ilovefuzz.com

It's way too expensive for me to even consider getting into, but based on messing around with synth apps, modular noodling does seem to mesh pretty well with my playing style (bullshit noises and a lack of any cohesive song structure).
I have daydreamed about DIYing a bunch of simple circuits and making them into a poor man's modular synth.

I have this thing that prevents me from dropping a lot of money on any single piece of gear. Maybe it's just being broke all the time
Like I bought a car that I love for $400 so I have a hard time buying a pedlol or something for the same.

This could be you:

http://nicksworldofsynthesizers.com/expsynths.php



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcyu4A0HdtY[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcyu4A0HdtY

Dude Vini Reilly lookin af

Ooooooooooo.

Man, I wish my issue was not buying. hahaha. If I had spent half the money I spent this year on pedals on modular, I'd have a pretty huge set up right now.

So, obviously some shit is more controllable than other. I remember when I had my Mescaline it was pretty good at staying around the same sound if you left it patched the same way. So, I could for the most part play the exact same shit more than once. The tiny cables and lack of sensitivity (plus a ton of other issues) killed that one for me though.

Since that, I haven't dabbled because all the advice makes it seem like it's not really worth it honestly. I am the type of guy that you tell me, ok this brand is good and I listen to it, I'll buy that shit. I'll either figure it out or not. It doesn't sound like modular is like that at all. So many different moving parts.

I think, I'll go for an all in one next year. I don't care. If I dig it, then I can investigate something else. Gotta test the waters and I'd rather do that than buy 3 modules to make one sound.

Maybe I'm missing something with all this too? Clearly. It seems fun. I want to make crazy textures for background music, but I guess I'd have to have really good recalling for my usage.

So does that make certain brands better than others?

tremolo3 wrote:

Ghost Hip wrote: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.

That's too much pressure! I'd be too stressed to go in blind like that.

Jwar wrote:Man, I wish my issue was not buying. hahaha. If I had spent half the money I spent this year on pedals on modular, I'd have a pretty huge set up right now.

So, obviously some shit is more controllable than other. I remember when I had my Mescaline it was pretty good at staying around the same sound if you left it patched the same way. So, I could for the most part play the exact same shit more than once. The tiny cables and lack of sensitivity (plus a ton of other issues) killed that one for me though.

Since that, I haven't dabbled because all the advice makes it seem like it's not really worth it honestly. I am the type of guy that you tell me, ok this brand is good and I listen to it, I'll buy that shit. I'll either figure it out or not. It doesn't sound like modular is like that at all. So many different moving parts.

I think, I'll go for an all in one next year. I don't care. If I dig it, then I can investigate something else. Gotta test the waters and I'd rather do that than buy 3 modules to make one sound.

Maybe I'm missing something with all this too? Clearly. It seems fun. I want to make crazy textures for background music, but I guess I'd have to have really good recalling for my usage.

So does that make certain brands better than others?

Check out make noise's Instagram. They give a good variety of styles really...from phone emulation to drums and stuff. Their shared system would probably be pretty dang solid and good honestly if you want an all in one.

More old time experimental system (and more expensive) would be something like the verbos.

But if you really want to try it and have something pretty flippable, shared system wouldn't be a bad way to go...and make noise really does put out a lot of video tutorials that are fun. I think some of their modules will even have enough gain to run your bass in for sampling and stuff.

I'm not really advocating for you to go modular. It's ok and it's just a tool (and I would always rather play guitar(...but if you are curious and want an all-in-one entry outside of 0-coast or those kinda boxes...just giving you some places to look.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcDNTUaAFQ4 ... 81et49w43b
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeiiEq5AfjC ... w16y7gyst3

Jwar wrote:I think, I'll go for an all in one next year. I don't care. If I dig it, then I can investigate something else. Gotta test the waters and I'd rather do that than buy 3 modules to make one sound.

No shame in this game at all. There's a lot of love for the 0-Coast out there, and for good reason—it's a fucking great place to start (it's what hooked me, too).

I'd also check out the Dreadbox Erebus V3. Haven't played one yet but it looks/sounds pretty damn great, and I there's quite a bit you could do with it. Plus of course you could make it work with other stuff if you ever wanted to expand.

I thought Ghost Hip's comment about thinking about songs when playing guitar vs zoning out / experimenting with modular was pretty spot on. I think I banged my head against the wall for quite a while wanting to make complete productions with my setup, vs kind of just making do with a smaller rig and getting to know it really well. It's definitely fun to let go.

Been on the look out for an O-Coast at a reasonable price. Don't have any interesting pedals anymore and the MPC is fun but can be tedious and is not at all spontaneous . Seems like the modular could easily get out of hand once you start down that road.

I can’t say for certain why modular has taken off but I bet my own experience is similar to some of the folks that have gone that way. I started flirting with the idea of using actual modulars 7 years ago and have been really into it for about 6 years (interested from a what the hell is that perspective for much longer).

Some of the older school folks that were on TalkBass and here have been through the make your bass sound like a synth stage. I had unlocked some really cool sounds but there were always limitations like only playing monophonically, tracking ussues or latency due to pitch to midi (or pitch to COSM engine in Rolands). At one point I was gigging with 20 pedals on my board. During that period I did own some Moog Moogerfoogers and discovered the joys of patching and CV, there were a few other pedals that played well with CV - the Koma pedals etc. I had definitely been learning more about modulars but focused on how to use them to “synth my bass” point of view and ran into a few other people doing that or interested in it and that led me to Muffwiggler and that site blew my fucking mind!

I had messed with and owned grooveboxes like Electribes and some drum machines, made tracks and beats with Maschine, owned some synths but all of the different electronic music devices/instruments were staggering. I believe the timeline roughly went like this: put together a Doepfer Beauty Case that was focused on on converting pitch to CV (and converted my regular bass tone to a square wave) followed by some processing and a way to get sound out of the box. I was nervous about the money I was spending, saw that this was awesome but would require a significant invest to get the results I wanted. It also wasn’t going to be easy to manage at a band gig so I sold it. But, I did begin to explore other electronic music devices, especially Elektron stuff and bought cool desktop things like the Oto Biscuit. I also started reading, reading and doing more reading on Muffs - checking lots of demos and pieces of music featuring modulars from different formats. Within the year, I decided fuck it - I am going back in and bought one panel of Serge modular - it blew my mind. So Electric sounding, the VCAs just sizzled. I was able to use it to process sounds (drum machines are always fun to process) and I began to truly explore timbre in ways that are just not possible with a stringed instrument and pedals. I was hooked! I think that a lot of people get to this stage and create bleep and bloop because it is easy to start to question the definition of what music really is. Why do I need to follow western scales, poly meter is more interesting; exploration of unheard sounds was my mission.

Some where around this time, my band broke up, I was finishing school (non-traditional student), working part-time, maintaining the house that my wife and I owned. So, I wasn’t looking for a new band, I was more excited about modular therefore I sold most of my pedals, super downsized my bass rig and downgraded my bass. I had a decent amount of cash so I decided that I wanted to explore more modular formats- over a couple of year period I tried Modcan A, Euro again, Buchla (Easel then 200e), Hordijk, a larger Serge System, some excellent semi-modulars as well as an assortment of other synths, drum machines and fx devices. At the same time, my income increased pretty dramatically over the couple of year period, I lucked out and ended up in a fairly lucrative industry. I have kind of a ridiculous amount of gear (did do a sell off recently) and have landed on what I believe will be a stable set-up:
18 space 200e
“Starter” Hordijk Modular (2rows of 5u, 6 modules wide)
Knas Ekdahl Polygamist
Deckard’s Dream (+ Linnstrument)
other stuff - sequencer, pedals, bass, iPad, computer etc

A few blurbs to address some stuff I saw earlier in the thread. Not have recall can be a challenge depending on your goals. Some people are doing live improvised sets. I wanted the option of recall as well as the flexibility of modular so that is why I went with a Buchla 200e...this combination is not cheap but I do enjoy it.

I view modular as a studio instrument as well as live. I think it is valid to sample, manipulate the sample and use that live if necessary or if it a part of someone’s creative process. I do really enjoy processing all kinds of sounds in my Buchla.

I have no comment on the type of music people make with modulars, just like I have none on what people make with fuzz pedals, pianos, banjos, timpanis etc. If I enjoy it, fine. If only they enjoy it, great.

Earlier this year I finally started my journey into modularism. Yeah, like a religious ideology. There is some real weird philosophical teaching that occurs with a symbiotic relationship between a person and the modular machine. The nature of constructing a patch speaks to focusing on the moment. Make something interesting, document it, destroy it, rebuild and repeat. I embrace this methodology. The journey to creating is just as important as the end result. In a lot of ways it reminds me of oil painting, you have to work at it for a while but also need to know when to walk away and call it done instead of working it to death and ruining it.

Fascinated with the idea of modular synths for at least 7 years. Was scared of it while not knowing where to start or how it all worked until I discovered the Make Noise Shared System and how those modules work together in that environment. Make Noise has some really helpful videos explaining their modules and showing off some patch ideas. It started to click in my head how it all works.

What led me there was similar enough to my pursuit of making weird sounds with a guitar. Ever since I picked up a Boss PS-2 in 1998 I have been experimenting with making weird sounds. Loved delays and ended up with like 4 or 5 on a board once. Naturally fell in to making ambient stuff (before I even knew it was a genre) until that became super boring, predictable and formulaic. That lead to getting really into more specific textures and drones, while also learning I can do a whole lot with very little gear, like doing a whole solo album with basically a DL4 and two tape echoes. Last year I put together a tabletop setup but it was too similar to just a guitar chain with a Drone Commander instead of a guitar and very limited CV potential for controls that might as well have been just MIDI synced.

Wouldn't say I am bored, but more like being annoyed with pedals. Problems like noise, volume drops, poorly implemented controls, etc. After being obsessed with pedals for like 25 years I know what I like by now. Most pedals aren't impressive to me anymore, most new ones aren't pushing things forward or doing anything new. And if you play in a band it becomes obvious how many nuances of a fancy pedal get lost in a band mix. Funny though, going modular was a step away from stagnant bands and a step toward my own future.

Those last two posts provide some quality insight.

it's just..... like........ neat? and shit?

that's a very behndy answer.

Is making soundscapes really that hard with modular? No offense to anyone but I really don't know. Before I bought my Roland D50 and dx7 I really thought vintage digital synth sounds were magical and hard to conjure. But then I got to peek into the sausage factory and most synth/electronic music was ruined forever.
When I watch videos of people doing intense modular arpeggiator soundscape type style I can't help but feel like the rig is basically playing itself and they're just slowly opening a filter and people are like "oooooooo wow". I dunno I'm kinda wine buzzed ranting on Christmas Eve.