What are the things that eurorack does that most other hardware can’t do?
The only think i can think of is how some of these crazy sequencers can reset and ratchet in sort of a semi random order, against each other.
What are other things eurorack does better than a couple of hardware boxes can’t usually do?
I’m thinking about one small skiff to compliment my hardware and i think about WHY i would use a skiff?
What makes eurorack special?
Your youtube channel.
Hey dog, i think the soothing voice of Ziv aka loopop is therapeutic.
I could listen to that voice for hours say anything.
near unlimited fm/am/lfos/modulation possibilities. can create ridiculous franken-synths that have never existed before - waldorf wavetable osc w/ ms20 filters into metasonix tube spring reverb sequenced by a buchla marf clone from the 1970s w a matrix mixer for feedback networks and a built in akai s950 sampler. so many great analog filter choices. more affordable than many of the 4u/5u modulars. really beautiful way to explore and go deep with the vast options of synthesis hands on.
I think franken synth was going to be the essence of my answer.
It’s ultimately a synth of unlimited potential configuration, perpetually reconfigurable, and with near limitless potential for expansion. The thing that it can do better than a hardware synth is be tailored to your specific wants/needs/budget.
Where it is not better is it lacks a singular tie that binds, you are the ui, or you need something very powerful to lead the pack, and you have to be really into it. It’s the ultimate groovebox, and similarly the most inconvenient groovebox.
I can’t afford the entry fee to be perfectly honest, there’s just not enough money to satisfy my hunger so why start.
I have to be very aware of my limits when I make purchases or I stop keeping track of what I spend because it’s easier than the pain of knowing what I’ve spent…
i have an Electrix Filter Factory, and i’m thinking that it would be nice to have many other things in it’s place, i could have 10 filters and enough LFO’s to go around.
It touches me funny.
Being really f*cking inconvenient and annoying
Edit:
If you decide you want to get into eurorack, define from the getgo what you’re going into it for. For some its the boutique fx, for me it was the built in accidental/chaotic sounds and morphagene, for others…I have no idea.
But get a small case(yeah, I know the Behringer Go Case is pretty cheap- don’t buy it. Spend more for less space.)
Don’t youtube modules that you’re not already impressed by, don’t venture away from your main draw to it- its like swimming to the deep end of the River Styx. There is only one x=y correlation between a bigger modular setup, and it isn’t “how good it sounds” its how inconvenient it is to use.
Really depends what your do with it… I mostly think of the more complex digital units like more compact easier to use 19inch rack units. Actually there is probably analogous examples of 19inch rack for just about every type of module minus the external modulation and logic stuff. But yeah there are a lot of ways to approach a system.
I think the biggest thing for me is smaller teams of creative people with pretty direct vision are making eurorack modules, what they make is much less muddied than a company with suits who are worried about the bottom line.
and honestly, it encourages a mindset of exploration and connecting into sound rather than producing ‘tracks’ or content, etc. this was a vital experience in my musical development and it doesn’t have to last forever. i never really got close to that sustained feeling working in max/pure data/supercollider
The ability to (mis)use modules is a big deal (using a function generator or a sequencer as an oscillator using an oscillator as an lfo or lfo as an oscillator etc etc etc) the ability to re-wire everything all the time, there is no set signal path so a well put together modular could be thought of as several different synths (a drum synth, an fm synth a traditional subtractive synth an additive synth etc etc) and/or it can be all of those things at the same time. Depending how it’s planned you could have an entire music making machine in one box or you could have a very very capable and flexible synth.
The specific and interesting modules that exist nowhere else, stuff like Mutable instruments Marbles and Intellijel quadra+expander come to mind for me.
And of course above all the ability to fully customize your own personal synthesizer, one could build a traditional classic Moog style modular or a West coast Buchla style modular or a mutant drum machine or a monster effects rack or again all of the above in one.
I could say a lot more but you shouldn’t think of it as what can modular do that other hardware can’t and think of it more as what could YOU do with a set of specific modules.
I have owned a ridiculous amount of synths over the years and several of them have been billed as “a sound designers dream” and “like a modular in a box” etc but all of them regardless of how flexible their modulation matrix is never is quite like actual modular.
I first got into eurorack around 2013 , I still have some of my original modules and I’m still finding new and interesting ways to use them.
The fact is there is nothing equivalent to modular other than other modular, not in terms of sound (necessarily) but it terms of capabilities.
I have a koma field FX so like i already have one thing that i’m debating keeping or not…
Keep it.
That way you have a constant reminder of deeper, more annoying paths
I’m not a social person
If I could sell my entire modular in one go I would
But I would have to sell
Each. Individual. Piece
The anxiety of the number of sales/shippings i would have to do to unload this means im keeping the modular.
I have to start a YouTube channel now.
I cannot emphasize this enough:
F*ck
I was leaning toward keeping, i like spring verb and other options that i looked at don’t seem much better or cheaper.
And i’m thinking about the things my other hardware can do, and how to supplement it and stay within some sort of manageable skiff, like our guy Ricky T.
I mean you can also create crazy frankensynths with noneurorack when you have synths that allow audio in.
You can create convoluted MIDI rube goldberg setups without eurorack as well.
Plus often you can do this with polyphony without investing so much only the five richest kings of europe could afford.
Buy this instead of modular
Edit:
If you need a demo of the randomness that can be done with this sequencer- this is a simple, half arsed patch i made running through the NI instrument Yanquin
I have my ipad connected to my MC707 been using Rozeta bassline and scaler 2 figuring out different ways to have random generated patterns and then assemble some from scaler.
But this looks interesting, downloaded the trial, thanks!
Ita really cool if you can actually devote yourself to it, I dabbled- where it gets really chaotic good/bad is when you get into note duplication
I’m going more for daft punk than aphex twin, so things like this is a sliding scale, of how much time to i want to dedicate to learning random weird sequencers, compared to trying to learn more music theory?
Like, i’m not going down the Max4live hole, the Octatrack is more than enough for my brain to comprehend. Everything i get i wonder if this is something that can make my workflow better or easier?