The improvised techno thread

The Lounge General Discussion
#143

What a great thread. I’ve read all the posts. I will listen to all the jams too. It’s always great to read the words and then hear the examples.

Be been obsessed with getting a modular system for this exact reason - improvised techno. I too share a massive love for Blawan & Surgeon. Nothing else really cuts the mustard. Suggestions please.

Although I have wanted to jump into modular, I have some excellent hardware and I am curious if I can make that do what I want it to do. So I’m trying and here is what I’ve found out so far.

The RYTM for drums paired with the OT. It has to be this way for me. It really works because of the LFO’s. I am now more than satisfied with a minimum of 4 per RYTM track. I also found myself wanting to create textures that I know only the OT can produce and wallop out by the boat load. The OT gets fed into the RYTM input.
My OB6 provides that synth sound. Mangled or musical, I need it.

Drums
RYTM + OT supply the drums and animate them enough for me to smile from ear to ear.
The only thing that isn’t cool - the effects.
Yes, I have the OT but the effects just don’t cut it for me.

Synth
I am very lucky to have an OB6. I am also very lucky to have the TimeLine & Big Sky to run it through. I am still yet to know the synth by heart but I feel I am getting there. I am happy with its X-Mod and although it only has 1 LFO … the OT comes in yet again to save the day to make 4 total (if only 1 midi track is used).

Bass Line
RYTM’s duo VCO’s :tongue:

Other Voices
I will not be using all the voices on the RYTM at once but for the voices it does have I am experimenting to see what I can coax out of them. The CB has a good bell like quality and obviously the duo VCO voice can create quite a lot of sounds too.

Effects
Due to the lack of effects per channel (not a moan) on the RYTM and my feelings for the OT’s effects I got the 3 BOSS 500’s out MD/DD/RV of their boxes and ran them as parallel mono effects. Although it’s starting to get more complicated than I’d like it to, I am currently learning their capabilities.

Mixer
I have been using my tape deck - Marantz PMD740 and although I still am, I am currently experimenting with the MX-1 again. I know what it does and how to work it but it’s another bit of gear. I do like the rhythmic textures it can give to signals that already have delay and reverb on them. It’s light but my idea for live techno improv is to play out somewhere. Take this show on the road. I hope that will happen and if it does then I need to carry this stuff around.
The mixer is going through the AH. Another piece of gear to lug around.

Might just go straight through the OT

Going Forward
There’s a bunch of things I need to try out.

I don’t utilize the OT as a looper or to playback stems. I want to experiment more with this buuuuuuut I have a very strong and somewhat stubborn rule that all sounds must be live instruments (OT is an exception) that I can change and switch up. It may work flawlessly and I may grow to love it. That’s why I have to experiment further.

I also need to experiment with the RYTM’s voicing more and more to see what textures I can get out of them. I don’t think any synth voice will be able to push the OB6 from that position but I’ll give it a damn good go. I don’t really want to be taking an OB6 out and about. I know I could sample it but I want a synth voice to be live.

Sorry to have waffled and entered somewhat of a blog/diary entry to the thread. These are my thoughts and where I’m at.

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#144

Maybe a little bit off topic, but still related:

I’m thinking of buying/building a case which fits all my gear pre-connected which I can carry around, so if I take it to another place, I just have to remove the lid and connect main stereo outputs to the sound system at the location. This would make it much easier and also forces me to commit to a certain compact setup.

Anyone else here uses something like this? Any tips?

I found some standard keyboard cases which are perfect in length and width, but they are pretty heavy for the stuff I’d like to carry around. They are also usually pretty high, where I only need about 12 cm of height.

#145

They do a small and large too.

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#146

Built my own case for Explorer Cases.

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#147

Ideal!

Right!

Nice one @Fin25
Just not too sure how heavy the thing is…
Their website made me laugh…

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#148

They are pretty light, to be fair.

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#149

Thanks, looks nice, but too small for my setup. My ideal size would be about 110 cm x 50 cm x 12 cm

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#150

Regarding a small modular setup for improvisation, I´ve been looking to Trovarsi and Ihor´s setups but I don´t understand very well the modular world.

What are the specifications or capacities you´ll find more interesting when deciding modules to play live with the Elektrons?

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#151

You can specify and order custom cases of Thomann’s “Thon” brand on their website. A recommendation if you dedicate this to a live setup: make sure that the “lid” can be completely taken off. Also the pre-cut cube-style foam pads are often too soft to properly hold your gear. I would by some proper high density foam for the inside - cutting is much easier and cleaner.

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#152

Yeah, the pickfoam stuff is pretty ropey to be fair.

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#153

There is a lot of power in such a small form factor.

I’ve been meaning to make a thread asking if someone would be keen to make a case on modular grid to represent these magical Elektron boxes.

Each voice of the RYTM has its own analog filter, analog distortion, the box itself has its own reverb, delay and analog compressor. Then there are all the modulation possibilities. Each voice has its own LFO. Plus there is a sequencer in which each of the steps can be plocked. Then there’s the trig conditions as well.

The wires and the amount of boxes needed to recreate this box would b me huge I am sure. The downside… it isn’t as hands on or as knobby as a modular.

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#154

Thats the main difference, with most modular, there’s no menus and submenus to navigate, most controls are there in front of you all the time. There are exceptions to this, Obviously.

I only recently got into modular for techno and I did it purely because the sound I wanted required it. I’d run out of hardware options to make the sounds in my head and modular has delivered for me on that front. It also helps that my entire setup now comprises a suitcase and a couple of things in a rucksack, so I’m super portable, if that sort of thing matters.

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#155

Modular is ace and can be optimised (ie, made smaller & cheaper) for live / techno purposes if you offload the things it’s not great at (eg structured sequencing, drums, recallable presets and patterns) to an Elektron like DT/DN/AR/A4.

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#156

The problem with modular that smaller often is more expensive. I planned a few racks and the small factor ones were often twice as much € :weary:

#157

I am happy with my setup without Euro©rack but when I have the spare €€€ I will build a little percussion modular

#158

It’s cheaper if you avoid things like complex sequencers and effects. But all modular is expensive, unfortunately.

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#159

But that what’s I am after in modular. Random sequencers, Euclidian etc. when it’s all about improvising a good random sequencer + quantizer are really handy

#160

Look at what Pelican has on their site. Can you get away with putting half the setup on the lid and half in the bottom of a pelican case, with a layer of foam in between when they’re closed? That would put you at something like 110 x 25 x 30, which might be easier to find — it’s not far off from a lot of the rifle cases

#161

I understand that so I assume (and Surgeon said this in an interview) that a track would be produced from a jam with further minimal edition and mixing.

About that sound, I once heard an Intellijel Atlantis in person, and I was shocked about the sound, the “electricity”, I don´t know if you´re refering to something like this.

#162

@finalform , @slawa_soloma

They are effectively expensive, so I´m afraid to open that door. I´d like to be sure about what I want, but everyone tells me that this is impossible so you have to try and try.

Hopefully I´d find the way to introduce modular raw sound and wildness into my “too prepared” setup.

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