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So I got into modular…
I’m telling myself it’s research for now, and I’m really enjoying exploring this almost purely analogue world. It’s really quite tricky to make stuff that’s musical in a normal sense (with my random setup anyway) but I’m slowly finding my feet. I recorded this last night in aum using blackhole into lunar lander as a send. I’m slowly working out that I can use pan as well as the aux sends on my mixer into the ICA4+ to only selectively effect various channels…
Comments
Ah. ‘Research’. That’s how it begins…
Just think of modules as apps, obviously. Apps which costs tens or hundreds and hundreds of pounds each. (Side note: what kind of cognitive dissonance is it to baulk at an app that costs more than five pounds, but then think of any new module for less than a couple hundred as ‘cheap’ ?)
I wondered at how these people ended up with walls of modules running to thousands of pounds. Then I realised. Because it’s modular, acquiring each individual bit over time can, paradoxically seem almost… reasonable? Cheaper often than a whole new synth anyway. Like those part work magazines to build a model Spitfire or something that build week by week… and end up costing more than an actual Spitfire. This way, of course, madness lies...
Personally, I now have three cases, working on a fourth (!) Still haven’t produced anything even I could recognise as a tune yet. But having fun doing it. As, by the sound of things, are you!
It really comes together toward the end.
Welcome to Modular Anonymous. The first step is to realise you are an addict
Second sidenote: talking about walls of modules, a bit ‘jazz’ for my taste, but you have to be impressed by what this guy pulls off:
Interesting article with him explaining his approach here:
https://xlr8r.com/features/a-guide-to-modular-synthesis/
Third note:
The end of this clip pretty much captures how I feel approaching my own rack…
Ha cheers @Svetlovska I’m pretty sure I’m addicted to it all, guitars, amps, iPads, and now modular. I’ll tell myself I’ll stick to this case and just ‘refine’ it for as long as I can, I ended up with a lot of space taken by the bundled ones which could be replicated for what I use them for in about a quarter of the space for a start, I might make a special box for the SID one, but then again maybe not, it’s like a weird sort of ‘complex’ oscillator the way it’s set up in this module…
I need more utilities, attenuators and that sort of thing really, looking at the 0hp stuff to help me do that in limited space at the moment, but concentrating on learning/building a workflow with this, the octatrack and all the other nonsense I seem to have acquired in the last three years 😁
@Svetlovska I like the sounds in that clip, the four to the floor less so, but it does help it all hang together; that’s what seems to be a big part off the challenge with modular. I totally get it with that sketch as well, I’m only using half of my case in that piece, and struggling to control it at that, I don’t know if I could handle two, never mind three or more! I still want to play with an arbhar though, with a clutch of lfos and sequencers 😅
Yes, I think I’ve gone through an expansion phase, finding out, rather expensively, what I like through buying modules. (probably not the best way to do it
)
Now I am now trying to crunch it down to two 7U Intellijel cases (expensive but absolutely fantastic cases, so well thought out, and they can lock together), and an iPad, for midi sequencing and post production, so I can do instant sofa noodling instead of having to go to my studio, or, gasp, open up a laptop.
This set up is focussed on real-time audio manipulation of found sound for Dark Ambient/ musique concrete/Hainbaching experiments. In other words, pretty much the Make Noise Tape and Microsound Machine: https://www.makenoisemusic.com/synthesizers/tape-and-microsound-music-machine, with some additions, like the amazing Bitbox Micro sampler which I can use to auto sample my synths, use for beats, etc.
I’ll keep my RackBrute as it is a perfect fit for the two semi modulars I have, for a huge number of apparently boring but useful utilities (the Modulor 114) and classic analog noise (Behringer Neutron) but will probably sell off other things I got which didn’t jell with me, eg Expert Sleepers stuff. (Too much menu diving).
The modules in these cases will doubtless change over time, as my hours spent on modular grid presage, but I will try to stick at least with this form factor now, as the size and portability offers the instant ‘turn on, play, record’ workflow I’ve been looking for.
Oo that concrete leaning case looks fun! Speaking of the big H, you didn’t nab a ticket to the recording in Manchester tomorrow by any chance did you? A close neighbour here and I did, butI think the allocations went really quickly. I’m not sure how big an audience they’ve allowed for…
No, sadly not. As a diabetic and with cases soaring in my home town I’m still picking and choosing my social involvements. Would’ve been great though. I’d’ve had to try to get his autograph or do something equally naff and nerdy! He and this forum are the two things which got me back into making noises after half a lifetime of not. Enjoy the event - I’ll expect a full report!
Ah fair enough, and sorry; I will report as much as I recall. I think it’ll be a YouTube thing anyway so you’ll get the sonic treatment, if not the pleasure of rubbing shoulders 😁 For what it’s worth, it’ll be my first time in a town bigger than Halifax in more than two years, not for any health or even anti social reasons, I’m just incredibly lazy when it comes to getting out and about, unless it’s going to the Aegean to see my cephalopod mates…
Definitely, a slippery slope, but enjoy!
Upgraded my setup a few months back to a Pittsburgh 270 case from two Make Noise skiffs. Those might get filled back up eventually too.
Those spare cases are seemingly the slip of the slope as it were 😁
Haha, yeah, I should say that having VCV + Expert Sleepers ES-8 is a big help for not expanding. Can do much with VCV and having hybrid setup is super flexible. #infiniteVCAs
Yeah definitely, I’m trying to maximise what I’ve already got, using external sequencing and effects mainly, the expert sleeping input output stuff seems quite smart in that regard for sure, though luckily my case has two channels of gate and CV, a clock and mod out, and I’ve gota funny separate octex board that has several other outputs, though unfortunately that’s locked to MIDI channel one so I have to use it separately from the octa so as not to interfere with the cre8audio interface… the old neutron is handy too for extra bits and bobs
Ha! Oh, man, you're dooooooomed
I just took a hard turn away from modular, as it goes. I parted with my remaining semi-modulars (MS-20 Mini and 0-Coast) leaving me with just the Werkstatt, a couple of Shruthis and samplers & the "desktop modular" approach of guitar pedals, outboard effects boxes and a Boredbrain Patchulator. I love the concept and sounds of modular, but I can't get anywhere with the workflow, alas (and it's way too rich for my blood and compulsive personality!)
Getting into modular was the best/worst thing I could do to myself
Heh, that’s what is written about the euro, I might be ok for a good while, the combo of the neutron and the octatrack gives me plenty plenty to play with, and I have trouble coordinating even the stuff I have already, I guess that comes with practice though, and then the same becomes real 😱
The worst thing for me was (/is) the power of some of the modules that I truly struggle to replicate any other way. What Rossum Electro did with the Assimil8or is incredible for a sample-obsessive such as myself and the Morphagene is perfectly Radiophonic Workshop meets Xenakis that I have been very tempted to get a pod for that alone... but then I'd need LFOs and VCAs and a VCF or too and...
Assimil8or is quite replicable with drambo.
Oh that Assimil8or is exactly the kind of thing I don’t need to see, thankfully it’s the kind of arbhar level money that will make me pause for enough time I think…
It's statements like this that make me realise that I need to spend more time with Drambo. Or at the very least, raid Patchstorage
Yeah, that's the thing with the really hefty modules: they would become literally the most expensive thing in my whole setup & to occupy that position means (in my head) that they would have to be doing a lot of seriously heavy lifting.
I cannot help myself - Do you have a ModularGrid link to your setup?
I purged all Eurocrack a few years ago, too addicting and I don't have enough self control. Luckily iPad apps are inexpensive.
btw, great horror ambient. I wish more folks would make sample packs of atmospheres and pads like that.
Hehe I always feel like ModularGrid is a massive GAS enabler! Simply browsing that site out of curiosity, with no intentions of purchasing any Eurorack stuff at all, feels like it starts to place weight on my wallet!
Hehe yeah here:
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/1845714
thanks, I'm hoping to start putting together some sample sets at some point, mainly from my homemade gear though, but maybe some madness from this little box will help take the sting out of its tail
@PeteSasqwax Yeah, I'm slowly getting sucked back in...
Yesterday I added an inexpensive Eurocrack filter to my Reverb Watchlist - today I get an email from them with an offer at an even lower price. Arrgghh!
Nice start! Maths right there in the middle - love it.
Oh, do you have the Nifty Case? If so, does its dual MIDI to CV converter work okay? I read some bad reports.
I'm sure you already have this, but here's Demonam's 'Illustrated Supplement' PDF for Maths. Super helpful guide.
https://reverb.com/software/learning/demonam/2943-demonam-make-noise-maths-v2-illustrated-supplement
Oh nice, thanks for that, always useful, and yeah, maths was recommended from so many different angles I couldn't really not dive in... cre8 case is pretty good as far as i can tell, I had more issues getting my octatrack to actually spit out the MIDI correctly than with what it puts out. I'm guessing it's not quite as good as expert sleepers stuff but it seems to do what I throw at it pretty well, and the outputs are handy too.
Thanks man, good to know. Nifty Case looks like a bargain.
Octatrack + modular - what a great pairing.
If you make some sample packs, I'd be interested.
I think it’s doing me well, the sequencer in the bundle hasn’t really clicked with me yet, and I’m not sure if it will. The chipz thing is useful, mostly for the lfo right now, but also for extra vcos to add into the mix, though I may well at some point swap that out for smaller more versatile things…
The octa with the case is a revelation, I’d not even thought of it until a week ago when I read a thread about best sequencers to use in modular and someone answered it with one word. It just makes sense, there’s lfos and I think up to ten cc controls, so I’ve got it mapped to a little MIDI CV converter that I got off @PeteSasqwax a while back as well as the case stuff, really need to get into sequencing it more, p locks etc 😁
Which chip do you have in your Sid Guts?
I got an 8580, no overheated moments yet 🤞
This is why I've never created a Reverb account - I'm dangerous enough on forums and eBay!
I'm gradually learning to embrace the truth of "just because other people do amazing things with that piece of gear doesn't mean I would" which is why the MS-20 and 0-Coast ultimately went. I never felt compelled to explore what plugging things into other things did because so very few of my experiments ever went anywhere constructive. The MS-20 was mired by my love of controlling VCOs with sample & hold and making everything sound like "the computer lab" in 1950s sci fi films and the 0-Coast was reduced to a Blippoo box as soon as I discovered I could make it pop and crackle away to itself. All I need to do now is make iOS versions of those things and I'll never even notice they're gone...
Yeah definitely the right attitude to take, I’ve managed (I think) to gravitate towards hardware that does stuff I might find impossible inside the computers, largely because of the interface being designed to be used that way, but also sonically, the metasonix was what got me having to buy the case in the first place, and it’s so rich an experience inside the minimal controls it has, also incredibly good for pinging btw 😜 that whole piece at the top is basically just that oscillator being input modulated and then frequency modulated afterwards, with a bit of the Sid on more ‘conventional’ bass duties…
LOL! Damn you!
Yeah, the Metasonix stuff looks so good. I love the part on I Dream Of Wires where Eric goes through his devotion to vacuum tubes: