. Secondly, the build quality isn’t comparable – dot.com (and most other 5U) uses high-quality jacks/knobs/switches that you just aren’t going to see in Behringer; as it must be for their stuff to be so affordable. And if it matters to you, dot com stuff (at least up this point) is all hand-made in the USA… and this is without delving into Behringer’s numerous well-documented ethics and behavioral gaffes.
Before you go type up a storm, I fully understand that most people don’t care about any of this; the last thing I’m trying to do is convince anyone of anything on that front. But for me, it’s an “I won’t put one penny in that clown’s pocket” dealbreaker. And FWIW, other than a vintage Moog modular, I literally have never heard another analog synth that sounds as good as my 5U system, and I’m a very seasoned guy who’s used and owned many classic and modern analogs.
I get that, but I don’t get mad and complain about how expensive Bassoon’s, violins or pianos are either. I’ve own/owned plenty of Behringer stuff and within a few years, it all fails in some small or large way within a few years. Cheap means disposable. My dotcom system is over 15 years old and still solid as a rock. It is all “through hole” components making repair a snap, if you know what you are doing. Behringer stuff is all surface mount and difficult to repair, if you can even find the parts (I need a replacement pot for the mod wheel on my Deepmind 12, for example…and I cannot identify who made the part, and the part is pretty cheaply made.)
I am happy cheap alternatives exist, so that the kid with a single parent and a paper route can get into analog synthesis, modular or otherwise, but when you are in need of a reliable pro level modular, dotcom s a great choice…and compared to Buchla, this stuff is DIRT CHEAP!
I spend a LOT if time around a LOT of vintage gear, as the president of the board of directors at EMEAPP, and I can say without any reservation, that I prefer this huge dotcom system to a vintage Moog (sacrilege, I know) for stability, reliability and gig-ability. Yeah, the thing cost me as much as a decent new car, but I spent years building in starting with a P22 based system which has grow to 192. You can see it in its full glory here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwV0SH4g1Vc
New products coming or deadheading it or pulling a Blacet? Really happy DotCom is continuing.
I see the value in Euro but I’m glad the 5U stuff exists. I think that it generally provides a better more tactile experience, though at the expense of taking up more room. If I were to get a modular synth, I’d probably want to go with a 5U for that reason, though I acknowledge that that could also be a generational thing.
I have both, and despite being technically very similar, the experience is quite different. Generally I would say Eurorack is more like a format for assembling music systems, while 5U is more like an instrument.
Eurorack encourages tinkering & DIY, it’s easy to swap modules in & out, and fairly trivial to make cases out of whatever you like. It’s small enough to put in drawer and bring out when you need something specific.
5U wants to be plugged in somewhere prominent. Mine is on top of a piano and it suits it so well, it’s a beautiful piece of furniture which DOES NOT want to be moved around! It’s also quite painful to swap modules. But it’s delightful to patch, so simple and visual. I pretty much use it as a turbo minimoog.
I dont have much space so yeah portability is sometimes an argument
Still, 5U is gorgeously beautiful…