#1

Hi all,

I’ve really been struggling to find what I perceive as a good balance within the modular world. I recognize there’s no right answer to this, but I’m curious to hear how you all approach finding the right balance of modules. I ordered a couple new ones that will arrive later this week so I’m rethinking layout and I got thinking about the typology and balance issue.

For example, I broke my 6u 104 hp case down into 4 categories (recognizing that a lot of the functionality overlaps in some ways):

about 36 hp of sequencing and clocking
about 40 hp of VCAs/outputs/mixers/attenuator/offset
about 64 hp of voices/filters
about 68 hp of modulation

Curious if others have given any thought to finding the right balance of functions within a case or what balance YOU think is right.

Thanks,
C

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#2

as someone who is just getting started, this is a topic of major major interest. i only have a handful of modules and i’m pretty dedicated to spending a ton of time with them before buying anything else, but i’d love to hear the community’s commentary on this one.

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#3

This is an unusual approach to me, in that I’d be much more inclined to think of it in terms of numbers, say 4 sounds sources, 3 sequencing modules, etc. Largely because you can get an oscillator as small as 2HP and as big as 54HP. But in terms of balance, are you concerned that you’ve not devoted enough space to a type of function? I think that’s up to individual goals/tastes, rather than there being a Platonic ideal of sequencing and clocking module size requirements.

For layout, I prefer organizing them both visually and functionally, intimating signal flow, functional groupings, mixing large and small panels, etc., such that when you look at the system it makes sense as a system. When things are only clustered by function, they tend to look like jumbled floor demo racks to me.

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#4

Yeah, I agree there’s no perfect balance and it depends on goals, but I’m still curious how others approach this.

As for layout, yeah, that’s another head-scratcher, I try not to overthink that because ultimately it all gets jumbled anyway. I try to have my stuff that interfaces with external stuff on the ends though or at the bottom. Otherwise, it’s often anything goes and I try to minimize how much I rearrange when I don’t get new modules.

#5

The way I’ve looked at building the system I have is in terms of what I feel I’m lacking (or what I feel I’m not utilizing enough). I think it’s difficult to categorize modules as at least in my case, there are so many modules that are multi-function (Teletype, JF, Peaks, etc.).

For example, I had a 2xVCA module, and I always found myself wanting another few VCAs, so I got a Veils (4xVCA). Now, I’ve been realizing it’s pretty rare for me to use more than 4 VCAs with my current system, so I’ve been thinking about trading out my 6HP 2xVCA for something else that I’d get more use out of.

EDIT: To add, I’ve set a constraint on not getting more than will fit in my 7u 84hp case. So, something has to leave before something else can go in.

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#6

Ha, yeah, that’s a funny point that makes it tough to categorize even for this , so I tried to think about it in terms of how I most often use the module. But yeah, Just Friends, Maths, etc. are so multi-purpose - those are my favorites. I just ordered a Sport Modulator too that seems pretty kooky in that regard too.

I had a hard limit of my 90 hp case and then I got a little Doepfer Beauty Case to fit just another module or two that I could trade in and out (currently MIDI2CV, Sewastapol, or ES-8 depending on what I was shooting for). Now I traded up to a 104 hp case and it’s created all these little challenges I had sort of resolved with my smaller case.

#7

This question speaks to me. I took some time over the holidays to consider this question. I thought I’d nailed it in trying to have something like 2-3 multitimbral percussion sources (Akemie’s Taiko and BIA) in addition to a big oscillator (Furthrrrr), two filters and some choice effects. But in trying to perform and write with it, I found it to be too scattered, like a smattering of sound sources akin to VST’s to choose for a certain sound in the studio, rather than a system with a performance / praxis philosophy.

I started to look at things like the MN Shared System, the Verbos Master System, Surgeon’s live system, Robert AA Lowe’s live system, and wrote out a simple analysis of what the balance of Oscillators, VCA’s (of east/west varieties), Sound-Making devices (samplers? FX?), Filters, etc they had. It was interesting and definitely revealing of a variety of performance philosophies.

Here’s where I ended up: http://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/image/573875.jpg

It’s a system that can do a wide variety of things, opening itself up to both experimentation in many forms, as well as more straight ahead east-coast sequencing if that’s what’s required. Technically speaking, it’s got as many as 8 sound sources just thinking about it if you wire it up right (HO, BLD, both filters, Just Friends, DLD, Clouds, and Maths if you cycle fast enough), but with as many as 13 channels of concurrent CV sequencing (4 from the Ansible, you can do up to 8 from Pam’s with a turing machine-like random on each channel, plus the Sequence Selector). Only thing really up in the air for me at the moment is the DLD - I may swap it out for the Erbe Verb, which I vacillate on constantly.

I will say, I do have a spillover 104hp to include tools that I do find valuable to be able to wire up in the studio for compositional purposes that maybe don’t serve as much of a purpose or take up too much space in the “system” so to speak. I think this is the balance for me, really, is to have one system that can be pushed into a load of different sonic territories in the model of some of those mentioned shared systems, and then some residual studio-specific tools.

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#8

I have a lot of sequencing, both CV and trigger/gate as well as routing, combiner and logic modules. These make up about half of the case. I wish I had more modulation sources and I’m content with only a few sound sources and effects (delay, spring reverb).

Sequencing, clock sources, routing, voltage adders and utilities are the most interesting for me and I’m aiming for a system with a couple of flexible sound sources (Mysteron, BI) and plenty of things to trigger them and manipulate the rythms and sequences.

Edit: this was a lot more coherrent before I wrote it. But I’m surprised how much of control modules conpared to sound sources I have/want.

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#9

Yeah, that was the idea of the Doepfer mini case - just some outboard stuff that I could trade in and out. All 8 hp. All with a unique functionality depending on what I want…external processing - Sewastopol. Max interfacing - ES-8. Octatrack - MIDI2CV or Zularic Repetitor…

Thanks for the input everyone. I’d still love to hear more perspectives on this little thought puzzle.

A modular koan of sorts :slight_smile:

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#10

I don’t have any grand wisdom here aside from: if you DO find a balance, leave it alone for a good stretch of time. Build up some muscle memory before you shuffle it again.

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#11

Ha, yeah! I have a buddy who is always messing with his layout. It was a big lesson in how to lose momentum. I have had basically 6 setups in 5 years that were notable revisions. I felt good about that, but this new case has me in a dark place :slight_smile: classic overthinking…

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#12

I have a TipTop Mantis case that I chiefly use for percussion sounds, a drum sequencer, oscillators, filter, mixer etc. But I’m constantly simply using it for that purpose rather than exploring it properly - having those things next to each other does make you work in a certain way.

#13

I tend to consider my case as a number of instruments that can all work together or be arranged in different ways. I have two “complete” voices (i.e. one or two oscillators, modulation, maybe a filter, envelopes, VCA), a sampler and drum row, some effects, and lots of sequencing and modulation.

I have had it laid out roughly like this for a while now and seem to like it:

Row 1 - sampler, drum modules, FX, and some attenuators/VCAs
Row 2A - Mannequins + IFM (roughly two complete synth voices, but can be more or less)
Row 3 - Modulators and utilities (generally)
Row 4 - Sequencers, utilities, and physical/external interfaces

#14

Trying to settle on a setup myself and it’s tricky. The things that have stayed throughout the various iterations have been my ER-301, Clouds, 3 Sisters, and Batumi. I do tend to go now for multipurpose modules of different flavors and especially like when the line is blurred between filter/oscillator as well as LFO/Envelope/Oscillator, as it makes you think about control voltage more and how to manipulate it.

If I were to start all over again, I’m not sure if I would change much, as it’s been fun to try different modules. It is a goal of mine to stop reconfiguring, so perhaps that should be added to my 2018 goals so I can be held accountable. :rofl:

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#15

I approach all this with an end goal - to make a finished piece of music in a style i like. Better to start from there and work backwards instead of buying the latest and greatest modules first when you were probably missing the most basic things like a $60 doepfer precision adder or quantizer! I see it as building an instrument rather than just a collection of modules. Basically do what you need to get the job done and don’t always follow the crowd. There seems to be no mention about the type of music you want to make or whether you want external sequencing / effects or onboard. Both of which take up alot of space in modular. I have found my maximum working limit to 12u but could put all the core modules in 6u. I have cases with different systems, but to be honest, that is just excess modules that i found a way to work with. I do onboard sequencing and have found i need to dedicate at least 50% (in my case 70%) of the case to sequencers, clock dividers/multipliers, envelopes, random and modulation. I found from experience, that for me, its all about the CV sources and not about the number of sound sources and filters (i use wavefolders not filters), but that is totally dependant on the style of music. I get more stuff done in smaller setups. I put core modules i want to learn in tiny lunchbox setups so i can focus and learn. The advise i would give is look at your favourite modular artists in the style of music you want to play and look at their setups. When i started i was looking at Keith Whitman. Theres some great videos with people explaining their setups.

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#16

shouts out to KFW, good idea, i’ll check that out

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#17

Thanks for the thoughts. :slight_smile:

I’m not new to this, but I appreciate the variety of perspectives folks are offering. I think I definitely have reached my peak in amount of voices as I use a matrix mixer which limits me to a max of 4 separate outputs into the Octatrack or MAX. That restrictive element has really helped me focus more. Mainly this new case has shaken things up for me in a way that it has me thinking about these things for the first time in a long time. I thought I’d start the topic publicly thinking it’d be interesting and useful for others to share their approaches and philosophies. Glad it seems to be sparking a bit of discussion.

Also, I’m definitely with you - lots of people get so caught up with the ‘sexy’ stuff that they forget about utilities. My personal fixation that many seem to ignore: offsets and attenuverters :slight_smile:

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#18

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#19

Keith is great. He’s always been supportive of my work going back to the early 00s and he’s just so knowledgeable and passionate about music. I am so grateful to have somewhat of a mentor in people like KFW and Greg Davis - who tried the punk rock approach of endless touring with laptop shit back in the day. Plus, I was thankful to get them to Louisville multiple times when they were in that zone! :slight_smile: It meant (and still means) so much.

I love Generators and its variations, but it took me awhile to click with some of his other more recent works, but love Occlusions and Disingenuity (with I could track down a copy of that gem!). Late Monoliths is something I have to spend more time with. I’m REALLY hoping to hear his collabs with Mark Fell though maybe most of all.

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#20

hes recently, in the last few months, been putting his back catalogue up on bandcamp https://keithfullertonwhitman.bandcamp.com

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