Chords for The instrument I've secretly worked on for 13 years

_ _ _ It's out of control! _
Hey it's Andrew Huang!
If you watch my videos you probably know I'm a pretty big music nerd, but I've never really
shown the degree to which that statement applies.
That [Em] changes today because I want to share with you all about my journey with [N] my modular synthesizer.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Gm]
So this is an electronic musical instrument that's made up of all different kinds of components
from brilliant people around the world, and it's always growing and changing with me.
It's an instrument that's highly interactive.
Sometimes it feels like I'm just offering it suggestions and it [D#] gives me back these
little sonic surprises.
It's also a way to create certain kinds of music that, if done with traditional instruments,
would be impossibly time consuming.
Modular allows for incredibly complex sound processing [G#] and mutation.
It's an entirely different approach to music creation than [C#] anything else.
It's something that I've been learning about and experimenting with for years, but in the
last six months it's really become a full-blown passion.
I've been researching and buying modules.
I've been watching the YouTube videos and joining the forums.
I've been getting together with new synth friends and also trying to turn my [F#] current
friends into synth friends.
So I want to give you a very [D#] brief crash course on modular and share some of my history with
it and, of course, show you some music I've been making.
_ _ [G#] _ _ _ _ _
_ I first discovered modular 13 years ago when I was listening to a band [C] that synth legend
Don Buchla's son Ezra [D] played in.
And I went down some internet wormhole and discovered and became [N] fascinated by these
Buchla synths and in an age before YouTube or Spotify, I would go to the library and
take out CDs of music made with Buchla systems. _
_ And I always thought modular synths would be out of reach for me because they can be
quite expensive, but I soon discovered Reaktor, which is a software modular environment, and
I really dove in.
I studied the software, I looked at other people's Reaktor patches, I designed sounds
with them that I incorporated into my own music, and I even created some of my own software [C#m] synths.
HOLD.
BACK.
So over the years I experimented with a lot of different modular software and apps, and
[G] some of them are even free and I will link to some resources in the description if you're
interested in exploring modular yourself.
But before even touching one of these machines, that's how I figured out how all this stuff works.
So, how does it work?
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _
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There are lots [N] of modular formats.
I've mentioned Buchla systems and some others include Fractional Rack and 5U.
For my hardware journey, I decided on Eurorack, but these are all just different shapes and
sizes of the same basic concept.
A modular synth is made up of modules that each serve various musical functions.
The modules have inputs and outputs, which can be connected with patch cables, and it's
completely up to the user which modules they'd want to use in their system and how they'd
want to connect them.
But what are they actually connecting?
What's traveling through these [Dm] cables?
_ _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ [D#] _ Every [D] signal going through a modular fits into one of two categories, and sometimes
both at once.
You've got audio, which is just sound, and control voltage, or CV, which refers to precise
voltages that are used to modulate the parameters of your audio or modulate other control voltage.
I feel like we need an example. _
Here we have some audio, just a basic tone being sent out of this module, Braids.
Here's what happens when I take some CV from Maths that cycles through a rising and falling
pattern and patch that to Control Braids [N] pitch. _ _
_ _ Now we can take another channel of Maths to send CV to modulate the speed at which that
first channel rises and falls. _
_ _ _ _ So we're just scratching the surface here, but there are countless ways that you can
modulate audio and CV.
It's a very different way of thinking about the music creation process, and the technology
and the methodology have developed to this point where there are companies making hundreds
of different modules with incredibly complex and creative functions.
I also think it's really important to note that it's all these modules that give Modular
its name, but because it also involves all this modulation, _ the name is kind of a pun.
_ [D#] _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ [D#] So beyond the technical stuff, I wanted to share about what I think is special about
Modular because there are a lot of things about it that set it apart from most other musical paradigms.
It's highly process-based, which if you know me at all, you know I love, and it really
just allows you to enjoy playing with sound outside of needing to produce something or
finish a track, even though [A#m] it can absolutely do that as well.
[C] But when I'm working with the Modular, rather than treating the music as a project that
needs to be worked on, often it feels more like this constantly flowing river of possibilities
that I can just dip into here and there.
_ _ _ _ _ _ [B]
It really makes me think of music not as these concrete parcels that we write and record
and distribute, but as something larger with infinite pathways to explore and get lost in.
_ _ _ _ [C#] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C]
It also helps me appreciate being in the moment, because it's ephemeral.
You could take a [C#] really detailed patch diagram if you wanted, but there's no way to save
and recall the exact positions of all these knobs, [C] and since their settings [D] are often
in these complex relationships of modulating one another, [D#m] it's really unlikely that [Gm] you'll
ever get to the exact same patch again.
I love pulling out the cables at the end of a session and [F#] knowing that anything I recorded,
that's [E] all I have to work with, that's all I have to worry about, and anything I didn't
[D#] record, I got to enjoy it in the moment, just once, just me, and now it's gone. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ I think one of the coolest things about Modular is that anyone who's into it is building their
own unique instrument based on how they want to interact with it and what kind of music
they want to make.
You could build [D] a synth that's just for [Bm] creating sound effects or [Am] percussion, you could build
a crazy sample mangler [F] or a generative ambient [G#m] machine, maybe you just want a really flexible
analog synth that you can control with a keyboard [F#] or a touch plate or a joystick.
[B] I'm interested in it from a ton of different angles, so my collection of modules is still
very much growing, but also, I don't know if it's ever going to stop growing.
That's the beauty of Modular.
And the downfall of my bank account.
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [G#m] _
_ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _ _ [B] _
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [G#m] _
_ _ [F#m] Bye, bye, yeah.
[B]
If you wanna let it, [F#m] I know you can get [G#m] it.
Bye, _ [F#] bye, bye.
[C#] I hope you enjoyed this video, please subscribe if you haven't already, and check out the
description where I [C#m] put info on a whole bunch of ways that you can learn about and [F#] try Modular
Synthesis without [B] having to take the hardware plunge yet.
[F#] It's a lot to wrap your head around, but it is super rewarding and fun.
Thanks for watching.
_ _ _ _ [B] _
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [A#] This is where you get the boops?
Let me show you, yeah, this is the boop. _ _