Over-egging the pudding

I know this might be a daft question but looking for some feedback in terms of my journey through all this.

I guess I've been pursuing the idea of adding more and more modules in a kind of 'how can I make this next one work with EVERYTHING else'.. and eventually ending up with a complete mush of nonsense. And as a musician and producer of a couple of things I really should know better but it hasn't really clicked with modular until just now that I don't have to use EVERY module all at once just cos they're all nicely lined up in a case.

I've been having a good evening just mixing say 2 modules together, and then trying 2 others to see if I can compose something musical (in the harmonic sense of the word as I'm not opposed to discordant random noise either).

For example like many people I imagine, its been very hard to integrate Subharmonicon into anything because it's so challenging to tune. But isolated and quantized it becomes a very different animal capable of some very versatile melodies.

So how has other people's journeys been? Has it been a case of trying to throw it all together like me or more of a thought out process of 'less is more' sometimes..

Hi,
From the advice I've read in forums, and from my personal experience, I think this has happened to almost all of us when we started.
In my case, I've been doing this for a year, and I'm already selling modules that I bought at the beginning because I barely use them.
And it's funny, because before I started assembling my rack, I read forums, and I saw advice from veteran people who recommended doing the exact opposite of what I ended up doing.
I think it's not about more or less modules, but about finding the module that gives you what you're looking for, for example, I started having 6 LFO's in my system divided into 3 modules, and in the end, I bought a NE Clep Diaz that it has replaced 4 of those LFO's. A module replaces 2 modules, and also offers, from my point of view, functionalities that are just what I was looking for.
---Ferran.

I started with some semi-modular (4 Neutrons) to complement my digital piano and Nord Wave, got hooked and then gradually branched into modular as I wanted to try new things, learning as I went. Part of that was regularly trying out and selling modules when they weren't quite what I was looking for - I think I've sold at least 70 modules. I see people constantly asking what they need for their rack and I don't really relate to that very well because to me you should just start with enough to make some noise and then when you want to do or try something but can't, that'll inform what you want/need real quick. My "rack" so to speak (it's really more of a sprawling mess haha) is pretty large now, but as you said, the point is not to use it all at once - it's like having a bunch of guitars/pedals, it just gives you more options when trying to find whatever sound you're looking for in a given instance. Mine grew to its current size over the course of 4 or 5 years, I couldn't possibly have planned it all out in advance. But I did have a strong vision for my music, I think that's what a lot of people are missing and maybe what makes the journey more confusing for a lot of people.

EDITED Apr 25th 2023, 12:25

I started with some semi-modular (4 Neutrons) to complement my digital piano and Nord Wave, got hooked and then gradually branched into modular as I wanted to try new things, learning as I went. Part of that was regularly trying out and selling modules when they weren't quite what I was looking for - I think I've sold at least 70 modules. I see people constantly asking what they need for their rack and I don't really relate to that very well because to me you should just start with enough to make some noise and then when you want to do or try something but can't, that'll inform what you want/need real quick. My "rack" so to speak (it's really more of a sprawling mess haha) is pretty large now, but as you said, the point is not to use it all at once - it's like having a bunch of guitars/pedals, it just gives you more options when trying to find whatever sound you're looking for in a given instance. Mine grew to its current size over the course of 4 or 5 years, I couldn't possibly have planned it all out in advance. But I did have a strong vision for my music, I think that's what a lot of people are missing and maybe what makes the journey more confusing for a lot of people.
-- adaris

This is a great post chock full of great advice.

A few nuggets of wisdom from this post, IMHO, need highlighting:

• "I see people constantly asking what they need for their rack and I don't really relate to that very well because to me you should just start with enough to make some noise and then when you want to do or try something but can't, that'll inform what you want/need real quick."

Yes, ^this exactly.

-"the point is not to use it all at once - it's like having a bunch of guitars/pedals, it just gives you more options"

I'm guilty of over-patching in an attempt to "use everything" but that's more an attempt at "learning" through trial and error than a "music production" aesthetic....and after my first few months of patching I've come around to the "less is sometimes more" aspect of not patching the kitchen sink each and every time.

-"I did have a strong vision for my music, I think that's what a lot of people are missing and maybe what makes the journey more confusing for a lot of people."

And this is key. Modular is a major distraction from music-making, IF you don't know how to funnel your energies in order to harness the tools at your disposal. I think I'd be a bit in over my head if I didn't have a crystal clear idea of what I want my music to be (and maybe even more importantly, what I DON'T want it to be...)

Thanks for your post, and for sharing your pearls of wisdom! Good stuff! :)

A few nuggets of wisdom from this post, IMHO, need highlighting:

• "I see people constantly asking what they need for their rack and I don't really relate to that very well because to me you should just start with enough to make some noise and then when you want to do or try something but can't, that'll inform what you want/need real quick."

Yes, ^this exactly.

I partially agree with this - there is nothing you actually need for your rack it really depends on you, but I do think its helpful to get some pointers in the right direction especially when starting out... but more focused I want to get a module that does this - or I want to move in this direction - can be quite helpful - although it is often a short cut from doing the research yourself

-"the point is not to use it all at once - it's like having a bunch of guitars/pedals, it just gives you more options"

I'm guilty of over-patching in an attempt to "use everything" but that's more an attempt at "learning" through trial and error than a "music production" aesthetic....and after my first few months of patching I've come around to the "less is sometimes more" aspect of not patching the kitchen sink each and every time.

the more you have the less you use

-"I did have a strong vision for my music, I think that's what a lot of people are missing and maybe what makes the journey more confusing for a lot of people."

And this is key. Modular is a major distraction from music-making, IF you don't know how to funnel your energies in order to harness the tools at your disposal. I think I'd be a bit in over my head if I didn't have a crystal clear idea of what I want my music to be (and maybe even more importantly, what I DON'T want it to be...)

definitely modular can be a distraction from making music to start with... or your definition of 'music' changes...

• "I see people constantly asking what they need for their rack and I don't really relate to that very well because to me you should just start with enough to make some noise and then when you want to do or try something but can't, that'll inform what you want/need real quick."

Yes, ^this exactly.

Yes, very true. I started out thinking it'd be nice to get some analog tunes going with some noise added for percussion. Think the SID of the Commodore 64. That very quickly changed when I started using it and I added a Rample for sampled drums. I expanded based on what I needed after that. When somebody asks advice about their rack and "what to add next", it's more an opportunity to exchange ideas and options. With modular, nothing is set in stone anyway.

-"the point is not to use it all at once - it's like having a bunch of guitars/pedals, it just gives you more options"

I'm guilty of over-patching in an attempt to "use everything" but that's more an attempt at "learning" through trial and error than a "music production" aesthetic....and after my first few months of patching I've come around to the "less is sometimes more" aspect of not patching the kitchen sink each and every time.

Depends on what you have. If you have 1 oscillator and 20 effects, yeah, you'd probably not want to use it all at once. However, I have more voices than effects, so I end up using all my effects almost all of the times, but not using all my voices. I try to make full tracks, my synth is not an accompaniment to a band or something like that. So I go as much all-out as I need to go to get the result I want.

-"I did have a strong vision for my music, I think that's what a lot of people are missing and maybe what makes the journey more confusing for a lot of people."

And this is key. Modular is a major distraction from music-making, IF you don't know how to funnel your energies in order to harness the tools at your disposal.
-- Jukeshoe

Yes, modular can be very distracting very quickly. I found DAW to be even worse, actually, as it's all right there available on the same screen. With modular, when I'm patching the synth and building tracks, I'm undistracted by anything that is not right there.