Rings & Clouds - Eurorack Ambient Patch Tutorial #1

The first in my series of eurorack ambient patch tutorials - learn some good starting points for what are probably the most commonly used modules in ambient - Rings and Clouds.
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Links:
Parasites Firmware - mqtthiqs.github.io/parasites/...
#eurorack #ambient #tutorial

[@Peakae]

NOTE: I've been informed that apparently I've read the lights on my uBurst wrong, and I am actually running in Spectral Madness mode here, not Granular/Clouds mode as previously stated. Thanks rbeny for pointing this out! Got any other modules you'd like me to show you some interesting patches for? Or questions about this one? How did you feel when you started out in your eurorack journey? Let me know!

[@SonicWarfareSF]

id love to see a stages and marbles walkthrough in relation to this stuff.

[@Peakae]

That’s definitely something on my list - especially Marbles is fantastic for ambient. Will do!

[@cci35]

Hey! First off, amazing video can't believe you don't have like 20k views :O I really selfish request though: will you consider testing out the triple sloths from nonlinear circuits? Great ambient modulation source but tricky tricky ;)

[@Peakae]

Thank you! If I can get my hands on one, I’ll see what I can do. :)

[@jc3drums916]

That's one bad thing about µBurst - for whatever reason, the lights go from bottom to top. I figured it out quickly, but I think it's counterintuitive. Great video! I was wondering, do you have any good examples of modulating or sequencing Marbles? I haven't seen much of that. Also, if using Marbles/Rings/Clouds as a starting point, what would be the first (type of) module you would add? I'm guessing something to modulate Clouds?

[@RhettShull]

These are the MOST helpful videos I’ve found on all of KZbin for modular noobs like me, thank you!

[@nothingislogical]

Ah, another guitar player diving into the world of modular synths. I'm a subscriber to your channel. It's a nice surprise to see you commenting on a video like this.

[@matt-marque]

My kingdom for more videos like this. The focus on specifics and tactical nitty-gritty is welcome and wildly underrepresented today.

[@Switz213]

I went from basically 0 experience to an ambient patch in VCV with this, thank you so much. I'm bit.

[@Ryukk003]

I've been diving in to ambient music production through VCV rack, and this is the video I've been searching for. Super great guide through the patch process of an ambient patch. Love it!

[@niklaske]

Yes!!! More of these! I've watched 10 sec of this and I'm already hooked. Thank you for this

[@TyrasPiano]

This is exactly the type of modular tutorials I have been looking for! Thanks for your help. I would love to see more of these videos in the future :)

[@mattholland0202]

Mate this is absolutely incredible, precisely the kind of music I'd love to make, and a hugely helpful tutorial! Subscribed and will be watching much more! Thanks :)

[@eph_kni]

So much fun. I love the use of marbles and stages as a kinda random gate generator, where you could cut down the number of states based on what gate-in you plug into

[@Contang0]

This was very much appreciated! great stuff.

[@adamkocher7671]

This is a great video. Often times these instructional videos are over saturated with other modules. Would love to see more about Marbles and Magneto.

[@woundsdrone]

Keep these vids coming! Don’t stop after episode 2 please!

[@johntbd]

Thanks for the video. Ideas always welcome.

[@hughkremer4026]

Thank you for putting this together. Got me over a few humps.

[@HousePlant_Ambient]

This is an incredible tutorial as someone getting into modular synth. I have a build eurorack with these so I am learning on the go.

[@rustystrat50]

Awesome video, just what I was looking for. Thanks

[@SnoopLazeranake]

Great video, with nice clear explanations. Would love to see more ambient stuff with Plaits and Clouds and also experimentation with the Excite input on Rings too.

[@Peakae]

Got it!

[@snoopyoverthehills]

+1 on rings input

[@maikrobin]

Great video and really nice to watch!! Please do more!

[@Peakae]

Thanks! It’s unlikely I’ll do pre-recorded tutorials like this in the future - instead I’ve been doing them on my live-streams. I have one coming up tonight on the Intellijel Tete. Feel free to drop by on twitch or check them out afterwards on KZbin. :)

[@rylok]

Thank you for this. As a brand new modular synth rack maker I appreciate all the explanation!

[@rileycraft4656]

awesome tutorial, I've been fiddling w/ vcv rack trying to get the nice ringing plunk sound w/ rings and this helped

[@shadowfall2823]

Great video, thanks for making this.

[@Larry30102]

Even though I’m a little late to comment, this is one great video. Really excellent teacher and instruction. Learned a lot. Many thx.

[@Richie086]

well done, glad i found your channel!

[@dreamdealer]

great vid, keep them coming.

[@acatwhopurrs5031]

Hey. This is awesome. I'm just starting my eurorack journey with the Poly Digit/Beebo running the Mutable Instruments-based modules.

[@PoliPopo]

Thank you This video hit home for me 💯 I was just looking into clouds

[@daneguitarist1]

this guy is awesome! so educational!

[@Audhentik]

really great tutorial! thanks ❤

[@esc5487]

great job. i think its important to mention that a lot of modules the knobs have important relationships with eachother

[@els1f]

6:11 "it's not really what you want" he says 😁

[@PoliPopo]

Thank you very much just got into a Pittsburgh modular foundations and I have a lot to learn

[@Peakae]

You’re welcome! Feel free to drop by the stream sometime if you have questions you’d like to ask in person!

[@PoliPopo]

@@Peakae that sounds awesome I'll definitely have to get in on that 💯

[@psychrockvinyl]

Good stuff man

[@mratomsfitzgerald8523]

Good info. Thank you sir

[@eddraper]

Useful! Thank you

[@amar_paul]

Thank you 🙏🏻 ❤

[@carlehuston]

really good pacing in the presentation

[@NimrodScott]

This is quite nice and gives me some more ideas to try with clouds. Rings is one of those modules that can do almost anything. I recently created a drone with Rings alone (well, almost alone, Sloths was modulating it). Your explanations are clear and well spoken. I’m subscribing! Thanks.🙏🏻

[@Peakae]

Thank you! And that’s interesting that you created a drone with Rings alone, would love to know more!

[@NimrodScott]

@@Peakae Well I went back to my patch description and it is partially correct. Basically Rings is the voice, Brightness, Frequency, Structure and Position are being modulated by either Sloths, or a Batumi. However, the E352 Cloud Terrarium is connected to the IN patch on Rings. So Rings is droning with those modulations and that input. The drone can be heard here: soundcloud.com/user-662277008/a-single-ring-in-orbit

[@Peakae]

@@NimrodScott Very nice - I love the upper harmonics that are ringing out in that!

[@snoopyoverthehills]

i created a drone with marbles rings and clouds. very awesome patch :)

[@kostantinosmag2986]

nice one great

[@rbeny]

nice tutorial video! fyi, i believe your clouds is in spectral madness mode here, not granular (which is odd since the led showed it being in the first mode slot). you can tell by the behavior of the texture and size controls. texture in granular should just change the envelope shape of the grains. size in granular wouldn't affect the pitch, just would set the length of each grain being played. nice to see more patching on the fly videos.

[@Peakae]

Oh my gosh, thank you! I just checked and it turns out you're entirely right, I've just been reading the orientation of the lights on uBurst upside-down ever since I first got it!!

[@dammitdanny6037]

Peakae that’s a uBurst problem. I got an entirely different clouds clone because I can’t quickly read the uBurst.

[@ZumOne]

@@Peakae I have been confused by my uburst since i got it... I find mutable stuff confusing already and this just adds an extra confusion. But I love it. I also like your videos... coincidentally I have a lot fo the same modules as you and am learning lots from how you use them! Thank you!

[@djdozoz]

Thanks for this video, I never use the spectra madness mode as it always gets too crazy and difficult to tame.

[@musicartgeek]

I was wondering why your texture control was behaving so weirdly

[@curckcurtis]

Thanks a lot !!

[@Kenwaldek]

Been a while catching up on your videos looking what’s new in ambient world modular

[@snoopyoverthehills]

i just go the lofi junky. would love to see some content on that. also with nebulae v2 i struggle a lot. especially when it comes to manipulating a live signal. i'm not sure if it's possible or if i'm missing something. great video, very clear and straight forward. thank you for that. subbed. :)

[@davidgoodman6663]

It's a good tutorial, one thing I would add though it really depends how much dry wet you have set especially on feedback 3rd light as the density pot position will depend on this.

[@Peakae]

Thank you, I noticed that I totally neglected to talk about this setting plus the stereo imaging one! For reference, these were the values in the video: Feedback: ~25% Stereo: ~60-75%

[@bobbfett.musiclab]

Great tutorial, as you said, there isn’t much good starting tutorials. Thank you

[@thamelmusic]

Really nice tutorial. Just subscribed ! Thinking about Marbles for my next euro purchase...

[@Peakae]

Do it! All the power of the Music Thing Turing Machine with extras, and without having to DIY it. :)

[@thamelmusic]

Peakae I think I will indeed. I am already into random sequencing/playing Rings ( and others sound sources) with the Keystep. Marbles should get me quite further in that process. Thanx for the advice.

[@ososonic7041]

Thanks

[@AlexanderGibbonsAudio]

Early on you mention the opposite to dissonant.. It's consonant :) FYI. Great video btw

[@arjuna207]

More!!!

[@GregShaw]

Great tutorial, my Eurorack is playing away by its self as I type this making lush ambient sounds! I see you have a Telharmonic in your rack. Will you be doing any ambient tutorials using that module?

[@Peakae]

Thank you! I’ve mostly stepped away from the tutorial format here, and instead I do live-streams where we explore the modules together. Here’s one I did on the telharmonic a while back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5PSaJJrm5mVbtE I stream Wed at 2am UTC and Sat at 5pm UTC if you want to come chat!

[@PaulTurnquist]

Thank you so much! I'm really just starting my journey into all this and there is so little out there on just the absolute basics of how to even get a sound out of a system. Speaking of, what would you recommend for just that?! Would you be willing to make a video on just the absolute basics of powering these units, what's needed to generate a sound, and get it 'out' of of the system via mixer or other means to whatever means of monitoring/recording. (Again, thank you!!)

[@kaleidaline4359]

You might want to check out Omri Cohen - he has has loads of tutorials for beginners ...

[@PaulTurnquist]

@@kaleidaline4359 Thanks! I appreciate it and'll definitely go do some more research :]!

[@BennosProject]

Could you make more videos like that? Thanx!!! :)

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

This is great which module did the Reverb come from thank you

[@jeffjeffjeffjeff2588]

Very nice. I’d love to see you dig into magneto. I’m just getting to know mine.

[@Peakae]

Added to my list to go over! I’ve done some very neat patches with the Magneto in the past so this is high on my list. Thanks

[@snoopyoverthehills]

there is one for sale and i'm not sure if i need one... i want one for sure :D

[@jonaseggen2230]

On that last one, maybe some compression and then into LofiJunkie : )

[@br6719]

I’m looking to build a small ambient rack. What would you suggest as the best modules to start with. It appears coulds, rings, and erbe verb would be best along with maths. Would love to exchange emails and bounce ideas off of you!

[@dthomasproductions88]

I'm not really sure how to phrase my question but... with this Eurorack, is there a synth plugged into it out of frame of the video that is generating sound/notes, or is the signal strictly coming from JUST the modules?

[@heyjonmorgan]

For this patch, it's all coming from the modules. Rings is what is generating the plucked string sounds, and Marbles is telling it to random-ish notes at random-ish times.

[@123456789tube100]

If i want a minimal ambient drone generative set up like this, how many thousands is it ?

[@GeorgeLocke]

Non dissonant -- > consonant

[@natbaldino6497]

What's the module on the very bottom left??

[@GoffeTorg]

Well, since you asked, Telharmonic. Thanks.

[@MarkoDeLaVoota]

dig into that qu bit

[@Boneless_Chuck]

I don't understand what you're using for a source sound. Does Marbles generate its own sound?

[@Peakae]

Nope - sounds here are coming from Rings. Marbles is just telling Rings what note to play and when. :)

[@scottrowan200]

Please help i tried thos but my cloud ( same model as you ) sounds like a horror movie!

[@lifewithoutera]

Is installing parasites on third party uburst modules doable?

[@Peakae]

It sure is! You follow exactly the same steps as is outlined in the module for clouds.

[@ScottofOakland]

I don't have Parasites installed and my Clouds doesn't do what yours does...

[@Peakae]

Hmm, it definitely should as far as I understand. You’re in granular (EDIT: not granular after all, but spectral madness!) mode for sure right? Maybe there are some changes to that mode that I wasn’t aware of in Parasites. Good excuse to switch firmware if so! Parasites expands Clouds like crazy (the Oliverb mode is particularly cool)