had no idea of the backstory on that Discomfort Designs jawn.... :/
i will forever vacillate on that ModMax - i feel similarly about it - a lot of controls that may fit in with the series "concept" but don't necessarily add up to better or more interesting ringmod tones
i had the phaser and liked it/miss it, but it didn't quite elevate into my upper phaser pantheon - best part about imo was the "flood" circuit
i really expected to like the filter *less*, so i am mildly surprised at how much i really have liked it. i need to reevaluate tho in light of the many filters i've now tried in eurorack - i feel like i was very naive about filters until recently, and i still think i overall prefer tones that are built up in other ways...well, check that - i prefer to use filters as a type of "waveshaper" more than a modulation effect.
unlike balanced modulation which i love more and more every day it seems
anyway, back on topic - the ModMax RingMod is def the best *looking* ModMax and ringmod afaic
the XR-1E is so awesome
- it was insta-lust when i saw/heard the OG, and it took me a long time to score one - kinda wish it had taken me longer because the updates look fantastic! 
gotta keep up my streak of v1 regrets
still don't feel too bad tho, because it has basically killed all "clean" balanced mod GAS and turned me back to the dirtier stuff
even without the new tricks, it's always a joy to hear the XR-1E
still may score an X someday tho because it is so cheap comparatively and fits in so well with a more "modular" concept
i think i've had at least as much fun modulating cv signals as audio at this point
and thinking about balanced modulation as a strange type of "convolution" rather than frequency or time domain multiplication
