27/05/2020 Overly-focussed setups - MUFF WIGGLER

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Overly-focussed setups
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Overly-focussed setups 
 by Kattefjaes » Wed May 27, 2020 8:37 am

Does anyone else have the problem where you keep refining a system for a particular aim, until eventually the affordances in
layout are so persuasive that you're subconsciously guided to make specific patches and have to try quite hard to break out?
Context- I have a small 6U Euro setup that I found myself tweaking and refining. I really enjoy techno-centric stuff, lots of
repetition, filter sweeps, weird twiddly percussion- you know the drill. I really enjoy listening to it, and if it's coming out of
my own rig, that's even more enjoyable. Actually, it's like crack for me.
However, because I have been through a few iterations, nips and tucks, module swaps, layout tweaks, it has become pretty Kattefjaes
focussed. Patches tend to fall naturally into specific shapes and techno tends to come out, even when I'm not expecting it. I Common Wiggler
put some of my orphaned modules into a small 3U case, and damn if that's not lending itself to weird freeform sound design Posts: 249
style craziness more. I can lose myself wiggling it for hours. Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:47 am
Location: UK

It feels like the obvious thing to do is to combine all of the modules into a more ergonomic single entity, but I do love more
portable, self-contained systems that I can carry with me, or sit in a corner with. However, it feels like function is following
form right now, rather than the other way around.
Has anyone else ever painted themselves into a similar corner? If so, what did you do, and did it work for you?
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Re: Overly-focussed setups 

 by mritenburg » Wed May 27, 2020 10:26 am

 Kattefjaes wrote: ↑ Wed May 27, 2020 8:37 am

Has anyone else ever painted themselves into a similar corner? If so, what did you do, and did it work for you?

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27/05/2020 Overly-focussed setups - MUFF WIGGLER
the focused part with each cabinet, which is not a bad thing at all, but you also get the flexibility bit with the whole system
too. Before CV-19, when gigging and jamming was a bigger part of my life, the multiple cabinet approach allowed me to
take only what I wanted/needed for the session. Worked great for me.
Basically if you have a system that makes playing the type of music you want to play easier, why mess that up? Just add to it.
-James

James Husted - Synthwerks, LLC - www.synthwerks.com - info@synthwerks.com - james@synthwerks.com

Synthwerks is a proud member of the Mostly Modular Trade Association (http://www.mostlymodular.com).
Always looking to trade for Doepfer P6 cases

ersatzplanet
Synthwerks Design

Posts: 6446
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:18 pm
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27/05/2020 Overly-focussed setups - MUFF WIGGLER
It happens to everyone.
Step 1 to breaking out of a patching rut: rearrange your modules in your case.
Disappointment with any module is usually a failure of imagination.

Buchla 200e Generative Patch

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mritenburg
Super Deluxe Wiggler

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Re: Overly-focussed setups 

 by Pelsea » Wed May 27, 2020 12:02 pm

It's not a rut, it's a tradition.

In the earliest days of electronic music, composers like the Barrons and Gordon Mumma considered the circuit to be part of
the composition. There was no modularity-- something like the Cyberhorn was built from the ground up. It might have been
modified a bit over the years, but it remained the defining element of Hornpipe, as much as a score would have been. When Pelsea
a piece was no longer performed, the circuit was salvaged to be reused in something else. (Electronic parts were quite Veteran Wiggler

expensive in those days.) Posts: 718

Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:46 am
Location: Santa Cruz CA
Modular systems can be made to work that way-- it's an expensive approach, but avoids the need for electrical engineering. Contact: 
So you now have a instrument that is perfect for "lots of repetition, filter sweeps, [and] weird twiddly percussion". Great! Now
the misfits are calling to you-- they will eventually evolve into another piece. Don't bother with some grand unified case,
(unless you must for financial reasons). Add whatever the new case needs to make it complete and go from there.
Books and tutorials on modular synthesis at http://peterelsea.com
Patch responsibly-
pqe
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Re: Overly-focussed setups  User avatar

 by Shadewe » Wed May 27, 2020 12:20 pm Shadewe
Learning to Wiggle

Posts: 34
 Kattefjaes wrote: ↑ Wed May 27, 2020 8:37 am Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 6:33 pm
Has anyone else ever painted themselves into a similar corner? If so, what did you do, and did it work for you?
I play very good slow, melodic piano.
My piano teacher, knowing this, gets me to play music that's faster than my wheelhouse (the latest one is a 144-160 tempo).
You might not have a teacher, but the same general principle could apply.
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Re: Overly-focussed setups 

 by ersatzplanet » Wed May 27, 2020 12:24 pm

I Have multiple 6U cabinets and skiffs. I would not combine your stuff into a larger case, but instead, make cases that are
stand alone, and do one job or type of function by themselves easily. Think of the cabinet as a meta-module. I do that. I
have one cabinet that is an analogue voice (my EMS synthi work alike), and a couple that are Wave Player/granular cabinets
(with Nebulae and STS in them), a Sequencer/programmer/MIDI skiff, and a controller skiff to run what ever I want. You get
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