ilovefuzz.com

Not too long ago I was a huge advocate for euro gear. I managed to amass a 12U, 84hp system in just over a year. Now, I'm selling the majority of my euro gear, which is still pretty weird to me, but now that I've sold or traded a good number of modules, I'm surprisingly not regretting the decision at all.

I guess since I'm calling this the Circle of Synth, I should start probably at the beginning.

My euro journey really started shortly after getting into pedals when I bought an EHX Superego. I loved the drones and the ways that I could turn a single note into so much more. After that, I was focused on figuring out ways to manipulate my drones (eg. Arpanoid for "sequencing", Pitch Bay for "chords", etc). Honestly, I was never much of a guitar player and this all seemed much more natural to me. Playing pedals was infinitely more satisfying to me than playing guitar. Eventually, I realised that I didn't even need the Superego to make drones and bought a Drone Commander (which at this point, why the hell did I ever sell that?!). And the more I messed around with the Drone Commander, the more I realised my pedalboard was becoming modular, so I joined Muffs and started researching (as a second aside, I hated my first few months on Muffs. It just didn't seem very accepting of new people there and synths are ridiculously confusing for noobs).

Anyway, after a few months of researching I ended up finding this for sale locally and I snatched it up:

I messed around with that setup for about a month and quickly learned what I liked and what I didn't like. In the coming year, I ended up flipping every single one of my first modules except the uZeus and Happy Ending Kit (also for those of you keeping score, Maths was the module I kept the longest out of my first purchases, but still ended up deciding that my combination of Mini Slew, Sinclastic Empulatrix, and Samara were far superior). In the end, this is what I ended up with this:

And yet, that still wasn't enough for me and I was continuously looking for the next module. I would patch something up that I really enjoyed, but there would be some small part that I wasn't happy with, which would lead me to look into something to fix that part, leading me to another module, and another, and another....It honestly just didn't end. Near the end, I was very happy with the sounds I could produce and the ways I could effect them, but I still wasn't happy with my sequencing or rhythms. And yet, there were literally at least 4 or 5 times were I said: "I finally have a rack I am happy with", but that never actually seemed to be true in the end. I actually kind of got to a point where all I really wanted to do was collect more and more modules. I wasn't even really making music any more, I was just dreaming of more ways to make music. Honestly, that may be more of a problem with my addictive personality than with eurorack, but euro definitely doesn't really help that addiction.

Anyway, in addition, I came across a ton of modules that just didn't work for my setup. The best example is the Ieaskul F. Mobenthy modules, of which I owned and absolutely loved all of them, but I found that, while they worked great on their own, I could never really integrate them with the rest of my system. It just never really worked.

Surprisingly, my breaking point was actually backing the Koma Field Kit. That's when I started planning a skiff to complement the Field Kit and to use with external gear. When I took all of the modules out of my rack that I wanted to complement the Field Kit, I realised that the modules with which I was left were basically just a simple monosynth and none of them were really that important to me. Basically, I would be able to replace an entire 9U 84hp rack with something simple like the Mother 32 and be just as happy (yes I just called the Mother 32 simple). The more I thought it over, the more I realised that I really just didn't need all of my euro and that I just wasn't happy with it anyway. That's also when I started looking at alternatives. The Mother 32 was obvious to replace my monosynth needs. 0-Coast was obvious to replace my less conventional synth needs. And on top of that, I'd be able to afford a lot of the pedals, controllers, and other synths that I hadn't been paying attention too because I was trying to do it all in euroland.

So in conclusion, I loved euro because it offered me endless possibilities to make music. But in the end, there were too many instances where my collecting became more important than the music or where the standards just didn't seem to match up. Again, I don't really want this to be bash euro hour; I did actually keep a pretty decent system:

And for someone that is actually able to spend exorbitant amounts of money or is able to ignore the constant stream of new and "unique" modules, euro may still be for you.


TL;DR: I loved what I could do with my euro gear and the sounds I could get from it were amazing. I could honestly patch anything and get as experimental or subtractive as I wanted. But what I had was never enough and it never did everything I wanted. In the end, I was getting more pleasure planning the future than actually making noise.

Thanks for sharing.
Great post.

I'm going to copy and paste this now so I can insert it later in the modular diary thread I just posted

I can totally see that happening though. Did you use guitar with it or strictly modular? I'm hoping that will be the difference for me as I just want a killer sampler/looper (er301 and morphogene) and stuff to make slow modulating drones and soundscapes to play guitar over and a pedalboard of sorts that will modulate and do things my pedalboard can't or won't easily.

The tldr is me

That's why I refuse to buy any modular

I wasn't even really making music any more, I was just dreaming of more ways to make music.

This how I ended up felling about pedals and why I never let myself get into modular. I've sold a lot of my pedal collection because I spent a lot of time just swapping things in and out trying to get a sound but never creating anything with it. Trying to write a song just ended up being a pedal shoot out. Even now that I've got a fixed but versatile board I can get sucked into chasing a sound rather than a song.

Great post!

Great read! I've definitely done this cycle a couple times with pedals. I feel like I'm back at a high end as far as number on my board goes. Will definitely get trimmed back to simplify the creative process. Modular is interesting because it seems to be something done mostly alone. With pedals it's always a balance of some more out there stuff I like and more simple things that suit the group.

Thanks, dude! Loved reading this.

I have yet to get into euro but I still want to. I plan to just get stuff that I really need, first I want more of an effects box for the synths I have. A spring reverb, lfo, and clouds would be nice for this. Eventually I want to build some sort of 3 osc mono synth with multiple filters then blended back to mono. Not sure but I may come full circle like you, only time shall tell.

Satisfaction is important for sure. I started out with enough rackspace for 24u, just adding the Tiptop rails & ears one set at a time. A year and a half in now, and I have just passed the two thirds point on the road to 24u, and also have 84hp removable for external use (Roland FX). Once the two racks are full I can also throw a skiff in front of the tabletop one.
I stopped planning stuff out on modulargrid, and just use it to show my current setups now. I just choose new modules one at a time now, without all the waiting, planning, and fiending. If it's available and I can swing it then so be it. Otherwise I'm not going to stress on it. Satisfying modules make a big difference too, as does having room for more of them. WMD Trshmstr has been the most satisfying module I've picked up recently. Just a great piece of gear that reminds you of why you got into it in the first place. Stereo delays and reverbs are more satisfying to me as well.

As I approach destroyer class/maximum bloat, I find myself looking back to desktop pieces and pedals, but from a new and refreshed perspective, with a new system to consider. I am definitely in the mood to bring some fire back to my pedal and desktop gizmo game, but there is usually always a new module demanding that money more. I've had my eye on the Trogotronic Mini Mutant for a little while now, but the rack keeps grabbing the money before I can direct it anywhere else...

My experience with euro and guitar has taught me what I need and don't need. I found that the most common options aren't even necessary if you have certain other things already.
Modules that you can plug the guitar straight into and get effects out of are more fun than some booster/utility module. Great Destroyer, Trshmstr, Plague Bearer, Clouds, Warps, and all the Trogotronics can bring a clean guitar signal up to modular level, as can all the Roland fx, so I have no need for a dedicated booster, I have a dozen things that can do that already. I don't need anything more than an attenuator to send CV to pedals, because all I want to do that for is wonky pitch and filter modulations. If I ever want to get swanky on that front, I'll just get the SSF Gnd Ctrl module.
I like my rack fuzzes and distortions, but they honestly don't do anything that pedals can't, and they're not really for guitar so much, but more for samples & oscillators, and gratuitous power electronics punishment. I prefer the sound of pedals for the bulk of my guitar effects chain (dirt/wah/pitch shifting/amp+cab). Dirt pedals of course sound better on guitar than dirt modules, like there could be any doubt. The main appeal of guitar with eurorack for me is the interaction with the filters, LFOs and envelopes of the rack environment, and of course the incredible end of chain effects like Clouds, Rainmaker, Demora, Erbe, etc.

Eurorack is also completely lacking any kind of bread and butter POG/Whammy/pitch shifting effects, which so far is the biggest disappointment for me. This is bullshit. Fuck this shit.
If there was even a simple whammy module with cv control, a pair of them would get you into Pitchfactor territory.
I do have a pitch shifting pedal that can be controlled by attenuated CV from the rack, which I love (Digitech RP360), and so far this has been a lot of fun and producing results that I like. I just wish there was a way to do it in the rack as well. I'm sure somebody will come along with a crazy quad shifter or something eventually, but it seems like something that should have happened by now.

MrNovember wrote:I guess since I'm calling this the Circle of Synth, I should start probably at the beginning.

Where is the beginning of a circle?

Seriously though, great read, and the part about planning your next purchase and how it would affect your music rather than actually making music resonates with me - that's why I downsized and decided to stick with only the essential tools to do what I want to do. Which is to be free, and have a good time. And that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna have a good time. We're gonna have a party.

It's interesting to me that people can get into modular, get a reasonably big system and then get mostly rid of it in the time it takes me to buy 2 or 3 modules .

But yeah, if the instrument goes in the way of actually making music then it's a smart move to adjust...

Totally agree about looking for the next module fix. Although I was the exact same way with pedals, so this is probably just a personality
flaw. For me it goes pretty deep, like when I decide I need something else for my rig, I kinda stop (or cutback on) making music until I have it. This can be a short wait on some in stock priority mail item, but it has happened to me on items that I had to preorder or be on a waitlist. For whatever reason my brain tells me to put things on hold until that piece of kit gets here.

Thank you for posting this. As a person whose looking to get into euro, I've certainly had the impression that starting a system can eventually lead to collecting cool shit just to have it (which certianly happens with pedals, as well).

Hearing about your journey encourages me to stay focused on executing a specific goal and not get lost amongst all the pretty shiny thing

I hope your new mindset / workflow encourages and enables your creativity.