If you enjoyed this here's A NEW VID that shows a tiny generative modular and a whole host of interesting patches!! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jt8ODLYN7XE.html ✨
@Element 115 there's a guy who focuses on software modular synths, specifically VCV Rack. I think your best bet would be to check his backlog: ru-vid.com
***** you raise a good point. however i would say the 'skill' associated with mixing, arranging, etc. is essentially based on judgement. pretty much anyone can, with minimal teaching and a pen, write legible 'music' on paper but what makes a composer 'good' or 'bad' is where they decide to put the notes. conversely, a violinist is judged as 'good' or 'bad' by how accurately they can perform the music given to them. they make no decisions, but to physically play a complex or fast piece requires immense skill. i always consider this in the setting of the rock band or singer-songwriter (Eno worked with many himself), where it meant that often a certain 'sound' might be desired by an artist, but without the means or budget to create that sound for the record (consider the desire for a string section on a ballad, or a high note in a melody that the singer can't reach). thanks to modern technology (synthesis and autotune, respectively) the 'skill' is no longer a limiting factor, and so the quality of the music is down solely to the artist's judgement in whether or not to include it. in the context of generative music, as in the video, it goes further - the 'skill' required in even /writing/ the music is removed, but it can still be 'good' or 'bad': the distinction is by how the artist judges what is a 'good' or 'bad' sound, which dictates how they design their patches and which sounds they keep on the record.
But great disadvantage is that it supports repetitiveness and lazyness. Electronic synthesizers existed before sequencers. When sequencers became mainstream, house music was invented.
how you choose to structure your song, and how varied you choose to make it, are precisely the issues of judgement eno was talking about. you can blame the lazy producer for the terrible music, not the electronic sequencer.
UPDATE: Said band member has literally since gone off the deep end and bought a 18U modular and been whatsapping me his generative jams. Theyyyyy alllllll come rooooound eventually.... ✅
Haha! So funny because I came here as I was discussing this topic with someone the other day, and they had the same reaction. I remembered this video, and wanted to send it to them. We're both math fanatics, and I was trying to explain that setting up a generative patch is an analog to writing a mathematical algorithm. You do such a great job of bringing up amazing examples of this concept. Happy to hear your friend folded. Counting on mine to do the same in the next few months :)
What I find is that generative ambient has always been riding the borderland between live and created music from the beginning. I am clear that it requires creativity and is mostly live. When the music is being created, there is a "watching over" and "tweaking" that happens that is only perfected when all the conflict points, adverse feedback loops, and overload points are removed, and then it can be recorded like regular music or left as an automated sequence that is done by rules rather than recording (which makes it feel more alive). What is possible, though, is that after a generative patch and settings is set into motion, it can be tweaked in present time to introduce more subtleties in a kind of live ongoing improv. Thanks for sharing your process and ideas!
Why the fuck couldn't I take these kind of classes in high school? In the midst of global catastrophe and dehumanisation, it is indeed wonderful that this exists. Amusing how much humanity and pleasure lies within your nuanced explanation of the capacities of these machines.
Did music for 10 years in school and never got exposed to it - the only time i used a sequencer was pulling a System 100 out of a closet and teaching myself (in final year). btw see also: probablility and conditionals on Elektron sequencers.
"Watching MylarMelodies making a generative patch is wonderful in that you almost feel like you did something yourself while actually you just sat back and drank beer" - Brian Eno
You're a natural teacher and you do a great job re-emphasizing key points. And you do it with a light touch so you don't sound pedantic. Super useful video. Wish I had seen it years ago. Thank you!
The demonstration of the importance of a VCA was illuminating. As a noob trawling through forums, you see people saying you need more VCAs all the time, but this video made it clear why
he dont pull any cable at 19:40...you must to pay atention to the time...he pull the cable at minute 19:36, but even if you put at this minute, thats wrong, because i cant see nothing, and i have to rewind the video, cuz you have to put at least at minute 19:33, to make possible to see that...hope you understand how its work...
I had a Hugh Hopper album in the 70s, the weirdist record I had, it went around and around. I kind of knew that 40 years later I would be playing a couple of Moog Mother 32s, but I also knew there was a convoluted route to that.
Several days ago, I got the Pittsburgh Modular Lifeforms System 201. I know nothing about modular, but this video is an incredibly lucid and logical tutorial. You are an extremely good teacher. Thanks.
this might be the 5th time i've watch it, some all the way through, sometimes going back for clarification on different module types. i love you for this video and would love you even more if you felt up to doing a part 2... not necessarily covering different modules, but different patch ideas or workflow with different manufacturers. cheers!!!!!!
how about creating a degenerative patch.. going from massive modular sound mayhem which eventually ends up in a simple sine in a440 ?.. now thats a challenge :D ... jokes aside, fun tutorial / demo, im not yet into modulars but stuff like this makes me want to buy a white lab coat and dive into the eurocrack domain .. inspiring, thanks !
I have actually done that when in a dark space in my life. I love the degenerative name, I called it simply destruction. Didn't go to 440, but filtered noise.
current favorite source of random is the Two Drunks mode in Tides Parasite. love it because it's two sources of random with two kind of outputs (triggers and cv) that are related. it's usually the starting point of a lot of my patches. also one function that I think is great for generative patches is envelope following. I use the 4MS SMR in the middle of a patch, taking the output of one or two modules and then using the envelopes it generates from the sound to influence those same or other modules. gets really interesting with the rotate function so that the envelopes are being generated based of different parts of the input. just got a Cold Mac and I love the Follow and Location outputs, which are both envelope followers which behave in a sort of abnormal way, so you can have a CV modulation (like the Two Drunks) which can also generate two more related, but different modulation slopes.
The modular synth is a musical instrument, it is just asynchronous to the player. If you give it the parameters, it is the same as using the Nashville numnbering system in a recording session with human players. The patch is its chart. You could also think of it as a robot guitar, instead of using a pick to play it, you use cables. Current technology means we have a new process for creating music, it's just a different way to play. It also gives us deeper insight into what music is, people have loved electronic sounds for decades. In fact, we have greatly expanded the range of sounds we consider to be musical and emotionally impactful. The 12 tones of the Western scale are just a subset of what a synth can produce. When I look at the DAW, I actually have control of a full orchestra in my laptop. It will perfectly play whatever I tell it and I can humanize it too.
As far as your bandmate insinuating that the machine is responsible for the product, it reminds me that when I've dealt with this concept in the past, I remind others that they (most likely) didn't invent, perfect, and build their instrument of choice. Operating machinery is a bonafide skill, and the results are yours. Wonder what they'd say about an excavator bucket through the side of a house. 🤘
awesome stuff! ... thanks for sharing your experiences. i am just at the beginning to enter the modular world with my mother32 and now building a clockdivider and router device and such... and your video is really informative to me.
Boss videos dude.. I have actually brought modules based off the media in your great reviews and demos. Much respect. Best presented and my favorite modular vids . Cheers eh!
This is so incredibly helpful. I was hoping to find the exact video. I have my first case on its way right now. This is really helping me figure out which pieces I would need. A Turing machine looks like a fun affordable way to start with generative cv stuff paired with a quantizer and I guess some envelopes like the video says.
I'll get right to it around Christmas! This is the video I needed. I love the idea of generative music. I'm definitely going to add RVGs, pitch quantizers, clock dividers, sequential switches and logic modules to my list for my first eurorack. Thanks a bunch for making awesome videos, Mylar. Side note, I've been using the word "ace" more often after I started watching your videos a couple of months back. Ace.
Jet Lag take a look at the stillson hammer mk2--it's probably the best sequencer in Eurorack right now and has all those features built in with 4 gate and cv
I'll just add to all the glowing comments. I used to have a home studio in the 90s, but lately just goof around with GarageBand. I have a growing interest in modular, which I'm trying to fight off ;-). Anyway, I'm also interested in the idea of generative music, and this video taught me a lot about both modular/analog concepts AND generative music. I really enjoyed it. Thanks, and damn you and RU-vid for feeding my interest -- I can't afford yet another expensive hobby! :-D
I was searching for an understandable and enjoyable explanation to generative patching techniques for months now, and all I got was headaches. And finally this happens! You are awesome! (Question: would this be also the way of starting a so called krell patch?)
I have watched the meaning of Krell Patch morph over time. As you have surmised, it has generally become a synonym for Generative Patch. In some circles, it is called a Noodle. A rose by any other name...
Great video as always. On the subject of logic modules, I'd like to recommend the Doepfer A-166 as an alternative to the Plog. While the Doepfer does not have flip flop or VC shift of logic type on its two channels, it does have simultaneous outputs of AND, OR, XOR gates, as well as NAND and NOR via it's two inverters. It is also significantly cheaper than the Plog.
Good shout - Doepfer rule. They've done a new A160 clock divider that's got extended long-divisions out as well! They've clearly got an eye on what else is out there, and are still the dons.
I love how you always keep saying "nice" in your tutorials. So for a base starter setup, can you get by with the following gear? 1) Case and power supply and patch cables 2) 4xVCAs 3) 2xVCOs 4) Filter (VCF) 5) Envelope ADSR generator module Maybe add a sequencer, sampler, delay/reverb modulator? I am trying to build something as cheap as possible to get started in modular.
great video as always!!! as an advanced user, i knew everything you talked about already, but hearing you say it made me realize i was neglecting my vca's! also, i hadn't thought of quantized cv's to control envelopes, etc, not just pitch! thanks man!!! inspired to make more stuff!!!
I love generative stuff I used VCV rack to generate melodies and write music around those melodies. People who say generative stuff really isn’t musicianship is the same as people who say stuff like rap isn’t. It’s a form of gate keeping . At the end of the day all music is an artistic expression and it’s all valid
I absolutely love that sound at 10:25. Sounds like some discordant strings being bowed for a moment. Is that Maths modulating Radio Music, or is that an oscillator of some sort?
There's a strong correlation between what you're talking about early on and the core philosophy/mentality behind the conceptual art movement that arose in the 1960s-70s. Check out Sol LeWitt's "Paragraphs on Conceptual Art". Selection, agency, and ideation are of upmost importance. A system is derived utilizing an apparatus (computer, cut-and-paste collage from books/magazines, etc) that removes as much subjectivity as possible in order to produce new and unexpected experiences. Synths, especially modular ones, are absolutely ripe for a conceptual art approach to music making.
That is pretty much how I use mine now. However, after fiddling with cables to get the desired effect, it is very nice to be able to use non-linear editing and any sort of effects/compression that can be switched on/off easily from one second to the next..sparingly.
Bollocks? What's "Bollox" is the vast differential between a CD - which always plays the same thing, & Sculpting.. where by you never get the exact same thing due to creative ramification. The bloke who said it is bollocks is bollark!!
Hi there ... many thanks for the video: very good explained...practical! I would suggest Iannis Xenakis (one example is the book he wrote "Formalized Music"), which spent a lot of his effort in developing Stochastic / Random / Random Walk strategy for composing Computer Music ... ok it is not Modular but the main idea is Algorithms where (as mylarmelodies said) you define rules, and amount of randomness or predictability
Brilliant video! I love the approach of explaining functions and methods, versus the usual breakdown videos. I always want to know what and why, rather than being “taught” combinations etc, and this is ideal, explaining what each type of generative source does and how it can work in a big patch. Love it!
Okay, two things: First: Thank you for FINALLY making me understand how modular synthesis works. I've been going digital for a few years and, for me, modular was like "Whooooa, too many patches for me, baby!", but now I finally get it... And I love it. Two: Curse you! You made me want to end my degree ASAP, get a job and earn some cash to buy some of these toys! :P Oh, and finally, you got yourself a new subscriber. Thanks for the great content, and keep it up!
Loved this. Your defence of generative music being creative, creating the rules, deciding on what's right, etc., reminded me of many things I said in interviews in a former life when I did this sort of thing using software. Great to see the concept continues to evolve! Phil (Thompson, aka Organised Chaos, Gingerbread: The Mandelbrot Music Generator.)
The greatest joy of my life is when I told my rather overly critical bass player to create a patch in my modular. He couldn't do it. he never said anything about it after that.
That is kind of fallacious analogy. You know how bass guitar works? You probably know what needs to be done to it, but you (or many people besides you) could not play it because you have not had practice nor musical theory. But with the case of modular, people do not even know how it works. Often, when learning how it works, there is no playing, just patching. Its like building legos. I love modular synths, its a fun thing, but this overjustification is getting kind of ridiculous.
I'm just starting to get into analogue synths and scratching the surface of modular synths.. and uhh... well... my brain hurts a little. :P but it's a good hurt
thank you. Imagine all of this kit triggering high quality sample instruments 😯 so my question is..how would someone connect these modules to software instruments and can you demo? 🙏
This is the best approach to doing this that I could even imagine. You recognize that this process is self-generating, yet provide a way for creativity to flourish as a skill and progression. Fuck. I don't even do this and this is my nightmare, as far as production goes, but you did such a great job... for anything, ever.
