Can we talk about modular synths?

[Dark Barn]

So, we actually did manage to suck pretty bad! Lol! One of my modules didn’t power up and I didn’t realize it until mid-set when it was supposed to come into play, and instead of a groovy sawtooth arpeggio bass line it was just a high pitch skreeeeeeeeee. Took me half way through the piece to trouble shoot it and ended up needing to power cycle the case... our first and third pieces cake out pretty good, but we really murdered the mood with that second piece. :/ ah well! Onwards!

[$harkToootth]

So, we actually did manage to suck pretty bad! Lol! One of my modules didn’t power up and I didn’t realize it until mid-set when it was supposed to come into play, and instead of a groovy sawtooth arpeggio bass line it was just a high pitch skreeeeeeeeee. Took me half way through the piece to trouble shoot it and ended up needing to power cycle the case... our first and third pieces cake out pretty good, but we really murdered the mood with that second piece. :/ ah well! Onwards!

Don't sweat it! I'm sure it was awesome! If I didn't live LITERALLY across the country, I would have gone .

I'm sure some people dug the 'mistake'. One of the times I saw WOLF EYES there was technical difficulties with Nate's microphone...I thought it added to the set (I'm not being coy). You have the ominous drones (Jon and Jim continued to play) with two dudes yelling across a venue at each other.

[behndy]

yeah man. it sucks getting pulled out of the flow like that, but it happens. and it's always going to seem WAY worse to you than the audience.

sorry about the hiccup meng.

[Dark Barn]

Cheers fellas! you’re right!

[behndy]

worst flub i ever heard was this band that was like.... their first or second show? opened for a band i was in. but they got so off that the drums stopped, then the guitat after a measure or two, then the bass stopped and left the singer to abruptly cut off the verse she was singing.

fucking PAINFUL to watch.

i've been there. but. NEVER STOP. extend a part, go a bit noisier and messy, make eye contact, drop into the next section.

[behndy]

oh buttttttssssSssssSSSSsssSSsSsSssSSS.

SO EXCITED.

not only did my case (FINALLY) ship, but i'm meeting up to hangout with a local modular dooder this Wednesday, and we're doing a trade for his Sherman Filterbank.

i have been wanting one for..... damnit. 2 decades. since the article in the April 1997 issue of Sound on Sound talked about the og version.

AND this is a 2 rackmount. so. PERFECT.

YESSSSSSSSS.

also, yeah. i'm digging the Great Destroyer. only really played with some Digitakt drums going through it, but it has a lot of angry toanz just with that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qUXqoxf8Zs[/youtube]

[Deltaphoenix]

So, we actually did manage to suck pretty bad! Lol! One of my modules didn’t power up and I didn’t realize it until mid-set when it was supposed to come into play, and instead of a groovy sawtooth arpeggio bass line it was just a high pitch skreeeeeeeeee. Took me half way through the piece to trouble shoot it and ended up needing to power cycle the case... our first and third pieces cake out pretty good, but we really murdered the mood with that second piece. :/ ah well! Onwards!

It is intense playing out with a modular. So many potential issues can occur. The last time that I played out with my Buchla I had a patch ready and I had practiced it. The day of the show, I decided that I didn’t like it and started over. I didn’t know how it was happen but there was bird sound over the top of what I was doing and I had it going into a delay and I was able to pitch shift it by changing the delay speed. The mistake became rad for awhile but then I got annoyed that I couldn’t make it stop without losing a lot of my patch. I ended up cutting my set short. People dug it though.

Keep on keeping on!

[behndy]

lol. i have soooo many WHELP I GUESS THAT PIECE OF GEAR DOESN'T WANT TO WORK LIVE GOOD THING EVERY FUCKING THING ELSE IS PLUGGED INTO IT WOOOOOO.

this makes me thing of a clown slowly yet bounce'ly undressing before It's Business Time -

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be2DoIWjz24/

annnnnnnd BOOyahkah. looks like 8hp, but a uGrids is a'coming. WOOT.

https://instagram.com/p/Be1fA-bjW3C/

[01010111]

I can’t imagine trying to play live with a modular system. I just have an single voice module, and struggle with the idea of repatching that in front of people.

[Invisible Man]

i've been there. but. NEVER STOP. extend a part, go a bit noisier and messy, make eye contact, drop into the next section.

Behndy's love life advice column?

[baremountain]

I can’t imagine trying to play live with a modular system. I just have an single voice module, and struggle with the idea of repatching that in front of people.

Yeah a single-voice system is very not ideal for playing live.
If anyone cares, I'll give a rundown of my typical approach to patching for a live set. I'm by no means a mastermind when it comes to modular, so YMMV, but I have played several rather effective live sets.

NSFW: show

My approach is typically to get as many voices as possible daisy chained together. Of course, tuning your oscs to one another is a great place to start. Then I typically keep one as a drone and send sequences to the others. Too many on-the-grid sequences ends up sounding dull/repetitive in my experience (and is a nightmare when you're playing with a drummer, much like a having them play with a loop can be), so I typically also use the Smooth random out from my Wogglebug to sequence one voice.

From there it's about signal flow. What's always worked nicely for me is using Three Sisters to spectral mix multiple inputs (or just a single input to the LPF or HPF, and the 3 Sisters freq knob becomes a volume control for that voice of sorts), then I send that to my Cold Mac to either the "offset", or Left or Right input. The other 2 inputs receive other voices, and the Cold Mac's surveillance knob will fade between the L/R inputs, and always pass through the offset, and more importantly I have summed 3-5 voices into one mono output.
Then I typically send that output to the Aux in on my Optomix, which I can then sum with 2 more inputs, and now I have 5-7 channels coming through a single output, and only a few knobs that will ultimately determine the volumes of each output. This gives *tons* of room to explore the patch you've created. FWIW I typically go from the Optomix's summed out to ErbeVerb & the Morphagene (which adds another voice), then to a stereo output. Sequence adjustments/clock changes are all fair game too.

It works pretty well, and it's a good technique to get yourself out of a rut if you feel stuck because it's a pretty straightforward system.

[behndy]

i've been there. but. NEVER STOP. extend a part, go a bit noisier and messy, make eye contact, drop into the next section.

Behndy's love life advice column?

it's advice for MANY if life's situations!

Nekid Mountain Bear - good advice suh.

[mr. sound boy king]

soooooo i'm ignorant. what is the difference between a chaos module like a Sloth or Fourses and a random module like Sapel or Wogglebugger?

get 'em DarkStarBarnStormy! what type of set are you playing?

I think broadly speaking chaos modules produce patterns that will be similar over time, somewhat but not completely predictable. Whereas a true random module would not produce anything predictable.

Fourses puts out bouncing ball bounce and bound balls like it looks like on this scope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt59wqPwFDw

Don't know from SLOTH but Flip Flop Chaos is explained:

FF Chaos (flip-flop) - This is another chaos module but designed to supply a variety of gates and triggers. It is self running but can be synced with the gate/trigger input. There is also a CV input which shifts the output between periodic and chaotic behaviour. There are two CV outputs, one trigger output and three gate outputs which supply different and varying gates that can be delivered in bursts......this thing is simply nuts.

[Muse FTW]

Finished something NEW.

Idk if anyone here has played Nier Automata but the game's fuckin incredible. On top of the story and the gameplay, the soundtrack is killer too.

I did a cover of my favorite piece.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJu9mOnkzDk[/youtube]

[behndy]

Nier had an awesooooomeeee soundtrack. so GOOD.

very cool suh!

EAT THE OILY INSTA-DEATH FISHIES.