Mutable Instruments Marbles tutorial, for humans

How I jam with Marbles. Made this for a friend who's new to CV and eurorack. Maybe it'll be useful for a few others.

[@rayderrich]

You deserve a subscribe as you made a nice video for Marbles without overwhelming the viewer with tons of modules and cables.

[@night_speed]

This is much better than Divkid's explanations. I had to stop watching his videos. I don't care what my modules look like on an oscilloscope. I care what they sound like and what i can realistically do with them. I think he spent like an hour going through Marbles and it was mostly gibberish to me. Within 10 minutes of this video i understood both what Marbles does and how to patch it. Thank you.

[@bartdecrem4092]

Oh wow that’s so nice to hear. Jam on!

[@riseofthemachine2623]

I know he is the big gun of modular reviews, but I don't find his videos all that helpful, being a newcomer to modular synthesis. The sounds he produces are also why I avoided modular.

[@888cromartie]

Yup, I watched part of that review and it starts out with a jargon salad. I'm sure it sold a bunch of modules, but for some of it it's pretty terrible, or in his language, rubbish.

[@zorancalic65]

Yes! Musicians do not need Oscilloscope. I play clarinet, piano, guitar, synths, and i never needed oscilloscope??!! What for to look music? No, i prefere to listen

[@TheDavidPoole]

The reason a lot of modular synth users have\use oscilloscopes is that many of them build their own modules, either from kits or they design them themselves. A scope is essential for calibration. You don't just build a kit, plug it in and it works 1st time. Especially if it's an oscillator that needs to work musically at 1 v\octave. Also, historically synthesisers were born from Lab test equipment where a scope was part of the furniture in an electronics lab. I've personally never used a scope for music (I've been playing synth since the late 70s) but I'm just taking my first steps in Modular synthesis in the last week and have found that a scope is going to be fairly essential. Also, it's more Blinken Lightzen and what synth player doesn't like Blinken Lightzen?!?😁

[@ms6465]

This is outstanding. Thank you so much for such a comprehensive explanation.

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

Finally, something I can follow along to, and I have similar modules.

[@bartdecrem4092]

I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@crunkdwscrew]

Lovely Doors album in sight behind the modular too

[@bartdecrem4092]

thanks! Courtesy of discogs :)

[@alexr6527]

If i heard this explanation when i was first getting into modular, I would’ve learned way quicker. I love the way you explain everything, very nice!

[@bartdecrem4092]

hey Alex, wow, super appreciate that!

[@markwhitehead7096]

Totally agree this systematic explanation is fantastic!

[@andrewnancarrow]

??? This “tutorial” was a jumbled hot mess. DivKid actually explains things very clearly and thoroughly. Maybe I’m not on the same ADHD drugs as the rest of you guys who understand this crazy dyslexia

[@cougarman8]

@@andrewnancarrowcool post bro

[@riseofthemachine2623]

I just received mine today, tried to wing it and came running to this video for help! I love how you laid out the simple signal path and just kept evolving the sound while you explained the functions. Thank you!!

[@xombi242]

I Love this explanation with a barebones limited skiff. This is great for beginners. I hope to see more.

[@verdielg]

Thank you so much! This has been a huge game changer for me with my setup. Your explanations and demo here is so well done that I feel like I can retire a few modules from my rack lol. Thanks again! Btw, I love your song in the other video posted with this rig. To think so much sound can be generated by such few modules and HP real estate. Very impressive indeed!

[@geocache66today]

Bart ! A fantastic way of having this explained. Set at a good pace, informative, no garble, to the point. I learnt more from you. Thank you so much.👍🏼

[@iamseeingdots]

Best tutorial yet on marbles. Easy to understand and I love the jam! Subscribed!

[@bartdecrem4092]

hey thanks!

[@simonjefferytaylor]

Great video

[@bartdecrem4092]

🙏

[@ritec]

Great Marbles tutorial. Helped quite a bit, thanks.

[@odessamusic]

Thank you! Exactly what I was looking for.

[@MatthiasReinelt]

Best Marbels tutorial on YT, focusing on making people understand that thing rather then covering ALL it’s possibilities. Thank you!

[@generalawareness101]

Yeah, I have watched every video I can get my hands on for VCV rack and Eurorack and I am as ignorant after watching them as I was when I clicked on them.

[@bartdecrem4092]

General Awareness and Matthias: much thanks, guys. I made this for a friend, in one take. Maybe I’ll do another one that’s a bit more thought out over the next few weeks

[@generalawareness101]

@@bartdecrem4092 Just keep up what you did and I know I will be happy. Thank you.

[@gruker]

thank you, I was struggling with marbles and this helped loads.

[@pixelatedbeatz]

Thanks Bart! Very helpful stuff.

[@richarquis]

Hats off for Last Poets album in the background! I do hope you've heard the Be-Yond-Er section from "Delights of the Garden" - It's fucking amazing. Sadly, youtube demands it be split. On my CD copy, it's listed as 3 tracks, but plays uninterrupted as a single track that lasts almost 19 minutes. It's best heard as a single track.

[@PoliPopo]

This was perfect thank You 🙏

[@musicartguy1]

incredibly helpful. Thank you for putting this in terms that make sense.

[@bartdecrem4092]

my pleasure! jam on!

[@olw4196]

I think this mini patch unlocked a ton of missing concepts I was missing.

[@NICUofficial]

super-helpful and give some new perspectives on using my Marbles instead of losing them :)

[@AdiGoldsteinComposer]

The perfect explanation! Thank you for sharing :)

[@bartdecrem4092]

Thanks adi!

[@MrStetsonator]

Great explanation !

[@bartdecrem4092]

🙏🏾

[@iamdesertpaul]

Please do more videos like this! That was really helpful!

[@bartdecrem4092]

Thanks for the nice comment. Lmk if you have any specific request!

[@bartdecrem4092]

I have done two more in the past few weeks: one on Turing machine, one explaining a eurorack patch w sq-1 :)

[@itsnobel8867]

Thank goodness for this tutorial! well explained 🙌

[@bartdecrem4092]

I spent so much time figuring out the module. Then yesterday I had yet another really fun jam with it. It is literally my desert island instrument: I would keep it over my model d or anything else in my studio.

[@itsnobel8867]

@@bartdecrem4092 Yeah I got mine a couple days ago, paired it with clouds, Elements and Ochd and it just sounds fantastic !

[@Limbic1000]

Thx Bart, very helpful!! 👍

[@acidbat4441]

the Last Poets tho.. good record

[@olivierdemeyere4021]

This way we can get rid of the high end freaky stuff" :-)... well actually you're right!

[@WhiteDovePBB]

Nice

[@wintersbeats1453]

This is such a helpful guide for a beginner! Thanks!

[@bartdecrem4092]

Thank you! I made it for a friend originally and then decided to post, on a lurk

[@wintersbeats1453]

@@bartdecrem4092 well I'm glad you decided to post it, because I think this just finalized my decision to buy one!

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

What if I don’t want marbles triggering constantly How do you make it trigger note then skip a few etc. so it’s not so monotonous.

[@joostvanbunnik7646]

Good material

[@draconianrhythms]

Excellent demo mate 🤙

[@bartdecrem4092]

thank you for the kind words!

[@wordsyourwords7834]

Human approved tutorial. 👍

[@vuotonulla]

tik-tik-tik, or teeeee teeeeee 👍

[@jodo985]

Hahaha

[@portobellolibraryrecords4556]

Yo Bart💗🤖🤖🤖, thanks man

[@hairandjeromelondon]

I just got to understand the joy of tweaking!

[@bartdecrem4092]

Isn’t that the best feeling? Except that it took me so many hours of frustrated “ugh, this should be awesome but no music is coming out” before I got to this aha moment. Enjoy!

[@hairandjeromelondon]

@@bartdecrem4092 Thanks for sharing this with us.

[@MrJoyoverkill]

hey I am thinking about making a mini system like this, using a 4ms pod 36 but it only has 2 shoulders for power. I am wondering, and sorry for the newbie question, what did you use to power all the modules?

[@bartdecrem4092]

1- Everything in eurorack is a little complicated. With the 4ms pod cases, when buying you need to consider (1) get the powered one. Else you have to separately purchase a power adapter and strip, (2) the hp size. I think mine is 48hp?, (3) the depth: if you get for instance the pod40x(powered) thst one is 51mm deep. I think x = deep. If you get a less deep one, many modules won’t physically fit in the case….

[@bartdecrem4092]

2- “shoulders”: all the powered 4ms cases have two plugs in the back where you can plug your power cable in. You just pick whichever one is closer to your outlet. Interchangeable- you use one. On the inside are the connectors. You need one connector for each module. So for instance pod40x(powered) comes w 4 connectors so will support 4 modules. However you can buy a “fly” cable to add more connectors, which is what I did in my case.

[@MrJoyoverkill]

@@bartdecrem4092 thanks a lot for your help very illuminating. I am getting the 40hp one and a few flying bus connectors

[@VagPoop_]

i can't get it to do much. maybe i need a tides instead but idk..

[@bartdecrem4092]

Fastest way to get it under control is to add a quantizer after marbles- I use the discontinued intellijel scale, but there’s also 2hp tune and many others. And don’t be afraid to hit that upper right button to lock in a sequence and then just knob mash and use it like a live instrument

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

Getting tides is not going to make anything better.

[@rnx317]

Hey man, great stuff but why use two quantizers? I understood you're choosing a scale on marbles anyway, so whats the use for Hysteria's quantizer then?

[@bartdecrem4092]

Hi Riad, great question! So Marbles is a sequencer, and you get to pick a scale (Minor, Major etc) on it. But it does not let you pick a root note. So the awesome thing on the Hysteria, our VCO, is that unlike most VCO's you don't need a tuner to make sure you're in tune. With quantized mode on, it'll always be tuned to some note. The OCT slider lets you move up and down whole octaves at a time. The SEMI slider lets you move up a semi-note at a time. So you can make a sequence, and then you like it, but you want to shift the root, say from A to G, or up a whole Octave, and that's what you'll do on the Hysteria. It's not a quantizer per se (forcing all notes to adhere to a scale), but instead it tunes your oscillator to a specific octave or semi-tone.

[@bartdecrem4092]

Btw the lingo a little confusing cuz general in eurorack when people say quantizer it means a tool that forces whatever cv that comes in to go out adhering to the notes of a specific scale. Hysteria uses the same word to mean that you can easily tune your vco by semitone or octave

[@rnx317]

@@bartdecrem4092 nice!

[@zorancalic65]

Why your voice is so loud? Music should be louder

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

No. It’s fine actually

[@donchung5136]

Amazing video!! I am a complete newbie but just following the instructions here I am making music !! I wish all the videos are like this. Thanks so much !