Modular and why it is so popular right now.

[popvulture]

I kinda tend to gravitate more towards the leftfield house thing as well, and making gross, bubbly electro things on modular is fun as hell, too. I do like the ambient stuff, but it's not what I typically end up making myself. Well, sometimes? I dunno... it's fun to bloop and wash and hronnnnnng. I guess that's the gist of it.

The hardest thing for me with modular is relinquishing control of things, leaving stuff up to chance. It's good for me, though. I'm uptight as fuck, in case you couldn't tell by my grumpy ramblings earlier, and sometimes twiddling is the prescription.

[gnomethrone]

I think if that Thom Yorke set had been just some guy in the corner of a bar where I could have sat comfortably and half payed attention it would have been cool but it was a sold out standing room only thing and people were doing there own weird version of the Yorke dance. Sorry to be a butthole if that's your special guy, MrNovember. I didn't mean that it sounded bad it's just not my thing. I'm more into stuff like option 2 off of Peetee's list. Noise interludes during grind bands and whatnot.

[MrNovember]

I think if that Thom Yorke set had been just some guy in the corner of a bar where I could have sat comfortably and half payed attention it would have been cool but it was a sold out standing room only thing and people were doing there own weird version of the Yorke dance. Sorry to be a butthole if that's your special guy, MrNovember. I didn't mean that it sounded bad it's just not my thing. I'm more into stuff like option 2 off of Peetee's list. Noise interludes during grind bands and whatnot.

Oh no offense taken at all. Radiohead and I have an on-again-off-again kind of thing going and it just happens to be an on-again kind of time right now. And honestly, "sold out standing room only thing and people were doing there own weird version of the Yorke dance" sounds fucking miserable. Their music is definitely the kind of thing that I'd much prefer to be comfortable sat somewhere and not packed liked sardines

[lordgalvar]

packed liked sardines

I think if that Thom Yorke set had been just some guy in the corner of a bar where I could have sat comfortably and half payed attention it would have been cool but it was a sold out standing room only thing and people were doing there own weird version of the Yorke dance.

How I feel about SWANS.

[Achtane]

Also I just saw Thom Yorke perform last week and the best part of the night was a drum machine malfunctioning.

I saw Matrix Reloaded in the theater and the best part of it was when the film melted near the end. It just seemed like some badass CGI.

[Jwar]

Muddy, I love your perspective and totally agree with you, though I feel like you're holding something back there. hahaha.


I've seen some amazing things done, so modular is interesting and scary to me at the same time and I can totally see many people getting into it and out of it just as quickly by having unrealistic expectations. That's the thing about effects. We love them but are we ever truly satisfied with them? Over my years of collecting pedals, I cannot name even one pedal that I didn't think "man this is awesome but I wish it had this option as well". Sounds like the same goes for modular.

I'd be hella into the standalone's. They are just way more costly than I'm currently comfortable with.

Want to know what also holds me back? This is a weird thought but I have this fear that I'll get all this cool gear and then my house will burn down or flood or someone will break in and steal it all. Weird thought process right? I've stopped myself from buying a lot of synths because of that.


Keep going guys! This is interesting and I love hearing perspective from both sides of the coin.

[Benn Roe]

I've never been tempted. I like listening to a lot of synth-based music, and I've even been very passively trying to start a new wave band for years, but generally speaking I prefer playing more organic-sounding music. I use a lot of pedals, but nothing that really prevents my guitar from sounding like a guitar, and I just think that's how I like it. I could supplement it with modular synths, but I don't think I could really play the music I'd want to with them.

[D.o.S.]

It's all about the right tool for the right project. Sometimes that modules, sometimes it isn't.

[coldbrightsunlight]

^

[worra]

Serious question
You guys keep mentioning Divine. All I can think of is:

Her songs were badass and definitely synth heavy, but i'm guessing that's not who you're talking about?

Since it doesn't look like anyone answered this yet, we're talking about Richard Devine, Atlanta-based sound designer extraordinaire. He's done work for countless synth and tech companies, and has a studio that, while not quite Martin-Gore-level-crazy, is still 100% bonkers.

[goroth]

I've asked "But why modular" so many times to those whom I know who modulate, but the guitar is a never-ending pit of discovery for me, so I have no spare mental ram to even understand why I would want to go modular or what the hell I would do with it.

But this was a pretty rad thread.

[raj007]

So I dabbled a bit with modular last year. Cortini inspired me to give it a go. But, I stopped cold after about 3 months because of a few reasons.

Cost. The old cliche advice “buy one at a time, blah blah” didn’t make sense to me with modular...so I saw the danger of spending money I didn’t have to complete the system fast.

I also found the complexity of routing/patching frustrating. Like, you’d patch 20 cables across 6 modules to get a super basic sound an OP1 could do with one button. It takes a lot of work to get small results in my opinion. With that said, my love for the Rene almost kept me going longer when I decided I wanted out haha.

And I didn’t connect with the “infinite possibilities” notion. It didn’t take long for me to sit down and just get bored because I felt I was patching the same shit over and over ...and part of that was having a super small system (back to $$ issue).

And, for me, there wasn’t a good learning resource. Information is so scattered and the simple “how to” stuff is annoying to find, and I did HOURS of reading that really didn’t produce much in the way of learning .

To be fair, I didn’t have a good idea of how I wanted to use it really...but, for me, I felt I could easily do what modular could on an iPad for WAY LESS money and that’s been true for me to this day.

[gnomethrone]

we're talking about Richard Devine

cool I'll check 'em out. thanks!

[Ghost Hip]

When I pick up a guitar or play a keyboard I try to write a song. I've been a songwriter for 12 or so years, constantly pushing myself to make music, it's just what I do. And I was beating myself up for not being productive or producing "good songs." Modular seemed like a way to get away from that, learn something new, and maybe even relax. Being able to enjoy music or something musical without the pressure of songwriting or the constraints and patterns I have grown to see and use on a keyboard/fretboard.

The most rewarding experience with it so far was a friend asked me to do an ambient set for an artist workshop they were putting on. It was about ten people or so in a house drawing a nude model. I brought my eurorack, plugged through a PA and just sat for three hours slowly evolving a patch, taking elements out of the mix adjusting them and mixing them back in. Everyone commented how fitting it was and asked me questions. I really want to do that more in the future. Provide background sounds and music to an event, and be out of sight. I don't really get it when I see videos of people performing ambient modular and people watching them do it? Like thats the whole show? don't want to trash it but it is not for me.

Now, after almost a year I have some modules that allow me to use my OP-1 and save sequences and such so that I can make a more traditional song. But I still have the ability to just sit down, patch, and listen. No goals, no songs, just enjoying music and sound.

I wouldn't have been able to dive in without an inheritance I received earlier this year, and the price of it all certainly weighs on me especially when I am patching and nothing is really vibing. But eventually I'll sit down and find something really magical and it makes it worth it again.

[tremolo3]

I don't really get it when I see videos of people performing ambient modular and people watching them do it? Like thats the whole show? don't want to trash it but it is not for me.

You should see people menu diving for straight 30 minutes to get a proper track going on (I'm talking about the Octatrack)
Results are usually impressive nonetheless.