I’ve been following this post quite closely since it’s something that I am putting a lot of thought in, since some time. There’s actually two sides that interest me regarding this: on one hand I am digging deeper into the modular and am trying to find out how to best approach it in a different way than what I’ve done until now. The modular is a very personal instrument, there’s no predefined way to play or use it, you have to find your own (which is also why I find it so exciting). The other thing is of couse, that as a designer, I have both the urge to design my system, and I want to learn more about what other people do and why, which is an ongoing process, which will probably never stop (since it keeps evolving and mutating).
This post here is mostly a collage of thoughts which I have collected in the last months, put together into a somehow meaningful flow (I hope).
The modular can be many things. It can be a toolbox, it can be an interactive jukebox, it can be an ecosystem, and most of all, it can be an instrument.
The latter is what interests me most, though defining what an instrument is in the context of the modular is quite a challenging thing. I’m a bit split here about the whole definitions thing, but that’s probably another topic.
To get to the point, I’ve been asking myself this one question – how do you build a modular instrument? – repeatedly and here’s a couple of things that I think are relevant to this discussion.
If we assume that an instrument is a human-made device that enables the player to produce sounds that are organized and shaped according to artistic decisions of the player and that – in the case of an electronic instrument – these decisions can lead to actions which directly produce the sound, or shape it indirectly, (I know it’s a bit of a sloppy definition, but it serves my purpose in the context of this post) the question is: which decisions should I be able to translate into sound on it?
For me personally there’s the big initial questions:
- Should it be playable in a gestural manner, or rather be focusing on attended self-playing?
- On which material should it focus: synthesis or sampling/processing of concrete sounds?
- Should the instrument be built around one monolytic process (we could call it a voice), or should it incorporate multiple ones.
The latter is a tricky one. Can we still call it an instrument if it’s an assemblage of multiple processes/voices? I mean a modular will always have some redundancy and it’s hard to define what a “voice” actually is. Having two oscillators does not mean you always use two voices in your system, they could all be part of one voice. But maybe if you have modules that are part of two very different synthesis methods (eg. noise/sample source + Rings and a more classic subtractive synthesis set of modules) it becomes more like two instruments in one.
Again, this is less about the definitions, but more about what I’d like a modular instrument to be, and that’s something very cohesive and with a strong identity, not just a collection of things.
Then there’s several practical matters:
- How big/heavy can it be?
- Ergonomic aspects: how do you play the instrument? Upright, or flat on a table/lap? What is your body posture in relation to the modular?
- Should it be something you can carry around patched and ready to go?
- Is the instrument more geared towards live play / jamming or recording?
- Is it completely self-contained, or will it work in conjunction with external devices like sound processors (FX), controllers, etc?
- Is it intendeded to work in a larger setup and interact with other instruments?
This of course leads to more technical questions like: what case should I use, does the one I have work, is the size ok, can I position it the way I want it? Is it too heavy? Choosing a case with a good PSU is also an important factor, especially if you want to record it.
My current case is a bit too deep and a bit too big and has the power switch in an unconvenient position. There’s also some problems with my currently available space in the studio. I like to keep the modular flat on a table, or better, slighly slanted so it’s easy to access everything. 6U seems to be ideal, since bigger cases force you to lean over more (not very ergonomic) and make it harder for me to focus. For this reason the case should be rather shallow. I really like the design of the Intellijel cases, also they are portable (proper lid to close them) and seem very sturdily designed. I have mixed feelings about the 1U row though, but apart from that, they seem the best available choice for what I’d like to do.
A special note goes to the Teletype (which will be in one of the instruments). The way it is made makes it work best in a case that you can put flat (or slightly slanted) on a table, this for two reasons: because you need to put the keyboard somewhere, and more importantly because this way the patch cables will be less likely to cover the screen. Also, the Teletype is best positioned on the first row. There’s maybe other modules that have some kind of special requirements.
I have a series of ideas for instruments, which mostly rely on a couple of central modules/musical processes. Actually the idea is to build the whole instrument around a handful of central modules that almost make one highly cohesive unity, with everything else branching out from there.
A first instrument would work in conjunction with a set of contact-mic-based contraptions and rely on a sampler/looper to act as a central hub for recording, looping, overdubbing and time/pitch based alterations of the external signals. From there the material would be further processed via delays, resonators, distortion/bitcrushing etc.
A second instrument would be focused on synthesis, attended self-playing and procedural generation of musical materials.
The two would be rather small (6U) and conceived to work together, or alone depending on the needs.
The tricky parts are:
- there’s some redundancy in what I’d need to make both work, meaning that some modules would be really useful and interesting in both, but I’m not sure I’ll go and buy a second anything, just to add it to both cases.
- It’s very tempting to add a row to the first one that incorporates various contact-mic-based things into one big panel. If the instrument does need some other instruments to work it immediately feels less like one.
- I still don’t know how much direct, gestural control through dedicated control modules I really want, this is something I have to experiment more with (but that means buying modules just to try out things, which is not really my way of doing things). For now I’m having some big fun playing Rings with a bow through a contact-microphoned spring.
For now these are just in my mind, since I guess I’ll stick with my current case for some time, and the only place where I can put it is behind the computer (upright)… but I can’t stop designing things in my head 
