In this session, we were introduced to VCV Rack which is a virtual way to explore modular synthesis. I’d always been very interested in modular synthesis as its very prevalent in a lot of the music I listen to at the minute, so naturally I really enjoyed working in VCV Rack. I ended up creating something which had three different synths for melodic parts, and an extra noise synth being used for percussion. I had two of the melodic synths and the percussive synth being controlled by sequencers, the other melodic synth was taking MIDI input so I could play chords along to the sequencers. I then used LFOs and extra slots on the sequencer to modulate other controls such as filter cut offs and octave transposition. One thing I really liked was how I used an LFO to constantly change the amount of steps of the sequencer that controlled the drums, it turned my looping sequence into something ever-shifting. As I said earlier, I really enjoyed diving into modular synthesis and really found value in how exploratory the workflow is. On a DAW its very easy to get stuck in a loop of making lots of things that sound the same, with the ability to save presets on almost anything. Although these can definitely be helpful for creating quickly, which is important in situations with more pressure (e.g a group studio session), I also believe sometimes when creating we need to remove the pressure and get out of the “fast” mindset. VCV Rack and modular synthesis are honestly very cumbersome when compared to something like Ableton or Logic, but after you work this way a few times you learn to stop thinking so far ahead and take it one module at a time. It doesn’t feel like any sort of composition I’ve done before, it doesn’t feel like you are writing music, music just ends up emerging out of the process.
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