Oh, I so disagree. Modal editing is not about the modes.
In a text editor, user input either writes text to the file or does something else. Every text editor let you write to files so aside from aesthetics, it's the everything else that makes each different. If keystrokes for writing are not separated from keystrokes for everything else, everything else is confined to awkward ctrl- and alt- key combos. That's why it's a good idea to put them in different 'modes' so you can perform other actions comfortably. You don't need more modes than 2. Actually, in vim, you could see command mode and the visual modes as extensions of the normal node. Modes are really just a metaphor.
In a text editor, user input either writes text to the file or does something else. Every text editor let you write to files so aside from aesthetics, it's the everything else that makes each different. If keystrokes for writing are not separated from keystrokes for everything else, everything else is confined to awkward ctrl- and alt- key combos. That's why it's a good idea to put them in different 'modes' so you can perform other actions comfortably. You don't need more modes than 2. Actually, in vim, you could see command mode and the visual modes as extensions of the normal node. Modes are really just a metaphor.