Baby Steps - Observations from my first few days

True! Try mixing LFOs and envelopes in a DC mixer and then syncing one or two LFOs to a clock division for rhythmic modulation craziness!


Yes, up until the point where your whole floor is covered in cables and you drown in them, because you just wanted to make sure that you don’t run out ever


Yes, also check what else you got connected to the powerstrip your AEM is plugged into.


It helps if you think about which modules need further interaction and which don’t. For example you might want to wiggle the filter cutoff knob manually, or an attenuator to change the strength of a modulation source for a certain sound. Keep those knobs in mind and forget about all the modules that are patched and don’t need to be touched anymore.


I usually just take the orange long ones for everything until I run out, unless the sockets are just a few centimeters apart and a really short cable will do. Haha! The longer cables often let you stick your fingers in between them more easily to get to modules’ knobs, than when you have a tightly patched system.


Yes, that’s why many people play mostly weird atonal music with modular synths It helps if your audio interface or DAW or whatever has a tuner built in (like the Zoom R16). Also practice tuning by ear. Sometimes the microtonal tunings you come up with are very interesting as well.


Have you tried switching to/from legato mode and see if it still gets stuck?


I know what you mean. I often feel constrained by a traditional keyboard too with modulars. I do like the KeyStep though because you can get Aftertouch out on a CV port. Then you can use that pressure to fade in a complete modular synth orchestra (or not) and get a huge variety possibly.


Yes, drum sounds require a lot of modules and space. You can however use external drum machines and route their audio through the modular for added audio modulation in sync with everything.


Variability takes practice and it’s always a challenge I think. S&H melodies aren’t often useful unless as background noise as you discovered. What I like to do for in tune variability is set up a proper melody with the CV sequencer, patched into the 1v/oct input of a VCO and then patch a gate output from the clock divider or something else into the FM input and attenuate this so that a high gate will transpose the VCO by two semitones, a fifth or whatever sounds good. You can also mix various CV and gate sources together in a mixer before going into the VCO‘s pitch input. Again, with a tuner it’s not too bad. Then of course the Logic and VCSwitch modules are great indeed to create “if this, then that” situations. Also remember that those modules can work at audio rate, so you can patch VCOs in them. Try patching two square VCOs into the Logic module, listen to the XOR output and play with the VCO tuning and PWM for example. And lastly, you can’t have enough VCAs, as those let you dynamically attenuate audio and CV signals for lots of variability.


What helps me in this situation is to limit myself to using only a small arbitrary selection of my modules. For example try using two VCOs, one LFO and the Clock Divider and nothing else going to the speakers (maybe through an attenuator if it’s too loud) and see what you can come up with. What will you patch into the speaker? How can you use all of those modules without a mixer, but in a way that you can still distinguish them in the audio signal at the end?

We could actually make that a forum game! Someone posts a combination of modules and then people post their creations with them.

looks like your having fun - i think your observations are spot on  

I think midi can be fun...
(you have to get your oscillators scaled well, and work within their 'limites'., the vco are pretty good, and the 2osc/d are going to be a big boost ! )
 
also midi != keyboard, use external sequencers with midi effects, or I like using the Organelle which has some 'wacky sequencers'.



for tuning, as i don't have a convenient tuner (only ones on my computer) , so i just use a synth with midi output into AE, and tune by ear... close enough for me:) 


I agree, its easy to end up creating similar patches - which is why i like hearing others patches - to hear what AE can do.

I guess i do something similar to felix's suggestion, often i start a patch from a basis of "i wonder what happens if..." , where its based around connecting a few modules in a way i haven't before...  e.g. what happens if you switch the vcswitch at audio rate, with different inputs  
(doing 'unusual' things at audio rate is a constant theme for me, as this is where software often 'breaks' )  

I think as NightMachines says it would be interesting to get some patch challenges running, not only will it challenge us to think out of the box, 
but also hearing others results/ideas will be really interesting... and perhaps spur other ideas.