Patch from Scratch: "Eurorack Ambient"

Relax.
The patch for this video was inspired by classic ambient and furniture music, as well as by currently popular ambient modular composers here on KZbin.
Erik Satie first introduced the notion of “furniture music”, music specifically made not to be the center of attention.
He made some other musical innovations that are pertinent to ambient music, including;
1. The removal of bar lines from sheet music. (The experience of playing pieces in this style, such as the 6 Gnossienes, is that of finding the meter that arises between the note durations rather than having it dictated by the outward structure of the piece.)
2. The notion of exact temporal durations in minutes and seconds being prioritized as the main structural element of pieces.
In a letter, John Cage once wrote: “the importance due [Satie] [is], I believe, to have consistently structured his music on lengths of time rather than harmonic relations. I’m sure he was aware of doing this but I doubt whether he knew its real importance, which is real: liberation from the Beethoven yoke, far more real than that granted by S[choenberg] with the 12-tone row.”
The best known pioneer of “ambient music” as such is Brian Eno.
For Eno, Ambient music should function equally well in the background and the foreground. “It must be as ignorable as it is interesting.”
The first record in Eno’s Ambient Series, "Music for Airports", was created by allowing long tape loops of differing durations to overlap each other. Each element repeated periodically, but the juxtaposition of elements was different each time.
Other pieces in Eno’s ouvre use similar techniques, including those in other media such as the phone app “Bloom” and the audiovisual installation “77 Million Paintings”.
Today the tag “Eurorack Ambient” is popular on KZbin and other social media. Popular artists include Emily Sprague, Lightbath, r beny, and ann annie.
We don’t want to pigeonhole an art form that is still taking shape, but there are some themes to be found here too. None of the following should be understood as a hard-and-fast rule in any way:
1. The visual element is often not dynamic, but is presented as a soothing environment. Many videos feature a shot in muted tones of a mostly-untouched Eurorack synthesizer, in a calm setting with well-placed plants, and a backdrop of windows overlooking pleasing skylines, or being splattered with rain.
2. The sound palette is often limited to simple and pleasing sounds with vague but present melodic content, and free of dramatic dynamic changes. This is true of Satie’s and Eno’s music as well.
3. Previously undesirable sounds such as “tape hiss”, “radio noise”, “crackle” are aesthetically pleasing and enhance the overall effect if carefully filtered and mixed low.
The present patch utilizes three relatively sparse voices whose “loops” are only tangentially connected to each other in terms of duration/“loop points”. We hope you enjoy it.
www.makenoisemu...

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Audio of the patch without vocal track: drive.google.com/open?id=1FIrhl4gLDsg3RS1e9dtEPdAXpJmsTl2V

[@robertsyrett1992]

We're not worthy!

[@YannGuillermou]

Thanks!!!

[@ariesskylar489]

i know im asking the wrong place but does someone know a trick to get back into an instagram account? I somehow forgot my account password. I would love any tips you can give me!

[@merrickthomas3106]

@Aries Skylar instablaster :)

[@ariesskylar489]

@Merrick Thomas i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and I'm in the hacking process now. Takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@circuitousvibes5226]

This is absolutely brilliant. I think this demo has compelled me to start a fund to acquire a shared system. Endless possibilities.

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

thanks for watching!

[@an_outskirt292]

love these diary-type entries of the journey patches take; all the surprising turns and discoveries that result.

[@CinematicLaboratory]

I recently 'discovered' that the Echophon is an extremely powerful and musical module for ambient when you CV the pitch in 1V/Oct mode. When choosing your notes carefully, you get these wonderful rich chords and swirls that evolve with the DPO's magic. And when you hook it up with Pressure Points you may be able to summon anything you like - or fear.

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

This sounds like fun, you should link a recording of the results if you have it!

[@vinylwrap5571]

So much potential in this system.

[@tColorsinspacerecordings]

endless

[@ChibaCityBlues]

I love this piece so much. It's music like this that got me in to modular.

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Thanks!! Glad you liked it :)

[@kenschestok9515]

somehow I've missed this video over the years? its wonderful! I want to like it but it's got 666 likes and I also don't want to mess that up

[@ubahnrider1337]

wow i just now read the description. great text!

[@patchnovae]

This is inspiring!

[@GlitchWolf]

Excellent video, and wonderful composition! Always a good time with Make Noise.

[@WellsOliver]

you know you guys gotta provide a mp3 when you drop these wonderful little "no big deal just a demo" tracks

[@robertsyrett1992]

Agreed. Does Makenoise Records have a bandcamp? edit: It looks like there is a label called make noise records but it isn't the same as the Maken0ise records affiliated with this channel.

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

drive.google.com/open?id=1FIrhl4gLDsg3RS1e9dtEPdAXpJmsTl2V

[@daSunBrain]

Great Track amd great tutorial! More very welcome!

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Thanks!

[@tehcatakai]

gorgeous

[@MrHihowryou]

Thank you for so many great uploads. I think many of us would benefit greatly if there was a series taking maybe 2 or 3 modules at a time and exploring their favorite possibilities rather than having so much to look at and digest at once.

[@alexandrecamilleri8640]

Thanks for doing these

[@apparently_sonam]

Thanks for the dreamy patch; Happy b day for me!!

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Happy birthday!

[@yongamusic]

Nice analysis!

[@wackenthaljef]

Enorme et génial super cool ...! Merci a Mec Noyz.

[@VCVRackIdeas]

thank you for this tutorial! very useful

[@galenbaby]

Thank you for this context. Makes me appreciate the music more and want to dig into the classic examples. Love the song too.

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Thanks for watching!!

[@LavLab]

Great! 👽👍

[@bramsanjanssan4908]

Beautiful

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Thank you!

[@XanderEwald]

Beautiful :)

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

thanks for watching!

[@TheMRthurbo]

morphagene + erbeverb = instant ambient goodness

[@jamesds1979]

lovely work.

[@afraidhishorses]

beautiful!

[@MrJosehesse]

whats coming on math 3 channel in the beginning of the video?? the black cable*

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Woggle CV Out -> MATHS Ch3 -> MORPH

[@steveambrose1734]

Hi I just recently got my B&g system. Can you show me or point me to how you get a different sound on l/R each channel of morphagene

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

You can do this by patching different sounds to the inputs when recording.

[@jonathanehlinger4321]

How are you getting two samples on left/right from Morphagene? Is this setup ahead of time w/the reel in a DAW?

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

The channels' inputs and outputs are independent (though there is some crossover at the highest Morph settings). You can do it with DAW/audio editor, or just record two different things into the two inputs.

[@jonathanehlinger4321]

@@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC Whoa! I must have missed this in the manual. Holy shit. So many ideas.

[@catherinavillanueva]

how do you get one sound out of morph left out and another out of the right

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

You can record into right and left channels separately (as long as you record both at once), or use a DAW to pan as such prior to rendering the WAV file for use as a Morphagene Reel.

[@arjuna207]

I missed the part about different sounds on each morphagene channel. How is that possible?

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

You can patch one sound to the left input and the other sound to the right when recording, and as long as Morph isn't turned up past about 2:00 they will maintain that separation at the output.

[@arjuna207]

MAKEN0ISE wow, i really must print out my manuals!

[@edwardyc700]

anyone know where is the output of MATHS Ch3 going to?

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Woggle CV Out -> MATHS Ch3 -> MORPH

[@jonbrouwer4300]

After half a dozen patch cables, how can you understand what's going on with the whole system?

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

That comes with practice and experience. It's like intuiting which gear you should be in while driving a car, or how to phrase melodic lines while playing a piano.

[@jonbrouwer4300]

@@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC So there is still hope for my currently-non-modular-mind... Phantastique!!

[@anthonyman8008]

Do 432 and/or 448hz please!

[@daveydixon1363]

SPACECRAFT for IOS has a default sample which sounds similar to this

[@robertsyrett1992]

Is it just me, or is there a high noise floor on the recording. I don't mind it, but I'm wondering where it's coming from.

[@GreenTruckEnjoyer]

I've noticed this coming from my morphagene sometimes, maybe due to auto gain function going high causing high noise floor in captured sample?

[@alexandrecamilleri8640]

Seems like he adds it near the beggining to add an "ambient feel" as he commented

[@robertsyrett1992]

@@alexandrecamilleri8640 I hadn't noticed that. Black on black cable is almost invisible! @Math Kat It's a nice gentle noise, sort of like a tape hiss or the sound or rain from inside a cabin.

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

Yes, it's patched to Ch1 of the modDemix. I used several recordings of radio and tape noise layered on top of each other and looped.

[@kurbfeeler]

@@GreenTruckEnjoyer if your sample or audio source is noisy or low volume, normalization will absolutely magnify any noise present. Running thru a touch of reverb or filtering slightly can usually help mask to the point of acceptability.

[@wesleyleigh4063]

'nice bleeps and whines, how much for them?' '$4000 please'

[@spiralmoment]

in eu its actually more like 6000. but the cool thing about synthesisers is that you program them to sound and do what you want.

[@vvcv__00]

You think your all bad-ass 'cause you can do that? Pfff...shee't I know how to use a distortion and reverb pedal.

[@MAKEN0ISEMUSIC]

🤘