I agree , there are probably better examples but it was the first one I could think of, I know Richard Devine also does more structured stuff. he is incredible at sound design and a very clever guy, however I feel that some of the ‘tracks’ like the one above are more an experiment in how hard he can push the equipment. Once I’ve heard it, I wouldn’t play it again, others might think of it as a listenable track ? But dare I say it, I also think Autechre can be guilty of over modulating stuff 
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I remember when Neurofunk appeared (dnb subgenre) and everybody were trying to make those twisted basslines, when they learned how to do them (from technical perspective), there was influx of twisted bassline tunes that didn’t make sense nor groove wise nor idea wise, just random twisted basslines with drums, sometimes even out of tune lol. So overall I like overmodulated stuff, but composition wise it must have a good groove or just shouldn’t be nonsensical.
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I think once you have a relatively good grasp on synthesis this type of knob wankery is unbearable and to my mind at least, amateur/faking it.
However, to do complex modulation with intent and knowledge and musical/technical merit takes skill and experience, but sadly probably 90% of stuff posted on youtube etc is just inane shite - too many rich dudes with too much LFO’s and patch cables, and too little creativity, IMHO.
But that is just my opinion.
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It’s the same thing over and over and over and over again, in the past, we already blamed composers for the same thing :
- Bach : “Johann Sebastian, please, dude, too much modulations, please stop.”
- Mozart : “Wolfgang, too many notes, I can’t stand it dude, please stop.”
- Beethoven : “Dude, your Grosse Fuge, you’re kiddin right ?”
- Chopin : “Frederic, it’s impossible to play your shit, dude please, stop.”
and it goes on and on and on, even in the XXth century :
- Stravinsky : “Igor, dude, you don’t know how to compose. The bassoon in the beggining of the Sacre ? Please tell me you’re kidding. No ? Please stop.”
- Varèse : “No Edgar, you can’t compose a piece for percussions only, dude, stop it.”
- Xenakis : “Iannis, too much FX man, a violin is not supposed to sound like that, dude stop that now.”
Is it a rant ? Not really no, I’m bored so I wanted to write something. And you’ll tell me “Oh but I’m talking about modulated sound only”, yeah but it’s the same, everything in Western music is modulation. Fear of change. So keep in mind it will always be like that :
- Little Snake : “Driving on acid ? Dude, too much car horns, stop it.”
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Is this thread really about being ‘bored of over use of modular and it’s sounds’??
Sounds can’t be ‘over modulated’ IMO… sounds are modulated by their very nature, sound is modulation.
Yes precisely: there are times I truly enjoy such over-complicated nonsense!
People around me will definitely not, which makes such moments rare but kind of special.
To me it’s a bit like enjoying noise or musique concrete. It requires a peculiar state of mind.
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…i was doing pretty good for years by creating grooves and harmonic patterns that just could breathe forever, without any bigger modulation stuff involved, just by their fixed inner arrangementstructure dealing with very unique single sounds and how they’re placed and interact with each other…classic mantric power, kind of…
nowadays, i still try to work in simple sound and arrangment evolutions and composing contrasts but also can’t skip the temptation of crossmodulating things and work out big sonic morphings anymore…and hell yeah, it’s all signs of the times, i guess…
still, there’s a level of reasonable balanced for a greater good and kind of too much and also waaaay too much…
everybody can get lost in modulationstuff, or might hide behind that in lack of real ideas, since it got soooo easy to do so…
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I agree , you have to be into this kind of music to differentiate it to other tracks in the genere, its nothing new, it just plays with the tropes within the genere boundarys.
listening to that clip above I think there’s some really nice sounds in it.
but my reaction is that the guy should take some of those sounds and make some music out of them.
Maybe if I was in bar with a beer in my hand I could get into this for a short period, but I can’t personally fathom why people would want to listen to somebody else doing that for more than a minute.
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Great point, I feel like i should make videos as that’s how alot of people take their music these days. But me gradually twisting a pot is a fucking chore to watch. Maybe if I can do them fancy video fx etc……
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I couldn’t agree more. When I listen to my favorite electronic music it’s clear that it’s the songwriting and not something like the flash and mirrors of over-modulated trickery which does something to me. Sort of the curse of sound design and often all the talk about sound design makes me wonder what about the song writing?
Depeche Mode used a lot of presets.
Next up: polyrhythms are annoying most the time.
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We’re not all songwriters though.
I’d think of Devine as a sound designer, patch creator and a bunch of other stuff long before I’d think about the quality of his songwriting.
Let’s take a different road and consider a different artist, someone for whom both sound design and songwriting are extremely important and primary motivators.
I first saw Russell Haswell live about 25 years ago, when he sounded somewhat like his “live salvage” stuff. There was often a fairly strong negative reaction from certain parts of the crowd, but lots of very positive ones too.
It changed completely how I thought about music and still has a massive influence over the way I think about composition today. I think it certainly counts as what some of you might describe as “over-modulated nonsense”. But it’s not over modulated, it’s modulated exactly enough to achieve the desired outcome. Haswell has said in a number of interviews over the years that he really believes in the sounds he’s making, he’s not doing it to piss people off or for any need to be “extreme”, he’s genuinely making music that he (and a lot of us) really love and trying to created new and interesting sounds.
Over the years, Haswell has talked about his methodology of creating chaos, then selecting what he wants from that chaos to build sounds/tracks/performances. An approach that sounds not so different from the Turning Machine into Quantizer approach that every modular techno bore has been flogging to death for the last few years. There’s a direct relationship between what these guys are doing and what the rest of us are doing/buying.
Basically, these guys are doing god’s work, so that us lot can water it down and use it for our boring fucking YouTube videos, then complain about how everyone’s doing it…
Twas ever thus…
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Listened to the first 2 minutes - sonic masochism. Sounds like he’s put a recording of an old dial-up modem through an fx chain.
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Rythm & Melody… defines music for me.
At least Rythm…
This here is more experimental noise - ofc, that someone can really enjoy. Perhaps.
Sounds more like Haswell is doing the Devil’s work - making muzak for hell.
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First off, the Devine video: fucking awesome.
The Haswell performance: whilst something I would consider at times “difficult listening”, also fucking awesome. (And @Fin25 I can only imagine what that would have sounded like live. Bloody hell.)
It’s fine if it’s not your cup of tea. People thought Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” was an abomination in it’s day for overly modulated notes. Now it’s regarded as a classic.
I don’t know if Devine and Haswell will be considered classic composers 50 or 100 years from now, but they certainly won’t be part of the rehash of the same 12 tone scale we’ve had forced down our western throats for centuries.
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Does it spank? Yes? Than good.
No Spank, no good.
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I’m looking forward to the next release from Boards of Over-Modulated Sounds. 
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Boreds of Canada?
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I totally agree with OP about a lot of more purely noisy, seemingly unstructured modulation…what you’ve linked to here has a ton of modulation, but it’s also very musical in the sense that the glitchy/experimental expressions are regulated in a tight rhythm, and also feel like they are in the service of a musical narrative. This one really captures a great balance. Banger!
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