The Most Expensive White Noise Machine

Andrew Huang and I build a modular synth set up to mimic being on a boat in a storm.
Andrew's channel: kzbin.info
Commentary, song stems, and early access to videos when you super-subscribe on Patreon: www.patreon.com/RobScallon
Shot by R&A Inc.
Mixed by Rob Ruccia of Uptown Recording: www.uptownrecording.com/
Video edited by Jake Jarvi: kzbin.info
This video was made possible because of Patreon support from Rob Harper, Hypergnome, Fabio, rd1994, Isaac Briefer, Sheldon Bird, Yaroslav Yermilov, Denis Lachapelle, Kevin Harris, Spencer Winchester, Yvonne Elessedil, and many other awesome people on my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/RobScallon
Big videos go on this channel. Everything and anything else is on the 2nd: kzbin.info
Also...
Vinyls/Merch: store.dftba.com/collections/rob-scallon
Instagram: robscallon
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@robscallon
Facebook: tinyurl.com/RSfanpage
Twitter: tinyurl.com/twitter78

[@robscallon]

Also, yes :) We will be doing First of October again this year Can’t wait! See you soon! 🙏

[@scottvogel8477]

Now that we know that great news. The real question that needs to be answered is where is your bucket?

[@ChristopherBuecheler]

It's not really fall until THE FIRST OF OCTOBER!

[@yndihalda]

Hype!

[@robscallon]

@@scottvogel8477 haha dang that’s a throwback! Loved making those metal mad libs videos

[@sanch1t]

LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@SassyWaifu]

Not sure what I was expecting but you guys turning around at 31:30 was definitely NOT that. Love you guys. Looking forward to next month and 1st of October stuff!

[@aymericmarchand3472]

Same here, I wasn't ready for THAT! But thoroughly enjoyed the video, the creative process, the alchemy, as always!

[@RadicalEdward_115]

🤣😂

[@XxSUPERPOOPxX]

I read your comment before getting that far into the video and kind of thought "huh wonder what that's about" THEN I got to that timestamp and basically screamed "WHAT THE HELL"

[@BlazertronGames]

Jesus, you just reminded me how quickly the past year has gone. Last years 1st of October doesn't feel that long ago.

[@KristianNowak]

LMAO WHAT

[@JuanCruzFabi]

I love when this two are in the same room, they are hilarious together

[@xanderwarwick9973]

Absolutely. I'm super hyped for the first :)

[@JamieHarka]

I just love your photo, what an album!

[@JuanCruzFabi]

@@JamieHarka Thanks my friend! A Shipwreck In The Sand is the best album ever

[@felipez7113]

& I love the fact tha his hair continues a little wet after the Umbrella scene.

[@Dergishmere]

Going to need a 10 hour recording of this synth for sleeping.

[@blackrockwackpack1053]

Totally! I need it

[@yanna9478]

i need it so bad

[@mr.peanut9828]

plz

[@Sebb_Music]

Yes! Was surprised not to see a link to that, I really hope they made a long recording before unpatching

[@RedHair651]

@@Sebb_Music The good thing is they have footage of the making of it so it could theoretically be recreated

[@cineblazer]

there's a sort of watson and holmes vibe going on in this video with andrew bringing the technical knowledge and rob bringing the clear vision and sense of direction. i freaking love it every time these two collaborate.

[@fernbear3950]

oh andrew can bring the direction too, have you heard his music? it is next level. i think he is good at stepping back and letting others take the creative reins though, its something i really envy about him and am working on strongly in myself.

[@cineblazer]

@@fernbear3950 I'm a longtime fan of Andrew's, don't worry. I think Rob's beginner's mind when it comes to synthesizers is really valuable though, he drifts towards ideas and sounds that wouldn't occur to people with lots of experience. I quite enjoy Andrew's solo work though, I just really love seeing him and Rob collab and I'm super excited for FIrst of October this year!

[@lildrummerboy5673]

I could watch rob and Andrew create various soundscapes for HOURS

[@sasamsa3165]

these two always make the most entertaining videos

[@robscallon]

Thanks!

[@jockeboss]

@@robscallon no problem!

[@PocketUnv]

This needs to be a series, your patching adventures are just so wholesome!

[@SlyHikari03]

True

[@AmtrakBoy42]

Can you PLEASE upload an hour long recording of this to your second channel??? It sounds so amazing! I want to fall asleep to this thing every night.

[@Jonas_Mikkelsen]

Just buy one xD

[@Jonas_Mikkelsen]

Only a few $1000

[@xanderwarwick9973]

@@Jonas_Mikkelsen plus the knowledge and skill to reproduce the sounds, not something your average yt commenter has

[@zensuufu]

Yes plz

[@youtubesuperfan1]

The ending twist so good

[@eaterdrinker000]

short 'n twisty

[@BeingBaz]

Ok, I KNOW I’m not the only one who loves it when Andrew and Rob collab! But I genuinely watched almost 35mins of these guys making white noise and nerding out! I would absolutely love to have you guys do a podcast deep diving into the things you love, music theory, gadgets, music that hits the emotions, the stories behind your songs, your interpretation of each other music… so many options and I’d gladly listen to it all! Much love and looking forward to 1st of October!

[@TheBanana93]

It worked for Jared and Dickey!

[@607]

They didn't make white noise, they started with white noise. :P

[@najrenchelf2751]

Imagine if they used this to transition between two songs...

[@csucskos]

This is the best intro to modular synth video. Rob's questions, Andrew's simple descriptions, the set goal and the constant fiddling with the knobs. Awesome!

[@fernbear3950]

nd the end of course lol

[@Priapos93]

All the knobs were good, but the knobs at the end were the best

[@ashleygreenaway6312]

I love the idea of modular since because I’m blind and so much modern music technology is quite inaccessible to me. The tactile nature of modular synths means I could work it all out myself but I don’t even know where to start.

[@jacksonbarker7594]

I’m sure there’s starter sets you could get with some essential modules and the cables, from there it’s getting whatever modules you need to follow the ideas you come up with

[@jamesfindice2871]

Maybe try the Erica Synths Pico System, its pretty compact and has a lot of modules in it. Also price wise ok.

[@hazel9446]

I decided to start with a semi-modular synth, and bought a 0-coast a couple months ago. Worth checking out! If you have a synth shop in your area that would also be a good start point.

[@Vedgy]

The producer Andromida is blind, you should maybe email him and ask how he works around it.

[@andewprod]

Well, i recommend you modules with big knobs then, and everything knob per function. Meaning, no digital modules with menu-diving. The big knobs are important so you have clear where everything is and also it just feels lot better than the tiny pots. It would be very interesting to me to hear about your experience, i imagine you experience sound way different then others, especially when you turn a knobs and it changes.

[@mattpetersen2586]

I was skeptical of the idea of making something so non-musical at first but this is actually a really cool way to explore sound design and train yourself to be able to recreate what you hear.

[@voidinheritant]

I was skeptical of the idea of making something so non-musical 🤓

[@josephhodgkins6256]

Honestly… we need a joint channel between you guys. A place for all your wacky musical experiments together and deep dives into niche musical concepts. Official First of October channel perhaps?

[@yarde.n]

This kinda happened with sonic boom

[@SirPembertonS.Crevalius]

The lightning effects on the synth with the lights off looks awesome!

[@bigphilrut]

PLEASE release a 1 hour video with just this noise with lightning and fog horn spaced out... Would love to play it when I go to sleep!

[@ewanguitar3666]

Every time I see the two of you do something together, I immediately want to do it as well

[@fleshTH]

I too want to sit naked with a good friend.

[@neaituppi7306]

I like how informal this one is. If I was just in the room, silently watching to guys figure out patches.

[@scottvogel8477]

Love seeing you two create music. (First of October is always a great show.) Though there is something about watching you two in the creative process, taking your time and trying things that makes me smile.

[@robscallon]

🙏

[@algernon7272]

@@robscallon we gotta get the opposite of First of October, we got the Last of December where Rob and Andrew have as much time that they need to make one song

[@Wanooknox]

I love the nerdy friendship these two have! September/October is the best time of year on both their channels 😊

[@MrNamaikisaru]

Rob gets more and more demanding as the video goes on 😂 this needs to be a series. Also I learned things. Which is awesome.

[@beastnighttv]

@TheHunter33DD bro does it even work 😂

[@mdnt_]

You guys are my favorite KZbin duo of all time. I could watch hours of you guys playing with cool instruments and just having fun together. Absolutely cannot wait for First of October's album next month as I've watched the previous three album videos hundreds of times and they never get old. Also, was totally not expecting you guys to be hanging dong for the final shot. 10/10. True heroes.

[@eaterdrinker000]

I would joke that I felt aroused by the final scene, but in reality I'll just send the video link, starting just before that point, to unsuspecting friends.

[@TheBanana93]

You can see their boxers ;) caught me off guard though haha

[@raedev]

this reminds me of an experiment i was doing a few months ago with synthedit, where i had a single vst creating and controlling other things. it had wave sounds, wind, chirping birds, crickets, rain and thunder, as well as some other ambient stuff, all with different controls for frequency, volume etc. tho i ended up getting tired of how unstable synthedit2 was before i added the final features i wanted (namely an input to be able to manually trigger thunder). to make the rain specifically, i ended up using different noise layers and filtering them in different ways, taking inspiration from how minecraft has different rain samples played together based on how far underground or under a ceiling you are. there were: - "far droplets" which were just lightly filtered white noise - "close droplets" which were brown noise with some a very fast and randomized volume envelope - "wet drops" and "dry drops" being a few sine plucks making very simple "bubble" and clicky sounds for droplets that just happen to land nearby on solid surfaces, with some filters to simulate whether they were falling on a mostly solid and dry surface (dry drops) or into like a puddle (wet drops). all of those filtering steps were actually performed * twice * on two different sets of noise generators, cause i wanted you to be able to control just how stereo each part was. I had it set so that by default, far rain was essentially mono and near rain was almost fully stereo, with the wet and dry drops being somewhere inbetween. thunder itself was just bandpassed brown noise, with the frequency of the bandpass being controlled by an envelope so that it started sharp and quickly dropped to lower tones. the volume of it was controlled by more brown noise, heavily lowpassed so it turned into a very random wave, without having to rely on regular delay. other things like the birds and the crickets was essentially just a buncha weird waveshapes being triggered at certain intervals, honestly most of the fun stuff was in the rain generator. gonna go see if i can dig out that project now. EDIT: oh yeah how could i forget there was also a module in it to generate "walking noises", which let you filter how fast or slow they were, how strongly the person was stepping down into the ground, and if the ground was solid, muddy or sandy to different levels, and my favourite feature of it: a drunkness knob that let you control how irregular the steps were lol EDIT2: can't find the project but i did find this video i uploaded of it kzbin.info/www/bejne/anWwfZpnbq2Wask

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

+

[@gavinlutz4562]

This is seriously one of the coolest applications of modular synths I’ve seen! Sounds sooo good

[@keblorb]

I love how rob just continually asks Andrew to make more complex sounds throughout the video

[@SupahBurrito2113]

10 hour loop of this (spaced out of course) would complete my falling asleep needs. This is one of the coolest videos I've seen recently, with the last one also being from you, Rob. Keep killing it, my dude!

[@coalcat5417]

I think this type of video could work well as a livestream. I also seriously appreciate how you work advertisements into your videos. It usually interrupts the flow of the video, but you’ve made the effort to have the advertisement feel like a part of the experience. I wish more creators did this.

[@Axelius89]

I really love the result of the thunder and the rain. The boat sounds a bit more like a spaceship to me though :D

[@TheDarkMessiah]

Well that ending is one way to put the "streamer/youtuber has no legs" meme to sleep.

[@ChristopherBuecheler]

This was really fun! It's interesting to see the process of figuring out how to get certain sounds. Final result is really awesome! Maybe a little aggressive for sleeping though, especially with the light show 😄

[@peterelfman]

I think the best genre of KZbin channels are two good friends working on a project together. You guys are just so fun to watch together. I can't wait to see this year's October 1 videos!

[@apeheadboink]

6:22 "creating a beach with a modular synth?" "whoaaa" they need to hear platisphere by matmos it'll blow their minds, especially rob's sounds of the beach entirely recreated with samples of plastic, super creative n even a strong environmental message too

[@MarkyD.Ingram]

To me it sounds like an 8 bit attempt at a storm sound effect it like a mystery video game. It also gives me vibes of like a cosmic horror kind of lighthouse thing like the game "No one lives under the lighthouse" It's a very ominous and creepy sounding storm you guys have made here and I honestly would like to see another attempt at natural sounds using just modular synths.

[@DrJeebles]

Andrew's ability to make the sound of thunder blew me away. This was an amazing production, guys. Nice one, Rob.

[@cineblazer]

i could watch you and andrew doing synth patching together for literal hours, literally learned so much from this vid

[@Skibbityboo0580]

That thing looks portable enough to take on the road with me. I think this video just unlocked my first step into modular!

[@Kragaar]

The thunder sound should be on a delay compared to the light of the module to indicate distance from the lightning, but that's up to Andrew on how to patch it all together

[@FrankenSteinsGate]

I think this video is really cool because it really shows just how complex natural sounds can be, even when it doesn't seem like it. Like you guys being surprised at how much goes into just a lightning strike was really fascinating to watch.

[@dormantcorvus]

A short film where all of the sound design is created with modular synths would be so sick

[@AppaBoy]

This is my favourite video you’ve done, you two are both geniuses

[@harperjmichael]

Rob, you're gonna have to do a Halloween theme synth that's triggered by motion at your door, maybe even have it trigger some motion events too.

[@bricelory9534]

Very cool! I really loved seeing the thought process that went into this patch. The thunder really feels like some sort of doom metal thunder with its very drummy attack, but it is a cool edgy feel!

[@rayflux]

This is really great! you should to this as a series , how to synthesize natureal sounds or say railroads or helicopters in far distance, its so great to see this process! and you both guys have so much fun exploring! very appreciated! Keep on!

[@Staniel_]

it’s literally like installing the flight controls in a cockpit

[@sonicsupersam7793]

So happy to have more modular synth content!

[@LukeKillen]

I did a Dockside ocean patch on my channel a few years back. complete with tolling yacht mast and boat bumping the dock. Creating spaces with synths is challenging and quite rewarding, if not the most efficient of accurate way to design sound.

[@TannertheJ]

i could watch hours and hours of you two messing around together. love these collab videos!

[@Raspyist]

This reminds me of how textures are often made in CGI and games. Instead of using a picture or painted texture (musical instrument or recording) they will generate a texture using masks and filters and generators, the out put can be as realistic or stylised as the artist is capable of designing. These would be your different modules. This is used instead of a picture or painting because it’s easily editable can have triggers applied to it, and could be cheaper memory wise than a high res image. At least this is my limited understanding of it, as I never got too deep into it.

[@ishdelgado1114]

I watched every episode of this so far.. and I learned a lot.. thank you

[@matthewtop]

This needs to be a trilogy. Moar modular!!

[@WhatShouldMyHandleB]

The creativity and skill here is so fun to watch! And the reveal at the end had me 😂

[@juliettedemaso7588]

When I was a kid in the .. a long time ago 😙.. I took apart radios and flashlights, Walkmen, stereo receivers, record players, fans, anything electronic I could get my hands on, put them back together and get jinky with whatever noises the “broken” Franken-machines made. I’d lay my head on the floor next to the speakers for extra effect. The dials, buttons, wires, antennae, plugs, solder boards.. so tactile. I’d always wanted more control over the results. This is what that is.

[@mbainrot]

I was so stoked when the milkyway module went in, that was one of my first two """nice""" modules I got and I love it so much, it's such a versitile module

[@DustinPlatt]

The amount of cables being used and how chaotic they look makes me think that's what my GF's brain goes through when I ask her where she wants to eat.

[@echodub81]

I think this i very educative display about what a modular system can do if you have a good understanding of how sound generation works. Well done

[@vgaportauthority9932]

A bit crusher is your best friend when you want to make rain, winds and oceans and stuff. It adds the grains that doesn't exist in the smooth noises. Great job.

[@godbeforeme]

A soft murmur is a fantastic background noise website and app that lets you mix in different ambient sounds and even has a setting for slowly varying the levels of the sources you choose. It’s great for blocking out noise when studying or trying to sleep. Also not hundreds of dollars in modular synths, but it doesn’t come with built in LEDS, or a fun time hanging out with Andrew.

[@bocatadeclavos1274]

This series is just two kids playing with their very cool toys and I love it

[@seyedoo]

FYI, red noise is the same thing as brown noise. It's called red noise, because it's a colored noise. (White noise is colorless, because it has the same loudness across all frequencies) Red noise has the most loudness in lower frequencies, and every octave, the loudness decreases by 6 dB. It's also called "Brown" or "Brownian" noise after the "Brownian motion". It's named after Robert Brown, and not the color brown. There is also blue noise, which is the opposite of red and brown noise. Loudest in high frequencies, and the loudness increases 6 dB per octave, as the frequencies go higher. There is pink noise, which is between red and white noise. It gets quieter at higher frequencies, but the change is slower, and only 3 dB per octave.

[@liamglasel]

You two really are the best collab youtube has to offer ♡ ty for inspiring me

[@ChefMimsy]

One of my favorite video genres is people geeking out over things I'm barely knowledgeable about, but deeply affect me as a person. There's something nourishing about watching people sharing what they love and is one of my favorite characteristics of humanity.

[@_P3_]

Gee, it looks like you had water up to your knees all the time. lovely exploration. great duo🧡

[@xinqx14]

This is actually insane, and so cool and inspiring to watch

[@christianschafermusic9907]

Rob's plea for more delay has become a staple of his musical style

[@fsh133]

Man, to watch them doing that stuff and hear the sounds becoming something - even though I don't understand that much haha - it's SO cool! But that amount of cables makes me a little anxious 😂😂

[@Scaleo84]

This session was awesome, the journey through the modules to achieve something so natural was truly amazing 😮 need more of these please

[@edward8597]

I think the idea of using modular to control 'the room' (i.e. with lighting effects but maybe also vibration, dry ice, even bursts of wind) is a super cool idea, especially if integrated with the music you're making.

[@cowprez]

This is incredibly similar to the Moog synthesizer I used in my electronic music class back in the day. Very modular. My favorite module was the RANDOM module. I loved random music and always felt it had a mind of its own. This was when I was in college back in 1970's. Good times.

[@tfwo1990]

Which model was it? Sounds neat.

[@cowprez]

@@tfwo1990 My bad. It was a Buchla synthesizer not the Moog. It's been so long I forgot any specifics as to model. But the Buchla was VERY similar to this.

[@yo5tan]

If music is just another form of art, then you two have just captured a near-perfect still-life of a pier-side dock at night

[@potatothistle]

haha Rob! I'm really enjoying how you are immediately drawn to just making some nice relaxing soundscapes. Funnily enough I had a similar experience when I first played with my Empress Zoia, I immediately started making a beach soundscape with tweeting birds. Somehow it's a soothing concept and good imagination fuel to have a little organic scene emulator inside an electronic box. Love these playful collabs. Thanks for documenting and sharing :)

[@DomiFotaro]

This is a great way to do a modular video, showing someone new modular and patching from scratch.

[@teppizini]

You guys should try a forest next. Light wind, Cicadas, leaves rustling, birds chirping

[@magoo97]

i love this stuff i could watch you guys make synth patches forever.. you should do this more

[@JonnyBriers]

this was a fantastic video. I want to see this exact thing again with different sounds. please do more! I felt like I learned loads without it feeling like a tutorial.

[@glebpalamarchuk9087]

Now I wanna see you design, like, five more patches from this system

[@adambaker3349]

Really cool non-musical dive with modular synths & you guys are always super fun to watch. I almost fell over laughing at the end, unexpected but hilarious.

[@Balekkar]

There is little in this world that I like more than watching you two get creative together.

[@jonprudhomme7694]

Spent the afternoon making wave and wind noise on my Zoia. Still working on a decent thunder sound. Fun and relaxing project. Thanks for your ever inspiring videos.

[@iAmTheSquidThing]

I predict that guitarists will start moving away from stomp-boxes, and towards modular racks like this. The wiring is much tidier and more flexible. The mounting is more secure. And it keeps the hand controls separate from the foot controls.

[@Jaies_]

This is a great way to learn more about building a modular sound from scratch

[@parzivalkni110]

can we please just get a 4 hr video of just this synth running? or even better, a 24hr live stream!!

[@daggercatz7297]

This Video made me want to build a modular synth. And before this Video I didn't even know what a modular synth was

[@RNAlh]

Wanted to say thank you to you and Andrew for showing modular synths on your channel. The first modular synth video with Andrew opened up a world I'd never seen, I installed VCV rack, checked out Andrews videos, Omhri Cohen's, etc. and after ten months of messing around and patching I have a whole new lifelong hobby. Thank you!

[@ringsystemmusic]

YESS ANOTHER ONE JOINS THE MODULAR SYNTH HORDE!

[@spanzotab]

This kind of soundscape design is so visual, very entertaining to watch!

[@SucpwBcosbsv]

We need more videos like this!!

[@vanilla_milkshake]

the final sound reminds me of the beginning to Tool's "Wings for Marie part 2"

[@traviedoodle]

This was so much fun, please make it a regular series!

[@jakobwest4811]

I had to learn in school the physics difference between all the types of noise, very cool to hear it!

[@jackfallows1893]

We need a video where Andrew hears a random every day sound and needs to emulate it on his giant synth

[@GuyPerson-jt9tv]

Dude, you should upload an hour of this audio

[@XSpImmaLion]

This is such a left field interesting way to understand how modular synths work... which I personally don't, but it somehow felt much clearer looking at it from this perspective. Also, parts of it sounded like something from Carl Sagan's Cosmos... Vangelis stuff. xD I kinda remember some episode of the show making correlations between space travel, alien worlds, and finishing up in a beach or something. :P Anyways, awesome video Rob!

[@ethan-loves]

Wow, what a sound y'all ended up with. The power and menace of it is remarkable. With the title, I was expecting you to touch on how expensive the setup ended up being. Anyone have an estimate?

[@bullpup1337]

I would guess a few thousand dollars

[@T-rock_chr0n1c]

Glad you are doing good now man cheers

[@ethan-loves]

I love Andrew Huang's soundtrack for Journey to the Microcosmos! Great to see you two collab

[@thorn99thorn]

This year's first of October should be modular-based

[@TwilightStorm]

@Rob - Bloodywood's hitting Chicago soon. Might be a fun video if you can catch them somewhere in the US.

[@shieladixon]

When I watched this video (which I really enjoyed) i shut the laptop when I thought it had finished, and it was only by accident that it continued playing later and I saw the part where you turned around.... hilarious! Thank you so much.

[@XiXora]

Came down to the comments at the end… scrolled up to the blurry boxes. What a shock!