Time and gravitation.

[Arpangel]

Like starting off on a voyage, with 50 suitcases, at the end of it you end up with only the clothes you stand up in.
A good analogy when talking about making music, with electronics, I’ve got lots of what I call junk, it’ll come in useful, that was a bargain, or it was given to me, the amount of money I’ve actually spent on stuff isn’t that much, until I got into modular, then it was like, here comes bankruptcy, and don’t let anyone tell me it’s necessary, it isn’t, it looks good, it looks complicated, and makes me feel clever, I spend more time "optimising" my cases than I do playing them, but that doesn’t stop me from buying more stuff, but they do, get used, eventually.
Gravitation? I only ever use four basic building blocks these days, my Grandmother, Alesis Micron, modular, and Big Sky reverb, that’s it, both keyboards are stacked one behind the other, like organ manuals, the Moog is under the modular, it’s used as a controller, it’s all plugged into six channels of my mixer, that’s it, the Big Sky is just the best reverb in my book, it’s magic, and I don’t even know what I’m doing with it.
I have to keep all of the rest of my junk "just in case" even though it won’t get used probably, it’s taken me a long time to get down to this rig, but it suits me, it has everything I love, Moog sound, infinite randomness of the modular, and the "glue" that the Micron provides, it fills in all the holes.
I’ve got a small modular by many peoples standards, but it’s infinite, I’ll never, ever explore, or utilise ten percent of its potential, not even that, but it does provide a unique contribution, if I took it away, there would be a big change in my music, I would miss it, same for rest of my things, that’s when you know you’ve reached critical mass, when if you take one thing away the whole house of cards collapses.
Guest appearances are taken care of by my Korg Monotron Delay, and Microgranny, but they hardly count as significant real estate, or expenditure.
This post is about my way, no one else’s, it’s interesting to see sometimes, how the complete opposite of our way of working gets others to the same place, different vehicles, same destination.

[olifreke]

Biggest change for me was setting up tons of automation on hardware knobs and sliders so that I could focus on the sound of the loops and sequences, rather than the enedless staring at a screen. Has made music making so much more enjoyable and less like working on a spreadsheet.

I know this is a belated discovery compared with many others, but I guess that's one reason why modular has taken off. (And I certainly love my Metropolis sequencer, Polygogo oscillator and subsequent bits and bobs for that reason too!)

[Arpangel]

Biggest change for me was setting up tons of automation on hardware knobs and sliders so that I could focus on the sound of the loops and sequences, rather than the enedless staring at a screen. Has made music making so much more enjoyable and less like working on a spreadsheet.

I know this is a belated discovery compared with many others, but I guess that's one reason why modular has taken off. (And I certainly love my Metropolis sequencer, Polygogo oscillator and subsequent bits and bobs for that reason too!)

What you say is very true, modular doesn’t work on a screen, it’s counter intuitive.
But for all I’ve said, thee favourite album I’ve ever made was one that used Reaktor on a PC and the little on-screen keyboard in Reaper to control it, it’s was a case of all the stars being in the right position at the right time, no hardware, not even a proper keyboard, the whole album, it’s my favourite, ever, of anything I’ve done. I’ve tried, but I can’t do it again, it was truly, a one off. I had no hardware at at the time, only a sound card and speakers.

[tea for two]

But for all I’ve said, thee favourite album I’ve ever made was one that used Reaktor on a PC and the little on-screen keyboard in Reaper to control it,I had no hardware at at the time, only a sound card and speakers.... not even a proper keyboard

the whole album, it’s my favourite, ever, of anything I’ve done. I’ve tried, but I can’t do it again, it was truly, a one off.

This made me smile. Years earlier around 12 years earlier, someone sent me on CD Reaktor saying it was amazing.

[Guest]

Biggest change for me was setting up tons of automation on hardware knobs and sliders so that I could focus on the sound of the loops and sequences, rather than the enedless staring at a screen. Has made music making so much more enjoyable and less like working on a spreadsheet.

I know this is a belated discovery compared with many others, but I guess that's one reason why modular has taken off. (And I certainly love my Metropolis sequencer, Polygogo oscillator and subsequent bits and bobs for that reason too!)

What you say is very true, modular doesn’t work on a screen, it’s counter intuitive.
But for all I’ve said, thee favourite album I’ve ever made was one that used Reaktor on a PC and the little on-screen keyboard in Reaper to control it, it’s was a case of all the stars being in the right position at the right time, no hardware, not even a proper keyboard, the whole album, it’s my favourite, ever, of anything I’ve done. I’ve tried, but I can’t do it again, it was truly, a one off. I had no hardware at at the time, only a sound card and speakers.

This is a little strange, modular on a screen is counter intuitive but Reaktor (a modular screen based thingy) enabled you to create your favourite album.

[Arpangel]

This is a little strange, modular on a screen is counter intuitive but Reaktor (a modular screen based thingy) enabled you to create your favourite album.

I wasn’t using it like a modular, I used a preset "Instrument" on which I made a handful of my own sounds, in no way did I create or make "the instrument"
"The sound" and the way it reacted to my playing, left me with no choice but to use it, it made the decision for me in that regard.

[Guest]

Ah, got you.

Sorry I misunderstood.

[Arpangel]

Ah, got you.

Sorry I misunderstood.

I have experimented with modular apps, but I end up never using them, it just doesn’t tick all the boxes a hardware modular does, everything is there, all the time, right in front of me, and it’s so simple, no menus.
If apps float your boat, fine, but I’ve got lots on my i Pad too, and I never use those either.
I had very little money at one point, and software was cheap, in comparison to hardware, but now I’ve managed to get some decent hardware, and the space to keep it, I’ve never looked back, the reverse of what most people do probably!