My Journey Into Modular - The Ruiner Diaries

[kbit]

Find the pace, set the limitations of where you want things to jump/fall to, and bring on the happy accidents.

This is the nugget I was hoping for, simple but is a widely applicable philosophy. Thank you

So far I've been thinking of generative in the form of different ways to derive triggers and create variations of them, which has lead me to research logic and probability more so than random voltages, but I will keep this in consideration for my future research. The more I keep learning about modular the more I feel like I should hold off on diving in until I really understand what methods I want to implement.

& I'm not saying that to deter you, Ruiner, fuckin go for it

[Ruiner]

I'm a hands on learning kind of guy

[kbit]

That is certianly supported by how many modules you have posted in the incoming thread

For generative music, the CV modules are your actual players. They will be selecting the notes and the tones, when they can be heard, what happens to them and so on, so you need to get familiar with how they all act and behave...this will help to decide who is the frontman, who stays in the pocket, who plays what instruments etc. Creating awesome 'bands' within the rack is basically how I approach eurorack as an art form, and as a self-playing instrument, or, collection of instruments really.

Also to reflect on a bit more, I think what you described above has, for me, been the most intriguing part of learning about modular synthesis so far. I'm thinking way less about the sonics and way more about signal routing and CV manipulation. Like I just had the thought of using an irregular square wave LFO (from something like Batumi being self patched in phase mode) to open and close a VCA. Then thinking of sending CV thought the VCA, not audio, to sporadically control when an oscillator's pitch updates, or when gates are allowed to pass through the VCA to their destination. Not sure if that would work how I'm envisioning it, but the possibility of creating parameters like that is what gets me excited about all this shit.

[Dark Barn]

That's one of my favorite aspects of modular kbit. It's like building a Goldberg contraption, setting boundaries, defining rule sets, interacting with automation, nudging things in the right direction. When it works it makes you feel like Pee Wee Herman at breakfast time. And yes you can totally use a VCA that way. It's typically obvious to beginners that you need VCAs for audio, but once you start using them for CV automation you start to get a true appreciation of them.

[Bartimaeus]

You have a great setup with a bunch of killer modules! However, you don't seem to have the modulation necessary to get the most out of it. Maths+Wogglebug is a great start, but look into adding a Quadra or Batumi as well, or perhaps several small LFO's and EG's. It's great that you have the quad VCA – with more envelopes, you'll be able to use one envelope to dynamically vary how much of another envelope is applied to a desired parameter.

[oscillateur]

Well, the Pamelas's New Workout can set any of the 8 outputs as an LFO, so that can help quite a bit there. Less hands-on control but for things that don't get changed much it could work well.

But I agree, more modulation sources (and ways to do cool things with them : mix/logic/switches/etc.) are always useful.

[Ruiner]

I'm having so much fun right now with just Clouds and Rainmaker. Right out of the box, not knowing how to use either but just tweaking Clouds and using the presets on Rainmaker... I swear there are infinite possibilities with just two modules......... then I realized I haven't even created a patch yet! Just using them like pedals! Cv time!!!

[oscillateur]

Did you get a Koma Kommander, by the way ?
Easy way to add some hands-on CV .

[Ruiner]

Did you get a Koma Kommander, by the way ?
Easy way to add some hands-on CV .

Yup, planned on trying that out today after I do a big clean on the home studio as well as the Dreadbox Kappa2.

[ritz]

Kommander is fun. It's also funny, waving your hand around like "look at me Ma, I'm making CV!"

[Ruiner]

Gettin' organized for mass integration



And taking breaks to play guitar and critter&guitari Septavox through the couple modules I have so far

Here's a short video clip of the Septavox through Clouds and Rainmaker. Just a dialed in Clouds and preset on Rainmaker with no active patching going on yet

https://instagram.com/p/BSXaxOXg5Lt/

[Disarm D'arcy]

Teal walls man. Teal walls.

[Dark Barn]

I'm digging on that lamp though.

[Ruiner]

It's the teal deal right there.


Lights are from a kid overseas who carves designs into coconuts (which are the two balls) he recently went full production on kickstarter. I've had mine for years.

[Ruiner]

Here's the kind of stuff we have going on so far (video clips):








Sooooo much fun. Automation with the clouds for the granular stuff is just incredible. Rainmaker is probably the best digital delay there is. I'm hooked.