How to Make Ambient Chill Music with MODULAR Synthesizer / EURORACK

[@lagerregal6561]

Love the track, usually chill music is very "lowpassed" but i really like the roughness on the synths! One question tho, how come that you know so much about music and have so much equipment, but almost no songs released on spotify? Do you release somewhere else or are you mainly producing other artists, or are you a sound/mastering engineer? :)

[@GARDNSOUND]

I'm glad you asked! I have intentionally removed everything from Spotify so that I could "start over" with more crafted and intentional music, like this. However, most of my music that I've ever "formally" released are on my website gardnsound.com Since nobody goes there it's pretty safe to leave the old "not quite as polished" music there. This will be my first official release since "Doctor Smooth" - and it's DRASTICALLY different and of a higher quality. Didn't want to leave that old stuff on Spotify and confuse first time listeners.

[@lagerregal6561]

@@GARDNSOUND ohhh yeah i feel you! When i started producing, i created a new soundcloud account every few months ^^ And now spotify is only for the "good stuff" :)

[@GARDNSOUND]

Exactly. As it continues to become the leader in streaming - I want to make sure that there isn't any brand confusion at all.

[@josepha891]

I cannot believe that was live!!! Holy smokes. And you tear it all down and wipe it from your memory?!!?! That’s crazy. Why have I not subscribed yet? Thank you.

[@emumist]

You, my friend, are an amazing artist. You inspire me so much. And also the way you teach is just phenomenal. Keep it up and I'm sure I'm going to see you at a main stage some day.

[@ScottofOakland]

Your style of teaching just isn't my cup of tea but I'm glad you're making videos. If it helps anyone make more music, I'm all for it. Keep it up!

[@GARDNSOUND]

I appreciate that! Thanks for watching :)

[@kozmicstreamz417]

Lovely track! Shared on facebook group Modular Soundscapes.

[@movagalbastomp]

Thanks! I hope to mix chill-otherworldy-exquisite ambient sounds with unstable odd drum patters soon...

[@adsnevlin]

Wow! That sounded great. Really nice work.

[@MavScientific]

Very cool tune!

[@scottmurray9393]

Just discovered you thru Mr. Bill's podcast. Great vibes, love this! Thanks for sharing your process

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

I have a 0-coast Make Noise semi modular and Ableton Push. Is there a way to trigger notes on the 0-coast from the Ableton Push 2 and feed to Ableton for recording the Make Noise over MIDI and how would I actually do this? I would love to see you do a whole video on how to setup and configure Ableton with the Push controller and modular gear. I also have an Elektron Octatrack and Analog 4 and it would be great to see how to sequence, sample and control modular gear with these as well. If not, then when I get my first Eurorack modular build, I need to do a series on this as NOTHING has been done yet online explaining this process!

[@zaktaylor9985]

Was already excited for this, but this performance really sold it. Great work cant wait to hear the album in full!

[@GARDNSOUND]

Hey thank you! I figured a little context might be nice. :)

[@johncase6291]

No way I didn’t know you did modular videos too!! I’m about to tap in I just got my modular rig set up waiting on some more modules in the mail

[@chatolars]

That was a really beautiful track, loved it. Very nicely explained as well. Thanks for sharing this. Going to check more of your stuff for sure

[@slimyelow]

very nice composition. I luv

[@АлександрКузин-з6б]

Sounds like Minecraft and THAT'S AWESOME!

[@SynthsandSounds]

What a beautiful rack setup! And what a beautiful track! Love to see people known for software production going 'almost' daw-less! You nailed it!

[@DJPhantomRage]

Hardware is fun. I kinda do the same, but don't use a computer at all. Everything is midi controlled by the roland mv8800, and that triggers my e-mu gear (I have a lot) and other roland gear. Then all the audio tracks get recorded by the Mackie d8b and HDR recorder. It's a major PITA, and takes a lot of work. But I do it to keep busy, and enjoy messing with hardware.

[@GARDNSOUND]

Dude, that's dedication. I can't imagine doing an ENTIRELY hardware setup; that's next level. What do you gain from that, btw? Does it sound better or just for funsies?

[@DJPhantomRage]

@@GARDNSOUND sorry for the late reply, been busy. So hardware love for me is basically a way to play with all the gear I wanted when I was younger and could not afford. As for sound quality. That's subjective. As you know, both can sound equally killer. Sometimes a VST can't produce what a hardware synth can, and vice versa. While I can't edit like on a DAW with the Mackie HDR, it does make me more dedicated to a track when I record it. As for effects, I'm limited to hardware effects units and what the Mackie d8b has, and that leads to very creative thinking, and definitely learning what the units can do. I will definitely go back to a DAW at some point for mastering since I will never be able to afford the hardware for true mastering. All in all, it's a fun hobby for me. I'm in no way a pro, or a super good musician.

[@thenewhobo31]

This is beautiful man! Very inspiring, very contemplative. the way you faded out the high note at 8:23 was so smooth. Synth 5 was soo perfectly in the pocket it touched my jibblies. the switch-up at 10:37 was also super solid

[@GARDNSOUND]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@dannydonehue]

Holy shit this was mesmerising, Really beautiful sounds you got going there, Would love to someday incorporate some of this into my own productions.

[@justinjbenjamin]

Sounds awesome, love that virus!

[@KindridMusic]

Whelp. Looks like I got a new album to be excited for.

[@GARDNSOUND]

Ayyyy! Glad to hear from you my dude.

[@TayTayMakesBeats]

"Okay. All jokes aside, here's the per-NISSAN AD-formance."

[@SnoMan1818]

never was interested in modular until this video... you should do an introduction series to euro rack/modular for beginners... or talk about how u would possibly relearn about it/teach yourself all over again if you had to

[@SnoMan1818]

heck even some stuff about blocks reaktor or other NI instruments would be dope since ik youre a big fan of them

[@GARDNSOUND]

I like the idea of a beginner's guide to modular - but there are many other channels that do it better than me. Check out DivKidVideo; you won't regret it.

[@ok2x]

loved it !! but looks super overwhelming for a newbie to learn to make ambient music - interesting process and sparked some ideas for sure! 👌

[@Ferrichrome]

your music is so awesome! I'm looking to do the semi-dawless route too and this looks really promising. thanks :)

[@HumanMotives]

Very insightful!! Would love more detailed patch notes

[@fromagnumman1]

This video made me go check out your album. Really cool stuff. I find myself starting to be drawn towards this style of music. Really beautiful stuff man

[@GARDNSOUND]

Really appreciate it!

[@truthtraderaudio4315]

I have been looking forward to this

[@ELPLAK]

Great!!!!

[@8BitThoughts]

My bank account hurts just looking at that mod setup :(

[@GARDNSOUND]

Is it expensive? Slightly, but not as much as the premium setups I see sometimes. This is 100% thrifted/used/DIY - so I'm saving a bit of cash, but yea I know what you mean :(

[@SynthsandSounds]

That setup really isn't too harsh on the wallet. Older 90's rackmount digisynths from roland are very affordable. Maybe the virus is a bit pricey but neutron and model D are great modern cheapies. Not that you can get this in one go, but it's not that unachievable 10k $$$ setup

[@DaveChips]

@@SynthsandSounds found virus c for around 500gbp... Can't say it was cheap... But on the opposite side... It's not expensive... And it adds really good value for money... Considering number of voices and how capable it is...

[@SynthsandSounds]

@@DaveChips it surely is a nice synth and has a good reputation! It's the question though if you want to go for a virtual analog synth in a time of analog revival

[@DaveChips]

@@SynthsandSounds analog has a time and place for it and recently It became a synth fetish more than a need. Il always pick something that adds up to my pallet cuz I really can't justify picking an analog synth, just because it's analog.

[@savvidi]

Nice music Man, keep it up! Thank you

[@garaughty]

Awesome tutorial and track !

[@GARDNSOUND]

Thank you for watching!

[@lagerregal6561]

Love your content, love your voice, you are super sympathetic. nice !

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

Can you post a link to your setup on modulargrid.com so we can get an ideal for building a new setup?

[@Marzetz]

Would be nice if you will write a notes about midi clips. How do you make it :) or somekind of tutorial for people who wants to start with modular ambient. Really like your performance :) So basically you are using: Little Nerd to random trigger the LFOs. uLFOs to feed Rings. Rings hard to say but let's name it "lushy ambient" sound right? Model D for Bass sound Roland for Kalimba sound. Keystep for MIDI to CV conversion. Ableton Push to trigger midi clips. What do you do with Neutron?? Virus mostly for filtering and reverb right? Are you using sound source/oscilators from Virus?? Really like your setup. Im going to do something similar but still have some problems how to start :) Right now i've Push, Yarns, Nebulae, Plaits, Neutron and Monsoon.

[@davidjacobik5451]

Great stuff, I went and bought your album

[@GARDNSOUND]

Thank you!!

A beutiful rising ambient tune! Love it! A technical question: How do you connect the Beatstep as a MIDI->CV converter? Do you connect the push to the usb in on the beatstep or does the MIDI jack work as input aswell on the beatstep?

[@GARDNSOUND]

Great question. I connect both the push and the beatstep to my computer via usb. Both show as midi devices. Then I enable push to use the session view; and set the "midi out" on the channel for the modular to use the beatstep as its "out" - the beatstep handles the rest. HOWEVER - it uses a strange 7 octave range that sometimes causes notes to bend slightly out of tune (you can see that actually happening in the performance).

@@GARDNSOUND Ok thanks, so a computer is still needed in that configuration albeit as a middle hand... Thanks for the answer. Now to figure out how to remove the Computer ;)

[@cr3shlp]

Can I buy that somewhere? I really wanna have a wav to remix.

[@GARDNSOUND]

I'm totally going to release this on bandcamp - and I'd be perfectly fine with you remixing it. In fact - I'm debating releasing it under creative commons in order to encourage this behavior. It drops on 6/1

[@RandomNoise]

Amazing track and workflow. Subbed :-)

[@GARDNSOUND]

Thank you for watching! How'd you get here?

[@keef000]

Very nice video, I enjoyed listening to it. Can I ask if you can play a keyboard or other instruments or do you make your music from the setup you have - if you see what I mean.

[@GARDNSOUND]

I can play keyboards, but on a rudimentary level. I'm much more comfortable with guitar. In this album, I only used my rack gear.

[@emptyfame7141]

Gate into Octave! A-Ha!!! Thank you!!!

[@whitenoisefromelectronicto1728]

How did you route the different MIDI clips to different voices?

[@GARDNSOUND]

Different MIDI channels. Midi has up to 16 channels, I think...So you can send 16 different midi enabled devices different messages with the same cable. Neat, right?! There are even programs that handle these changes for large bands / acts on stage. Check out "mainstage" software.

[@parrat8589]

Do a studio tour! Place looks bomb

[@whitenoisefromelectronicto1728]

I really like your process

[@lucas.dmoura.91]

You're a genious, congrats!

[@davidgoodman6663]

Nice man. You should come join the Ambient Modular Facebook group 😊

[@GARDNSOUND]

I appreciate the invite, but I'm not on Facebook. Cheers!

[@lvnarya__]

Good stuff man

[@renegabgrullon4426]

very nice!!!

[@vinnie_wya]

This is absolutely Beautiful and i m just out of words. I know it was gonna be when i heard the teaser in ur Instagram but this is just... can't wait for 1st June. please suggest me any songs similar to this

[@GARDNSOUND]

Check out "Lightbath" and "r beny" you won't be disappointed.

[@vinnie_wya]

@@GARDNSOUND i actually listen to both of them lol thanks to Spotify but i don't think they can give me the bass that i just received from this performance this sounds like a generic thing but they bass slowly coming in i just can't get it over with

[@GARDNSOUND]

I don't mean to presume that I know your tastes 100% - but your favorite song on this album is probably going to be "SPIRAL". The sound forms a giant wall of bass and reverb at one point and it's probably my favorite point in the whole album.

[@jonahhodges6225]

Nice!

[@marcoparada10]

¡Hi! First of all, thanks for sharing, this is very interesting. Well, I have some questions, which midi controller are you using?. And, uhm, what are you using to connect all the synthethizers to ableton? An audio card?, because they are a lot... Thanks, I'm new on this, so patience please haha. Thanks again! Regards from Chile.

[@GARDNSOUND]

Hey there! Good questions. I'm using an ableton push 2 - but any controller could be used. There's an older one called an akai APC 40 that would work as well for this application. I'm connecting all of the synthesizers to a mixer in the same rack. It's all the way on the top right of the rack. That mixer is going into the virus, which is going into a MOTU 8Pre interface.

[@dotMPEGmusic]

Fuckin heat; my favorite of your work yet!!!!

[@GARDNSOUND]

Not going to be nearly as ballin as the dotMPEG + GARDNSOUND collabo - yea? When are you coming over to chill, bro!?

[@BadChizzle]

I’m feeling this track, man. Can you tell if my hair is wet right now? 😝

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Why does everyone think every element has to be perfectly in tune? A bit of flex in the pitch can add huge flavor, especially if it goes in and out of tune

[@akshaywalke19]

🎵❤️

[@ianflowforever]

Is all this hardware necessary just to work on a track, or to perform it in person?

[@lvnarya__]

MeridianOwl modular synthesis is a unique experience. It certainly isn’t necessary but in my opinion there’s something cool about physically turning the knobs and crafting the sound. There’s a good bit of modular style software synths that you can get but I think real hardware offers a feeling you can’t get with software that doesn’t necessarily have to do with the actual sound. TL;DR: a large amount of hardware isn’t required to make stuff but it’s pretty cool to have

[@GARDNSOUND]

Great question. Necessary? Absolutely not. Am I blessed to have collected so many pieces of creative hardware that I can use to make trippy bleeps and bloops? Absolutely yes. I figure; I've got it - and I might as well use it. With modular gear, the individual components link together to make one sound - so I'd argue that my modular set up is pretty bare bones. With integrated synths like the Virus - it would be possible to have ableton "perform" the automations on my behalf - but actually performing it by twisting the knobs and launching different sections makes it sound more humanized, imo. Maybe I'm waxing philosophical - but I view this as if I wrote a score for a string quartet and I get to conduct it and perform it as well. Can you dig that?

[@senorblasto8327]

He barely even used the modular, you could do this with Ableton live built in plug ins and it wouldn't take 10 hours. 10 hours by the way is extremely fast to create a song, not long as you explained.

[@zandie12]

@@senorblasto8327 why you bein a doofus

[@LandOfBits]

Niceeeee

[@Psycholgia]

4:35 By the Omnissiah!

[@VRChannelful]

love this sound!!! it's magic!! if you wanna try to hear "Tribe" (My new track on my channel) has some particular sounds that make you trip ;)

[@GARDNSOUND]

I'll check it out, thanks!

[@BIGTIMBERFILMS]

🤙🤙🤙🤙

[@GARDNSOUND]

Right on! Thanks for watching, friendo.

[@undecided_4775]

u look like andy from the office

[@thegooddoctor5573]

Run it through Landr

[@GARDNSOUND]

LMAO! For sure!

[@jodo985]

So let me get this straight, if some foreign dignitary came up to you and offered you $1 million to perform the songs live exactly like the album you’d have to tell them no? I don’t know why they have to be a foreign dignitary, it just sounds cooler.

[@GARDNSOUND]

Yea I couldn't possibly reproduce it. Cool, right?

[@yanloyko7927]

Sounds great, reminds me of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 2, but the cover art for the album is kinda lame imo

[@GARDNSOUND]

....thanks?....