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This is a good conversation and I'm glad to have read it. I feel my G.A.S. being stymied. Thank you. 
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Feb 10, 2016 04:46
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Realistically the only soft synths I still use right now are Bazille, Alchemy, and Spark. I guess Gadget as well if I don't feel like firing up a hardware synth or I'm not near my desk, oh and module for piano / ep stuff.
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Feb 10, 2016 05:44
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If you find a really good patch on a modular synth, how do you save it for later? I've always imagined this involving a photo (or two)
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Feb 10, 2016 06:40
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a template you design in paint.
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Feb 10, 2016 06:58
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Progressive JPEG posted:If you find a really good patch on a modular synth, how do you save it for later? I've always imagined this involving a photo (or two) a friend takes a B&W printout of his Modular Grid layout and just draws on it with colored markers. It... sort of works? Enough that at least he can identify knob positions enough to recreate the patching.
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Feb 10, 2016 07:06
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Progressive JPEG posted:If you find a really good patch on a modular synth, how do you save it for later? I've always imagined this involving a photo (or two) Kill me 
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Feb 10, 2016 07:54
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Just never touch it again and buy a new one.
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Feb 10, 2016 08:00
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Progressive JPEG posted:If you find a really good patch on a modular synth, how do you save it for later? I've always imagined this involving a photo (or two) Plug it into your DAW, sample every note, and turn it into a Kontakt instrument.
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Feb 10, 2016 08:01
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Progressive JPEG posted:If you find a really good patch on a modular synth, how do you save it for later? I've always imagined this involving a photo (or two) Either a photograph (quick but less reliable) or draw on a template (slow but more detailed) or, like I do, just record it, maybe a couple of times in different takes, then unplug everything and start again. Treat it like some kind of Cagean excercise in zen and wipe the slate clean. (Most of the "ah, that's interesting/clever" stuff you remember intuitively anyway.)
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Feb 10, 2016 12:07
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Do your softsynths not support exporting patch parameters to plain text, or at least a binary file? Or is this a hardware thing? If so, 
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Feb 10, 2016 14:57
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Pollyanna posted:Do your softsynths not support exporting patch parameters to plain text, or at least a binary file? Or is this a hardware thing? If so, They're talking about hardware modulars here. Any softsynth that doesn't allow for patch memory should be wiped from the face of the earth. Though I say this on the tail of iZotope releasing two effect plugins with honest-to-God paper recall sheets, so I guess anything is possible.
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Feb 10, 2016 19:03
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In the manual for the izotope delay there's a few patches drawn out (which reminds me of guitar pedal manuals), I quite like that method actually, as you turn knobs you find out what they do and can come across some cool sounds on the way. Note I haven't actually tried saving a patch yet, using Cubase so there's ways for me round it if the vst itself doesn't (which I agree it should)
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Feb 10, 2016 19:11
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Pollyanna posted:Do your softsynths not support exporting patch parameters to plain text, or at least a binary file? Or is this a hardware thing? If so, It's a hardware thing, most specifically a modular/analog purist thing. On modular synths, the patch is just a physical arrangement of cables and knob positions. Only one modular that I know of (Buchla, lol) can memorize knob positions but for the cables you're still on your own. Many of the classic synths were invented before patch memory and MIDI were things, so they rely entirely on the positions of knobs and sliders. Modern replicas, like the MS-20 and ARP Odessey, are the same- they have MIDI and USB, but no patch memory. There is a certain subset of synth players that thinks presets are bad, because people aren't forced to create their own sounds and just use what the company provides. So even some modern synths are 100% analog for everything but MIDI, like the Arturia mini- and Micro brute. Arturia sells layout sheets that you write on with a pencil for the MiniBrute. A lot of the really low end stuff, Volcas and Meeblips and the like, are so simple they don't need patches. But for the vast majority of digital and hybrid synths in the MIDI era, you can at least dump patches via MIDI SYSEX. Even everybody least favorite VA synth, the MicroKorg, can do this. Most have editors or at least binary patch storage- all my digital synths do.
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Feb 10, 2016 19:17
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Headsup, elektron is blowing out stock of the silver boxes. May or may not be your last chance to pickup a mono or md brand new. They dropped the prices quite a bit.
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Feb 10, 2016 19:18
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AxeBreaker posted:Only one modular that I know of (Buchla, lol) can memorize knob positions but for the cables you're still on your own. Are the knobs motorized to go back where they were, or do they just lack markings for what setting theyre pointing at?
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Feb 10, 2016 21:08
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Progressive JPEG posted:Are the knobs motorized to go back where they were, or do they just lack markings for what setting theyre pointing at? The knob settings switch to the saved value, but if you move it it jumps back to being controlled by the position. Lots of hardware synths with presets work like that.
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Feb 10, 2016 21:36
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cubicle gangster posted:The knob settings switch to the saved value, but if you move it it jumps back to being controlled by the position. Lots of hardware synths with presets work like that. Feels like knobs reporting inaccurate values would get confusing/annoying. For buchla money they could've thrown in some motorized knobs imo
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Feb 10, 2016 23:06
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Progressive JPEG posted:If you find a really good patch on a modular synth, how do you save it for later? I've always imagined this involving a photo (or two) of course i do spend more time than i should daydreaming of patching my gear so it comes easily, but i am not too picky about recreating sounds so exactly, if i make a cooler sound trying to get the old one, that brings a smile not a frown. i guess what i mean is, knowing your instruments well goes a long way, and it might be enough. if its not, i occasionally used graph paper to map the connections between my mofos &c, and it was, like memory, kinda inexact but fruitful; 'anything cool enough to write all that down must sound good, and ill find some cool neighbor sounds too' thinking and staring at the things long enough to mark it all down etching it into my mind of course, cell fone cameras are a lot better nowadays, so its worth taking a few pictures to see if youll go back to em
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Feb 11, 2016 05:30
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I sometimes take pictures of my MS-20, but I never find myself looking at them again. It's a security blanket -- then I feel more comfortable resetting all the knobs and trying something else.
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Feb 11, 2016 07:22
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Most of the time the knob is a pot connected directly to the pcb so if you want true analog with motorized knobs it would require making custom hardware which is out of reach for a lot of synth makers.
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Feb 11, 2016 07:34
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Progressive JPEG posted:If you find a really good patch on a modular synth Trick question!
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Feb 11, 2016 07:44
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Anyone else with modulars find themselves quite regularly wondering why they didn't just get a normal synth? Sat down trying to make something for 2 hours last night and came away with the conclusion that: I am poo poo, I dont have enough modules, why do I bother, i used to make so much more actual music, gently caress my back hurts. It's a lot of money i put into this synth and for that I could get a whole shitload of other hardware, a slightly more musical synth and a new computer. Am I just too practical to really get into modular?
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Feb 11, 2016 17:38
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cubicle gangster posted:Anyone else with modulars find themselves quite regularly wondering why they didn't just get a normal synth? I lost interest in mine about the time I got done building it, doesn't fit my workflow at all. Basically just using it to replace instruments here and there when the track is done and maybe recording some drones. Or maybe I just need another row...
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Feb 11, 2016 18:13
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Just like everything else in the world, people like modulars for different reasons. For example, I work with a guy that produces modular synth systems. I listened to one of his songs once, it was completely amusical but he was really excited about all the effects he was doing. If you're not able to get out of your synth what you want, find something else imo. I had a monomachine, which could make about any noise in the world, the thing is awesome, but I couldn't figure out how to make it musical. I swapped it for an OP-1, with which I get a lot more music down even though the sound engine is a lot less capable.
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Feb 11, 2016 18:24
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Someone should make an app that organizes patches. Take a photo and record a C3 sample (which could be quickly played back with a basic keyboard). Meta-tag that thing and share to a global audience.
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Feb 11, 2016 19:16
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I think if I sold it off i could get a matrix brute and analog rythm with some change left over. I've only had the thing 8 months and was pining for one for years before this, feel so guilty.
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Feb 11, 2016 20:24
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cubicle gangster posted:I think if I sold it off i could get a matrix brute and analog rythm with some change left over. I've only had the thing 8 months and was pining for one for years before this, feel so guilty. If you're actually in it to make music, that sounds like a much better setup.
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Feb 11, 2016 20:34
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Sometimes I'm glad I'm too cheap to go modular and this thread helps.
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Feb 11, 2016 20:56
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Modular patches to me grow organically. I may start with some "what if I do this" idea, or think about emulating a VST patch or something, and along the way inevitably get sidetracked when I start exploring. I never end up getting what I expected but that's alright -- it's fun as hell, and that's why I got into music in the first place. Sometimes it's a dead end and I toss it, sometimes I get something I really like. Wednesday night led to a mambria type sequence I liked enough to record for over an hour. I have learned how to patch a relatively quick basic synth setup if I want to make Real Music, however.
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Feb 11, 2016 21:46
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lol at the weird idea some of you have that people with modulars don't actually make any music with them; but also sry cubicle i know how much you (conceptually) love the stuff
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Feb 11, 2016 22:34
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cubicle gangster posted:Anyone else with modulars find themselves quite regularly wondering why they didn't just get a normal synth? All gear is poo poo, hail Satan. It's what you make of it. I use my modular to make straight-up VCO-VCF-VCA patches all the time, and I can build one in a couple of minutes, and I can get the kind of modulation and sound I want in the patch nearly as quickly on my modular as I can in a VST these days. I find myself dicking around with sounds a lot more on the modular than I did with VSTs, and I get lost in creating textural patches that self-generate for hours sometimes, but that's awesome - it's like riffing on a guitar. Practice, enjoyment, chilling. A modular synth is to a VST / fixed-architecture synth as a modern laptop computer is to a papyrus scroll - if all you want to do is read the text, the scroll is a less distracting tool, and maybe a much superior tool in a lot of ways. The computer can still be used to read text, but it can also be used for a lot of other things. When I want a 303 sound, I know how to patch one quickly. When I want an evolving pad, or a percussive FM sound, or a throbbing bass sound, I know how to patch them quickly. When I want something that nobody has ever heard before, I'm glad that I don't have a 303 or a fixed-architecture synth. All gear is poo poo. Hail Satan.
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Feb 11, 2016 22:59
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It's less about not being able to use it, and more the fact that i've got 3.5k of gear that feels artificially limited to me. Maybe if I spend another 3.5k on more modules i'll feel differently, but gently caress if I havent made any real music for a long time and i'm not feeling like it's made me any more creative than i used to be. I make some interesting noises and effects with it, record them ready to use, start building a track around it and find myself having to re-make the modular sounds with 5 layers of vsts so that I have enough control over it to make it work in the music. cubicle gangster fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Feb 11, 2016 |
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Feb 11, 2016 23:06
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Progressive JPEG posted:Are the knobs motorized to go back where they were, or do they just lack markings for what setting theyre pointing at? There was only one synth with a fully motorized surface. It was a thought experiment by Vermona; it was called the Mephisto and it was a 6-voice polyphonic analog synth. It never made it. There are controller keyboards with motorized faders (a CME controller keyboard I've seen a decade ago or so had it, Behringer was supposed to have one as well) but it's not common. cubicle gangster posted:The knob settings switch to the saved value, but if you move it it jumps back to being controlled by the position. Lots of hardware synths with presets work like that. To add to this: The default is that the value jumps back, but an Access Virus allows for instance that the knob doesn't do anything until it crosses the point where it was at, or that the value is scaled - instead of a sudden jump you get a gradual transition, albeit not as high-res as the controller usually is. And yes, people are used to it (it's basically Stockholm syndrome for a lot of equipment, nobody in their right mind would still tolerate zip disks but when you have antique samplers it's basically that or trying to build in a HxC floppy emulator) In some cases the pots aren't pots but endless rotaries. Some really neat endless rotaries have LED rings so you can see the position they're at. Hartmann's Neuron even had endless sliders - scroll wheels with a LED bar. This increases the price quite a bit though.
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Feb 11, 2016 23:35
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cubicle gangster posted:It's less about not being able to use it, and more the fact that i've got 3.5k of gear that feels artificially limited to me. Sounds like modular might not fit your workflow, or just generally doesn't make your juices flow. If it doesn't inspire you, sell it and move on to the next thing. Don't stew on it or throw a bunch more money at it, it's not worth it.
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Feb 11, 2016 23:35
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Scatterfold posted:lol at the weird idea some of you have that people with modulars don't actually make any music with them; but also sry cubicle i know how much you (conceptually) love the stuff I'm still super impressed when guys like Ansome and Surgeon use modular so well in their live techno sets.
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Feb 12, 2016 00:36
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net work error posted:I'm still super impressed when guys like Ansome and Surgeon use modular so well in their live techno sets. Yeah, he's got a super compact setup. Makes me feel like i'm just being a big baby about the whole thing. https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=119567&start=all&postdays=0&postorder=asc&sid=f28c96fd66def4c40be976fe49e67caa e: he also posted a set list. would have to listen closer to figure out whats just modular. cubicle gangster fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Feb 12, 2016 |
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Feb 12, 2016 00:50
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Progressive JPEG posted:Are the knobs motorized to go back where they were, or do they just lack markings for what setting theyre pointing at? As another example, Electribe 2 and sampler have 16 parts or voice/sequence combos, each of which can store different values, sharing the same knobs for parameters. It's inevitable that your knobs and values get mismatched, and the groove box has 3 different options for dealing with this. 1. Jump: If you move a knob, the value immediately jumps to whatever point you moved. If the stored value is 64, and the knob is all the way up at 127, if you move it to 125 it'll go though 126 to 125. 2. Catch: With this mode you have to match the old value before it moves. Here, if you move the knob a little to 125, nothing happens. If you move it to 60 it'll pick up at 64 and move downwards. 3. Scale (I think): If you chose this mode, knob response is immediate, but scales relative to the knobs position until you hit the end. Here if you moved the knob from 127 to the middle position, your value would end up being 32. I use 2 for everything, I just don't like the jumpiness of jump, even just fiddling around. You see each value on the display when it starts to change, but there's no light by the knob or anything. The knobs have lights in a ring beneath them, so I wonder why they don't do anything but light the knob. My Blofeld and Ultranova have endless encoders to get around this, a feature that is love it or hate it. I like it. My Reface DX has slightly annoying touch sliders that make me really wish they had just stuck a touchscreen in there. Goddammit my car payment makes it so I can't really GAS until I sell poo poo, scrap a car shell, or get a raise.
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Feb 12, 2016 01:06
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More modular bullshit: got a Roland Demora (the modular delay effect) today and spent all of ten minutes with the actual delay before grabbing the customized and tearing the thing apart. The customized basically turns it into a virtual eurorack with a selection of submodules. Here's an example I made: This is a dual-channel sample and hold that can use either an audio source or internal noise (cross-fadeable between white and pink), and triggers on either an external gate or an internal clock. This is pretty drat powerful for an S&H module... But it's a delay. Truly this is a golden age.
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Feb 12, 2016 06:02
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net work error posted:I'm still super impressed when guys like Ansome and Surgeon use modular so well in their live techno sets. Yeah little tony surgeon definitely uses it v well; I think the album he just put out - From Farthest Known Objects - is all modular as well, if that's of interest. Patricia is also good; and on a 'more pure' vein check out M Geddes Gengras and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe. I had shoved a load of urls into this post but for reasons totally fuckin beyond me they're not working; sorry.
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Feb 12, 2016 10:59
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Laserjet 4P posted:There was only one synth with a fully motorized surface. It was a thought experiment by Vermona; it was called the Mephisto and it was a 6-voice polyphonic analog synth. It never made it. Meanwhile in mixers.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ1dhTtSU2A quote:In some cases the pots aren't pots but endless rotaries. Some really neat endless rotaries have LED rings so you can see the position they're at. Hartmann's Neuron even had endless sliders - scroll wheels with a LED bar. This increases the price quite a bit though. That feels like a pretty reasonable way to get knobs with recall
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Feb 12, 2016 18:48
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