Molten Modular 02 - Semi-Modular as a gateway to Eurorack Modular proper
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- čas přidán 8. 02. 2017
- Before you steam into buying a Eurorack case and modules consider one of the many excellent semi-modular synths as a great way of getting experience (and a great synth) before taking the plunge.
Buy a Mother-32 from Thomann - thmn.to/thoprod/372745?offid=...
Or Perfect Circuit - tinyurl.com/molten-moog-m32
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Woo. I'm at the point where I'm trying to soak up as much information on modular before I take the leap into a case purchase. Thanks so much for the videos!
Take your time :-)
I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets purchase anxiety. Like yourself, I started with a Mother-32, felt queasy because I'd spent six hundred quid, and then thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it's a good way to get my feet wet with modular Eurorack synthesis, and I've followed it up with an Arturia Keystep and a Roland SH-01 for polyphony. I've yet to buy a rack and any modules. One step at a time!
Robin, I know what you mean. I bought a DFAM a month ago and fell in love with it. My first module arrived two days ago and two more arrived today. And I haven't even ordered my case yet. I also haven't told my wife about this. Mum's the word.
This whole series is turning to be an extremely useful journey. Thank you!
This is a great series - perfect for me, as I begin my own modular journey.
Thank You.
I completely agree with you. I bought an Arturia MiniBrute 2s as my gateway machine. It was a full year before I bought my first “module”.
Thanks for the useful video really appreciated the patching ideas on the mother 32, not come across examples before.
Thanks for posting these videos, they are very helpful. The gateway for me was a Korg Sample and Keys back in January. Since then a Monologue, Mother32, and MS20M. I can stop any time I want to. :)
we all float down here
yup I started with a laptop and Ableton then a Moog Sub 37 and Microkorg now looking at a modular.
I love your passion! Again, very well explained! Thank you!
Modular synthesizers are to complete keyboards with tweakable presets, as cooking a meal is to microwaving a TV dinner.
Thanks for the down-to-earth narrative. We are not all experienced/expert synthesists-yet! ;). Subbed as well.
Brilliant series
Just stumbled on your channel.. Its great! SUBBED!
Great video!
Super helpful. I was looking to start this year with a semi modular but wasn't to sure about them. This helped me make that decision much easier. I was looking at the Arturia Mini Brute 2 semi modular, but think I will switch to the Moog. We will see. The only real advantage I see with the Arturia model is the built in keyboard. But Moog has such a good reputation. Great video. Thanks again
I started with the $299 MicroBrute to get into modular. Worked well for me.
That's what got me hooked, too.
same.
cool I started with a MicroKorg and Moog Sub37 was great entry point to modular from analog synths.
I am thinking about buying it but it sounds so harsh and cold in every video I watched! What do you think about it now some time later?
Get a Dreadnought Erebus and Arturia Keystep instead. Better sounding and more basic to learn patching without all the distractions. That or something like the new Plankton Ants or Birdkids the Bateleur would be great way to learn modular.
This is great advice plus you get a portable synth that can be taken to live events easily and used later on with modular setups.
Great video, thanks!
I took the same route as you, only starting with the Pittsburgh Modular System 10. In the end, I had the 0-Coast and the Mother-32 as well - exactly what I was afraid of with the modular :) Of course, I have about 200hp of modular as well. What the hell, it's only money. One thing I find interesting about the semi-modular/modular discussion is how people (especially those critical of semi-modular as being "less useful" than modular) seem to lose sight of the *sound* as the essential property of a piece of gear. If one likes the sound (and I'm with you - the Mother-32 has the *Moog* sound, for goodness sake!) then one should get the gear, regardless of whether it's modular or semi-modular. Get gear that *sounds good*, and you'll have the best possible setup.
Ed Prude
I'm 100% with you there. I got a Mother 32 and am wondering if I should go for another mother, that I know I like the sound of, or a Lifeforms sv-1, that I'm not sure about. The Nyx from Dreadbox has also a good sound, but is also rather limited. I would like to see someone do a sound comparison on semi-modulars.
Thanks a lot for your videos.. I actually got in the semi modular world, because of the Moog Sub 37. It's an awesome synthesizer (not modular at all) and I totally fall in love with it and because of it I got the Mother 32 and now I am almost broke, BUT I feel the need that I need more stuff to manipulate the sound. And I ve to say that I totally love to combine Synths like the Sub 37 or DX7 and semi modular synths like the Mother 32.. because it brings back some sanity into the crazy worlds which opens when I start to create some patches on the mother .. And now I ve a big problem I need to work more to earn more money, but I don't have time to work, coz I gotta create sounds and I have to try to understand the way the sounds are created. Thanks .. thats all, I just wanted to share some thoughts and please keep up the cool videos.
Love your vids. Which is why I'm letting you know that you need to rearrange the order of the videos in your playlist to go in proper order. For example, after 3 it goes to 2, after 2 to 1, etc. No big deal but thought I'd give you a heads up. Thank you for your extremely helpful videos.
Oh, you’re right. I experimented with the order so they came up on the website with the newest first - I’ll need to investigate that.
I think i've fixed it :D
@@MoltenMusicTech awesome, now I can let them play all day ;-)
Awesome ... subbed as well. Cheers.
Nice one :)
Semimodulars are definitely a good start into the modular-world :)
Semi Modular is like Duplo for beginners. And yes, After one year I am still a beginner and own a semi (Minibrute2). So it's not an insult.
Gosh, I bought a mother32 and then later on the 0-coast. So, according to his video series I'm (possibly) doomed to end up addicted to Eurocrack.
would you know which one of these is better suited for unconventional Bass-Music? Thinking the moog will have a lot of clean grit that we all love..but the 0Coast just seems to have that insanity built in haha
Really good advice..I think it's a good gateway in the modular world. I am confused between 0-coast or Moog since I already own novation BS II. So was thinking that o cost would be something different
I would agree with your thinking.
Thanks so.much for your amazing videos. I have been really enjoying them.
I do have one numpty question. Around 10.32 in your video you take a single voice synth and make a beautiful soundscape. How do you do that?
I mean how as in what did you do. Have you created individual tracks and down mixed them into something individually.or did you have some nefarious technology to make other voices at the same.time.....
Keep being awesome and thanks for your sharing
I think what you're referring to is a promo video from Moog about the Mother-32 that i dropped into the video - it's using 3 Mother-32s linked together i think and probably has other things going on :)
Great vid man. I got a mother-32 last year, and have been looking for companion module. It's down to Make noise maths or Mutable clouds... any suggestions?
The Mother-32 is very self contained - what it doesnt have is any effects, so there's an option. Maths is better with oscillators that have nothing going on and I've only just got a Clouds so i don't know yet really. What you really need is a whole other voice - oscillator, filter, VCA and then Maths and other stuff gets interesting along side the Moog.
great video! One question: why would you use one of these multi ports instead of those stackable cables i usually see in modular vídeos? do you know the difference? thanks!
Yes - you can use stackable cables instead, although not so common on Eurorack because they are smaller than the banana ones used in Buchla modular. They do the same thing. You often see these things called Ninja Stars that are mults in the shape of a star that you plug something into and get 5 outputs - these just hover around as opposed to being a module. Different ways of doing the same thing.
Molten Music Technology i see. thanks for the explanation!
And some mults are buffered, which means they're active rather than passive and produce exactly the same output voltages as the input. For many things, that doesn't matter but where the voltage is very critical--pitch cv, for example--a buffered mult is much preferred.
first, thanks a lot for the amazing videos!
now my question: i have giving it some thoughts, and also played a little bit with vcvrack, which i also think is a good place to taste what modular synthesis can do, and as a starter for this journey, i have come to two semimodulars: which one would you recommend, a mother 32 or a subharmonicon?
Mother32, definitely. The Subharmonicon won’t teach you anything about modular or synthesis, it’s an unique box
Molten Music Technology thanks for the quick answer! 🙏
Thr 0-Coast is pretty straight-forward to understand. If you have any questions, feel free to ask the MakeN0ise folks, they are happy to answer random questions.
+Molten Music Technology Spotted a mistake. One actually *can* mount 0-coast into Eurorack case, even a skiff one - only concern is power: you either solder its power connector to eurorack power ribbon/board, or you drill your case and let it be powered separately (this way is easier as no soldering will be required). See here for more: www.modulargrid.net/e/make-noise-0-coast---
p.s. I would never recommend Mother 32 on the basis of sequencer, because its sequencing abilities are really limited. A proper sequencer may be the Pyramid www.squarp.net/overview.html
"be smart, get yourself a semi!"
what happens if you patch an output to another output? I'd guess that makes a short circuit. Do these devices normally have some sort of protection against that sort of clumsy user?
Nothing happens. We’re dealing with very small voltages.
Behringer Neutron was for me a good start....
Yep, the Neutron is a babe.
I would say buy a Crave, they are only £150, but at the moment you can't get them in the UK which is bloody silly!
I've bought a semi modular a while ago as my first hardware synth but never really bother to patch with it and just use it like a normal synth. I like being able integrate and control everything with my DAW and save patches so I don't use it much actually. I do like the weird and interesting sounds modular can produce but most of the things that I hear just don't seem musically useful or are too random to any make musical sense. It seems like it's mostly the step sequencing of modulations that differentiates modular sound from most synths (some flexible synths like the Elektron A4, Prophet 08, Matrixbrute allows this as do many plugins) since really they are still using the same LFOs and Envelopes as other synths use. I'm not really sold on it as productive and useful tool but like the idea as a toy to mess around and experiment with.
Well, modular is not for everybody. Also I would beware of assuming anything about the type of music you can make - it is just an instrument at the end of the day and it will do whatever you tell it to do. What's different, for me at least, is the approach. It's the same with touch interfaces - it gives me an opportunity to approach music creation differently. I think that have a billion sounds and a billion presets on your computer is actually harming our creativity. What modular can do is remove the preset, remove the endless source of premade sounds and get you using electronics like a real instrument, physically, changing things, tracing audio, deliberately building something to produce sound. Sure, you can do it all easier elsewhere or in software - but for me, it's not the same.
I agree to some extend about the presets. There are plenty of non modular synths that don't save presets, or you could just clear the presets. It's just nice once you worked for a sound, to be able to keep it, automate it and work it so it sits well in your track. I find all of the sounds i want to make, I can really make without modular in a much simpler and quicker way. I'm not against the idea of modular though. I would like to have one though just because they are cool and weird mysterious looking / sounding things. The do seem like a bunch of fun and the collectable element and creating your own unique bastard hybrid synth appeals to me. I fear I may waste even more time that I already do messing around and not creating songs if i got well into it. When It comes to vsts I really dislike the cable style modulars but welcome modular style routings with a clean simple interface. I need to watch I dream of wires again!
Sure you can choose not to use presets but that's hardly the point - there's no fear in that, no emotional knowledge that all will be lost when the power goes off - there's no danger in computer recording, no live in the moment creativity that's there and then gone. It's just not the same. It shouldn't necessarily be simple or quick. It's simple and quick to use a virtual, sample based guitarist - but i believe it's better to spend time learning how to play the guitar. It's a similar thing. But we all approach these things in different ways and personally, as always, I want everything - i'm not ditching my Surface - I want it all working together :)
I can understand wanting everything - Who doesn't? I'd get one too but I've got my eye on other things like a Sub 37 / Martrixbrute / Prophet 6. I don't like the fear of and the reality of losing things. Even though I back up pretty well, i've lost projects before and I hate it so much. Losing sounds doesn't seem any more fun than that. But yes, anyway, people differ.
After this conversation I thought i'd dig out my hardware and had some serious fun with my semi modular last night. It's so raw and aggressive and I still managed to work fast with it, recording looping and moving the new audio to a newly added track. I can't get sounds like that out of software even if they are capable of it. I'm starting to become convinced; I really enjoyed it. I still think it would have been nice if i could save those patches for future use and variation though but it's not the be all and end all.
Didn't know you can hook up a Mother32 to a sieve and other kitchen utensils !)
The sieve gives you a really grainy sort of filter. Good stuff.
There are a few of those semi-modulars, but kind of hard to find an overview and comparisons. Maybe you could present more of them?
Btw I think Moog is pronounced like moos but with a G at the end, instead of S as it's a totally different animal.
Lol at 12:00 : D
I could if someone would send me a load in order to do the comparison. It's a good idea though :)
We've all been calling it "Moo-g" in the UK for decades until Bob "M-oh-g" corrected us when he got his company back.
I think they should send you one of each, or two...
Regarding pronunciations,I think It's your language, the Americans only borrow it, and you can tell Moog that Europe is the Mother of USA. :p
I was wondering if there are funny ways to connect effectpedals to eurorack modules? Or is this just silly, hopeless and in a signal/power-way to hard to do? Would look cool I think, pedals sort of hanging from a wall of modules, or maybe small shelves..
I know there are some pedals that are actually modules in disguise, like Happiness and Twin Stag by Dwarfcraft, and the pedals from Dreadbox etc, that would work fine, but how about more normal ones? Only use them in a normal way, between rack and soundsystem?
There's no problem using stomp boxes with Eurorack - it's just audio - people do it a lot! It's often a cheaper way to get cool effects and they don't use up your HP.
Been seriously thinking about going this route, my resoning is to get something with a lot of basic essentials like a filter, VCOs, LFOs, and decidedly a sequencer, then have the freedom to go very experimental with my first modular rack. Does that sound like a good plan?
Sounds good to me 😊
I think the "normalling" terminology comes from traditional patch bays rather than being "modualr speak" as such
www.clarkwire.com/technicalaudionorm.htm
Ah yes, that'll be it :)
In fairness I am posting this at .36 into the video. I jumped in with both feet and never did the semi modular bit. I bought a mother 32 after i had about 200hp of modular already. I sold the mother after 45 days or so. Semi-modular, is really not modular at all. It's like gluten-free bread.
Fair enough - you've come at this from completely the opposite direction to me :)
I'd agree that once you're in the modular world then semi's become less helpful. But as i say in the video, as a means to taking steps in then it's been very useful for me. Other paths and ways in are available.
Lofuckyou Fair enough, but not everyone comes to synthesis from the same place, plus ... just so you know, there actually is some good gf bread being made as well.
gateway drug indeed....beware the pusherman! D:
Rossess Music from the TV Serie Friends came into realty 2016!!!
Nice! My wife will hate you …
0 Coast is only £450 though
Yeah? Cool, go buy one.
I already did. I too haven't a clue whats going on but can still coax some crazy sounds out of it.
I know exactly what you mean :D