#17

My limited success has been in sequencing smallish loops of modular jams into songs. Grid, arc and laptop make a perfect instrument for performing these compositions, let’s say if touring the next Florist record calls for the seamless recall of many modular-created textures.

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#18

I’m having similar problem…
After trying this and that, I’ve decided to setup certain workflow and “template”.
I view it as 2 part system, first and core part is modular, place where I create stuff, second part is recording/mastering/glue piece.
Basically I’m taking balanced stereo outs of modular that go into AD converted of my interface, then comes “recording”/“mastering” chain. There are quite some bits in there, from compressors to master eq and other processors, but they do have parameters set to specific values, I do use sonic core platform for this, but it could be anything else really. After I recording different tracks they do tend to sound of similar “clay” and have that release/album signature sound/vibe to it. What I would like is to have spectrum and spectrogram which I could see before the signal goes out of modular system, as I tend to listen to final output of the whole thing. I guess its even a bit more unusual, because I’m also trying not to record stuff that would just “felt” part of and album, but also avoid mastering(at least bigger part of it). Basically everything is done in one go, but setup and tinkering(of the static “recording”/“mastering” part, for the album) requires a lot of time, at least for me…

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#19

yeah! we put some gentle modular layers on the new record and i have been meaning to come up with the perfect small modular setup for this next cycle of touring. thinking maybe one of those lunchboxes just for loops and textures that can kinda just float along underneath everything.

@nimmen sounds very similar to what i’ve been doing – i do love to mix and clean up everything even if it’s just stereo tracks. i have the valhalla plate reverb plugin and i use it all the time on my final mix of an instrumental. wetness is usually pretty low (5%-10%), but i love the stereo image that it adds in the background of everything. i also always have a spectral EQ and RMS level meter going so I can visually be aware of the track when i am editing. visuals are really helpful for me in understanding not only what i am hearing but what i want to hear.

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#20

I’m a rank amateur when it comes to releasing music that people would be willing to pay for, but I really love the combination of synth and tape (where tape is a tascam cassette four track, not fancy studio tape). It’s purely an ergonomics, mood-i’m-in-while-i-record choice (I dislike fiddling with DAW’s, don’t want to invest the learning time). When I record digital, I mostly record stereo mixes to Audacity.

Have enjoyed this thread, and I’m not really worthy of responding, but - wanted to throw out an argument for tape that’s based purely on the loud clack noise you get when the tape starts rolling. I’ve also started to dump the 4 track mixes to a conventional stereo tape deck for posterity. I’ve got a years worth of tapes sitting near my desk, I plan to make something with them this summer, this thread has been really helpful to that end. My plan was to digitize the tapes, cut them up and then look for matches, or maybe just randomize the combinations. I want to emphasize horizontal (vertical?) cuts and splices between segments rather than layering.

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#21

I genuinely think there is no worthy here. Insight and honesty are enough.

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#22

Really enjoyed this thread also - thanks for everyones input. A couple of reflections…

Since starting with a modular a year ago I’ve definitely moved away from making more complete tracks and have produced loads of ‘sketches’ instead. I keep meaning to spend some time trying to edit and compile them, but fiddling with a DAW is so much less fun than patching. And, perhaps that’s more important.

The other thing I think is that ergonomically, I’ve now designed my studio around my modular so my laptop is less convenient/comfortable to use. I really only have space for one of them to be right in front of where I sit. I choose modular! :smiley:

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UX of Music Instruments & Tools
#23

agreed !! everyone’s input is valuable in my opinion :sunny:

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#24

My thought exactly. I’ve kind of designed my composition strategy around enjoying creating music more than anything. That comes with an acceptance that my tracks will never have the perfect polish, levels, and structure of a piece created in a DAW, but on the flip-side it retains a lot of the raw, live feeling that I love about hardware synths. It actually reminds me a lot of jazz, and how much I dislike perfectly editing, expertly produced jazz records. I like jazz to have spontaneous energy, and I think that’s what special about modular music compared to most electronic music (as much as I love listening to a polished electronic track, it’s not music I’m interested in making).

My strategy is this: start messing around with my modular, often without any real idea what I’ll be creating, but sometimes I have a new technique I want to try out or whatever. Eventually I might find myself in a spot I like, so I build up a track around it, building up to the biggest moment of the track. Then, I dial back everything to something super simple, but knowing exactly where I’m going to go with it. Only then do I push record on my laptop I dedicate to recording, and figure out how to get back to my big moment, and then how to transition out of it.

I then stop recording, give it a little mastering love, and upload it to SoundCloud. For me, this keeps me off the computer as much as possible, but still have something to show for myself at the end. Maximizes my musical enjoyment and creativity.

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#25

I’m also new to modular and I think about this every single patch I make. I need to keep reminding myself that this is one of the reasons I got one - to create something, record, and move on. (There’s some life lesson to be learned in there somewhere…)

BTW, I love your Florist album on bandcamp!

Also keeping an eye on this thread as I’m in the same predicament. Great posts!

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#26

Is it strange that I’m a tiny bit disappointed that someone hasn’t come out of the woodwork to wax philosophical about how recording the modular destroys its essential nature? That the only way to really hear a modular is to be in the room as the patch develops?

I don’t buy into that argument, but I sure do enjoy the weirdness of fringe ideologies in already arguably fringe artistic communities. I will dish out heart points like crazy for a few good weirdo explanations of the soul in our machines.

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#27

I sometimes feel that way about my own audio/video patches. Typically with modular stuff I record about a minute of it and share it on instagram or something. I don’t ever feel like its the same thing if I leave a patch in and then re-visit it. I don’t think it destroys the nature of it really but patches really do feel impermanent compared to building something out in a DAW…this doesn’t even touch the fact that I find it really hard to mix modular levels! lol

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#28

Where’s Ramon Sender when you need him?

Seriously. What IS the difference between a session and a piece?

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#29

Conceptually, not much I think. In practice, you can do a lot of things in post that you could never achieve within a single recording session.

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#30

That sort of gets at (but doesn’t address head-on) the difference between composition and improvisation (and the gradient in between)

#31

A lot of this thread has been about editing / revising improvised material. I was a theater / comedy improviser for a decade a while back, and that conversation - editing improvised material to make written (composed) shows was always a contentious topic. Second City, the most well known Chicago improv theater, used improv purely to create written shows. It went back to the 50’s (would need to fact check that) where the original SC folks didn’t think improv was enough to carry an entire show. The modern guru of improvised comedy was a guy named Del Close, who pushed the idea that improvised theater was its own thing, and wasn’t just about creating written stuff (he left Second City to start a theater that pushed ‘pure’ improv, called Improv Olympic, that’s where I was) It was a great conversation to have late at night in my 20’s. Could see similar discussions happen around modular.

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#32

Oh neat, there’s a connection here - Del Close and Ramon Sender were both associated with the Merry Pranksters. Synchronicity!

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#33

For me the difference is just the decision to call it such. Ultimately I think a lot of making art is just making a decision. From John Cage’s 4’33", Robert Rauschenberg’s White Paintings to Mort Garson’s Plantasia… all decisions to create and finalize something based on an infinite number of factors to consider that you as the artist are swimming around in.

But to come out of the depths for a second-- I have often thought that recording modular seemed opposing to it’s impermanence that I love so much. But on the other hand --When I feel proud of what I make and would like to share it, I believe it is a good thing. Not to mention of course getting to hear the beautiful things everyone else does. I think for me as this conversation has gotten more and more in depth, I find myself returning to where I started with the philosophy of recording stereo out from the modular to preserve its ecosystem as it existed originally. The modular for me is and always will be different from all other instruments in that I don’t want to play it, I just want to vaguely tell it what to play and listen.

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#34

Agreed. I’d love to have access to a local Modular on the Spot group. I like posting recordings on Soundcloud, would love to get a tape out this year or next, but I think I’d give that up for a performance group I could meet with on a regular basis. The disadvantage of a fringe art form when you’re not prepared to live in one of the hubs of the form.

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#35

From the variety of replies it seems clear that the answer is “any and all ways that you like to work to make something you are happy with”… :slight_smile:

I love stereo recording and multi-tracking, but always do live performance takes. Others have said that straight to stereo is their choice… or recording patches and then using them in finished pieces…

In the end maybe the modular isn’t all that different than other instruments? Sometimes you can treat it as one instrument, sometimes as a whole ensemble-in-one. Live bands of all sorts often record straight to stereo… but others multi-track like crazy with single takes or lots of overdubs. Maybe we’re overcomplicating things? :wink:

I love that we all do different things and treat it in different ways, so much to learn from each other and our approaches.

This is something I’ve heard from many improvisors (jazz, new music, experimental, etc). A lot of this music really lives in the performance, and the players play to perform more than to record. If you don’t live in a place with a modular community, maybe there’s an experimental music community?

I’ve heard my more serious music friends refer to forms of improvisation as spontaneous composition… As you say, there’s definitely a gradient between the extremes.

This paper has some good high-level points about where the two overlap and differ - http://music.arts.uci.edu/dobrian/CD.comp.improv.htm

In my music work I’ve tended to think about a session as the real-time performance. Sometimes it’s improvised, sometimes you can perform the same piece multiple times or in different ways/interpretations. The piece is what you’re playing, or in the case of improvised music it can be the document of the output. Unless you’re doing completely free improv then there’s probably some sort of “piece” that you’re performing…

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#36

I spent my first ~1.5 years with my modular with that kind of philosophy. It was a very meditative way to make music, but after a while I became sad that I had no documentation of any of the music I’d created over the previous year. That was when I came up with my current strategy, as a slight compromise to try and retain my enjoyment of making music, but while still having a record of what I had created so I could look back at how my sound had evolved over time. (which is an even more curious situation: many of my recordings include modules I no longer own, so I could never reproduce that music again)

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