No problem, thanks for the music! Some of the pads are from the poly cinematic, but the more atmospheric ones earlier in this video are coming from the sampler. I've got a bunch of evolving loops in there I've made with loads of modules in VCV rack and sampled.
Thank you! Yes the bitbox is a great tool. A bit menu divey to manipulate everything it can achieve when playing live, but you can set stuff up and run with it. The samples are from all over, I need to spend some time digging for more actually :).
This set is absolutely beautiful! I've been searching for some reference on an improvised progressive house set so I can watch closely and learn. I'm so glad I found this! It's much better than I expected to find on RU-vid! Please keep it up, sir.
Lovely stuff. I love when people using modular synths actually make music - especially of the melodic variety - instead of making bleeps and bloops and then yammering on about this self-generative patch they've made. There's something to be said for making 'music' instead of sounds.
You are my favourite kind of teacher. Professional, concise, easy to listen to, and conscientious. Its my dream to have a modular setup, due to my financial situation Im currently stuck experimenting with a DAW on my smartphone. One day though, one day. I will ascend to modular 😂. Much appreciation for your expertise, and excellent RU-vid channel. Blessing from the Techno God's
Thanks very much! Thats kind of you. If you’re interested in modular I’d recommend VCV rack on the desktop, and if you’ve just got access to a phone miRack is a VCV version for iPhone, and Caustic has some fun basic modular stuff on it for Android. I’m not sure if there’s something close to VCV for android but it would be worth some researching.
@@mentataudio yeah, thats what I'm using Caustic. Its an amazing piece of software, really stable, and all the instruments you could ever need. I've produced like 3 albums worth of material. I'm playing around with the FM synth 3 voice semi modular. But haven't made it up to the full modular yet. All the wiring confuses the hell out of me. Thats why I love tutorials like this one. Only found you last night. My heros are Colin Benders and hélène vogelsinger. Keep up the good, the techno world needs more people like you
Yeah I'm using Caustic, brilliant piece of software, all the instruments you would ever need, and really stable, great if your on a budget (like me). I love the FM 3 voice polysynth, kinda semi modular. I haven't built up to the full modular yet, all the wiring confuses the hell out of me. That's why I love tutorials like this, I just keep absorbing myself with modular content, and practising production, its going in slowly. My heros are Colin Benders, and Hélène vogelsinger. Only discovered your channel last night. Keep it up mate, the electronic music world needs more people like you.
This is pretty cool. I'm still developing my hardware setup, but finding a lot of similar core elements - sequencing, sampling, modulation, voices and mixing. I'm getting more comfortable with putting things together, and starting to find that I often patch things more or less the same way. I figure this will ultimately end up being a pretty playable rig, which is exciting to me as that is something I've not really had in the past. I found watching this helpful. Question for you: how did you settle on the way you've got your system patched up? Was it a process, or something that came together more or less intuitively? I mean, I suppose some things are pretty obvious, CV and Gate will go to your various pitch and trigger inputs, and so on, but in the case of routing modulation sources to various destinations or patching effects, I could see where that could easily lead to option paralysis...
It's developed over a few years to be honest. This was the earliest version I could really play full pieces with: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-27NMN18L9qA.html And the modular grid: modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/1057248 And that's developed to version 8 I am using today: modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/2457353 I've tried to not make it about just buying lots of gear, but actually playing and only getting something if I am really limited or can see things I could achieve much better with something else. Part of this is limiting myself to the Mantis case and an external sequencer only (although I was also using a Digitone at first). A big change was going from the squid sampler to the bitbox. I really liked the squid, it was really immediate and felt like the best of an old akai sampler brought to modular. But the bitbox can do a lot more in terms of loops and textures as well as drums - it's much more powerful. Back to your question on connecting things... I guess it's been a mixture between what seems obvious, what is possible with the limitations, and what I can come up with creatively. There's more detail I could go into about this in a video so might do one! The most limited part is the mixer with only 6 inputs, so I've done some hacks to get to 7, and I realised I could maybe make 8 plus the effects if I use one of the returns as an input and mix all the effects in the small 3 input mixers I have before they come back to another. Another area is the VCA. It has 6 channels, and I've had to use them wisely split between doing side-chaining and more traditional amplifying driven by envelopes. The modulation side I am still working on to be honest, and it's somewhat flexible and down to what I feel like. For example Stages is so flexible. At the moment I am using the 6 channels as: 1: A constant voltage on a slider to control the filter cutoff for ambient loops and such in the bitbox sampler 2: As above but for breaks loops 3 and 4: LFOs for the synth voices 5: A slew for the Pitch signal on the Bass synth (might change this, not using it much) 6: A slew for the pitch of the Plaits (this stays, it's working well on that voice) I've been playing with having the LFOs on flying cables I can connect as I want during a set. I don't want to be doing much patching mid set, but LFOs are a nice thing to be flexible with. Lots of things are 'permanently' patched in that they stay like that during a set, but I can and do change them in between sessions as I want to. It's all a balance between keeping things interesting and keeping them the same enough to manage them. The cognitive load of playing like this is high!
Thank you! I've got another video on how I improvise this sort of music as well on my channel. I appreciate you noticing and commenting on the transitions it's something I've put lots of work into.
;) yeah i much preferred the ‘pickup’ mode because when playing live I didn’t like switching to one of the voices and it all changing to match the knob positions. The way I was using it I had to hold the button for pickup mode every time I used the switch. So the firmware I have is in pickup mode all the time, and you can switch to the absolute mode by holding the button - the opposite behaviour to stock basically.
Brilliant run through of what's in the case and how you can flex each part (and you only touched the surface). On the chords side of things, do you tend to stick to one progression for a set? Then I assume your melody and bass sequences are in the same key, so is it a function of the Torso to be able to change the notes in a particular pattern/sequence and keep it in key?
Thank you! The Torso has a knob for scale, with two functions- the scale type and the root key. It is set per track. You can adjust this for all tracks at the same time, but the way I use it that would mess up the drum tracks. So I currently set all the instrument tracks to the same, then I can change sequences and them still work in key. To be honest I’m still developing my fluency enough to work with more complex chord progressions, but I do change the chord based parts as I go. There’s quite a few different ways to work with chord progressions using the range, cycles and voicing knobs. Recently I’ve been sticking in the same key for a whole set, but I’d like to mix it up a bit- just another layer of complexity to bring in as I get more practiced.
@@mentataudio thanks, I'm with you on mastering (or at least getting vaguely proficient) with one area of complexity - playing with filters, envelopes, effects and bringing things in and out to maintain interest - before adding another layer. This got me wondering whether my Korg nanoPad can do key/scale stuff. I've only ever used it to trigger samples. Time to get the manual out...
Thank you! Appreciate your feedback :) yes, still have the Cirklon here and it’s an amazing machine but getting very into the T1 for more hands on and improvisation. The Cirklon could run an entire studio with its power, but the T1 is more immediate and surprisingly powerful for its size and simplicity.
