Rebuttals
I get bogged down in naming, filling, fiddling with presets. Plus, as stated above, modular has done so much for my learning synthesis I have a pretty good idea on how to quickly patch something I want.
You don’t recommend a gamer PC to an office worker. Same idea modular v subtractive poly.
Any musical tool is worthwhile in the right hands: shimmer (Eno), granular (Roads, Low). It’s not the tools fault YouTubers are lazy.
This thread reminded me to dust off my old VCV Rack account, which I haven’t used since before version 2 came out. Reinstalled it and spent an hour “shopping” for free modules. Used it for about 30 minutes and remembered why I decided that modular was fun, but not worth the money for my situation.
Depends IMO.
Positive shimmer: Christian megachurch rock
Negative shimmer: Recorded-at-the-mouth-of-cave-staring-into-the-infinite-abyss rock
Zero shimmer: my happy place.
The two happiest days in a boat owners life:
I don’t like shimmer because I don’t like octaves.
sort of true…
for one the 225e is preset management and midi interfacing, so you’re getting more than just presets for that money. you can get the 206e for a bit less and have preset management and mixing instead. or 3rd party wireless preset management (use your phone or computer to change presets) for about $400.
also, the Skylab is a bit more advanced than what I’d call a basic system. but yeah, to get the standard case/oscillator/modulation/filter/VCA/mixer type setup in Buchla would probably cost you like $8k. alternatively, the Easel Command gets you that basic sort of setup, plus more besides, and has optional preset management (up to an additional $500, depending upon how you do it) for $3k. but it’s more of the “semi-modular” variety, technically.
finally, the preset management in a Buchla 200e system isn’t what most people call presets. it’s kind of the opposite of what you have in your Syntrx: the knob and switch settings are stored/recalled, but the cable patching isn’t. you CAN save some cable patch settings (audio and CV) by using a 210e module - which is basically like the Syntrx style patch matrix - and its settings get stored/recalled with the presets. however… in the case of the Easel Command, if you use the new Program Manager card, the presets will store knob settings and patch cable routings. in addition, you can use a computer to edit these stored programs to attenuate the values of the patch cable routings. so this is more like what most people think of when referring to presets.
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Completely agree
The cool thing tho is, if you haven’t been told what was used to make the track, you won’t know or care what what was used if the track is good.
There could be a touch of shimmer brightening the track 
Did a test on a buddy that was certain they could tell me what I used on a loop. Told me VST was easy to distinguish from hardware. Was 100% wrong and insisted I was lying 
sorry bud, you were wrong. vst isn’t as fun tho
Use what you wanna use, who cares.
One thing I miss about Modular is complex oscillators. I would love a standalone synth with a complex oscillator and a lot of easy to dial in modulation of all the oscillator parameters, wavefolding, etc.
Why is this thread making me want to get back into modular so bad lol? I think I may make my own little modular monosynth now…
Majella Implexus?
Agree that the Skylab and 206e are perfectly competent systems. My facetious point was that there used to be larger systems at the $30-40k range, getting close to half the cost of a new interesting sailboat in 2023. 
haha yeah I just wanted to clarify the preset functionality of Buchla, since presets and modulars were being discussed. and it is a very interesting aspect of the 200e series.
I don’t know why they only have the Skylab up as a featured system. it’s not like they keep it (or all of its modules) in stock. you’re right that they used to feature even larger systems on their site, which is even more ridiculous. BUT they also used to feature smaller ones, which they still should. people looking to buy a system all at once are more likely to buy something smaller to get them going, but with room to grow. especially at Buchla prices! 
That was helpful and informative!
link plz
I’m getting into modular right now. Patching cables and spending a lot of money ist not what I want to do, so I take the software route. I use Audulus 4 on an iPad and it looks and sounds great. It’s a little bit like max/msp for ios.
Try Drambo maybe. It’s like your modular but with absolutely no wires, an elektron-like sequencer and an ableton-like clip launching.
All we are is dunst in the wind
Fantastic