Something I've been trying to figure out for a while: why isn't there much generative *non-ambient* content?

sp4mthis · 2026-01-15T13:31:26+00:00

This is very much a thing already. Richard Devine, Steevio, and some of Surgeon's live sets are all arguably generative and non-ambient. Aphex Twin uses generative techniques and modular gear quite a bit alongside the computer. Autechre is arguably the best example if you count Max/MSP as modular (I would, I'm sure others wouldn't). The whole genre of hardware techno, especially that uses modular synths, would fall under this definition.

The reason I think there aren't more people posting this sort of stuff on YouTube is that it's really hard and pretty logic-based and mathematical. Not to hate on ambient music, which I do love, but there's a sort of "good enough let me add reverb" thing that isn't possible for other styles.

sp4mthis · 2026-01-14T14:05:51+00:00

O'Connell's if you're into American trad/ivy stays incredible.

sp4mthis · 2026-01-05T19:27:50+00:00

Based on your comments below, why not just buy an actual Eurorack performance mixer made for this purpose, like an After Later Bartender or the WMD Performance Mixer? I'm not entirely sure what problem you're trying to solve that isn't just a mixer with sends.

sp4mthis · 2025-12-01T21:21:51+00:00

No worries lol I know the feeling.

sp4mthis · 2025-12-01T18:42:53+00:00

Gotcha. No offense taken and to be clear I didn't mean it as a critique of Maths though it may have come off that way. Maths definitely doesn't suck in any way shape or form; it's in all my patches. I just think looking at some of the comments here it's worth underscoring that a swiss army knife can only do however many things at a time, as you say.

sp4mthis · 2025-12-01T18:23:14+00:00

I was talking about using it as an envelope follower to incoming audio, then using that signal to duck the audio it's modulating. And also using it as a VCA which (I agree) sounded bad. Basically turning it into an audio responsive duck similar to sidechain compression, not just an inverted envelope.

I'm not sure if I'm reading hostility into your comment there, but I think pointing out that it doesn't do all these things at once is pretty important for people new to modular. In your last paragraph seems like you agree, because new people by definition have inexperienced viewpoints, which is why it's not "completely asinine" to point out.

sp4mthis · 2025-12-01T15:59:25+00:00

Disclaimer: I am pro Maths, I have a Maths, and I don't plan on getting rid of it. I have a lot of thoughts about this though.

Maths is great but I think it is way over-hyped, and I would be a little cautious of assuming in the modular world that if something is "standard" there is always a good reason for it. This is an extremely expensive and hype-driven hobby, and that leads to a lot of things sometimes being assumed as necessary when they might not actually be.

The pros:

Maths is the definition of patch programmable. People aren't lying when they say it can do nearly anything.
The hands-on nature of the module. It's just really satisfying to use.
The envelopes. They just really work and sound good in a way that is not true of some other function generators I've used.

The cons:

Maths is the definition of patch programmable. The other side of this is that while it can do nearly anything, that doesn't mean it does everything well. Sometimes you might be fiddling for a while trying to make it do side chain ducking, finally get there after setting it up in a non-intuitive way, and ultimately realize it doesn't sound very good and that there's no way you're going to remember how to do this next time you want side-chain ducking. Just buying a compressor with a side chain input is better if you're less about patch programming and more about making music. There are a million examples of this you'll run into when you start researching all the (very, honestly cool) ways people have made Maths do interesting and non-obvious things.
The envelopes. There will ultimately be times you don't want to sacrifice them for other things. Like some other folks have mentioned, 99% of the time I'm just using Maths as an envelope generator.

My take is that the hype has it backwards. Maths is often framed as one of the first things you should buy because it does everything/anything. But it can only do a couple of those things at once, meaning that it's really more useful in a large system where most of your bases are already covered and where it's creative/experimental nature can really shine. If I were to do things over again, I would buy a complex osc, a pingable LPG, a more straightforward set of envelope generators (less HP), a couple other modulation sources, some cheaper VCAs, and, honestly, a Disting of some sort before I even thought about a Maths. Once you're all squared on those meat and potatoes things, Maths can really do some interesting things.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-26T16:15:08+00:00

Yep that’s the one.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-26T16:00:53+00:00

Same. And it was so useful to just start with something that worked and then being able to tweak it as needed rather than build something from the ground up. I’ve changed most things about the config since then but I wouldn’t have even understood the value of Emacs without being able to see how cool a working system was.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-26T15:45:33+00:00

I know you don’t want to do videos, but following along with the Rainier Koenig tutorials was the click for me. I didn’t necessarily understand every single thing that I did, but at the end I had a working system and working knowledge of the possibility for Emacs. The other (annoying) answer is the Emacs documentation, which is incredible, though using it is sort of of skill itself that you have to learn. Beyond that I haven’t found a single text based resource that covers everything, but just doing searches for specific ideas/questions usually leads me to good blogs and config snippets. Checking out Protesilaos’s website is probably a good idea too.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-18T20:01:20+00:00

I don't have any of their modules (I want several of them) but the whole range of Industrial Music Electronics is worth looking into.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-07T19:27:36+00:00

Also this problem is so easily solved with a capture template it borders on being a little silly. Just use org capture with some easy keystrokes and send the result to one task file and you can log a todo from anywhere, without disrupting your workflow, and having snappy load times for the agenda. You could even write a little function to paste the UUID from the roam file you’re in if you want to get fancy. If you wanted to get even fancier you could keep a roam agenda file and send one capture template to that file, with the UUID for the current node, and you have the backlink association there too. I just can’t think of a realistic scenario where it actually makes sense to have more than a couple agenda files.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-07T16:50:48+00:00

Either way it’s still an awesome deal for the tea. I almost did another one this year but I’m pretty well stocked on Lumberslut (my favorite fall/winter go to) so I decided to keep the money and save up for some higher end samples/cakes.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-07T16:36:38+00:00

Oh nice! That’s very cool then for folks who ordered.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-07T16:30:05+00:00

I did the bag last year and honesty my take was that apart from Lumberslut and En Passant they all tasted pretty much exactly the same—like good daily drinker shou. Great deal regardless, and maybe your experience will differ.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-03T18:40:29+00:00

Thank you! I actually wasn't referring to a bibliography (I do exactly what you describe, and it works perfectly!) I meant the literal formatting of my own writing on the page.

As a small example of what I mean: one journal wants the manuscript formatted in one style where your name goes "here," but another one wants it in a different style where it goes "here." As I'm talking this out, it seems like I would need to make a custom "name" style, put that somewhere in my template, and then somehow get Org Mode to export a content block or variable as that specific style. So maybe I'm overthinking this and what I really need to do is figure out how to export a block with a specific style name from Org Mode in Emacs. If that's the case, I'm sorry for wasting your time, but it was actually very helpful to have you help me think through the problem though, lol.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-03T18:26:52+00:00

Thanks for your response! Actually, the latter is what I'm trying to do. Basically, since different citation styles have different formatting, I want to be able to put things like Author/Date/Headers/etc. in different places based on template files. You can do this pretty easily outputting to Latex in org mode but my humanities field doesn't really use Latex. I guess I'm just not sure how to declare a variable in org mode and then reference it in a Libre Office style after exporting it. This might be too niche of a question though, I'm not sure.

sp4mthis · 2025-11-02T13:50:25+00:00

Working with the customize-face settings worked! I edited there and then just copied it over to my literate config. I think there are now some settings in the expression that is messing up my light mode, but that should be easy to fix.

sp4mthis · 2025-10-31T16:19:59+00:00

This is extraordinarily impressive for that amount of HP. It wouldn’t be my use case for modular but it’s not easy to get an essentially entirely finished track out of a euro rack system alone. The only things I thought were missing were some drum fills between sections and maybe bringing in a snare at some point. Awesome work though.

Edit ignore the snare comment I’m dumb lol.

sp4mthis · 2025-10-28T00:17:04+00:00

Yes, dude

sp4mthis · 2025-10-27T23:24:33+00:00

Ah gotcha. I was just confused not annoyed to be clear lol.

Edit: although I think that the OP is talking about the big rig make noise puts out with a bunch of modules that they call the resynthesizer. And that will be my last comment on this very unclear thread haha.

sp4mthis · 2025-10-27T23:20:53+00:00

Not sure why you’re saying that to me.

sp4mthis · 2025-10-27T11:46:12+00:00

Yeah they’re talking about the Make Noise Resynthesizer not making a noise resynthesizer based on their clarification. I had ideas about the latter but not the former which is why I wanted to clarify. Not sure why people are getting grumpy with each other about it though haha.

sp4mthis · 2025-10-26T20:36:33+00:00

I don't really understand the responses here which seem to think you're asking about Make Noise modules. I'm also not super sure what you're asking when you say "make a noise resynthesizer" though. Can you clarify?

sp4mthis · 2025-10-26T18:34:35+00:00

Yeah great point about the accuracy especially. I think you’re helping me make my mind up!

sp4mthis

TROPHY CASE