Why Modular Isn't For Musicians!
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2024
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morton subotnick was a professor at mills and went into debt to buy a buchla system and released silver apples of the moon. (i think you could call him a musician)
I thought he went on to be the bad guy in sonic the hedgehog?
@@MavenfictionYou killed me… I am literally dead.
@@thomas_dries I’m so glad this finally got the respect it deserved haha. Thanks.
I've had the exact opposite experience with modular. I finish tracks way more often with modular than I ever did with my laptop. I have a few theories why. 1) You can't save a modular patch and then come back to it later; you either finish it or abandon it. 2) Modular is way more constrained in some ways -- you don't have infinite eqs or reverbs as you do in a DAW. Back in my DAW days, I would obsess over the minutia a kick drum to the extent that I'd get bored and pack it in for the day. I started out on hardware back in the early 90s. When I switched to Ableton in the early 2000s I loved it, but my output seriously declined -- at the time I thought it was because I had little kids and I was just too busy to be creative. Then a few years ago I sold my old 909 for an absurd amount and got into Eurorack. Now, I typically spend an hour a night making music and I probably average a completely finished and mastered track every month!
Yeah, I’ve shared a similar opinion in the past in that it limits options which can help you to feel less creatively exhausted. Lately though it’s become an excuse for me to make less. Do you feel like the quality has remained even with a larger output?
@@Mavenfiction I'd actually say the quality is better. I'm focusing on the music more because I don't get stuck in the weeds so much. The mixes end up sounding better too in my opinion. I prefer doing the whole track in the modular, recording a stereo mix into Ableton -- no multitracking. I can only mix by volume, so I think the mixes and up sound more natural -- might be some placebo effect there. Then I master myself in Ableton. Since all the EQ and compression is only applied during mastering, it's a pretty dramatic change!
theres a trick for that but it takes discipline.
Ban yourself from making samples/patches when you are trying to make a song.
When you feel like playing with audio stuff but don't feel any inspiration to make a song - spend time generating drum samples and patches/etc and save them in a personal library.
when you feel like actually making a song - and you start editing a patch or fine tuning a sample - remind yourself you are banned from doing so.
Deadmau5 begs to differ. Have you seen his gigantic modular rig?! lol
Also, I don't have any modular yet, and I procrastinate just fine, thank you. lmao
Thank you for all your output. I really enjoy your videos, sense of humor, and shared education. Regarding this video, I imagine you will agree there is a vast array of qualifying a person as a musician. From an instinctual musician to one that is formally trained. Having an ear and being able to compose something is part of creating and, therefore, a type of creative output or art. I recently (within the last couple of years) picked up modular, which has allowed me to make art after stalling for years with guitar, bass, and drums that I used to be pretty decent with. Modular is incredibly immediate and inspirational for me; everyone is clearly different. Being somewhat naive to start has allowed me to discover and create simultaneously, keeping me inspired to create more.
I think you're kinda conflating musicianship with songwriting. Modular synths are instruments and people that play instruments ARE musicians. But not all musicians write songs. I'm a musician and have fun exploring modular sounds - often times with no desire to create songs. When songwriting, my workflow is recording modular loops into a DAW or groovebox then arranging them into a song as a voice or chopping them like breakbeats.
It seems relevant to quantify "music", as that's what musicians make. Music has structure that a group of humans have deemed to be agreeable. Subotnick, Tangerine Dream, and Cabaret Voltaire were all "noise" to most ears in the '60s and '70s, and things evolved. At any rate, "music" doesn't necessarily mean "songs" per se, and really I find most blather about songwriting extremely tedious. "Music" is somewhere between notes and noise, and maybe you layer things up in a way that tweaks an emotion or makes a foot tap, trips a memory or stirs a mood. To me, exploring modular is about discovering textures I wouldn't otherwise. Those textures are building blocks, if you want them to be. Personally, I like arranging the textures into something musical, but I guess that's not every person's goal. I dunno - I think the point of all this is to communicate through creativity, and just twisting knobs to create sonics falls short of that for me.
with modular: I'm not a musician, I'm an operator. Which is great... because I'm really not a musician but I can still make neat sounds come out. Also no DAW for me because I work on a computer all day long already.
That’s a really great point! I was a guitarist long before I got into modular but you’re right, it opens the door for anyone to explore sounds! Which is ace.
I love my eurorack and I've made a lot of cool stuff with it but I have noticed that compared to other ways of making music, like being in a band, i do get stuck in this kind of loop you're discussing here. Sometimes its enough to call a spade a spade, time to stop endless geeking out on modules and just build a show - which can be done well with very little. Cheers
Couldn’t agree more. I have just done a studio performance mixing the modular in with some “real instruments” and it added so much to the track but was 40hp and a super simple patch.
I've done similar at a show, just let an oscillator rip at the right moment, it can be incredible... but you still have to, like, have a song and perform ... :)
@@chadparks979 this was a nice granular pad, I played guitar and sung too. I had piano and viola to accompany it. I’m just waiting for the mix then the performance will go up. I’m excited for it but I didn’t get a good thumbnail so it might go I unwatched haha.
I do some soldering and then give a module a go. If it inspires dance or trance I just go with what the modular is up to and curate something that ends up on Soundcloud.
I agree Aaron. This is why I'm approaching eurorack from a more musical perspective. That's why I started with a Niftykeyz. I'm surprised more manufacturers are not doing this. A keyboard is definitely nice to have. But if people just like bleeps and bloops then I think that's fine also. But it definitely is more geared towards noise making than music making.
I feel like this about Guitar Pedals. I collected so many of them over the years. Then came the Empress Zoia, which is the closest I've ever got to modular. I was spending so long trying to learn how to use the thing, I ended up selling it and several other pedals as well, because I just wasn't writing music anymore. I'm so much happier writing at the piano or acoustic guitar now, then I'll use effects once the track is up and running. I appreciate that for other people its completely different though
I've been using Eurorack since its inception, I used to have a life.
Haha awesome! That made me laugh. Cheers.
Great video, my experience feels very the same, I'm literally watching this while procrastinating recording a modular patch and making a video... modular is so addictive, it's like Legos for adults with a similar price tag. I started by getting the bare minimum, some used, some behringer (which surprisingly a lot of people hate for some reason) and then as soon as i get to a point where I'm like "i want to do X" and i can't then i research what stuff can help me do that, and try to find it cheap.
In case you’ve missed it, people hate Behringer not because of their products but because of their shady practices as a company and their owner’s occasional pettiness.
Great video. I think that social media, more than modular itself, is starving us all of great art. Social media algorithms prioritize commerce over art. Show us what you bought. Make us want to buy it. What it does not prioritize are people making music, sharing music, just sitting back and listening to music. More people would make actual music with Eurorack if that was incentivized. But consumption is what is incentivized by these massive companies and billionaires. The answer? Make art and share it anyway and encourage others to do the same, no matter the outcome.
Great Comment. Too much emphasis on new gear. Some of the best music was made with the worst equipment.
Thoughtful video, appreciate hearing your ideas on this. Speaking strictly for myself, as a lifelong musician approaching electronic music, I struggled a bit to find a workflow I enjoy. As you say, there is a very good case for samples, tons of great music has been made by people not creating their own sounds and its all valid. For me working in a DAW or even with various hardware synths was a barrier to creating what i wanted to, how i wanted to. To add onto your point, I think being intentional with modular is key. Experimentation has it's place in the studio but cannot be the sole function, otherwise you stop producing, as you said. But what modular does provide a focused producer, is a very hands on and completely customizable environment that is entirely your own. Did i sell ever piece of gear i bought since i started this journey so i could get my rack to my needs? Yes. Have a made more music since finding a workflow that works well for me? Absolutely.
I'd just maybe want to add to your premise, it's more about the cook than the kitchen, which I think is important in this instance as personally, i don't think discouraging practicing musicians from the versatile tool that is modular synthesis is necessarily beneficial to the community.
As a musician, building my system has been a unique and highly productive practice. I compose melodies on my euro rack system in ways I could never do with the several traditional instruments I grew up playing. And if you want, you can always connect a keyboard and work in that boring old way as much as you like.
I have tuned my guitar to open tunings and given them to children who are not practiced and had highly musical results. But are open tunings not for musicians simply because a “non-musician” can play them and get good results on the first try? I might spend hours strumming that same guitar just to hear the beautiful intervals.... Is this just a waste of time. I think not.
The tool does not dictate the use. Your mind dictates use.
Shitty musicians will make shit on any instrument.
You've written in 150 words what we took 800 to say 👏
This video is an opinion that you don’t agree with. It’s not “bullshit” just because your experience differs…
I started modular 20+ years ago in 5U (MOTM and Oakley). I found 5U musical and easy to integrate in mixes. I went Eurorack around 10 years ago and outside of sequencing/efx/percussion... it's just not that usable. AJH modules included.
I find i have learned so much more about synthesis from diving into modular, it has really helped me create the exact patches i want when using ableton's stock instruments or VSTs.
I have always hated using presents and want all of my sounds (aside from the 606 drum kit for some reason) to be made by me instead of sampled or using a shared preset, even if what i make is nothing special and very typical.
I found that buying standard synths... they always have something about them i like, and something i dont like, and so its like i have to buy some other synth to do what the first one doesnt but that has its own pitfalls, so instead of hoarding 100 different synths, none of which i feel entirely satisfied with, id rather just spend the money on carefully selected modular gear and have the "perfect" synth. So modular made sense.
I just cannot gel with typical hardware sequencers. I have to write music by being able to press record, and play some keys into the keyboard to generate midi, and then to touch that midi up and copy paste/experiment with it, and this just doesn't work with hardware sequencers. They feel so inefficient compared to mouse and keyboards (although ive had fun playing with them and make melodies with them i probably wouldnt have found with my preferred method). I just can't seem to make an actual song, let alone a 1.5 minute section with them - its too frustrating and id rather just go plug in the midi cable from ableton and put the notes on the piano roll.
then there was the problem of not being able to save the modular thing as a preset - if i dont entirely finish a song in one sitting, i can't use my gear until i've finished or abandoned that song. Thats a major problem.
But i've found some decent productivity with either recording some 8 bar loop or whatever from the modular gear, and then unpatching it all and using that as part of the song, and messing with the sampling of it. Or recording about 1 minute of each octave of C for a patch and using ableton's Sampler to turn that into a virtual instrument (really grew to love the verbos harmonic oscillator that way, its great for poly stuff like chords!)
So overall ive found the typical modular "Advice" just isnt actually best for me. I still have the dream of having like a portable CV generating piano roll modular synth, but it seems no such module exists. For now, I think just a few modulators and whatever I can make some new style of noise with that isn't already covered by what I have is perfect and actually helps me make songs.
anyway, thanks for reading my blog.
Right on brother! I even lost a friend due to this issue. He just became like this snob. Thinking he was some how better then artists. And he can’t even get a fucking note out of his 100 oscillators. It just sounds horrible. I just couldn’t stand the constant bantering about how much better he was than everyone else. It drove me mad. Get of you high horses you modular nerds. This coming from one that makes my own circuits. It’s not that, it’s just the attitude ! Let it go. Respect the time that people put in to there craft. Doesn’t matter what you doing if you put the time in to it!
My vocals suck, but by having lyrics I can feel like the weird (I mean cool) sounds and samples I get out of modular have some connection to traditional musicianship. The songs still get fleshed out on an acoustic guitar, at least, even if they don't make the "final" mix.
Absolutely agree, its a laboratory for making weird sounds, maybe some meditation device or contemplation like playing chess. Not a musical instrument. Applies to any synth imo, when i had a MS20 and SH101 in the 1990s all i used the keyboard for was weigh or tape one key down and then play with the controls to make weird noise. Thats synths !
Some good points - Modular synthesis is an advanced musical hardware. It will be as good as the ears of the person using it. Modular means it can be simple or complex but most modular synthesizer kids don't think in musical terms. That takes a long time to develop, and I feel is somewhat lost in modern culture. When people criticise Bieber I think they are talking about the difference between music as an object of trade craft versus music as a form of cathartic spiritual release. As a musician I appreciate both, I prefer when both come together, but I will take the later over simple trade craft anyway of the week. A kid playing an out of tune, beat-up old guitar, with heart, is better than a perfect but mechanical rendition of a well crafted but soulless song that has been assigned to a generically pleasing singer based of focus group marketing analysis of what appeals to a general audience and is least likely to get them to change the radio before the ads come on. Bieber can play many instruments, should I congratulate the copyist for the manuscript - not the author?
Being a non musician, i said this myself a couple years ago. Probably says a lot that since i've moved away from modular I've started taking baby steps to learn music theory.
music theory is a nice to have, but it wont teach you how to write good music.
Once you understand how to build basic chords (1,3,5, and sus and 7th chords) and how to stick to a certain scale, you will likely have the best returns in stopping the active pursuit of music theory and instead spending as much time as possible cranking out bad songs which you will get progressively better at.
I once had this false notion that if i just knew more music theory finally id be able to make songs I liked but what actually made the difference was cranking out like 10000 songs i didnt like and thinking very seldomly about any in-depth theory.
music theory is great though for communicating with another musician in a succinct way.
@@mwatkins0590 you pretty much described how much theory i want to learn
The only Eurorack UA-camr that has personality and humour. My theory is that he gets it by regularly sucking it out of them through their earholes -- Dark Crystal style. Don't deny it and keep it up. We who are about to patch, salute you.
Great.
I’m still looking at my empty Tip Top Audio rack still building up the courage and money to start filling the thing.
I must admit that I've tried modular now for around 4 years and I am now selling most of it off, and just keeping standard items such as synths, and effects. It got in my way as a musician. So for me, it hasn't helped at all, and I'm heading back to just playing music again.
Thanks for the comment, I feel in a similar place. It isn’t that it doesn’t do “the job” really well. I just need to think about how I’m going to incorporate it into my workflow more effectively and probably move the goal posts on its role in my productions.
@@Mavenfiction It was too cerebral for me. I like to have gear that doesn't get in my way so much. Some of the modules have multi functionality and if not used frequently, you can easily get lost in it. I think it's a great tool as a production vehicle for a song that is already written, but I just got stuck often times with it. It clearly isn't for me, but for others, it may be the thing that makes them shine. I just know myself now, that I'd prefer to have an acoustic piano to work out a song on, and keep writing new things, than get lost in the detail of why a sound is sounding the way it is.
Yeah, Modular can be cost and time consuming. You make sounds but not music. I shrunk my case down and now it just kind of sits because I can do stuff quicker in the box.
I do believe there’s a balance somewhere. I haven’t found it yet though haha.
I do not want to think about the amount of time and money I have put into modular. It has always been about sound exploration and the fascination with it and NOT about music/track/beat making. It is really just an interesting hobby. For making music I think the biggest favor someone can do themselves is to start by only slightly expanding capabilities of a synth having CV I/O with some extra modulation.
“Friggin’ Keyboards of Rage” would be a great band name.
Love your insight, especially with regards to buying modules. Modular I think peaked over the course of the last five years and everyone was buying everything they could to try and become or stay relevant. I know I was guilty (not relevant ever. 😂)
2:45 - Hahahahaha. I’m dying.
tell that to Wendy Carlos 😂😂
Well, you’ve got me bang to rights. I went from six-string guitars to three string guitars cos I was sh!t at playing “proper” guitars- and then it turned out I wasn’t enough of a musician to cut it even on three strings. People know what to expect of real musicians- rhythm and melody not the least- but with electronic music you can hide inadequacies to a certain extent, and that’s even more the case with modular. To be fair, even with modular I try to stay within the rock’n’roll structure a lot of the time (3/4, 4/4, 5/4 etc, melody/rhythm/bass/percussion), but I know in my heart of hearts that I can video pretty much anything and get away with it, because while people can tell when a guitar player is incompetent, they can never be sure whether electronic music is supposed to sound that way or not. As for the “noise” genre- well…
In summary, I failed as a musician but I can turn my hand to electronica and modular synthesis well enough to fool most of the people most of the time. And now I’ve blown my cover. Damn.
Haha Wal, we will take your secret to our grave haha. Thanks for the comment. Hope you’re well!
100%
If we're honest all this is just a fun way to avoid doing the hard work of actually making and finishing music. Modular is the perfect hobby to make sure you never finish anything lol. What has worked for me is to strictly limit what I actually use the modular for - repetitive synth lines and hats/perc - Things I can't do faster elsewhere.
Most don’t want to admit buying shit isn’t a substitute for practice, goes for more than just music.
For me, Its actually the thing that’s directly got in the way of the effective way I used to make music. :s
I sell a lot of gear and the modular synth customers are like addicts... and most of them don't know really what to do with them , from what I see. These companies that produce these devices though have the best marketing because they try to sell you a dream of a compact solution which will have all your favorite tones , very often with a better quality components . But if you calculate how much you spend on it to have all you need - it is much worse than with guitar stompboxes . These companies after few years go bankrupt and build another company that make similar devices and we have another reason stay on the market to explore new range of products . It never ends if you don't start to think - what am I doing ?
The problem with modular gear is that it takes such a heroic effort to even get a mediocre sound worth putting into a track that its hardly worth it. Most toy synths from the 80s Casio line can produce better sounds with presets, requiring no skill whatsoever.
Playing about with sound and making the odd thing that sounds half decent is all I need. I used to spend loads of time in software and hardly ever complete a track even if it was a good idea, Modular can be different every time and there is no drawing in modulation curves or some crap like that. What I feel like is that I'm going to end up with is a box of esoteric modules, a box of beats, the main case, and a box of sound mangling stuff. And no talent, which is totally fine. *Should have been a box of No-Talent shouldn't it*
Haha yeah I think separating modules into usable boxes might be a really great way to do it!
"Promo sm"
No one speaks for all musicians. Like anything else, it's a personal choice.
I don’t claim to speak for all musicians, which I know you understand. Try not to get caught up on the title, like always these videos are just conversations based on my experience.
(And a bit of a laugh)
@@Mavenfiction I wasn't addressing you. I wasn't even approaching an accusatory or critical tone. I was making a generalization that every musician (or person for that matter) is entitled to carve out their own path. It's such an innocuous and common sense POV, I'm surprised you took offense to it.
I didn't think the title was your point of view. Or maybe I'm wrong (let me know if that is your position). I thought it was a conversation starter. What I took away from your video was a more flexible view but one that recognizes common pitfalls. Correct me if I'm wrong. I mean, if you think you speak for all musicians, I'd be shocked. I certainly didn't get that sense from your video.
I was addressing people that mock modular synth, which I read. Jeremy from Red Means Recording had addressed this as well, where some people say modular is for lazy and uncreative people with money to burn. And people like Joe Bonamassa, who criticize guitarist who use pedals. And Pat Methany who has crowned himself jazz king and sees fit to attack Kenny G for playing smooth jazz.
There's no rule book for creativity.
Cheers!
@@commodoor6549 sorry, I didn’t mean to come across defensive. I knew you weren’t being direct. Whenever you’ve commented before it’s always been complimentary/kind so I knew this wouldn’t prompt you to fall out with me haha. Sorry again if it came across that way.
I agree with what you’re saying wholeheartedly. These are just a cathartic way for me to check in with my own process and critique it. And hopefully make a few people giggle along the way.
@@Mavenfiction I feel like we're in agreement as well. Thanks for your thoughtful reply.
👍I LOVE ! 💙⚪❤
I’ve been playing music for most of my life on instruments and I wasted a lot of time with modular. Although I still think it’s super cool to get sounds that are impossible elsewhere, and have a winnowed down setup.
Here is my advice for what it’s worth on this subject. Some of it extends to electronic music in general.
It’s always good to learn a traditional instrument. That’s true even if you already know how to play one because you start thinking very differently about arrangement. So if you play guitar and then learn drums for example, you learn how not to play guitar all the time and let rhythm section do its job sounds better. Same is true of electronic instruments, they have their strengths in an arrangement. More textural and atmospheric than expressive, I would say.
Electronic drums even humanized and painstakingly programmed will never be as expressive as a real acoustic drum set.
Never ever. Because expression on a real kit is super connected and efficient.
Synthesizer will never be as touch expressive as piano or any hammer action instrument with tines like rhodes or wurlitzer. Again because of direct connection with your fingers.
This goes for guitar even more so.
All music should have development, not just be one theme repeated, but key changes or modal changes or at least big textural changes.
Sample modular, don’t worry about having a huge case and composing complete pieces on that platform.
Focus on timbre and percussion not melody.
Stay far away from everything but the kitchen sink modules. Use synthesizers for texture and soundscapes.
With melody, relying on quantizers and generators has a parallel in traditional instruments. It’s called note spinning and it’s not good music.
Just because you are not productive on YOUR modular rig doesn't mean my system isn't perfectly tailored to MY musicianship.
Can I hear some tracks you made on your rig?
I've been producing a long, long time now and (disclaimer) I've never become a professional, but from the off I always saw modular as a type of hobbyist w@nkery.
Going to have to disagree with this one 🎛🎶
No worries at all. I love Modular. I just find I’m not as productive with it. I get that others are. :)