A Bristol, UK-based manufacturer of hardware synthesisers, both digital and analogue. Along with DSI, Modal has been a significant contributor to the mid-2010's renaissance in analog polysynths with full keyboards, a genre of synth that has not seen this many designs and models in production since the 1980s.
Modal began in 2013 as Modulus Music, a company established by synth designers and enthusiasts Paula Maddox and Philip Taysom, who were fans of the PPG Wave synths. Paula set out to build a stripped-down and less expensive version of the Wave 2.2, and her result was the Monowave, a monophonic, rackmount synth with wave scanning in the PPG style, and analog VCF and VCA. Modulus sold 25 Monwaves (all hand-built by Maddox) between 2002 and 2004. Paula also built and sold a line of small "pocket" synths.
With the experience gained from designing and producing the Monowave, Modulus then set about to build its "dream" polyphonic synth. This started with a wavetable oscillator, with a large number of waveforms (without the wave scanning capability, however), and added a VCF that has a continuously variable response, from low pass to bandpass to a single-pole low pass mode. The result was the 002, a 12-voice multi-timbral hybrid polyphonic synth, packaged in a full-size keyboard synth with a five-octave span and a fully featured panel. The voice architecture includes two of the wavetable oscillators each with a suboscillator; the variable response VCF; a VCA, several four-segment envelope generators; LFOs; arpeggiator, 32-step step sequencer; the "Animator" - a 32-step parameter sequencer; and an Ethernet connection for accessing the Web Interface (for controlling the synth from your browser) as well as for updating the synth. Modulus introduced the 002 in July 2014, to rave reviews. Over the following years the synth has continued to be updated and maintained with new features such as a Digital IO expansion board with USB audio/MIDI and FX; MPE support; USB-MIDI host support; and much more.
In late 2014 the company changed their name from Modulus Music to Modal Electronics (due to the reemergence from bankruptcy of a non-related MI industry company also known as Modulus) followed by a considerable expansion to its product line considerably in 2015. Two new keyboard synth modes were introduced, the 001 and 008. The 001 is a lower-cost version of the 002, with two voices and in a smaller case with a 37-key keyboard. The 008 was a collaboration with synth designer George Hearn (now of UDO Audio) and is an 8-voice bi-timbral polysynth with an all-analog signal path. It consists of analogue VCOs which can be cross-modulated; a VCF with 15 selectable response types covering all of the main filter modes (low pass, high pass, etc.) with varying number of poles; and shares a number of features with the 002 such as the arpeggiator, step sequencer, Animator and Ethernet connection. Like the 002 the 008 has continued to be updated with many new features and improvements.
Later in 2015 rack mount versions of both the 002 and 008 were introduced - the 002R and 008R.
In November 2016 Modal entered the world of super-affordable portable synthesisers with the CRAFTsynth – an assemble-it-yourself monophonic digital synthesiser kit. Alongside this they introduced CRAFTapp - an optional desktop and mobile editor app for CRAFTsynth - that would later be renamed MODALapp and become the editor app for all future Modal instruments.
In early 2017 Paula Maddox announced her departure from the company. She would later start a new synth company named Dove Audio developing Eurorack modules.
In September 2017 Modal introduced CRAFTrhythm - an 8-track drum & percussion sampler device that features a range of sample sequencing and modification options. Like the earlier CRAFTsynth, the CRAFTrhythm is an inexpensive device that you assemble yourself.
In July 2018 Modal announced SKULPTsynthesiser - a 4-voice, 32 oscillator portable virtual-analogue synth. The synth was released on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, where it was fully funded in less than 5 hours and reached almost 300% of its funding goal by the end of the Kickstarter campaign.
Shortly after in November 2018 Modal announced CRAFTsynth 2.0 - a monophonic wavetable digital synthesiser that offers 8 oscillators, 8 banks of morphable waveforms, deep modulation options and more. Unlike the original CRAFTsynth, v2.0 is not a kit. Once again it was released through a very successful Kickstarter campaign.
In April 2019 Modal released MODALplugin - a VST3 / AU plugin version of MODALapp for both macOS and Windows, compatible with both SKULPTsynthesiser and CRAFTsynth 2.0 and later all future Modal instruments.
In September 2019 Modal announced ARGON8 - an 8-voice, 32 oscillator, wavetable digital synthesiser that builds on the legacy of the 002. Key features include 120 morphable wavetables; 28 static wavetable processors; 8 oscillator modifiers; a multi-mode morphing resonant filter; 3-slot stereo FX engine; MPE support; a full-sized 37 key keyboard with aftertouch; and a 4-axis joystick. In January 2020 Modal announced two new variants of the synth: ARGON8X - an elongated 61 key version using the same FATAR TP/9S mechanism with aftertouch; and ARGON8M - a compact desktop module version that can also be mounted into a 19" 3U rack.
In October 2020 Modal announced COBALT8 - an 8 voice extended virtual-analogue synthesiser. Key unique features include 64 high-resolution virtual-analogue oscillators (up to 8 per voice); two independent and self-contained oscillator groups with 34 different algorithms, each controlled via pair of controls selected to suit the particular algorithm; and a 4-pole morphable ladder filter with resonance, with four switchable configurations including low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch and phaser. It also contains some of the features and elements of ARGON8 including the 3-slot stereo FX engine; MPE support; a full-sized 37 key keyboard with aftertouch; a 4-axis joystick; and the form factor. In November 2020 Modal announced two new variants of the synth: COBALT8X and COBALT8M, which offer the same differences as that of ARGON8.