Colin Benders: Modular Mayhem | TNW Conference 2017

Modular Mayhem
The boost in the latest developments in modular synthesizing opens up to an intriguing patchwork of sound design, visual design, interaction design and the shaping of worldwide communities - one cable at a time…
Colin Benders
MUSICIAN & PRODUCER
Colin Benders is a Dutch producer with an affinity towards “impossible projects”. This has seen him wear many hats but most recently a live electronic dance project done entirely with modular synthesizers. Even though he has yet to officially release under this alias Colin is drawing in thousands of live viewers every session on his live streams. With this in mind, Colin is currently working on a highly anticipated EP that will showcase an array of most loved "jams". European summer will see him take a prime position at renowned festivals such as Awakenings and Dekmantel Festival, with much more lined up and ready to go.
The Music Summit enlisted a unique combination of tech legends and music pioneers and was presented and organised by:
TNW: thenextweb.com
MassiveMusic: massivemusic.com
Spinnin’ Records: spinninrecords.com

[@MrRAW1968]

Seeing this in 2021 and he stepped up his game even more. He is a master right now, and his songs are really very, very good.

[@SuperDuckQ]

Best part is the editing that uses the same shot of the crowd each time it cuts away. I saw that chick put on her scarf like 10 times.

[@kn00tcn]

hah, like the first SPEED movie ...if this synth goes under 50bpm, it's gonna blow!

[@sector328]

so that's an average of 1 scarf every 3 min

[@PiyushGupta0]

Lol thanks.. I was angry at ppl sitting in front row and looking at their phones all way long

[@addhoc256]

Maybe the video editor first made a draft version and then forgot to replace those parts ?

[@TheNimasan]

i exactly felt like colin as I hread the morphagene 14 months ago at my friend's studio. that was a rason for me to give up my vintage synths and build a system of modules and start from scratch. one thing i know for sure... i 'll never quite again untill i'll be 6 feet under. my last wish its gonna be " bury the morphagene with me "

[@DrMoe.Lester]

Go to his youtube page and listen to a few streams, you'll not be disappointed

[@Privacy-LOST]

I am flabbergasted to see how deep this guy went into 'classical' music professionally before switching to electronic. Most of the time it's the other way round, if it ever happens...

[@jameswayton2340]

You Absolute Genius!

[@lepierroman]

Next step would be to have Colin Bender's Awesomeness in a small cozy RAVE... (south of france or Liège... ha ha ) For now I'll enjoy every last drifting, powerful, dreamy, swinging, PimPamPoum, no Ploum Ploum, endless live ! Tidak apa apa !

[@HousePlant_Ambient]

Really could relate. I come from a just playing the Guitar to having an interest to Synthesizers, and starter recently seeing videos of incredible music coming from a fucking box full of cables and had no idea what it was, but thought it was incredible. To now, learning and understand so much to wear I am having Eurorack case build from Italy to having all modules ready to be ordered soon. I can't wait to dive in.

[@cmangrum1]

Ropesu its so much. Good luck on your journey 👍👍

[@MoiLiberty]

I'm watching this in complete ecstasy and awe! Just incredible! Been jamming out watching Colin Benders online since last year. I had no idea about his music background. I feel like i'm closer to God when I hear "Reunion -#Eurorack-- session"...it almost brought me to tears because it made me so unexpectedly happy...Like I found what I have been looking for my entire life! Fascinatingly spectacular! Really interested in seeing what that visual tool he is developing going to look like!!! The sounds, colors, shapes- all moving at the speed of light in dimensionless space is just going to be epic! At that show, there will be a sea of people just jamming out, laughing, borderline crying, and loving everything! Epic!!!!!!!!! An experience worth checking out, if you have some time or whatever.

[@stoned466]

Colin Benders is so good on the Modular.

[@TheNimasan]

in the mean time he is a MASTER and knows how it works. idk about 2017 tho. couple of things went really wrong in this session.

[@CampSpaceship]

he's my hero.

[@addhoc256]

10.20 “took me 4 years to overcome the fear to actually touch the thing” . :). There is hope for procrastinators!

[@addhoc256]

Ps I didn’t like trompets until I heard him play Sorry. I hated hip hop but his hiphop orchestra was nice. I don’t get synthesizers and don’t like things with many wires until I heard something on KZbin that I couldn’t click away even though it was 2 hours long. Now I must try to process “analog” and “polyphonic” that apparently isn’t the same as digital or multiple voices. What I like about Colin is that he is stubborn enough to keep on going for years while no one gets it yet.

[@HendrikusDeVaan]

Does anyone have a modulargrid, or some detailed photos of this setup? Really curious, because he's generally known for his monster cases, so interested to see how he pared it down.

[@andreumateulamas]

Amazing--- This guy is a genious.

[@auurbjarnadottir6138]

colin, you are within the integrated circuits.

[@PnPModular]

I have to keep repeating to myself 'do not get into eurorack' most expensive habit available...

[@2112jonr]

True. Nearly went there, but after a couple of years of therapy I realised the error of my ways. Found a regular smack habit a good distraction, and cheaper. But the best thing is, people no longer assume I live in Hoxton and have a top knot. Everything else I could live with except the shame of that.

[@artofnick]

Moog has a nice app for their modular. It's $30. I want to try to hook a midi keyboard up to my phone.......

[@oreoluwaonatemowo107]

Check out VCVRack and Pure data

[@nickcuthbert593]

@@oreoluwaonatemowo107 Don't do that man, definite gateway drug (w/ VCVRack).

[@0ooDT]

try having kids and tell me which is more expensive.

[@franknobel4715]

absolute genius

[@waterluxe]

Este tio hace los mejores lives que he visto en mi vida!! Y he visto unos cuantos!!

[@Chasing_Thoughts]

He brought his tiny modular for this talk 😂

[@Imetalman2000]

People say modular is expensive, but everyone I know who does it is broke.

[@mariogon0321]

Exactly lol

[@agentsam]

But, isn't being broke and having expensive equipment, perfectly aligned with each other. Id est -- it's difficult to not-go-broke, while needing to have expensive equipment, right?

[@bjondersson]

@@agentsam I guess that was the initial joke.

[@3bluestones377]

fuckin amazing Colin benders, if you don't feel it what is it bud, u r a musical man 4 shure

[@fabrizionepote9688]

Yes.....genius

[@moofymoo]

16:00 haha, poor photographer guy, Colin just wont look to camera. :D

[@riamiwovideos]

awesome:)

[@VictorSteiner]

Is that on the right of the case a sound interface or batteries that power the case?

[@tlw4237]

Neither. They’re two Direct Injection (“DI”) boxes. DI boxes are used to do a few things - drop line instrument output voltage levels to a microphone level balanced connection to be fed into a mixer, break earth loops between instrument and mixer that would otherwise cause buzzing, provide an electric guitar or bass an input that has the same impedance as an amplifier’s input so the guitar doesn’t lose huge amount of treble and volume and more. They’re a useful toolbox for solving a lot of sound engineering problems.

[@DaveTylka]

Thats Amazing!

[@g.charles7362]

What's the composition of his modular system??

[@VictorSteiner]

G. Charles you mean the individual modules?

[@VictorSteiner]

The black modules are by Mini Mod and are replicas of old Moog modules.

[@olecranonrebellion9976]

fun!

[@SoCalUSN]

Welcome my son...to machine.........................

[@oscarlopezruffy]

master!!!

[@junelopez9520]

don't ever discredit how you got there my dude -

[@manokriko7353]

Does anyone recognize what OSCs he uses?

[@evertoaster]

Mano Kriko The ones on the top are Macbeth oscillators

[@manokriko7353]

Cheers man, I found his setup on modulargrid www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=171927&sid=a5ab85a418a672fb2be7db2d558353e0

[@quartierbonheurexperimentb7466]

is it an mdlr case ?

[@SamuelWebster1337]

Amalgamod

[@MrCees1975]

Ongeveer Einstein niveau op muzikaal vlak....check it out!...🖖

[@scowlsmcjowls2626]

Why did they need to sign to each other if it was jam sessions?

[@stolencoats63]

Cause they don't want to play in the same key for hours. Everyone needs to know where the chord changes are coming and what they will be. From there, knowing the framework, you can play whatever you want within that.

[@studilocker4439]

He sounds like he is defending himself for not making techno, but all that what he is doing with this synths is "simply" techno... Maybe I misunderstood that because of the language barriers?!

[@kspsd]

UMmmmm....

[@entertaintech4374]

How ai replaced music pt 1 😅

[@UokiToki]

Забавно, что сыграл весьма посредственную фигню, которая в конце ещё рассинхронилась конкретно, а публика отреагировала очень бурно, что сам Колин проорал с этого))

[@gingerhead4757]

stupid is, stupid does

[@axeman2638]

Gas.

[@Femkroner]

What an amazingly clumsy event. Love Colin, though! Cool to hear him talk about his process and shiz. But starting videos before he's done talking, running the same B-roll several times, not showing the images he's talking about... Cheap Ted Talk. Bull channel, I guess. And why would you show people leaving at the end?! Rubbish. Good job Colin. Everyone else - get new jobs.

[@spicecrop]

Man i'm just getting into modular synth and I like it but everyone seems to be so geeky and nerdy, that's involved in this shit.

[@thames21]

Just do you, buddy. Yes there are some geeks and nerds, but those are great, they can teach us a lot. It’s the elitists you need to look out for.

[@jeanse27]

The problem with music is the musicians...

[@VisivisiV]

50 hours of that crap left to listen to - I can understand why he's not listened through it all yet..

[@polypus74]

meh

[@axeman2638]

Gas it.