HOW TO DESIGN A LIVE MODULAR SYNTH & PLAY FOREVER
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- This is a super-tutorial for anyone wanting to build a live improv modular synth, learn to create endless smooth transitions, how to practice & perform better. It also explains my current case voices and sequencing tricks. 𝐩𝐥𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐧 & 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐬! ↴
JOIN ON PATREON - IT KEEPS THIS GOING!
➡️ / mylarmelodies
If you’re looking to research/order anything, please use these store links!!
➡️ Perfect Circuit (USA): link.perfectcircuit.com/t/v1/...
➡️ Sweetwater (USA): sweetwater.sjv.io/DKnn6y
➡️ Thomann (EU): www.thomann.de/gb/index.html?...
➡️ Gear4music (UK): tidd.ly/3ha7yhv
➡️ Plugin Boutique (Software!): pluginboutique.com/?a_aid=642...
(These are affiliate links! Anything you buy helps the channel keep going. This is my full time job!)
LINKS!
▶ Oligatory ModularGrid of this system: www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/v...
▶ Here's the previous practice jam on this exact system: • An hour of live modula...
▶ A 'Modular University' playlist of other relevant tutorials I've made: • Modular University
▶ The video on Mimeophon: • Explaining the Make No...
▶ A jam with Mimeophon as only effect (using previous sequencing method): • Why Make Noise Mimeoph...
MMM, "CONTENT"
00:00 Introductions
01:12 Chapter 1: Thoughts on designing live modular systems
12:08 Chapter 2: How to learn a modular and practice better.
22:48 Chapter 3: How to do smooth transitions/play forever.
32:10 Chapter 4: Explaining my drum sequencing.
41:48 Chapter 5: Explaining my steevio-style pitch sequencing.
49:00 Chapter 6: Explaining my two synth voices.
54:15 Chapter 7: Explaining my drum voices.
1:00:54 Chapter 8: Explaining my 1 Effect: Mimeophon.
1:05:55 Mentioning Radio Music for textural effects.
1:06:34 Chapter 9: Explaining my Modulation sources.
1:12:28 Designing switchable modulation with A-182-2
1:14:39 Tall Trimmer Toppers for better ergonomics
1:16:10 Four-bar key shift progressions with Z8000
1:18:29 Chapter 10: Mixing.
1:22:55 One Final Very Important Thought.
FURTHER READING/REFERENCES FROM IMPROVISATORY ARTISTS I OWE A GREAT DEBT TO:
Steevio
▶ My guy. Showing his case: • Freeform Techno / Mach...
▶ His bandcamp, buy some tunes (Lilf a favourite): steevio.bandcamp.com/album/mo...
Surgeon
▶ Here's a podcast I recorded with Surgeon, we talk a lot about improv: • WHY WE BLEEP PODCAST 0...
▶ In it, Surgeon linked me to this great video on improv (talks about really listening): • Charles Cohen: Intervi...
▶ Great Q&A with him: • Ask The Producer: Surg...
▶ Great Workshop he did at Schneiders: • Surgeon - workshop and...
▶ Great Workshop he did at Elevator Sound: • Surgeon talks modular ...
▶ His bandcamp, buy some tunes: dj-surgeon.bandcamp.com/
Blawan
▶ Explainer of his rig and demo, using an RC-505 looper: • Blawan's Modular Setup... "The simpler I made it the more complex the music became"
▶ On bandcamp, buy some tunes: bandcamp.com/search?q=blawan
(Note that Surgeon and Blawan have played together as Trade: • TRADE (Surgeon & Blawa... )
Karenn (Karenn is Blawan and Pariah improvising together, amazing techno)
▶ Great live improv set: • Karenn Boiler Room Lon...
▶ More recent RA Sessions where you can more clearly see them working: • RA Sessions: Karenn | ...
▶ Find their studio tunes here: voam.bandcamp.com/
Colin Benders
▶ Amazing modular performer and improviser. His channel: / @colinbenders
▶ Here's my podcast interviewing Colin, he talks about the crescendo concept and much more: • Why We Bleep Podcast 0...
General
▶ Good article on tuning drums: www.attackmagazine.com/techni...
Great video, thanks for the shout-outs. Your simple system is still really complex for me!
Funny thing is that I was just thinking about making a small sequencing-only Eurorack to help control my Pulsar-23.
Many great ideas in this video, especially for creating more musicality.
With the 3 sisters I use it to sub-mix and filter / blend between 2 (or even 3) different VCOs + the FM input is really sick too.
Thanks so much m8 - and I totally recognise the ridiculousness of this compared to simpler systems plus a looper! It's something I really want to explore separately, I'd pare it back massively to just one voice and sequencing (plus perc). Yeah one of my patrons mentioned the use of sisters as submixer also, that totally passed me by. Seems really interesting...time to RFTM. 🙌
One thing I was thinking that you said to me on the podcast, and I would like to reiterate here for the benefit of others as I forgot to put it in the video, was the idea of not being TOO exhaustive about practice...that there's a balance to be struck between staying fresh and excited on something, and feeling comfortable that on balance you will be able to do something good with it. I do also consider there's also a sort of meta-skill that you develop as you fart around live with equipment which is separate to learning the equipment itself...meaning someone who has been experimenting with music gear for decades is naturally going to have an easier time improvising with a less familiar setup than someone who hasn't been. All sounds obvious but it's stuff to bear in mind.
@@mylarmelodies I guess it depends on the style of music you're making too. This setup would create much more melodic material than what I've worked with, so it makes sense for that.
Sometimes I use a looper, sometimes not. 4MS Dual Looping Delay or Electro Harmonix 45000. It's a really powerful, versatile tool to use in many different setups. It really allows you to fold space-time! [ looper evangelical mode deactivate ]
Looking forward to seeing and hearing what you do with the Boss looper.
@@mylarmelodies I practice every day with my current setup of model D, neutron, sub H, 606, electribe 2s. After 13 years of using daws and apps and various gear, it looks like I’ll be building a modular. My best music came from using the same setup/instrument for many years, as opposed to GAS and repeat.
Anyway thanks for providing your quality content!! I listen at work as if I’m listening to a lecture 😁
@@tony_surgeon Now I want the Ehx 45000 *as well*. 🤪
This video is now two years old. I can't imagine what you've learned since then. It would be amazing to see a video like this made by you today. p.s. Thanks for the return of Why We Bleep!
Ha I’m actually not sure I’ve learned as much as I’d like…but more videos in the series are long overdue! Watch this space and thanks for checking in!!
This is great! I love to see electronic music vids moving towards performance, philosophy, and practice and away from commodity fetish. You are very generous with your expertise here.
So one of the things you do really well, and I immediately notice on the first video of yours I saw, is being able to use your hands to convey what your mouth is saying. When we can't see your face it's really effective to have that emotive communication vector to connect with and lends a feeling of humanity to what would be a detached voiceover. The editing in this video with the stacked layers doubles down and gives us even more, a veritable cornucopia of connection. I've got to say, I love it.
Thanks m8 - I think I'm secretly Italian!
@@mylarmelodies I was going to say that the only person I know who gestures that much is my Sicilian grandmother. Don't get withing ten feet of her while she's on the phone or she may take you out.
This is why I’m loving my small case. It made me think way more about what I need, how quickly I can change things when I want, avoidance of too much diving for immediacy instead, and of course actually having fun.
This should be a book. Or a six-part radio series. It’s certainly a recipe for a way of life, not just something in which to be “unconsciously competent” while patching and twiddling.
Top marks. Really. No-one else on YT does what you do.
Thank you!! 🙌
i am in the sweaty game of eurorack since 2 years now. and i always come back to this very informativ and important video of yours. everything is so well explained! it is the bible of my journey!! thank you sooo much for putting out your knownledge!
Im currently ripped on mushrooms and wondering if there are trails behind his hands or is it just me
Hahaha!!! I was watching when I woke up (wake bakey) and thought the exact same thing! Lol
It's just you. He actually has 4 transparent hands.
do it live 🍄
I get the trails without the mush at this point of my journey…
Fantastic video!
I must say we have a few very key differences in approach (probably most notably the size preference) but I have also heard you express a few things that got me thinking quite a bit. will definitely watch it again! great work!
Thanks for watching Colin, much respect!! What tips would you add? What is critical for playing live seamlessly and comfortably?
such good advice. i thought i was "doing it wrong" at first by keeping my system patched up the same way all the time but i find it helps me focus on making music and less on modular synth theory
There is a firmware you can get for plaits that disabled the frequency knob(you can still control via cv), but it replaces the function with a cross fader that controls the blend of the main and aux output from the aux output. The function replaces the calibration procedure, so if you want to calibrate, you will need to install the default firmware first.
Oh wow didn’t know about that - great shout, thanks!!
Oblique Strategies might be the best creative block demolishing tool ever invented!
90 minutes of distilled knowledge? YESSSSSSSSS
Such a great video man. You videos are really inspiring and truly makes a new passionate ramp up exponentially. Looking forward to learn continuously with you. Cheers!
Love this, thank you so much! Something I've been doing is using an outboard mixer for sends/returns and, especially, track soloing!! It's so wonderful to monitor and dial in a new sequence, etc, in headphones before I fade it into the main mix. That way, whoever's listening to me (aka my dog) isn't subjected to those awkward "dialin it in" transitions.
Wow
Amazing work you did here.
Can't thank you enough ❤️
First 3 minutes says it all! Golden words!
Masterclass as always. So much to chew on here it’s chapters to the infinite after all. The sequential switch universe is my fave side of all this. Just love the simplicity and power of it
This is the second time I’ve listened to this video. Your videos are always inspiring and lead me to think about music creation in new and exciting ways.
Great video, and covers so many aspects rarely mentioned. Thank you.
This is fabulous
Would love to see you talk about patching techniques, you make quite nice soundscapes.
For a while I thought you too were one in the same
@@Chasing_Thoughts Gosh, lol, I'm not worthy to pick up the discarded patch cables under the table of MylarMelodies - but wow, thanks :D
@@MoltenMusicTech Oh puhleaze x
@@mylarmelodies :D
Such an inspiring episode!
Especially one tip has pushed me to set LFO on Amp envelope and this opened whole new spectrum of joy!
Thank you so much sir. 🤘
Greetings.
6:35 Into the video and I've got a clear picture of my rig now! Thank you, been watching your videos for the past few days now.
Very musical approach is behind all this talk. Tuning the bass drum, make it breathe, importance of accents - that's what makes music music. These are things hard to learn for those without musical background. And how to make periodic modulations is what I sought after. Thank you for this insight
excellent, this is going in reference playlist for sure
Ace video, lots of insight in the chapters, thank you
Great content! Thanks for sharing it!
Great videos! So much great advice and wise words here. Thanks for sharing!
Amazing video, thank you!!
"Accurate Snakes" == "Precision Adders" 😂😂😂
📐🐍
Aaaah, now I get it! Thx for explaining.
Outstanding. I keep patch notes and jam with friends who have modular systems. Helps me learn tricks and what caused issues. I like sequencers for modular/eurorack that have storeable presets to make pattern creation much easier. Also if you listen to popular old EDM bands like Fluke they use very basic 3 drums and 1-2 voices for hits like Atom Bomb and the stuff they used on the Matrix soundtrack.
I really appreciate your perspective in chapter 3. Thanks for all of the great content!
Thanks meight 👍
Thank you sharing this inspiring insight
"Building a modular system is like cooking". You're a prophet!
Or a chef? 🍔
At the beginning of the video I prayed you say how to track patch cables. Magnificent content
I particularly enjoy the blending of patch cables and curly grass, as if your synth is returning to the earth from whence it came
Hey! Just spotted the mention, thanks for the explanation. I'm watching this in blocks as I find time.
You're the one who put me on to sequential switches years ago.
For various reasons I gave yet to obtain one. Today I came across the U-he CVilization, returned to this video and up pops the CVilization.
amazing and inspiring, thanks!!!!
Explaining set structure and contrasts with different waveforms is peak modular! Love it
Thank you so much for this! 😁🙏👊
I don’t play live or have a hardware modular but these ideas can be applied to AUM on iPad. Setting up a simple “instrument” with drum, bass, and melodic/top line channels, along with Rozeta or other sequencers is a great “initialized patch” workspace. Lots of ways to create related-but-different sequences in Rozeta: the bassline sequencer might also send notes to an arpeggiator module, which then goes through a scaler for transposition or filtering before sending notes to the melodic synth. Now you have bass and top line parts, and the top line will follow any key changes made in the bass part. Thanks for all the ideas!
Incredible video.
Well said.
Instructive and informative 😁
Almost all the way to the end before I heard it: “I ...forget what the second one is doing but” - and then my shoulders and neck relaxed, and I took a deep breath, because I knew the old woman in the village hadn’t been lying. It really was a wizard’s tower out past the King’s Road in the wood.
You are a genius my friend!
Nice one 👍 Good shout on stripping things back and reducing complexity. Plenty of mileage in a really simple setup and a lot less brainache
I follow a similar design method to my 14u x 90hp live rig. Lots of good advice to be taken here. I have been considering swapping a full size braids for two 8hp voices, (a dixieII and a smaller braids), that may not be necessary.
Great advice as for people fuddling around with module choice when they should just practice more then decide. Focused practice, in hour long sessions is something we all should do. You will get better, have better formed decisive choices in/about your modular.
Finally, starting off with a looper is good advice, also starting off with a good drum machine and a simple voice is a good path into synthesizers. My first foray was two electribes and I still will perform with them. Lots of fun, driving beats, very simple rig to toss into a backpack.
Defo - can also echo the drum machine thing and I need to remind myself to make a point of that in episodes featuring loopers - if you thought making a modular voice was expensive, modular drum machines even more so!! Far cheaper to start with a Digitakt or TR8, and let the modular be a wacky voice
Timely, thorough and of course enjoyable, as is the Way of the M8™. Some much needed inspiring tips, here.
Regarding the "drops" (mutes) challenge, if I can share: use mutes to, uh, mute, but not the opposite (un-mute). I never have any luck bring IN something cold, but taking it out on the beat is a piece of cake and really nice, especially if there are some delay trails but also dead cold and jarring. Like, after a buildup, kill everything but the bass and drums, let it ride, do a little bass jam, and then roll up the other stuff. While muted, turn down the gain on them, unmute, then fade up / build up.
Yeah I totally feel that. Surgeon said the same thing - taking stuff out is fine but bringing it in is better done smoothly/faded in. For me the issue is having so much melodic structure that I really lean on those riffs when I'm listening, when you take them away it can feel like the heart has gone out of the tune. The un-mute is always good on 16th'y hats though, but it's so hard to set up great things to just magically appear on the turn of a dime.
how nice is this? wow! so so cool with the hands!!!
🙌✨
The Oblique Strategies are fantastic! Humanize something free of error🖖
Awesome. Became a patreon just then. Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much m8 - welcome on board!! Hop on the Discord if you can?
Great advice, even on a very psychological level, beyond the technicalities of electronic music. Mindset is important.
Hi there, really good video on that topic, many thanks for sharing! :)
M8 - 15 years with the modular and I’ve never put a downbeat clock on a switch to the kick drum to be able to get a 4otFloor at a flick. Brilliant!
The doepfer miniature switch thingie is magic for that 👍
I'm always happy you call out the Steevio style. I'm 2 years in and I've never owned an advanced sequencer, my modular has been all about precision adders and switching across short analog different length sequences inspired by his great example.
The epitome of modular... when he dials in plaits and goes 'oh!' when he finds something that sounds cool.
This is what i always say to all they ask me.
I see this live Akt’s were they have notes next to the system and than start to patch on minute 3,57 and it looks like no fun at all.
Randomness is key!
Build a patch that can involve all the time,
So you can just interact with the modulation and filters.
PS: i love the fact blawan use the looper for his system to use less in his rack !
Thanks for your videos watching you for 6 years now, the day i start with Eurorack.
Just cancelled my date ... Here we go!!! :D
LOL!
Thats the spirit!
What a joy to see someone with a system much smaller than mine ;)
Chapter 2 is superb advice.
wow, lots of wisdom here... anyway great vid man i needed to hear a bunch of that.. cheers
This is brilliant
Brilliant buddy
Killer advice, both novice and so called experts could use!! 👌
Incredible video! it's like holy words! But the better parts aren't when talking about the modules but when talking about how to grow (and fun) with your eurorack.
Thanks epic video. Appreciate it. I tiny module found that does wonders for the mix is the shakmat low pass. It has two bands, ont for removing sub frequencies from kicks/bass, and another slightly higher. Just that alone really cleans up the bottom end with great results. Hanks for sharing your knowledge again dude. ACE
Yep that’s a great one, used it before and wouldn’t mind at all squeezing it in again, highpass for life!!
@@mylarmelodies lol, I wrote low pass by mistake last night. I blame it on the rather large glass of baileys I drank not long before. Lol. High pass for life 🤣
Baileys for life! So creamy
For percussion, I really like using the WMD Metron or Winter Modular Eloquencer sequencers. Super easy to use and powerful plus I can see all drum channels at the same time and quickly modify them on the fly. Other sequencers make sequencing drums on modular too much guess work! Plus adding accents is piece of cake using WMD Axxent add on to Metron.
We need to go for a beer lol massively inspirational video and I’m working on a 104hp minimal hybrid setup ... sorry for swearing lol. Anyways I’m using a lyra 8 as my main voice ... it’s pretty much impossible to do the same set twice but I’m having a lot of fun jamming with it and frees up a lot of space for percussion and modulation. Hopefully get it ready for live use at some point and this video has definitely given me a few ideas on how to make that happen ... good work 👌👌👌
I just love how your desk plants mimic that wire spaghetti. Thankfully I got a LOT more out of this video than that but I did stare at the plants a lot though.
Noooo you've made me excited about modular again! I can't afford this man. I need other equipment now, not modules. Stop being inspirational! Right now!
This might be the best video you've done, and there is strong competition
"The simpler I made it the more complex the music became." I like that.
My man!!
you're an absolute legend, I think this is the best video you've done, got me really inspired to unplug everything and start again, and I can say it's working wonders :) Only problem now is that I have modules to sell haha!
Idea: use the slower running sequencer line as cv input for pams and use it as amount of euclidean events in one of pam's outputs, giving the riff some movement across bars, you can even set it to 0 every now and then to make it way les busy
Thanks - there's a mad floodgate of ideas that could follow modulating Pams that I'm almost afraid to even consider it...!
Hey! thanks for this video!!! about the plaits knob off trick: on the MI forum there is a perfectly stable alt firmware where long push on the 2 buttons will lock the frequency knob (same to unlock it) bonus feature, when locked, the knob acts as a blend control to have a mix of the two output on the aux output :-)
sounds very cool, but isn't that two button combo for entering to calibration mode?
@@linasmak9199 yes. If, for some reason you need to recalibrate your unit, you would have to load the factory firmware first... The situation never happened to me yet, I don't see why it would
Thanks for this hint! Installed it right away.
Also there is an alternate alternate version of this firmware where the frequency knob turns into an octave switching knob on top. Awesome!
On the subject of bumping the Frequency knob on Plaits, there's an alt firmware out there that allows you to lock in your tuning and instead turn the Frequency knob into a x-fader for the main/aux voices through the voice out.
Could also use the alternative alternative firmware where the frequency knob turn into an octave switching knob.
Sequencing only no voice modular is exactly what your latest video on generative patches triggered and I felt like I've just design most useless and weirdest system ever:))
Alex, thank you so much for this. Once again, my grey matter is quite pleased listening to your mouth. Im a babe in the land of modular, and you inspire me and motivate me to try and try again. Cheers!
Very nice tips, and philosophy of your system in this video. If you need euclidean rhythm @mylarmelodies, the Grids can make it in the advance setting mode.
Keep it up :)
It’s time for class with professor Mylar
4K, so crispy.
@@russ254 Stick that saving into the modular, I like your thinking
Now, a Matt Colville dance night would be pretty amazing.
Thanks a lot for this overview mylar. Do you have good tips on where places to find speech/textural samples like you added on Radio Music ?
I use my Moog Grandmother all the time I am completely addicted but over time I have realized that my 90hp generative eurorack rig is not my thing. I'm gonna sell it. The beginning of this video sort of helped me make up my mind.
I’d keep a turing machine and a quantiser and maybe a stages, and just use them with the gran...
Soundforce you can do audio into trigger in and get some cool changes. FYI. Great vid as always mate!
What a helpful video - thanks especially for all the wisdom about specialization and how to think about your musical purpose when building a modular. I'm finding this very helpful as I put together my own build and I've found that I've fallen into many of the traps that you described. Thank you!
The shakmat fixed HPF is a great tool! It cleans up your mix in 2hp
Thank you for this!
Maybe 2 tips, I can provide as well.
1. Pitch Sequencing:
It's sometimes good to have pitch source behind an attenuator with an offset (+ a quantizer), this works very well with a turing machine, that way, the pitch is not so wildly apart, or rather not too complex. I think the more complex the pitch pattern is, the more likely it will sound off
2. Crossfaders are underrated machines :)
3. Don't eat the yellow snow .
@@chromosundrift As I turned on my gibberish translator, it says 'Thank you for sharing' :D
Great video. I think you are right about Euclidean Circles being a bit too complex, so I'm deciding against it, and rather use at least one Stoicheia and maybe one Grids, or two Stoicheias. Not sure yet about the advantages of Grids (besides having one channel more). I need to check the net for reviews about it.
You should check out QuBit Pulsar for drums and rythms. It is close to Euclidean Rythms, but has 1 knob and 4 channels, and has a lot of interesting stuff in it. There's global mode, which allows you to edit all tracks at once and each track could use different algorithm to create patterns. So channel one might be euclidean, second is random, another is simple punch-in-steps, etc. The cool thing is that if you have 4 percussions on it, you might set all channels to random, and twist clockwise would add more percussions, and ccw would remove some notes, so you basically have a knob which controls pressure of your percussions and hats
It must be an absurd experience to record yourself for an hour speaking but the camera just framing your hands. Great hand acting, great music, great video
Thanks! You get used to it! 🙌
Great hands work.
🙌
@@mylarmelodies also, great informative content.
This is a fantastic video. As a 25+ year musician and 8 month rookie with Eurorack, I've found this one of the absolutely most fantastic vids on modular out there. Thanks for all the great lessons. I've taken notes and will undoubtedly watch this several times a month for what I've missed or dismissed. Thank you!!
I get the bit about the grids. That a big reason why I have a skipmin in my rig. 4 Chanel’s of probability removal of triggers.
Any audible latency with the Skipmin?
Wow. "Accurate snakes." Wow.
hey man! Great video!!! how do you get grids to swing??? tried it with pams but it does only work in free clock Mode. do you have any Tips?
Alex - I dont quite grasp how the routing is working with the sequencing to the precision adders. Do you have a patching diagram? (I should probably watch this again when Im not slightly hungover!)
You’re a fountain of valuable knowledge! Thank you, Alex.
Thanks m8
This is the best how-to for live modular synth I’ve ever seen. Super practical both in the “brain dump” and the walk through. Those who play different musical styles will still find your advice very helpful, despite having to modify these techniques to fit. Kudos and thanks!
Amazing video. I'm only about 40 minutes through, but have been very inspired so far. Question: Do you have tips to avoid over-patching"for beginners? I find I frequently "lose the plot".
I suppose I’d say to remember to slow down and listen - so that you’re thinking with care about what needs to come next, that way the next cable has a reason to go in there. Listen with all the concentration you can manage!