I know a few people have this sort of issue. I can’t find the quotation, but I remembered watching a film where Tony Rolando (who runs Make Noise) was talking about answering somebody’s question; they asked him what in their rack would function as an X, possibly something simple like a clock, and he said “well, you have a Maths” and they replied
oh, I don’t want to waste Maths on that
at which point he pulls a face/shrug because:
there is no wasting modules.
There are a few reasons the ‘wasting modules’ idea comes around, and they’re all things you need to gently disabuse yourselves of. Reasons include (using Maths as an example):
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I feel like I should know more; surely I shouldn’t be using module X for Y? Answer: no, if the module does a thing, and the patch needs a thing, why not use it for that thing?
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It seems a waste of HP/$$$ for a simple feature: again, think musically - does the patch need it? Sometimes we wonder if we could be using our expensive/large modules for more but if that’s the role you need fulfilled in the patch, what’s the problem? We also play simple riffs on expensive guitars, plain melodies on expensive violins. Sometimes, Maths is a clock.
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It can do so much more!: yes, it can. But not every patch involving Maths needs to be some brilliantly baroque self-patching marvel. Sometimes it’s a pair of envelopes, sometimes it’s LFOs, sometimes it’s a clock. If you’re only ever using it for basic tasks, maybe there’s a reason - you don’t need its features, or you don’t fully grok them - but that’s not to say you shouldn’t ever use it for those things
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you don’t need to use everything in every patch: when we start out, we often have very small racks so we need to use all our modules in a patch just to make a sound, or do something musically interesting. As our racks grow, we sometimes keep up that patching habit - just patch until you run out of cables or inputs and outputs. Again - it feels like ‘wasting’ a module if you don’t use it in a patch. But not every patch needs everything; you don’t put every spice in the cupboard in a dish all the time, there’s no variance! But I think because the necessity to patch everything is high in small systems, it’s a harder thing to train ourselves out of in larger ones.
One thing I do find myself doing is using module X for function Y - for instance, using Rampage as a simple LFO - just because it’s what I thought of first, what my hands wanted to do. If I later find I need Rampage for a specific task, and I have something else that could be an LFO, I’ll sometimes swap it out to free it up - sometimes, we reach for things we’re happiest with, just like when I use the same turnaround or riff in a piano solo. But there’s nothing to stop you rearchitecting as you patch - for instance, when I realise I need something to be clock-synced, and I move my cycling modulation from Rampage to Tides to achieve that.
But really, if it sounds like you want, then you have patched it right. If that means you’re using an expensive and wide module to do a simple thing, who cares? You shouldn’t!
