modular synthesis

[colinz]

who said techno needs a kick drum?

okay, who wants my mfb drum 04 then, since it's useless anyway? :-)

to be honest, it feels a bit lonely in the mfb frame, no friends there to play.

i own two 'bread and butter' digital hardware synths and now i want to slowly add some modules to the mfb frame, but still dont know where to head (after buying a sequencer).

my considerations are a SIMPLE monosynth to create some basic bass sounds or adding some drums (mfb and anasol).

would it make sense to start with a simple Analogue Solutions VCO and the SY02 Filter / VCA? or am i missing any important points here?

[oblioblioblio]

it's really hard to say when the magic kicks in with modular. there's a point where its still just like other synths. but there's a certain point where the clouds part and rays of beautiful light start shining through.

you gotta do a lot of research I think to find out the little pieces of the puzzle that make you love your set up.

maybe it's good for you to start slowly. the components you mentioned are decent i think.

analogue sequencing is really interesting. doepfer a155 plu a154 is heaven.

[Phase Ghost]

Best bet is to read through this thread once or twice and then troll on muffwiggler.com for a week or two. While the ASol VCO is cheaper than all the other oscillators, it's also the most limited. There's no sine wave on it and not a whole lot as far as CV'able features compared to the other osc's out there.

As far as sequencers, I'm starting to lean towards having a seperate gate and cv sequencer + clock divider / multipler. I have the SQ8 and it does bare sequencing duties fine, but I'm still not real impressed with the sequencers in eurorack world (which is why I'm prototyping my own). The uStep looks pretty cool though. 2 of those and a z8000 might be the ticket. People seem to like the A-155 / A-154 quite well, but it's almost a whole row.

Good luck going slowly. I was addicted as soon as my first module came in.

Oh, check the used section at muffwiggler. Tons of stuff to be had for good prices.

[oblioblioblio]

155 154 could be a little more compact but i think it's amazing if you have space.

i guess it depends what you're looking fr in a seqencer.

for me those 2 come alive more than any other sequencer that i've used before. totally organic alive morphing sequences. modulate first and last step, modulate clock speed. The clock on a154 is a pretty handy square LFO also. Sample and hold is good to make a subset of sequencer values.

the only issue that i've had is when you wanna go down in pitch on a step and the knob is already at the bottom! but that's an interesting limitation to work around.

Wiard Anti-Envelope will give some slightly similar functionality like change (but notCVable) first and last step. But that one will be an interesting thing as it's not clock based.

I've kinda stopped making sequences based on numbers. I've been using a Maths or an Envelator as a clock source/divider, and getting weird morphing times / flams. But I'm making more ambient kinda music. That style might be hard to work if you wanna keep tight timings.

btw I second Phase Ghosts recommedations on getting into modular synthesis. Muff Wiggler has some great knowledge.

[MagpieIndustries]

it's really hard to say when the magic kicks in with modular.

It's when you've listened to bloopy noises on repeat for so long that the last fragments of taste remaining in your brain are thoroughly destroyed. Doesn't matter what bleepy-bloopy sh!t you listen to after that, cos as long as it comes from an ever more expensive modular, it's magic.

[oblioblioblio]

dunno what's motivating you to make the post really dude.

[ i'm not saying that the music i am making is magic btw, that is not my call to make. i'm just saying about the creative experience, to me, of using modular machines. ]

i don't think i'm a stupid or blind person, and i don't have spare cash to throw around without making a pretty serious decision first. i like making music. i found these tools inspiring enough to warrant their sometimes high cost. i feel like i have made the right decisions with this modular journey.


maybe it's all a big waste of time and money, but i'm going with how i feel and my own experrience, and i have made strong enough personal conclusions from this information for me to want to encourage people to try it for themselves so they can make a decision based on the actual experience of using modular equipment.

*bleep*

[oblioblioblio]

hopefully with that response i didn't give the impression that i 'm trying to defend myself from that attack.

i do not feel anything negative towards you as a person but there is absolutely no need to make a post like that, whatever your feelings are. It's cynical and there is no justifiable reason to do so. and there is no jusitifiable reason for me to respond, other than carrying on supporting the fact that there are valuable musical resources in modular synthesis.

[Salomo]

don't know if this is already posted here somewhere, if so pardon me. http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/%7Eclark/nordm ... k_toc.html thought i'd share this, it contains much useful info on modular synthesis (though aimed at nord it's useful elsewhere too).

oblio, i'd just ignore people mocking this sh!t seriously, it's just provocation begging for response. everyone has the right to choose his way of ventilating creativity.