One Year Restrospective and the Path Forward
It's been a year since I fell down the rabbit hole and into the wild world of modular synthesis, and it's been quite a journey. I've made some pretty great tunes, had some pretty great musical adventures, and maybe learned a few things along the way—some practical advice that I can impart to future generations of modular synthesists who are maybe just getting started with Eurorack and such. So here's a Year Zero retrospective
Lessons Learned
Modular synthesizers are expensive. I belabor this point quite extensively in my first couple of posts, and this has certainly not changed much. I will say, however, that the prices of powered cases seems to be trending downward with new competitors entering the market, and there's also a robust DIY and open-source sub-movement rippling through the world of Eurorack that can help financially-challenged aspirants save a few dollars. But in the final analysis, the overall investment in an even quasi-serious Eurorack system is easily thousands and thousands of dollars. Fortunately modules retain their value fairly well, so trading a stale module for something fresh seems easy, though I have yet to part with even a single module.
Limitations breed creativity. My understanding of a particular module opens up tremendously when I contrive ways to force myself to use it. The best way to do this is to arbitrarily reduce your rack space. I went from 9U 120hp to 7U 84hp and ended up learning much about some of my less frequently used modules, like the Make Noise DPO. This move came from a desire to create a highly-portable system that I could travel with and was easy to lug out onto my back porch to jam, but the accompanying restrictions opened up a lot of new doors for me. In terms of portability, I can't speak highly enough about my Synthrotek Waterproof Case, and probably everyone should have one if that's important to them. As an exercise, try challenging yourself with specific modules, particularly those that you might not gel with. Absorb it. Own it.
VCAs are overrated (but not by much). You've probably heard the axiom "You can never have enough VCAs" and that's probably true to a point, but I think the emphasis is perhaps a little too strong, given the prevalence of attenuators built into the inputs of many modules these days. I think instead, we should be asking ourselves what the right number of VCAs is. If all the inputs on all your modules are attenuated, then you aren't going to need very many. The rack on which I wrote my amazing album doesn't have any (except Maths). That said, there has almost never been a patch when I didn't wish I had maybe one more VCA for this CV or that. Your mileage may vary.
Mixers are hard. I've tried a few cheap off-rack mixers and have been disappointed at every turn. There's always something weird about them as they interact with my modular system. A hum. A problem handling unbalanced inputs. Amps being noisy. Whatever else. The best solution I've so far found (in terms of audio quality) has been to keep my mixing on-rack with a simple 1U stereo mixer and audio out module from Synthrotek. It doesn't have any CV panning and has only four inputs (two per channel), but it gets the job done. This gets output straight to a handheld recorder, for better or worse. Someday I'll figure out a decent multi-track setup, but I find many of my options both frustrating and expensive.
Embrace random! Because we only have so many hands, am I right? Random CV is a great way to give your patches some movement while leaving you free to tweak other parameters and such. I tend to rely on quantized random voltages for melodic content especially, since I'm a garbage keyboard player, and the body of work rejects the need for a distinct, catchy melody line. Even if you're just using random to, say, subtly modulate the shape of an envelope, it can have a profound impact on the sound of your music. It's strange and intimidating to not have complete control all the time, but also liberating. And who doesn't like to feel liberated?
Drum modules are overrated (and not). I'm pretty pleased with my Dinky's Taiko and the Tiptop Audio drum modules I have, but I honestly feel like the money I spent on them would have been better spent on a set of more generic modules that can be used to create percussion. An STO, a filter, and an envelope generator can produce an amazing kick drum with potentially a lot of CV points. However, those three modules will cost together twice as much or more than the Tiptop BD909 and will take up twice as much space or more. Some drum modules have a lot of great features (like the HexInverter Mutant Bassdrum) but are themselves fairly expensive and take up a decent amount of room. And some are unique and interesting, like the Basimilus Iteritas Alter, or the Dinky's Taiko, and may not really have a perfect analog constructed from disparate modules.
Menus are the worst. Yeah, I hate menu diving, especially when I need to consult a manual much like I do every time I want to use the Expert Sleeper's Disting. It's a great utility module, but it doesn't harmonize will with my highly spontaneous workflow. The Intellijel Shapeshifter also has a pretty deep menu, but I feel like if I gave it more time and effort I could master it. Worst of all might be compact sequencers that don't have a good way to see a sequence's state. I'm thinking of the sequencer on the Mutable Instrument's Edges module, which is otherwise a pretty nifty module. Something like the Intellijel Metropolis is more what I have in mind when I think of the ideal sequencer.
I still have no idea what I'm doing. Yeah, I did produce a pretty amazing album of dark, often experimental ambient music, but I can't shake the feeling that there's lots I don't know. Little by little the scales fall from my eyes and I start to absorb new and interesting concepts, but it's a slow process. Even a small investment of time is enough to pick up a few tricks on your own, but there are also a lot of great multimedia resources and forums from which you can learn a lot. But hey, don't sweat it. It's supposed to be fun and not some stuffy academic exercise. If you never learn anything, well, that's cool too as long as you're happy.
What's next?
I have no idea! I'm going to begin recording another Neolithic Ceremonial Headdress release pretty soon. building on and evolving the sounds from A Pool of Broken Reeds. I am imposing a moratorium on spending on modules for the time being, so I'll have to get a little creative with what I have on hand. I'll shuffle some things around, and perhaps finally master the Shapeshifter and do some pretty amazing things. Musically speaking, 2017 was pretty great for me, and it might be a hard year to top (even if you happen to loathe my debut album), but I'm going to give it a shot. And so should you! As always, feel free to drop me a comment or two. Maybe you've learned something cool about Eurorack this year and want to share, or maybe you just want to shower me with praise. Well, go for it. I am totally ready.