Sunday Synth Jam: Keyboardist Peter Adams shared this video, which captures a live Eurorack modular synth performance.
Adams is a LA-based keyboardist and has played with Belinda Carlisle of the GoGos, ABC and others. Here, though, his performance goes in a very different direction.
Here’s what he has to say about the technical details:
This is a performance with the same patch from my Hotel Cafe show 2/5/19.
The main oscillators are the QuBit – Nebulae, Noise Engineering – Loquelic Iteritas and Mutable Instruments -Warps. The Nebulae is being processed by Clouds. Warps is being modulated by the 2hp LFO, and the LI is basically heard straight out of the module into a VCA, and is being played by a 5 note sequence.
Additionally, you’ll hear some field recordings from the Expert Sleepers – Disting, and a bit of the analog oscillator from the Life Forms – SV1, being sent into channel 2 of Warps. Synapse, Chance, Pressure Points and QuantiZer are doing most of the work, and are working together.
The one thing you can’t see in the video is a small mixer and a Strymon – Blue Sky pedal patched into the effects send.
That’s very cool , but I do not see what a modular set up can do which a daw with good plugins cannot do ?
Beside the pleasure to patch modules and turn some knobs and have a more impressive set up on stage than with a simple laptop with Ableton live in it , i fell that most of the time the music behind the sounds is very poor, made of short repetitive sequences which could be programmed in any daw in few minutes . It very often looks like a big dinosaur who give birth to a mouse .
You are absolutely correct and as equally wrong. Modular live performance is unique in electronic music. The “voice” of a live modular is unique to each rig and its human. There is something intriguing in watching and listening to these eurorack “hands” videos. The platform has an interesting community in itself made up of professional musicians, composers, audio engineers, artists, tech workers etc…and these, live “hand” videos have become sort of the defacto way of presenting the music created with the systems.
For many, myself included, it satisfies my life long love of synthesis unlike any DAW, plugin or controller could, though I do enjoy those tools but I still don’t consider a laptop, DAW and plugins a musical instrument as much as it is a tool. These modulars only do one thing…make bleeps and bloops…the challenge to the artist is to design and make these custom electronic instruments play something musical.
Obviously I have drank the kool-aid…
My rig is a small 96u system that uses all analog modules at this time. It is clunky and limiting at times… frustrating and maddening but it can also be meditative and very satisfying to play. I use a Arturia Beat Step Pro for sequencing my modular which I can wring two voices from…a TomCat and Jomox M.Base are off board percussion modules. Rack space and $$ are limiting factors in building out a self contained system.
Is it a serious music production/performance platform? Probably not so much. (but they are used by many bigtime EDM producers for sample/sound making) Do you learn and expand your knowledge of synthesis building one? Absolutely. Are people fascinated by them? 100% yes.
“That’s very cool , but I do not see what a modular set up can do which a daw with good plugins cannot do ?”
That statement reveals a lot about the scope of your knowledge of DAWs and modular synthesizers.
You are 100% right
I have the same feeling, a lot of times the depth of the music (or sounds) being produced (or generated) is not proportional to the amount of modular hardware.
He’s a Keyboard? Really?
Magnificent!
That was freaking awesome!
Very nice!!
Loved every minute of this. Soooo cool had to take some samples.
Chopped them up into 100, 200 and 400ms samples and then created
a bunch of longer playlists for some very interesting loops. Have seen
another of his videos doing a synth demo. Excellent player and really
nice to see him doing something so different. Enjoyed it very much.