Wat !!! building a eurorack system to get some ambient backing tracks for techno? GTFO.
THAT IS NOT PUNK
Just go into an underpass with a mic and record some audio from your phone or something.
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How are you usual doing those textures? Synths + fx? Granular? Sample mangling?
I’d choose something that’s either close to how I already do those types of sounds or a sampler to play back and mangle existing material.
Would have the advantage of being independent from drum machine and bassline, which would be my preferred way of doing it.
More freedom for doing intros, transitions and in general having those three devices independent from each other is a big plus for me.
I’d probaply choose a sampler groovebox with fx, the already mentioned M:S and Blackbox come to mind.
Or maybe an obscure noise box?
Is that something you usually do? A few crazy pedals like Old Blood Noise Endeavoura and a small mixer maybe sound interesting, but might be too much handling live?
If you can’t find playable pedals, go spaghetti yeah, why not? Maybe in an 4ms Pod.
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I don’t think throwing stacks of money at a new poly synth or Eurorack system are sensible ways to solve this problem. It’s inevitable to feel like your music is missing something and then use that as an excuse to buy more gear - we all do it. I’ve been having a great time doing raw tracks with those two machines and my old Alesis Wedge on a send. If I want to fill out the sound a bit I just turn up the reverb decay. Adding a third synth would just get in the way and slow things down.
Is there any gear you own but aren’t using in this setup that could do the job(s) you need? You could make some pads/drones/background noise on your computer and play back the wavs from your phone for free or spend 30-40 bucks on a cassette player with variable playback speed so you can mulch up those background tracks a bit.
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Yep. Or use literally any sample, slow it down lots, add reverb then smash it into a compressor, run that under the drums and smash the mix with another compressor
(Or distortion/saturation/ overdrive etc,)
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Does it have to be?
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I generally take two strategies for transitions.
1, jam one long repetitive track 
2, use one or two channels on the mixer per pattern and sculpt the whole thing with faders, fx, eq
You can a pretty small setup with a couple fx, something to play back samples, and a 16ch Mackie or similar.
As you move across the mixer to play each pattern, you can even reuse some channels later but maybe just the reverb of it or the bass or a variation.
The setup is so simple, yet so flexible eq wise, you can explore the space acoustics and drive it more, and it’s really enjoyable too.
I played a small venue here in London a few years back that got recorded, so you can get the idea.
I also did this short studio jam on a private birthday stream, no video, but wrote the whole thing in about an hour that morning as played last minute. There is s bit in the first transition that uses a poly synth for a background drone/pattern. I just banged out some random chords on the synth and created the pattern and it sounded good enough to do the job. Later i also can’t find my 303 so it goes a bit Mariokart, but finally but total luck, i hit stop on the sequencer to select a new pattern bank and luckily found the one i was looking for.
I love that about live jamming, you also get these fun lucky moments that make a set.
I guess the last one I’ll share is quite old, bur was another case of last minute for Rinse FM, it was a pre-recorded show but i had nothing, so decided to just hit record and jam for as long as i can. It actually starts off using the track i was working on at the time, which was a slow broken thing, but mostly it’s using different sequences on the Korg Volca Sample, lots of eq and fx.
I only managed 26minutes before i felt like i was done but it done the job. Again, lots of reverb/fx for creating texture but always tied to main sounds and then using eq/fx to transition across the desk. I remember using a mono synth to create bass on the fly and often use bass or fx to mask in transitions. I find that super useful.
Basically sets end up being more structurally broken and less gradual transitions, which have their place but it’s just one way obviously.
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Something like a Circuit should also work for background textures, or phone/tablet (if you got anything there already, give it a try?), but you didn’t say how you usually do these types of textures (I imagine you want to achieve similar timbres?) and you also didn’t tell us the budget, yet. 
I always find it best to have three independend devices and a mixer as I can basically mix and match between the three - but in the spirit of this thread, I tried various H9 algos on the master (OT, AR, Shruthi XT) and it worked beautifully. Blackhole (Eventide has the cheaper Blackhole pedal) with lows turned down a little and highs turned down a lot works really nice and I found it very liberating, that I had background textures basically grow themselves…
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I have no budget, if something looks like it will do the job then within reason it’s an option.
I do have a model cycles and a model samples so maybe I should have another look at those. In the past I’ve used my computer to make these sounds, typically messing with samples in granulator and then shimmer reverbs, freezing the tails, that sort of thing. I also have a typhon, but it don’t find it very friendly to live improvisation.
Just print a good handful of samples of what you were doing before – reverbs, granulator, etc. – and let two or three layers run free. You know, maybe some different loop-lengths, one sample with 15 steps, one sample with 24 steps or whatever.
Just by having the loop points drift in and out of sync there’s already plenty of variation. Throw some LFOs and a pinch of reverb & delay on top and you’re good to go, I guess.
Might not be so flexible and “jammable”, but I think finding yourself some samples that you know inside-out is more important than always having full control at your fingertips.
YMMV of course, but I’ve been cruising pretty good with that strategy.
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+1
Agree. A handful of background texture samples that you know very well loaded into the M:S would be my suggestion as well.
Also the Model:Samples is quite playable.
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AR MK2 + Digitone. From minutes ago.
Back in June I got asked to play a live set in an abandoned warehouse for the guys at Resilience. Decided to do it fully improvised. Given my setup I couldn’t really do otherwise anyway I had three kits prepared on the Alphabase, one pattern, and then improvised everything on the modular. Had a lot of fun and I’m quite proud of the result.
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Nice one.
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That’s awesome.
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Here is another Techno Impro jam from my Friend Moe and Me. This time without DT but with an TR8s and empty patters
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Simple and effective setup, that’s pretty much how we play with my friend. Your sound is really good and I love the energy.
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Thank you 
!
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I enjoyed this. Black and white film adds to the vibe too 
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Thanks
Listened thru the whole set in the gym! Pure 
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