How do you decide what store to buy your modules from?

JohnLRice · Post by **JohnLRice** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:41 pm

Muff Wiggler wrote:I don't always buy modules anymore

But when I do I buy them from the Muff Wiggler store

Doglien · Post by **Doglien** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:46 pm

It's more difficult in Canada... I mainly buy from Moog Audio over in Montreal: shipping is free and they've given me great service in the past.

For Doepfer I go with Technopolis (also Quebec). Martin there has really gone out of his way to source stuff for me in the past, including my current monster cases which involved a trusting part exchange on his part.

Ordering from the US is subject to pretty horrific import duties, although Shawn at Analogue Haven was great when I was ordering my first system.

No-one has mentioned Perfect Circuit Audio, who I've also found to be exceptionally quick in terms of delivery and fair on price...

Section956 · Post by **Section956** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:56 pm

Two things I try to avoid:

1. Paying MSRP.
2. Paying for shipping.

Therefore, although I think AH is great, they almost always lose on price.

Meme Antenna and Perfect Circuit Audio have the most frequent sales and offer free shipping so I have ordered from them the most, but there are plenty of things they don't stock.

Detroit Modular has an "offer" function that I have utilized to negotiate price and have gotten good service from them.

MW and Control Voltage are my next stops. Then Foxtone and Big City Music.

I had a bad experience with Control so I prefer to shop elsewhere.

arbito · Post by **arbito** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:02 am

Northwest, it's a nobrainer. Control Voltage or Muffwiggler

Just wish I lived near them so I could test some modules. It takes special trip. Does Muff store and 4ms share a space? Looks like it on google maps.

intuitionnyc · Post by **intuitionnyc** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:06 am

Analogue Haven has been great to me over the years and they are fantastic. If they have stuff in stock I can't get elsewhere, I go there. However, I live in NYC and I go to the Control shop. I can demo stuff there which is HUGE and the staff (like Shawn at AH) is always helpful, patient and kind.

While it sucks to pay sales tax (which sux on big orders), I will use Control if they have it in stock and if they have helped me out explaining a module or letting me demo it in shop. I just feel it is the right thing to do. I personally dislike the notion of demo-ing stuff at a shop, asking questions of the sales staff and then purchasing from a different shop. It just rubs me the wrong way.

Occasionally I will do trades or purchase stuff from the MW forum.

david_rothbaum · Post by **david_rothbaum** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:15 am

Mostly AH for me, Shawn has always been great and it is 5 minutes from where I work. . . But also Control Voltage, Noisebug and Big City music. Can't say i have had any negative experiences with any of them.

Orbless · Post by **Orbless** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:56 am

a bit of topic, but it was brought up. I don't want any stickers. Please do not send me stickers. They go straight in the trash.

cpcompany · Post by **cpcompany** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:08 am

I almost always buy from Rubadub in Glasgow as they usually have things stocked. In the UK stock levels can be hit and miss, or maybe that's the modular industry as a whole

Adminius · Post by **Adminius** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:31 am

As the majority of my gear is Doepfer, nearly all of my modules have been purchased from the EMIS store in Bristol. Whenever I've needed a module, Andy has it in stock.

For any other manufacturer I look to Rubadub in Glasgow or Postmodular in London, I've also ordered a couple of modules from Schneidersladen in Germany, but as stated elsewhere, their service to the UK can be a bit flakey.

I've also ordered directly from the manufacturer in a couple of cases, notably Eowave in France and Analogue Solutions (Medic Modules) in the Midlands, who are based less than 20 miles from my home.

My latest module, however, an Intellijel Dual ADSR, was purchased from the brand new MattTech Modular store in Manchester and arrived just yesterday. Matt Preston (Muffs member MattTech) has only just started trading, and I am proud to say that I was his first official customer. I can see me ordering quite a lot of gear from him over the following months.

In all cases, whenever I've had to speak to any suppliers by phone, I've found them enthusiastic and passionate about their business, and without exception, a pleasure to deal with.

To answer the OP's original question, unless it's a Doepfer module, I purchase from whoever has the module I want in stock at the moment I have the cash to purchase it.

The only modular store in Britain that I have not yet dealt with is London Modular, but that's only because they've not had the module I want at the precise time I have the necessary cash.

Rod Serling Fan Club · Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:53 am

Meme Antenna all the way. They are the only store I am aware of that has regular sales (generally 10-15% off) and free shipping over $100. They don't have everything but if they have something I want, I wait for a sale.

Hirsbro · Post by **Hirsbro** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:49 am

JohnLRice wrote:
Muff Wiggler wrote:I don't always buy modules anymore

But when I do I buy them from the Muff Wiggler store

LOL brilliant

AAG · Post by **AAG** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:10 am

Sweden is rather off the map when it comes to modular, I find. Escapefromnoise.com is always out of everything, but when something's in stock service is great and fast. Analogue.org/network advertise modules as though they were in stock wether they are or not, and delivery is often rather on the slow side for me. Then there's Jam. Four times I've ordered from there and have gotten a reply a day or two later saying that they don't have that module in stock and they don't plan to either. But they keep having them up for sale. Terrible place.

For Doepfer, thomann.de is great.

For anything else, I'm at a loss. Am currently looking for the Intellijel Quadra, and every store in Europe seems to be out...

Lately I've been buying from people on Muffs. Has been great so far!

johnwynberg · Post by **johnwynberg** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:30 am

In order of factors, availability (I hate to pre-order modules and waiting for an indeterminate amount of time), price, discount (if I can get any, it makes me feel good), and fast and free delivery. For those reasons, Rubadub is usually my first port of call.
London Modular very often beats Rubadub in getting some modules first (they already got the Sputnik’s!), and some of their prices are even cheaper. Delivery is fast, but I have to pay for delivery, which costs me almost as much as going to their shop to pickup the module (the only advantage of that is that I can be faster than Royal Mail). To be able to go to their shop and try the module is also an option I appreciate, though I don’t like the feeling of dealing with someone who is trying to sell me modules (not that they’re too obvious about that, but of course that’s their job)... mainly because it’s too dangerous for my credit card, because I tempted to just buy lots of the modules they have in display and worry about the costs later.
PostModular is perhaps the one with more different manufacturers in stock, prices are reasonable, fast delivery, but not free.
Occasionally I also buy from Escape from Noise, because of availability and good prices, for certain manufacturers like Metasonix and Modcan.
Now and then I have also bought modules through eBay, if I can grab a module for a good Buy-it-now price. I hardly ever win any auctions. For the difference in price that most modules sell, I prefer to buy them new.
The sales section of this forum is also of interest, but most of the time, for the modules I’m interested, when I add PayPal fees and delivery costs, I prefer to pay a bit more and get it new.
I have started considering buying directly from the manufacturer (I think I’ll try Intellijel), and see how it goes. Until now, I hate the idea of paying import taxes, though I suppose I already do when I buy through suppliers in the UK (but sometimes their prices are so good, that I wonder if they’re paying taxes ;-).

M4R71N · Post by **M4R71N** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:36 am

I personally check availability and compare prices. If possible I prefer buying directly from manufacturers.
I didn't tried second hands modules yet.

Mitaric · Post by **Mitaric** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 8:33 am

I buy a lot of my modules from Control, but have used AH, MW, and DM all as well. Each store ships fast and has great service. Can't go wrong with any of them, IMO.

NS4W · Post by **NS4W** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:19 am

I sometimes buy packaging tape and get a random module freebie...

thingstocome · Post by **thingstocome** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:26 am

Control!!!

replicalex · Post by **replicalex** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:27 am

Getting modules in stock seems to be the biggest problem here in the UK. I just bought lots in one go to populate my first set up, and I had to go all over the place to get what I was after.
Soundria.com in Hungary was excellent I must say. They seemed to have stock that no one else had, delivered quickly and replaced a dodgy Yarns quickly with no fuss.
Had a good experience with all the shops tbh. I'm off to RubaDub in Glasgow this evening to pick up an Optomix they are holding for me

top guys in there!

Dcramer · Post by **Dcramer** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:42 am

Doglien wrote:It's more difficult in Canada... I mainly buy from Moog Audio over in Montreal: shipping is free and they've given me great service in the past.

For Doepfer I go with Technopolis (also Quebec). Martin there has really gone out of his way to source stuff for me in the past, including my current monster cases which involved a trusting part exchange on his part.

Ordering from the US is subject to pretty horrific import duties, although Shawn at Analogue Haven was great when I was ordering my first system.

Yup my experience has been the same, shipping with UPS has been terrible every time !

late, expensive, and lost

HIMA · Post by **HIMA** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:44 am

The nearest store to me must be a good few 1000 kilometres.

I've ordered from Control, AH, Thomann, Schneidersladen, Muffs, Equinoxoz Music, Intellijel and Big City.

Availability is my first criteria. My top three 3 stores though, all things being equal are: Control, AH and Muffs. AH is who I've consistently gone back to, but no particular reason. All have shipped fast and the items have been well packed. If i've had issues, all 3 have responded quickly and positively.

clarke68 · Post by **clarke68** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:48 am

Orbless wrote:Please do not send me stickers. They go straight in the trash.

Really? I like stickers. I put them on the inside of my synth case. I figure someday after I'm dead and they're parting out my synth for sale on craigslist, someone will find them and go, "wow".

Rod Serling Fan Club wrote:Meme Antenna all the way. They are the only store I am aware of that has regular sales (generally 10-15% off)

Thanks for the tip, I had no idea. Other than BST, I've always paid full retail for modules.

Herman · Post by **Herman** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:07 am

If I can I'll order from London Modular as it's 5 minutes from my studio but I'm an impatient sort so I'll basically order from whoever has what I want in stock

Onyx · Post by **Onyx** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:18 am

bassnode wrote:I've bought from almost everyone and each store has great service.

Agreed.

Eric (Foxtone) Jonas & Darren (Control) Shawn (AH) Dan (Detroit Modular) they are all great dudes.

I have heard good things about MeMe but whenever I look at their site it seems like they do not have anything in stock.

knobbyfischer · Post by **knobbyfischer** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:52 am

i like control nyc, because i like the customers. people share knowledge with each other there it seems and it happens really naturally. + now that i see suzanne ciani was there this week, i'm going to start lighting candles outside their door and worshiping there when no one is looking

oh, umm...plus there is a really weird, loud cat that lurks on their block. it's like the town crier or something...

moofi · Post by **moofi** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:53 am

Didn´t Mike imply he wouldn´t always have to buy the modules anymore because he gets them for free or something but when he does he´s buying from the Muffwiggler Store? ;-)

JohnLRice wrote:
Muff Wiggler wrote:I don't always buy modules anymore

But when I do I buy them from the Muff Wiggler store

MOD WIGGLER

MOD WIGGLER

How do you decide what store to buy your modules from?