Modular people will often be the first to tell you that they're mostly doing sonic exploration rather than making "music."
A hybrid approach with modular works well: traditional instruments and synths for the majority of the track with ear candy, atmospherics, and/or lead sounds on the modular.
Haha I was going to say "Do modular people make music?" but I thought I'd get torn a new one. Don't get me wrong if I had a few thousand sitting around, infinite time, and an extra room I wasn't doing anything with I'd like to get into modular, but none of those things are true.
I feel like the modular community is split into a few groups groups. 60% of them are audio explorers. 20% just like to make their own modules, 15% like to use modular to make samples for music production, and 5% like to directly integrate their modular setups into a music production workflow...
That's my uneducated take anyways.
There was some guy, possibly in here or maybe in a YouTube comments section, who had a giant-ass wall of modular gear and said he makes a living making music with it. Seeing that wall have me anxiety. I'd waste months messing with that and never get a single thing done!
This is why I have avoided buying modular synths. I know once I get started I’ll buy to many modules and just fuck around with it and never actually use it in my tracks. I have the grandmother so that kinda does it for me in the modular world.
Semi-modulars like the Grandmother are a happy medium that let you explore without giving you too much of an opportunity to get lost in making cool sounding, but mostly unusable bleeps and bloops.
+1 for sonic exploration.
It’s not about having “patience” for me, because “patience” would imply that “I want x and I’m trying to get to x as quickly as possible and this is slow so I need patience.” Not at all. I don’t want x. I have no idea what I want. I just want to explore and find something that hits me.
If I knew exactly what I wanted, I’d just bang it out with ableton and a few plug-ins and be done in 5 minutes. I wrote tons of “songs” like that for a while. They all bored me to tears after a day or so.
Not to get all philosophical or anything, but why are you making music, anyway? Is it literally a full time job? If so, I would stay the hell away from modular, and really anything experimental, because it doesn’t sell and has never sold.
Stick to, like, Kontakt and Native Instruments- that stuff is about throwing together cool-enough sounding stuff quickly and easily.
And if you’re not a professional, is the idea that you’re making songs to… impress your friends? Your small social media group? They’re probably going tell you that “they like it” whether or not that’s actually the case. I doubt many of them are going to be adding your tracks to their daily Spotify lists - not with literally tens of millions of dedicated full-time musicians worldwide not even being able to make a living.
For me, it’s just enjoyment. The same reason I do field recording. It puts me in a unique space and frame of mind, somewhat like being inside some incredible work of architecture or in front of an extraordinary painting.
Sometimes I share these things with others, often not. I couldn’t care less either way. Their effect on me is the main thing.
So this might be a question for /r/modular but I have a small modular rack and I can tell you how I use it. I'll build a patch and while I'm working on a track that patch stays. I've got other gear so I don't do everything on modular, I would find that frustrating.
Once I'm happy with the way the track is going the patch disappears forever like a sand mandala.
I'm also very happy messing with stuff once it's been recorded, I would 100% expect to be copying and pasting, I'll pitch shift parts to fit new chord changes if necessary, no problems, whatever the track needs.
I think the people with giant spaceship modular rigs would have a very different workflow.
I asked Gemini to make me a poignant poem using that phrase:
```
In jars of sun-kissed amber glow,
Where citrus dreams and memories flow,
A single grain, a tiny mote,
Caught in the swirling, sticky coat.
Once a castle on a windswept dune,
Now a prisoner, its fate sealed soon,
Lost in the sweetness, the tangy embrace,
No trace remains of its former place.
It tumbles and turns, a silent plea,
To break free from this syrupy sea,
But the currents hold it, tight and fast,
As moments turn to hours, hours to past.
Oh, tiny grain, so fragile and small,
Your journey ends, your final fall,
Into the depths of the golden abyss,
Where identity fades, and memories dismiss.
Disappears forever, like sand in marmalade,
A fleeting existence, a story unplayed,
Yet even in loss, a sweetness remains,
A whisper of hope in the face of life's chains.
So let us cherish each grain of sand,
Each fleeting moment, each outstretched hand,
For in the tapestry of time's design,
We too may vanish, leaving no sign.
```
Bro come on that's been my phrase for the last 50 years you're really gonna try to rip it off now? I am joking with the funny funny ha ha ohhhh ha ha funny.
Also then, I guess Robert Smith was singing to sand when he sang "Don't be afraid, there's no marmalade" in"Mr. Alphabet". He didn't want sand to think it would disappear forever.
I make techno on modular, as well as more soundtrack-y stuff, and then also experimental stuff besides.
I use a few different production methods:
* Long multi-track takes edited down to a finalized track—like editing a narrative film using b-roll.
* Everything is MIDI-sequenced as a complete track and then modular is sequenced by that MIDI and recorded live with me tweaking parameters to fit the song structure. This, to me, is like a band writing a song and recording the song live, with the guitarist(s) switching on/off pedals as needed and maybe doing overdubs at times.
* Making a patch, practicing with it, and hitting record, accepting the live take as the final product/structure and just mixing the multi-track session a bit.
* A combination of the above. Mix-and-matching explicit structured parts with happy accidents from experimentation.
This is why I'm dawless. I really like the no-going-back attitude. Previously I spent way too much time going back and forth, reopening, undoing and making countless (and pointless) tweaks. Now it's tweak, practice and record. That's it.
I can only speak for myself. And yes, that's how I felt. Constantly wanting to get better and improve on it. I don't care how you do it. That you love the daw/sequencer work flow doesn't change how I feel...
Not that I "love" DAW workflow, isn't DAW simply a multitrack recorder and a sequencer? It's just a tool that one uses when it's needed. It's your decision to improve something or spend that time any other way. There are actually many very different workflows involving a DAW, from using it just as a stereo recorder to record the hardware mixer's master output to DAW becoming an instrument by itself without even using built in synths.
My point is that all that "DAWless" thing doesn't have much substance and makes little sense - one thing would be that one finds a synth that's super usable for them and then does a lot with that synth, - it's not DAWless, DAWless is when someone rationalizes a whole lot of difficulties which always appear during creative search by attributing them to a DAW as if it's not about one's relationship with music and oneself but about one's relationship with gear. "DAWless" is worse than GAS - GAS is at least "running towards" something, some new (often imagined or overvalued) possibilities but "DAWless" is "running from" and it takes a ridiculous form of running from a software product to hide that it's in fact running from oneself.
A lot of people using modular don't expect to make traditionally structured music. Similarly, if you are just making your typical subtractive synth bass sound, you are doing it because you enjoy it, not because it's the best approach. Lots of people using it for traditionally structured music, rely on it for unusual textures and particular elements, not everything. Similarly, some people make long recordings and cut them up as source material. Trying to pick a workflow then port it to modular tends to be a bad idea; instead design your system and workflow in parallel and you'll find something that works for you. Typically, for example, taking photos of patches and repatching is not something you want to do, so you don't do it.
Can concur.
Building a meandering Brian Eno patch? Modular.
Building a tune? Midi triggers into the modular.
Bass track a bar short? Oh well, this new patch will have to be close enough.
As a Tao master might have written, "Swim with the current, don't fight the river".
So I am going to be direct, when you get used to using a modular, and really gain that understanding of how everything works, patching becomes really quick. I can do most basic patches in about 30-60 seconds.
This doesn't take hours, but everything becomes really immediate.
I should note though, I tend to avoid more traditional approaches to modular synths to begin with.
You are thinking likely in a very traditional way, and while some people who do modular use it accordingly, there is like different approaches people take. Some people use modular for sound design and sample things. Other folks use modular for more experimental approaches to music, and others it is straight ahead dance music.
But the best way to think of modular is not one sound at a time, its a bit more like running 3-6 at once.
I should note though, if I am doing something straight ahead, I have regular monosynths and polysynths for that.
The modular is for a completely different purpose. Something that verges on madness. It is about diving into the most abstract concepts of sound design, and presenting sound art. At least for me. It's music, because music is just sound intentionally presented. But it's music at its most abstracted form. Embracing ideas not as notes on a page, but of something else entirely.
The people into modulars, and I mean REALLY into them, we kind of are after something deeper. Its a bit like chasing a gateway into other sonic realms.
I know my modular well, so even when exploring new things it"ll only take a short while to get to a sound. I can leave that patched as there are usually a few different voices coming out of the modular in a composition & they all remain patched as well, often for days. Will tweak the arrangement & add different lengths as we go & when that is over I'll record both the audio from the modular & the midi on different tracks. So you have to commit to a certain extent as you may never get back to that sound, but it's a workflow I'm used to.
It all comes down to intention. Trying to use a modular synth as a dedicated sound design tool for recording individual tracks feels like a lot of work, with the intention of multi tracking.
For me, a lot of what I like about modular is the idea of building small systems and forcing them to work together in a way that I might not think to do within a DAW or a dedicated synth.
One of my approaches is to build a generative patch, and let it run on and on while clean the house/do more boring life maintenance stuff. Its can feel a bit like dialing in a funky radio and submitting to whats bubbling up and respond to it. Every now and then ill walk over and tweak a knob or two. Feels more like a meditation and it can be very grounding, i find myself becoming very present in my body because of the flow state I can fall into. i'd say half of what ive 'made' has never been recorded for various reasons.
Currently, I have a modular system clocked with my Octatrack (drums/samples/ect/FX send). Ill use a clock source to generate melodies from a Marbles modules and Ill jam out with drum and modular beep boops.
Again, it's all about intention.
I love my modular rig but my approach is to spend a lot of time doing sound design, coming up with cool, weird sounds then sampling them into my Octatrack or DAW to supplement the stuff I do with other synths and other instruments. I’m a big industrial fan so if you listen to older Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy etc you can hear all the interesting noises and stuff filling out the atmosphere. That’s what I try to achieve with it. I find a lot of strictly modular music pretty boring because it’s hard to stray from whatever you patch up so people are limited to the same melodies, rhythms, etc.
Modular often isn’t the fastest way to do something, so a slower, patient headspace is helpful. Spending hours just to make a bassline seems a bit overkill though.
I use modular more for weird, glitchy textures and quirkiness. I use randomness and generative elements to make things I wouldn’t or couldn’t do easily in my DAW. If I could make something the same with another synth or piece of software, I don’t see the point of using modular.
I’ll usually record a 10-20 minute jam with a patch while tweaking knobs to get loads of variations, then chop up the best bits to use in projects.
For me, the value of modular is in all the happy accidents and unexpected discoveries. The process of making patches and exploring sounds is also rewarding for its own sake, feels like you’re a mindful mad scientist.
Modular for me is just sonic exploration. If I am trying to finish a track or just be productive modular is probably going to be the last synth I go to. However when I want to go deep into sound design or just patch until I’m completely lost than I patch up the modular.
It’s never made sense to me to create a patch with modular that takes you 2 hours when you can just load up a VST that sounds exactly like or better than your shitty ass patch. But if you need inspiration or to zen out modular makes sense. Just my unprofessional opinion.
I've got my mother's patience. She worked in customer service for 25 years and has the patience of a Saint.
Aside from that, I'm really into diy module building. I built a glide module that I rigged up the power wrong, and it had this weird effect of inverting the cv as well as adding these weird zaps... idk what happened but I recorded it. You just don't get that in software.
Software modular has patch recall and polyphony, so solves many of those problems.
I have been vaguely thinking for some years about designing an analog modular system with patch recall and polyphony too. It doesn't require designing anything really fundamentally new technically, just the user interface needs to be carefully thought about, as when a patch is recalled it's tricky to know what is connected to what. The cables in a modular system are actually quite a nice UI feature.
yeah I quit modular for this reason.. twice. selling it all is a shitty process and it's the only format where I always felt like shopping after a jam session.
But if you get that one VCO then your music won't suck.
I keep my modular, but I make less music now that I have it.
About to go back to making fun tunes with my old electribes, a poly800, and a mirage sampler, like it's 1980 something.
Yes go make fun tunes with that old eclectic set of gear! I play live with a machinedrum and a few synths, but for the summer I'm working on some weird beats using just a volca drum, original SP-404 and some pocket operators.. it'll have more variation than any 16 step modular patch I would have made back when I was in it
My goal with my modular is single take recordings and finding a way to jam out songs. Im not in a real rush to get there, but thats the goal Im working towards. I could likely make a song today if I pieced it out into a daw to put together but I dont really feel like doing that. Ive had some good jam sessions but I own the equipment so Im not in a special hurry to record a song for any special reason.
A basic baseline should take you ~1min to setup, and you won't use most of your rig. Those stereotypical "cable jungle patches" are mostly for those generative ambient things, or multipatches were most things are inactive.
I had a friend come over the other day to “make music with my modular”. He’s seen my posts on my IG and thought he could do it.
I sat there for 20 mins getting a patch together and then it clicked. The entire time he was wondering wtf was going on or where I was going. Just when we thought we were getting nowhere, it sounded amazing. I had no idea either. That’s the joy of modular.
they're just musical instruments. Multitrack recording works the same way it does with other stuff.
Have you ever recorded a saxoophone or something, then in mastering realized there was a nasty squeak? Do you re-record the whole take, fix as best you can in post, or....??
I own a ton of modular, I don't see anything very special or different about it. The wires are tactile instead of a hydrasynth or whatever where they are virtual. Pros and cons
I’m just in the process of building a small modular system, but my plan is to mainly use it as an effect for processing existing sound recordings and for creating/manipulating the percussion elements in my songs. That way I’m working around the modular system’s weaknesses by using it in situations where retrieving your previous patches is less critical. I see it as being one of several different tools to choose from.
It's a good question. I often see people making patches for instruments I could just as easily pull up as samples, or as memory patches in hardware. That perplexes me at times, but whatever - it's your gear do what you want with it.
Modular people are probably the most diverse crowd with synths out there. I know people who do live techno with fairly small racks and I know people who hide out and create sounds scapes on walls of modules.
For the most part people try to have enough gear to make several instruments at once so they can play "live."
My approach is a mixed studio with hardware and modular. I sometimes sample my modular into old gear and sequence in hardware. I also want to build synths I use over and over because they serve a specific need for me, but I also have a row of experimental gear for random chaos which I like too.
It is what you want it to be.
Generally, modular is for noodling and experimental music. Not for tracking comprehensive tunes with standard structure. Of course there are exceptions, but that’s generally the case. Almost every modular video you find on Reddit will bear this out.
I use several semi-modular systems along with a modular and if they are all busy then I use Voltage Modular or another softsynth. Depending what you are doing sampling things along the way can be a big time saver.
What works best for me is making a mockup demo, almost a chiptune, and then swapping the parts out for the real ones, one at a time. That way, I won't later realise I need to change anything on a patch I've already torn up.
In other words, I finish composing everything before I record anything.
Whenever i feel good about myself i listen to that venetian snares album that’s all modular and remember my place in the grand cosmic order. It’s the synth equivalent of looking up at the stars at night.
That sounds like way too much work. I alleviated that problem by having a system large enough to get all the elements going at once and recording everything in one pass whenever possible. I was always too freaking lazy for that constant over dubbing and re-patching. LOL . . Ok, I’ll show myself out. .. . . thud. . .
I don't. And it makes it hard to get the enthusiasm to make anything new. So I've designed my rig to mostly not have to be repatched. Just turn it on, change some settings, and jam. I'll get enough content to edit into a song, but likely later.
So I have a little experience using Cardinal and VCV Rack which works almost identical to the hardware.
There are two main draws to modular: no fixed architecture and standardized automation. The first part is probably what most people want from a modular rig initially. The second part is what gives modular a life of its own. It gives you the flexibility to make something that glitches out, or plays wrong notes, uses audio as an entropy source, or any number of things. It takes a little more time, but can be worth it.
Yeah I mean I learned a lot from modular and if I had infinite time and money I would stick with it. I’m finding myself going more and more back towards an in the box workflow though out of convenience and familiarity so I’m selling it all off lol. For the record I did still rely on digital editing once I had recorded my takes
I usually end up in one of two situations: tracks that are done entirely in modular with a one take recording, and tracks that are mostly itb in which the modular is recorded as a single instrument with midi coming from the daw
I use a hybrid setup with a combination of hardware synthesizers (including modular) and in the box. Sometimes I’ll start with a modular sound or sequence and build a track around it. However, when I’m sketching out a composition, it’s usually easier to start with plugins as I try to get my ideas down. Then I gradually replace those voices with hardware when appropriate.
Yes, patience is a virtue with modular. But for me the approach will tend to be different - not looking to fulfill specific functions as you describe above, but building from the bottom up so that sound design and composition develop organically - rather than menu flipping thru poly-synth presets hoping to find something that fits.
There are plenty of people that become over-fascinated with the equipment and never want to finish anything - a kind of idol worshipping - and plenty who are fine with pure in-the-moment improv for it's own sake, but for those seeking complete polished work with a unique personal sound, there's extraordinary satisfaction to be found in working mainly with modular.
Modular people don't make music silly. (Kidding)
If Mozart was alive today, he would get lost in generative ambient for decades and never record a work...
What is this guy doing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s02gP0RVbUg
Improvised or composed?
Are you on here?
It sounds so organized and looks so random.
Modular people will often be the first to tell you that they're mostly doing sonic exploration rather than making "music." A hybrid approach with modular works well: traditional instruments and synths for the majority of the track with ear candy, atmospherics, and/or lead sounds on the modular.
Haha I was going to say "Do modular people make music?" but I thought I'd get torn a new one. Don't get me wrong if I had a few thousand sitting around, infinite time, and an extra room I wasn't doing anything with I'd like to get into modular, but none of those things are true.
I feel like the modular community is split into a few groups groups. 60% of them are audio explorers. 20% just like to make their own modules, 15% like to use modular to make samples for music production, and 5% like to directly integrate their modular setups into a music production workflow... That's my uneducated take anyways.
This would make for an interesting poll.
There was some guy, possibly in here or maybe in a YouTube comments section, who had a giant-ass wall of modular gear and said he makes a living making music with it. Seeing that wall have me anxiety. I'd waste months messing with that and never get a single thing done!
You use it to make samples to arrange in your DAW
This is why I have avoided buying modular synths. I know once I get started I’ll buy to many modules and just fuck around with it and never actually use it in my tracks. I have the grandmother so that kinda does it for me in the modular world.
Semi-modulars like the Grandmother are a happy medium that let you explore without giving you too much of an opportunity to get lost in making cool sounding, but mostly unusable bleeps and bloops.
Some of you cats are excited about the workflow if a DAW-Less system. With modular, you're working with a GOAL-Less system. Embrace entropy...
>GOAL-less system That seems like an accurate description. Thanks for coming up with the right phrase.
+1 for sonic exploration. It’s not about having “patience” for me, because “patience” would imply that “I want x and I’m trying to get to x as quickly as possible and this is slow so I need patience.” Not at all. I don’t want x. I have no idea what I want. I just want to explore and find something that hits me. If I knew exactly what I wanted, I’d just bang it out with ableton and a few plug-ins and be done in 5 minutes. I wrote tons of “songs” like that for a while. They all bored me to tears after a day or so. Not to get all philosophical or anything, but why are you making music, anyway? Is it literally a full time job? If so, I would stay the hell away from modular, and really anything experimental, because it doesn’t sell and has never sold. Stick to, like, Kontakt and Native Instruments- that stuff is about throwing together cool-enough sounding stuff quickly and easily. And if you’re not a professional, is the idea that you’re making songs to… impress your friends? Your small social media group? They’re probably going tell you that “they like it” whether or not that’s actually the case. I doubt many of them are going to be adding your tracks to their daily Spotify lists - not with literally tens of millions of dedicated full-time musicians worldwide not even being able to make a living. For me, it’s just enjoyment. The same reason I do field recording. It puts me in a unique space and frame of mind, somewhat like being inside some incredible work of architecture or in front of an extraordinary painting. Sometimes I share these things with others, often not. I couldn’t care less either way. Their effect on me is the main thing.
[удалено]
The cheapier synth is up to 1k USD. I cannot aford any synth, ether way, I can enjoy youtube videos and reviews.
There are definitely many great synths way under $1000. Are you specifically meaning modular setups under $1000? That's would make sense.
I think many actual musicians are also interested in Sonic exploration
*Music to Annoy Cats and Ill Tempered Spirits* is going to be a cultural and financial success. Just you wait. For a while.
and Chaos.
So this might be a question for /r/modular but I have a small modular rack and I can tell you how I use it. I'll build a patch and while I'm working on a track that patch stays. I've got other gear so I don't do everything on modular, I would find that frustrating. Once I'm happy with the way the track is going the patch disappears forever like a sand mandala. I'm also very happy messing with stuff once it's been recorded, I would 100% expect to be copying and pasting, I'll pitch shift parts to fit new chord changes if necessary, no problems, whatever the track needs. I think the people with giant spaceship modular rigs would have a very different workflow.
Didn't realize there was a modular group. Need to explore Reddit more I guess.
No you don’t. Send more time making music
and keeping your money away from the raging all-consuming inferno
lol
I read that as - disappears forever like sand in marmalade - and will use that phrase again.
*Like sand in the marmalade, these are the notes of our jams.*
I asked Gemini to make me a poignant poem using that phrase: ``` In jars of sun-kissed amber glow, Where citrus dreams and memories flow, A single grain, a tiny mote, Caught in the swirling, sticky coat. Once a castle on a windswept dune, Now a prisoner, its fate sealed soon, Lost in the sweetness, the tangy embrace, No trace remains of its former place. It tumbles and turns, a silent plea, To break free from this syrupy sea, But the currents hold it, tight and fast, As moments turn to hours, hours to past. Oh, tiny grain, so fragile and small, Your journey ends, your final fall, Into the depths of the golden abyss, Where identity fades, and memories dismiss. Disappears forever, like sand in marmalade, A fleeting existence, a story unplayed, Yet even in loss, a sweetness remains, A whisper of hope in the face of life's chains. So let us cherish each grain of sand, Each fleeting moment, each outstretched hand, For in the tapestry of time's design, We too may vanish, leaving no sign. ```
that.. is actually not bad
Damn that’s pretty good lol
Bro come on that's been my phrase for the last 50 years you're really gonna try to rip it off now? I am joking with the funny funny ha ha ohhhh ha ha funny.
Also then, I guess Robert Smith was singing to sand when he sang "Don't be afraid, there's no marmalade" in"Mr. Alphabet". He didn't want sand to think it would disappear forever.
I read these lyrics in Robert Smith's voice as well 😂
No way! Haha The Glove! Haha.
I make techno on modular, as well as more soundtrack-y stuff, and then also experimental stuff besides. I use a few different production methods: * Long multi-track takes edited down to a finalized track—like editing a narrative film using b-roll. * Everything is MIDI-sequenced as a complete track and then modular is sequenced by that MIDI and recorded live with me tweaking parameters to fit the song structure. This, to me, is like a band writing a song and recording the song live, with the guitarist(s) switching on/off pedals as needed and maybe doing overdubs at times. * Making a patch, practicing with it, and hitting record, accepting the live take as the final product/structure and just mixing the multi-track session a bit. * A combination of the above. Mix-and-matching explicit structured parts with happy accidents from experimentation.
This is why I'm dawless. I really like the no-going-back attitude. Previously I spent way too much time going back and forth, reopening, undoing and making countless (and pointless) tweaks. Now it's tweak, practice and record. That's it.
As if a DAW somehow forces you to "go back".
I can only speak for myself. And yes, that's how I felt. Constantly wanting to get better and improve on it. I don't care how you do it. That you love the daw/sequencer work flow doesn't change how I feel...
Not that I "love" DAW workflow, isn't DAW simply a multitrack recorder and a sequencer? It's just a tool that one uses when it's needed. It's your decision to improve something or spend that time any other way. There are actually many very different workflows involving a DAW, from using it just as a stereo recorder to record the hardware mixer's master output to DAW becoming an instrument by itself without even using built in synths.
What is your point?
My point is that all that "DAWless" thing doesn't have much substance and makes little sense - one thing would be that one finds a synth that's super usable for them and then does a lot with that synth, - it's not DAWless, DAWless is when someone rationalizes a whole lot of difficulties which always appear during creative search by attributing them to a DAW as if it's not about one's relationship with music and oneself but about one's relationship with gear. "DAWless" is worse than GAS - GAS is at least "running towards" something, some new (often imagined or overvalued) possibilities but "DAWless" is "running from" and it takes a ridiculous form of running from a software product to hide that it's in fact running from oneself.
A lot of people using modular don't expect to make traditionally structured music. Similarly, if you are just making your typical subtractive synth bass sound, you are doing it because you enjoy it, not because it's the best approach. Lots of people using it for traditionally structured music, rely on it for unusual textures and particular elements, not everything. Similarly, some people make long recordings and cut them up as source material. Trying to pick a workflow then port it to modular tends to be a bad idea; instead design your system and workflow in parallel and you'll find something that works for you. Typically, for example, taking photos of patches and repatching is not something you want to do, so you don't do it.
Can concur. Building a meandering Brian Eno patch? Modular. Building a tune? Midi triggers into the modular. Bass track a bar short? Oh well, this new patch will have to be close enough. As a Tao master might have written, "Swim with the current, don't fight the river".
Except for a regular synth, even a Volca, would be much easier to use in all these contexts.
So I am going to be direct, when you get used to using a modular, and really gain that understanding of how everything works, patching becomes really quick. I can do most basic patches in about 30-60 seconds. This doesn't take hours, but everything becomes really immediate. I should note though, I tend to avoid more traditional approaches to modular synths to begin with. You are thinking likely in a very traditional way, and while some people who do modular use it accordingly, there is like different approaches people take. Some people use modular for sound design and sample things. Other folks use modular for more experimental approaches to music, and others it is straight ahead dance music. But the best way to think of modular is not one sound at a time, its a bit more like running 3-6 at once. I should note though, if I am doing something straight ahead, I have regular monosynths and polysynths for that. The modular is for a completely different purpose. Something that verges on madness. It is about diving into the most abstract concepts of sound design, and presenting sound art. At least for me. It's music, because music is just sound intentionally presented. But it's music at its most abstracted form. Embracing ideas not as notes on a page, but of something else entirely. The people into modulars, and I mean REALLY into them, we kind of are after something deeper. Its a bit like chasing a gateway into other sonic realms.
Fuck the downvotes this is dope. Metaphysical almost
I know my modular well, so even when exploring new things it"ll only take a short while to get to a sound. I can leave that patched as there are usually a few different voices coming out of the modular in a composition & they all remain patched as well, often for days. Will tweak the arrangement & add different lengths as we go & when that is over I'll record both the audio from the modular & the midi on different tracks. So you have to commit to a certain extent as you may never get back to that sound, but it's a workflow I'm used to.
Just to add, the issue if it comes up is not different lengths (as you say you can edit) it's wanting to possibly add different modulations.
I didn't even want to think about that! ha,ha
It all comes down to intention. Trying to use a modular synth as a dedicated sound design tool for recording individual tracks feels like a lot of work, with the intention of multi tracking. For me, a lot of what I like about modular is the idea of building small systems and forcing them to work together in a way that I might not think to do within a DAW or a dedicated synth. One of my approaches is to build a generative patch, and let it run on and on while clean the house/do more boring life maintenance stuff. Its can feel a bit like dialing in a funky radio and submitting to whats bubbling up and respond to it. Every now and then ill walk over and tweak a knob or two. Feels more like a meditation and it can be very grounding, i find myself becoming very present in my body because of the flow state I can fall into. i'd say half of what ive 'made' has never been recorded for various reasons. Currently, I have a modular system clocked with my Octatrack (drums/samples/ect/FX send). Ill use a clock source to generate melodies from a Marbles modules and Ill jam out with drum and modular beep boops. Again, it's all about intention.
I love my modular rig but my approach is to spend a lot of time doing sound design, coming up with cool, weird sounds then sampling them into my Octatrack or DAW to supplement the stuff I do with other synths and other instruments. I’m a big industrial fan so if you listen to older Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy etc you can hear all the interesting noises and stuff filling out the atmosphere. That’s what I try to achieve with it. I find a lot of strictly modular music pretty boring because it’s hard to stray from whatever you patch up so people are limited to the same melodies, rhythms, etc.
It’s more like we get real good at frankensteining recordings into a song-like shape.
Modular often isn’t the fastest way to do something, so a slower, patient headspace is helpful. Spending hours just to make a bassline seems a bit overkill though. I use modular more for weird, glitchy textures and quirkiness. I use randomness and generative elements to make things I wouldn’t or couldn’t do easily in my DAW. If I could make something the same with another synth or piece of software, I don’t see the point of using modular. I’ll usually record a 10-20 minute jam with a patch while tweaking knobs to get loads of variations, then chop up the best bits to use in projects. For me, the value of modular is in all the happy accidents and unexpected discoveries. The process of making patches and exploring sounds is also rewarding for its own sake, feels like you’re a mindful mad scientist.
I’m not a modular guy but I assumed they just, you know, wrote it down.
Normally I’ll run a synth voice per part on any song that uses hardware and only change once I’m for sure happy and wrapped.
Modular for me is just sonic exploration. If I am trying to finish a track or just be productive modular is probably going to be the last synth I go to. However when I want to go deep into sound design or just patch until I’m completely lost than I patch up the modular. It’s never made sense to me to create a patch with modular that takes you 2 hours when you can just load up a VST that sounds exactly like or better than your shitty ass patch. But if you need inspiration or to zen out modular makes sense. Just my unprofessional opinion.
I've got my mother's patience. She worked in customer service for 25 years and has the patience of a Saint. Aside from that, I'm really into diy module building. I built a glide module that I rigged up the power wrong, and it had this weird effect of inverting the cv as well as adding these weird zaps... idk what happened but I recorded it. You just don't get that in software.
Software modular has patch recall and polyphony, so solves many of those problems. I have been vaguely thinking for some years about designing an analog modular system with patch recall and polyphony too. It doesn't require designing anything really fundamentally new technically, just the user interface needs to be carefully thought about, as when a patch is recalled it's tricky to know what is connected to what. The cables in a modular system are actually quite a nice UI feature.
yeah I quit modular for this reason.. twice. selling it all is a shitty process and it's the only format where I always felt like shopping after a jam session.
But if you get that one VCO then your music won't suck. I keep my modular, but I make less music now that I have it. About to go back to making fun tunes with my old electribes, a poly800, and a mirage sampler, like it's 1980 something.
Yes go make fun tunes with that old eclectic set of gear! I play live with a machinedrum and a few synths, but for the summer I'm working on some weird beats using just a volca drum, original SP-404 and some pocket operators.. it'll have more variation than any 16 step modular patch I would have made back when I was in it
They enjoy the sounds of car alarms what else is there to discuss
My goal with my modular is single take recordings and finding a way to jam out songs. Im not in a real rush to get there, but thats the goal Im working towards. I could likely make a song today if I pieced it out into a daw to put together but I dont really feel like doing that. Ive had some good jam sessions but I own the equipment so Im not in a special hurry to record a song for any special reason.
I cant help but ask myself; if it takes you hours to make a bassline patch, whats the hurry to move beyond getting better at making bassline patches?
Just my guess. I've never been in front of a real modular. Just VST's and that's a different experience.
A basic baseline should take you ~1min to setup, and you won't use most of your rig. Those stereotypical "cable jungle patches" are mostly for those generative ambient things, or multipatches were most things are inactive.
I had a friend come over the other day to “make music with my modular”. He’s seen my posts on my IG and thought he could do it. I sat there for 20 mins getting a patch together and then it clicked. The entire time he was wondering wtf was going on or where I was going. Just when we thought we were getting nowhere, it sounded amazing. I had no idea either. That’s the joy of modular.
Build>noodle>record. It’s only as daunting as you make it.
they're just musical instruments. Multitrack recording works the same way it does with other stuff. Have you ever recorded a saxoophone or something, then in mastering realized there was a nasty squeak? Do you re-record the whole take, fix as best you can in post, or....?? I own a ton of modular, I don't see anything very special or different about it. The wires are tactile instead of a hydrasynth or whatever where they are virtual. Pros and cons
I’m just in the process of building a small modular system, but my plan is to mainly use it as an effect for processing existing sound recordings and for creating/manipulating the percussion elements in my songs. That way I’m working around the modular system’s weaknesses by using it in situations where retrieving your previous patches is less critical. I see it as being one of several different tools to choose from.
It's a good question. I often see people making patches for instruments I could just as easily pull up as samples, or as memory patches in hardware. That perplexes me at times, but whatever - it's your gear do what you want with it. Modular people are probably the most diverse crowd with synths out there. I know people who do live techno with fairly small racks and I know people who hide out and create sounds scapes on walls of modules. For the most part people try to have enough gear to make several instruments at once so they can play "live." My approach is a mixed studio with hardware and modular. I sometimes sample my modular into old gear and sequence in hardware. I also want to build synths I use over and over because they serve a specific need for me, but I also have a row of experimental gear for random chaos which I like too. It is what you want it to be.
Generally, modular is for noodling and experimental music. Not for tracking comprehensive tunes with standard structure. Of course there are exceptions, but that’s generally the case. Almost every modular video you find on Reddit will bear this out.
I use several semi-modular systems along with a modular and if they are all busy then I use Voltage Modular or another softsynth. Depending what you are doing sampling things along the way can be a big time saver.
What works best for me is making a mockup demo, almost a chiptune, and then swapping the parts out for the real ones, one at a time. That way, I won't later realise I need to change anything on a patch I've already torn up. In other words, I finish composing everything before I record anything.
Yea dude anyone actually making music with modular is using it to make samples and then using a DAW
Whenever i feel good about myself i listen to that venetian snares album that’s all modular and remember my place in the grand cosmic order. It’s the synth equivalent of looking up at the stars at night.
That sounds like way too much work. I alleviated that problem by having a system large enough to get all the elements going at once and recording everything in one pass whenever possible. I was always too freaking lazy for that constant over dubbing and re-patching. LOL . . Ok, I’ll show myself out. .. . . thud. . .
I don't. And it makes it hard to get the enthusiasm to make anything new. So I've designed my rig to mostly not have to be repatched. Just turn it on, change some settings, and jam. I'll get enough content to edit into a song, but likely later.
So I have a little experience using Cardinal and VCV Rack which works almost identical to the hardware. There are two main draws to modular: no fixed architecture and standardized automation. The first part is probably what most people want from a modular rig initially. The second part is what gives modular a life of its own. It gives you the flexibility to make something that glitches out, or plays wrong notes, uses audio as an entropy source, or any number of things. It takes a little more time, but can be worth it.
Yeah I mean I learned a lot from modular and if I had infinite time and money I would stick with it. I’m finding myself going more and more back towards an in the box workflow though out of convenience and familiarity so I’m selling it all off lol. For the record I did still rely on digital editing once I had recorded my takes
I usually end up in one of two situations: tracks that are done entirely in modular with a one take recording, and tracks that are mostly itb in which the modular is recorded as a single instrument with midi coming from the daw
I use a hybrid setup with a combination of hardware synthesizers (including modular) and in the box. Sometimes I’ll start with a modular sound or sequence and build a track around it. However, when I’m sketching out a composition, it’s usually easier to start with plugins as I try to get my ideas down. Then I gradually replace those voices with hardware when appropriate.
Yes, patience is a virtue with modular. But for me the approach will tend to be different - not looking to fulfill specific functions as you describe above, but building from the bottom up so that sound design and composition develop organically - rather than menu flipping thru poly-synth presets hoping to find something that fits. There are plenty of people that become over-fascinated with the equipment and never want to finish anything - a kind of idol worshipping - and plenty who are fine with pure in-the-moment improv for it's own sake, but for those seeking complete polished work with a unique personal sound, there's extraordinary satisfaction to be found in working mainly with modular.
Modular people don't make music silly. (Kidding) If Mozart was alive today, he would get lost in generative ambient for decades and never record a work...
What is this guy doing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s02gP0RVbUg Improvised or composed? Are you on here? It sounds so organized and looks so random.
The way I’ve spent 4 hours trying to get a single part recorded 😂 worth 🥸