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My small modular set up is like having a band mate that occasionally comes up with amazing ideas. Then goes back to burping and farting in the corner of the room.
@@JJTFishing A Glitch Storm 2025, is as cheap as half a Eurorack module that actually makes a noise by itself. 2025 specializes in coming up with good ideas. 😄
I always think of eurorack as chefs, some people like to cook their own food and some people just want the food right away. It’s the journey not the destination
Went down into my basement to "just add a couple modules to the system". Looked up an hour and a half later, elbow deep in cables and wires in the middle of a complete re-work of my system. Thought to myself "Oh, this is how car people must feel working on cars. I get it now." My wife wondered where I had gone. 10/10, no regrets for me, but understandably not for everybody. Thanks for the meme collection ;)
As a super handsome modular manufacturer with at least 4 1/2 videos on how to play New Order bass lines under my belt, I can assure you that Eurorack modules can sound incredibly musical. As long as you bang them together at the correct angle and velocity
I mean it's suuuuper cool, the EE in me loves it, but it makes me realize that for every module I add I'd be spending $400 on a module and you need so many modules in order to be half as flexible as the deluge
Yes, it is, I went Modular and started spending more monet than I should. Thing is, if you create your own synth you don't need other non Modular synths/drum machines. Look other way how Much Minimoog costs? How Much moog one costs? For that monet you can have very nice Modular setup.
That’s why i 100% agree with florian that modular is for people with real musical knowledge ( and synthesizer knowledge )to stay focus and Know from the beginning what you want to achieve, and Even with that in mind you cannot 100% predict that the module you chose will really work Well toghether.It’s people with out that knowlledge that think you’re Going to replace and do everything with a modular,and splend 15000€ or people already famous or deep pockets
i spent who-knows-how-many hours/days/weeks of my life researching the "right" euro modules, saved up money, put the thing together, and all that research and hair splitting resulted in a system i still couldn't manage to make music on. i sold everything to fund more closed architecture (but still spaghetti'd) synths and have been so much happier.
For me it’s the learning curve with every new module and gear that enable me to stick with my guns because I want to make music not learning a new interment every week month 😂
I enjoy the building aspect and learning how this stuff works. Having an arturia keyboard with all the insane amount of plugins feels a bit like writing music from an AI prompt.
My meta meme meme about Florian thanking you for the meme has truly come full circle now. I can finally rest. And what a video as well, AudioPilz shitting on modular - a dream come true
"No time left to actually make music". This is sadly true. I have a limited but already too large selection of eurorack modules and I spend far too much time making musical patches to then actually make music with them.
Yeah, that's a real danger of modular, and synthesis in general. Obviously, it's fun to mess around making sounds, but for me it has to result in finished songs.
@@rlm4471 I thought buying a hardware analog synth would make me more productive but it's done the opposite. Except that at some point I'll have about 30 sequences that I can make into songs maybe, but I have to actually do that.
I got to a certain point with my modular and just said "good enough". Haven't bought anything else for it for a few years since. It started off as a Doepfer basic system that I got in 2007 and slowly grew until now. Pretty happy with what I have overall now. I could probably get a lot of sounds from it with my other synths and plugins, but it's the tactility and experience overall. It's not for everyone, but it itches something that's specific in my brain that nothing really else does. It's all about that UX, especially if you stay away from a lot of the microwave dinner type digital modules. The best way to describe it, even more so that typical synths, is that it is quite literally sonic lego, were each module is a literal building block. You can either make a half arsed house with it, or make a wonderful, highly detailed mansion with it. Also it's basically a repurposed analogue computer - for example, could make a functioning game with it if I wanted to, with all the logic / comparator modules I have lol
I've had more fun making music with my modular the past three years than I've had making electronic music for over twenty years. Every time I make music with it, I get the same joy and excitement I had when I first started making music with a Roland JS30 and a 4-track. There's a level of discovery and immediacy I miss in other hardware instruments. It's not for everyone. Unlike most, I actually sequence my modular from my computer and only use modular sequencers to modify my midi once transformed to CV, and I feel this make it more useful for actually producing tracks than just making dumb bleep bloop loops (which are still fun but not productive). By the way, I was a complete skeptic before I got started thinking " no one makes good music with modular "but IMO most people don't use it in the right way.
Browsing a few hundred presets, finding one you like, then just playing, is pretty immediate. I'm guessing you don't start a patch from scratch every time? Sound design is not the same as composition. Do you find modular asking you what keys you can modulate to, what alternative scales could you use, how could you reharmonise that melody, or change the rhythmic pattern? What do you mean by "most people don't use it in the RIGHT way"? What is the "right" way? And who are "most people"? Asking for a friend, because he really doesn't get it.
@@sailingstar8176 personally browsing a hundred presets is more laborious than plugging a vco in to a vca and modulating it with various modules. I generally meant sequencing a DAW is better for most music than using modular sequencers, they are slow, repetitive, and hard to work when composing or structuring a track. Quantizers are lame as most interest music has accidentals outside a scale or mode or modulates. I use exotic modes that are often not supported. It’s so fast to just play the part on a keyboard or use a piano role and record it to midi and convert that to cv. I have the Minifreak and Polybrute and those mod matrixes are fast. But I might want to use 4 s+h, 3 filters, and 5 lfos, and feedbacked modulators for a single voice and I can do that on modular without a second thought. It’s always trade off. Each method is limited on some ways but not others.
@@sailingstar8176I worked ten years crafting every sound in my songs with a virtual modular. Still winning competitions. And I got pretty fast with it. Nonetheless I tried to go after alternative scales and chord progressions most of the time. After that I wanted to try something new. Now I have spent a little too much playing with the presets of Osmosé with just minimal edits. But the editor has incredibly steep learning curve. I still have put more effort in playing than actual sound design. It depends on what is driving us.
@@sailingstar8176 there's not just the sound design aspect, but the generative aspects to modular as well. Lots of happy accidents. The flip side is that it's hard to approach modular with an exact idea in your head and make it happen. It can be a difficult "instrument" to play in the traditional sense. A nice synth keyboard or a DAW is much more straight forward if the goal is to make the music that's already in your head. As for the "right way". I don't buy it. I'd temper the argument with that there are strengths and weaknesses to various "ways" of doing things. Playing to modular's strengths is going to feel a lot easier and probably make you happier. The sneaky little secret I've noticed is that when people setup a generative patch on modular they aren't applying western music theory. Key, scales, melody, etc all take a back seat to the most important thing in music. Repetition of a musical theme with variations and dynamics to keep interest. Diving into music theory does help though. But I think to play to generative modular's strengths, you have to kind of go a little off the beaten path in the music theory. For example, play a drone in the bass register. That's your key (my first instrument was a folk instrument with a drone and it works there too). Any small number of notes you want to play on it are now automatically in key and you possibly invented a new scale. Some intervals with your scale will sound a little nicer than others, and with generative patches you can slightly adjust LFO frequency or clock used with the sample & hold to make huge changes. Keep messing with it until it sounds cool, record that. Newer modules like Turing Machine, MI marbles, or any sequencer that can do random are even easier than the old school analog way of doing generative. Well easier in the sense that you can dial in something closer to what you specifically want. or make a scale and key that you could actually play against another instrument. (good luck playing a guitar over the thing I mentioned above. almost never works)
The Mother 32 as the semi-exception is telling. For 90% of synth nerds a semi-modular synth, maaaaaybe paired with a small side skiff, is going to provide them with everything they’d possibly want out of a Eurorack system.
As soon as I started seeing that modules started at like $300 and that you'd need like 4~8 for a "beginner" modular, I realized I could just get a top of the line synth
you can build it your own though, if you have some knowledge about electronics, pretty sure there are many open source modules on the web, look mom no computer also has many circuits you can build yourself
On a counter, Tim Shoebridge did one of the best roast regarding modular not sounding musical. The troll he roasted was put in their place. Modular does for people that want to go down the rabbit hole, I Dream of wires, or as Florian would say, "Vires" is an exceptional watch.
Could someone please reformulate the first and last part of this comment into actual sentences, please? 🤔 I’m sure it’s cool and I really don’t want to miss out on the fun! 🙂
I've stayed away... its like another card collector game... Cobalt8, Korg Wavestate and a Key 37 is all I need. (Edit: Thanks for your videos that swayed my ways and gave me focus!)
When I feel tempted to go modular, I open any of my hardware synths and contemplate their internal boards working great and wired among each other. Then I close it and say “ I have modular already, I don’t need More.
Thank you for telling us how it is. I had a big system. Sold it after I realized I hadn’t written a single song but only been tweaking knobs for over a year.
It’s funny that I at one time couldn’t get my head wrapped around how to program a synthesizer, I relied on presets. However, when I watched tutorials on how modular synths work I started to get it. I think having a synth broken down to modules helped me understand what each section of the synth did
The biggest irony with modular is 99.9% of people have those huge setups and it always stays in the same setup, which means you've just paid more on a normalized setup. Keith Emerson was one of the first, if not the first, artist to do touring with a full Moog Modular setup which he would use sparingly in some numbers. Yet the thing took 3 hours to assemble, patch, tune and set the few presets for each show. The synth which got more use at that time was the Minimoog which sat on top of his Hammond, which then evolved to a Korg synth, then became two Kronos with the Hammond and then the Modular was relegated to just being a backdrop piece which didn't produce any of the sounds.
@@AudioPilz you're older than you look. Not many of us remember the original par cans from the 70s and 80s. You could get a decent suntan from a set of 1kw floor specials with magenta gels.
Keith always used it in some capacity in every concert I've ever seen, and there are a few around. It was never just a prop. But it was sheer extravagance to bring that whole modular system just to run around with a ribbon controller for a couple of minutes.
Florian , the fact that you questioned and answered all these is the proof you will one day go down the rabbit hole ( been there ). Now let’s see things though another angle, someday you will run out of bad gear to reviews , this day you could start a new channel : bad module 😂
I think a lot of people get into modular synths without having much direction; they just saw I Dream of Wires and think that Eurorack is THE WAY, then binge a bunch of synthfluencer content in the name of "research" and end up in a cycle of buying flashy modules and not really taking the time to learn them. I got into Eurorack because I got a Metasonix S-2000, fell in love with it, and wanted more TOOBZ. Getting a couple of Doepfer LC cases and slowly purchasing the Metasonix R-series as I had money was actually the easier route than tracking down and paying bozo prices for a used S-1000. Now I have a kickass unique synth that I know inside-out and have used on all kinds of music from punk, industrial/EDM, ambient, and even folk!
This is how it begins. The "special" feeling that you have something unique and precious. I have a "kickass" synth that I know inside out, which I bought in 1983. It was my first piece of decent gear. But you can now get an app for the price of a takeaway meal which does the same thing. Defeated. Yet my old synth is now "vintage", and worth double what it originally cost me, apparently. I can't see that happening with modern modular.
Yes to all of this. If you want to make music but only make fart sounds you need to actually learn your instrument and the conventions of music you want to make. Like a musician. It's an instrument. "Bedroom Producer" is not referring to the "Producer" credit on a movie where your job is to throw money at this until art happens.
Thanks for the model train analogy! Not just my modular rack, but all my analog synth gear is for me what my dad's train set was to him. For me, softsynths are for making music. My Refaces are my synth equivalent of an acoustic guitar (portable and self contained). And analog synth gear is for messing around for fun. We'll see if I can keep my modular down to only 280hp or if, after I'm gone, my kids and partner are left with an artifact the size of my dad's train track layout. 😄
As a teenager who put together countless audio circuits using 741 IC's, I entered adulthood hating the site of cables. Modular is so archaic it reminds me of steam engine fanatics who despite the invention of the modern auto-mobile insist on spending hours going nowhere. You have really connected with me more than ever in this episode, well done.
It's definitely not for everyone, and very pricey. It's awesome for teaching people about electronic music principles and sound design though. Just like with old cars you can actually get to a level where you understand every part of it and fix it yourself. With that being said, I hate cars with a passion.
The brilliance of your video is you get twice the views because I watch it once and then I have to watch it a second time pausing at each of the quick succession of memes.
I keep my Eurorack set up in my bedroom away from my studio. I use it for jamming and playing something before bed. It's fun and sometimes I record it on my tascam to be expanded on later. Sometimes I just set up a generative ambient patch and let it run while I fall asleep.
@@mycosys I don't have one? Straight into mixer then into a Tascam field recorder. Everything is mixed down. If I want to record something properly with stems I have a Presonus Studio 1824c in my studio.
Modular is amazing if you know what you want and you're realistic about what to get and at what price... It is expensive... but it's also the only way to create your own "Frankestein monster" mono synth. I can also travel with a full studio in a suitcase!!
@@AudioPilz No, but its a lot less expensive cos the new module period lasts long enough to build it XD Its just guitar pedals for synth nerds, just cheaper and less portable. Not like you dont already have that problem.
@@AudioPilzit’s definitely a good inhibitor as you know there’s going to be a ton of soldering and that the first few modules at least are going to have some issues to troubleshoot while you git gud at the whole assembly process
I'll probably never build a modular synth, but what I would like to build someday, is a Modular Mixer, with a bunch of effects, a compressor, and some LFOs... to run my non-modular gear into.
Honestly that's one of the last things you'd want a modular for. Compare a used $100 outboard mixer to an equivalent eurorack mixer with the same number of channels, you'll pay 3x more and have less connectivity, and all you get in return is CV control over volume and panning. Kind of a waste of HP in most cases
I've just managed to persuade myself to expand my modest semi modular setup with a first module. Why did you have to throw sanity at my face at this precise moment ? Damn you.
Espen Kraft : (Cackling) "Just wait until the synth world turns topsy turvy after watching my VST vs hardware video I'm about to put out on RUclips, from my evil synth mastermind secret hideout near the North Pole. I will be king of the synth world, and no one will be able to stop me, ever, EVVVVEEERRRRRR !!!' : : A FEW MOMENTS LATER..... : : Florian Pilz : "Hold my beer..." 😀😀😀
I bought an Arturia case and filled it with some modules to compliment my Matriarch ala Loopop- some other voices, wave folders and filters (stereo SEM!). It’s not only is a great addition to the Moog, it also 100% murdered any GAS I had going any deeper into Eurorack. Win!
I used to think about modular like this too until I realized I dont have to build a complete synthesizer with modules but I can also just buy modules to compliment my semi-modulars. Extra LFOs, envelopes. VCAs logic modules etc. etc. It can be quite liberating!
Love the MS-404. It's funny, the person I bought it from 20 years ago said "It has no good sounds in it," and reduced the agreed on price to $100, despite me trying to talk him back into our original, higher, price. It is simply amazing how potent fleeting "uncoolness of the moment" effects have on human perception and behavior.
All valid criticisms. I spent about five years and an embarrassing amount of money assembling a Eurorack system that makes interesting sounds but is very difficult to produce "music" on. Stopped buying modules three years ago, and aside from occasionally rearranging it, the system is finished. What was most appealing about it was the 100% physical interface. I hate menus; the wires and knobs give me the feeling that I'm playing a REAL instrument. But it's so convoluted and awkward to control, the results of "playing" it are always a compromise between what I wanted and what the instrument will actually do. These surprises are sometimes pleasant, sometimes frustrating.
Yep. Thank you for your honesty. Clearly you weren't of the mindset that you could build the perfect modular, because only you know exactly what works best for you. Finding those sweetspots on your own can be days, weeks, years of HELL. Best let an expert do that for you, and bake them into a ready-to-go instrument.
Dear Florian! I would watch an episode with Behringer's micro synth line. JT-4000, VS Pro Mini. Especially the JT-4000 which is a very controversial one, advertised as a mockup of the famous JP-8000 but it has nothing to do with that except the blueish paint job. I wonder what magic can you do with these little synths.
I totally agree with you, Florian! One piece of modular in my my Dutch studio will turn me in to the equivalent of what Fentanyl does for the average American. Thanks for the great video!!
I love synths. My first synth was a hand-me-down ESQ-1. It was the early 2000s and My papa got a Korg Triton and passed the aforementioned synth to me. Soon after that received my first drum machine. MC 303. My 13th birthday came. and I got a Reason and an audio interface. By the time I was 15 my collection of synths included a D-50, Juno106, and a Korg DW 8000(8000 was also from Papa's collection.) By the time I was 16creating my own atches was an addictive time sync. But the diversion brought peace to my troubled adolescent brain. The sound designing began in Reason but soon figured out all this shit worked the same way. My modular collecting started in 2009. I was 19 and had been playing guitar for four years at that point. I saw modular synths modules the same way I viewed guitar efx pedals. Sure I could use a nice multi-unit to do the same thing as my stomp boxes but the module nature of them was just more fun. Today my collection of musical instruments is large and unnecessary. But I find that I interact with each piece of gear in its own way. I can do anything in reason that I can do in hardware. But the Hardware is fun. It is like Robin at Molten Modular says. "Sometimes you just want the thing that does the stuff." I get that eurorack and hardware in general are luxury items. I can get the same sounds in a variety of DAWs. But after torturing myself for years in medical school followed by a hellish residency that ended in the pandemic. I like the things that do the stuff. Each instrument brings different things out of me. That includeds my eurorack monstrosity.
Yes. But also, let yourself live with stuff for a while, grow into it, make it part of you. There's a fake thing called "boredom" which makes us forget what we can do with what we already have. My pedalboard and its 7 multicoloured stomp boxes is nearly 40 years old, and still good enough for me. I've adopted it, made it part of my sound. It doesn't do everything, but I don't need more stuff, because enough is enough.
Great take! I've managed to avoid the Eurorack species of GAS, but within my little and growing collection of dedicated synths, I'm thankful for the LEGACY of modular. The Moog Muse I procured a few weeks ago is clearly defined by the 70+ years of modular innovation that came before it. I suppose it's relatively easy for me to resist the modular addiction mostly because what I like to do most is PLAY my instruments and I just want them to sound beautiful and make me happy, which they do in spades. Sound design is fun and all, but after a few hours of it I really just want to make music.
I have never, ever heard anyone make anything other than random bleep bloop noises with modular. People spend $573,000 to make “computer in 60s scifi” sound effects
Seriously? I've heard some beautiful stuff on RUclips. I'm spacing on artist names at the moment, but as soon as I remember some or see them in my feed again, I'll drop the names here
You should look at Suzanne Ciani's body of work and bank account these days. Went from homeless to the reason you know what ABC Broadcasting's logo sounds like or the sound of a can of Coca Cola opening whether you realize you do or have ever seen ABC or had a can of Coke or not. Modular is a creative tool, not a DAW. Most people just aren't creative or necessarily mechanically and scientifically educated enough to do much more than piss off the neighborhood and the neighborhood animals using modular synthesizer equipment and the real issue seems to originate between the brain and the controls in my opinion
This is why I enjoy Behringer semi-modulars (I won't argue about the morality of their clones, that's up to the internet,) because they are relatively cheap, they add USB as well as MIDI so they are really easy to integrate with Ableton, they make a sound without having to build some incredible machine that takes over a whole room, and they've actually had me able to create music. I'm not very talented but there have been times when I just plugged one in on a whim and made something that sounds great by hitting random buttons and plugging in random patch cables. I love that modular exists and the nerdiness associated, but I totally agree with the points in this vid.
Thank you for getting us in on your problem. If you should ever start to consume feel invited to talk to us and tell us all about it as I can see the temptation from your side to „just patch in a second oscillator“ seems just too natural for you 😉
I rarely agree with EVERYTHING in a video but I do for this one. I went down the Eurorack rabbit hole a couple years ago, spent way too much money making basically chaotic, atonal beep-boop music and finally decided I was finally done with it this year. I realized I don’t have the necessary brain chemistry to do modular the “right” way and enjoy it.
Because people want to get away from the computers and presets!!! That is why! And you learn so much more about synthesis and signal flow. Facts, man, facts!
I also have a small set up and have no intention to grow it into a wall of chaos, but the thing that it gives you is exploration, which leads to inspiration.
I find it meditative and relaxing. Since I approach each modular session with freedom and no end goal, I have lots of fun! It is expensive and can get a bit too much but from my journey I found that either small systems or semi modulars work best for me. If you want immediacy and you're on a budget than plugins are the way to go. If you want to explore sound and just do it for the sake of it and have some extra money, then modular is amazing!
I started building my eurorack system (aka “Doepfer modular”) in 1996. Back then, there weren’t helpful videos such as yours, support groups, and public service announcements warning about the dangers of modular addiction. Now I have a massive, amazing collection of modules. Also I sleep in a cardboard box down by the river.
Arturia saved me from Eurorack by making the Minibrute 2S semi-modular. I bought one thinking I would use it as the centerpiece of a modular setup, and realized how much I disliked not having patch storage.
Fully agree on most points. I do have some semi-modular stuff so I can scratch the patching itch I get every once in a while, but going full modular seems just like a cumbersome and expensive descent into madness.
All I know is modular synths should also feature science lab equipment... test tubes and glass jars filled with different coloured liquids that spew dry ice. I'm fairly sure Keith Emerson wore a lab coat and not just because he was high.
I'd agree with pretty much everything you said here. The only reason I have a modular rack is precisely because I'm *not* a musician. I'm a nerd who likes to tinker and it's a fun thing to mess around with. If your goal is to make music, then modular probably isn't the way to go.
Not true, making music is about creativity; modular makes you think outside the box and can make pretty much any genre as well. Its an effective tool to add spice and originality to your music and it is really inspiring for musicians and producer.
Got out of modular after never being happy with what I had, always looking to the next thing. Not for everyone. Also, CHAPTER 2 with the "Relaxed Chillbeats From a Rainy LOFI Universe of 90's Work and Study Core" banger from the KOii video.....Nice....
I get your point. I have a couple modular and semi modular pieces of hardware and software and for the most part i feel its enough. The possitive i see in it is that you can educate yourself about synthesis and patch structure.
Florian... All those memes are hitting too close to home man! ha ha ha! This was an awesome video, both informative and hilarious. Yes, I use modular, and yes I use it musically. And no.. I'm probably not done adding to it. But I am making completed tracks with it as one of my tools in my arsenal. The day I stop making music with it, is the day I'll get rid of it. But that day is not today! Thanks again for your awesome videos!
I dropped my toe in once with the basic cre8 powered case and six modules. Even though I was using a common setup of six make noise modules. I quickly realized it took way too long to get anything usable that I couldn’t more easily and quickly do in Ableton. I sold the setup and I’ve never looked back.
Let’s face it, in the world of AI musicians will become obsolete very soon. So the best strategy is to forget about convenience, logic and effectiveness. Let it go and go modular. You won’t make any actual music (nobody needs it anyways), but the process is the reason. It’s an electronic meditation - no goal, no purpose, just you and lots of wires slowly entangling you. Tighter and tighter… Until you become one with the modular. And maybe then the AI will decide that you are worthy and let you exist. Just give me your hand and I’ll show you the way!
Modular stuff is a bottomless money pit. I tried a while ago and get into it, but I just feel cheated when I look at prices. Absolutely insane. Stuff I can program in Pure Data or C++ in 2 lines of code, cost a fortune in Eurorack. And if you say that you think it's expensive in a Eurorack group, oh my god, feelings will be hurt, very hurt. There is no one more sensitive in this world, than a person defending the price of his Eurorack system. I just genuinely dislike the whole culture around Eurorack.
modular is extremley fun to work in as a designer and the non DIYer's wallet is an externality we're willing to sacrifice upon the altar of The Art of Electronics Third Edition by Horrowitz and Hill
Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs:
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My small modular set up is like having a band mate that occasionally comes up with amazing ideas. Then goes back to burping and farting in the corner of the room.
😂lol, good one😂
That's actually VERY accurate🤣😭
That's factual AF!lol!@@AudioPilz
The relationship with my mother32 will never be the same😮
@@JJTFishing A Glitch Storm 2025, is as cheap as half a Eurorack module that actually makes a noise by itself. 2025 specializes in coming up with good ideas. 😄
eurorack: the subcategory of electronic music gear with more manufacturers than users.
That’s what happens to drug addicts…they have to start dealing to feed the habit
I always think of eurorack as chefs, some people like to cook their own food and some people just want the food right away. It’s the journey not the destination
Went down into my basement to "just add a couple modules to the system". Looked up an hour and a half later, elbow deep in cables and wires in the middle of a complete re-work of my system.
Thought to myself "Oh, this is how car people must feel working on cars. I get it now."
My wife wondered where I had gone.
10/10, no regrets for me, but understandably not for everybody. Thanks for the meme collection ;)
You can actually make money by working on cars;)
@@AudioPilz The electronic engineering profession would like a word.
Also - Why u think there are so many modules that cost so much?...............
@@mycosys i think you need a mechanic more than a guy who makes modules
@@illford good luck with teh ECU without an electronic engineer
@@AudioPilz but most people seem to just tinker in the garage instead!
I couldn't imagine spending $250 on a single module, when I could be getting a single Teenage Engineering choir doll instead.
😂
As a super handsome modular manufacturer with at least 4 1/2 videos on how to play New Order bass lines under my belt, I can assure you that Eurorack modules can sound incredibly musical. As long as you bang them together at the correct angle and velocity
Its worse then a.i.... its like letting the terminator make beats
@@lX-NDR that guy was a beat machine!
@@calsynth whaha yes but totaly irrelevent today! 😂
Lol, spot on!!!
@@lX-NDR your ability is showing
Any time I want to get into modular I boot up VCVRack, get grossed out, and return to my Deluge
grossed out? i find it interesting but it depends on the music you like
👍👍👍
I mean it's suuuuper cool, the EE in me loves it, but it makes me realize that for every module I add I'd be spending $400 on a module and you need so many modules in order to be half as flexible as the deluge
@@RegularTetragon Youre an EE who cant wire up an $10 op-amp filter or 2164 etc? Should Check out Thonk and Ottos DIY etc somtime
Are you me? Although I do enjoy making samples in VCV rack, and then using them on the Deluge.
Since I spent years not making music with my prefab synths, I found the transition to modular irresistible.
Sure I have 3 hardware synths and two sound modules, but modular? That seems like a gateway to addiction and an empty bank account.
Not even once!!!
Can confirm.
Yes, it is, I went Modular and started spending more monet than I should. Thing is, if you create your own synth you don't need other non Modular synths/drum machines. Look other way how Much Minimoog costs? How Much moog one costs? For that monet you can have very nice Modular setup.
Never a truer word spoken. Its nuts.
That’s why i 100% agree with florian that modular is for people with real musical knowledge ( and synthesizer knowledge )to stay focus and Know from the beginning what you want to achieve, and Even with that in mind you cannot 100% predict that the module you chose will really work Well toghether.It’s people with out that knowlledge that think you’re
Going to replace and do everything with a modular,and splend 15000€ or people already famous or deep pockets
The train memes were really spot on. Thanks 😂
Always a pleasure;)
i spent who-knows-how-many hours/days/weeks of my life researching the "right" euro modules, saved up money, put the thing together, and all that research and hair splitting resulted in a system i still couldn't manage to make music on. i sold everything to fund more closed architecture (but still spaghetti'd) synths and have been so much happier.
"spaghetti'd" is a nice way to put it!
Yeah, I'd need an extra entire lifetime to go down this rabbit hole.
The Boss of Fridays is back. Big Synth is pleased.
Thank you!!! Have a nice weekend!!!
Modular synths become a little less addictive if you have to build each module from scratch! I did it and I am very pleased and hopefully satisfied!
Nice approach!!!
For me it’s the learning curve with every new module and gear that enable me to stick with my guns because I want to make music not learning a new interment every week month 😂
I enjoy the building aspect and learning how this stuff works. Having an arturia keyboard with all the insane amount of plugins feels a bit like writing music from an AI prompt.
it's what motivated me to start designing my own modules while learning electronics. It's amazing what you can do with a couple of CMOS chips.
Heh, that's how LMNC did it.
My meta meme meme about Florian thanking you for the meme has truly come full circle now. I can finally rest. And what a video as well, AudioPilz shitting on modular - a dream come true
"No time left to actually make music". This is sadly true. I have a limited but already too large selection of eurorack modules and I spend far too much time making musical patches to then actually make music with them.
It happens to the best!
You could just dedicate a day to finishing stuff. If you don't develop the habit, it won't happen.
Yeah, that's a real danger of modular, and synthesis in general. Obviously, it's fun to mess around making sounds, but for me it has to result in finished songs.
@@rlm4471 I thought buying a hardware analog synth would make me more productive but it's done the opposite. Except that at some point I'll have about 30 sequences that I can make into songs maybe, but I have to actually do that.
I'm doing the same in my DAW…
I can't do ANYTHING with my modular stuff on a crunch. But when I want to just go explore, holy crap it really shines.
I got to a certain point with my modular and just said "good enough". Haven't bought anything else for it for a few years since. It started off as a Doepfer basic system that I got in 2007 and slowly grew until now. Pretty happy with what I have overall now.
I could probably get a lot of sounds from it with my other synths and plugins, but it's the tactility and experience overall. It's not for everyone, but it itches something that's specific in my brain that nothing really else does. It's all about that UX, especially if you stay away from a lot of the microwave dinner type digital modules.
The best way to describe it, even more so that typical synths, is that it is quite literally sonic lego, were each module is a literal building block. You can either make a half arsed house with it, or make a wonderful, highly detailed mansion with it. Also it's basically a repurposed analogue computer - for example, could make a functioning game with it if I wanted to, with all the logic / comparator modules I have lol
2007 A-100 buyer? Respect!!!
Epic title!!! Talk about chucking a grenade into the room and doing a runner! 😂😂😂
Always a pleasure;)
@@AudioPilz This is the way. 😀
Hey, don't lie! I bought the Korg Volca Modular because of your great Bad Gear episode! xD
That's only catnip compared to real modular. You got away easy;)
@@AudioPilzPlot twist: the VM got me into semi-modular, which then got me into modular.
I've had more fun making music with my modular the past three years than I've had making electronic music for over twenty years. Every time I make music with it, I get the same joy and excitement I had when I first started making music with a Roland JS30 and a 4-track. There's a level of discovery and immediacy I miss in other hardware instruments. It's not for everyone. Unlike most, I actually sequence my modular from my computer and only use modular sequencers to modify my midi once transformed to CV, and I feel this make it more useful for actually producing tracks than just making dumb bleep bloop loops (which are still fun but not productive). By the way, I was a complete skeptic before I got started thinking " no one makes good music with modular "but IMO most people don't use it in the right way.
Nice!!!
Browsing a few hundred presets, finding one you like, then just playing, is pretty immediate. I'm guessing you don't start a patch from scratch every time? Sound design is not the same as composition. Do you find modular asking you what keys you can modulate to, what alternative scales could you use, how could you reharmonise that melody, or change the rhythmic pattern? What do you mean by "most people don't use it in the RIGHT way"? What is the "right" way? And who are "most people"? Asking for a friend, because he really doesn't get it.
@@sailingstar8176 personally browsing a hundred presets is more laborious than plugging a vco in to a vca and modulating it with various modules. I generally meant sequencing a DAW is better for most music than using modular sequencers, they are slow, repetitive, and hard to work when composing or structuring a track. Quantizers are lame as most interest music has accidentals outside a scale or mode or modulates. I use exotic modes that are often not supported. It’s so fast to just play the part on a keyboard or use a piano role and record it to midi and convert that to cv. I have the Minifreak and Polybrute and those mod matrixes are fast. But I might want to use 4 s+h, 3 filters, and 5 lfos, and feedbacked modulators for a single voice and I can do that on modular without a second thought. It’s always trade off. Each method is limited on some ways but not others.
@@sailingstar8176I worked ten years crafting every sound in my songs with a virtual modular. Still winning competitions. And I got pretty fast with it. Nonetheless I tried to go after alternative scales and chord progressions most of the time. After that I wanted to try something new.
Now I have spent a little too much playing with the presets of Osmosé with just minimal edits. But the editor has incredibly steep learning curve. I still have put more effort in playing than actual sound design. It depends on what is driving us.
@@sailingstar8176 there's not just the sound design aspect, but the generative aspects to modular as well. Lots of happy accidents.
The flip side is that it's hard to approach modular with an exact idea in your head and make it happen. It can be a difficult "instrument" to play in the traditional sense. A nice synth keyboard or a DAW is much more straight forward if the goal is to make the music that's already in your head.
As for the "right way". I don't buy it. I'd temper the argument with that there are strengths and weaknesses to various "ways" of doing things. Playing to modular's strengths is going to feel a lot easier and probably make you happier.
The sneaky little secret I've noticed is that when people setup a generative patch on modular they aren't applying western music theory. Key, scales, melody, etc all take a back seat to the most important thing in music. Repetition of a musical theme with variations and dynamics to keep interest.
Diving into music theory does help though. But I think to play to generative modular's strengths, you have to kind of go a little off the beaten path in the music theory. For example, play a drone in the bass register. That's your key (my first instrument was a folk instrument with a drone and it works there too).
Any small number of notes you want to play on it are now automatically in key and you possibly invented a new scale. Some intervals with your scale will sound a little nicer than others, and with generative patches you can slightly adjust LFO frequency or clock used with the sample & hold to make huge changes. Keep messing with it until it sounds cool, record that.
Newer modules like Turing Machine, MI marbles, or any sequencer that can do random are even easier than the old school analog way of doing generative. Well easier in the sense that you can dial in something closer to what you specifically want. or make a scale and key that you could actually play against another instrument. (good luck playing a guitar over the thing I mentioned above. almost never works)
The Mother 32 as the semi-exception is telling. For 90% of synth nerds a semi-modular synth, maaaaaybe paired with a small side skiff, is going to provide them with everything they’d possibly want out of a Eurorack system.
I bought it as an "investment" when Moog went belly up bc I wanted a Moog made in US
@@AudioPilz is "Made in the USA" seen as important over there?
@@FormulaXFD Have you heard of a little known political group called MAGA ?
@@AudioPilzAnd I just sold my Matriarch for a Muse. 10 years from now will I be face-palming?
As soon as I started seeing that modules started at like $300 and that you'd need like 4~8 for a "beginner" modular, I realized I could just get a top of the line synth
That's the way!!!
And have more fun on top of the vastly better sounds and wider palet. 👍
you can build it your own though, if you have some knowledge about electronics, pretty sure there are many open source modules on the web, look mom no computer also has many circuits you can build yourself
@@mephistosprincipium wouldn't you rather not have to build that stuff and you know......make music instead?
@@Zrokool123 well if you’re into modular synth and you don’t want to spend a ton of money it’s an option
On a counter, Tim Shoebridge did one of the best roast regarding modular not sounding musical. The troll he roasted was put in their place.
Modular does for people that want to go down the rabbit hole, I Dream of wires, or as Florian would say, "Vires" is an exceptional watch.
You had me at Vires
@@AudioPilz lol
😜
Could someone please reformulate the first and last part of this comment into actual sentences, please? 🤔 I’m sure it’s cool and I really don’t want to miss out on the fun! 🙂
Why is it so enjoyable to watch this guy shit on stuff I enjoy?
Because I do it with love❤️❤️❤️
I've stayed away... its like another card collector game...
Cobalt8, Korg Wavestate and a Key 37 is all I need.
(Edit: Thanks for your videos that swayed my ways and gave me focus!)
Word!!!
”All i need” 😂 Come back in a week
@@motoboy6666 lol... well... maybe a Hydrosynth in the future (crosses fingers behind back)
@@28mmRPG I feel you 😂
You could dump at least two of those, and still make decent music...
That MS-404 jam got this party pumpin 🥳
Great synth!
I need to get one!
@@kgbenware 🤣
The jams from AudioPliz are highly worth visiting the video regardless of its content
@@AudioPilzAt this time, It was my first real synth, I still use it.
When I feel tempted to go modular, I open any of my hardware synths and contemplate their internal boards working great and wired among each other. Then I close it and say “ I have modular already, I don’t need More.
Thank you for telling us how it is. I had a big system. Sold it after I realized I hadn’t written a single song but only been tweaking knobs for over a year.
But what a year it was.
I've spent 3/4 of my life tweaking just one knob, mate, and I'm never sending it back :P
It’s funny that I at one time couldn’t get my head wrapped around how to program a synthesizer, I relied on presets. However, when I watched tutorials on how modular synths work I started to get it. I think having a synth broken down to modules helped me understand what each section of the synth did
I learned synthesis with the Tassman; the oldschool modular vst from AAS which was a beast. (now they have CV-2 which is good but not as good)
The biggest irony with modular is 99.9% of people have those huge setups and it always stays in the same setup, which means you've just paid more on a normalized setup. Keith Emerson was one of the first, if not the first, artist to do touring with a full Moog Modular setup which he would use sparingly in some numbers. Yet the thing took 3 hours to assemble, patch, tune and set the few presets for each show. The synth which got more use at that time was the Minimoog which sat on top of his Hammond, which then evolved to a Korg synth, then became two Kronos with the Hammond and then the Modular was relegated to just being a backdrop piece which didn't produce any of the sounds.
Damn tuning that thing under a ceiling full of par cans...
Year, Often, Modular ar used for the visual impact on stage ! (even today)
That's so sad...
@@AudioPilz you're older than you look. Not many of us remember the original par cans from the 70s and 80s. You could get a decent suntan from a set of 1kw floor specials with magenta gels.
@@sailingstar8176 Par cans remain the standard for lighting in most Russian theatres, but I must assume that's the exception :P
Keith always used it in some capacity in every concert I've ever seen, and there are a few around. It was never just a prop. But it was sheer extravagance to bring that whole modular system just to run around with a ribbon controller for a couple of minutes.
Florian , the fact that you questioned and answered all these is the proof you will one day go down the rabbit hole ( been there ). Now let’s see things though another angle, someday you will run out of bad gear to reviews , this day you could start a new channel : bad module 😂
I think a lot of people get into modular synths without having much direction; they just saw I Dream of Wires and think that Eurorack is THE WAY, then binge a bunch of synthfluencer content in the name of "research" and end up in a cycle of buying flashy modules and not really taking the time to learn them.
I got into Eurorack because I got a Metasonix S-2000, fell in love with it, and wanted more TOOBZ. Getting a couple of Doepfer LC cases and slowly purchasing the Metasonix R-series as I had money was actually the easier route than tracking down and paying bozo prices for a used S-1000. Now I have a kickass unique synth that I know inside-out and have used on all kinds of music from punk, industrial/EDM, ambient, and even folk!
I am grateful to those guys - for promptly selling their gear XD
Their wallets died so ours may live to make terrible music
Ah, Metasonix is so weird!!!
This is how it begins. The "special" feeling that you have something unique and precious. I have a "kickass" synth that I know inside out, which I bought in 1983. It was my first piece of decent gear. But you can now get an app for the price of a takeaway meal which does the same thing. Defeated. Yet my old synth is now "vintage", and worth double what it originally cost me, apparently. I can't see that happening with modern modular.
Yes to all of this. If you want to make music but only make fart sounds you need to actually learn your instrument and the conventions of music you want to make. Like a musician. It's an instrument.
"Bedroom Producer" is not referring to the "Producer" credit on a movie where your job is to throw money at this until art happens.
@@sailingstar8176 modern modular is all digital modules anyway. really kills the charm of it when you realize you've just got a box full of $350 vsts.
Thanks for the model train analogy! Not just my modular rack, but all my analog synth gear is for me what my dad's train set was to him. For me, softsynths are for making music. My Refaces are my synth equivalent of an acoustic guitar (portable and self contained). And analog synth gear is for messing around for fun. We'll see if I can keep my modular down to only 280hp or if, after I'm gone, my kids and partner are left with an artifact the size of my dad's train track layout. 😄
Agreed! Although looking like a super cool mad scientist is always appealing.
I'll stick to ROMplers tho;)
@@AudioPilz Romplers through eurorack tho 😎
As a teenager who put together countless audio circuits using 741 IC's, I entered adulthood hating the site of cables.
Modular is so archaic it reminds me of steam engine fanatics who despite the invention of the modern auto-mobile insist on spending hours going nowhere.
You have really connected with me more than ever in this episode, well done.
It's definitely not for everyone, and very pricey. It's awesome for teaching people about electronic music principles and sound design though. Just like with old cars you can actually get to a level where you understand every part of it and fix it yourself.
With that being said, I hate cars with a passion.
The brilliance of your video is you get twice the views because I watch it once and then I have to watch it a second time pausing at each of the quick succession of memes.
I have no idea what you're talking about;)
I keep my Eurorack set up in my bedroom away from my studio. I use it for jamming and playing something before bed. It's fun and sometimes I record it on my tascam to be expanded on later. Sometimes I just set up a generative ambient patch and let it run while I fall asleep.
Nice!!!
but how do you use ur es8?
@@mycosys I don't have one? Straight into mixer then into a Tascam field recorder. Everything is mixed down.
If I want to record something properly with stems I have a Presonus Studio 1824c in my studio.
@@HybridCult the ES8 is for control both ways
@@mycosys presonus is DC coupled. So it also does
The spiritual successor to Espens video. Nice!
That one was actually 95% finished when Espen dropped his. There must be sth in the water...
Florian's work is funny and comes from a place of lol, Espen is just salty.
@@dankeplace salt is an essential mineral that humans need to live. Let Espen talk shit. Even if you don't agree
Modular is amazing if you know what you want and you're realistic about what to get and at what price... It is expensive... but it's also the only way to create your own "Frankestein monster" mono synth. I can also travel with a full studio in a suitcase!!
mono synth? what are you? poor?
Florian ... the biggest reason for modular is its a LOT easier to DIY than a whole synth. But im glad others sell me their used modules too.
Is it less addictive when you make your own stuff?;)
@@AudioPilz No, but its a lot less expensive cos the new module period lasts long enough to build it XD
Its just guitar pedals for synth nerds, just cheaper and less portable. Not like you dont already have that problem.
@@AudioPilzit’s definitely a good inhibitor as you know there’s going to be a ton of soldering and that the first few modules at least are going to have some issues to troubleshoot while you git gud at the whole assembly process
I'll probably never build a modular synth, but what I would like to build someday, is a Modular Mixer, with a bunch of effects, a compressor, and some LFOs... to run my non-modular gear into.
Honestly that's one of the last things you'd want a modular for. Compare a used $100 outboard mixer to an equivalent eurorack mixer with the same number of channels, you'll pay 3x more and have less connectivity, and all you get in return is CV control over volume and panning. Kind of a waste of HP in most cases
“No time left to actually make music” 4:25
We feel that one Flo
True!!!
I like how you skipped the Eurorack addiction and went straight to the 19" rack addiction. 🙂
My 19" addiction dates back to the 90s;)
what about putting your modules in a 19" case?
I've just managed to persuade myself to expand my modest semi modular setup with a first module.
Why did you have to throw sanity at my face at this precise moment ?
Damn you.
AudioPilz dude you’re the man!!! As always another great video.
Thank you so much!!!
Another gem. Thanks as always!
Thank you so much!!!
Espen Kraft : (Cackling) "Just wait until the synth world turns topsy turvy after watching my VST vs hardware video I'm about to put out on RUclips, from my evil synth mastermind secret hideout near the North Pole. I will be king of the synth world, and no one will be able to stop me, ever, EVVVVEEERRRRRR !!!'
:
:
A FEW MOMENTS LATER.....
:
:
Florian Pilz : "Hold my beer..." 😀😀😀
This vid is intended to feed Florian with his dopamine hit from our reactions, because he has no modular to do that for him.
Much cheaper...
I bought an Arturia case and filled it with some modules to compliment my Matriarch ala Loopop- some other voices, wave folders and filters (stereo SEM!). It’s not only is a great addition to the Moog, it also 100% murdered any GAS I had going any deeper into Eurorack. Win!
I used to think about modular like this too until I realized I dont have to build a complete synthesizer with modules but I can also just buy modules to compliment my semi-modulars. Extra LFOs, envelopes. VCAs logic modules etc. etc. It can be quite liberating!
👍👍👍
Be careful, that's where the rabbit hole starts.
Sadly it's too late for you... that's how I got trapped...
there are also modules that do things that don't exist in any other format. If you want the sound you're gonna need the case.
Love the MS-404. It's funny, the person I bought it from 20 years ago said "It has no good sounds in it," and reduced the agreed on price to $100, despite me trying to talk him back into our original, higher, price. It is simply amazing how potent fleeting "uncoolness of the moment" effects have on human perception and behavior.
All valid criticisms. I spent about five years and an embarrassing amount of money assembling a Eurorack system that makes interesting sounds but is very difficult to produce "music" on. Stopped buying modules three years ago, and aside from occasionally rearranging it, the system is finished. What was most appealing about it was the 100% physical interface. I hate menus; the wires and knobs give me the feeling that I'm playing a REAL instrument. But it's so convoluted and awkward to control, the results of "playing" it are always a compromise between what I wanted and what the instrument will actually do. These surprises are sometimes pleasant, sometimes frustrating.
Makes sense to me!
Yep. Thank you for your honesty. Clearly you weren't of the mindset that you could build the perfect modular, because only you know exactly what works best for you. Finding those sweetspots on your own can be days, weeks, years of HELL. Best let an expert do that for you, and bake them into a ready-to-go instrument.
I’ve just come out of cancer surgery and you have put a huge smile on my face. 🙏 Thank you.
Dear Florian! I would watch an episode with Behringer's micro synth line. JT-4000, VS Pro Mini. Especially the JT-4000 which is a very controversial one, advertised as a mockup of the famous JP-8000 but it has nothing to do with that except the blueish paint job. I wonder what magic can you do with these little synths.
Great suggestion, thank you!!!
I totally agree with you, Florian! One piece of modular in my my Dutch studio will turn me in to the equivalent of what Fentanyl does for the average American. Thanks for the great video!!
Thank you!!!
I love synths. My first synth was a hand-me-down ESQ-1. It was the early 2000s and My papa got a Korg Triton and passed the aforementioned synth to me. Soon after that received my first drum machine. MC 303. My 13th birthday came. and I got a Reason and an audio interface. By the time I was 15 my collection of synths included a D-50, Juno106, and a Korg DW 8000(8000 was also from Papa's collection.) By the time I was 16creating my own atches was an addictive time sync. But the diversion brought peace to my troubled adolescent brain. The sound designing began in Reason but soon figured out all this shit worked the same way. My modular collecting started in 2009. I was 19 and had been playing guitar for four years at that point. I saw modular synths modules the same way I viewed guitar efx pedals. Sure I could use a nice multi-unit to do the same thing as my stomp boxes but the module nature of them was just more fun. Today my collection of musical instruments is large and unnecessary. But I find that I interact with each piece of gear in its own way. I can do anything in reason that I can do in hardware. But the Hardware is fun. It is like Robin at Molten Modular says. "Sometimes you just want the thing that does the stuff." I get that eurorack and hardware in general are luxury items. I can get the same sounds in a variety of DAWs. But after torturing myself for years in medical school followed by a hellish residency that ended in the pandemic. I like the things that do the stuff. Each instrument brings different things out of me. That includeds my eurorack monstrosity.
Yes. But also, let yourself live with stuff for a while, grow into it, make it part of you. There's a fake thing called "boredom" which makes us forget what we can do with what we already have. My pedalboard and its 7 multicoloured stomp boxes is nearly 40 years old, and still good enough for me. I've adopted it, made it part of my sound. It doesn't do everything, but I don't need more stuff, because enough is enough.
@@sailingstar8176 I explore it all. Music is my therapy. I get lost in there for hours.
Great take! I've managed to avoid the Eurorack species of GAS, but within my little and growing collection of dedicated synths, I'm thankful for the LEGACY of modular. The Moog Muse I procured a few weeks ago is clearly defined by the 70+ years of modular innovation that came before it. I suppose it's relatively easy for me to resist the modular addiction mostly because what I like to do most is PLAY my instruments and I just want them to sound beautiful and make me happy, which they do in spades. Sound design is fun and all, but after a few hours of it I really just want to make music.
I have never, ever heard anyone make anything other than random bleep bloop noises with modular. People spend $573,000 to make “computer in 60s scifi” sound effects
Where you been?
Seriously? I've heard some beautiful stuff on RUclips. I'm spacing on artist names at the moment, but as soon as I remember some or see them in my feed again, I'll drop the names here
You should look at Suzanne Ciani's body of work and bank account these days. Went from homeless to the reason you know what ABC Broadcasting's logo sounds like or the sound of a can of Coca Cola opening whether you realize you do or have ever seen ABC or had a can of Coke or not. Modular is a creative tool, not a DAW. Most people just aren't creative or necessarily mechanically and scientifically educated enough to do much more than piss off the neighborhood and the neighborhood animals using modular synthesizer equipment and the real issue seems to originate between the brain and the controls in my opinion
TL;DR version: Ciani has made enough money off beeps and bloops to afford that sum in equipment and you haven't
Then again, women clean house when it comes to audio engineering, the top of the audio industry pecking order
This is why I enjoy Behringer semi-modulars (I won't argue about the morality of their clones, that's up to the internet,) because they are relatively cheap, they add USB as well as MIDI so they are really easy to integrate with Ableton, they make a sound without having to build some incredible machine that takes over a whole room, and they've actually had me able to create music. I'm not very talented but there have been times when I just plugged one in on a whim and made something that sounds great by hitting random buttons and plugging in random patch cables. I love that modular exists and the nerdiness associated, but I totally agree with the points in this vid.
Genau, ein ModularBadGear wünsch ich mir 🙂
Schauen wir einmal wie das Video performed;)
Thank you for getting us in on your problem. If you should ever start to consume feel invited to talk to us and tell us all about it as I can see the temptation from your side to „just patch in a second oscillator“ seems just too natural for you 😉
Thank you Tobi, much apprechiated;)
I rarely agree with EVERYTHING in a video but I do for this one. I went down the Eurorack rabbit hole a couple years ago, spent way too much money making basically chaotic, atonal beep-boop music and finally decided I was finally done with it this year. I realized I don’t have the necessary brain chemistry to do modular the “right” way and enjoy it.
It's just a question of choosing the right module for your need. Modular can do more than blip blop🤓
You forgot to buy the lab coat.
Have you joined Modular Anonymous?
@@sailingstar8176 Ahh. Shit. I knew I was missing something.
Because people want to get away from the computers and presets!!! That is why! And you learn so much more about synthesis and signal flow. Facts, man, facts!
So timely, I just bought a 64hp case to build my first rack and it's sitting there empty taunting me 🤣🤣🤣
Nooooooooooooooo
I also have a small set up and have no intention to grow it into a wall of chaos, but the thing that it gives you is exploration, which leads to inspiration.
Modular - it's a drug. Yes, I know by experience...
Modular is a hella drug : Wendy Carlos in Rick James voice.
Not even once!!!
an insatiable kind
I 100% agree with everything you just said here!!
Vcv rack, voltage, cardinal, has me covered. I need the space
👍👍👍
I find it meditative and relaxing. Since I approach each modular session with freedom and no end goal, I have lots of fun! It is expensive and can get a bit too much but from my journey I found that either small systems or semi modulars work best for me.
If you want immediacy and you're on a budget than plugins are the way to go. If you want to explore sound and just do it for the sake of it and have some extra money, then modular is amazing!
How dare you . . wait this long to make this 😁 "Behringer, clone this" . . famous last words. We killed Moog 😂
😂😂😂
I started building my eurorack system (aka “Doepfer modular”) in 1996. Back then, there weren’t helpful videos such as yours, support groups, and public service announcements warning about the dangers of modular addiction. Now I have a massive, amazing collection of modules. Also I sleep in a cardboard box down by the river.
Arturia saved me from Eurorack by making the Minibrute 2S semi-modular. I bought one thinking I would use it as the centerpiece of a modular setup, and realized how much I disliked not having patch storage.
I am mostly in the box, but I have a 303 clone, a BS2, a K2 ms20 clone and a monotribe for when I want analog randomness.
that strictly 1u rack unit jam from 6:20 was dope. imagined a setup like that once, but never came into fruition. kind of refreshing to see tbh
This channel is going to be one of my favourite. Very poggers.
Happy to hear that!!! Thanks!!!
Fully agree on most points. I do have some semi-modular stuff so I can scratch the patching itch I get every once in a while, but going full modular seems just like a cumbersome and expensive descent into madness.
😀
All I know is modular synths should also feature science lab equipment... test tubes and glass jars filled with different coloured liquids that spew dry ice. I'm fairly sure Keith Emerson wore a lab coat and not just because he was high.
Mine has a flux capacitor, that count?
Lol
@@mycosys How many gigawatts?
Love your videos! Great content, great format, and the best memes!!
Thank you!!!
TRAIN 🚂 SETS!!! FTW!!!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥
🔥🔥🔥🔥
I already have an empty bank account.
❤️
As a someone with an “affinity” for guitar pedals, there is maybe a lesson for me to be learned from this video.
Too many pedals here too!!!
I’ve spent over $2000 on my modular set up so far and have made exactly 0 (zero) songs.
That's completely normal!
Holly shit! Is that true? It's not a joke?
But does it make noise ?
I'd agree with pretty much everything you said here. The only reason I have a modular rack is precisely because I'm *not* a musician. I'm a nerd who likes to tinker and it's a fun thing to mess around with. If your goal is to make music, then modular probably isn't the way to go.
Not true, making music is about creativity; modular makes you think outside the box and can make pretty much any genre as well. Its an effective tool to add spice and originality to your music and it is really inspiring for musicians and producer.
multi thousand euro fart machines we love to see it
😻😻😻
Got out of modular after never being happy with what I had, always looking to the next thing. Not for everyone. Also, CHAPTER 2 with the "Relaxed Chillbeats From a Rainy LOFI Universe of 90's Work and Study Core" banger from the KOii video.....Nice....
I don't use modular synth because I'm poor
I feel you!!!
I'm poor because I use modular, we're not the same.
Also since I'm not really musical, I can tell everybody it needs to sound like that.
I get your point. I have a couple modular and semi modular pieces of hardware and software and for the most part i feel its enough. The possitive i see in it is that you can educate yourself about synthesis and patch structure.
The educational value shouldn't be underestimated!
MPS (Meme-Per-Second) ratio is off the charts here! (Re: MS-404- WHO WOULDN’T LIKE THAT???)
Thanks!!! MS-404 FTW!!!
Florian... All those memes are hitting too close to home man! ha ha ha! This was an awesome video, both informative and hilarious. Yes, I use modular, and yes I use it musically. And no.. I'm probably not done adding to it. But I am making completed tracks with it as one of my tools in my arsenal. The day I stop making music with it, is the day I'll get rid of it. But that day is not today! Thanks again for your awesome videos!
Oh I would love to see euro rack bad gear.
Thank you!!!
Yes, but there're relatively few people who can relate to them...I owned more than 30 synths but avoided modulars like a plague, lol.
That first demo is an absolute banger, I’ve relistened to that moment 5 times, why did you stop ittt 😩😩😩
Next week on AudioPilz
"WHY I don't play WARHAMMER 40k"
*Reposts the same exact video but replaces Colin Benders with Henry Cavill*
I dropped my toe in once with the basic cre8 powered case and six modules. Even though I was using a common setup of six make noise modules. I quickly realized it took way too long to get anything usable that I couldn’t more easily and quickly do in Ableton. I sold the setup and I’ve never looked back.
You got away there;)
Let’s face it, in the world of AI musicians will become obsolete very soon. So the best strategy is to forget about convenience, logic and effectiveness. Let it go and go modular. You won’t make any actual music (nobody needs it anyways), but the process is the reason. It’s an electronic meditation - no goal, no purpose, just you and lots of wires slowly entangling you. Tighter and tighter… Until you become one with the modular. And maybe then the AI will decide that you are worthy and let you exist. Just give me your hand and I’ll show you the way!
it makes sense, but AI will be dead before humans and hardware synths
Since I hardly ever get around to making music anyway, the time I spend designing and building modules that I don't use is time well spent.
OMG… we barely digested the ºEspen Kraft Crisisº … and now, this!
Never go full “Espen Kraft”…
Espen's Video was the most stupid thing in the RUclips-Synthsphere. He didn't really know what he was talking about. Florian is definitely more based.
heck yeah, Microfreak shoutout! I just got one and LOVE it!
Modular stuff is a bottomless money pit. I tried a while ago and get into it, but I just feel cheated when I look at prices. Absolutely insane. Stuff I can program in Pure Data or C++ in 2 lines of code, cost a fortune in Eurorack. And if you say that you think it's expensive in a Eurorack group, oh my god, feelings will be hurt, very hurt. There is no one more sensitive in this world, than a person defending the price of his Eurorack system.
I just genuinely dislike the whole culture around Eurorack.
A VERY specific target group indeed
@@AudioPilz Yes.
I mean, they have everything in Eurorack world, pretty much....... But it's just so expensive.
The gatekeepers' gatekeepers
I dig your show and I'm down with your saying. So keep on keeping on
modular is extremley fun to work in as a designer and the non DIYer's wallet is an externality we're willing to sacrifice upon the altar of The Art of Electronics Third Edition by Horrowitz and Hill
💪💪💪