Hi – my name is Chris, and I’m addicted to live performance. It’s been two weeks since my last gig…but before you congratulate me, I have another one coming up in two weeks.
Which is kind of ironic, on a historical modular synthesis level. One of the reasons modulars were replaced with pre-patched synths in the 1970s was because they were so difficult to move as well as to play live. And even today, many electronic musicians (mores ambient than EDM) focus their efforts on their studio work and don’t play live.
However, many modern Eurorack modular musicians – particularly EDM – all but assume they will play live. Why – to prove that we can? Because modulars are becoming an extension of DJing, in some places? Or are we just masochists?
Regardless, preparing for performances seem to be taking up an inordinate amount of my time, taking away from working on album releases, writing newsletters and other posts, and even finishing wiring my new studio. I need to get better about time management…
But in the meantime, there is a bit of news to catch you up on, including writing about how to simulate the concept of presets in your modular system (another big issue when it comes to playing live with these beasts).
- featured article: As I play longer sets, I want to increase the variety of sounds I can quickly get out of my gear – without bringing more gear, or doing a crazy amount of live patching. Here are some of the techniques I use to quickly change sounds while playing.
- Alias Zone updates: I was the opening act at the SoCal Synth Society’s Electronic Sonic Madness this past January.
- Learning Modular updates: While at NAMM this past January, I received a lifetime achievement award for my work in the early days of MIDI.
- Patreon updates: Spatial audio – be in performing in quad live, or mixing for Atmos in the studio – has been on my mind a lot lately, and is at the center of several of my recent posts on Patreon.
- upcoming events: I am both playing and speaking at the Electrowave Festival in March, plus am in the process of of putting together a mini-tour in September.
- one more thing: Starving Students Music Supplies now carry our Chaos Clips.
Presets for Modulars
As I perform longer sets, I’m looking for ways to more quickly change sounds in my modular synth. I’d like to share some patching techniques I use, plus talk about modules with presets and how most of them could use some user interface tweaks to prevent disaster during a live performance (designers, are you listening?).
Modules with Switchable Modes
The longest-running example of “presets” I’ve used in my modular system is the Resonator Mode button on Mutable Instruments’ Rings, which toggles between Modal Resonator (sometimes known as struck plate), Sympathetic Strings (aka sitar mode), and “string with non-linearity/dispersion” (aka plucked string). The challenge is, the apparent root note can change depending on Structure. I did find one “magic setting” for Structure that resulted in all three Modes having the same tuning; I’ve marked it with pencil on Rings, and stuck “googly eyes” on the Structure as well as Frequency knobs to remind me to avoid them during a live performance:
There are a lot of other modules where you can also quickly switch modes and therefore sounds. Both Mutable Instruments Braids and Plaits qualify; I had a micro Braids clone in my performance case for awhile. The Noise Engineering oscillators in particular are known for supporting multiple synthesis modes which can be quickly switched between. I also recently added an Erica Synths Pico Voice to my performance case for similar reasons.
Wavetable oscillators with switchable banks of waveforms offer another quick-switch opportunity, albeit inside the “wavetable” range of sounds. I created a set of four banks for the ModBap Osiris that each have a different theme: East Coast, West Coast, Formants, and Harmonics. All but Formants have a “warm sine wave” as their first wave and then progress from there. I will regularly switch banks on the Osiris during a set to change its character. Even some analog oscillators – such as the Befaco Pony – allow you to change waveforms with a switch.
In addition to timbre, I appreciate oscillators that make it easy to transpose their pitch to another value quickly and accurately without having to tweak the tuning on the fly. Some VCOs have octave switches, which are greatly appreciated, but too often those switches are not tuned very well at the factory, causing the VCO to go out of tune when you change octaves. External octave switchers such as the ALM Beast’s Chalkboard make this easier. This is also why I hired DJ Phazer to write the Calibr8or firmware for the Ornament & Crime hardware: Among other things, I can dial i a new tuning offset in octaves and semitones, and use an external trigger such as the next note on or a clock that signifies the downbeat to actually load that new transposition when desired.
Quick mode switching is not limited just to sound sources. Some filters – such as the Intellijel Polaris (also a mainstay in my performance case) – allow you to switch modes with a button press rather than having to pull out and re-patch cables on the fly.
Switching Bias Voltages
One of the main points of using a modular synth is that most or all of the controls are often available without menu diving. My performance notes are full of comments to change knob positions to certain settings to update the timbre for a different section of my performance. However, some parameters – especially pitch related ones – can be quite touchy, making it hard to hit the exact value you need with a quick knob twist while playing.
Thankfully, another one of the main points of using a modular is that you have voltage control over some or (hopefully) most of the parameters. That means you can use the voltage from another module – such as a sequencer you are manually stepping along, or other modules such as variations on Buchla or Serge touch keyboards or “sequencers” where you can set one or more voltages to be sent out when you select a key or “step”.
Those modules tend to be large, and I try to keep my performance system as compact as possible, so instead I keep my eye out for utility mixers that have switches which enable or disable a voltage offset – such as the Klavis Tweakers. Failing that, I can follow utility modules with switch modules such as the DivKid Mutes.
In the photo above of my performance system, I use one channel of Tweakers to set a pitch offset for the shimmer function in the Strymon StarLab reverb, while the other is patched to the Structure CV input on one of my Rings that I mentioned above. With the switch off, Tweakers sends a 0v offset, meaning Rings uses its own Structure setting to determine the sound (which I often leave in my magic setting position); when I switch it on, I can dial in a voltage offset in Tweakers ahead of time to select an alternate sound that I like.
Logic
Another trick I use is a logic module (in my performance case, it’s an Animodule LogicOgic) to combine trigger patterns or to turn them off. For example, in the patch above I take the output from a Mutable Instruments Grids trigger pattern generator and patched it to one side of an OR gate. The other input to the OR gate comes from a channel of the vpme.de Euclidean Circles v2, meaning I can use either one or both of these pattern generators to drive a percussion module without re-patching.
I then take the output of that OR gate and patch it to the input of an AND gate, with the other input patched to a switched +5v bias voltage, a square wave LFO synchronized to the main tempo clock, or even the pitch output of a sequencer lane. This second signal acts as a gate to determine whether or not the trigger patterns get through, or perhaps sit out for part of a measure (for example, when the synchronized square wave LFO is “low”).
Actual Presets
More and more modules are either digital or digitally controlled, which means they can save parameter settings. Modules in my performance case that can do this include the Five12 QV-L, ALM Pamela’s New Workout, Intellijel Plonk, Behringer Victor, and Xaoc Devices Zadar. However, many of them make changing presets harder (or more dangerous) than it should be during a performance.
Of that group, the Victor is the easiest to use; as soon as you select a new preset with its rotary encoder, it is active – no additional button presses needed. (Unfortunately, it does not have a Save As function, so when you modify its presets, you can only overwrite the current one – ugh.)
On Plonk, you press the Load button, use the rotary encoder to chose a new one (which temporarily loads the preset), and then press the encoder to lock it in (otherwise, it will revert to the previously-selected preset after a few seconds). That additional press-to-say-you-really-meant-it step feels unnecessary, but if you’re just browsing presets, it makes it easier to get back to where you started.
I like the Zadar as a module – so many modulation shapes! – but I have issues with what you have to go through to load presets. Depending on what screen you left it on, those steps usually are:
- press a button multiple times to get to the Presets screen
- rotate an encoder to select the desired preset
- press the encoder to get to the Load/Save page
- rotate the encoder to switch it from Save to Load (Save is a very dangerous default for live performance – it makes it way too easy to accidentally wipe out a preset!)
- press the encoder again to get to an “are you sure?” page
- press the encoder one more time to actually load the preset
I understand the logic behind choosing that way of working, but that’s a bit much to ask a performer to do in the heat of the moment during a set.
I really would like module manufacturers to put more thought into this. They seem to bias saving over loading, but saving is usually done when you’re under far less pressure (working on a patch) than loading (in the heat of performance). Make loading easier and intuitive to do during a performance, and you will be my friend.
For example, this is the advice I gave to a manufacturer I consult with to make their preset loading procedure more user-friendly. Their default load procedure was:
- press a button to enter the load/save screen
- defaults to Save; select Load
- select the preset you want to load
- press a button to load that preset
I suggested they make these changes to streamline the process:
- press a button to enter the load/save screen
- default to Load (no extra user action required)
- default to the next preset after the one I am currently on (so I can build a chain of presets to walk through during a performance)
- press a button to load that preset
No extra UI elements or cost, and half of the steps – at least for the situations I would encounter most often during a performance.
This is an ongoing effort me, and I’m sure I’ll learn more. I’ve considered switching over to 4ms MetaModules and Der Mann Mit Der Maschine Droid controllers and CV processors, so my sound generation and control surfaces would all have presets to quickly reconfigure them…but right now that feels a bit extreme. We’ll see what direction I end up growing into!
Alias Zone Updates
For me, one of the highlights of the NAMM convention is attending the SoCal Synth Society’s live performance party the first night of the show. It has evolved into a large number of ~15 minute sets with fast changeovers between artists. By contrast, I’ve been playing longer and longer sets, and my gear takes ~45 minutes to set up or tear down.
I was brainstorming with Trovarsi last year how I might still be able to take part, and we came up with the idea of me setting up in front of the normal performance stations, having me play a longer ambient set starting when the doors opened, and then moving my gear aside to tear down off-stage as they launched into their regular program.
It worked out great, and I had fun playing not just for my “new” modular friends but also those I’ve known in the industry since the 1980s who had no idea I was a full-time musician now rather than an engineer.
Speaking of which, earlier that same day at NAMM…
Learning Modular Updates
After Dave Smith oversaw his original “Universal Synthesizer Interface” idea get fought over, refined, and adopted as MIDI 1.0 in 1983, I was hired by Sequential Circuits in 1984 to become their MIDI specialist. This was just as the MIDI Manufacturer’s Association was being formed; I was their first Technical Chairman, and served off and on in that role until the mid-90s.
Fortunately, I was too naive at the time to realize what a Really Big Deal that was. I had no master plan to “make a name for myself” or to make a lasting impact on the industry; I just did what I thought were the obvious things that needed to be done – in a very determined fashion.
My initial job was fixing MIDI bugs in already-released Sequential instruments (for example, the mod wheel in the Prophet 600 originally went from 0-31 in value, because that was all the resolution it had; the MIDI spec however was 0-127). While I was inside each instrument, I took it upon myself to also add mostly MIDI-related features. This led to me writing the MIDI drivers for new products like the Max drum machine and Prophet 2000 sampler.
As I added features to those products, I started imagining new features that it would also be great to add to MIDI. Among my additions to the MIDI spec were the Sample Dump Standard and MIDI Time Code, plus other smaller enhancements. Meanwhile, other companies and musicians were coming up their own extensions to MIDI; in my role as Technical Chairman, I championed and helped shepherd through additions such as MIDI Tuning (i.e. microtonal scales), Standard MIDI Files, MIDI Machine Control, MIDI Show Control, and later when I worked for Roland, General MIDI.
This pace of innovation caught our counterparts at the Japanese MIDI Standards Committee off guard, and they were not approving all of the additions that we were passing in the MMA. I sat down with a couple of their representatives at an off-the-books meeting during NAMM and asked why; they said they didn’t see the reason for all these new features. I countered that others obviously DID see a reason for them – that’s why they proposed them – so could they perhaps change their mindset to say if they had an objection, and if not, to go ahead and accept them even if they had no reason to use these features themselves. Somehow I persuaded them to agree, and the flood gates opened for MIDI to do far more than originally envisioned.
Well, 40+ years later, The MIDI Association (the group the MMA morphed into) gave me a lifetime achievement award at the most recent NAMM show. I mentioned above how fun it was for my older industry friends to see I was now making music rather than being an engineer; it was also fun for all of newer modular friends to see that I also used be an engineer on the cutting edge of MIDI back in the day.
As part of the recognition, the MIDI Association published a biography of me on their website; most of it is even true! (In these days of AI-generated text, that’s not always the case…) Click here if you’re curious to read about the old days.
Patreon Updates
My Patreon subscription has evolved over the years from module reviews and synth history, to now covering live performance, studio, and compositional ideas in addition to advanced patching tricks. There are roughly 500 posts in the archives now, all of which you get access to from day one of your subscription, including during the seven day free trial.
New posts I’ve written since the last newsletter include:
- Going Hybrid Live Part 10 – Lightbath: This is a video stream I co-hosted for a Five12 “Deep Dive” session with musician Lightbath, where he gave a performance and we also talked about various approaches to using modular synths. (free to all)
- Industry Stories: Solving Unsolvable Conflicts: More than once I’ve been presented with problems that, on the surface, seem like they have no good solution – especially when large organizations or companies are involved. In this post I share a couple of strategies I use to resolve problems like these. (1v/oct and above members)
- The Dataton Series 3000 – An Early, Quirky, Alternative Modular Synthesizer: Imagine a modular synthesizer where each module was its own desktop box, with connectors on their edges – and to create a patch, you physically plugged one box into another, side by side. (1v/oct and above members)
- Improving my Live Performance part 7 – A Breakthrough on Latency: Latency – delay when passing audio through a digital device like a computer – is one of the biggest problems I and many others have with our hybrid performance systems. I had reached the limit that I could adjust out using software when a software update came along that drastically improved the situation. But it requires some setting up… (+5v and above members)
- Spatial Audio 02 – Approaches to Composing in Spatial Audio: When you decide to mix your music to more than two channels, which sound should go where? And why? here are some suggestions, as well as playlists to listen to for inspiration. (1v/oct and above subscribers)
- Spatial Audio 03 – Tools for Mixing in Quad: So you want to mix your next set in quad. What modules should you use? Can you get by with an outboard stereo mixer? Or if you’ve gone hybrid, are there plugins that can help? (+5v and above subscribers)
I also posted a demo video and wrote a bit about the modular system I put together last year for the Bob Moog Foundation to raffle off as a fundraiser. (free to all)
As I’ve hinted before, if you want to take your modular music experience to the next level, I humbly suggest you really should be a subscriber. As I mentioned, there’s seven day free trial, so check it out and see if you agree.
Upcoming Events
March 14-16 2025, ELECTROWAVE: The Rocky Mountain Electronic Music Festival, Ent Center for the Performing Arts, University of Colorado Springs, Colorado
This event will be a “celebration of electronic music, electronic musical instruments and above all performers, composers and facilitators of electronic and electroacoustic music” which includes “a synthesizer petting zoo, improvised laptop performances, electronic instrumental ensembles, a selection of modular synth video works, electronic works involving live performers, sound installations, an outdoor Soundwalk, and more.”
All of the events are free, but ticketing is a little convoluted; click here for tickets to the daytime activities and Friday evening concert, click here for the Saturday evening concert, and here for the Sunday evening concert. There’s also an after-party off campus on Saturday night. Click here for maps, and who to contact to get discounted lodging.
I will be the headline performer Friday night, playing an extended set in quad. Saturday I am part of a panel on AI in music, followed by me breaking down how I did the previous evening’s performance and answering questions.
I’m really looking forward to this event! I hope some of you can make it.
September mini-tour
I am putting together a little tour in September which will include Knobcon in Schaumburg, Illinois on September 6, Philadelphia Pennsylvania on September 13, and tentatively Charlotte North Carolina on September 20 – potentially with talks in Philadelphia the week of September 8 and Asheville North Carolina the week of September 15. I’ll share more details when the dates get closer.
One More Thing…
I mentioned in the previous newsletter that I had developed a set of “Chaos Clips” to help organize patch cable runs, particularly in a performance case where you need to close the lid as well as see all of your controls. My brother at Starving Students Music Supplies has started carrying them, and offering them on Amazon – click this link to go to that page. They seem to be popular; we’ve already received repeat orders from when we first made them available.
In theory, I should be taking a break from performing for a few months, which hopefully means I can work on the backlog of album material I want to finish and release (plus take part in a really cool compilation). I admit it’s a good problem to have – make music, or make music? I know I am very fortunate, and I really appreciate your support on this journey.
with thanks –
Chris