Modular Synthesis

[Archon]

Just wanted to create a discussion where we could share thoughts on modular synthesis, and share some performances, favourite works etc. It's endlessly fascinating for me, what possibilities it brings.

The idea came from this video, released yesterday by the legend himself, Junkie XL, where he performs a bit on the Buchla system.

Amazing what you can do with 1 single oscillator!


Another performance of his:

 

[facade1984]

yeah this sort of stuff really gets my d.... hard. I have a lot of outboard synths including a couple of semi-modulars. I use softube modular too with most of the addons including some of the buchla stuff here such as 259e oscillator and 296e spectral filter and it really is absolutely wild. at the risk of sounding like a broken record I think something that's missing from a lot of trance is unique sound design and it's absolutely wild to me that more producers aren't naturally curious about this sort of thing as this is our bread and butter. I'd strongly urge folks to look beyond the standard VA/wavetable plugins and just get lost in stuff like this. yeah the workflow is generally slower and not as instantly gratifying, but music production should be a process and not just quick gratification

 

[nightslapper]

the workflow is generally slower and not as instantly gratifying, but music production should be a process and not just quick gratification

that (and expensiveness of course) is the reason why it's not popular, a lot of guys enjoying having quick 'yes' from a label or getting played by certain DJ a lot more than creating something that they would actually appreciate themselves. the way the whole industry operates could be confusing for the upcoming producers so they get these false goals

 

[Archon]

I'll never shut up about Junkie XL's Distance Between Dreams OST - it's sounds painting a picture. Synthesis at its best. Lots of old analog and modular hardware on there.

 

[facade1984]

yeah that's fair to say. although there are plenty of cheap/free modular software alternatives that are well worth investigating

 

[IXM]

yeah,

it's kind of a gap, it's strange that we've been using synthesis for years, but it's still underestimated...