What's a good 'experimental' music thing to start off with? Is it even a good idea?

sevenape

Hello, I was thinking about trying to reduce screen time a bit, and I thought I could try some kind of DIY or maker experimental music box. I'm too poor to get into eurorack or buy a buchla, but I watch a lot of loopop videos drooling at the hardware he plays with. I'm really interested in plinky, but that has a REALLY long wait time at thonk, so I dunno, I see things like the nanoloop fm, the Ellitone multisynth, Gecho loopsynth, an OP1 or Organelle or even a Norns shield or something totally out there like a stereo field .

A lot of this has been fed/inspired by This Italian composer called Luca Longobardi, who makes lovely and short videos using all kinds of amazing equipment:

https://www.youtube.com/c/LucaLongobardiOfficial/videos

Thing is all of these things whilst exciting to watch and listen to on youtube, are probably much much more limited than my iPad and more fiddly to get good sounds from, am I just best rethinking my iPad and iPhone usage for music making? I'm guessing once the novelty has worn off, I'll be back on my iPad?

aleyas

Honestly, the Volca Modular is as good a place to start as any. Seems like you're not averse to eurorack (so you don't mind patching) and Buchla (so you like west coast). The Volca Modular meets both criteria. It sounds pretty nice, its analog, its got 50 patch points, and you can expand it with a 2nd modular if you chose.

Beside that, I'd look at some of the other modular systems that use dupont cables for patching. They'll all be small, and generally experimental. Bastl has some products like the Kastle, Bitranger, and Kastle Drum which would also fit the bill.

The Koma Field Kit might be right up your alley too.
https://koma-elektronik.com/?product=field-kit

brambos

I’ll never get tired of dicking around with my 0-coast.

sigma79

I got a volca modular but also Ripplemaker and Shockwave. Shockwave is kind of semi modular and with the envelope controls. You can tweak it to a ripplemaker. Sometimes shockwave giving the bassier growls of a volca modular, added to a ripplemaker, although you could just use ripplemaker. If you euclidean but with a chord app. It will still send a note ( random generative ) plus you got the euclidean speeds and can also transpose root notes via keyboard. If the volca modular were to add some tones. Maybe its best to not use abelton link. Maybe you can tweak the clock to euclidean clock. Volca has a keyboard. Would need to test to see if a plinky would better suit a ripplemaker, shockwave combo. Maybe the plinky is more similar sounding to shockwave then ripplemaker.

sigma79

The Modular dj.

sevenape

@aleyas said:
Honestly, the Volca Modular is as good a place to start as any. Seems like you're not averse to eurorack (so you don't mind patching) and Buchla (so you like west coast). The Volca Modular meets both criteria. It sounds pretty nice, its analog, its got 50 patch points, and you can expand it with a 2nd modular if you chose.

Beside that, I'd look at some of the other modular systems that use dupont cables for patching. They'll all be small, and generally experimental. Bastl has some products like the Kastle, Bitranger, and Kastle Drum which would also fit the bill.

The Koma Field Kit might be right up your alley too.
https://koma-elektronik.com/?product=field-kit

Ayaya now I have more to ponder... still... The volca is something I've been considering and it's portable too, maybe that's the one for me in the end!?

sevenape

@brambos said:
I’ll never get tired of dicking around with my 0-coast.

@PeteSasqwax has one too... I was lusting a bit over the strega, but I dunno... The volca is really cheap. Can it do similar things!?

sevenape

@sigma79 said:
I got a volca modular but also Ripplemaker and Shockwave. Shockwave is kind of semi modular and with the envelope controls. You can tweak it to a ripplemaker. Sometimes shockwave giving the bassier growls of a volca modular, added to a ripplemaker, although you could just use ripplemaker. If you euclidean but with a chord app. It will still send a note ( random generative ) plus you got the euclidean speeds and can also transpose root notes via keyboard. If the volca modular were to add some tones. Maybe its best to not use abelton link. Maybe you can tweak the clock to euclidean clock.

Does the volca sound much different from the apps.

sevenape

@sevenape said:

@sigma79 said:
I got a volca modular but also Ripplemaker and Shockwave. Shockwave is kind of semi modular and with the envelope controls. You can tweak it to a ripplemaker. Sometimes shockwave giving the bassier growls of a volca modular, added to a ripplemaker, although you could just use ripplemaker. If you euclidean but with a chord app. It will still send a note ( random generative ) plus you got the euclidean speeds and can also transpose root notes via keyboard. If the volca modular were to add some tones. Maybe its best to not use abelton link. Maybe you can tweak the clock to euclidean clock.

Does the volca sound much different from the apps?

sigma79

@sevenape said:

@sigma79 said:
I got a volca modular but also Ripplemaker and Shockwave. Shockwave is kind of semi modular and with the envelope controls. You can tweak it to a ripplemaker. Sometimes shockwave giving the bassier growls of a volca modular, added to a ripplemaker, although you could just use ripplemaker. If you euclidean but with a chord app. It will still send a note ( random generative ) plus you got the euclidean speeds and can also transpose root notes via keyboard. If the volca modular were to add some tones. Maybe its best to not use abelton link. Maybe you can tweak the clock to euclidean clock.

Does the volca sound much different from the apps.

It does but havent really patched the volca. You could get similar with Ripplemaker. Will post back soon with sounds

brambos

@sevenape said:

@brambos said:
I’ll never get tired of dicking around with my 0-coast.

@PeteSasqwax has one too... I was lusting a bit over the strega, but I dunno... The volca is really cheap. Can it do similar things!?

Yeah, the Strega is still on my wishlist, but it's quite pricey for what it does.

I had a bit of a play with the Volca Modular. And while it's certainly fun, its strength is the sequencer. In terms of the range of different sounds you can get out, the 0-Coast eats the Volca for breakfast. The Volca is fun, but has a rather narrow 'type of sound'. The MakeNoise is a lot more versatile in that respect, and - for me - offers more experimental fun per cm2

sevenape

@brambos said:

@sevenape said:

@brambos said:
I’ll never get tired of dicking around with my 0-coast.

@PeteSasqwax has one too... I was lusting a bit over the strega, but I dunno... The volca is really cheap. Can it do similar things!?

Yeah, the Strega is still on my wishlist, but it's quite pricey for what it does.

I had a bit of a play with the Volca Modular. And while it's certainly fun, its strength is the sequencer. In terms of the range of different sounds you can get out, the 0-Coast eats the Volca for breakfast. The Volca is fun, but has a rather narrow 'type of sound'. The MakeNoise is a lot more versatile in that respect, and - for me - offers more experimental fun per cm2

ahhh... that makes sense. So I guess I should put the 0-coast on my list! Man, it's so difficult!

sevenape

@sigma79 said:

@sevenape said:

@sigma79 said:
I got a volca modular but also Ripplemaker and Shockwave. Shockwave is kind of semi modular and with the envelope controls. You can tweak it to a ripplemaker. Sometimes shockwave giving the bassier growls of a volca modular, added to a ripplemaker, although you could just use ripplemaker. If you euclidean but with a chord app. It will still send a note ( random generative ) plus you got the euclidean speeds and can also transpose root notes via keyboard. If the volca modular were to add some tones. Maybe its best to not use abelton link. Maybe you can tweak the clock to euclidean clock.

Does the volca sound much different from the apps.

It does but havent really patched the volca. You could get similar with Ripplemaker. Will post back soon with sounds

I look forward to it!!!

u0421793

I should interject by adding that in all the youtube viewing I’ve done, which is a lot, I’ve never once heard a Volca Modular sound good.

So, yeh - experimental

gkillmaster

What about the Microfreak?

PeteSasqwax

Man, I sold my 0-Coast and 0-Ctrl as a package and I do wish I had kept the 0-Coast. When I end up selling the Sirin I might end up getting another (and I do fancy a Digitakt at some stage...)

What I like best in the screen-less box (yes, I know a lot of them have screens of some description, but not like an iOS device) is to be able to have one thing and a pair of headphones that I can lose myself in.

I wanted to get into the Elektron ecosystem (because I'm more or less obsessed with trig conditions and a less-is-more approach to sequencing) so I picked up a Model:Samples. Obviously you can't sample into it but it's absurdly powerful and so easy to get lost in. For the £200 I paid it's ideal and means that I can find off the Digitakt urges for quite some time.

I like the Koma Elektronik suggestion. I have both Field Kit and Field Kit FX, which are fantastic together, and I got them both plus the expansions for £350 in total.

Maybe for the best value it's worth getting a bit of a list together and keeping an eye on used prices. When I got the Field Kits I wasn't specifically after them, they were on the list of things that I felt would add something fun and interesting to my setup. And they absolutely did! Also they're ridiculous fun to play around with alongside other people, working through the ideas in the handbooks and then using them as a spring board to go into different places.

sigma79

@u0421793 said:
I should interject by adding that in all the youtube viewing I’ve done, which is a lot, I’ve never once heard a Volca Modular sound good.

So, yeh - experimental

Sounds ok. For £100. You could buy an iphone and ripplemaker. Dont think theres another synth for £100 with the range of sound because of patching/sequencing.

sevenape

@u0421793 said:
I should interject by adding that in all the youtube viewing I’ve done, which is a lot, I’ve never once heard a Volca Modular sound good.

>

This is good!

sevenape

@gkillmaster said:
What about the Microfreak?

Things keep coming back round to the micro freak. Maybe it’s the one!?

sevenape

@PeteSasqwax said:
What I like best in the screen-less box (yes, I know a lot of them have screens of some description, but not like an iOS device) is to be able to have one thing and a pair of headphones that I can lose myself in.

This is exactly it man, I would like a box that transports me just like that. Portable is a massive plus.

The field kit and effects look absolutely amazing, I must say.

espiegel123

@sevenape said:

@u0421793 said:
I should interject by adding that in all the youtube viewing I’ve done, which is a lot, I’ve never once heard a Volca Modular sound good.

>

This is good!

IMO, the Volca modular sounds like a toy compared to the 0-Coast (recordings of which to my ears sound as good really expensive synths). The Volca recordings sound cool until I listen to what someone has created with an 0-Coast).

Listening to 0-Coast recordings, I go "I wish I could get that sound out of my iPad". I've never had that experience listening to things made with the Volca.

sigma79

The o coast is way better but Iv read its more similar to ripplemaker. Just checked the ocoast. It would be easier to mimic the ocoast with ripplemaker, then mimic a volca modular with ripplemaker. I guess is if you need the volca tone. Well. The ocoast does sound better than ripplemaker, shockwave and volca modular. Not sure Id swap an ipad mini, with ripplemaker, shockwave ( which were just a test with ripplemaker ) plus a volca modular ( if theres a cool semi modular mix ) plus all other apps and cpu. Not sure. Maybe being able to sequence euclidean to euclidean drums on a controller is good, although sequencing might not matter with generative and tweaking. Versitlity vs sound but which is which.

sigma79

auxmux

Another 0coast recommendation.

GeorgeL909

@sevenape said:

@brambos said:

@sevenape said:

@brambos said:
I’ll never get tired of dicking around with my 0-coast.

@PeteSasqwax has one too... I was lusting a bit over the strega, but I dunno... The volca is really cheap. Can it do similar things!?

Yeah, the Strega is still on my wishlist, but it's quite pricey for what it does.

I had a bit of a play with the Volca Modular. And while it's certainly fun, its strength is the sequencer. In terms of the range of different sounds you can get out, the 0-Coast eats the Volca for breakfast. The Volca is fun, but has a rather narrow 'type of sound'. The MakeNoise is a lot more versatile in that respect, and - for me - offers more experimental fun per cm2

ahhh... that makes sense. So I guess I should put the 0-coast on my list! Man, it's so difficult!

The volca modular 100% needs external effects imo. It will sounds incredibly vanilla as is with just the on board spring verb. It's not bad gear, but on it's own it's not as wide open a canvas as you'd expect with west coast synthesis.

I'm gonna echo: a model samples or cycles is an excellent cheap option for experimental weird stuff. Just load a samples up with anything, pitch down, parameter lock and crank the reverb and delay and you'll get some esoteric sounds well beyond the scope of a volca modular. Automate the start time, go almost granular in sample length and you'll be creating nightmare soundscapes in no time.

I imagine the cycles can do similar things, just using fm, which we all know gets real weird real fast.

I think ess did a phenomenal performance to really show off the cycles skip to about 35 minutes in for ess's set

At 38 minutes he makes the cycles sound like a strega

sigma79

Ocoast ftw. Even as a nice synth like posted. Its got a lot just from tweaking a few knobs. Can you add effects on a combo bus of lamer synths? Dont forget id700 though. Might not be the same but it does offer some commiseration.

audiblevideo

The real question is do you want to route electricity in the form of current mediated by cables or code?

If you want code a Norns shield will give you a millennia of faffing around. You can run lua scripts, ORAC, or MOD plugins on the pi that runs the shield, so even if you get tired of the hundreds of user lua scripts you can re-jigger and get a basically new instrument. Some scripts use a monome grid, but don’t worry about that too much. There’s instruction on how to DIY one one the http://llllllll.co/ forum, or you can spend 5 bucks and get TouchOSC (recent new version) and use it. Also, if you need a hardware grid there are programs that will let you use a launchpad (or two) as a substitute for a monome grid.

If you want cables you can’t to wrong with the 0-coast. There are lots of modular DIY kits as well. All you would need is a fan, solder (lead free which works just fine - get bent old forum posts), a usb powered soldering iron ($70-120), solder wick, and an adjustable magnifying lens.

Sounds like you might want to actually touch knobs and stuff.

PeteSasqwax

@audiblevideo said:
if you need a hardware grid there are programs that will let you use a launchpad (or two) as a substitute for a monome grid.

I need to do this. I have a Norns Shield that I haven't used much yet because I'm waiting for a case (bare PCBs just don't feel like they're safe around music loving, chaos causing cats). I've got 2 Launchpad Minis (Mk1 + Mk2) that I intend to use together as a substitute grid. Once I hand in my Master's work in August I'm finally allowing myself to dive in...

espiegel123

@sigma79 said:
The o coast is way better but Iv read its more similar to ripplemaker. Just checked the ocoast. It would be easier to mimic the ocoast with ripplemaker, then mimic a volca modular with ripplemaker. I guess is if you need the volca tone. Well. The ocoast does sound better than ripplemaker, shockwave and volca modular. Not sure Id swap an ipad mini, with ripplemaker, shockwave ( which were just a test with ripplemaker ) plus a volca modular ( if theres a cool semi modular mix ) plus all other apps and cpu. Not sure. Maybe being able to sequence euclidean to euclidean drums on a controller is good, although sequencing might not matter with generative and tweaking. Versitlity vs sound but which is which.

I like Ripplemaker but it isn't an 0-Coast substitute. While Ripplemaker's architecture is inspired by the 0-Coast. IMO nothing on iOS has a wavefolder that matches (or really comes close) to the 0-Coast or its punchiness.

StudioES

Maybe the Bastl Kastle or Microgranny, or Lumanoise.
https://bastl-instruments.com/instruments
https://www.noisebug.net/search?type=product&q=lumanoise (Noisebug has many interesting experimental gadgets).

These won't reduce screen time:

• https://www.automatonism.com/the-software/
• 

sevenape

@audiblevideo said:
The real question is do you want to route electricity in the form of current mediated by cables or code?

If you want code a Norns shield will give you a millennia of faffing around. You can run lua scripts, ORAC, or MOD plugins on the pi that runs the shield, so even if you get tired of the hundreds of user lua scripts you can re-jigger and get a basically new instrument. Some scripts use a monome grid, but don’t worry about that too much. There’s instruction on how to DIY one one the http://llllllll.co/ forum, or you can spend 5 bucks and get TouchOSC (recent new version) and use it. Also, if you need a hardware grid there are programs that will let you use a launchpad (or two) as a substitute for a monome grid.

If you want cables you can’t to wrong with the 0-coast. There are lots of modular DIY kits as well. All you would need is a fan, solder (lead free which works just fine - get bent old forum posts), a usb powered soldering iron ($70-120), solder wick, and an adjustable magnifying lens.

Sounds like you might want to actually touch knobs and stuff.

I really really want to fondle some knobs. I’m worried coding is beyond my skill set, but twiddling, well, that’s more my speed.