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Category Archives: Modular
Bana Haffar – Exo
This is a bit special. An excellent piece by Bana Haffar, performed live on a custom Make Noise modular system, with no overdubs. From the EP: Matiere. It’s one of those tracks which prompts you to ask yourself if you can up your own game.
Bye bye MMG, hello E440.
It’s great for some things, but I never really got on with the sound of my Make Noise MMG. I’ve got a lot of Make Noise stuff and I love it – but the MMG just didn’t have enough character for me. It probably didn’t help that what I really needed was a more classic 4-pole low-pass filter to complement the rest of the rig. So, after a lot of research, I got myself a Synthesis Technology E440, which seems to be considered “the best filter in the universe”. It’s not exactly cheap but if you want to rise above the average in Euro you generally need to pay for it.
Initial testing suggests it’s as good as they say it is. A lovely sound, beautiful resonance and, best of all, the ability to drive it into the most gorgeous warm distortion.
Sadly the MMG has had to go to make room in the case…. but it’s probably time I adopted a one-in-one-out policy anyway.
A Jupiter Storm Cosmic Noise Oscillator running through the Synthesis Technology E440. The Jupiter Storm’s three individual VCO outputs and the noise output are all in use. Spring reverb is from an Intellijel Springray 2.
Drone in progress
Nathan Moody: Études I: Blue Box
Études I: Blue Box is a beautiful piece of work by Nathan Moody. The ten tracks were created using a small modular system, based primarily on the wonderful Mannequins modules. The music carries an impressive emotional heft and the liberal use of distortion, saturation and rectification is gorgeous.
It’s one of those releases that captures what modular is all about and makes you question what you’re doing. Wonderful.
Work in progress
My modular’s got a nice loping shuffle on the go, thanks to the wonderful Malekko Varigate 4. A make Noise Rene is running through the sequence variations, clocked by one of the Varigate channels.
Steevio: Primes
Some machine jazz from Steevio:
and here’s a walk-through:
Robert Lowe at Superbooth 2016
Robert Lowe is charismatic, intelligent and a fine modular synthesist. His performances are generally patched on the day rather than pre-prepared. He understands what modular is fundamentally about: the moment.
