Making stand alone modular instruments

[ParanormalPatroler]

My personal emphasis on modular is sequencing/performance. In two of my live cases I’ve outsourced the sound creation to external synths, which means I have more than enough ground in 6U systems to focus on what Eurorack does best: sequencing.

The third case is 3U and it’s build as a single, one voice instrument. Given that my love for physical modeling is quite prevalent, I’ve been wondering why there are no modular bands around … to which I replied “You should start one!”. Thus, a 3U single voice system was born with the idea of it being an instrument that needs to be rehearsed.

As @papernoise mentioned above, the basic premise between all three, and what usually is common among modular users who have either downsized or created smaller systems as performance instruments, is that there’s a central module or concept around which the system is built. It might change, or it might mutate, but the core spark that inspired the case design is usually there.

PS: here are some video examples of how diverse one of the systems is

Konstantine

Konstantine

Konstantine

[Bxentric]

Hey John how’s this set up been for you since posting, I have a similar plan to build this year thus intrigued by your enjoyment of this set up

[Claude]

I built a little 6U 52hp case to play while I build a 9U 104hp case. Hard to see in the photo but it has MI’s Braids, Tides v1, Clouds, Peaks, Ears, and Streams. Also MN Maths and Rosie. I purposely excluded some other favorite modules, which has been fun. It truly has been inspiring to make a more compact system, which becomes a new instrument. Highly recommend, particularly if you are traveling or want to shake up your practice, as others have said.

[Album] Actually Claude

[grey]

These are really neat. Are you striking the case then to agitate the mics? At first blush I had assumed you’d scraped Ears. Do you have more than one Ears or are you just wiring multiple mics together?

[Puscha]

Reviving this thread!

I’ve come a long long way since the beginning of my modular journey (almost feel embarrassed about my old system plans above in this thread, haha), and have obsessively refined my system to feel like a complete, programmable instrument, capable of more complex patching and composition, as well as streamlined performance.

With practice, development of technique, and getting plenty of experience performing live, I feel like it really has become an instrument that I can “play” and express myself with.

Here’s an improvised performance I did with my modular last night, a very simple, fairly straightforward two-voice patch played with ansible running kria:

Eurorack Modular Ambient Improvisation #01

Limitation is definitely key in building a system to feel like an instrument, but I think focusing on a sequencer and building a system around it is also an integral approach to achieve this, as this is the main way that you interact with choosing pitch. For me, kria is the ideal sequencer. It’s the most immediate, logical and intuitive sequencer that I’ve played (tried other “playable” sequencers such as Make Noise Rene 2 and Frap Tools Usta but found them incredibly clunky by comparison), and can get complex and interesting very quickly and easy. It doesn’t feel like there’s much tweaking or programming needed to get good results (though of course you can composing more complex patterns and arrangements, with the ability of being able to save them!).

I’ve found that three to four voices is more than enough, and the rest merely needs to be a way of bringing out the different flavours inside them. I also like not over-modulating things so that I can bring in dynamics manually when playing.

[renegog]

Thank you for reviving this thread! This is one I lurked on a lot before joining lines, but had forgotten about (there are a couple overlapping threads, especially pertaining to eurorack, that are always goldmines of experience and information).

@Puscha

Limitation is definitely key in building a system to feel like an instrument, but I think focusing on a sequencer and building a system around it is also an integral approach to achieve this, as this is the main way that you interact with choosing pitch.

This is major. I’ve decided to keep my system contained (6u 70hp) which feels just about manageable for me, and the space constraint has always felt more helpful in maintaining focus than hindering. In order to accomplish this, my sequencing is Teletype and most of my other modulation is coming from JF and Sloths only—these options are brilliant in their own ways but the limitation is finding the musical interaction with the instrument. @EqualTemperament 's brilliant Teletype Talk episode on Binary Operators has really opened up Teletype for me in a whole new way, such that I now will usually start a new scene in teletype with a “base patch” which is a metro using pattern zero to trigger scenes 1-7 using binary (I can’t explain it well, watch the episode I think it’s 6 ). This method allows me to very very quickly get a gate pattern going, as well as triggering CV patterns which I can set up easily. Even with this increased speed, I’m not sure how interesting it would be to watch me “live patch”… which takes me to…

The Ciani Patch

I’ve already written about this a couple places here recently so I wont go on about it, but this has pushed me towards a more “permanent patch” approach. We’ll see if I stick with the permanent patch—it’s really lovely for now but I imagine I will always want to experiment and try repatching things etc—but for the time being this has really clarified things for me. The straightforwardness of it is brilliant, and especially because I have the 4 outputs of my matrix mixer going into 3 sisters, there is implicit mixing/eq that is happening at the matrix mixer which forces me to be aware very early in the process of what I have in what frequency range. There’s no question, with this patch, of what voices are doing what—it’s not that they’re limited to their role, but it does seem more playable for me to immediately know “this row is the rhythmic bass voice” “this is samples” without having to follow patch cords. Also, dedicating a MM input to noise is so pleasing in a very unexpected way.

I recently picked up a phonogene as part of a trade on a whim, and it’s been in my rack for a little while now and it’s really really lovely, and the preamp has made me play my shnth, pocket operator, etc into my eurorack system which I haven’t really done much of before. This is great fun, especially for looping and sampling with other things. And the broken echo mode is loads of fun. I really am tempted to keep it in the rack and have the shnth be my “lead voice” in the ciani patch (in fact, this is what I’ve got set up now basically) but I’m not sure I like that too much… The Shnth is super playable, but it might be a bit too playable… I want to still have hands on the modular and even with setting up little loops in phonogene and stuff, when i set down the Shnth then I’ve set it down… it feels a bit too much like one person trying to play multiple different instruments at once rather than one instrument. I think the performance of live looping with shnth, norns, etc is it’s own thing that I don’t want to mix so much with eurorack for the time being… This could change of course, the shnth depends on what i program into it, so it only being playable when I’m holding it has everything to do with the patch I have loaded up. Similarly, I’ve been frustrated with my sampler for not having better samples on it and have almost taken it out of the rack few times when I know full well it’s a matter of me getting around to preparing samples for it!

So where do I go from here, perfecting this instrument. I think phonogene is going into a separate little skiff (not ready to part with it yet I don’t think… it could make a comeback). I’ve got sampler for textures/rhythms. One Mangrove on rhythmic bass duties, one on lead-ish duties or harmonies for a w/ synth lead. I’m currently dedicating a cold mac to being a noise source so I’m looking to add a noise source (the verbos I think, with the FFB [how do you like it @Puscha ?) and a moddemix as another attenuator/vca and submixer, but those are the only things I feel like I’m missing. A freed up cold mac will give me added control, the other one is my final mixer/volume control/compressor. Another w/ as a looper or delay. Here’s what it would look like (again, the moddemix and noise&filter are the two modules I don’t have at the moment).

We get back to this question of sequencing and control though… I feel like there is a world where I am playing this by bringing in parts from TT and altering gate and CV sequences on the fly, and playing the mixer—although I do feel like “playing the mixer” can get a bit stale if the voices feel too same-y. The temptation for a grid and ansible as a performance sequencer is very strong, but I’m really trying to steer myself away from accoutrements or anything hanging off the modular other than the keyboard… (ellipsis to indicate uncertainty). Anyways this is just a check in, would take suggestions for alternatives to noise&filter or moddemix, although they seem perfect for the size and functionality I need. I will be back when I get closer to this elusive permanent patch, or at least to report if it is ultimately a failure

[Zeke_B]

My turn to bump this thread.

I’m pretty new to modular and have been going a little nuts filling two 6U 104hp cases, despite starting with a Palette and promising myself I’d stick with that size… we all know this song well.

I found the Benjolin thread last week (?) likely due to a post about ALA releasing V2 and decided to snag one, along with a Twin Peak from Reverb. I put both in my Palette, which still has a Disting mk4 I didn’t really click with and have been blown away by these three modules working in concert. I’m using the Disting in F5 mode for random CV and using the built in mults of the Palette to modulate both the Benjolin and Twin Peak.

Playing with these three modules was a new experience and made me realize I had put together, what I consider, an instrument. (I will acknowledge that I understand the Benjolin itself could easily be considered an instrument on its own due to the four units ina single module.) I wish I had had the mentality of building an instrument when I started buying modules because I can look at the two larger cases I’ve assembled and realize I assembled a studio. I got cool sound sources, modulation sources, VCAs (because I was told you couldn’t have enough ) and filters. I bought a couple of effects modules but sold those because I have an extensive pedal collection and can just run through a board before hitting my interface.

So back to the instrument I inadvertently built… I wanted to discuss this and have enjoyed seeing what others are building and really enjoyed the discussion and thoughts shared around how to define an instrument, so I wanted to share my own. I will start by saying that I think (my own ideal) the idea of a good modular instrument is contradictory and I embrace that. What I mean is it has limitations in size or the number of modules that will comprise the instrument. The contradiction comes in with this thought of mine: while being limited (immediate is another good descriptor) a well-designed and rewarding instrument should simultaneously offer depth to explore and many ways to do so.

I’ll stop there and say that I’m now looking at how I can arrange what I have into instruments that could, in an ideal world, be complementary to each other. I’ll definitely be back to share updates down the road. Thanks for the great read!

[hermbot]

Having had a very very similar small rack at one point, I can attest that it’s a great combo and makes for a wonderful standalone box!

[petesasqwax]

I was thinking of this thread while listening through a lot of Darwin’s podcasts recently and this one with Nathan Moody really struck a chord.

Art + Music + Technology: Podcast 239: Nathan Moody

He discusses his differently coloures “box” projects and the concept of them each being their own instrument really resonated with me & reminded me of much I’ve read in this thread.

[FWIW I still have no modular but the struggle to keep it that was lead to many semi-modulars. In much the same way as the incomparable Open Mike Eagle describes himself as “comedy adjacent” I guess, thanks to my friends my place within the Lines community, I’m “modular adjacent”… so far]

[mutedial]

Interesting thoughts, @Zeke_B! I think it’s possible to really clearly plan out a “modular instrument” — a x-voice synth, a drum machine, a sampler, a sample-sound mangler, a sound-design tool, etc. (We could probably come up with other categories, e.g. the way it’s sequenced, the genre of music we want to place ourselves in, etc).

An alternative way, e.g. that @petesasqwax brings up with the Nathan Moody podcast, is to use modules from a single manufacturer as an effective way of “discovering” a modular instrument.

But I think you highlighted another way it happens, which is kind of by accident (and hindsight)!

Through engaging and playing with the modules we can come up with sounds (music?) that interests and engages us and then it becomes an “instrument”. It’s similar to the way we use narrative to make sense of prior events. Once you have that mental engagement with a set of modules as “an instrument” then I think it’s easier to see if it’s necessary to add to it or not.

I’ve definitely found certain combinations of modules leading me into an area that suddenly “clicks” and I go ah-ha! And then I work with that for awhile.

(I also think the big case, having-lots-of-modules-at-hand approach is also totally viable. I think there’s a downside to the “instrument” mentality as it can sometimes be an excuse to engage in excessive planning and craving, which is not always helpful.)

[@petesasqwax this year I’ve found my most “productive” (or engaging, fun) music time has been with my ipad, tbh, but that’s just been my personal experience this year. Anyways, that’s just your craving mind telling you to jump in! ]

[Zeke_B]

Thanks for that. I agree with your point—so many types of instruments one could build! And also agree that a big box of everything is also completely viable.

I suppose context for the way one approaches building a modular is as important as the type of instrument they build, and I didn’t articulate that well previously. The beauty of this instrument I “made” is that I can sit down and play it, just like a guitar or clarinet, so my context may be immediacy/ease of approachability…? I can patch something together in my larger system and tweak it and manipulate it, but my approach there is much more intentional and intellectual, if that makes sense, even though the end result is the same: music pleasing to my ears.

[petesasqwax]

@mutedial

this year I’ve found my most “productive” (or engaging, fun) music time has been with my ipad, tbh, but that’s just been my personal experience this year. Anyways, that’s just your craving mind telling you to jump in!

So have I! I find the environment constantly inspiring and the workflow it promotes has seen me more or less abandon desktop or laptop production completely!

I do think it’s possible that I will get a pod to house individual modules or perhaps a couple by the same developer at some stage, purely because I’m fascinated by certain things I see in Eurorack that I can’t find replicated elsewhere. Morphagene is a great example of that (although I haven’t stopped looking within iOS for a comparable solution).

What is most likely - and perhaps most relevant to this discussion too - is building a single DIY device containing a number of elements with a single faceplate, thereby almost creating an instrument by force, if you like. The plucked sound of a low pass gate has always fascinated me and I intend to create a unit which allows me to explore that specific sonic terrain as a unique voice within my setup. I’ve been getting that from the outstanding Spectrum bundle on iOS though so it is an itch I don’t necessarily require modular to scratch for me.

[Voltmeister]

When cleaning out the attic this afternoon (moving house soon), I came across my MC505. The ‘synth’ that kicked it all off for me, back in ‘98. Fast forward 20+ years it strikes me today that my 7u Performance Case is basically a groovebox. Guess I’ve come full circle.

[mutedial]

I wonder if you could create a Serge-like Eurorack panel with some fun elements in it using DIY PCBs and a panel made by Schaeffer (assuming you could lay it out properly).

Morphagene is nice, there are some things you can do like slice up samples, step or glide through them, change the sample size window, etc.

This is a great example of what you can do with Morphagene and just one other module. Even if I switch more and more to an Ipad for making sounds, I think i’ll keep Morphagene (and a couple Phonogenes I have) around.

OTOH, sometimes for the way I tend to use it I feel like I could get close enough from some combination of Borderlands and Enso or the new Hainbach looper.

[petesasqwax]

@mutedial

I wonder if you could create a Serge-like Eurorack panel with some fun elements in it using DIY PCBs and a panel made by Schaeffer (assuming you could lay it out properly).

It’s definitely the approach that would be most interesting to me! I might need to add in a few non-Serge stuff (like the Polivoks filter) but perhaps I’d put that in a different unit. A bespoke filter box would be something I’d definitely get a lot of use out of.

@mutedial

sometimes for the way I tend to use it I feel like I could get close enough from some combination of Borderlands and Enso or the new Hainbach looper.

That sounds VERY intriguing! I’d love to see more of how you might achieve this.

[petesasqwax]

The Vimeo link just took me a list of videos rather than a specific one. Probably a consequence of accessing it via my phone. Did you mean this?

[mutedial]

That’s the ! I think it does a nice job of showing off some of what a morphagene Can do.

[petesasqwax]

It does! I enjoyed it Thanks for sharing

[ThanosF]

Hello everyone, i’ve been following this thread for a long time, specially the comments about making a Buchla Music Easel in eurorack and I’m happy to say that after a long time I managed to make a small stand alone system that is my take on the Music Easel and it’s based on the 0-Coast/0-Ctrl combi from Make Noise. I’ve made 4 videos so far with this instrument and on the last one I’ve added a 2x64hp eurorack system to bring me even closer to the full Easel experience. Here you can find all 4 videos.
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this experiment.

[petesasqwax]

Re: making an Easel form Eurorack modules, has everyone seen this that Alex posted earlier this year?

Make a BUCHLA MUSIC EASEL in Eurorack Modules: Suggested Systems 1