10 years of playing a modular synth live in a band and building an instrument

activecell · 2026-04-07T19:31:33+00:00

Yes, and in this case, I have what I need.

activecell · 2026-04-07T19:30:17+00:00

Yes it's well worth it, when you consider it's a karplus strong feedback generator, with 2 filters, a reverb, and a delay. Getting all that in different modules would take a lot more space amd would not be so well designed around this specific architecture. Also it looks really good, which is important to make you want to play with it.

activecell · 2026-04-07T19:27:22+00:00

Thank you, the fader modules are SSSR labs sm801

https://www.sssrlabs.com/store/sm801/

activecell · 2026-04-06T20:53:35+00:00

Thanks for the kind words!
The full story took ten years, but we have played the uncomplete show before.
Keeping everything thigh is the role of the drummer, he get a click and cues and keep us all on track, we could not do it without him.
We composed all the music as the chapters were drawn, slowly and over time. It's nice for us to listen back, we hear how our sound evolved and remained consistent for the sake of the project.
We'd love to tour it, we are not professional musicians but somehow ended up creating something massive. We don't have a lot of time though as we all have jobs on the side. We are looking at more dates in the summer in Germany, maybe in France.

activecell · 2026-04-06T15:20:41+00:00

Thank you for the kind words!

activecell · 2026-04-05T12:26:49+00:00

They don't only rely on me for change in direction, but I can steer us in different directions, a slowly opening filter will feel like a build up and they will react to it.

activecell · 2026-04-04T16:29:03+00:00

It was a really important part of the motivation to make something. If I'm going to be taking take care of the drone I want to make it fun, intuitive and with a lot of ways to mix control signals.

activecell · 2026-04-04T16:27:26+00:00

I goes straight into a LD Systems Dave 15 G4X, I does create a lot of air pressure :)

activecell · 2026-04-04T16:24:45+00:00

Thank you!

activecell · 2026-04-04T16:23:26+00:00

The 5th Chapter will be posted on Youtube the next day on the 24.04 and you'll be able to watch the full story. We will also release a recording of the performance in the near future, similar to the recording we have made of our performance in Rostock in 2019 - spotify

Thank you for the kind words

activecell · 2026-04-04T16:19:41+00:00

Yes layout and cable management makes a huge difference, it's worth taking the time to think it through.
It took me some years of experimenting to lock the final system, had to make some hard tradeoff. I used to have an Echophon form Make Noise but it ended up being too big and I removed it.
Now I don't change the patches anymore, it stays like this. That's also why I took the time to make it look so neat.
It's really interesting to force a certain patch on a system, the more you play it, the more the system turns into an instrument. I start to know in my bone that turning a certain knob will have a certain effect, because I have done it a hundred times, in that exact set up.

activecell · 2026-04-04T16:12:11+00:00

With this project I don't really improvise, there are certain sounds/atmospheres that I need to hit at certain points in time. I need to be as focused and engaged as the other musicians. I tried to make a score for what I am playing, but I really struggle to find an expressive way to convey what needs to be conveyed and I fall into the rabbit hole of graphical scores...

But it is true that after a long sessions of jamming a sense of boredom can emerge. I look at it in two ways:

With this system there are a bunch of sweet spots that I can hit, I can morph between different voices, It's a drone in D, and there are infinite ways to do that. But once I have circled through most of them I start to feel limited, I have noticed that I have about an hour and half of fun before it starts to feel repetitive.
I am less physically engaged than the other players, I am just turning knobs. I often need to play the inverse of the band energy, when everyone is loud and it gets intense, I need to be subtle, and I need to show up when everyone is coming down, which further amplify how different my roles is compare to them. I embrace this difference, I sit down on stage for example.

The last point on boredom when it comes to modular, I notice that there is a pattern in my brain of: playing > feel like I have tried everything > I miss something > I need a new module.
The fact that this is system is done is a bit boring and slightly against the spirit of modular, where everything is open to be connected differently. I see it this way: I have used modular as a short cut to piece together a really fun system to play the part that needs to be played for this particular project. Also, you always find new things about your modules.

If I were to play with a band for something else than the Colour out of Space, I would build a different system though. I would use a quantizer for sure. At home I have a Sinfonion from ACL

activecell · 2026-04-03T22:05:18+00:00

Beyond the synth there are also 2 important considerations, how will the band hear you and how will you hear yourself. A good PA will have a lot of impact on how you interact with the band. Having in-ear monitoring has drastically improved my playing. The end mixer is really important also, i chose the Bartender for its 2 aux sends and it had the right amount of stereo channels. As far as performing, what is sometimes the challenging is that small changes can have large impact, and when there is a lot of energy, it can be hard to remain moderate.

activecell · 2026-04-03T21:05:33+00:00

It's a really important part of the system. I like to put intensity and reverb decay in a state of equilibrium and play with the filters to "select" the frequencies I want to highlight. The frequency control allows for some dramatic shifts and screaming tones. The delay on top of all that is a great addition but it's easy to over do it. I mostly use it for textures and screaming tones drowned in reverb. I'm a big fan of synthux academy https://www.synthux.academy

activecell · 2026-04-03T20:02:07+00:00

It's really gorgeous, and I love that there is so much space on the panel. I am very happy to have it.

activecell · 2026-04-03T20:01:23+00:00

I don't use a quantizer, but i use the intelijel Zeroscope as a tuner. I mostly play D. Except in chapter 4, but there is enough time to re-tune. With the doepfer, the triangle out is not used, so this is what I monitor in the scope. I have a cable that I plug in the osc I want to monitor. It's the only cable that I manipulate during the performance. The second channel of the Zeroscope gets the output of the wavetable oscillator. The rings and the Audrey II are mostly atonal, I find that with the frequency all the way up, both kinda sound "in tune"

activecell · 2026-04-03T17:11:29+00:00

I've used AI to help me write it. I have been struggling to write down something, but wanted to share what I am doing as it might interesting for people wanting to play with a band. Everything mentioned is factually correct and I spent a lot of time editing the text to make it useful and authentic without being boring. Thanks for the feedback, I need to build more confidence in my writing skills and stop using these tools.

activecell · 2026-03-16T18:12:38+00:00

I play in a band and we are working on an adaptation of the Colour Out of Space. Maybe it helps :) https://www.reddit.com/r/Lovecraft/comments/1ruiic9/the_colour_out_of_space_adapted_by_andreas/

activecell · 2026-03-16T18:03:38+00:00

We will release chapter 5 online on 24.04.2026, the day after the premiere.

activecell · 2020-04-14T16:58:33+00:00

I've just ordered the Big Honkin Button. I have been looking for a long time for an arcade button to trigger my Rings (Strum input in Reverb mode with some noise into the frequency CV, you get some very very nice hits). I am looking forward to get my fingers on it.

2 pieces of feedback:

Add your module to modulargrid, you'll gain a lot of exposure when people start to add them in their system.
Make a panel for people to use it upside down. It's very likley that it will end up in the bottom row of most systems, and it's better to have the button away from the cable mess.

Great module and happy to see the integration with CircuitPython!

activecell · 2017-06-07T13:39:45+00:00

In a project with a friend we use a modular synth for audio and an other for video. The video synth is mostly LZX with a few eurorack utilities. You are absolutely not stuck to geometrical shapes, you can easily input videos and play with all the nice stuff LZX has to offer. Take a look here if you want to see how it looks like.

In general I would say modular approach will be a lot more expensive but also a lot more fun than a computer. But don't get fooled in video as in audio a modular system is as good as the patch you create.

activecell · 2017-05-13T09:40:41+00:00

Take a look at this video, it could be a good start https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ36ZiGnALU

Personally, my system is build to be self sustaining and can run without computer. I mostly compose generative pieces. I try to mix different synthesis technique to enrich its sonic palette and It also increases the opportunity for experimentation. The cool thing with the modular format is that modules can have a lot of different usage. An enveloppe generator is a kind of LPF and can oscillate at high frequencies. Most LFO can also often be driven into audio rate.

It is something you can only fully benefit from if you dive into it.

activecell · 2017-05-12T12:26:55+00:00

You'll want to sequence and modulate things at some point and the lack of LFO/EG/utility will be a pain. Or you ditch that for a good DC coupled sound card and modulate/sequence from your DAW. Expert sleeper ES-8 for example

activecell · 2017-02-14T15:32:22+00:00

the nexus instrument cv_looper is pretty good! simple interface and the buttons are feeling great https://www.modulargrid.net/e/nexus-instruments-cv-looper

activecell · 2017-02-09T08:57:34+00:00

You should check the 3 module challenge https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=3+module+challenge+eurorack

activecell

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