- you like noodles.
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I did that for synths and samplers a year or two ago. It felt good. I slimmed down my guitar gear as well but need to get rid of a few more things.
After a couple of years of being ITB, you do get tempted. I’ve found myself looking at synths (Korg MS-20) and stuff like the Polyend Tracker recently, but I don’t think I’ll bite.
To be honest, I should sell off all my guitar gear except my two guitars and bass, but I have an old reverb tank and 70s tube amp that I’m attached to, so I probably won’t go that far, BUT I don’t think that outboard gear makes my music any better really.
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Moving to a new house prompted me to sell everything.
Most of the funds went towards solicitor & estate agent fees along with new school payments for my boys.
I’m left with my old Creamware/Sonic Core PC, Peak, Keystep, a Launch Control, a small mixer and a Akai MPC One Retro arrived a few days ago. (which I’m loving)
The Scope PC has the mighty Modular 4 which I’m starting to learn and keeps me from buying any modular gear for now.
It’s rekindled my interest in music making and I’m having fun again.
Happy days.
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I find being ITB way more productive in terms of output AND the less stuff you have the less you feel bad about letting stuff sit on the shelf unused (I’m looking at you tube amp!)
BUT, as a person in my mid-40s, I do see the allure of a simple analog setup, which is one reason I was looking at the MS-20. Part of me longs for simpler times and I think that’s the siren’s call from analog gear. It’s kind of an illusion though.
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One other thing for me - I don’t have dedicated studio space and I’m not likely to have it any time soon. A small eurorack setup that is a single box with one power cable and nothing else is quite appealing. I can take it out and remove the decksaver cover, muck around for a while and then put it away again.
Admittedly it’s an expensive premium to pay but having loads of hardware boxes with mixers and cables everywhere is just not plausible for me. Mind you, nor is spending tens of thousands on modular so it has to be fairly compact by necessity!
I also think many of us are more interested in enjoying the time spent than having a finished product so that plays a big part in the choice of tools.
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I love just noodling around and having a quick jam - never finished a track in 25 years!
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Me neither. My wife begged me to make some music for her and eventually I sat down to make her a drum and bass track. It took weeks and the outcome was of questionable quality. Still, she took it to the gym and played it during one of the classes and it made her happy. The point here is that sitting at a DAW for weeks isn’t fun for me any more but that’s OK, it’s just a matter of taste! I’d rather noodle now, as you said.
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I would just buy a couple of versatile eurorack modules with a sequencer maybe combine with a Lyra and you are ready to jam from ambient to techno and industrial.
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I saw your rig on Lines and was struck by how effective it looks. I’ve been modular-adjacent for years and over that time have developed an idea of what I would use a rig for if I do go down that route.
I have a few concepts:
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one is effectively a utilities and effects rig for the semi-modulars I have (MS-20 Mini, Werkstatt, 0-Coast, Pico III)
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an inspiration box with various voices and choices in there (I kind of see yours as this)
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single manufacturer units: Make Noise to expand the 0-Coast; Folktek to totally lose my shit etc
Right now I’m finding it quite hard to “go modular” because there seems to be supply issues all over the place. Very few affordable cases available and lots of modules out of stock in a lot of places. It’s a first world problem and there’s no real rush but it’s still mildly frustrating. I also can’t get any reply from a guy on Ebay who builds lovely wooden cases for very cheap prices e.g. 6Ux104hp with rails installed for £85! He’s got loads of amazing reviews but I can’t get a response! He’s probably taking a well-earned holiday after beavering away in the wood shop.
Patience is a virtue. In the meantime I’ll just keep working on my Eurorack spreadsheet to work out what to buy and what it’ll cost me!
I have a DIY aluminium ALM pwered case (it’s the same one their System Coupe comes in), and it seems like Thonk have them in stock: https://www.thonk.co.uk/shop/alm-case-kit/. Only 3U 84hp but I think it’s a good starting point, and not super expensive (as far as Euro cases go, anyway!). It was easy to put together and looks good, plus has a decksaver if you want. . it also looks like they also have a 6U version now, if 3U seems too small. or maybe keep an eye out for second hand cases, they do crop up.
To reply to the OP, I really like my modular setup but I can’t imagine it replacing everything else I have; I would need a lot of modules to get close. I use mine to add functionality to my semimodular synths, so it’s quite focused.
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I’ve sold everything and gone full Eurorack. I kept one monosynth just in case I want to use it / sample it, a Bass Station 2.
I had several smaller cases but have given in and have a 126hp 12u case arriving tomorrow, and will be making music with just that.
I have some nice outboard rack distortion / filters, you can’t get really high end sounding distortion in Eurorack, yet.
I don’t miss any of my synths. Having one point for all sequencing, sound design, fx is really great. No pissing about with midi or latency either.
The thing is though, I really think that to do it this way you absolutely have to have a big case, and it takes many years to ‘find your path’ in euro, but it’s so worth it. And there is no other area with such amazing sound and so much innovation.
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Holden’s sound and philosophy on music has been a big inspiration on me since he went modular. Polyrhythms for days…
You are pretty spot on. I used a MakeNoise 0Coast, for sometime and I enjoyed playing with contours, experimenting with the slope and multiply (Maths) type of parameters. But I felt like I was going down the rabbit hole of synthesis and approaching “Jazz Odyssey”. Mutable Instruments Plaits. Braids, and Qu-Bit Surface are digital oscillators, you can modify them with filters, but standalone they give a good range of voices. I like the sequencing and patching using Monome Ansible Kira (Grid step sequencer) and Teletype… Just Friends is pretty vast, it’s analog, you could devote an entire Eurorack skiff - to Monome Teletype+ Whimsical Wraps - Just Friends, Three Sisters.
I wanted something small, portable, I chose the ALM 3U 84HP case, they also have a lunch pail 54HP. Small and focused is good. Modular is an expensive place to explore 
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Another good example of less is more. His setup is simple, yet effective and hypnotic
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JF is analog??
I agree that modular is better small (max 6U) unless you know precisely what you’re doing and/or get paid to make bleeps and bloops.
Save the polyphony and drums for single units.
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I’m digging this set so far. The human drummer does add a lot.
Must have been recorded while he was still using Ableton Live. you can see the laptop, Monome Arc, etc. in the video. This interview goes over how he integrated laptop w/ Live, modular, and his Group Humanizer device(s) for following a live drummer:
In this later interview, he says he ditched Live. Still uses Max though for interaction with live musicians, so the modular still isn’t “pure” - computer is still involved
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The patching with Max is way over my head, but still cool to see someone that’s taking the road less traveled.
From what the later article says, it looks like he’s set up his Max stuff to be triggered by the drummer. I’m not sure if it’s as simple as a step sequencer that will only advance when Tom plays, say, his kick drum, or if it’s trying to guess the tempo Tom is playing at. I’m sure an envelope follower or two is also involved, because modulating something based on how loud somebody is playing is a relatively easy trick - that’s how auto-wah works for example.
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Haha, he mentions an Elektronaut in the 2018 interview. Shoutout!
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