Made this the other night in bed on the Syntakt. Just got a few minutes to record it tonight. 8 patterns me just selecting them here or there. Mixed on headphones, so EQ-disclaimer…
I mostly play improvised techno livesets using Torso T-1 as a main sequencer, AR MK1 as my drum machine which I pair with one monophonic synth (in this case, it was the DFAM, I also have Erica Synth Bassline). I then have everything connected to my mixer (Soundcraft MTK 12)with 3 AUX sends, one goes to Zen Delay, one goes to Eventide Space and the third goes to Sherman Filterbank MK2.
This is an extract from an interesting jam in which I was using the Sherman (by pinging the filter with a gate out from Torso) as a crazy pitched tom. As the title say, I just recorded in Ableton the stereo out of my jam, no edits. The only post processing is a limiter on the master to push up the loudness.
In my liveset I try to play my setup like a big modular case. Meaning that I usually start with a basic patch, simple sounds, simple patterns and build it from there. I only use one pattern on the Torso and one kit/pattern on the Analog Rytm. I like how everything just sounds like a big constant evolution of sounds.
I also played for almost two years with a pattern based approach (meaning I would prepare every pattern and sounds and then just mix between them) but I have found this approach too limiting and not playful enough. Also, it was lacking versatility when the situation did not match the kind of music I had prepared. I prefer a free form approach, now I can change whatever I want when I want it.
Quiete a rig he has, i see also repatching, - that is improvisation in modular world i think. Which sequencer does he use? The one with the keybed, havent seen such a device before.
Modular bros love settin up outside lol
No shade, it just always makes me chuckle, I can’t think of a more difficult instrument to set up outdoors
It’s the Endorphin.es Ground Control.
Quiete a bit of variety he had in sequencing his stuff, he made another video explaining his sequencer stuff, it seems he used kind a math module to generate sub sequencer voltages, i am not very familar with modular methods, but his set was very diverse in sounds and sequences.
Do you mean the Euclidean Circles? One can see it in the thumbnail above, three large knobs with a ring of LEDs around each, just to the left of the keybed. It provides six channels of Euclidean rhythms (the kind that came with the most recent Analog Rytm update). I have one, it’s much fun, and easy to change things up with on the fly. As for improvisation, I think most of it, in modular, comes from turning knobs and moving sliders, altering pitch and gate sequences. Genuine repatching (not just yanking a cable and putting it back later) is more rare, because it’s more fraught, just harder to get right in the moment when you don’t have the luxury to explore the consequences of a decision.
really proud of my partner - have been teaching them modular since october and they just recorded their first improvised techno jam 🥲 all the drums from the model:samples and everything else from the modular into the pioneer xdj for filtering/fx
Love it! Sounds great!
thank you! will pass along the good feedback 
What part of this is improvising? I think you’ve missed the point.
You are funny. I post something and after a minute you comment. Same thing last time. Commented after a minute. Why do you care about me? Just the fact that I arrange the drums on my own is an improvisation. Please keep your bad mood to yourself. 
the part where it gets played and recorded in a single take? as opposed to recording parts/single tracks and doing arrangement in daw?
the original premises of this thread is OP watching Surgeon/Blawan etc live performance sets, they all have different gear but all come with some patches on their machines to play, so imho prepping a pattern or couple of patterns and playing them in a live fashion is very essence of improvised techno, the artist can take the pattern anywhere and that’s exactly what Mutlu is doing, playing his gear, doesn’t really matter that the patch, or in this case a pattern, is already exists, he can still mangle as a live performance so that’s what’s happening in most of his videos.
I’m cool with that…
if he starts doing this I’ll be worried ![]()
I like the track, it’s great. I enjoy the other tracks he’s posted too. I guess I just don’t see this as improvising. If I had his machine and his patterns and pressed play I think I’d get largely the same result. I’m not having a dig at the quality of the track I just think the improvisational content is limited.
I should also add, I posted a question. “What part of this is improvising?” There is nothing rude or malicious in this. It’s a genuine question/avenue of discourse. The usual reply would be to educate me and explain, rather than suggesting I’m in a bad mood. That way I wouldn’t repeat the question next time.
Edit: I guess I would describe this as performing a track, rather than improvising.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that… a real good exercise (if you have a rytm) is to get the open source project by @pokk and try playing the patterns and then take a look at his youtube to hear what he made of it, I can guarantee that your recordings won’t sound the same even with the project on your hands ![]()
personally I don’t think it’s rude but I sure see how some can see it as such, I truly think that how a pattern gets played is make or break of a track, and doing it in a single recording so everything sounds good is a skill that might look easy, but it’s not…
I don’t doubt any of what you say, I just wouldn’t count any of that as improvising, more as performing.
well, you know, you can say same thing about Blawan/Surgeon/SpeedyJ/Lady Starlight etc etc etc, they do PERFORM live but you can call it improvised as well, I mean you don’t see any of them start building a modular patch on stage don’t you? they come with something, they perform on it, they improvise, so… same thing to me 