Music of Sound

Just got my first dose of Cwejman: an ai2 module arrived today (thanks to Shawn!) & I am certain it won’t be my last, such is the reputation of certain Swedish evolution….

While it may not look like something revolutionary, I am long enough in the tooth to remember the day I bought my studio monitors & suddenly realised I had invested in something that made EVERYTHING I do in my studio sound better… Same goes for the ai2; the problem I had (& my motive for getting the ai2) is that the eurorack system works at +/- 10v so if I want to record the output of my modular synth undistorted then when its full level (ie +10v) it will seriously overload most +4 inputs, even padded down…. The ai2 solves the problem in both directions – its designed to interface your modular synth to a DAW with +4 XLR analog i/o – more info on Cwejman modules here & specifically the ai2 here
FWIW my sister is living in Stockholm for the next two years & I’m planning my european mission, involving a visit to Cwejman & Dopefer… Would love to get a Monster Base but another A100P is more likely to minimise the excess baggage charges….. fitted with as many Cwejman modules as I can afford!

sorry, for no posts this week… me? i’m busy as hell – this is week 6 of an 8 week sound editorial schedule so its head down & I am fending off the distractions like a samurai on ketamine. To give that statement some meaning I have had a bunch of new synth modules arrive & I havent even had time to install them! (Literally a MakeNoise Mod/deMod ring mod, AS Synthi Filter, Plan B Model 9 mixer & Model 12 Vactrol filter, Doepfer A147 VC LFO (thanks for tip Josh!) and a couple of Doepfer multiples… But I’ve had two significant thoughts related to all this & the state of being…

First is this: I own lots of EQ plug ins, but none of them are memorable. This isnt due to a lack of research, investment or time spent. But I am starting to have a theory which is so far vaguely titled ‘the Homogenisation of EQ plug ins’ and I since believe I would prefer my EQ plug ins unpasteurised, if only…. By comparison, take my modular for example: I own five very discrete EQ/filter modules. Specifically;

1. Doepfer A105 SSM 24 dB LPF
2. Polivoks
3. Livewire Frequensteiner
4. Plan B Model 12 Vactrol
5. Analogue Systems Synthi Filter

And along with these modules I also own outboard EQs such as the Moogerfooger LPF, an Orban Model 674a paragraphic and a Sherman Filterbank. Plus the filters I grew up with; built into my SH101, MC202, CS01, MS10, SixTrak & Pro One.. And every one of these analogue EQs is SO VERY DIFFERENT. As in someone could A/B them with me & I am pretty damn sure I could ID them, especially with my hands on a sweep/resonance gesture or two.. And I could sure as hell ID them if I was making a sound & patched one of them in.
So why are EQ plug ins so bland? Even with their tacky ‘analogue’ soft switches, my ears just say no thanks…. They are fine if you want to simply reduce/erradicate frequencies (wind/mic rumble removal or hi freq hiss etc) and theoretically thats what the “pro’s” say: always cut… but as to really providing ‘character’ they just make me go WTF? Half the analogue synths I own & love, I love due to the behaviour of their filters, especially pushed outside their comfort zones… So what got lost in the translation? That question just echoes around out there in the interwebs… and where, in the analogue realm I would say EQ is my favourite process, in the digital world it makes me groan…

Second theory/realisation is more to do with the future: I recently spent 4 days sleeping on a futon & accordingly many dreams were interrupted. This might sound trivial but I remember a very long time ago reading about how Dali always slept during the day & never used a pillow, simply because a broken, uncomfortable sleep equated to vivid dreams (ie remembered dreams) which fed his work…. When I sleep in my normal, very comfy bed I dont remember much, other than passing out & waking up at dawn. But when I sleep on my futon in the spare room, I wake up three or four times a night & ALWAYs during vivid dreams that then go remembered (especially if I txt myself about them!)

So I woke up during this dream where I had been asked to QC someones mix (yeah, well dreams eh? WTF?) and the issue was as much about the monitoring environment as about the content… But I was remembering all this backwards & the thing that woke me up was after all the technicals I was hearing some heavy dub tune played on the speakers & a sound woke me up. Literally. Just one sound. You know when you hear a tune & regardless of the content there is a sound buried in that mix that makes you go: whoah! hold up! What is THAT? THAT does not assimilate. It sits in the mix perfectly but I do not know how or where that sound originates… Its like a hook, but its just a sound. Well by the time my conscious brain woke & engaged, my subconscious had it almost worked out – it was a fckng wild envelope triggered on the snare reverb return. Conscious brain said its a spring being manipulated by a module I dont own nor have ever heard. And ever since (Goddamnit!) I’m lusting after a QMMG, cos I am pretty sure thats what I was hearing… before I order it though, I am going to mess with triggering complex envelopes (with my A140? Plan B Model 38 ELF? A143-1? I suspect its a case of a complex envelope applied to a filter on the verb return – multiple envelopes… but the memory was tight, like a beautifull shaped/gated reverb) on my Verona Retroverb spring… Hmmmmmm….

Me? I’m chasing memories of dreams…
You? Ever remembered a sound from a dream?

Its very interesting how of all the major companies hyping their products at NAMM, that a little plugin should come along & steal their thunder!

 

CDM has a good explanation of it here, so I wont go on about it too much here, other than to say I might just have to remove a few output capacitors from one of my 002s so i can use VOLTA to generate control voltages for my modular synth, check out this video by the plugins author, stretta

If you own or are considering starting a modular synth in the Eurorack format, then the Modular Mega Planner is a very useful site as it lets you physically arrange any of the currently available modules in the space available for the various size cases available… And believe you me, it takes a bit of thinking about & trial & error to work out the best layout for a modular synth. Inevitably I am influenced by the synths I have used in the past & although they were not modular, they did have a very logical & ergonomic layout through the work of their designers… but they also didnt have to think about both audio and control voltage patching!

So via the MegaPlanner here is where my modular synth is at (click image for larger version)

The top G6 case houses drum modules, VCOs and sequencer…

The next G6 case houses primarily processing

Then I have a G3 case which is primarily for i/o

And best of all I still have my A100 suitcase, sitting completely empty….

And those gaping black holes? They represent the future! In the empty space in the processing rack I think I’ll get one of the Malekko Assmaster distortion modules once they become available…

After that? Who knows… but it sure as hell is a great time to be building a modular synth, with so many developers producing such inspiring modules…

Heres a list of Eurorack manufacturers maintained at the MuffWiggler Forum:

EURORACK MODULAR SYNTH MANUFACTURERS:

Analogue Systems (UK)

Analogue Solutions (UK)

Bananalogue (USA)

Bubblesound (US)

Cwejman (Sweden)

Cyndustries (USA)

Doepfer (Germany)

Elby Designs (Australia)

Flight of Harmony (USA)

Future Sound Systems (UK)

Harvestman (USA)

Livewire (USA)

Makenoise (USA)

Malekko (USA)

Metasonix (USA)

MFB (Germany)

Plan B (USA)

Tip Top (USA)

Plan B doing homage to Buchla

I really hope the creator of this video used this random youtuber comment to name (or at least metadata tag) his soundfile:

“Sounds like a skeleton playing the hambone backed up by parrots playing rubber bands stretched across cigar boxes in an empty swimming pool while superballs are synchronously fired at them.”

More photos, but at least they are audio/gear related and maybe relevant to someone other than myself! Prior to moving I’ve been investing time working out how to fit my essential gear into a much smaller space… And while searching ebay/tradme etc I came across this 19″ rack:

Its a standard 19″ rack & as my Doepfer modular synth had outgrown its suitcase home & was being moved into two G6 19″ racks it needed a new home, so I set to & won the auction and soon enough the rack arrived… After a bit of assembly I was impressed – its very solid, moves easily & best of all it felt balanced when loaded with gear… As the Doepfer cases were still in transit I loaded up the rack with some of my favourite outboard gear, which also needed a new home, before it moves to its new home. Top to bottom: dbx 386 valve preamp/AD, Lexicon Vortex reverb, dbx 120XP subharmonic synth, Orban 674a paragrpahic EQ, AKG BX-5 stereo spring reverb, a patchbay and down below my favourite outboard EVER: the Roland SRE 555 tape chorus echo..

So I kept an eye on the auctions and these things kept appearing, always with $1 reserve… I sincerely hope its not a new obsession, because I own four of them now & I am running out of things that are 19″ wide! So rack #2 will have my little mixer (a yamaha 03D) up top & currently below it is my Roland Space Echo 201, a Roland SRV2000 reverb (which died long ago, so now its a fancy looking 19″ shelf for the space echo) then an HD1500 Ibanez harmonics/DDL, DigiTech RDS8000 time machine, an HD1000 Ibanez Delay and uber-crappy Deltalab Effectron – most of which I would circuit bend if I didnt fear for my life messing with devices that plug into the mains…

Finally the Doepfer G6 cases arrive, along with my third 19″ rack & I thought at last! Problems solved! I shift all my modules over & start playing around & begin to think hmmm, unlike outboard (which I use sporadically) I tend to use my modular synth for prolonged amounts of time ie long enough to make my mouth run dry… and having it on that angle all the time was making my arm ache… if only I could tweak its angle more than what the makers intended.. See, if you look at the first photo above, the angled rack part can only go from about 45 degrees to horizontal… or upside down… hmm upside down? With the Doepfer cases loaded & all securely screwed in, I tried it upside down & it works! In fact it works better than whoever designed this thing probably imagined! So I took out the Doepfer cases & the patchbay, flipped the rack over backwards & upside down, faced the vertical 19″ rack bit away from me & reinstalled… So heres my new synth; finally how it was destined to be:

For what its worth, if you are local to NZ these things just seem to keep appearing on TradeMe, always with their $1 reserve – here is one as an example… So I can only presume someone in Auckland imported a container load of them, and as it turns out that someone equals this company which lists them for NZ$119! Which makes the price I bought them for seem like a very good deal (ie between $35-$65 via an autobid of $99)
Anyway, here is where my modular synth is at – there are only two modules I am waiting on now for it to feel completely freaking fantastic & far far beyond this synth addicts wildest dreams: click on the image for the large version

For those who care, heres a row by row, rack by rack list of whats what…. and yes I will bore you to sonic death with tweaky videos once I get moved, get recovered & get time to get inspired! Soon come…

case 1 row 1: Analogue Solutions MT16 MIDI to Trigger (so I can program beats etc via my monome) + AS HH88 (TR808 hihat) AS SD88 (TR808 snare) + space for the BD88 (TR808 kick drum) + Plan B M37 LFO + AS VCO SUB + AS SQ8 Sequencer

case 1 row 2: Analogue Systems RS310 Reverb/Chorus + Doepfer A132-3 dual VCA + Livewire Frequen Steiner filter + Livewire AFG VCO + TipTop Z3000 VCO + Doepfer A185 Bus access

case 2 row 1: Doepfer A137 Wave Multiplier + Plan B M378 ADSR + A140 ADSR + A143-1 Complex Quad EG/LFO + A180 multiples + A148 Dual S&H + A118 Noise/Random voltage generator + A190 MIDI interface + A185 Bus access

case 2 row 2: Doepfer A119 Ext in/envelope follower + A138d FX loop + A138d FX loop + TipTop Z5000 Multi FX Processor + A105 LPF + Harvestman Polivoks filter + A138 mixer + Harvestman Stilton Adaptor

phew!

The two modules I am waiting on are: Analogue Solutions BD88 (TR808 kick drum module) and a Cwejman AI2 which provides nice high quality balanced outputs… although I suspect once I experience the notoriously high quality modules from Sweden, the AI2 wont be my last…

I havent used it for long enough in its current configuration to know how sensibly it is laid out, but I thought of it this way, starting from bottom up: all the processing & FX loops are in the bottom row by the patchbay as I will be using all my outboard with the modular, second row from bottom is all about envelopes & triggering, second row from top is VCOs, a bit of processing & VCAs and top row is the beat & sequence generator…. Any modular users with more experience than I, please feel free to comment re whats missing/unlikely to be ergonomic etc….

I’d guess the proof will be in how convoluted the patching gets when making it do the stuff I imagine I’ll be doing with it, but then half the fun of a modular synth is the discoveries made along the way, but my basic ethos is that i want to be able to program it intuitively from my monome to make wicked beats + basslines… with, of course, lots of processing: everything sounds better with a bit of space echo on it, and every time I for example look lustfully at the Doepfer spring reverb module I stop myself & think: FORGET IT! my AKG BX5 spring MUST be better – its got that wicked sweepable EQ on both sides for a start… henceforth I now think fo my outboard as modules…. all patchable into ProTools land of course…

Sorry I’ve been away up north for a few days holiday & to meet a director of a (possible) film for next year… will post a few photos of where I went soon, but for now watch a cute anthropomorphic synth animation:

Two boxes were waiting for me when I got back – one rather large box from VEIMA with a Doepfer G6 rack, a few modules + that circuit bent collection I mentioned previously… mmmmmm…

The other box was from Analogue Haven – WAHOOOOO! So I now have my long awaited Livewire AFG oscillator, a FrequenSteiner Filter, a TopTop Z3000 Oscillator, a Doepfer A132-3 dual VCA and two A185 bus access so I can link the bus between the two G6 cases that all my modules are moving into… Christmas arrived early in this neck of the woods!

If ever I was going to have a modular synth nightmare (a la the Triffids) it would star this device emitting laser blasts with sync sound that could only be generated by a modular synth such as this….

It lives at the Twelth Root Studio (along with a Kyma system) and is loaded with Serge modules….

Faaaaaaaar out! An hour or so later from the last post, I’ve got all the modules installed, plugged in the mains & said a prayer… and YES!!!! LEDs seem to be blinking where they should be… my AFG is weeks away so I desperately grab the nearest sound generator at hand, the mighty/mini Korg Kaossilator – i just want to hear something/anything…. So first plug the Kaossilator into the A119, crank some gain, then into the A105 LPF & out to the monitors… select a bass patch & HOLY SH+T!!!!!! Kaossilators are meant to be a toy right? drive the signal a bit & this thing is making the red warning LED on my JBL LSR powered SUB light up like Christmas in a tacky suburban back street!!! Wahoooo!!!!!!!
I know enough about filters to know that if you want to hear a LPF slice & dice then you send it a distorted signal, so I repatch so the A119 feeds the A137 wave multiplier (I suspect its like the waveshaper VSTs I have known & abused) then back into the LPF – now we’re talking! Square waves to swim in & what juicy filter sweeps the A105 does now!!!!!

Such a simple non-patch & FAAAAAAAAAAAAR OUT – a crappy toy like Kaossilator suddenly sounds like something that could shake your fillings loose!

Methink this is a road that goes right off the map!

Some soundfiles will follow, once i stop salivating long enough to boot up protools….
nighty night!

this

plus these

equals LIFT OFF!

Received a UPS package from analogue haven this afternoon, which I ripped open as soon as I got home from a loud day spent premixing at Park Road Post…. mmmm bubble wrap! And even better, modules! The other half of what I’ve ordered is still 3-4 weeks away, but give me an evening or two & I’ll have some warped modular blurps & gleeps to play you, even if they only originate from my MC202 or Kaossilator… or my name isn’t Thomas J. Edison!

ok, now just to pay off using a tired old space phrase, go & indulge this 360 degree full screen VR (with sound) of the Apollo 11 mission. Once it loads just click & drag anywhere onscreen & you can rotate your view, like the lunar space cadet we’ve always suspected you were!

OK and if you’re really interested heres what it will eventually look like, in two greyscale dimensions (click image for full size)

mmmm a Polivoks filter… and an AFG… and an 808 kick drum… and a couple of FX loops for my Sherman Filterbank/Verona Retroverb/AKG BX5 Spring/201/555 Space Echos/whatever…. Only problem? In my mind I’ve already half filled another A100P Doepfer case… so I can already predict a bit of a mission late next year to pick up & hand carry a Monster Base back from Germany & spend the freight on MY atoms enjoying bits of Europe rather than an empty case full!