To be fair, it’s the same with other gear.

E.g. eurorack synthesizers are notoriously consumerist, electric guitars are commonly owned in pairs or more, camera enthusiasts have shelves full of lenses, etc.

Don’t ask me how I know that.

y'all got me feeling smug for buying a 1980s era Omnichord off Reverb.

When the batteries die, I just replace them with new D-cells.

That's kind of almost been me with eurorack. It is in many ways just a toy to play with. But it's quite a lot of fun, and it's allowed me to experience what it's like to create music far further than just playing sheet music on a piano did. The OP-1 does seem much more focused on actually making the end product of a song than just playing around with sound design on eurorack though, so I'd probably react to it the same way as the OP.

I'd recommend anyone interested in any of this to have a play with Cardinal[1] for free. But I will say that it's a lot easier to play with the real thing. The difference reminds me a lot about when I was really into rubiks cubes and how much easier it is to learn the different variants of twisty puzzles with the physical puzzle in hand, compared to the computerised versions that required clicking and draging, and felt removed from the real thing. So for that reason I'd say that it has been worth actually getting eurorack for me. But even so I've barely played any real songs on the system.

[1] https://cardinal.kx.studio/

I tried playing around with Cardinal the other day when it was posted here, but couldn't make any sounds :')

It's like dwarf fortress for musicians - you need to watch a tutorial on how to play first.

I have 4 of their Pocket Operator things which I haven't taken out of the drawer for t least a couple of years. Do not regret a single cent of what I paid for them. If anything, I occasionally regret not (yet?) having drunk-ordered a few more - I'd quite like a PO-33 and a PO-35, but while sober I know I wont use them any more than I use the ones I already have.

That applies to the entire synth/groovebox industry. People get addicted to the dopamine of buying new gear (Gear Acquisition Syndrome, or GAS) but never use it.

And with the advent of Eurorack, not only do you need more instruments, but the instrument you do have is never finished either

At least lots of Eurorack builders are small passionate shops as opposed to big soulless corporations

That's why you don't buy eurorack modules, you buy complete systems instead (insert guy tapping head meme). There is something for every pocket, from pluto[1], to black system[2], to...

[1]: https://www.modernsounds.co/pluto

[2]: https://www.ericasynths.lv/shop/eurorack-systems/black-syste...

As easy as it is to pick on Teenage Engineering you could say the same about tons of other instruments, pedals, etc. It’s just gear, if only talented musicians bought them then the market for such things would be tiny in comparison.

At least one more.

My OP-1 battery also needed replacement after sitting unused for a long time. Fortunately (not for my wallet) I was still able to get one at the time.

Probably a lot, but that's about what you'd expect with any popular musical instrument or device.