I was going to write sort of a two-week mini-review of the Mother-32. But I changed my mind. The important thing is that I decided to keep it, meaning that I've registered the warranty and pulled all the little "contact lens" discs off the knobs.
What I wanted to talk about instead was how the Mother-32's design seems to be informed by that of the Desktop Evolver. Both instruments can function as keyboard-driven modules, but really shine as stand-alone instruments. Put them on a desk, alone, with headphones, and make something. Both instruments are deep and friendly toward experimentation and problem-solving. Both are engrossing, and result in lots of lost hours.
The Evolver's sequencer is better, no question about it. I need to keep my manual open to use the Mother-32 sequencer, while I've hardly ever looked at the Evolver's manual. It's really easy to mess up the Mother-32's "save" procedure, for exmple. The keys used in key combinations tend to have very little direct relationship to what the combinations actually do, making them hard to remember. Also, the Mother-32's single sequencer is normaled to the VCO, with no way to disconnect it, limiting its use as a pure modulation source. The Evolver sequencer, on the other hand, is an Evolver sequencer.
The Mother-32, on the other hand, is more open-ended with respect to modulation. The Evolver architecture is source-to-destination, while a semi-modular synth lets you keep the control signals going around in very interesting ways.
As for interface, there's little question that the Mother-32 really shines. I've grown skeptical of the Desktop Evolver's interface recently, so my plan is to sort of build an Evolverish thing (not a direct copy, obviously) in a eurorack format. This means that I'll buy both the DSM-01 Curtis Filter module and the upcoming DSM-03 Feedback module, a sequencer, some control processing modules, and an extra LFO. Will it sound just like an Evolver? Of course not. But the Feedback module, in particular, is very exciting, and sort of encapsulates what I love about the Evolver sound, combined with the Curtis filter. In short, I'm shooting for the essence of the Evolver, for three times the price!
But anyway, if you're wondering about the Mother-32, it's a good buy.