DRodriguez wrote:CV is control voltage, it just a way of using electricity to control other things. There is still audio running through a modular system, just at a different level than a guitar's output. You can get modules that convert the guitar to a more usable level for modular. (from my understanding, I don't actually have modular stuff)
Just to expand on that, in most modulars CV and audio are at the same level (Buchla is different for this but that's one of the only ones). Typically up to +/-10V (with +/-5V being expected by a bunch of modules). For these, the difference between CV and audio is the rate. Audio goes faster. You've probably all played with an effect that has an LFO (low freq oscillator) that goes faster and faster up to the point where it defines an audible pitch (applied to an amplifier for a tremolo, etc.), that's basically this.
And a modular can be a very good way to make music that can not easily be done (in hardware) with other devices. I've been playing electronic music for 15+ years. My first concert was a gameboy with nanoloop making drones and fed to a Boss DSD-2 pedal that was triggered by a small box a friend made me that output the sum of 2 squarewave LFOs. That's basically something you'd do with a modular patch.
I wanted a modular around 2000 or so when only Doepfer, Analogue Systems and Analogue Solutions made Eurorack (and ASol was a bit different) but didn't have the money, used other synths, effect pedals, etc. for a long time and realized 3-4 years ago or so that there were tons and tons of Eurorack manufacturers (and there's 3 or 4 times the amount now). I had more disposable income so I started growing a small system. Which is now a not yet full 7U case (i.e. 2 rows of normal modules and 1 additional row of small modules). I can do things with this that are not simple with other instruments but sometimes I prefer using a keyboard and a few effects or a guitar. Different instruments. To put things in perspective, some of my favourite musicians are Mika Vainio, Carsten Nicolai, Christian Fennesz, Tim Hecker.
Anyway, the main thing is that while modular (99% eurorack these days) is quite trendy these days, it's not for everybody. If it fits what you want to do, then it's great, as long as you know what the fuck you're doing and read enough things/documentations/etc. to have a proper understanding of what the different modules do. It's a more involved process than plugging a guitar in an amp because part of the composition work is in the patching itself (whereas guitar is mostly in the playing).
And it's expensive. If you can DIY, you can reduce the cost quite a lot but not everything is available as DIY. And if you don't resist temptation easily or have a tendency to spend money you don't have, yeah, avoid this. Because unlike other instruments it has no limits apart from the ones you define yourself, and if you can't enforce these it's easy to get more focused on the acquisition process than on actually using the instrument.
